A sheet of paper left on Table 3: Thought for the day ....

Overread at Table 3: Poem of the Day: Carl Sandburg's "Still Life"

Still Life

Carl Sandburg, 1878 - 1967

Cool your heels on the rail of an observation car.
Let the engineer open her up for ninety miles an hour.
Take in the prairie right and left, rolling land and new hay crops,
      swaths of new hay laid in the sun.
A gray village flecks by and the horses hitched in front of the
      post-office never blink an eye.
A barnyard and fifteen Holstein cows, dabs of white on a black
      wall map, never blink an eye.
A signalman in a tower, the outpost of Kansas City, keeps his
      place at a window with the serenity of a bronze statue on a
      dark night when lovers pass whispering.

Overheard at Booth 3: Jogging at Lunch

... I was jogging at lunch today around the neighborhood.  Going past this apartment complex these two young ladies come out of the gate, they looked like one was a realtor showing the other the apartment.  The path was narrow so I had to slow down, and this one - tall, brunette, elegant, gorgeous - says to me "Please excuse us, don't let us get in the way of your run"

and I said, "A gentleman always pauses to appreciate true beauty."

I tell you, if I were twenty years younger, that line would probably get me laid.

Overheard at Booth 5: Easter Eggs

“reminds me of guy i once knew.. he worked at the company I did.. he had a sick sense of humor.. no big deal, we all did.. but he used to joke about liking "young" girls.. like pre-puberty ones.. he said they smelled like "Easter Eggs" whatever that meant.. we all thought he was just joking in a sick way.. until one day on the way back from lunch.. we stopped by a co-workers house on the way back to the office and in the neighborhood we noticed him parked out by an elementary school watching the kids on the playground.. so we started following him at lunch and found he went every day and appeared to have "love for one" in the car while at the playground.. i mentioned it to a friend who worked at the DA's office.. the guy quit the job soon after and i didn't think about it again.. until a few years later.. watching the news one night.. there was old "Easter Egg" in handcuffs.. busted for lewd act with a minor and kiddy pron.. a sick breed these type... there's no cure for it short of "lead poisoning"... these guys will be out on bail meeting real kids for sex in a few hours.. meeting fake "cop" kids is just an inconvenience.. they'll be getting that Easter Egg tomorrow..”

NOTE: This was an online comment to a news article about a sting operation that netted 12 men in Fort Bend County on charges of intent to solicit a minor

http://www.click2houston.com/news/12-men-arrested-in-online-child-sex-sting-in-fort-bend-county/32108396

Overheard at Booth 2: Kayleigh and her Dad

Kayleigh:  Don't worry Dad I'm still a virgin.

Dad: Just the fact that you're telling me this makes me suspicious.  Is there something you really wanna tell me?

Kayleigh:  OK.  Fine.  I smoke dope.   But I thought I'd lead with the virgin thing so you wouldn't totally freak.

Dad:  Oh.  Thanks.

Overheard at Table 4: Rick Perry vs. Vladimir Putin

Jose:  I heard Rick Perry on the radio last week and he was talking about throwing his hat in the ring for President.

Mack:  Great.  Now we'll have TWO of Texas's Worst and Dumbest running for the country's highest office.

Jose:  You'll love this.  He said - let me see if I can remember it right - I kid you not he said something just like this - "If I was in the same room with Putin, I would look him straight in the eye, and I'd say, 'Vladimir . . . the USA is gonna fill all Europe with natural gas, and I'm signin' that bill TOO-day.'  And then I would get up and walk out of the room."

Mack: What a goob.

Jose:  Yeah, but that crap plays so well in the public.

Mack: Nah . . . he'll never live down looking like a drunk car salesman in 2012.

Jose: If he's got the money behind him, he'll actually make it.

Mack: I have to admit, you did that smart ass Texas drawl of his pretty well.

Jose:  Thanks.  I've been practicing for when I run for Governor.

Mack: You'll have to change your name to Joe.

Jose: Not if I run in ten years.

Overheard at Table 1: Entrepreneurship of Medieval Border Ballads

Charlie says, "I keep hearing all this talk about this being a great time to be an entrepreneur but all of these guys keep saying the same thing over and over again that the way to make a successful business is to do what you love.  They say 'find what you love to do and go do that.'

"But what if the only thing I love to do is memorize Medieval Border Ballads?"

Mario says, "Then I guess you have to create an app that allows people do download you reading Medieval Border Ballads."

Charlie says, "Who in the hell is ever gonna pay for that?"

Mario, "I dunno.  I don't even know what the hell a Medieval Border Ballad is."