…in the hoosegow. The one-two punch of midterm papers coupled with the sweet release of Fall Break has me a little shell-shocked. Especially since I spent the first day of the break wringing a tissue and running from computer to television over Falcon the Balloon Boy.
I still don’t precisely know how I feel about that whole business, but I’m crystal clear on a few things: I’m glad he’s safe. I want to know why he wasn’t in school. I want five minutes alone with tornado-daddy to discuss the finer points of parenting.
Don’t get me started.
At the beginning of this four-day Fall Break, I made a list of all the delicious, non-academic things I would do. Didn’t do any of them. I clearly accomplish more when I’m up to my eyeballs in too much work – something to do with forward motion and deceleration. A little free time and I languish.
Enough of that.
No Telling 
I read about this balloon boy fiasco online. It's completely ridiculous! Oddly enough I never wondered why he wasn't in school, rather wondered why he was hiding up in an attic. I am glad they are pressing charges because things like this are just far too ridiculous to ignore. That poor child!
They say that if you want something done, give it to a busy person! I think we all tend to take advantage of free time once in a while and do utterly nothing at all with it.
The media loves the balloon boy, it was a win win for them! If he was in the balloon and lived it would have been a feel good story. If he was in the balloon and died, it would be tragedy tv, and if it is a hoax, they will be on it for the next 6 months!
Free time is a good thing! I'm back in the saddle again with my blog tomorrow after a week break (and in all honesty, I could take another week off).
As far as balloon boy goes – I thought I heard something that the kids were home schooled. No?
I couldn't understand how Falcon(?) could have gotten in the balloon in the first place.
I can truly understand how a little boy would go and hide after his father yelled at him.
I thought the father looked genuinely upset after they had found Falcon. Either that or he's a great actor.
I wish the media would just drop the whole issue now.
Sandra – how old is he, six? I'm glad I don't have a six year-old who can figure a way into an attic. Yikes.
Otin, on CNN some woman called in after the boy reappeared and said she'd “lost a whole afternoon” following the story. I guess she wanted either a daring rescue or a dead child. I wonder what would've made it “worth” the time she spent. Creepy.
Free time is such a rarity, Calamity, that I'm never sure what to do with it when I get it.
Pat, I just assumed they went to public school – time for a fact check. And yes, I can understand the hiding. Kids do scary, stupid things all the time that make us worry. My Em used to hide in department store dress racks and scare me half to death.
You know, sometimes you just gotta cringe when the national news hits your hometown. I'm glad the kid's okay, but dad said in an interview that he's been known to run and hide after he's gotten in trouble in the past, so why didn't they look for him. And why did he call 9News BEFORE he called 911? Ugh!
I'm frustrated with the whole thing and the bad light it's put Fort Collins in. Hello! We're home to one of the best large animal vet schools in the nation. Oh, yeah, and Fat Tire. Some good does come out of my hometown. 🙂
Enjoy your down time. There won't be much of it come November 😉
It was the-day-after-parent-teacher-conferences here in Colorado. Which is some sort of regional school day off, and that's why Falcon was home. It's amazing what kind of mischief his parents got themselves up to in all that family time, isn't it? Maybe next time they'll just play some Monopoly or something. . .
I'm glad I'm not the only one to do less on a slack day than a busy one.
The whole situation with Falcon seems quite bizarre and raises far to many questions.
GunDiva and Boyles, as locals you must be perfectly horrified. The news of the hoax and the those tragic interviews are more than any of us can stand. I worry for all three of those boys.
Drawn, the break is officially over and I'm ratcheting back up. I fear now that Christmas break may turn me into a sloth. How long before Balloon Dad tries to get a book deal?
Balloon Dad is going to prison if the sheriff has any say in it. He's got 5-6 charges, two of them felonies, that he's going to press. And that doesn't include what the FBI or FAA might decide to charge. Hope is 15 minutes of fame was worth it.
Monda, really, have you looked at some of your ads? I know you use adsense, but really? You've got an add for “discharge and fishy smell”…now, we all know it's because of your catfish post, but NoMoreFishyDischarge.com doesn't. It just cracks me up every time I see it 🙂 Especially since it's the same level as the comment box.
I suppose what it boils down to, Monda, is that crazy can live anywhere crazy wants. I don't think it's in the water, thankfully enough, because my kids were not faux flying across the plains on their big day off.
A little stale by now, but this YouTube video is hilarious, and a splendid example of creative editing.
Hitler Upset at Balloon Boy Hoax.
I was worried about the boy too. Really glad nothing bad happened to him, whatever the explanation about what is the real truth about this event.
I work part-time and always plan to do a lot during my two days off. It's shocking how these two days go by with very little being achieved almost every time! Somehow, even when I do a lot during my time off, I end up unhappy that I didn't do even more. So just enjoy the fact that you had time to spare and don't lose any sleep over the fact that you haven't really done much during that time.
Jelena