great sports quote

This Yahoo! sports blog, Shutdown Corner, contains your great sports quote of the day. It's about the San Diego Chargers' decision to draft Ryan Leaf to play quarterback 10 years ago:

They literally would have been better off drafting an epileptic plumber who can't read, and just paying him to stay home and watch cartoons and play with his wrench.

it's not our fault

On Friday morning, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook the midwest. Though it was centered in southeastern Illinois, it was felt as far west as Kansas.

Well, I did not feel the quake. But it did wake me up--in Kansas. At that time Friday morning, I was awakened by the sound of rattling--not sure if it was a chandelier or barrister bookcase doors or something else, but the rattling seemed to last for a long time. I looked at the clock and fell right back to sleep. Only later in the day, when I read the news, did I realize what it was that caused what I heard.

the champs

Sure enough, the Kansas Jayhawks won the NCAA basketball championship last night. Awesome! If you recall, the football team won the Orange Bowl in January and finished with the best record in all of college football (and except for one unfortunate loss to the University of Missouri, could have been national champs in football as well). KU is on a roll.

shoe-wearing birds fly

OK, so I said I would leave sports out of the blog after Houston Nutt resigned.


Well, now you can't hold me to that when a school we are connected to is playing for the national championship in basketball tonight. That's right the Kansas Jayhawks could win it all tonight by beating the Memphis Tigers. GO KU!


How are we connected to KU, you ask? OK, well Mrs. kcrazorback has a Master's degree in integrated marketing communications from the University of Kansas making her a real Jayhawk--even if her classes were in Overland Park and she's never even been to the main campus in Lawrence except for a football game. Worse, she's not even a fan.


Secondly, kcrazorback himself has a University of Kansas mini-MBA--which is not really a degree but it is branded Jayhawk. Not to mention the fact that we've lived almost our whole adult lives where Kansas is the closest major university.


So, it's a little bit of a stretch, but we're Jayhawks. Rock! Chalk! Jayhawk! KU!

the best wedding gift

OK, this family story requires a lot of setup. Mrs. kcrazorback and I got married in 1989. We were way too young for such a crazy action. We got married on her graduation day from college (black gown in morning, white gown at night). After graduation, she would be unemployed for a few months and I would drive a delivery truck that summer making next to minimum wage. During the following school year, I was on a graduate teaching assistantship making a smooth $7200 (yes, that was a year's wage for me). Needless to say, we didn't have a lot that first year of marriage.

Meanwhile twin kcrazorback brother was not really getting rich either as he worked in a poultry processing plant in SW Arkansas.

Bride's home church had a shower for us and gave us an unbelievable number of towels and stuff. My home church had a shower for us and gave us a bunch of towels and stuff. Friends and family from all over gave us towels and stuff. Being a young couple that didn't have much, we really needed and appreciated all that we were given.

However, the very best gift that we were given came from the most unlikely source, my brother. I love him for doing the best he thought he could. But I don't know if he realizes that he was also providing what we really needed. You see, 19 years ago my brother didn't have much in the way of resources. But he could shop at the company store. So, for our wedding gift, he got us big bags of frozen chicken, bags of fajita meat, several Cornish game hens, boxes of frozen chicken nuggets (dixie fritters for those in the know), etc. My brother, in spite of his own poverty, fed this newlywed couple for months at the very time we most needed it.

My dear brother, thank you for your wonderful gift. I probably never communicated to you how much I really appreciated it. I doubt that I've ever given you a gift so valuable. You are a good friend and a great brother.

hp calculator newsletter

For those of you interested in hp calculators, they have recently started a very good newsletter, HP Solve. Click here for the most recent version. This issue focuses on financial calculators with an offer of a 20% discount on the 12c. I have really been impressed with both issues so far and hope that they keep it up going forward. If this is your calculator brand (I can't believe it wouldn't be), be sure to sign up for a subscription to Solve.

He is risen

I serve a risen savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living whatever men may say...He lives, He lives. Christ Jesus lives today...You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.

The old hymn is so true for me. I know He lives in my heart. My personal relationship with Him forces me to witness to a relationship with a living God.

But that's not all, I know that He lives because His resurrection satisfies all Old Testament prophecy. That's what "according to the Scriptures" means in "that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:4)

I know that He lives because it satisfies what He said He would do.

I know that He lives because of the empty tomb.

All of scripture testifies to His living. Angels delivered the He is risen message. Thousands witnessed Him alive after the third day. There is no body in the tomb. Millions have given all for Him. My own heart sees Him.

The salvation I blogged about in Friday's post is possible because of the death. The Savior's power to save is illustrated by His conquering death.

He is risen.