It's Thursday!

Sorry, probably the lamest blog title I've ever come up with, but I don't even know what I'm going to write about yet, so there ya go.

Most exciting: Georgia Grandma has arrived in Utah!!!! (That's my mom, and that's what my kids call her.) She hasn't made it out here in 4 years, so we are thrilled to have her for 10 days. This is the sweetest, humblest, kindest, most wonderful woman to ever step foot on the face of Planet Earth, so I wish you could all meet her.

And what are the odds of this: I just happened to be sitting at lunch with her and my wife and our kids, today, right after she arrived, when I got a very awesome phone call. Now, I can't tell you yet what that awesome phone call was about, but let's just say it was a very special moment, and some tears were shed. Stay tuned.

Moving right along . . . :-)

Dude, Tiger. Dude. Tiger. Out for the rest of the year. After winning what most sportcasters are calling the best US Open ever. My heart is broken. Now I have to prove I'm a real golf fan and watch tournaments without him playing. Bleck.

I just hope he's okay in time for next year's Masters!

Okay, ensuring this will be the most random blog post ever, I'd like to end on one thing:

Manners.

Having my mom here has reminded me for the millionth time how sad it is that southern hospitality is not the norm worldwide. I was raised in a home where you were taught to say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" and "yes sir" and "no sir." If my mom called out my name as a youngster, and I didn't reply by saying "yes ma'am?" my dad would pitch a fit and set things straight. (By the way, he's passed on to that great Ham Radio in the Sky. WA4CYB thank ya much.)

Anyway, now I love Utah and the people here, but they can't hold a candle to the pure hospitable nature and charm of my homeland folks. It just kills me that my kids can't say "yes ma'am" because they'll be given a weird look, perhaps even accused of being rude. Makes me very sad.

It still hurts me to hear kids yell "WHAT!" when their name is called or "YEAH" when asked a question. That just sounds plain rude to me. But I'm a dumb old southerner, and there you have it. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people out here say with a straight face that they think someone is ignorant if they have a southern accent. Chaps my hide!

Come listen to my mom talk. She's the smartest woman I've ever known, and she made sure yours truly made straight A's, without ever offering me one cent or incentive. So, I guess in a roundabout way, I'm just trying to say this:

Thank you, Mom. I love you. I might not let you go back home.