Gone, But Not Forgotten - For Now

Let's see.

As of Thursday, April 26...

Scott's gone.
Aubrey's gone.
Phil's gone, and
None of the top 6 are gone.

My son, Scott, has gone to a tournament in Maryland. He'll be back Sunday.

My friend, Aubrey, is gone, heading for Seattle to try out a career in marriage.

Phil left last Friday - tried to kill himself.

Jordin, Melinda, Lakisha, Phil, Chris and Blake are still around, but two will be gone next week.

Every time Scott goes to one of these tournaments, he comes back with a trophy, and they don't hand out "participation awards" at these tournaments. So I expect he will come back with another this year, perhaps the top spot. Go Scott!

I worked with Aubrey for a couple years. His workstation was next to mine, but at a perpendicular angle, so I mostly looked at his back. We work in an advertising office - he did web, I do print. He's the one who got me to start a blog, and I guess I owe him one for it. I haven't decided yet if that "one" is a favor or revenge. :-) Congrats Aubs; best of luck and wishes to you.

I also worked with Phil for a few years - different department though. He went to a Walmart with loaded guns and proceeded to clear the store, so to speak. He shot no one. He didn't steal merchandise. In all appearances, he looked as if he wanted to commit suicide by shootout. Apparently, his wife phoned him at work and told him she was leaving him. About six hours later he was in the empty store with the police talking him down. I don't know what to think of Phil. I can understand the emotional duress behind his action, but when I consider what I would say if I saw him today, the only thing I can think of is: "Are you freakin' stupid??!"

I have read reader's comments to articles about the standoff, and many of them are so typical to the political "debate" which is really no debate at all. "If guns were banned, this wouldn't happen", "Why aren't current laws enforced to keep this from happening?" and so on. There is a lot of anger towards Phil in the posts. Not surprising and well merited. I have fought the temptation to post a comment myself because what I would say would assuage no one. I'll say it here though, "Phil is a decent guy, really he is. He reacted strongly to his wife leaving him and did a dumb thing. He hurt no one, just caused some fear. He actually told people to get out of the store. He took no hostages; he was just doing what he told police he was going to do: "scare some people." This doesn't excuse Phil from his behavior, and he should pay the price. But he's really an OK chap."

I can hear the incredulity already.

If Phil is a real man, he won't claim temporary insanity at his trial.

So American Idol gave back Wednesday night.

$30+ million dollars raised, AND it gave back the top 6 as well. My friend, Micah, told me before the show that he thought no one would be voted off because it was charity night. Guess he was right.

I have to say that for a mainstream show, it was pretty well put together. The production strategy was two-fold: elicit excitement and tears. I think they did both pretty well... maybe even to the point of being overdone. But hey, they only had two hours for this particular telethon. The most prominent thought that hit me last night while watching it was how wonderfully manipulative it was.

Unfortunately, I am too cynical to believe that the entire amount will be used for its described purposes. Maybe only 25%?? 50%?? Don't know. There are some good charities out there who only scalp off a small percentage for administrative costs. They are the ones I prefer to support.

I predict it will become standard yearly fare for the show. jmho.

Last word:

Sanjaya: how can we miss you if you won't go away?