Irony
May 4, 2010
Does anybody else see the irony in this?
Widespread inbreeding between the Darwin and Wedgwood families was probably to blame for Charles Darwin’s ill health, and the childhood tragedies and infertility that blighted his family.
That’s the conclusion of an analysis examining links between ill health over four generations of the Darwin-Wedgwood dynasty and the degree of inbreeding between the families.
5k
April 17, 2010
I participated in my first 5k today. I finished in 1042nd place, at the 44 minutes, 14 second mark. That’s not bad for having not prepared for it. I think I’m going to have to do this again …
Donations
March 19, 2010
I just finshed donating blood. It was quick and relatively pain free. If you are able, please donate what you can. There are people who need whatever you can give.
Homework – Midnight Run
March 14, 2010
Judge Oddone made the assignment to watch the 1988 movie Midnight Run, and then do a write-up of it. Here’s mine.
Ah, what did I learn from Midnight Run? For starters, I guess I learned that bail bondsmen, bounty hunters, FBI agents, and Guido Mafiosi like to cuss. No, that’s not much of a surprise. I suppose that I learned that the Judge and I both find the same types of movies to be entertaining.
All joking aside, I watched Midnight Run trying to figure out why Judge Oddone wanted me to watch it. I think he wanted me to learn what it is that bail bondsmen do for a living. He wanted me to figure out how it is that they are willing to put money up to bail some lowlife scum-sucking flight risk out of jail, yet still be able to stay in business. He also wanted me to learn that the life of a bounty hunter can be pretty difficult and harrowing. Did he also want me to see that mobsters always end up getting caught at the end of a two hour chase? Cuz I already knew that.
Well, for our analysis, let’s take a look at what happens when a poor innocent schmuck gets thrown in the clink for possession. I hesitated to call the guy a criminal because everybody is technically innocent at this phase of the proceedings. The guy gets locked up and wants to get out jail for a little while before trial, but his bail is set for $100,000, 10% of which needs to be put down in the form of good old fashioned American cash. The problem is that he doesn’t have $10k just sitting around because he’s been spending all of his spare cash on blow. (Remember that I said he’s technically innocent, not that he’s factually innocent. There’s a difference.) So, he needs some cash to get out of the pokey, and that’s where we get introduced to the bail bondsman.
The bail bondsman, who has been advertising his services in the yellow pages, comes in and puts down the money for Mr. Technically Innocent’s release, with the understanding that if Mr. Technically Innocent does not appear in court at the appointed time, the bail bondsman is to fork over the remaining bail amount. In the case of Mr. Innocent (I mean, Mr. Technically Innocent), this would mean that Captain BailBonds would be out an additional $90,000, which is something that he would generally frown upon. If Mr. Technically Innocent appears on time, it’s no big deal. If he doesn’t, though, it’s bad news. To make sure that he doesn’t have plunk down additional funds in the event of a courtroom no-show, Capt. BailBonds makes sure that his guy is going to appear. If Mr. Technically Innocent skips town, the bail bondsman will send a bounty hunter after him.
The bounty hunter, who is also sometimes known as a skiptracer, is tasked with finding people who have skipped their court hearings. These bounty hunters were made famous-ish by Boba Fett, of Star Wars fame, and the guy known as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his “hit” TV show. They get paid by the bail bondsmen to bring these skips back to court. While the bounty hunter does have certain rights and authority, he is NOT a peace officer (generally speaking), and is subject to many limitations which vary from state to state.
The bounty hunter in Midnight Run put his life on the line numerous times in an effort to get his fugitive back to the right jurisdiction. It appears that the life of a bounty hunter can be fraught with danger and excitement. The life of the bail bondsman can also have danger and risk, but appears to be more related to financial concerns than physical ones. The life of the Guido Mafiosi, though, has danger and risk because their accountants all know everything about the family business. Everything.
One Short
March 9, 2010
I’ve been doing a bunch of work to finish my office at home. Last night I was installing the wainscoting and the trim. I could not believe my eyes when I found that I had exactly one piece of paneling less than I needed. Now I have to go buy a whole pack of the paneling just to get the one piece I need. Ugh.
