Stuff I've Thought About Recently

Why did Cannon say "She's not a teapot. She's my sister."?

Shouldn't it be "Eight Are Enough"?

If you are going to say something negative about the customer who just left, make sure they are out of earshot, and please do not expect me to say anything in agreement.

This week, the sports' media is crying over a playoff scenario that is only a possibility. My prediction is that Arizona will win making them 9-7. Denver will win making them 9-7. The Patriots will make the playoffs, no 11-5 team will miss the playoffs and everything that columnists and talkers have been arguing about will have never happened.

I think the Royals are going to be in contention to win their division this year.

I think Traitor was the best movie I watched in 2008. Dark Knight was okay, but I really think if Heath Ledger hadn't died, most of us would make fun of a lot more scenes in that movie. I do not know how many movies I saw in 2008, but since Redbox came to town with free movie Mondays it has averaged 1 a week or more. There isn't much intentional comedy in Traitor. However, when Cheadle is winning a fight against three guys, I did laugh.

Is it a sign of getting older that I often turn think of something I "need" to do on the computer, then by the time the computer boots up, I've forgotten?

For those of you not on Facebook, I've put Christmas pictures here.

Catching Up

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance

I finished reading this book a couple of months ago and wanted others to read it. Since I doubt I can be overly convincing, I am going to share a few quotes instead.

But it is no use trying to account for things in Fairy Land; and one who travels there soon learns to forget the vary idea of doing so, and takes everything as it comes; like a child, who, being in a chronic condition of wonder, is surprised at nothing.

and

All that man sees has to do with man. Worlds cannot be without an intermundane relationship. The community of the centre of all creation suggest an interradiating connection and dependence of the parts.

There are several great stories in this book that reads like a travel memoir. One is a story of a people that will actually die of desire. I hope I have interested you. I have a few more quotes I will share in the future.

Fringe

I enjoy the new Fox show Fringe. I wonder. Would Walter Bishop be considered a good guy? I know he is on the "right" side and helping the good people. But he seems to be driven by curiosity above all else. Is that a humanistic moral good? He has sacrificed himself to help others but the motivation always seems to be more about answering questions rather than helping people. Also, why is Agent Dunham always going to intercept the bad guy by herself? How does that happen?

Holiday Cheer

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

4 Things Christians Need to Do When Obama Wins the Election

 

1.     Sincerely pray the best for him.  When Obama is elected he will be an authority over us (Rom. 13:1-7).  If you consider him an enemy you should pray all the more.  Prayer will help purge the church of vitriol surrounding the campaign, and  allow us to be a light to the majority of Americans who did vote for the new president.

2.     Remind yourself that your money is God’s money anyway. Most of the readers of this blog will not fall into the $250,000 category that Obama threatens.  It is, though,  highly likely that his increased spending will find its way to our wallet.  But, even if the most dire predictions of economic downturn come true because of his policies, we all need to remember that God has promised to supply our needs.  He made everything and we have no right to worry about what someone takes from us.

3.     Remember that the church is global.  Our first loyalty is to the church, not America.  We need to exhaust the same energies we have put into this election into the health of the global church.

4.     Show compassion to unwed mothers, and ask God daily whether you should adopt.  I can find many reasons to vote for McCain over Obama, but none is bigger than the issue of life.  Obama's history of abortion votes is awful.  I do fear that much of the progress that has been made in this area will be undone.  But this is only in the legal arena.  The battle for hearts and lives demands a much more personal approach.  I hope that those who came to the defense of Palin's daughter will be as quick when it is a girl in their local high school.

Golden Parachutes

How did the term golden parachute catch on to describe CEO's leaving bad situations with big severance packages? 

 A golden parachute is not a good thing.  You will die if you jump out of an airplane with a parachute made of gold.  It is an ironic statement.  Unless these bosses are choking on their paychecks, the phrase is inappropriate. 

This has been driving me crazy.  Thank you for listening. 

Che Obama

Have we really reached the point in American politics where someone running for president can commission campaign art to mirror Communist revolutionaries?

Monkeys and Morons

 Jill was out all morning so she grabbed McDonalds for lunch.   She bought Cannon a Happy Meal as is her custom. They asked her if she wanted a Wizard of Oz or Lego Happy Meal.  She of course chose Lego (last week Cannon got the helicopter).  Now anytime Jill gets fast food, she always, always carefully checks the order.  This time was no exception, except she did not check the toy.

She brought home this: They might as well have put Chucky in the box.  The thing closes its eyes when you lay it down and opens them when you pick it up.  I stayed awake until midnight tonight tutoring, but I am honestly a little scared to go to sleep with this thing in the house.  A few minutes ago, one of our smoke detectors went off for just a few seconds.  I checked everything in the house and replaced the battery.  It didn't occur to me until just now, that this thing was probably somehow responsible. 

Go Royals

Saturday, I attended my last Royals game of the season with my very good friend Rhett (no it's not a pseudonym and no his parents aren't from Georgia).  We had a great time catching up and watching the best game I saw all season.  (3 double plays, 3 Royals home runs including an inside the park sprint by De Jesus that I only saw on replay)  The event was only marred by a horrible smell in our section. 

Around the second or third inning I started to smell the pungent and distinctive odor of fish in the bleachers.  Immediately, I glanced around to try and decide where the smell was coming from.  Seeing nothing, I asked Rhett if he smelled that.  His face answered the question for me.  I started making comments like, "What kind of moron would bring in fish?  I know they don't sell that here."  Rhett joined in and we continued to discuss the disgustingness of the smell.  Finally, around the 5th inning we decided to get away from our seats and find Gates for some terrific barbecue.  By they way if you haven't had Gates at the K, I strongly recommend it.  It's expensive, even slightly more so than eating at the restaurant, but so very worth it. 

As we got about halfway up the stairs (we were in the second row behind the right field wall)  Rhett turns excitedly around and says, "See that guy behind where you were sitting?  He was eating a can of sardines.  And he threw the trash under your chair." 

I was incredulous.  I could not believe that anyone was capable of this in a society.  I mean doesn't this guy interact with people on a daily basis.  It is really the equivalent of vomiting in the middle of the stands, then sitting back down and pretending that everyone does it. 

Once we were back at our seats I couldn't restrain myself.  We continued to discuss the idiocy and rudeness of someone subjecting the crowd to those noxious odors.  The man had chucked animal parts (the tiny fish bones were under my chair) into the public vicinity.  I think we shamed him into leaving but he left his trash.  I might have let it go, but I bit into a french fry as the wind shifted, and got the taste of rancid ocean water on my tongue. 

You may think I'm overreacting, and you may be right. But be careful what you say.  There is no proof that Aaron is writing this blog.  The monkey may have just taken over his computer.

Too Tired

I think I'm more tired then I ever have been in my life.  I'm not sure if it is the second child, the extra tutoring hours, or just because I turned 30 this year.  Whatever it is, I'm going to soon require a softer desk at work.

When I taught high school, I occasionally had a student fall asleep.  This could be somewhat embarrassing to the student, depending on what I allowed the other students around him to do to him, or the amount of drool coming out the corner of his mouth.  However, I don't think that would compare with falling asleep at work.  Let's say, for the sake of argument, I was allowed to keep my job.  There is no way my fellow employees would ever let me forget that I fell asleep on the job.

"Would you see if Aaron can take a call or if he is sleeping again."

A promotion would be out of the question.  "Well, Aaron, your marketing plan brought in 1.5 million in added revenue this year.  Your organizational skills have greatly improved.  But 7 years ago you fell asleep at your desk..." 

Thankfully, so far I have been able to up my caffeine intake to make it through the day.  Yesterday for instance I had to tutor from 9:00pm to Midnight.  By 11:00 I had ingested 3 cups of doubleshot coffee, and one Red Blitz Vault (R).  Of course that meant that to get to this point today, I had to drink 3 pots of coffee and 4 cans of Vault and 6 of the over-priced candy bars the Christian school is selling.  I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Green Beans

Green beans are better when cooked in bacon grease. Today though we discovered new heights of vegetable joy by using the grease from maple-honey sausage. My family has a long tradition of cooking green beans in brown sugar, but this was better. I'm 30 years old and am just now making this discovery. It makes me want to stay up all night in the kitchen rethinking food I've eaten forever. Unfortunately, I am tutoring, so I will just have to wonder what corn cooked into pancakes and covered with molasses would taste like.

Speaking of tutoring, one student used the expression, "holy hera." We are supposed to end any session where a student uses inappropriate language. Earlier this month I totally missed that a student was using the f word, multiple times. So does anyone know if "holy hera" constitutes inappropriate language? A quick google search reveals that I am out of the loop and this seems to be a commonly used expression in forums. I'm still not sure what would happen if I threw it into polite conversation. And doesn't it seem like it should always be followed by "Batman."

In related news, Jill and I are so tired that the only reason we drag ourselves out of bed when Meadow fusses is because we don't want two children screaming at us in the middle of the night. I'm so tired that when I blink, I immediately achieve REM sleep. I'm so tired that Pauly Shore movies seem kind of funny. I'm so tired that when the neighbor's dog starts barking, I wonder outside and stick a pacifier in its mouth.

I don't remember Cannon's feedings making us this tired.

I don't really remember yesterday either.

New Computer

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was getting a new computer from Office Depot. Well I am now typing on my new laptop from Best Buy. When we ordered the laptop through OD, it said the product was in stock and it would be delivered July 22nd, between 9:00am and 5:00pm. All through the weekend the site different update messages. "In stock." "Processing." "In warehouse." Then Monday July 21, it switched to, "Delivered, Short-shipped." This concerned me a little but it still said the scheduled delivery was July 22. I called the automated service and was told the order was processing and delivery was set for July 22.

July 22 came and we expected our computer. At about 4:00 Jill started making calls. She finally got a hold of a real person, who told her that "Delivered, Short-shipped" actually meant that they were out of stock, and our order may not be eligible for the rebates. So we tried to cancel the order. We called again and spoke to someone else, who told us that it was impossible to cancel the order, that the computer would be shipped to us when they were in stock, and that if we did not want it all we had to do was refuse delivery and our bank account would be credited with the full amount of the product. This did not set well, so we contacted customer support by e-mail, hoping to get something in writing.

While being as vague as possible, the rep. apologized for any inconvenience and told us that the order amount was set to $0.00, and if we were still interested in the product, an agent would be glad to assist us. Unsure if this meant that our order was indeed canceled (since an earlier rep told us this was impossible), we asked point blank if we would be receiving the computer or if it was canceled. Again they responded that the order was set to $0.00, and we could reorder if we wanted to do so. They apparently do not like the word canceled and we are still concerned that a new laptop may show up at our door any day.

I have purchased other products in store at Office Depot, and have always been satisfied in the past. But their on-line and phone customer service were both horrible in this instance. The only good thing I can say about the experience is, it appears, they never charged our debit card for the computer.

Meadow's Birth

Our second child was born two weeks ago today. We had her at the same hospital as we had our first. She was born July 3rd and Cannon was born July 5th, two years earlier. In both cases Jill had to have a C-section. We were prepared for a very similar experience.

But as most things in life, the experience was not simple repetition. During the first c-section, I stood and watched the whole bloody mess. This time I brought in a camcorder because I thought Jill needed to be able to see it later. However, when they finally brought me into the surgery room they had already begun the operation and they directed me toward a stool near Jill's head. There was a screen I could not see or film over, so I was not sure what was happening. I wanted to ask if it was all right for me to stand up, but I was terrified of distracting someone who was doing something crucial. So It was only moments before Meadow was brought out that one of the nurses told me I could stand if I wanted to.

Meadow came out kicking but not screaming much. And they stuck a tube down her throat several times to remove fluid. The doctors and nurses all get a little tense when things aren't going just as planned, but they worked with her until she was breathing well. (Although she still isn't much of a screamer)

The first baby required a 5 night stay in the hospital and I stayed with Jill almost the entire time. This time we had Cannon too, so I spent the nights with him at my parents, and Jill only had to stay 2 nights. Meadow and Mom (which sounds like a late 70's sitcom title) were ready to come home. I am not sure how different it will be raising a little girl, but so far even the things we thought were going to be the same have surprised us.

Other stuff

I am recommending people check out www.drhorrible.com, especially if you are a Josh Whedon fan. Act II went up today. And it will only be free for a limited time.

I hope the Royals will trade Jose Guillen for a young, hitting second baseman with a good attitude, and pick up Raul Ibanez as a free agent in the fall.

The El Dorado picnic is in full swing. I have no use for it, but if any of my dear readers are thinking of coming, I would love to see you. Speaking of the picnic, someone said hi to me that I vaguely recognized. It turned out to be someone I knew from junior high. I asked her if she was back in El Do. She said said she had been for the last 6 years. Maybe El Dorado isn't as small of a town as I thought.

We ordered a new computer today. You can see it here if that sort of thing interests you. I think it is a very good deal provided the mail-in rebates come through. If you think it is a lousy deal, I don't want to hear about it. I always get sick to my stomach after I make a purchase like this.

I am right now tutoring someone from Alaska. It is so hard to resist the temptation to ask them if they know the Ford's (a family we met on a mission's trip to Alaska 12 years ago). I mean Alaska's not that big, right? It's better than asking them if they know Don Mobley. He is the missionary I stayed with in the Dominican Republic so my brain associates him with Alaska as well.

Medow Joy has Joined Us in the Land of Light and Sound

I will be blogging a bit about the birth of my daughter soon. For now I hope you will be content with a few pictures.

A Political Post

I regularly listen to political debate.  I subscribe to both the Fox News Sunday and McLaughlin Group podcasts.  Quick tangent-- it always turns my stomach when I realize that Pat Buchanan is speaking for my side.  However, I don't think I am informed or persuasive enough to really talk politics and especially to write about it in my blog where it could be scrutinized.  I would rather discuss church politics (where I am a socialist) than government politics (where I probably border on libertarian). 

But in this one entry I want to point out how John McCain can win this election.  He doesn't need to keep harping on Obama's lack of experience, or his questionable associates.  He doesn't even need to draw O as a liberal while painting himself as the moderate voice.  He merely needs to continually remind people that Barack Obama is a lawyer.  The ads need to ask:  Would you rather vote for someone who has spent his young life as an attorney, or someone who spent his young life defending  this country?  After all many people respect a POW, but very few have anything nice to say about lawyers. 

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

This picture probably requires further explanation.

All About Focus

Thomas train has taken over the house.  Cannon wakes up in the morning and often the first words out of his mouth are, "Watch, Thomas Train."  We have a television in our house but no cable, dish or antenna.  it should be a great mystery as to where the boy gets his addiction to TV.  But it isn't.  He gets it from his dad. 

I think if I lived in a time before radio, I would sit around in the evening and watch bugs crawl around.  Jill would be asking me to put the boy to bed and I would be lost in the beetle's intense struggle to find a crack in the floor wide enough to escape through.  Jill's voice would rise louder as she repeated herself for the third time.  My jaw would open slightly as my focus had to become intense enough to drive out the surrounding noise.  This would continue  until Jill's boot heel would end the beetle's struggle and bring me back to the world at hand.

Another Storm Another Story

Four tornadoes, wind gusts up to 140 miles an hour and enough rain in 15 minutes to make Stockton and Truman merge into one big lake. I have been spending time answering phone calls tonight, and if I believed everything people have heard from so and so, I would be grabbing my faimly and heading for the Rocky Mountains. Taking outage calls at a utility is a lot like playing that telephone game we used to do in youth group, without the deteration into discussion of someone's underwear.

One thing you can believe is that people are without power. We wish they knew we believed them the first time. By the third or fourth time they call, it just seems like they are more lonely than anything.

I would have more sympathy for them but it is about 83 degrees outside, reruns are on television and it is still light out. They should be thankful we are pushing them to enjoy the outdoors except, you know, for those people who are now a part of Truckton Lake.

Floods, Friends, and Fools

Anyone who used to live in El Dorado or has been here enough to know what the spring usually looks like needs to click this link.  An amazing amount of water came down in a short amount of time and teamed up with some unfinished drainage work to wreak havoc on our little burg.  Jill had to circle the town to get to our house as a nearby creek overflowed.  Of course our basement was not unaffected, but we have long since learned not to leave valuable items down there. 

I have succumbed to peer pressure and started a facebook page recently.  It paid huge dividends this week when it helped me reconnect with one of my best friends.  Before this happened, however, I was already sold on the app because it is allowing me to play chess with some of my friends.  I am currently playing four games with four friends.  I know that there are hundreds of places you can play on the Internet, but I like the slow pace of facebook games.  I lost many games on Yahoo solely because their program did not refresh the board in a timely manner. This is not an issue with ChessPro.  If you want a game, look me up.

April Fools Day seemed like a bigger deal to people this year than it has in the past.  A lot of media people, friends and locals wanted to get in on the act.  My favorite:  the Pardon the Interruption guys opened their show by announcing that the NCAA was going to replay the last 16 seconds of the Kansas-Davidson because a key player had fouled out and this was not caught by the officials.  I listened to it the next morning and not thinking about April 1st anymore, bought in completely.

In case anyone did not know: my wife is awesome. Do you know what she chose to do for Mother's Day?  Go to a Royals game.  It is family fun day and we will all be able to go down on the field.  Past experience says that some player will probably hand Cannon a baseball.  I think Jill is mostly in favor of this because they are giving free pink T-shirts to the first 10,000 mothers.   It is kind of amazing what she will do for a free T-shirt.   And speaking of the Royals; they just completed the sweep of the Detroit Tigers.  They are off to their best start since 2003.  Some of you will remember that as the "Believe" year.   Others will not know what I am talking about.  This is not it.

Bonus Wednesday 04/01

I was very excited as I was checking my e-mail to learn of a new service g-mail is offering.  If you don't have a g-mail account, I think this is reason enough to get one.


For more information click here. 


 

The Fit-Thrower

Jill had lady's Bible study Tuesday night, so I had the boy all to myself.  Jill knew she was going to do this, so to make my evening a little more exciting she did not put Cannon down for a nap.  At one point he decided he needed something.  He wasn't sure what it was, but he wasn't going to stop fit-throwing until he got it. After ransacking the cabinets, he settled on peanut butter.  Our conversation went as follows:

Aaron:  You want peanut butter?

Cannon: Yessh

A:  Are you sure this is what you want.  (I hand him the jar to look at.)

C:  (Takes the jar, sits down, and attempts to unscrew the lid.) Yessh

A:Okay let me get a spoon. (Opens the drawer to get a spoon and takes the jar from Cannon.)

C: Noooo!(Tears immediately form as he stands up and reaches for the jar.)

A: Cannon, I am just getting you a spoonful of peanut butter.  Do you want peanut butter?

C: Yessh (Wipes tear from his eye with the back of his hand.)

A: (Spoons some PB out and attempts to hand spoon to Cannon.)  Here you go.

C:  Noooo! (Throws himself to the floor.  Puts his face down on the floor between his legs, and cries loudly.)

A:  Cannon what do you want?

C:  (Looks up at his father with tears in his eyes.  Puts his hand in an imaginary jar, and then into his mouth.)

A:  Cannon, I am not letting you put your fingers in this jar of peanut butter.  Do you want this?  (Shows Cannon the spoonful of peanut butter.)

C:  Noooo! (Cannon gets up crying, walks away from his dad and starts going through the house looking for someone else.)

Next time you talk to Jill, ask her where Cannon learned to eat peanut butter from a jar with his fingers.

Bonus Wednesday 03/26

How long does it take you to see the egg?

Tomorrow I will have a regular Thursday blog post.

Bonus Wednesday 3/12

I think this picture needs a caption.

Bonus Wednesday 03/05

The local civic center sells bottled Coke products. I will often dip into the trash cans and pull the caps off of used bottles for the mycokerewards points. I was able to buy 15 songs in the month of February. Jill thinks this is disgusting and is embarrassed by me.

Life at 30

I think it is obligatory to write about turning 30. Someone asked me tonight if I feel older. In reality I feel a lot older then I did when I turned 28. But that has a lot to do with the kiddo and the other one on the way. I have nothing wise or profound to say about turning 30. I am not where I thought I would be, or doing what I thought I would be doing. But as Father Brown said, "One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place."

The New Energy Conference

Last weekend I attended the Ozarks New Energy Conference. The bikes that were supposed to power the conference became bikes that powered demonstration light bulbs. I was greatly disappointed. Some people at the conference focused on solving very real problems we are facing with workable solutions. Others simply seem to believe that all energy production will murder the planet. At one point Senator McCaskill made an offhand comment about Europeans having a $4.00/gallon gas tax, and some in the audience cheered. After that speech "America does not pay enough for energy" became the theme of the conference.

Other highlights included the Hydrogen bus with it's 6,000 lbs. tanks. It had to be brought in on a tractor trailer, because it didn't have the range to drive from Rolla to Springfield and back. Also, the solar powered truck was a big hit. The truck was a one person golf cart with an extension behind it for solar panels. You could raise the solar panels and the compartment wasn't completely taken up with batteries, so I guess that is how it became know as a truck.

This conference made me think we are twenty years away from any solution consumers are going to accept for our dependence on oil. Nuclear was a dirty word.

Bonus Wednesday

On This Day in History:

1594: Henry IV is crowned king of France in Chartres.

1807: The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born.

1922: The United States Supreme Court declares the Nineteenth Amendment constitutional, thereby guaranteeing women's voting rights.

1932: The actress, Elizabeth Taylor, is born.

1933: The Reichstag, seat of the German parliament, is set on fire.

1974: The first issue of People magazine, a weekly publication featuring entertainment and social-interest news, hits the newsstands.

1978: The person, Aaron Ash, is born.

1990: The Exxon Corporation is indicted on five criminal charges relating to the 1989 Alaskan oil spill.

2003: A design by architect Daniel Libeskind is selected to be built on the former site of the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center.

Did You Get a Haircut?

I have a bad habit of not getting my haircut. It is a lot like mowing the lawn to me. As soon as you get it cut it just starts growing back again. Also, I don't like spending the money. The solution around our house is for Jill to cut my hair. This would be great except that Jill takes about seven times as long as a professional barber. Because of the time commitment involved, she doesn't really like to do it that often, and I do not like to sit still through the process. This week, though, the time had come. (I can tell because when I would put on my hat, my hair would curl halfway up the sides.) And this time, we decided to do something different.

For the last 18 years or so, I have had the same haircut. This time she cut it shorter and and it has no part. I call it the Peyton Manning. I like the haircut and I think Jill did a great job. However, it has not received a lot of critical acclaim. Several people at work have said something along the lines of "Looks like you got a haircut." and nothing else. I don't understand this. Do they just want me to know they noticed. It's as though, they didn't understand, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Instead, it's "If you can't say anything nice, say something non-commital." It really makes me want to go "Looks like you decided to wear the navy blue dress today."

In Other News

We went in for the ultrasound, Tuesday. The baby is very healthy and everything seems to be in the right place. Although, whenever she would say something like here are the kidneys, I would freak out in my mind. "Oh no, the baby's kidneys are outside her body." But the tone of the technician told me they were actually where they were supposed to be. This little wonder appears to be a girl. If that information is correct, we are going to name her Meadow. The people I have told this to have responded about the same as they do when faced with my haircut. "Oh, Meadow, Ok." Remember if you can't say anything nice...

Note to self: Don't expect any comments this week.

Tutoring

I am doing my on-line tutoring thing right now. I asked a student what -8 divided by 2 is. It took him/her 2 full minutes to respond. I am really worried how I am going to explain graphing a quadratic equation to this person.

A New Bike

I received an early birthday present from my family Saturday. They bought me a new Shwinn hybrid 21-speed bicycle as pictured here. I cannot remember how old I was when I got my last bike. I was no more than 9, and I bought it used from some kid in Lowry City. It has functioned for many years, roads and trails. I am very excited about this bike. It is the same model my father has, so I know I will enjoy it.

Unfortunately, I have yet to take the new bike for a spin. Jill will tell you that is because it is not my birthday yet. However, the real reason is that it is to stinkin' cold. We have had snow, ice and sleet this week. Thankfully Sac Osage Electric Cooperative had already had all the trees in our territory torn down, so we did not suffer any outages. I understand that this is just how winter is supposed to be in Missouri, but I do not like it. Bring on the heat and the humidity.

Global Warming

I have seen the statistics that tell of the earths surface temperature warming. As a marketing representative of a power utility that gets its power mostly from burning coal, I also see a lot of evidence that points away from man-made global warming. (By the way if global warming is caused by CO^2 released into the atmosphere, it just makes me want to leave my engine running longer; bring on the burn.) Next week I get to attend an event that I am really looking forward to, a renewable energy conference. I will not go into all the details, but one thing really excites me. Supposedly the event is going to have three bicycles hooked to generators to power the conference center. Volunteers are going to ride in shifts during the entire conference. The conference center holds 600-700 people. It is being held in the middle of February in Missouri so I can only think that the heating has to be natural gas or something else you burn on-site. But even if they they think they are going to provide light and sound for the event, I think they are out of their minds. We do an energy demonstration for kids where we let them ride a bicycle to power different appliances. A high school student powering a 100 watt motorized airplane (it's a cool demonstration) only lasts about 5 minutes, and you have to insult their manhood to get that out of them. The announcement said that the bicycle generator will be hooked to the grid so anytime they are providing more power than the conference needs, it will go to Springfield's general power supply. I hope these people are there. This is going to be fun.

At the Theatre

This post was supposed to be written about three weeks ago. That is when the theatre in good old El Dorado Springs reopened. Mom and Dad went to the first showing, and Jill and I went to the late night show handing Cannon off in between the two. The theatre owners remodeled the 19th century building to look as it did when it was last a theatre. Here is a glimpse, although it looks much better in person. For instance, the pole, which is prominent in all the pictures I took, is not really noticible when you are inside. Their is only one screen, and they are showing second run family movies. Our show was National Treasure: Something about Gold. It was an enjoyable evening. Mom and Dad took Michele's kids (my nieces and nephew) to Veggietales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

If you are keeping track, El Dorado now has: three stoplights, a radio station, two grocery stores, a hardware store that has everything (if you just ask), two newspapers (three if you count the buyers guide), a community center (with an indoor track and raquetball court), a skating rink and a movie theatre. What is it missing? A real coffee shop. I don't know how we could economically sustain one, but then I don't know how two newspapers have survived for 50 years. Maybe they could charge for gossip. This is a picture I took on the way to the downtown theatre. I think it adds to the big city image.

Dad's Birthday

My father, Michael Loren Ash (by the way does everyone know that his father's name is Loren, my middle name is Michael, and my son is Cannon Aaron Ash?) turned 60 this year on January 30. My sister threw a party for him at her house. She also gave him a framed document of "60 reasons why we love Dad/Grandpa" with very personal wonderful things about our father. I gave him a water bottle that attaches to his bicycle, and that was 8 days late. She puts this kind of thought and energy into his birthday, and she gave him three grandchildren. It's a wonder that I'm the favorite.

A Word About Rope

A Google search for the "best length of rope" turns up nothing. How is that possible? Also, "best size of towel" gives you zilch. Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing that would be debated on a Hitchhiker's Guide message board ad naseum? I'll put the question to you, Dear Readers. Eventually, when Google's spiders have crawled over this page your answer may be the "Feeling Lucky" page when it is next searched. What is the best length of rope to have handy? I'm talking about in your car or on hiking trips. I think it is six feet, and I usually prefer cord. So many uses, if only I could remeber the knots from The Dangerous Book For Boys when I need them.

Holdover

In case anyone happens to be checking for a new post, which happens to be 3 weeks late, I wanted to ask you to check back after tonight (Friday).

Late News

I meant to post this with last week's blog. Jill's test came back and she is immune to the 5th disease virus. There should be no negative reprucussions to the baby. Cannon is also back in high spirits. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

New Year's Goals

Jim finally wrote a new blog post. He mentioned new year's resolutions and it got me thinking about my problems in this area. I do not do well with new year's resolutions, but at various times in my life I have done well with setting goals. So this year I have my new year's goals. I am not going to write about them here because you would find them too funny and far fetched. I am willing to say that one of them is to be a contestant on American Gladiators 2009. I like House, Bones, The Office, and Friday Night Lights, but AG is the show that really makes me wish we were able to get a clear TV signal at our house.

Geocaching Adventure

Last Saturday after much cajoling, I convinced Jill to go to Stockton Lake with me to find a geocache. It was a truly beautiful day. Perfect weather. The lake was picturesque. We saw at least 4 different armadillos (possibly 6 but 2 of them might have been the same). The cache was a nice box worth finding and actually contained the travel bug that was listed on the cache page. I think Jill was actually glad we had done it.

Then we arrived back at the locked car with the keys in the ignition. We were a long way from anything. We tried to think about how far back the last house was. It was getting dark and cooling down quickly. Cannon was ready to go home (or run free in the woods, but not stand quietly while his parents figured out what to do). We finally decided to break the window. We settled on the driver's side window, because it is the most average shaped window that does not have heat strips in it. We found a 5 pound rock with sharp thin edge, much like the head of an ax. I wrapped my hands in my sweatshirt raised the rock over my head and smashed into the window. And bounced off. I thought, I must have been timid, it was my first window. So I tried again, and again, and again. Raring back and throwing my weight into it. I scratched the window pretty good, but it did not crack. I finally drew back and from about two feet away, threw the rock as hard as I could. It bounced harmlessly away.

We walked three miles with Cannon kicking and screaming to a cabin where two guys were down from K.C. fishing. They took us back to our van and using a hanger and a tool that I think could only be used to pry car doors open with, had it unlocked in about forty seconds.

During this week we had reports of baseball size hail in a couple of counties north of us. It broke the fuse in one of our transformers . It also reportedly broke out some car windows. I don't believe it.

Parenting is Hard

Parenting is hard, but it is possible. This week Cannon was diagnosed with fifth disease. It has a much more scientific (and in my opinion better name – Total aside that I don’t know how to punctuate: Jill called me from her mobile phone to tell me that Cannon had been diagnosed with fifth disease. I thought she said SIDS disease, and asked her to repeat it. She did, and I still thought she said SIDS. I totally freaked out for about 8 seconds before I realized that living babies are not brought into the doctor’s office and diagnosed with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I asked Jill one more time, and she had to spell fifth for me) name, but most people who have heard of it know it as 5^th disease. It is not really dangerous to Cannon, but has given us some alarm about our unborn child. We are now awaiting lab results.

Parenting has been more difficult with Cannon this week because he has felt miserable and has acted accordingly. He has required a lot more attention and patience than normal, and thankfully Jill and I are here and my parents are close by so I believe he has gotten what he needs. I mention all this because today I read a question sent in to a Tech Columnist: I want to limit my children’s computer time. I want them to get outside, and to finish their homework. Can I restrict when and how long they can use the computer? The tech specialist talked of Operating system settings that allowed you to limit a users time. I would have said, “Tell your kid to get off the computer and go outside.” No one ever writes me and asks me questions like that, though.

Humbled

First of all, I want to express my gratitude to Chris for replying to my previous blog. His song list would really have given me the most bang for my buck, and, rather unbelievably, I do not own any of them at this time. I was especially tempted by Alice’s Restaurant which I could get for 99 cents. That’s about 6 cents per minute. However, I don’t think I would listen to more than once a decade. Getting only one reply to my blog was a humbling experience. More humbling though is reading Jill’s latest blog entry which is, as always, so much better than anything I have written. I haven’t finished picking out my five songs yet. I have settled on (but not bought) “You Don’t Know What Love Is, You Just Do As You’re Told” by the White Stripes. It gives me the most bang for my buck title-wise.