I do not remember what started it, but for some reason (or perhaps for no reason whatsoever), I was singing "London Bridges" to Emily. Not long afterward, we heard her in her bedroom singing, "London Tipton has a rule, has a rule, has a rule... London Tipton has a rule..." (and I did not hear the finish of it).
For those of you unfortunate souls that have no idea who London Tipton is, she is the hotel owner's daughter on "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." It's a kid's show that seems to be playing on our TV as often as Hannah Montana, even in the absence e of children...
My Mom and I drove to T-Town to look at gravestones, headstones, memorials, whatever you want to call them, for Dad. We nearly drove right by the place because it is kinda small and, frankly, looks kinda junky... Well, that's not quite right. It appears to me that it was once a car dealership, judging by the way the building appears. Anyway, instead of cars in the front "lot," there are memorials.
As weird as it seems, the whole scene was not freaky at all. And, the best part, the purveyor let us look around for a bit before finally coming out and introducing himself. He looked like a better-groomed version of Grizzly Adams to me (though his beard was white). These connection were further fueled by the fact that this guy had a HUGE moose head hanging in his "showroom" plus there were some other animals (one was a deer, for sure). I don't believe I have ever seen a furry animal even close to the size of that moose, and all I was looking at was its head and neck. The rack on the thing could have easily served as a cot (or a place to hang one, anyway).
I feared there would be a lot of tears, and possibly worse - and not just from me, either... But, the whole thing played out in a weird kind of dance - some personal moments mixed with the methodic choosing of icons for the markers. Dad is getting golf clubs and Mom is getting a custom one with books and an apple. The owner even asked us about Dad's Veteran marker, which we knew nothing about. He said Mom would receive an email in a couple days with a sketch of the headstone for final approval or changes. Not many tears, but a lot of thought....
I was truly surprised at this. I mean, this place looks like it stopped moving forward about 30 years ago at least, yet, here was this guy telling us about the computer design, emailing mock-ups, etc... A little bit on the surreal side.
If you've been following along, you know my absolute love of the Texarkana Sprint Store (yes, that is sarcasm). Well, I went there in order to pick up the battery for my wife's phone. No, of course they never called her to let her know it was in - that would require the "service" part of "customer service." They don't really believe that is a required word, so long as the word "customer" is in there. After all, customers mean money in, service implies money out...and we can't have that, now can we? I digress. I signed and waited my turn. The lady behind the counter was the one who waited on us last time. How nice. I told her I was there for my wife's battery. She said something about a phone. I said, "No... You wouldn't let us have a new phone, so we had to settle for a battery." She went to the back and return a bit later with a battery.
We met Shan and everyone else at Golden Corral for lunch. I happen to like GC very much, and it evidently enjoys me so much, it decided to hitch a ride on my shirt. You see, as I was loading up my plate with "Amazing Pot Roast" (their words), somehow I managed to sling gravy or juice or whatever it was across the bottom right half of my shirt! Yeesh. The service was great, the food was delicious.
Before we ate, we had walked over to Cavender's western store to buy some things for Emily. She's gonna be a cutie for Halloween! :-) I looked at black felt hats, and I am not willing to shell out $150 for a hat... Heck, I don't even want to pay that for boots...
I spent Friday in Camden, at my old stomping grounds, in a meeting with K12 Distance Learning providers. The meeting went as most do, but at lunch I got some very sad news. Mrs. Ward (whom I have talked about before, and whose husband passed away last year) lost her only grandchild a couple weeks ago (on October 13, 2007) to a tragic gun accident. If you know Mrs. Ward, you know how deeply heartbreaking this is for her. His obituary and online guestbook are here: http://www.legacy.com/News-Journal/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=96225964. He was a good kid, and he and I played on computers when he would come to visit Mrs. Ward at the Co-op when I worked in Camden. Our hearts go out to Mickey (his Dad) and Mrs. Ward.
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