Space Shuttle launch...

Finally, here is footage from the Space Shuttle launch narrated by my favorite news anchor.

Patience....

Okay, how many of you saw this coming? This picture is of a gas station in Matthews, Missouri (a few miles south of Sikeston) that we stopped at on Thanksgiving Day for gas on the way to Memphis. We were paying right at 4.00 a gallon for gas this summer. I remember getting excited coming home from Myrtle Beach the first part of October and seeing a couple of stations selling gas for 2.99.

I remember people telling me that gas would be at five, six, or seven dollars a gallon by years end. “Experts” said we’d never see gas at less than 3.00 a gallon again. Numerous people, politicians and pundits said the government need to step in “and do something!”

Meanwhile, people started driving less and driving more fuel efficient cars. The price of a barrel of oil plummeted (from almost 150 a barrel to 50 a barrel now) and eventually the cost of a gallon of gas followed. Demand went down and supply went up so prices went down. Econ 101.

To me, this shows the need for patience. Dave Ramsey puts it aptly when he calls us “a microwave society”. We expect things to happen “right now”. I have a big problem with patience. When I lack patience, it generally boils down to my being selfish and thinking I am more important than others. When I do that, I am going against the Christian principle of esteeming others higher than myself (Luke 22:39). Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:9,10 so it is certainly a quality all Christians should possess

Jonathan's happy, I'm not..

Here's why..

Josh was equally happy about this

Of course, this started a brand new argument in the house. Are the Giants better since they have the best record in the NFL at 10-1? Or are the Jets better since they decisively defeated the only undefeated NFL team on the road? Donna finally had to call a moratorium on any NFL discussions til further notice.

The Notre Dame Broadcasting Company

Donna and I turned on our local NBC affiliate (WPSD) to watch Saturday Jeopardy. We were greeted with the usual Saturday Notre Dame game. They were playing Syracuse.

I was greeted with the joyful sight of Notre Dame losing in the last seconds. As Hank Hill says on New Year's Day, "It's a good day when Notre Dame loses".

I wish NBC would quit signing these contracts to show all the Notre Dame home games. My understanding is that the current contract goes through 2015. Wonderful.....

NFL happiness

This is the first time ever that all of our teams have been in first place in their respective divisions this late in the year (Arizona for me, Giants for Jonathan and Jets for Josh).

The Cardinals can clinch their division this week with a win over Jonathan's Giants and a 49ers loss. Per the online KBSI-TV schedule, this game will be shown in our area this Sunday (although they've switched on us before).

The trash talking has reached new levels. Donna has threatened to make us watch the game in separate rooms and is considering leaving the house for the afternoon. The game is in Arizona so I think they have a chance. Jonathan says the Giants pass rush will destroy the immobile "Old Man Warner"

Such is the NFL...

The Mildcats...

Well there goes all my optimism for the UK basketball season...

You'd think after the Gardner-Webb debacle of last year that UK wouldn't take anybody lightly again. Well tonight proved that wrong.

Kentucky lost their home opener to Virginia Military Institute. Not Virginia or Virginia Tech mind you... A military college with 1500 students. They gave up 111 points. They were down 83-60 at one point and actually managed to take the lead but then committed a bunch of silly turnovers and ceased to play defense (again).

1. Billy Gillespie, could you please look like you care?

2. Patrick Patterson, a player who thinks he'll be ready for the NBA next year has got to put up a better line than 8 points and 7 rebounds. There were several times in the last few minutes when we desperately needed a rebound and someone who thinks he is an NBA caliber player has to get those.

3. A starting point guard (Micheal Porter) cannot put up a line of 1 assist and 5 turnovers.

And it only gets better with a game at No. 1 North Carolina next week....

Space Shuttle Launch Tonight.....

The space shuttle Endeavor launches tonight. This is an especially big deal in the Yancy household because my younger son Josh is there with his multimedia team from school. This explains it better than I could. This is his report for the day from there.