Monday Smiles – 12/1/2014

This has been a Thanksgiving week for the grandkids, almost to the exclusion of everything else, but Saturday, I took the afternoon off to watch my USC Trojans play Notre Dame with my son-in-law, Lars, at their house.  Oh, the kids were around but there are a million kids in the neighborhood, so the grandsons were content to play outside.  Savannah drifted in and out, insisting on a game or two of Old Maid.  There are only three people that could get me to play Old Maid during a USC football game but Savy is one of them.  This has been a disappointing year.  We (the spectator we) lost several games in the final seconds and worse, we were beaten soundly by the basketball school across town last weekend, a loss that made it likely that they would play in the Pac-12 championship game.   Still, in spite of the delusions of most UCLA fans, our biggest rivalry is Notre Dame, a game that Forbes Magazine, no less, calls college football’s greatest because of the long time excellence of both programs.  The game started well, with USC going up 35-0 before Notre Dame’s second string quaterback led them on a touchdown drive to end the firat half.   Given, the Trojan’s penchant for second half collapses this year, I was happy but anything but confident.  But the second half went much like the first, the game ending with a 49-14 score.   Yay!

Monday Smiles – 11/18/2013

Like the sun breaking through the autumn gloom here in Orange County today, Monday Smiles are a little late in coming.  And just as I knew the sun was there behind the gloom, I knew the smiles were waiting.   I was just to busy to smile them.  You see, at 7:45 this morning when I groaned out of bed, there will still those last few lost files to be loaded into my new computer and several programs that needed installing.  Several needed to be run in compatibility mode because they’re a remnant of my Windows XP days.  And then there was the state of my office, with several computers and various hard drives scattered around the room, cables running helter-skelter between them.  But now, it’s 3 pm and all that remains is my brand new Dell desktop humming quietly beside me, chock full of all the data that I thought I’d lost.  There is a part of me that loves the challenge of a seemingly insurmountable computer problem, a part of me that keeps me going through the frustration.  And that part of me is smiling big time.

Something Amiss

There is something amiss in the Universe.   Perhaps the little known 13th sign of the Zodiac, the Joker, is in the night sky.  And maybe the moon is in the 13th house and Saturn is aligned with Uranus.  You may not be able to tell from wherever you are but it sure seems that way here in Los Angeles.  My USC Trojans, who were ranked Number One in the preseason polls, have lost three (three!!) games.  OK, that’s happened once or twice before.   But we (that’s the traditional sports-fan-who’s-never-played-football we) are ranked lower in the polls than our crosstown rivals, the UCLA Teddy Bears … er, Bruins.   USC is only a 3 1/2 point favorite in Saturday’s Cross Town Rivalry Game, a game that USC won 50-0 last year.  And this game means something: the winner will go to the Pac-12 Conference Championship.

Monday Smiles – 8/3/2012

I have always been a watch-at-home sports fan.  Based on our few excursions to large outdoor sports venues, I prefer my recliner and TV to the prospect of enduring endless traffic and distant over-priced parking to watch a game from uncomfortable seats surrounded by thousands of beer-guzzling fans … only to have a much poorer view of the field.  But I have also been a huge fan of University of Southern California football since I started attending the USC Graduate school in the 1980s.  When tickets to last Saturday’s opening game against Hawaii showed up on Goldstar, the half-price ticket website, Muri and I decided to go.

Up and Down

It has been a crazy week.   Starting the week, I was semi-retired with just one low-pressure contract with a long time client.   Then we called a potential customer to discuss an idea we had for improving his radar.   We’re not radar guys but we’ve done some similar work underwater with sonar, which works similarly …. radar uses radio waves, sonar uses sound.  He liked our idea, so now, we’re writing a proposal due in three weeks.  The same day, I was retained as an expert to help an investment firm evaluate a company they might buy.  The next day, I spoke to another company interested in using me as an expert on medical ultrasound.  Thursday, we had a status call with our formerly low-pressure customer and discovered we need to be done sooner than expected.  Suddenly, I was unretired. Yikes!  By the end of the week, both expert opportunities have faded, at least for now, and I was back to busy but semi-retired.  Life’s like that sometimes.  It’s good not to over-react but not always possible.

Monday Smiles – 11/28/2011

It has been a long time since my grandkids have had a sleepover at Nana and Papa’s house.   For one, we don’t come to Phoenix very often in the summer, since it’s inclined to be over 110° nearly every day.   My daughter hasn’t seemed inclined to let them stay on the few occasions we were here, possibly because hot weather brings out the scorpions in San Tan Valley … and the last time she was here … in our absence … with the kids, they found on in the family room.   But this visit, the weather was cooler and there were extenuating circumstances.  Maddux was going to miss his pre-school Thanksgiving party because he had a doctor’s appointment so my daughter asked if he could spend Wednesday night at our house to make up for it.  Of course, once Reed and Savy heard that Maddux was having a sleepover, they wanted their turn.  Plan B: Savy Tuesday night, Maddux Wednesday night, and Reed on Thursday.  Now, Savy is a Mommy’s girl … when my daughter asked if she really would spend the night without crying, she didn’t answer.   Maddux, always the good big brother said, She can come on my night.   Savy said, Yes, I want that.   Plan C:  Maddux and Savy, Wednesday night … Reed on Thursday after Thanksgiving dinner.

Monday Smiles – 11/21/2011

OK.   Let’s summarize the weekend.  Friday night, errands.   Saturday, Morning Pages in the park then a walk with Muri (which ended up in my Saturday post, Heads Up).   Saturday night, date night postponed so that I could watch my USC Trojans defeat number 4 Oregon.   Sunday, post Service for a Smile, then head off for an afternoon at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena … dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Duarte.   Nice, huh?

Monday Smiles – 9/5/2011

Between the second week of January and Labor Day, Monday Smiles are built on things like excellent Date Nights, cuter-than-bugs grandkids, and enjoyable theater.  With the arrival of September … and the college football season … all that changes.  Monday Smiles depend upon football games.   Certain football games, starting with any game involving my Alma Mater, the University of Southern California.   Muri will tell you, a USC Trojan loss on Saturday can make for a grumpy Sunday.   Now, while I’m watching the week’s USC game, I’ll be keeping track of two other teams … the UCLA Bruins and the Notre Dame Fumbling … er, Fighting … Irish.   You see, given that USC wins, a loss by either of our two main rivals only makes my Monday Smile bigger.   A Saturday on which my Trojans win and both Notre Dame and UCLA lose … well, that’s known in the Older Eyes household as a Perfect Weekend.

Monday Smiles – 12/6/2010

If you take a look at my recent posts, you’ll see spirituality and you’ll see gratitude.  You’ll see family and you’ll see concern for others who may be struggling financially during his holiday season.   You might think Older Eyes is above such trivialities as college football games and school rivalries.   But if you’re a long time reader, you know differently.   I live and die with my teams, my teams being the University of Connecticut Huskies and the University of Southern California Trojans.   I’ve been known to lose  sleep after a loss and Tivo games so that I can watch only if we win.   I’m a very poor loser.   When USC lost to UCLA a few years ago, I spent an hour writing the Top Ten Reasons it’s still good to be a Trojan then hours more posting it on message boards all over the web.   I even tried to get it read on the local USC radio station.