Signs of the times

I picked up a variety of items from various news sources since my last post that I thought were worth mentioning:

1. President Obama plans to speak to the nation's public school students, and there's outrage? Excuse me, but he's the PRESIDENT, isn't he? This is particularly strange since his message is going to be one of "do your best, work hard, stay in school," and not an effort to sway students on healthcare reform, Afghanistan, Iraq, the bailout or anything else. It's a little hard to oppose that message, but people are managing to do so nonetheless.

2. Somewhere in this country an enterprising group has opened an outpatient center to cure Internet addiction. And this isn't to break people of something like viewing pornography. This is to help people from something called "pathological Internet usage" and obsessive use of video games, texting, social networking sites, etc. It's a private concern, but you just know that somewhere down the road someone's going to attempt to get this paid for by either their private health insurance or by a government funded program, and that's when the fun will begin!

3. Kentucky's new basketball coach, John Calipari, has not coached one second of an actual game for the Big Blue, but he's managed to be everywhere and into everything since accepting the job back in the spring. He wrote a motivational book and is criss-crossing the state to promote it and sign it for fans, which is a good thing because it benefits his charitable foundation. He also arranged to send a Kentucky basketball jersey to the White House for the President, and some are now objecting on political grounds. Those of us who reside here in Kentucky aren't all that surprised by the gesture, for which Calipari is now apologizing as a non-political move. Give me a break....the guy came into the job knowing the importance of being a good ambassador for the Kentucky basketball program (his predecessor was most decidedly NOT such a representative), so he's doing what he should to promote this program. Those of us who work in a sales or customer-facing position already know the importance of such promotion....

4. The NCAA had just asked college football teams and players to show a greater amount of sportsmanship before and during game. First night of the new season and what happens? An unhappy Oregon player slugs a player from Boise State after Oregon loses. Bad enough that it even happened, but worse that it's captured by television cameras. No idea what the Boise State player said or did to provoke the Oregon kid, but it must have been something, because his reaction was IMMEDIATE. Anger management classes, anyone?

5. Here's something good: did you know that the 2013 Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans? And if you're like me, did you ever think that this event would return to that city after the devastation by Hurricane Katrina? That's very good news, so congratulations to the folks in the Crescent City!

6. Someone in Florida opened a can of diet soda recently and found a frog! They reported this to a couple of governmental bodies but the soda company essentially denied that this could have happened as reported. The "victims" are contemplating legal action.

Enough already. Looking forward to a great three day weekend, and I hope you are, too!