Disc Golf and Shiner

I lost my cell phone charger, so I headed to the nearest US Cellular store to buy a new one. So important was my purchase that I was assisted by none other than the "Director of First Impressions". I wonder how many employees he directs and what their positions are called.

"Executive Accessories Consultant"?

"Vice President of Ringing up Purchases"?

Rodney calls them "synchronicities". I call them "cowinky-dinks". The 2 latest ones are disc golf related:

#1 - Last week's league night in Ames, we're sitting around waiting for the rest of the groups to come in. A group of casual players is just leaving the course. A girl in the group is freaking out that someone would leave a disc in the middle of the fairway; she had just found one on the last hole. As the group leaves, the girl decides she doesn't want to deal with trying to find its owner, so she just hands it to league player, Ryan Maher, who looks at the name written on the back, which reads, "Ryan Maher".

#2 - This week's league, I had thrown a pretty close run at the basket on the second hole, when the topic of conversation shifted to aces and whether I considered starting an ace pool for league. Two holes later, a casual group playing behind us hits #4 for an ace. After the round, we discover that a league player also hit an ace on #12.

I have no idea what goes on at this business.

I had to pop into the supermarket the other day and followed a car into the parking aisle. When the car saw a spot open it *slowly* turned into the space. This was my first indication of the age of the driver. I wasn't in any hurry, so I patiently waited for the guy to caaaaaarefuly inch his big car into the space without hitting the car in the next spot, which was also exiting. Once he realized he didn't have enough room to clear the next car, he abruptly slammed the brakes. Then I watched the ensuing 20 second comedy of errors where the first guy and the second guy couldn't decide who should move first.

Meanwhile, I hear a very audible, "FUCK!", coming from the car that screeched to a halt behind me. This being a college town, it was two college-aged guys trying to exit the lot and not having the time to wait. A few long blasts of their sport compact car punctuated their displeasure at the pace of life at that point in time. A few more seconds was all they could take and they jammed it in reverse to try an alternate route. I guess there was beer to be drunk and they were late for passing out and getting written on with permanent markers.

As it happens in cases like these, the minute the frat boys beat their hasty retreat, the 2 other guys came to an agreement and were able to continue on their way. I took my spot and got out of the car in time to see the hot-heads get stopped in the next aisle in much the same situation.

I'm sure there is a lesson to be learned there.

So, I'm reading the Letters to the Editor section of the Ames Tribune and this one catches my eye. Seems that some lady has it in for, of all things, circumcision. I'm faintly aware of the controversy surrounding this subject. To my knowledge, the practice was invented as a matter of hygiene although now some think it's unnecessary in that regard. Up until now, I thought that was the basic argument against it. It wasn't until reading this LTTE that I learned of a jihadic wing of the anti-circumcision movement. The author of the letter is the state coordinator for this organization. This is a small passage of her letter, but it give you an idea of the tone:

...One new mother, Anne Pyterek, commented, "It wasn't until I became the mother of a son that I thought of circumcision as the root of misogyny." Echoing this sentiment, Marilyn Milos, founder and national director of NOCIRC, states plainly, "Circumcision is where sex and violence meet for the first time."

Yyyyyyyyikes.