Cell Phones and iPods

I'm going crazy and maybe feeling a little old at the same time. I happened to be walking across campus when students were between classes. Simply amazed at the number of people on cell phones or listening to iPods I took an informal count.

I used the next 17 people I seen as I walked across campus in my "study". It was actually 19, but I removed two girls who were talking to each other. 17 people, by themselves, and here are the results:

14 of 17 were either talking on their cell phone or had their iPod jammed in their ears. They can't even walk across campus or between class without one or the other. The three "odd balls" that was "technologically impaired" probably feel left out or maybe they were non traditional students that are older like me!

Someday maybe they will enjoy periods of uninterrupted silence instead of constant chaos and noise.

Three Minutes?

So, I woke up early on a Saturday. Something I would rather NOT do as I prefer to sleep in a little to make up for my lack of sleep during the week. It just wasn't meant to be as I heard my wife up getting ready to go to work. I got up, had too many thoughts racing through my mind and so I was up.

Then one of those moments that leave you speechless happened. My oldest son got up, came out where I was standing at the computer reading the news, and said "7:15? I thought it was like 7:18". With a puzzled look on my face I asked him "...and the difference would be?" Without even thinking he said "3 minutes!" and he walked on downstairs to his video games.

I've tried to figure it out if was just a semi sleep state or what, but I STILL have no idea where his thought process was. It was a whole different world that he was in though. Either that or Dad is just getting old.

Too Young to Die

41 years old. It’s too young to die, especially of cancer. Especially when you are leaving three children still in school behind with no father.

The family went to our church after they moved to Vermillion. Big, strong guy…ex-college football player, somewhat of a typical jock, but still a wonderful guy. His demise from cancer was brutal. Every bad thing that cancer could take from you was taken from him and it was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.

When he passed away last week, it didn’t come as a shock as we knew that he was in hospice care, but as always is the case, it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. Part of the “hard to swallow” part comes from the fact that I myself am nearly 40 years old. This could be me. My own mortality doesn’t scare me mind you, but what it would do to my wife and kids right now would be devastating. I can’t begin to fathom my wife having to be a single Mom of three.

I came home from the funeral and my youngest met me in the kitchen with a big hug. He let go after a couple seconds, but I didn’t. I wanted to hold him a long time, and fortunately he let me. When the time comes Lord, if it be Your will, let my kids be in a position where they don’t need me as much as they need me now.

Cycling in the Rain

Okay, so I've been lazy about posting as of late. Sunday we went on our "Fall Colors Ride" that has become an annual outing to enjoy some nice mountain biking on the Nebraska side of the river. We had responses from about 10-12 people excited to ride, which excited me too, because usually there are 4-5 of us on this ride is all.

Then it happened...as I walked out of church, it was sprinkling. We still had an hour and a half before the ride so it had plenty of time to quit. Well, on the contrary, it had plenty of time to POUR DOWN. When the THREE of us left on our ride, it was cold, raining a decent amount, and I think we all wondered how crazy we really were. Once we got going, it wasn't that bad and we had a really good time. As a means of sassing those who didn't ride, I emailed the following account to the rest of the Lanehogs Listserv.

It was a dark, dreary, rainy afternoon which made it the perfect afternoon to plan out attack into enemy territory (Nebraska). Craig DeVelder, Cindy Lavin and I met at the latest safehouse (Latte Da) to formulate an attack plan. We decided to attack at 1334 hours on a Sunday afternoon. The rain cover made it easy for us to hide on our way to meet the enemy. Once across the bridge we knew we were closer to the enemy so we took a path less traveled (Turkey Creek Road). A north wind helped us make time to our rendevoux point (Newcastle). Once there, we found our safehouse behind enemy lines (Marron's Service) and we refueled quickly. After a short break half our mission was over and we headed back to the home base, this time via the main convoy route (Highway 12). That's when it happened, we came under enemy attack! It was only a couple miles outside of Newcastle when I heard a noise and it got louder and louder. A bullet (apparently my brakes) had ripped the sidewall of my tire and into my tube. I had to call recon (Laura) to come and get me. Being the brave soul she is, she too came across enemy lines to save this soldiers life. I am happy to report that Craig and Cindy made it back to home base without further incident however.

Doesn't this make for better reading than saying that the three of us REALLY had a blast riding on a wet, cool day? Yeah, we were a bit wet and cold, but it was a lot of fun and something none of us will forget anytime soon! You all missed a great ride!

Kevin