Oh Perfectness!

That title is in honor of my sister. She commented the other day that my wife's and my blog entries about our kids seem too sweet, too perfect. I know my kids aren't the only sweet ones out there. We have some friends with two boys who are just as cute as can be. It's always fun to hear about what Nate and Grant have been up to.

My kids can be a handful sometimes, but there are times they are the sweetest things ever. I was reminded of that earlier tonight. Grace went to bed before she could kiss me goodnight. She was awake in her room, talking to herself and occasionally making some kind of sound that resembled a brief cry. I went up to check on her and she was wide awake. I turned on some music and we danced for a bit, we rocked in the chair a bit and then she and her teddy-bear went to bed. She smiled at me as I walked out and, judging from the baby monitor, went to sleep about 10 minutes later. (My sister is probably looking for an insulin shot after that story.)

I'm sure I'll have some difficulties in the future. Grace is already letting the neighbor kid hug and kiss on her. I'm obviously going to have to keep an eye on her. But I'm going to ride this train as long as I can. A friend of mine back in Raleigh told me one time he had an understanding with his wife. He was going to spoil his daughter while she was young, because when she became a teenager he knew she was going to hate him. I'm not going to spoil Grace too much now and I'm not conceding the hatred just yet. But I want to enjoy the good times while they last.



This was Grace in an Easter outfit.


Noah sleeping, I wish I could figure out his patterns already.

Greetings from Sherwood Forest

I was making my annual pilgrimage through Sherwood Forest recently. Everyone does it around this time of year. And until this year I thought everyone also got stopped by a band of merry men. Apparently the band has changed a little bit. First off, not every traveler was getting stopped and shaken down. I then contemplated that and figured probably 10% wouldn't get shaken down because Robin Hood would be looking out for the bottom earning 10.

I counted. It wasn't 10%, it was 40%. Robin Hood was letting 40% of the people get through scot(sp?) free! On the bell curve that seems a little lopsided. As I stood in line waiting my turn to get shaken down I found out from those emerging that another 20% hardly lost a thing. So we are at 60%, right? It turns out Robin Hood targets 40% to pay everything he wants.

Now here is where my blood starts to boil. Robin Hood is supposed to redistribute the ill gotten gains from the rich to the poor. My gains weren't ill gotten. My wife and I worked our tails off for what we got. We don't mind paying a tribute to Mr. Hood to help out the less privileged, but he seems to be mighty generous with our money. In fact, there was a pamphlet in the Sherwood Forest visitors center that, in extremely fine print, said he, Mr. Hood and his jolly band of junket traveling fat cats, plans to increase their shake down in 2010.

I know there are some reading this that find themselves in the aforementioned 60% to whom the band, and may I say that Little John looks a lot like Nancy Pelosi, don't harass. Count yourselves lucky! But recall the question from yore; "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." Today you may not be paying, but you will soon, whether it is in tribute to Hood or by losing a job because the economy simply can't sustain itself on such a wildly unbalanced distribution.

I also want to send a note of caution to those who don't pay tribute to Mr. Hood. Don't complain when others don't pay tribute either. If someone makes it into the Forest, documented or not, and doesn't pay, that doesn't increase what you ain't payin. So unless you payin, you ain't complainin.

So I'm traveling lighter now. We're bloodied and missing a suitcase or two. We're headed back home to work and try to survive this year before Little John screws things up too bad. (sHe was just saying how misunderstood the French are and how nice they are. We should just try to understand them and surely they won't want to cross the channel and conquer us, rape the women and pillage the country. Lord, how naive do they get? She even donned a headscarf like the French wear and called it Macaroni.)

Powered by ScribeFire.

An Inconvenient Diatribe

Please pardon me for jumping on the current events bandwagon for a few minutes. I am reaching my limit of militants and need to vent.
On the radio this morning I was listening to some feedback from an interview conducted earlier in the week. The show was CNBC's Squawk Box and the interview was with Laurie David, producer of an Inconvenient Truth, and Sheryl Crow, a crooner. The topic of the interview was global warming, because movie producers and crooners are experts on this subject. As the interviewer asked questions about differing points of view, differing from what the documentary documents, Laurie declared debate over and the science resolved! She went on to post on her blog that the interviewer is a militant.

Holy Schnikies! That just ruffles my feathers a bit. The gall of some movie producer to declare debate over because 2000 scientists in 150 countries agree with her. Come on, Dow Chemical employs more scientists than that! Debate over? Who is she to end debate? She is the wife of some guy that made a comedy sitcom about nothing (Seinfeld) and went on to make an inane HBO "comedy" about his own life. It's like the thinking in that left coast crew is this: "We made a movie. And not just a movie, but a documentary! A documentary is like a movie based on real events, but it stars people who don't know how to act. And that makes it all fact and we won an Oscar, so we are validated" Arrgh!

