The Fast and the Furious

Madison has a best friend at school. She's an adorable little girl that was also in her Kindergarten class last year and now sits next to Madison in the 1st grade. Sara arranged Madison's first real play date for her and her friend at our house one day last month. In the middle of the night Madison became ill. Unbeknownst to us at the time, her friend also became very sick. Her mom called us the next day to warn us that her daughter was sick and that the doctors thought it might be the swine flu.

Madison was really sick for a little more than a day and then began to recover. Her friend, however, became more and more ill. It is extremely serious. She is currently hospitalized in Intensive Care and has been put into a medically-induced coma. Whether or not it really was the swine flu, we don't know. She is now battling pneumonia. She's already missed five straight weeks of school.
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Yesterday at church Madison learned about fasting from her Primary teacher. Later that afternoon, Madison excitedly suggested that we should all fast for her friend to get better - and so we did. She loves her friend. We used the opportunity to talk more about fasting. We skipped dinner last night and both Madison and Brooklyn even wanted to skip breakfast this morning to get their two meals in.
I hadn't been home more than 10 minutes from dropping Brooklyn off at preschool when her teacher called. She said that Brooklyn told her she couldn't eat the snack because she was fasting, and the teacher wanted to make sure she was understanding everything correctly and that she respected our wishes. I explained about Madison's friend and how Brooklyn was excited to participate, but that I didn't really expect her to skip two meals. She could certainly have snacks if she chose to.
Madison also told her teacher that she was fasting for her friend and classmate. Her teacher said that was a very nice thing to do. Lunch, however, brought with it an entirely different response. Madison easily fasted all the way until lunch time and was quite happy to do it. She really loves her friend. We had talked earlier in the morning about saying a short, silent prayer before she ate to properly end her fast. She's not the least bit timid about praying in public - at restaurants, Disneyland, wherever.
As she lowered her head at her table, one of the school's staff [name reluctantly withheld] interrupted her by saying, "You stop it with the silly prayer thing."
I'm pretty steamed about this. I'm ready to launch a crusade. It would have been one thing to say, "I'm sorry Madison, but the courts have removed God from schools." But to belittle a six-year-old for something so innocent as asking a blessing on her food??? Nearly 85% of the country believes in some form of god. She wasn't baptizing her friends with sprinkles from her Juicy-Juice or preaching the four horsemen from her lunch table. Madison quoted this verbatim several different times this afternoon, so I don't think she's making it up. I told Madison I wanted to call the principal to talk about it and she freaked out, "No, please don't call the school. Then I'll get in even more trouble. That's what happened to *Jimmy* (not his real name). The same thing happened to him and his mom called the school and then that teacher got him in trouble for telling. Promise me you won't call."
This wasn't helping to calm my ire at all. However, I agreed to not call the school at this point. I do want to talk to Jimmy's parents just to corroborate Madison's story about their son. This may well be the feather that tips my scale. We allow Satan in schools, so why not God? Fair is fair, right? But that's not even what I'm upset about. I'm mad that an adult at Madison's school - an authority figure - a role model - took a position like that and would denigrate a small child that had not done anything wrong. Is Madison supposed to feel ashamed now? Is she supposed to apologize? Does the teacher believe she saved Madison from heading down the 'dangerous' path of a god-fearing person? Why could the teacher have been more like Brookie's teacher? A simple phone call - "Did you know your daughter prays? With your permission, I'd like to give her a switchblade and a pack of Camels so she doesn't start to think she's actually a good person."
Why do we, the 85%, allow the other 15% to dictate all of the rules. We're the ants in A Bug's Life. There are waaaaay more people on our side but we feel weak against our would be grasshopper oppressors. If we were to ever unite under a common cause, no prayer-hating lunch supervisor would stand a snowball's chance.
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I recounted to Madison the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego - three young men that were persecuted for praying. Brookie summed up the lesson nicely, saying that even if they're tossing her in the oven like Hansel and Gretel, she'll just keep right on praying.


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YouTube Gems - Play

I am continually amazed at how creative some people are. This is really a simple idea and probably not very difficult at all to physically (digitally, really) create. But the process of conceptualizing the idea and then making it a reality - that's what impresses me so much.

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Chew Toy

Imagine laboring all day on something that you feel passionate about, only to have its supposed value fall on deaf ears or blind eyes.
Let's say you make Christmas fruitcakes. Your recipe has been handed down from generation to generation. You spend days planning, shopping, baking and wrapping dozens of your prized fruitcakes and give them freely to everyone you know.
Then, when visiting a friend at Easter, you notice one of your fruitcakes being used as a doorstop.
Or that TPS report you worked on for two weeks is tossed immediately to the recycle bin; unread.
Or that nice sweater you bought for your sister has been turned into a chew toy for the dog.
You can probably understand why these musicians are offended.
Turns out their "music" is perfect for "torturing" terrorists. The musicians are up in arms about it, but I'm not sure why.

