spinayarn

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Did You Hear About Ripken and Gwynn?

Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn are now Hall of Fame Electees. That is good news, they are both great players, wonderful representatives of the game of baseball and men of very high personal character. Archie Brown was fortunate enough to see each of them play in person. He only saw Ripken a couple of times, but Gwynn many times. He was not a power hitter, per se, but he always seemed to make hard contact. He was a tough out. But now he is in, along side the Iron Man!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Monday, January 08, 2007

Did You Hear About How The Cowboys Lost the Game?

Archie Brown could hardly believe the outcome of the NFL playoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were inside the ten yard line and trailing by one with a minute and a few seconds left to play. All they had to do was kick a gimme field goal and hold the Seahawks for less than 70 seconds. But Tony Romo dropped the snap abd the Cowboys got beat!

Archie was thrilled!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Did You Hear About How I Decide Which NFL Team I Want To Win?

Archie Brown was reading the sports page the day the NFL playoffs were to begin. He was not a big football fan, but he did have a team he pulled for each week. That team is which ever team is playing the Dallas Cowboys on a given day. So, for at least one day, Archie was going to be a fan of the Seattle Seahawks!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Friday, January 05, 2007

Did You Hear About Our Adoption of A Yellow Lab?

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, there were a lot of stranded pets in shelters. My wife and I had not had a dog in many years, not since the kids had grown and left home. But two of our grandchildren had moved in with us, two boys of 5 and 4. I have always believed boys need a dog.

So we decided to rescue one and bring him to a good home. We looked at a few shelters for just the right one to befriend two boys who also needed to be loved. We thought we wanted a small dog, perhaps a beagle or a border collie, because we the boys were little. We did not want them to be intimidated by a dog’s size.

But when we saw the Yellow Lab and how the boys were drawn to the big friendly retriever, we knew he had to come home with us. He was dubbed “Buccaneer”, and he has been exactly what we hoped, a loving friend of two little boys.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How My Dad Spoiled My Kids?

Archie Brown had four grand kids and loved to spoil them, then send them home to their parents. Archie could recall his dad spoiling the grand kids, Archie’s kids. Arch would make some complaint. Archie’s dad, Orel, would only laugh and say, “if they are not spoiled, they’re neglected, and I don’t plan to neglect them.”

How do you argue with that?

Subscribe to spinayarn

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Did You Hear About How I Much I Enjoyed Blogging?

Archie found that blogging is a lot of fun, much more than he envisioned when he started a year ago. He wrote almost every day for a few months. He was surprised to find that his writing was acceptable to those who were on the site. He took pride in the comments he received and had a blast interacting with his virtual friends about many diverse ideas on the site.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How I Became A Blogger?

A year ago Archie Brown literally did not know what a blog was. He had heard the term, but did not have an idea of its meaning. On the fifth of January he received an invitation to participate in a blog designed for writers. She defined the term and told me she thought Archie would enjoy blogging. She knew him pretty well.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How Everything Is Back to Normal?

The New Year is well under way now. The kids have gone back to school and schedules have gotten back to normal. Nothing to interrupt the routines, except a birthday party tomorrow, and another birthday party next week, and a school holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr., and a men’s retreat at the congregation and….

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How I Could Not Use My Frequent Flier Miles?

I just called to try to use my frequent flier miles for a trip in August. I was told that all the award seats are booked, so I cannot use them even though I was willing to move the date of my trip up to two weeks either side of my preferred dates. It is the first time I have tried to use my miles, now over 80,000. I am wondering what is the point of having the miles if they cannot be used!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Did You Hear About How I Graduated With Honors?

Following his return to college after dropping out for seven years, Archie Brown became a good student. His company would reimburse one hundred per cent if he made A’s in his course work, so Archie did not see any reason to let his grades drop. The fact that those grades replaced the F’s he had received for goofing off in his first experience at college allowed him to graduate with honors. He had learned much, and some of it was not taught in a class room!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How My Grades Improved When I Returned To School?

