Fingerprints, Boston and Balloons

Book 'im, Dano
Thanks to the wise and powerful Arizona legislators, I, as well as all other public school employees (and probably a lot of other employees) am required to get fingerprinted in order to prove that I'm not a criminal (at least, I'm guessing that's the reason, though I suppose I could be wrong). So about 8 or so years ago, I submitted to this, and I remember feeling disgruntled and disrespected - which is often a feeling I have when the wise and powerful Arizona legislators stick their noses into the education business. Anyway, I got over it and figured it was a one and done deal. Little did I know that for whatever reason, the fingerprints only last for 8 years. So I found out a couple of weeks ago that I needed to go and get fingerprinted again. Now let's think about this. I mean, I thought it was pretty stupid to have to get fingerprinted in the first place, but having to get fingerprinted in the second place makes no sense whatsoever (at least to me). I assume that if I had decided to commit a crime in the past 8 years, and if I had been arrested and convicted of that crime, they would have matched up my fingerprints and said, "Hey, this guy is a criminal and a teacher. That's not a good thing." But what happens after eight years? Do my fingerprints change? I don't think so. Are they worried that I might have burned them off with acid or something (like getting them surgically altered) in order to be able to commit crimes, get arrested and be convicted without having my fingerprints reveal that I'm also a teacher? I just don't get it. But because I didn't see that I had a choice in the matter, I went ahead and signed up for a time to get my fingerprints taken, got my money order (to make this even better, it also cost me around 80 bucks to get the fingerprints that I didn't want to have done, done). And I drove all the way across town to the Sheriff's station, found the fingerprint division, and went in. I have to admit, I was kind of taken aback. I'm not sure why, but I was thinking this would be a "cop place" with a bunch of cops sitting at desks and a gruff sergeant at the desk. I imagined there would be shady looking characters sitting on wooden benches with handcuffs securing them in place, bad coffee, and some juicy "cop talk" about perps and un-subs and the like. This was nothing like that. Instead, it was like an old folks' home. The lady at the front desk - was old. The guy taking someone else's prints - was old. And the lady that called my name to take my prints - was old. And when some volunteers came in from whatever it was they'd been doing - they were old too. And the "cop talk" sounded a lot like bickering about why they were back so soon and why they didn't take the right box of whatever they were supposed to take, and stuff like that. Anyway, as the lady took my fingerprints, she made a comment about how nice my fingerprints were. Now what do you say to that? I mean, I've been told I have nice teeth, and nice eyes and even some other stuff that I won't go into here because I doubt anyone wants to hear it, but this was definitely a first, and I have to admit that I was kind of flattered. I mean, I always thought I had some pretty nice prints - sometimes I'll press my fingertip on a piece of metal and admire the resultant print - but it's nice to hear it from someone else. Especially someone who has probably seen thousands of fingerprints.

Official confirmation for Boston
As many of you are probably aware, last December I ran the race of my life and managed to qualify for the Boston marathon (with exactly 26 seconds to spare). Figuring this was a once in a lifetime opportunity (seeing as how I ran the race of my life) I went ahead and signed up several weeks ago. Now usually when I sign up for a marathon, it's a simple matter of filling out the information and paying the fee, but for this one I had to submit my time and the event so they could check and make sure I wasn't trying to scam my way in. So it took several weeks, but just the other day I received my "official confirmation" from the Boston Athletic Club, and I have to admit it gave me a little bit of a goosebumpy moment.

Balloon Boy
How stupid was that whole thing?

The U of A game is on, so I guess that's all for now. Until next time, may your fingerprints remain breathtakingly beautiful, may your aspirations remain achievable, and may your feet remain planted firmly on the ground (unless you're taking a trip and flying… or skydiving… or hang gliding… or cliff diving… or traveling in a zeppelin… or jumping for joy… or experiencing zero gravity… or, okay I think you get the idea).