Dad finds schedule, solitaire at his fingertips

My wife says I'm addicted to solitaire.

I confess I like to play the game, but only on computer.

I'm not one to get out a deck of cards and spend time shuffling it.

I like computer cards. They make a nice clicking sound when you move the cards around.

I started out playing Spider Solitaire on my home computer. Now I've graduated to playing regular solitaire on my Palm Pilot.

Joni and the kids bought me the hand-held computer for Father's Day. Joni said I needed one so I could keep track of Becca's and Bailey's softball games, trips to the pool, church camp and all the other activities that we have penciled in for the summer.

Actually, they're not penciled in. They are stored in Joni's Palm Pilot and now through the miracle of technology my loving wife has "beamed" them into my Father's Day gift so I too will have no excuse on where the kids need to go on any particular day and at what time.

In the past, I could at least tell her I couldn't keep track of my children's busy schedules. But I can't use that excuse now.

So far, I've made it to most of the girls' softball games. Bailey and Becca are just learning the sport.

It's a learning time for me too.

I've already learned that softball was invented by mosquitoes who needed a way to get people to sit outdoors for hours at a time, a buffet table of human skin available for the biting. It's also sparked a whole industry of supplying sunflower seeds to all those hungry batters.

Like other recreational sports, it's a social occasion. Parents show up with their portable chairs, folded up and carried in bags slung over their shoulders. There are bleachers too, but the portable chairs are more comfortable.

As for Joni, she likes to have her schedule at her fingertips. I'm not sure about it. A busy schedule only tells me we're overbooked.

I do like my Palm Pilot, though.

I can play Solitaire, even in my car. And there are no cards to lose.

Historians say solitaire used to be called "Patience" and still is in most of Europe.

I don't have much patience, Joni tells me. I don't need to have much thanks to computer technology. You can zip through a game in no time.

The first known solitaire game rules were published during the Napoleonic era. Napoleon Bonaparte played the card game to pass the time in exile.

Bill Beers is credited with a variation of Cribbage Solitaire. He was in a mental asylum when he invented the game, which explains a lot about the game.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt played Spider Solitaire, one of my favorite solitaire games.

With my Palm Pilot, I can play solitaire and keep track of the girls' softball games.

You can't ask for much more from technology, except perhaps a way to ban mosquitoes from all softball games.

When you're talking about mosquitoes, three strikes is more than enough.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.