"For Better or For Worse"

You have all heard the phrase and a lot of you have repeated it yourself (hopefully, only once) at a wedding. But, it is also the title of my favorite comic strip which has been published daily over the past 29 years. Unlike most comic strips, the characters are based on the real life family members of the writer, Lynn Johnston, and all have aged in real time.

And to peak my interest, the (Patterson) family members' ages parallel those of my own. Thus, our families have experienced many of the same joys, sorrows, disappointments, and successes together over the past three decades. Whatever you could imagine that could happen to a family was there to be read daily in the funnies. Reading the daily postings of the Patterson family provided me "comic" relief to know that what I was living wasn't all that unusual.

People fell in & out of love, babies were born, kids grew up one day at a time, grandparents grew old and frail, Mom and Dad grew wiser with every crisis, Mrs. Patterson started a small business just like my own wife, and the family dog died much to my dismay. I've only cried twice in my life over a dog. Once was this past year when our own dog, Woobie, had to be put to sleep. The other was when Farley died, saving a kid from drowning, in spite of the fact that he was a tired old dog that gave everything he had left. I was really upset-both times!

Nevertheless, people move on and so did the strip. The Patterson's got a new dog and so did we. Edgar Patterson and Wrigley Meek were just what both families needed and life moved on. And that is the point of the comic strip. Real things happen to people. You need to enjoy the good times and roll with the punches during the bad.

Today, "For Better or For Worse" ended. What?!! It can't end. I'm not dead yet. I want an instant replay! Well, upon further review, it is not ending. It is starting over tomorrow, September 1st. It turns out Lynn Johnston is going to re-write the strip from the beginning while changing the things she would want to be different over the past 29 years. Wouldn't life be interesting if you could actually do that?

I'm not sure I could improve upon what has happened to my family. I have a great partner, my wife, and three great sons living lives more interesting than my own. So, I'll live my next 29 years vicariously through them while I follow the re-write of "For Better or For Worse".

For starters, she's bringing back Farley this week. It's de'ja` vu all over again.

Lucas Oil Stadium at Night

I was driving by the "Oil Can" last night. The view from the interstate was actually quite spectacular, since I've always felt that it is quite hideous in the daylight. The way it was lit accentuated what little is attractive about the behemoth. And once everyone has a few $8 beers at the game, people will be in love with the place.

Of course, isn't that the way things are in the bar scene. After a few drinks in the subdued light, women look foxy and the men are all hunks.

But, at daybreak reality returns. It's not quite what you thought it was the night before.

Lose Us All Our Money Stadium

Well, tonight is one of many big nights for Indy's new stadium. They are hosting all of the the VIP's. This weekend, they let all of the urchins (aka Colt's Fans) in to get a look see. And, next week they are going to actually play some football inside the behemoth. It's huge!-just like the bonds the taxpayers are going to pay back over the next three decades.

I'll probably not see it in my lifetime, but someday the Colts will leave town, fold, or become irrelevant when tickets cost $1000 each in the nose bleed section. What will the city do to continue to fund the bonds? Here's an idea.

Fill it up with corn.

Junk vs. Important Stuff

"One man's trash is another man's treasure." Everyone has heard the quote, but I have no idea who wrote it. Nevertheless, there always seems to be someone who's willing to buy anything at any price regardless of its real value. Here are a few.

Manhattan Island-The Indians sold it for a few beads (bad deal). The Arabs just paid $800 million for the Chrysler Building (good deal to the likely immigrant guy that owned it). The Indians should have held out.

Louisiana Purchase-The French sold it for about $16 million (bad deal). The U.S.A. has made a bucket of money since (good deal). However, now our government is spending billions rebuilding New Orleans in spite of the fact that the Gulf of Mexico will consume it in about 50 years (really bad deal).

Alaska-We bought it from the Russians for about $8 million (good for us). I bet the Russians would be drilling for oil if they still owned it and would sell it to us for $100+ per barrel (and we would probably pay it-not only a bad deal, but stupid).

RCA Dome- Indianapolis built it for a little over $35 million (great deal) and it was the catalyst for the renovation to downtown Indy. Now we are building another dome for $700+ million and giving most of the revenue to a bunch of rich guys (worst deal of the new millennium for any city)-until the next city gets suckered by the NFL.

My wife-Great, great deal! No explanation necessary.