The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down

No, I'm not going to do that. This is a snapshot of our electronic diary world. It's paradoxical how educators believe through various studies that the American literary rate is falling, yet the number of personal blogs is rising. Admittedly, some of them are a tough read but many range from entertaining to scary to just plain naughty. They're kind of fun.

BTW, I like scanning blogs for the baby pictures. Some are so damn cute.

It's been raining like a son-of-a-gun out there since yesterday. If you see a guy in an ark floating by, stop pointing and laughing and get on board. Per the Weather Service as of 5:35 AM:

HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS EASTERN CALIFORNIA AND WESTERN NEVADA. RAINFALL TOTALS THUS FAR ARE 4 TO 7 INCHES IN THE SIERRA NEVADA WITH 1 TO 2 INCHES IN THE RENO AREA. TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON WILL BE 6 TO 10 INCHES IN THE SIERRA WITH 1.5 TO 3 INCHES IN RENO AND SPARKS. SNOW LEVELS REMAIN NEAR 8000 FEET...WITH SIGNIFICANT RUNOFF EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVELS WILL FALL TO NEAR 5000 FEET LATE SATURDAY WHEN RUNOFF IS EXPECTED TO DECREASE.

Crappy night. Gonna have to find a doctor today because I've got the usual (and annual) symptoms of the good ol' nasal and ear infections. And I finished two weeks of antibiotics that probably didn't do anything more than mask the symptoms. Happy New Year.

We'll hear the highlights of 2005, but, oy!, did the year suck is so many ways. Fortunately, idiots kept us sane. Here's some sports stories that may have not caught your attention.

Resolutions...in no particular order:
- Lose more weight
- Get a job that matters
- Get a handle on the credit card bills
- Be less whiny (see above)
- More bike riding!
- Behave...try to behave...pretend to behave...ah, whatever

I'll be happy to get any one of those.

Been mulling over the death penalty thing some and have come to realize that my thoughts have evolved as I've got older.
- When I was teenager, it was "kill them all and let God sort them out."
- In my twenties, exceptions to every rule (spouse abusers and "The Burning Bed").
- In my thirties, the issue smacked up side the head when my sister was convicted.
- Now in my forties, I teach convicted murderers.

Don't get me wrong: there are people walking the planet who should be talking to God face-to-face and explaining their sins, but on the whole, the current judicial system of trial and conviction is so riddled with political and personal agendas, it's a given that people being executed by the government who could very well be innocent of their crimes. At the moment, I support a ten-year ban on capital executions until every death row inmate's case is reviewed objectively and the weight of full forensic science has been brought to bear (DNA testing of evidence). Maybe by the time the ban is over, we'll understand that murder in all forms is holding us back as a society and a species.

Returning to the literary theme for a moment, according to the Mirriam-Webster, these 2005 ten most looked-up words on their website are:
1. integrity
2. refugee
3. contempt
4. filibuster
5. insipid
6. tsunami
7. pandemic
8. conclave
9. levee
10. inept

Just for fun...

"The inept Republican congressional conclave, attempting to steer contemptuous public scrutiny from their insipid attempts to provide support to the refugees of the New Orleans levee breaks and the Indonesian tsunami disaster, tried to pass a billion-dollar funding effort to block the bird flu pandemic, but the Democrats, on an integrity bender, blocked the bill with a filibuster."

It's a little wordy. I bet Aunt Lilly could cut it down.

And this is for her. Guess who this is from his days as a Kansas City Royals prospect?