Snow Update

So it started snowing last night about the time I got off from work. I went to the store (twice) and then hoped I wouldn't get called out because of outages. Our lines must be in great shape because we only had one outage the entire night, and I didn't have to go in.
Then, this morning I woke to see this:

We got at least ten inches overnight. I was very thankful Brandon helped me clean out the garage when he visited, so the van was safely inside. However, not owning a snow shovel, I was unable to clean out the driveway. No problem, I thought. The driveway is downhill. I'll just get a run at it from out of the garage, and I'll be on the cleared road. I was a little iffy about the three foot barrier of packed snow the plow had left, but it's only snow right? Well the van made it this far.

Thanks to my father's 4x4 I did make it to work only 10 minutes late (so far this is the day I've missed teaching most since I stopped). Anyway, look here for a couple more snow pics.

It Snowed

Can you tell which one is me?
More pictures of good ol' Eldo to follow.

The Election

This is a very late post, but I wanted to do it anyway. Unless you are interested in local politics or you are using this as some sort of reference on me, you needn't read further. Most readers of this blog will not be surprised by my political leanings, and I don't have a great reason for revealing my ballot other than this elections strangeness. In every other election I have participated in I have voted for the winners at least 85% of the time.

Position, Who I voted for, (party), win/lose, (comment)

Statewide:

Senate: Talent (R) - Lost to McCaskill

House of Rep: Skelton (D) - Won (beat the same guy he has for at least the last 4 elections)

State Auditor: S. Thomos (R) - Lost to S. Montee

Raising the minimum wage Proposition: No - Passed (Huge)

No state pension for Felons: No - Passed

Tax exemption for veterans organizations Amendment: No - Passed

Tobacco Tax Amendment: No - Failed (This was a doozy. Not only would it write a sales tax into the Constitution but it created a new government funded health care account. Thankfully, Missouri still has too many smokers to pass this one.)

Embryonic Stem Cell Research: No - passed (One of the most poorly written summaries for an amendment ever)

Local:

State Senate: Delbert Scott (R)- Won (this election should not have been as close as it was)

State Rep: Parsons (R)- No opponent

Prosecutor: Dad - No opponent (although we kept wondering what Dad's primary opponent would come up within the days before the election.)

Treasurer: Hamilton (Ind) - Lost to Levi

Commisioner: Whitsell (D) - Won

The Tickle Monster

Jill and I have discussed many parenting issues since she became pregnant with Cannon. We haven’t decided everything (for instance what kind of school he will go to), but there has been a lot of discussions. One of the decisions we have made, though, is that we will not hold our son down and tickle him.

Jill is fairly ticklish. I would say more than average, but I’m not sure I’ve tickled enough people to make that judgment. Recently, it came up that one of her childhood traumas was the relentless tickling from other family members. As she spoke my eyes glazed over and I was transported back to long repressed memories. My sister, who was more than five years older than me, would tackle and sit on me, pin my arms with one hand, and slowly bring her fingers down in a moving claw. She would chant as the fingers came closer, “here comes the spider, here comes the spider.” I was too young at the time to understand the demonic séance she was performing. She would call forth some unholy spirit to make me writhe in agony until my breath became short as more and more air was somehow exhaled without being replaced, all the while sounding like laughter to the parents ears. Those times, and they happened often as I was young, are to this day the closest I have come to death. I don’t think my words adequately describe the feeling, but I found the picture below that comes close.

Jill describes a similar experience. For this reason we will protect our son from our base instinct to tickle that pudgy belly.

Growing Up

The other day, Dad asked me what I thought the Biblical model for government is. This flowed rather naturally from another very grown-up conversation we were having. Somewhere in the middle of giving my opinion, I realized that Dad was listening. What's more? He was considering what I said.

Looking back, this wasn't the first time this has happened, but it is the first time that I had the realization that Dad was treating me like an adult. Then I looked at my life. I'm 28, married, I have a career job along the lines of my degree, and now I have a child of my own. I am pretty sure that I've crossed over. I am an adult.

