From the Weekend

- Forget about being born thirty seconds earlier or later, as I previously wrote about. What if you were born as somebody else, or worse, if somebody else were born as me?

Last week, I retrieved a voice message from my county's Central Appraisal District. It informed me that my homestead exemption no longer applied to our home because I also claim homestead in another municipality within Collin County. I figured it was an innocuous error and called back to correct it.

Indeed, the lady I spoke with showed me another Neil and Melissa Massey living about 20 miles from our home.

Melissa is very conscientious about shredding pre-approved credit card applications or anything else with our personal information. I used to think she took too many precautions. Now I see why she does what she has to do.

I don't trust anybody named Neil Massey.

- Part of our summer itinerary has been to frequent the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Friday nights are styled Casual Fridays which means, to me, that while jeans may be worn, they should be more the exception than the rule. As happenstance, I also lost an argument.

Last weekend, I saw two kids, about ages 13 and 10, in shorts and t-shirts as they took their seats. I told Melissa that my kid would never be caught in that attire at the symphony. She awarded partial credit and said, Well, at least they're here. I conceded the point and added, And if they're old enough to be here, they're old enough to wear pants and a collared shirt.

Her - I'll bet you Jackson would be in shorts and a t-shirt.
Me - No, Chris wouldn't let him dress like that here, either.
Her - Who are you kidding? Chris would be in shorts and a t-shirt, also.

Game over.

- Behavior analysts say that most actions result from learned behavior. Even if that is not true in its entirety, cause and effect still applies. So, here's my own cause and effect, as I see it:

Have a baby, take six strokes off your handicap.

I'm hitting the ball better (caveat: never said playing better or scoring lower) than I have in the past several years. And I'm not the only one in our regular foursome playing better.

For the first time in my life this summer, I played three weekends in a row. I've played at least once a month and that trend will continue until at least August.

Another observation from yesterday: our foursome welcomed a good friend of ours and we played with five. To make it interesting, we played Lone Wolf and greenies.

On the course, nobody cares about money. Each clamors to pay for drinks, snacks, hot dogs, whatever. But when it came time to settle up, I've never seen five men become so observant about every dollar on the table.