1. Are they upset that somebody holds their music in such poor regard that listening to it is considered torture?
2. Are they upset that the terrorists are being forced to listen to their music as opposed to that of another, perhaps more talented, musician?
3. Are they upset because they might not be receiving air play royalties?
4. Are they upset that the terrorists are being made to listen to music as a form of torture, period, as opposed to having being ripped limb from limb or being buried in the Sahara up to their neck with honey poured over their head?
5. Are they embarrassed that their music is of an inferior quality and they wanted to put up a better showing for the terrorists?

The musicians are 'saying' that #4 is true - that they think each terrorist should be given a six figure salary, a beautiful wife and a house in the foothills. But I'd bet a wooden nickel that the real reason is more like #1 - their feelings are hurt that their music is being used to punish people.
Why not view this as an opportunity? I mean, an entirely new demographic is being exposed to their life's work. If they believe their music is good, why wouldn't they think the terrorist will enjoy it and one day, when Obama sets them free, purchase the album for themselves and their entire clan?
I, for one, think the whole situation is hilarious.

From the military's perspective, I get it. Personally, I could probably handle Pearl Jam for a while, at least until my eardrums exploded. But R.E.M.? Not a chance. Give me the waterboarding, please.


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YouTube Gems - Kiwi

This is, I think, the first YouTube video I ever saw. With 24 million views, there's a decent chance you may have already seen it.
"Kiwi" is a touching little short about a small but determined, flightless bird. We should all work so diligently to accomplish our dreams.





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Times Are Changing

When I woke Madison up for school this morning she immediately observed (in her Miracle Max's chocolate coated pill sudden outburst of speech manner), "Dad, it feels like we're going to be late today."

We weren't running late. She was expecting it to still be dark outside when she woke up. With the time change early Sunday morning she perceived that something was not as it should have been.
She surprised me further as we were watching the World Series this evening. "Dad, why do they wear white uniforms when they know they're just going to fall down and get them dirty? They should just make their whole uniform be the color [the accent color]."


I was thinking, Sunday morning, that it might be nice if the Earth's rotation were such that we needed to "fall back" every Saturday night. The constant clock adjustment would be annoying at first, but soon become routine. And that bonus hour of sleep every week would be a welcome change.
And while we're on the subject, I've often wondered why we even still have Daylight Savings. My understanding is that Daylight Savings was conceived as a way to give farmers more daylight hours with which to work. Aside from the obvious fact that adjusting a clock in either direction does not cause the sun to remain in the sky any longer or shorter than it otherwise would, what difference does it make if the average person wakes up in the dark or light?
In Madison's case, I wake her up at 7 AM. Well, this morning she noticed that some daylight had already been burned. And it's going to be darker one hour earlier than usual, too, meaning we'll have to turn lights on an hour earlier than normal, meaning we'll be using more electricity than normal.
Turns out I was wrong about the origins of Daylight Savings, but I can count Benjamin Franklin among my supporters for being a proponent of simply adjusting one's personal habits to take advantage of the free sunlight.
What do you think? Do you like Daylight Savings? How does it affect your life? How would you change the system?

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You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown

I had been hoping for the past year that Karsten's hair would not grow too much so that he could be Charlie Brown for Halloween. As you can see, everything worked out very nicely. Karsten even won the costume contest at our local Fred Meyer.

After visiting just a few houses on Halloween night, Karsten was extremely sticky and just too exhausted to actually stay upright in his wagon as I chauffeured him around. Don't tell him, but I skipped past several houses when he wasn't paying attention. Everything you can see in this picture, with exception of the sidewalk, has a thin layer of Karsten's candy-saliva mixture spread all over it. At one house he couldn't even manage to hold his hand out to accept the candy offering because his hand was quite literally stuck to his face.

Here's a courtesy link to the real award-winning prime time special, "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown."

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Something Stingks

I am republishing this short piece from the Associate Press in its entirety because I think my 'summary' would be longer than the original.

NEW YORK – Sting isn't a religious man, but he says President Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems.

"In many ways, he's sent from God," he joked in an interview, "because the world's a mess."

But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems. In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and "found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world."

"I can't think of anyone better qualified because of his background, his education, particularly in regard to Islam," he said.