Rotten
February 9, 2010
Word: rhabdomyosarcoma
Function: noun
Definition: a pretty nasty tumor found most commonly in children and adolescents
Spencer is seven years old and is a great kid. He is the love of my daughter’s life (as far as eight-year-old’s crushes are concerned), and has been diagnosed with a malignant alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The golfball-sized tumor is located at the base of his skull and is wreaking havoc with his head. His parents, Nate and Holly, are fantastic, and are braving this thing as best they can. They are putting their trust in the Lord, as they know that there is nowhere else they should put it.
It appears that chemo and radiation therapies are on the horizon, and we are all praying that Spencer will get better soon. If you want to send prayers on behalf of somebody, Spencer is worthy of all of the prayers you’re willing to send.
Makin’ Out
February 7, 2010
Ryan was playing a board game tonight with Grandma, and his game piece was right next to hers. He got so excited and said, “My game piece is making out with your game piece! My game piece is making out with your game piece!”
Then, after waiting about five seconds, he said, “What does ‘making out’ mean?”
What a funny kid.
8 Years
January 26, 2010
My beautiful Betsy turned eight years old on Monday. It seems like just yesterday that she was learning to crawl, and ended up with stitches in her chin when she was learning to walk. Man, she sure is a gorgeous little girl!
Phone Call
January 4, 2010
I just received a phone call on my cell phone that included the following exchange:
Me: “Hello.”
Her: “Hi, may I please speak with David?”
Me: “Uh … my son, David, or some other David?”
Her: “David Ausborne.”
Me: “Well, that’s my son. Who is this?”
Her: “This is so-and-so from CollegeFinder.com. He signed up and requested some information online.”
Me: “Uh, you realize that he’s eleven years old, right?”
Her: “No. Sorry to bother you.” Click.
Apparently, David has been planning ahead.
Driving Around
January 3, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve gone on a nice drive. I’ve always loved going on a nice long drive to see things that I’ve not seen in a while, or to see things which I’ve never before seen. It’s something that I’ve always found therapeutic. I used to do it when I lived in the Bay Area. I’d find myself going on a late-night drive almost the whole way up to San Francisco on I-280, turn west on CA Hwy 92, then drive across to Half Moon Bay. Once there, I’d head a little ways down CA Hwy 1, stopping along the way at a beach where I could pull the car up near the water and shine the headlights out into the waves. The great thing about this was that my trip wasn’t complete. I still had to do the return trip, which involved driving south on Hwy 1 all the way to Santa Cruz, where I’d then turn and head home to San Jose. The whole loop was about 120 miles, and was a trip I probably made fifteen different times in the two years I lived there while I had a drivers license. Like I said, I love going on long drives.
Today, since Melanie was at work, I decided to remedy my lack of long distance driving by getting in the van with Byron, Betsy, and Ryan, then heading to Utah County. We stopped by a friend’s house in Draper to drop of a gift for his newborn son, then decided to keep driving. We headed up and over Traverse Ridge and down into Utah County. We drove through Alpine, Highland, and American Fork, to the Mount Timpanogos Temple, which has temple grounds that look pretty cool with so much undisturbed snow. We then headed through Pleasant Grove and Lindon to Orem, where we stopped for lunch at Sizzler. I got to tell the kids about how the Sizzler we were at was the same place that Melanie and I had eaten when we went on our first date back in 1996, and the kids thought that was a pretty fun story to talk about.
After lunch we stopped by and saw some good friends who we had not seen for about a year. One of the neat things about these friends is that they have a gorgeous 24 x 36 inch framed canvas photo of the Mount Timpanogos Temple at sunset. I’m partial to it mostly because I gave it to them as a gift. I took the photo at sunset on 13 February 2007, and almost immediately ordered (from pictureframes.com) a large framed canvas print to give as a gift. Here is the photo that I had printed:
Mount Timpanogos Temple at Sunset
The kids were great, I got to drive to someplace I rarely get to go, and I saw some good old friends. All in all, it was a good day.
