Well, That's Not Something You See Every Day!

This afternoon, after picking up the boy at school and running an errand, I went into the house to get a grocery bag to toss trash into from my car. I opened the front door to go back out to the car, bag in hand, and with my first step onto the front walk, what did I see? A 30ish man, attired in shorts and t-shirt, iPod in his ear, pedaling a unicycle down the sidewalk. Yes, a unicycle! I was so surprised I stood still as he passed. I probably had my mouth open as I stared. I looked around to see if maybe a neighbor had seen this sight, too, but no. I wanted to say hello, thinking this might be an interesting neighbor to chat with but I didn't want to intrude into his world, his 'zone'.

You just never know. Our subdivision is a very active one with people walking, running, all the time. Biking is popular, too. I don't know. It just amused me.

I was cleaning out the car so the husband and son could use it tomorrow on their trip up to College Station and the Texas A & M campus with a few other members of the Boy Scout troop. They are working on a veterarian badge and the university is having a big open house at the College of Veternarian Medicine. They leave at 6:00AM and return in the evening. It's a day jam packed with all kinds of activities, the first of which is a photo taken with Reveille, the campus mascot. Reveille is a legendary mascot, a beautiful Collie dog. Who knows which generation the current one is from the lineage. They will get to do and see some really cool things.

My son participated in his very first blood drive today at school. The Junior National Honor Society was sponsoring it for community service. No, he's not a member but some of his friends were signing up and he did, too. He said he got a little dizzy and sick when the technician forgot to dilute the plasma with saline. Bummer. He recovered and had the juice and sugar cookie afterwards. I told him not to forget the juice and cookie so his blood sugar would be normal. I didn't think of a potential problem with the plasma. Geez.

So, what do I have in common with the librarian at Guantanamo Bay? We both have pre-ordered the upcoming Harry Potter book. Seems the terrorists love Harry and are anxiously awaiting the last installment in the series, due out in July. Hey, I thought they were being abused down there.

Bono, my man, was knighted by the Queen. He can't be called by the title Sir, though, as he's Irish, not English. I think it's great. He's a huge liberal, of course, but he gets it. He knows you need to work with everyone and be respectful of all to get big things done. Washington could take a clue. Remember the first Super Bowl after 9/11 and Bono was the halftime performer? He was singing "Beautiful Day" and opened his leather jacket to reveal the pattern of the American flag of the jacket lining. I've completely loved him ever since.

Harvard University only accepts 9% of its applicants. I knew it was tough to be admitted but that's really tough. A friend of mine and her ex-husband are both grads of Harvard and their son wasn't accepted a couple of years ago. This kid has never received anything but A's, participated in sports and community service and the supposed advantage of alumni parents, yet, no go.

I'm happy to see the trend is to do away with school fundraisers requiring the kiddos to sell junk no one wants. This year the son's high school did a great fundraiser. The PTO asked the parents to write a check for the amount they were comfortable with donating to the school's Fund for Excellence, a scholarship program for graduating seniors, instead of the standard fundraiser dinner/auction kind of events of the past. It makes so much more sense. I'll be happy to write a check any day and forget the whole bit of using the kids as salespeople thing.

Ah, Friday.