All of us here at the Holabird Advocate, and several others around the world were spellbound  by the story of the 70 year old man who married a 15 year old girl that he bought from her parents for $20,000. Yesterday it was reported that she ran away! A day later we find out that the man and his child bride are divorcing and that all parties involved are settling the affair amicably. Hopefully that poor old man will get his money back! For a minute there, we had the beginning of a rather funny sitcom idea!

     I got an email expressing concern that I enjoy arguing politics with my dad. To clarify, the reason it's fun is because when it stops being fun, I stop. The past 5 years where I have been away from the Ponderosa has shown my that there are more important things that winning argument, or trying to do the same.

One of the things I learned at DWU was just to present facts and leave emotion out of the discussion.         

     Whenever I have the urge to insult my dad's intelligence, I back up beforehand and see if I can find another route. Fact is in the 5 years I've been gone, it is amazing how much smarter he's become. It's like what Mark Twain said “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.” I'm glad it only took mine 5 years!

     Another thing I've learned is that my dad is really good at faking stupidity. Once my mother told him she had spam on her computer and he said "That's what you get for not eating at the table". Watching the Colbert Report has given him a sense of humor I guess! Either that or not having me around constantly being funny! Arguing is like a sport with us Hinkles, the trick is making sure it doesn't become a full contact sport!