Monday Grabbag

I'm once again at ORD, ensconced in the Red Carpet Club, enjoying free wireless and crappy snacks while waiting for my flight. Quick three-day turn for work. Had to get here several hours in advance of my flight to accomodate the fact that we have four drivers, three cars, and four divergent schedules. So I took one for the team so that Our Lady of BYU could have my car while I'm gone.

So it's Monday Grabbag Day here in the Den. A quick take on some of the day's good and bad. So here's the good:

- My four and a half flight this afternoon is on an airplane that seats 182 people. It's booked to 79. And First is half empty so all the better. Good for me and my fellow pax - not so good for the bottom line of Mother United.

- It's a four-day work week and we've got a good 4th of July weekend planned.

- Bernie Madoff got the proverbial book thrown, no, slammed in his face as his judge wailed on him, sentencing him to the maximum on all eleven counts, for a grand total of 150 years as a guest of the state. That will go well for him. Score one for the American judicial system.

And now for the bad:

- The children (and I use that term so very, very loosely) of that late crazed train wreck Michael Jackson are now under the guardianship of their paternal grandmother. Let's think about that - if you believe the Jackson story, this is the woman who stood by while her husband beat the living daylights out of their children for years, which no doubt added to the crazy that was her late son. So a judge decides let's hand these kids over to her. What's the thinking there? I mean after years in Neverland, was the judge thinking, 'Hey, how much worse could it get?' Remember that point the American judicial system earned for the Madoff sentencing, scratch it. This smooth move just took it away. I am disgusted but not shocked, sadly.

Finally, the Boy is now reading my journals from my two-year mission. It's been fun to have him reading it and asking me all sorts of questions. It's allowed me to recall an amazing time of my life. But it's also got me thinking about this blog and the legacy it will leave. I really don't think I'll change a thing. It's a snapshot of who I am. And I'm cool with that. Now to find a way to get the blog published in book form...