Battles and Surrenders

So Lance Armstrong decided to end his constant fight against the doping charges that have been laid against him for most of his professional career. In doing so he is relinquishing his seven victories at Le Tour de France and focusing on the things that he says are most important to him - his family and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I am a bit disappointed with him for stepping back and saying "enough," but I understand it as well. There comes a time when you have to turtle. You have to pull inside your shell and protect yourself because leaving yourself outside will lead to so much bloodletting that you will die by those small arrows. Even arrows shot by faerie bows can harm in the aggregate so allowing protection is not a poor decision. In spite of everything, Lance is my man. He won Le Tour seven times and no-one else has come close. He might be an idiot many times, and maybe not the brightest bulb, but I still think he deserves his well-earned titles.

Even if the titles are stripped, you can't change the reality that Lance Armstrong won Le Tour seven times!

Today is Friday and Chickie will be off taking her last vacation day by spending it at the State Fair. She'll be eating delectable food, looking an animals and people, and wandering through the multiple buildings and exhibits. She has promised to phone us periodically to let us know what she is eating - LOL.

We even have food on a stick bumper stickers.

The key to successful eating at the State Fair is to have the item on a stick. In fact, food on a stick is part of a T-shirt check-list, always tabulated in our newspapers, and part of State Fair DNA. Intelligent firms recognize this fact and play on our love for things on a stick. When Microsoft introduced IE3 they distributed CD's of the program at the Minnesota State Fair. Their marketing department obviously understood the Minnesota mind-set and had the CD's glued onto sticks - think tongue depressor-type sticks. It was marketed as "Software on a Stick" and was extremely popular. At least 80% of the people attending the Fair that year had the software by the end of their day(s) at the Fair and most installed it. It was brilliant marketing. Have a great Friday!