Opinion

One should really get points (money) in this world for waiting on-line, listening to canned music that never ends, and in the end failing to get satisfaction from customer service. I consider myself a good bargainer, a finder of all things fair, and if all else fails I have been known to conjure up a brother-in-law, uncle, or sister who went to law school and now deals in tort law. That’s the guys who want to know if you are a marine and “drank the water.”

As Texas gets at least a temporary reprieve this week from the heat, with a nice round of rain blanketing much of the state, the Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting January will bring significant snowfall to the state.

We laughed intermittently for weeks about our decision to embark on a 3,000-mile road trip because we didn’t have time to fly. As the date neared and mass media folks conveyed horror tales of passengers stranded in airports or delayed, our decision to take to the highways seemed well-founded.

This month is a time for change. With the storms of August, most of us are beset with traumatic changes in our lives. We look back on this month as a time when we lost our control, turned our charges over to someone else’s care, and trusted that we wouldn’t make fools of ourselves sending them on their way.

While gas prices nationwide dropped below $4 per gallon average last week, the state boasts the lowest prices in the country at an average of $3.49 — 50 cents below the national average, according to AAA Texas.

As chapters of life unfold, unlikely coincidences occur that are so rare that surely providence is behind the steering wheel. No doubt whoever won that $1.3 billion lottery will spend much of his/her remaining time on earth pondering the “what if’s” of choosing such a long string of numbers in perfect order to hold the WINNING TICKET among the megamillions that weren’t. Oh, I know a few lesser winners cashed in, too, but most lottery participants held worthless pieces of cardboard, not unlike those who pick poorly at horse races.

I’m not sure where the summer went, but it is winding down. School supplies are on the shelves, Lunchables are in the display case at the grocery, and tax-free weekend has filled the sneaker store full of giggling kids and whining mothers. You would think the kids would be whining and the mothers giggling, but one must remember who is paying.

The ditty written long ago is more accurate today than when pen met parchment. The exact wording may not be 100% accurate, but here’s how I remember its four lines: “How much I have seen and how much I have read, of the struggles of man to get ahead. But me, I’m busy--both body and mind--in the struggle to keep from getting behind.”

Millions of Texas children are heading back to school this month, as early as this week in some districts. The Texas Department of Transportation urges drivers to be especially alert and focused when driving in school zones and near bus stops.

I am admittedly a slow learner. Asked on a game show to name the presidential images at Mount Rushmore, I would redden with embarrassment. Only in recent years have I been sure there are four honorees. Even now--if asked how many--I’d likely wither under the pressure of TV’s bright lights, meekly asking if the number is between one and ten.