Here is a blast from the past taken from the truth vault. "All planets and stars revolve around the Earth." It was a truth. Debate was over because everyone who was an authority said that was the way things were. But there was a scientist who took a long hard look at the facts and determined that in fact the Earth revolved around the sun. Talk about inconvenient. Of course Galileo Galilei was persecuted and called a heretic because he disagreed. All of the scientists were against him. But now there is a new truth regarding the order of what revolves around what. (The newest thinking is the world revolves around Hollywood.) There are others from the vault. World is flat, I didn't inhale, etc.

The real inconvenient truth is that Laurie David, Sheryl Crow, Arianna Huffington et al are no different than VP Dick Cheney. Dick has Iraq, they have global warming. And both are/were misguided. Both push(ed) for action without thinking very hard about the consequences while decrying the perils of not doing something immediately. And both will lead, inexorably, to a decline in civilization.

So there it is. Militants be warned that just because you call something a truth doesn't necessarily make it one. You are all alike, left/right, progressive/conservative. And those of us moderate folks want to shoot you. hehe

Powered by ScribeFire.

Reflections on the sun

I was watching a program about the sun today and learned some very fascinating facts. For those who haven't already changed the blog channel, I'll share some of those with you and why I think them noteworthy.

1) This isn't a fact but a quote by Galileo Galilei. He said "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had
nothing else in the universe to do." I found this to be a very inspiring thought applicable to each of us. It illustrates a basic responsibility we each have to nurturing. By ascribing human qualities to the sun we can say that even while it maintains the balance of the solar system it still provides nurturing light and warmth to things like grapes so they can grow up and be all the can be. As adults we should be like the sun. We should accomplish our normal duties of providing for the family, being responsible citizens. We should also take the time to nurture children and others with our good example and mentoring.

2) The sun has a temperature of 6000 degrees Kelvin at its surface. The temperature increases as you get further away from the surface of the sun. Scientists don't know why this is the case, but it brings another chance for a metaphor. We should expend good amounts of energy to those nearest us. However, in order to increase our influence further from our intimate relationships, we need to burn a little hotter. By this I don't necessarily mean emotionally hotter. Instead, our influence should be warmer, more loving and understanding.

3) If you look at the sun with an unaided eye you see a nice bright sphere. It is warm and perfectly white at midday. However, if you look through an x-ray, infra-red or UV filter you see dark spots and light spots, explosions and magnetic fields. This holds true for people as well. If you observe someone from a far and only through the very narrow lens of your personal experience with them they will appear a certain way. When you get closer to them you learn of their "light spots and dark spots." This doesn't make them a better or worse person, it just means you know them better. This is a perfect argument to avoid judging people.

On that subject, my wife and I were discussing people and insecurities. I have told her that I am, in some respects, an insecure person. This has surprised her before and she asked what were my symptoms of insecurity. I showed her that the lens through which to observe my insecurities was over-compensation. I want to be accepted and so in socially intense situations tend to try to force others to like me by telling jokes and stories. Many would observe me to be an extrovert and a jerk. However, when the lens is applied, they would understand what is really happening and be able to adjust.

Powered by ScribeFire.

I'm from the Valley! Nature Valley?

Those who know me know my wife is going through a transition time. We recently had our second child. Man, kids bring so many changes - late nights changing diapers, hours spend watching Barney or Dora, blowing endless bubbles for some amusement. But it has also brought other changes. I love my wife; I love our kids and I wouldn't change any of them for anything in the world. But some of the changes are taking some getting used to.



Recently I talked about wraps, so there is one thing. Then, there are the requirements for a stroller. I have been lectured on the need for appropriate foot apparel for infants and children (often costing what I pay for size 10 men's shoes). Lastly, there is breastfeeding.



Where do I start on that? I saw all of my siblings breastfed, so it came as no surprise that the equipment had a practical purpose. What did come as a surprise was the militancy some women have in favor or breastfeeding. Slowly my wife went from not wanting to be seen with a baby in a position that might remotely be considered in feeding position. That has now changed to where some modesty is required, but onlookers are ignored. I'm cool with that.



But now I hear talk about nurse-ins. Am I in the 60's? Did I marry Al Nelson with boobs (for those who don't know Al, count yourself lucky you don't now have a mental image to cope with, for those that do, seek counseling urgently!)? In what alternate universe did I awaken? Myspace has declared pictures of breastfeeding babies to be obscene, and has taken to removing them. (To wit, pictures of the equipment while not in action are ok.) So the "lactivists" out there want to stage a virtual nurse-in. They post pictures of themselves feeding their child, or someone else feeding, daring the Myspace people to remove their pictures. My response to both sides is the same..."huh?" Why are the pics of a nipple covered by a babies mouth obscene, and why are the women up in arms? Must be a chick thing.



If there is something I have learned it is if there is a virtual something, there is a real one too. And here in town someone got upset because a judge forbade her from nursing her child in the courtroom. So, you guessed it, a nurse-in was in the offing.



I think everyone should take a step back, take a deep breath and be nice to each other. Women feed children with their breasts. It happens. It was meant to happen. If it wasn't, women would be marsupials and could tuck a kid into a pouch. Let them cover and nurse happily. Can't we all just get along???

Powered by ScribeFire.