Monday, May 30, 2011
Main Street
by Sinclair Lewis
I learned that Sinclair Lewis was from Minnesota. He successfully captures a time where here when the prairie was beginning to be tamed.
What he was less successful of accomplishing was creating characters that I was interested in reading about. I struggled to finish as I had almost no interest in what was happening in Gopher Prairie.
I learned that Sinclair Lewis was from Minnesota. He successfully captures a time where here when the prairie was beginning to be tamed.
What he was less successful of accomplishing was creating characters that I was interested in reading about. I struggled to finish as I had almost no interest in what was happening in Gopher Prairie.
Claudius the God
by Robert Graves
Maybe following I, Claudius immediately with Claudius the God was not a good idea.
One thing I loved about I, Claudius was that the evil, selfish, and power grabbing was happening around Claudius. He was an outside observer to the debauchery. As soon as Claudius became Emperor, he was in the middle of the cesspool.
I did enjoy the story of Herod and the conclusion after he died.
Maybe following I, Claudius immediately with Claudius the God was not a good idea.
One thing I loved about I, Claudius was that the evil, selfish, and power grabbing was happening around Claudius. He was an outside observer to the debauchery. As soon as Claudius became Emperor, he was in the middle of the cesspool.
I did enjoy the story of Herod and the conclusion after he died.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
As Old as Me
There have been moments in my life that, when I relate them to others, sound insignificant, but to me are monumental. This is one.
Today at swim practice, before we began, I had a little sit down with all my swimmers. My assistant coach once again was absent (I could spew hours about the structure of our team and the lack of professionalism of my "assistant" Lyndsay but I won't) and I wanted to focus the kids on what our goals were to help practice run smoothly.
It was early and the swimmers and I were sharing banter. One swimmers ask when was my birthday and it was discovered that our birthdays were twelve days apart. I followed with "twelve days and 35 years apart". The always important age question was asked next. "43".
The comments that followed were not limited to the following:
I should add that my youngest son, Michael has been coming to swim practice with me lately. He is nine and just beginning to learn how to swim. He works hard but I can never tell if he is enjoying himself or not. That is the kind of guy he is.
When the comment was made about my age and the age of one of the dads, I said I was exactly as old as Michael's dad, born on the same day even. Many questions followed mostly directed at Michael.
And, without missing a beat, Michael said, "They were not only born the same day but the same minute and the same second."
The perfect Cauthorn joke! What Michael did then was to let it play out itself out, he let the swimmers figured it on their own. Some got it later that others, I think some never did get it, but Michael pulled it off. He pulled it off just like I would have.
Today at swim practice, before we began, I had a little sit down with all my swimmers. My assistant coach once again was absent (I could spew hours about the structure of our team and the lack of professionalism of my "assistant" Lyndsay but I won't) and I wanted to focus the kids on what our goals were to help practice run smoothly.
It was early and the swimmers and I were sharing banter. One swimmers ask when was my birthday and it was discovered that our birthdays were twelve days apart. I followed with "twelve days and 35 years apart". The always important age question was asked next. "43".
The comments that followed were not limited to the following:
- WOW!
- You are older than I thought!
- That's old!
I should add that my youngest son, Michael has been coming to swim practice with me lately. He is nine and just beginning to learn how to swim. He works hard but I can never tell if he is enjoying himself or not. That is the kind of guy he is.
When the comment was made about my age and the age of one of the dads, I said I was exactly as old as Michael's dad, born on the same day even. Many questions followed mostly directed at Michael.
And, without missing a beat, Michael said, "They were not only born the same day but the same minute and the same second."
The perfect Cauthorn joke! What Michael did then was to let it play out itself out, he let the swimmers figured it on their own. Some got it later that others, I think some never did get it, but Michael pulled it off. He pulled it off just like I would have.
