2-24-06

We survived the Chamber of Commerce Banquet last night.

Yes, they laughed, they yawned and frequently snuck a look at the clock.

Overall, a pretty good banquet. I would have to say three speakers is about two many but they all tried to keep the comments fairly short.

One thing that is good about being the emcee is I get to eat with the first group. That was good.

The crowd wasn’t all that great but our girls were playing in the regional tournament some 200 yards away.

I avoided embarrassing myself for the most part, I guess.

Or at least my wife didn’t mention it if I did and she is usually good at recalling things like that.

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Now, it just might be me but if you’re at some children’s music deal or some people sing at your church and it is really bad, when it is over do you clap because the thing is finally finished?

Come on now, be honest. I mean everybody claps. But are they actually clapping out of enjoyment or relief?

I’ll admit it, if I am bored or it is really bad, I clap because I’m glad the thing is over.

Have you ever felt like booing or heckling a kid choir or band? Even if they are like ear-piercing bad? Or do you sit there with a goofy smile on your face, thinking “Boy, I wish this crap would hurry up and get over!”

I would never boo or heckle but have actually thought those thoughts, but without the goofy smile on my face.

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I believe there are basically two types of guys in the world. The first type is what I consider the anal retentive type.

The second would be the jump right in group. These are the ways the two groups approach a new project such as putting together some thing the wife bought for some reason you have not figured out.

The first group has to lay all the pieces out and read the instructions from cover to cover several times before actually starting the project.

Of course, the second type dumps all the crud on the ground and tries to fit the pieces together. Instructions are just fallback in case the dang thing doesn’t work.

I am part of the second group. This is made even more dangerous as I don’t have the patience to read the instructions blah, blah, blah before doing the deal.

This typically is not a real good deal for me as I mess the thing up so bad that the instructions can’t even fix it. If I get some computer program or game, I jump right in and try and figure it out.

I get more enjoyment out of that.

My father is a part of the other part. He would read every word of the manual several times before even thinking about starting. The times we would do something together, I’d get going and he would have a horrified look on his face, the same one I saw on many people when they used to enter my old bachelor pad.

Then we would sit there and wait while he read the instructions. If I do read the instructions, it’s go to item 1, finish it and then go to 2. When they tell me to read all the instructions before starting, that just makes it more of a challenge.