Serve by Design

Many of us are fascinated with roadrunners. They are an entertaining species of the cuckoo family of birds. I have seen them in New Mexico and Texas. Of course, my first encounter was on television during the Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood. Who could forget all the ridiculously funny exploits and repeatedly failed attempts of Wile E. Coyote to capture Road Runner? These Loony Tunes cartoon characters were created by Chuck Jones for Warner Brothers in 1949. I can still hear Road Runners’ signature and irritating car horn sound tormenting Coyote with a rapid-fire “Beep! Beep!” as he speeds away in each episode! On the Prowl in Texas! A roadrunner is capable of limited flight. I have seen these birds in action and to me it looks more like a leap or hop than actual flying though. Most of their movement is usually on the ground running where they can scoot along at speeds of 15-20 mph. Their food source includes insects, lizards, snakes, and small mammals. Using their pointed bea...

The Super Bowl is the game that millions of football fans anticipate all season long! This Sunday is “the big game” when the best of the best square off against each other in the warmth of Glendale, Arizona. I must confess that football is not usually on my radar of interest. Unlike many of my family and friends, I have never cared much for the clash of the heads and pads on the gridiron. Rather, I sit out from the viewing audience and the action Sunday after Sunday, Mondays, and Thursdays too, while the football faithful follow their favorite teams and warriors with great delight. Photo Credit: clipart-library.com I’m pretty sure that I am not alone in waiting until the end of the football season and then tuning in to watch the championship game. There are many of us who show up to enjoy creative and costly commercials; eat pizza, hot wings, and other snacks; take in the half-time show; and try to hang on until the end of the final quarter of action to see the award ceremony. It seems...

Our Internet and cable service was interrupted three and a half hours recently from about 6:20 to 9:40 p.m. By my recollection, this degree of service interruption has never happened in the thirty years we have been with this small rural service provider! I called the company’s customer service line the next morning to inquire as to the reason for this failure of service. The lady politely said that it was due to someone outside of the company accidentally cutting a major fiber optic cable. She told me that it took the cable company all those hours to restore the service.  I explained that while we were retired and this was a minor inconvenience to us, I wondered how those with school aged children dealt with their assignments! I would learn later that our granddaughter did have an assignment due that evening and had to go to her other grandparents in Springfield to get it completed and sent to her teacher on time!  It amused me to hear what the customer service lady did. She ...