Please, can someone point me to the place where "what happens there, doesn't stay there?" It was slightly funny for the Vegas set of commercials. I'm not buying it for Cabo, Mexico, Canada, the kitchen, the backyard, or wherever else an action takes place that might be compromising, embarrassing, or deceitful.
Thankfully tomorrow is the election in Pittsburgh and then it will take at least a week for the winning candidates to re-group and start campaigning again.
Tomorrow also marks the start of the semi-finals in the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions. The six champions get a two day playoff to determine the two winners that will face Ken Jennings in the final round. I'm personally rooting for Chris and Brad to make it to the finals. Jerome looks like an even more cartoonish version of Jon Lovitz than Lovitz himself. Frank has the knowledge, but not the speed, so unless the board is lopsided to his particular knowledge I don't think he's going to make it. John and Pam will end up being the two middle podium people who stand there and try not to look like idiots as they answer 4 or 5 questions the whole game.
Anyway, I also realized that today was 6 months at my new job. No more probation. Of course, I got that information coupled with the fact that my project manager has to have a minor surgical procedure and no one is sure of the recovery process yet. Which means I may get thrown into a busier position by default.
The weekend wasn't too bad. It rained just enough time for just enough duration that we got absolutely no yard work done.
Saturday we just kind of hung out in the morning then went to see the Paterson lecture. She told several stories, read from some of her books, and did the requisite Q&A period. However, since this is primarily a children's lecture series the questions weren't quite the caliber that you would expect. It was still fun. One of the questions was about her path to becoming a writer. She talked about a graduate professor that told her that she should become a writer. She didn't feel that she had the talent and didn't want to add another "mediocre writer" to the field. The professor persisted in her claim and Paterson realized that if you don't dare to be mediocre, how are you ever going to be great?
After the lecture, they moved everyone that was interested into the children's area of the Carnegie Library, Paterson set up shop in the corner and proceeded to autograph anything that people had available, very patiently I might add. She posed for pictures and was thrilled that Gage might be a fan one day soon. I met a gentlemen who is in the MFA program at Chatham for children's writing. So, in case you notice it before I do, his nom de plume is "Syracuse Todd".
Sunday after church we headed down to the hospital where my Grandmother passed away. It turns out that every six months they hold a memorial service for everyone that died in the hospital. It sounds morbid and silly at the same time and since it was held in the main lobby, my first thought was that it was a little insensitive to those visiting the sick, but it was a touching service anyway. We then stopped by my parent's house so Gage could spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa.
I guess that's about all for today. I'll hit the treadmill for a couple of miles and then hit the bed.