Now let me explain the effect that this realization has had on me. The next week, I spent 15 to 20 minutes trying various topics to engage my father in another conversation. To spell the point out to me in big capital letters, my nephew was in the same room with his father. He was running full speed at his father trying to get him to wrestle. He would ask his Daddy to watch him play, and help him build a pump out of tinker toys. Sadly between the two of us, my nephew comes off as the more mature in this situation. At least his advances were direct and innocent. Mine were sad attempts to draw my father into a conversation where I hoped I’d end up looking smart.

And in case you were wondering… Based on Exd 28:15, Deut 1:1-18, I Samuel 8:7-22, Acts 1: 26, and Acts 2:44-47, I find it difficult to argue against a socialist theocracy with a panel of rulers chosen equally from each racial sect with disagreements being settled by the casting of lots or use of a large dartboard.

Here is the link to my older blogs. I switched because the page loaded too slow, and didn't let visitors post comments.

Still Not Cool

We saw some cops on Segways at the Missouri State Fair.  I generally have the highest respect for law enforcement officers.  They are doing a job that I would not want to do.  But come on, is it too much to ask them to walk around the fair grounds for a day. 

 

Now there is this story from Boston.  They have altered the standard Segway to toughen it up, but it is still not cool.

Cannon's Sneeze

My three month old son, Cannon, did something interesting last night. He was sleeping in his bed. I went into his room to check on him. He was sound asleep. So I tip-toed quietly out of the room and just as I got outside I heard him sneeze. I immediately went into his room and found him (and this is the interesting part) asleep. Now, when I have seen Cannon sneeze in the past it is an earth moving experience. His body clenches up to approximately one-third his normal size then releases, expands out like an explosion on a sci-fi television show, before returning to normal. It is unlike a big person sneeze and reminds me most of a view from a video camera that is dropped on the ground – everything is normal then out of focus then normal and still again. Cannon is a light sleeper. When he is in bed we do not flush the toilet. I have learned which boards in the hallway don’t squeak and take large steps to get to them. There are several light switches which we cannot turn on or off once he is asleep because they are too loud. He can hear the refrigerator door opening at the other end of the house. Given the kind of impact a sneeze has on his body, it seems absolutely inconceivable that he could do it in his sleep, but I have seen it with my own eyes.

Speaking of Cannon look at this picture. This is his latest and really only trick. Even when he is very unhappy and screaming, I can put both hands on his chest lift him over my head and as long as I keep him there, he will make that face.

Boys to Men

The news stories are horrible. There is no excuse for the shooting in penn. And it is sickening that there are people out there that would prey on high school girls in the classroom.

That being said, I think it is time young men stood up and said, "no more!" In all these situations going back to Columbine there have been a group of people who could have stopped these men before they molested a girl or killed four or five people. They are called guys in the common vernacular. They should be young men.

This is one of the big downfalls of modern culture. Our boys are taught to do what they're told in a situation involving a gun. It seems like guys will only step up to protect there own reputation, and even then they are more likely to just lie about it later.

I know it seems crazy to consider telling a high school kid to take on a gunman, but I don't think it is if you consider the alternative. The same goes for us older guys who are trying to be men. I am tired of hearing about pocketknives, nail files, & letter openers not being allowed on airplanes. The days of taking over an airplane with box cutters is long over. It was over the day it happened. Unless the terrorist get more than half the airplane full of there guys they couldn't take it over with an AK-47. We wouldn't stand for it.

For my part if I am ever in a hostage situation where the gunmen are there to prove a point or take hostages (as opposed to robbing a bank or something where the object is other than life or innocence taking), I will do my best to stop it at the risk of my own life. Now, if someone pulls a gun on me in a back alley and ask for my wallet, I’m going to give it to them and hope they go away. But what would I be doing in a back alley anyway.