Kleenex? Check.

If you're addicted to college basketball like I am, you are probably aware that this weekend was Coaches Against Cancer.

This meant that around the country coaching staffs wore tennis shoes instead of their usual dress shoes to bring awareness to the fight against cancer.

But you might not be aware that this tradition didn't just occur at the college level.

The padres (aka parents) and I went to see a high school basketball game, and found the same focus. The coaches had strapped on their tennis shoes. In addition both teams sported special t-shirts in warm ups, and the visiting team even wore pink socks.

More memorably was the naming of guest coaches for the night. The home team was coached by a young boy who is fighting brain cancer.

And who will most likely loose that fight in the near future. He can barely hear, doesn't see well, and is confined to a wheel chair.

But he was definitely part of the game. All the starters gave him high fives when they were announced. He fist bumped the players as they came out of the game, and it was hard to tell who was more excited about it. He was in the huddle during time outs and at half time he went to locker room.

At half time, the school recognized him and his family, and gave him a cheer as well as a standing ovation.

The game, the sport, was overshadowed by something more important. Life. The emphasis wasn't on getting the win, but helping the fight to cure a more vicious opponent.

The loudest cheer took place at the intermission, as little Kyle waved to us all from his wheel chair. Even the cheerleaders were more excited about a picture with the star of the show than cheering their team on to victory.

And I would imagine many of the eyes in the gym were filled with tears.

Night on the town

I went to 80's night with some friends yesterday. Here's what I observed, and it's something I've noticed at previous 80's night excursions.

No matter what song is played, people get excited about it.

Seriously.

The song will get 2-4 measures in and there are always a few people that get pumped up about it.

This is funny to me because most of these people only learned 80's music after the fact. Kids born in '88 can drink, and I'm pretty sure they weren't familiar with this music during the first two years of their lives.

I could be wrong though. Stranger things have happened.

I also think that if the DJ for 80's can't play mostly solid songs, he probably should retire.

Think about it. He (I suppose it could be she) has an entire decade of music to pick from. Just think of all the top billboard songs in one, let alone ten.

So if Mr. DJ doesn't play good music all night, basically he fails.

Two other important points: cheesy fries at two in the morning are delicious and I could use a nap.

I'm not like this all the time.

My blog has been slightly depressing lately, or I've been slightly depressed. One of the two. In an attempt to lift everyone's spirits, today's post will be a collection of limericks, haiku's, and short stories.

Totally joking.

I'm just going to write down a few random thoughts from my head. And I'm not taking responsbility for any of it.

• I had toast for breakfast this morning. Well, a piece of toast, really. I meant to cut two, but the first one was so thick, think Great Wall thick, that I just went with one.
• I've gotten sucked into The Bachelor for no reason other than the fact that I have way too much time on my hands. I fully agree with his decision last night to give out one less rose than planned. Some of those women were CRAZY.
• I have been house/dogsitting (yes, again) since Saturday and have yet to go grocery shopping. Instead, I raid my parents' larder. On a side note, if anyone is looking for a house/dog sitter, I am available except for a few select days. Hit me up.
• Instead of more quality writing, I've decided to mix up the word choice on my blog. Hence the use of the word larder...and hence. I think using the phrase 'hit me up' was a first as well.
• I passed the lesson - finally - for transcribing. (Confused, see my previous post.) It took me about 3Xs as long as it was supposed to.
• I woke up at 8 a.m., and was not happy about it. If I sleep in I have fewer hours in the day to fill. Please sleep is about the most wonderful thing ever, next to food. Or The Bachelor. (totally joking)
• I also did not fall asleep very easily, which led to lots of unnecessary thinking. Do you know what I mean? Somehow late at night it's incredibly easy to convince yourself of things that aren't at all realistic. But that does remind, I need to set up a couple health related appointments.

So, see ya! (You know you wanted this to end anyways.)

Typing away.

I have been training for the past month or so for a new job. All of the training takes place on my own, with an instructor working with me over the internet.

The job is transcribing at a local college. I may have explained this before, but I'll go back over it for those of you who are new, haven't been paying attention, etc.

