1.  BrightSide and I watched a fascinating 60 Minutes segment on Sunday about technology.  I expected it to be another look at what tech does to the brain, but instead it discussed how companies are using what they’ve learned about the brain to tweak their coding.  For instance:

  • why Twitter and Instagram use a scroll feed
  • the chemical effect “likes” have on our brains
  • the possibility that a random experiment may have linked our accounts to an algorithm for feedback timing

2.  I’m not sure whether to be impressed or terrified.

3.  I did, however, manage not to tweet about it.

4.  Bear’s softball team won a game by forfeit this week, so they played an impromptu family vs. kids scrimmage.

5.  No, I didn’t play.

6.  Yes, this made me feel like a stick in the mud, but I figured being fully functional this week was more important.

7.  Ooh, Aah moments:

  • Bear fielding her brother’s hit, catching part of it on the chin, and still whipping that ball over to first before he got there.
  • Girls who pitched to the tiniest kid ever without hitting him a single time.
  • The young lady who played in gigantic hoop earrings.
  • All the (ahem) older folks who got out there and hustled around those bases.  This Bud’s for you, my peeps.

8.  I wonder if the panic showed in my eyes when they first called for volunteers.  I was suddenly awash with flashbacks of my younger self, stuck in right field with zero fielding skills.

9.  It’s an odd feeling to admit that I fully suck at this sport.

10.  I’m at the orthopedist now getting the follow up done on my knee.

11.  That’s right, my knee.  Because back problems aren’t enough.

12.  omg. I. am. so. old.

13.  We’re checking to see if the inflammation’s gone down – spoiler alert: it hasn’t – and discuss options.

14.  It may involve needles.

15.  I feel an odd detachment when I think about needles.  A very surreal “wtf, it can’t hurt any worse than this.”

16.  Which, of course, isn’t true.

17.  T-man’s enjoyed kicking back while Bear’s in basketball camp for the first week of summer.

18.  Next week they flip so Bear can sleep in while T-man goes to Nature Camp.

19.  I finally succumbed in May and made three spreadsheets – June, July, August – laying out a visual of kid movement this summer.

20.  I figure this greatly improves the odds they’ll both get to the right place each day.  And that I won’t, you know, forget to pick them up.

21.  Kids get squirrelly about stuff like that.

22.  This is why I have 14 bajillion alarms on my phone.  Wake up times for weekday mornings (with camp, without camp, when I have to take a shower, when the exterminator’s coming), weekend mornings (activity planned, company here so I can’t sleep too late, lazy morning, you’d better not get me unless the house is burning down).

23.  Then there are my Reminder alarms:  camp drop off starts in 45 minutes, camp pickup is in an hour, monthly dog meds due, Skype, LuLaRoe sale (yes, sometimes), and “don’t forget to do that thing you’re supposed to do today.”

24.  BrightSide has 3 alarms:  wake up time #1, wake up time #2, and a mystery alarm.

25.  I can’t decide what to make of this.

26.  Then again, balls get dropped.  I’m doing my part to neutralize the damage I can do.

27.  Favorite sign spotted last weekend:  Be your own kind of beautiful.

28.  Least favorite sign spotted last weekend:  Too pretty to work.

  • Oddly enough, I’m not above invoking the concept itself.  There’s just something about posting it as a personal philosophy that rubs me the wrong way.

29.  Sign I wish I saw last week:  Seriously.  No running.  If your kid is running on this wet floor the nearest adult is authorized to snatch them up.

30.  Other items I didn’t bring home with me:  The sign that said “I laughed so hard ~ Tears ran down my leg.”  Bubble gum scented body wash.  Any of the crap in that arcade.  Wonder Woman jammies.