After laying out of college for seven years; following his embarrassment at scholastic ineligibility, Archie Brown found he wanted to get an education. He was offered the opportunity by his employer to get an Associate Degree in Laboratory Science. He found an unexpected benefit of taking some of the basics required for the degree was that the new grades, A’s, replaced those grades he had in the courses when he was 18. The F’s disappeared from his transcript!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About My Plan To Get A Degree?

When Archie Brown proposed to his boss that he would like to work toward an Associate Degree in Laboratory Science that was offered by the local junior college, and for the company to continue to pay his tuition as they had for the chemistry courses he had completed. To his joy, the company agreed.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How My Attitude Toward School Changed?

When Archie Brown decided to go back to school, after dropping out seven years earlier, his whole attitude changed. The company for which he worked would pay for his tuition, based on his grades. If he made A’s in the courses they would pay one hundred percent! For B’s he would receive eighty percent reimbursement, and only fifty percent for C’s. But Archie found that those incentives were not the only motives for making good grades. He was not a student, the wanted to learn. He did not simply want to go to school, he wanted to be get educated!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About My Decision To Go Back To School 7 Years Later?

The decision to go back to school was not an easy one for Archie Brown, even though he had been told by his boss that he could get raises as he completed courses in science that would improve his abilities in the lab where he was employed. The problem for Archie was that he had really messed up his grades as an 18 year old freshman. He was embarrassed, afraid he would not be accepted into the junior college in town. But Arch had matured a bit by the time he was 25, and after some soul searching, he swallowed his pride and submitted the papers required for admission, including the transcript that showed his overall GPA was now 0.63!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Friday, December 29, 2006

Did You Hear About How I Had a Chance to Improve My Job?

When he was 25 Archie Brown had a job in a lab at a chemical plant. He like the work and was good at it. It looked like he might be able to advance his position. One draw back was his limited education. He had frittered away his first year at college. He thought he would never go back. But his boss told Arch that the company would increase his pay if he took some courses in chemistry or science. And they would pay for the school on a prorated basis, depending on his grades.

Archie had some things to think about.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How I Did Not Care About Bad Grades?

When Archie Brown was 18 years old, he did not care that his irresponsibility had led to his grades being so bad. His first semester grade point average was 1.57 and cost him his eligibility to play baseball in the NCAA. His second semester he did not attend classes for the last six weeks of the semester, nor take any finals, so he received five F’s and a B. The B was in Physical Education and it was a gift from the graduate assistant who was in charge of the class.

Archie did not care at 18, but there was a bit of a change of heart when he was 25!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About How My Second Semester Ended?

After Archie and Ronda were married, she continued to attend class and finished the semester. But Archie was to immature to swallow his pride and go rectify his situation; opening the door again to play ball for the school in a future season. Instead he took a menial job and joined a local semi-pro team. He did not finish the semester; he did not care about the report card that indicated his grades were incomplete. He did not care when they turned to F’s three months.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About My Marriage Proposal?

It was not so much that Archie thought about the decision not to go back to class after he was declared academically ineligible to play baseball. He was just angry. In his exasperation, he called the girl he was dating. He asked her to marry him, to leave the next day and go to the courthouse in the county seat and be married. To his surprise, Ronda said yes!

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About My Decision Not to Finish the Second Semester?

Archie Brown had really made a mess of his grades in his first semester of college. His 1.57 grade point average left him academically ineligible to play baseball, according to NCAA rules. And he compounded the mess when he decided not to attend classes for the last six weeks of the semester. He was angry, and besides, he had other plans.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Did You Hear About My Reaction To Academic Ineligibility?

When Archie Brown learned that he was ineligible to play baseball under NCAA rules, because his grades were so poor, he got angry. But he did not get angry at the one responsible for the situation. He was mad at the school, the coach, everyone but himself. He soon compounded his blunders.

Subscribe to spinayarn

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)