Transcribing involves going to classes and typing a transcript of what happens in the class for deaf and hard of hearing students.

This means I have had to learn a completely new way of typing, with a special program, to speed up my abilities and catch as much meaning as possible. I will be doing meaning for meaning, not word for word. Basically I'll take information and chunk it. Exciting, eh?

Today has been an especially frustrating training day. I'm stuck in a lesson and can't get out. So I am giving myself a break. Hopefully the break works.

I thought I'd give you a taste of how this typing work. Good luck figuring out what that gibberish below might mean.

life has bn rjr dprssg ltly, i'm not gg t lie i v no e t blm for js i'm prtty sure jt's jst how life wrks, but jt ds't mean i'm hppy abt k i d know i need t get out f js funk1 any ideas/

There you go. I'm not even sure I could translate that.

She was prepared for something, I guess.

So I was at Target yesterday with my dad.

No real surprise there. A lot of the excursions that my dad and I take involve shopping for something somewhere.

(Also, I like to keep my descriptions general and vague so they can apply to a lot.)

The trip itself was mostly uneventful. We didn't really find what we went for, but my dad got a cool olive oil jar thingy. (Have I also mentioned that I am really bad at descriptions?!)

The Moment came while we were in line at the checkout.

I was standing there (mostly) minding my own business when I happened to glance at the woman checking out in front of us.

There were panties in the pocket of her jean.

WHY?

Not just why carry around spare panties, but also why in your pocket???

She had a purse, and that seems like a much more logical location to me. But I tend to think in a pretty linear fashion and maybe she doesn't.

Or....maybe she stole a pair of panties from target.

Maybe she doesn't have much money and is living out of her car and her daughter really needs new panties.

Or maybe she just stuck them there at some point in her and totally forgot about them. (If I were ever in this situation that would probably be my reason for panties in my pocket.)

It just made me wonder though.

Please pass the Kleenex.

I wish I had something intelligent, witty, or creative for you today.

Instead I have a cold. Luckily for me, my life is such that it really doesn't matter that my day has been completely unproductive.

I'll map out the day to illustrate what 'unproductive' means in this case.

10:45 a.m. - I wake up.
11:30 a.m. - I actually get out of bed. Impressive, I know.
11:45 a.m. - I consume meal #1.
12:00 p.m. - I turn on the TV.
2:00 p.m. - I turn off the TV and eat meal #2.
2:30 p.m. - I read.
4:30 p.m. - I cuddle with the dog.
5:00 p.m. - I take a bath.
6:00 p.m. - I eat meal #3.
6:30 p.m. - I turn on the TV. And haven't left my seat since.

It's a good thing I am not actually working right now, just training on my own time.

Now excuse me while I get back to my TV watching.

If we are what we eat, I'm an Oreo milkshake.

What I eat has a huge effect on how I look and feel. My diet pretty much affects everything from my complexion, my energy levels, and (*gasp*) my weight.

Shocking, right?!

Overall, I did solidly today diet-wise. (In this case diet refers to what I'm eating, and not what I'm not eating.)

Or I at least I was doing well until we picked up the bro from the airport and he was starving. (That sentence shows how talented I am with words.) He had been traveling most of his life - since about midnight our time - to return from the absolute madhouse that was D.C.

Not surprisingly, the one bagel with cream cheese he consumed did not fill him up, so Jack-in-the-Box, here we come.

This is when I learned a couple of interesting things.

First, Jacks has started listing caloric info on their drive thru display. This may be true, or required, of all fast food restarants but I'm kind of clueless.

Second, my regular sized Oreo shake contained 700+ calories. Unfortunate. That's probably about a third of the calories I should be consuming during the day.

I just couldn't help myself though. My throat is dry and scratchy (I think I might be getting sick) and the thought of ice cream was too delicioius to pass us.

Do you blame me? 'Cuz I sure do.

But it was totally worth it. As long as I don't have any problems with a shortened, less healthy life. Maybe I'll think twice next time.

The only good news, I didn't actually finish the thing. So maybe it was only 500-ish calories.

I'm clinging to that slim hope, that's for sure.