Back to School

As I understand it, my mother has been trying to predict the date that I would return to school since the afternoon of my graduation from Texas A&M when I celebrated finally being done. She says that it has something to do with an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn that’s just part of the genetic makeup of our family. Maybe she’s right.

I’ll be participating in a Graduate Certificate program at SMU during the winter semester (October through February). It’s not a degree program, but it’s still school. Mom wins, and I win. I’ll be in school but not officially.

If anyone is interested in the gritty details, the program is officially call the Business Intelligence Graduate Certificate Program. It’s about learning to analyze data using statistics, discrete optimization, simulation, database manipulation, data mining, and knowledge management for all kinds of business problems. I think it’s going to be pretty interesting.

You can read more on the SMU/Cox website.

Proselytizing in the 21st Century

Just a quick random thought. Pope Benedict’s quotation from a medieval text that basically describes Islam as a violent religion has created quite the uproar. Obviously, the best retort for such an obviously incorrect accusation of violence is to demand an apology and demonstrate your commitment to peace.

Ummm...at least that the best retort in the civilized world. Of course, for extreme terrorist Muslims, the best response to such an accusation is to attack churches and kill Christians. “Yeah, that’ll teach them to say we’re the religion of violence.” I, for one, can totally see where that medieval text got it all wrong:

Extremist Islam is not spread by the sword. That’s way too outdated. This is the 21st century where nothing beats an AK-47 and a little C-4 for getting the word out.

Fall Softball Season

Fall softball is here, and the girls are all excited. Reagan and Abbie are both playing again, and Emma had hoped to play, but the t-ball league didn’t make.

Reagan is still playing 10 & under (10U) and Abbie is still 8 & under (8U), so they are not the same team. We had originally hoped to at least get them into the same club, but that didn’t work out. I’m not too disappointed, though. Reagan got picked up by the Cheetah Girlz which is really an 8U team that wanted more competition so they’re playing up in 10U. It’s been a little reality check for her to see these younger girls outperform her, so she’s had to work pretty hard.

Abbie’s team is really coming along well. Most of the girls are really similar in age, so this is their third season to play together. It’s been a noticeable improvement this season, too, in the skill level of all of the girls. Anyway, here’s the game schedule for each, if you are interested.

Reagan

09/19 (T) – 6:30pm

09/21 (Th) – 8:00pm

09/28 (Th) – 8:00pm

10/03 (T) – 6:30pm

10/12 (Th) – 8:00pm

10/17 (T) – 6:30pm

Abbie

09/21 (Th) – 6:30pm

09/28 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/05 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/12 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/19 (Th) – 6:30pm

10/26 (Th) – 6:30pm

11/02 (Th) – 6:30pm

All of the games are at Winters Park in Garland, and we'd love to see you there. Give me a call if you need directions to the ballpark.