Coasting

I decided to do this after all. Some of the feedback for the first week have been posted but not mine. I tried this last year, and mine was never posted. This year I wasn't in the earliest submissions and almost skipped it, but I changed my mind. If the feedback shows up and is good, I'll summarize it next week or provide a link to it. If it's bad, I'll probably do the same.

It's official. The owners of the Braves have given up on this season. The trade deadline passed with no last-minute deals. The team had a good chance to make the playoffs, at least for one game. Making it to the World Series was out of the question, of course. It's a shame the owners don't care about the game or the fans. They're in it for the money. I boycotted the franchise for a while until they replaced the team manager with someone better. Sadly, the owners are going by the just good enough principle, which is based on a scientific(?) finding that people will use an inferior product that's "just good enough" as long as the product works. The finding discovered that products don't have to be "the best", as long as they're not broken. People will put up with a lot. It was in the news a while back, if you want to try to find it. The owners consistently field a team that's just good enough to keep the profits rolling in while not caring if it's the best. As long as you promise to patronize the team's sponsors, I give you permission to walk your dog the rest of the season.

I've mentioned a path in life God may have shown me. I was waiting for confirmation, because it seemed a bit improbable. This week I received two negative confirmations. One showed me something about it that was definitely not in line with the word. The other didn't appear to be. Bummer. It would have been incredibly challenging but amazing. I'm extremely disappointed. Nevertheless, God could change the circumstances of those things into something that could be his will. If he does, I'll let you know, but it's not something I'm praying for any more.

Last week I mentioned a major announcement that should be coming this week or next. It hasn't worked out the way I hoped. Back around 2009 I took a DNA test. In 2013 I had the best match so far, but I couldn't see all of the man's data. Part was public and part private. That was right after my dad died. I didn't feel like emailing the person. He had the wrong last name. Much later I did, but there was no reply. Last week I got an email. In the data I can't see, he said there was a 53% chance I was his brother. Whoa!

He was born in a foreign country, when my dad was in the navy. We swapped a couple of emails. I asked him to set the permissions so I could see the rest of the match data. He said he would but never did. I provided some information. I haven't heard back from him. Since then, I've done some digging and discovered my dad was not in the man's birth country the year before he was born. He may be a first cousin and not a brother at all. It's a 50/50 chance either way. I may have a brother, or I may not. I have no idea when or if he'll write back.

Have a great weekend.