Random Thoughts 11/19/13

Whew!  I've been busy the last few weeks.  Here's a bit of what's been on my mind:

• My family and I really enjoyed the International Conference on Missions (ICOM) which was in Kansas City last weekend.  We met a several missionaries, heard great preaching and teaching, and reunited with several old friends.  I generally don't travel to conventions and conferences so it's a shame they all aren't in KC!
• Here are a few Snopes urban legends for you:  it turns out the McDonald's cocaine spoon was real and so was the Aldi horse meat scandal, but it didn't happen in the United States.  In contrast, there is no such thing as Muslim prayer "curtain" and President Obama did not decorate the White House with one.
• Kansas basketball signed two top-10 recruits this last week.  Everyone assumes we'll lose at least two guys this year (starters Tarik Black to graduation and Andrew Wiggins to the NBA).  The two new talented recruits, forward Cliff Alexander and wing Kelly Oubre, are expected to be able to step right in to those roles as freshmen.  What if more players leave early?  First of all Kansas's roster is deeper than it's been in years.  Second, there are still great top-talent, unsigned recruits, that might consider Kansas if more scholarships open up.
• So that amazing shrinking unemployment number that magically dropped below 8% just in time for the President's reelection, turned out to be false.  I'm completely shocked that bureaucrats would fudge numbers to help out the pro-big-government candidate.  Who would have thought?  It turns out that more people are out of work than ever before and the only reason that the bad numbers could be viewed as anything less than sky high is because the job force is shrinking as people give up looking for work.  *sigh*
• Our beagle, Sophie, seems to be pretty sick.  We're not entirely sure what is wrong with her, we've deduced that worms may be a possibility, but she's been in fragile shape for several days now and doesn't seem to be getting better.  As of this writing, Shannon is taking her to the vet to get diagnosed.
• Christmas gets complicated as your kids get older.  When they're little, relatively cheap and simple toys had huge impact on Christmas morning.  As they reach their teenage years, their tastes and preferences get significantly more expensive; there is not a lot of five dollar Walmart toys to give to a 13-year-old.  The problem is that with five kids, the Christmas budget just doesn't allow for a lot of wish fulfillment.