MONOTONY

A SAD STORY OF COLLEGE STUDENTS TAKING ON A BIG CORPORATION

I can't believe I forgot to bring these infamous relics into the restaurant on Friday night! I got them out and planned for months to bring them along and then I left them out in the car.

When I was a student at the Harvard of Christendom some very creative guys cleverly created a rip off of Parker Brothers' Monopoly game. It was called Monotony. All the properties where other Christian colleges. Jail was Hell. Just Visiting was Purgatory.

These orange cards were the Predestination cards. They, of course, took the place of Chance cards in the original game.

Go was the Jordan River. So of course there was a card that said "Go to Hell. Go directly to Hell. Do not cross the Jordan River. Do not collect 200 shekels."

The blue cards replaced Community Chest and were appropriately called "Abraham's Bosom."

This was before the day when Parker Bros. lost their lawsuit for copyright infringement and every college, town and resort in the world produced their own form of monopoly.

I really don't know how in the world a big company like Parker Bros. found out about our little project. It still makes no sense to me.

The long and the short of it is that one day we received a letter from the giant game company notifying us that if we persisted in the publication of our little game that we would be faced with a copyright infringement lawsuit which they promised us we would never be able to win. There was some discussion about going to court and defending ourselves but, at the end of the day, we figured it would be a colossal waste of time.

Also, Moody and Bob Jones might not have been too happy about being assigned to Baltic and Mediterranean. Wheaton was Boardwalk and Westmont was Park Place. Ultimately, the games were consigned to the court-ordered flames. Heroically (and somewhat illegally) I rescued as much as I could before the destruction. I have always regretted that I did not get an entire game. I still think there could be some money made on this!

GOING TO THE DOGS

We have a new dog. We already had one indoor dog. Caspian is a nine-year-old, white, giant standard poodle. Mia bought him when her husband died. He’s a great watchdog. That means he barks at every sound at the door and every kid who walks by the house. His bark is terrifying. He is a coward.

We had another dog up until Christmas. He was my dog. Dundee never came into the house. Roz bought him 16 years ago because he was newborn and so cute. He was inside for about two months when she decided she didn’t want a dog in the house. That was how Dundee became an outdoor dog. He was ok with it. He was half Australian sheepdog and half golden retriever. Very furry. Eventually he couldn’t stand to be inside because he got too warm. Dundee went to doggy heaven during Christmas break.

Honestly, that was kind of a relief. The neighbors in our old fancy neighborhood didn’t like seeing him outside in his dog run. Sometimes he would bark at animals he saw (or imagined he saw) in the field before they built all the houses behind ours. We were down to one dog. And Caspian is a pretty big piece of furniture in this smaller house we’ve moved into!

But now we have another dog. Mia decided a couple of months ago that Mary, our youngest, would really benefit from having a little dog to take care of. It would be good for her. You know, help develop responsibility, increase her self-confidence, etc. I agreed. After we got settled in our new house we could get Mary a little dog. Caspian would probably enjoy having the company.

Earlier this week Mia was looking through the paper to see what was available. Just looking, you know. But then she saw her! A pedigree black standard poodle, ten months old. She called the lady just to find out some details about her. She was available for less than half the price these dogs usually command. The lady sent pictures via email. I have to admit it, she was gorgeous!

To make a long story a little shorter, she is now ours. She’s a wonderful dog. She’s a standard poodle so she’s not small. Mary loves her to death. She’s adjusted wonderfully. Caspian is like a toddler when you bring home the new baby. I actually found him lying on our leather couch yesterday morning. What is that all about? At least he’s not peeing all over our new floors!

Mary named her Chloe!

QUADBLOG T-SHIRTS

By the way, one of the Shiloh guys who helped us move was wearing a t-shirt that I think we should have made for our reunion. It is the perfect t-shirt for the quadbloggers. It said...

"WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GARAGE STAYS IN THE GARAGE!"

What do you guys think?

WE MOVED!

STOP BY FOR COFFEE!

The closings on both houses took place on Wednesday, October 4. It was relatively painless. My hand began to hurt because of all the papers I had to sign and initial. But there it was! Sold one house and bought another.

If you have been wondering what happened to me for a week or so, let me tell you. Our cable company, through whom we also have internet service, is very quick to turn off one’s service when one moves and very slow to start it in the new house. I did everything I could to ensure uninterrupted service but they were still able to mess it up. In fact, my dad (my folks are here from Temecula, CA) and I missed the Michigan-Michigan State football game on Saturday because of our cable company! I just got them out here yesterday to give me internet service again! We still have no home phone!

The move was Saturday, October 7. It was so great! One of those perfect autumn days in the Midwest with seventy degree weather, a cloudless blue sky, and magnificent colors on the deciduous trees. The Shilohfolks came out in force and had almost everything moved by noon! They were awesome! My back was killing me so I was relegated to unhooking TV wires and stereo speakers and trying to look busy. We moved 1.2 miles so it went quickly. I’m so thankful for the Shilohfolks.

I failed to finish the drywalling in the upstairs. The upstairs rooms were only used for attic space in the previous 86 years of the life of this house. I knew I could tear down the old wallboard, insulate, and put up the new in two days. No problem! Even with Caleb home from Sault Ste. Marie, John and Ben (sons numbers 3, 4), Tom the elder, Steve the doctor, and my dad, we couldn’t do it. We got it insulated but we only got about one quarter of the drywall up. That means three of our kids have no bedrooms. The lovely wife and I decided yesterday morning to hire a professional to come out and do it quickly. My failure was pretty discouraging!

Mia is attacking this new house with a passion. She has finished off one room after another until the main floor is almost done. She’s been a magician. The main floor is almost a home already!

The neighbors have proved to be very friendly. Many have been by to introduce themselves. I’m looking forward to getting to know them all. That’s one nice thing about moving into an older neighborhood. People have lived here for a long time and there is a sense of belonging here.

Well, I’m back in blogspace again. I’ll be visiting your blogs soon. Right now I have to get back to writing for this Sunday. The title? “What About Spiritual Gifts?” Could be interesting!

Thanks for stopping by. I missed you!