Still, Sting acknowledged the president had a "difficult job" ahead of him.

The British singer, who released the seasonal album "On A Winter's Night" this week, said he's fascinated by American politics, Obama, and also by Obama's opponents on the right.

"It's aggressive and violent and full of fear," he said of the backlash against Obama. "They don't want change, they want things to feel the same because they feel safe there."

Sting, 58, said he's hopeful that the world's problems can be dealt with, but is frustrated that "we seem to be living in a currency of medieval ideas."

"My hope is that we can start talking about real issues and not caring about whether God cares about your hemline or your color," he said. "We are here to evolve as one family, and we can't be separate anymore."

President Obama made time in his schedule to meet with Sting?

Do people really look to Sting for guidance on stuff like this?

How many other candidates did Sting vet before arriving at his conclusion that Obama is best qualified?

What is it, specifically, about Obama's "background [and] his education, particularly in regard to Islam" that makes him a more appropriate president than, say, Lee Iaccoca, or Snoopy?

And why does the media seem to think that any meaningful number of people even care what actors and musicians have to say about politics?

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On a similar note, did anyone see that our old friend Sean Penn, "personal friend of U.S. President Barack Obama" was in Venezuela meeting with Hugo Chavez? Yeah, he went there directly from Cuba where he was doing some investigative journalism for an upcoming Vanity Fair article about "how the Obama administration has affected Cuba," and was to meet with Fidel Castro.

Were there not any actual qualified journalists that could have paid some bills by virtue of that job?

Isn't travel to Cuba highly restricted? Should Penn be barred from reentering the U.S.?

Is anyone else disturbed that within the first two sentences of the story, Sean Penn, communist dictator Hugo Chavez, communist dictator Fidel Castro, and current U.S. president Barack Obama have all been linked to one another?

Does Obama have one single associate that is not currently or has not previously been involved in shady or highly suspect behavior? Tax cheats; convicted terrorists; communist sympathizers. The list goes on and on and grows by the day.

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Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

Tonight was pumpkin carving time in preparation for Halloween. You may recall my disdain for pumpkins from last year's pumpkin post - "Jack"-o-lantern. I don't know whether something had changed chemically within my being to make me like pumpkins or if I've simply become a broken man. But there were several small details which indicate I may actually be learning to enjoy the process.

1. We bought multiple pumpkins
2. I specifically selected a pumpkin with a bit of character, instead of seeking out the perfectly round specimen like I always have in the past
3. I proactively sought out some potential ideas (thanks Google Images!) and let the kids vote on their favorite
4. I initiated the event with the kids - Sara wasn't even home (she was grateful for that)
5. Halfway in I realized that I had forgotten to don a pair of latex gloves to protect me from actual contact with the pumpkin guts - and I just shrugged it off
6. The pumpkin didn't smell nearly as unpleasant as past experience had suggested
7. I couldn't find any of our special carving tools but I persisted anyway with a paring knife

The winning design? Daddy's pumpkin eating Brookie's pumpkin!

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End of an Era

The day I hoped would never come has arrived. The man - the legend - master carpenter Norm Abram is retiring from the New Yankee Workshop. Turns out it actually takes Norm much longer than 30 minutes to build each of his museum-quality projects each week. All of that work has finally gotten to him.
Norm will use his extra time to work on his home and personal projects. But don't worry, we'll still get to see him on episodes of This Old House.
I'm still searching for the photo of when I met the cardboard Norm at a Portland trade show I attended. I'll post that here if I can find it.
UPDATE - Found the pic. I only asked him one question and then like, a week later, he finally shut up.



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For Your Neflix Queue - Hogfather

I have no idea where this movie came from, or even how it ended up at the top of my Netflix queue, but it is absolutely brilliant. The timing of its arrival was also quite appropriate as we enter the holiday season.

Basically, the Hogfather is Santa Claus, only in some fictitious world that is remarkably like our own. The premise is your typical gotta-save-Christmas adventure, but that is just about the only thing typical about this film. For starters, it is over three hours long. The cast is full of fresh faces - new to us, but obviously not new to the craft as they are all excellent. Also, when the Hogfather (i.e. Santa) goes missing, it's none other than Death that steps in to fill his boots.


The film is not rated (I think it was made for TV), but I would guess it is a PG. There is no language or sex to speak of. There is some violence, but it is more like Goonie-thug violence - not silly, but not graphic or too serious.
Great cast, fantastic costumes and sets, unique cinematography, and a satisfying ending to boot. Consider adding the Hogfather to your holiday movie viewing schedule this year.
And Happy Hogswatch to you and yours.


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