Just My Opinion - By Mary Kilen
An Early Wrap Up For This Week
Most people know that I do my writing over the weekend, but I usually leave my column until Monday. That allows me to look at the space used by our other columnists and tells me how much I need to write. It’s a comfort zone thing for me.
This week, however, I am writing my column on Sunday. That’s because we will be finishing up the paper on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning. That creates a few challenges for us. We usually use Tuesday morning for final touches including some spellchecking and corrections after Christina takes a final look at the paper on Monday night. We usually upload our pages and labels to the printing plant early on Tuesday. It usually gives me time to run to the post office before we finish up, especially with the labels, in the event a subscriber has sent in a payment. We then spend a few hours just getting a few other things done and ready for the next week before closing the office at noon for the day.
We’ve adjusted the schedule a few times each year, usually in response to a holiday or a request from our printing plant.
This week, it is because Dale and I have to be in Watford City by 9:30 on Tuesday morning. Dale has medical appointments to deal with the pain in his hip. It has been getting progressively worse in the last year and after seeing Dr. Joshi in Stanley, they believe they have a plan to address that pain.
I’m hoping this works as well as anticipated. It is hard to watch him struggling with the pain and sometimes mobility issues. Hopefully after this is done, we can finally find time to schedule a trip to Vegas.
Watching The Basketball Tournaments
Now that the first season of the new three class system of basketball is complete, there are a few lessons we have all learned.
I know that it can be hard to schedule another set of state tournament games and I don’t pretend to know what goes into all of that. Instead of just A and B tournaments, they were now dealing with AA, A and B tournaments, all in the same schedule as before.
I also know that the former Class A tournaments were held in a combined format for the boys’ and girls’ teams. They are also held in the same location.
This year, the Class A and B tournaments were held at the same time in two different locations. To accommodate the televising schedule, it meant that Class B held their semifinals on Friday in the afternoon sessions with the consolation semifinals in the evenings. It also meant that the Class A teams started their final day earlier in the morning while Class B started in the afternoon. You could watch all of the games, but it required paying for a separate subscription.
I am positive that the tournaments ran fine in their own locations. The tournament managers have lots of experience and so does the high school activities association.
That being said, I had some struggles as I tried to watch the tournaments. I really used to enjoy the first day, when you got to watch each of the games. I also enjoyed the status quo of consolation games followed by semifinals.
I saw that for some fans, the changes caused confusion, either while watching games or planning to attend in person.
I’m not sure if there is a perfect answer or any way this could be changed, but it is tough for fans of the new Class B and Class A teams. It would be nice if fans would be able to attend both tournaments instead of having to choose one or the other.
Feeling Your Age?
I saw a friend post this one on Facebook and I found myself trying to fit the new words into the old tune and surprisingly it wasn’t that hard. If you are of a certain age or you like to listen to some of the older songs, you might appreciate this list.
Singers of the 60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate baby-boomers. New releases include:
Herman’s Hermits: Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Walker
Ringo Starr: I Get By With A Little Help From Depends
The BeeGees: How Can You Mend A Broken Hip
Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face
Johnny Nash: I Can’t See Clearly Now
Paul Simon: Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver
The Commodores: Once, Twice, Three Times To The Bathroom
Procol Harum: A Whiter Shade Of Hair
Leo Sayer: You Make Me Feel Like Napping
The Temptations: Papa’s Got A Kidney Stone
Abba: Denture Queen
Helen Reddy: I A Woman, Hear Me Snore
Lesley Gore: It’s My Hormones & I’ll Cry If I Want To
Willy Nelson: On The Commode Again
Bobby Darin: Splish, Splash, I Was Havin’ A Flash
Marvin Gaye: Heard It Through The Grape Nuts
Tony Orlando: Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall