billwendel.com

Seasons Greetings 2009

2009-12-07T18:11:00.006-05:00

We hope you have a joyous holiday season and a peaceful new year!

New Cocktail: The Calderon

2009-11-20T19:01:00.003-05:00

Here's the recipe for a new cocktail I've created:

Cubed ice (in a double old fashion glass)
1 part light rum
1 generous lime wedge
1 tsp sugar
3 parts seltzer (could substitute club soda)

Stir and enjoy.

Pundit Litmus Test

2009-09-03T18:53:00.011-04:00

This shouldn't be necessary. But it has come to this.

Before any legitimate news program agrees to any pundit or guest, that guest should be required to agree to the following statements:

President Obama was born in Hawaii (which is part of the United States).
The Earth is a sphere.
Global climate change is real.
The Theory of Evolution is a fact.
President Obama is not Hitler, a Fascist, a Muslim, a Communist or a Socialist.
No one in the US government is advocating euthanasia as a part of health insurance reform.
The moon is not made of cheese.
Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11.
A Czar is a media-created name for a government official who has a legal job to do and reports through normal administrative organization structures.
Torture is wrong and is a violation of US and international laws.

If a person can't agree to each of these statements they have lost touch with reality and are not worthy of a public debate. I think that should set the bare minimum for some sane discourse. Or at least it will weed out the true loons.

UPDATE (9/3/2009):

The attacks of 9/11 were planned and carried out by foreign terrorists with no involvement by anyone connected to the US government.
Fascism is an extreme RIGHT-wing ideology.
The Nazi's, despite their party name (National Socialist Party), were right wing and fascists, not socialists or liberals.

UPDATE II (9/4/2009):

The US constitution clearly gives Congress the authority to provide for the general welfare and regulate commerce.
Nazi's and their collaborators are responsible for murdering more than 10 million Jews, ethnic Poles, homosexuals, and other religious and political foes.

UPDATE III (4/8/2010):

Any use of the Confederate flag is incompatible with claims of patriotism.

Real Canadians Talking Real Healthcare

2009-09-03T07:51:00.004-04:00

I know that no one in Congress is proposing something like the health care system in Canada, but so many misinformed people in the US have been criticizing it based on falsehoods (i.e. lies). This video from ordinary Canadians is illuminating.

I like the part where they express dismay over the concept of co-pays.

Either Lying Or Ignorant

2009-08-14T07:35:00.006-04:00

Like everyone, I've been watching the screaming anti-health care protesters becoming irate over their post-rational understanding of facts. It shouldn't amaze me, but it does, how seemingly normal Americans can be duped into being so paranoid and fearful about easily refutable information.

No sane person should believe that their democratically elected Congress really wants to euthanize senior citizens, or require sex-change operations, or demand access to citizens' bank accounts. But these are the things that are being protested at town hall meetings. These things are obviously complete fiction. How can something as virtuous and simple as a living will be twisted into a "death panel" for euthanasia?

These people are deliberately being mislead.

On the Thursday August 14 Rachel Maddow Show, Ms. Maddow took a segment to shine light on three people who have been propagating the myth about the "death panels." She noted that prior to the recent health care legistlation debate, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich have all been on record (in writing and/or recorded audio and video) as being supportive of living wills. In Mr. Gingrich's case, he has been in favor of the exact same argument that puts the living will issue into the health care reform bill - that it makes good financial sense. However, all three of these people are now very vocal with their lies convincing ordinary Americans that their government wants to kill grandma.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It occurs to me that there are two groups of people here: the liars and the ignorant. They are Either Lying Or Ignorant (ELOI).

ELOI? That made me think of the race of people (the Eloi) in the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine. The Eloi are partially described as lacking intelligence and virtue, and are essentially unaware cattle. In another novel, the Ilium by Dan Simmons, there is a similar group of people also called (and inspired by) the Eloi. In Mr. Simmons novel, the Eloi are described as lazy, uneducated and uncultured.

ELOI seems like an apt description for the group of folks here that is collectively deceiving and being deceived.

Venn Diagram of the Extreme Right

2009-08-11T20:31:00.003-04:00

I know that the kooks at the town halls are a minority. And I know that some in the groups below will deny affiliation with the others. But based on the evidence I've seen, it is undeniable that the following groups are just names for different activities of the same group of people:

Teabaggers (anti-tax for any reason)
Birthers (deny President Obama's citizenship)
Deathers (claim the health care reform bill will lead to euthanasia)
Racists (self evident)
Climate change deniers
Socialist-paranoids (fearing that some sort of socialist hell is on the horizon)
Anti-health care reformers
Town hall protesters

The Venn diagram representing these groups is a circle.

I Am A Radical Liberal

2009-07-28T09:13:00.008-04:00

You have no doubt read or heard a lot of fear mongering using the term "liberal". Certain voices in the media (I hate that too-general term) and government have tried to demonize that word. I don't get it. (I understand the strategy, but I don't understand its success.)

When I think about all of the great advances we have made as people that are the result of radical liberals, I wonder where we would be without them. Here is a brief list of the accomplishments of this country that would not be possible if not for radical liberals:

The American Revolution (including most of its accompanying and related artifacts: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, etc.).
Abolition
Women's suffrage
Unionization and the struggle for workers rights (40 hour work week, anti-child labor laws, safety in the workplace, paid vacations, health care = the foundations of a middle class in this country)
The New Deal (our societal safety nets = FDIC, Social Security, etc.)
Civil rights

And some accomplishments that are not yet realized but the fight continues:

The war on poverty
The environmental movement
The struggle for LGBT rights

Thinking about these issues and my disappointment with the current group of "Blue Dog" Democrats in Congress, reinforces one of my guiding political principals: "Support ideas, not people." By this I mean, my allegiance is to the ideas and issues that are important to me, not to the particular people (or organizations, or political parties) that happen to agree with me.

I do not support candidate X because he is candidate X, or because he is a member of a particular party. I support candidate X because he supports the issues and ideals that I care about. I have no qualms criticizing candidate X on issues where we disagree or when he no longer supports my issues. I also have no sense of idolatry to candidate X - which comes in particularly handy when candidate X is caught with a hooker. The issue is bigger than candidate X and the fight will go on.

Having said all that I almost always support the Democratic candidate in a particular election because it is most likely that my views more closely coincide with his/hers (vice the Republican candidate). In all honesty, I must look to my right to see the positions of most candidates that I have ever voted for. But the political realities are what they are. I would not vote for a (more liberal) third party candidate (as much as I would want to) unless there was a real chance of winning. The downside is too much of a risk.

I suspect that I am not alone with this view.

(update 6 April 2010)

Some additional liberal accomplishments:

The 40-hour work week.
Weekends.
Vacations.
The right of people of all colors to vote.
The right of people of all colors to use public schools and facilities.
Public schools.
Child-labor laws.
Health-care benefits.
National Parks.
National Forests.

Cyberwar guide for Iran elections

2009-06-16T15:25:00.001-04:00

Cyberwar guide for Iran elections
from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Yishay sez, "The road to hell is paved with the best intentions (including mine). Learn how to actually help the protesters and not the gov't in Iran."

The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through Twitter.

1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP's over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.

2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.

3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don't retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.

4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become 'Iranians' it becomes much harder to find them.

5. Don't blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don't publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don't signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind...

Arguments against Sotomayor nomination fail

2009-05-28T13:42:00.003-04:00

Read this article to understand why the arguments made by some conservatives against Maria Sotomayor's nomination to the supreme court do not hold water.

Facebook + Twitter

2009-05-22T08:21:00.001-04:00

Are making this blog a lot less meaningful to me.

Catching up

2009-05-14T13:44:00.005-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd just provide a few random notes about what is going on in our lives:

Last week I was in Clearwater Beach, FL at the annual Aerospace Industries Association - Joint Service Tech Data Conference. It was the seventh year I have attended. It is always very informative, lots of fun, and I always make good business contacts that often lead to more work for my company.
Gracie only has two-and-a-half weeks of attending the Nicholas School. Heather and I have decide to send he to Tipp City public Schools for the fourth grade. We really appreciate all the progress Grace has made at Nicholas and we think she is ready for the move. We did not make the decision lightly. We did a lot of research and met with the staff at LT Ball (the intermediate school she will attend). We are satisfied with the quality of care and education that they have to provide for special needs kids.
Ethan has a little over three weeks left of second grade. He is doing very well in school, and he enjoys it. But I am sure he is looking forward to summer.
We are adjusting just fine to having Mojo in our house. Our new puppy is about 12 weeks old now and we are still working through the struggles of house training her. Some days are better than others, but she clearly does not "get it" yet. On the positive side, she is a very good natured, lovable, and fun pet to have in the house.
This weekend I am going to visit friends in Ann Arbor, MI. Among other things, we will be going to the Motor City Comic Con to get our geek on.
Heather is excited about attending a David Cook concert at the end of the month. She is going with several girlfriends. And later in the summer Heather and I (and a number of our friends) will be going to see the Black Crowes and Levon Helm in concert.

Mojo

2009-04-23T11:10:00.003-04:00

Heather and the kids have been working to convince me for some time now that we need a dog. They did a lot of research about breeds to determine which would be the best for us. They settled on a Bichon Frisé - Shi Tzu mix. Heather found a breeder in New Bremen and Sunday we brought home the newest member of our family: Mojo.

Mojo is a female and weighs about 2 pounds. She will eventually grow to 10 to 12 pounds. She is well behaved and has grown accostomed to our home and our family very well.

Global warming and me

2009-04-22T12:40:00.006-04:00

Interesting article in the NYT about global warming and how a scientist with unpopular theories is treated by the community. The article equates faith in global warming among environmentalists to faith in god among the religious.

Is global warming real? If so, is it man made? Many people outside the scientific community who have no education or background in the subject have some very rock solid opinions. Typically these fall along political lines. If it is real and man made, there are serious issues that scientists need to figure out. But I'm not a scientist so I'm not going to worry about it.

I think I am environmentally conscious, and I continually want to do more to improve the environment. But I have no faith in global warming. I think it is probably happening and I think it is probably negatively influenced by man, but I have no reason to think it absolutely is or absolutely is not happening or that it is or is not man made. But I am still an environmentalist.

Why?

Logic tells me it is the right thing to do.

It is better to have clean rivers than dirty.
It is better to have clean air than polluted air.
It is better to consume natural products and food than chemicals and artificial products.
It is better to use less oil-based products than more.
It is better to use more renewable resources than not.
It is better to respect nature and natural habitats than not.
It is better to recycle than to create waste.
It is better to consume less than more.
It is better to preserve endangered species than not.

I am an environmentalist not because I believe we are headed to a hotter planet and an environmental Armageddon. I am an environmentalist because it makes sense.

Have there been any great rock albums recorded since 1995?

2009-04-15T13:22:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine recently lamented that there are no great rock albums any more. I know that I still enjoy a lot of great new rock music and I’m a bit cantankerous, so my immediate reaction was to disagree.

He clarified his argument by noting that he thinks that since 1995 (the post-Curt Cobain, post-Slash-quits-Guns N Roses era) there have been no seminal rock albums like those from our youth. He specifically referred to albums like Boston’s first album, Def Leppard’s Pyromania, or any of Led Zeppelin’s first four albums, etc. I inferred from his description that his definition of great rock albums also included anything by the Beatles, any Stones album prior to 1980, any AC/DC album before Flick of the Switch, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and the Wall, etc.

It’s hard to specifically define what I am referring to as great rock albums. It’s more than Billboard charts or sales, but you know it when you hear it. Very few rock fans would argue about the greatness of the albums mentioned in the previous paragraph.

In order to try to prove that my initial reaction was correct, I did a little research starting with multiplatinum rock album sales since 1995. There have been a surprisingly small number. Again, I’m referring to rock albums – I didn’t take into account anything that I considered rap, urban, or pop, etc.

By my count there have been about 30 multiplatinum rock albums since 1995. And that includes several border-line pop acts like Alanis Morisette, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Matchbox 20. Of these huge sellers, a few stick out as potentially great rock albums:

Green Day – American Idiot (2005)
Kid Rock – Devil Without a Cause (1998)
Beck – Odelay (1996)
Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
Three Doors Down – The Better Life (2000)
Metallica – Load (1996)
The Killers – Hot Fuss (2004)
Offspring – Americana (1998)

And I also looked at albums that were important, but not multiplatinum sellers:

Beck – Gueroro (2005)
Guided By Voices – Isolation Drills (2001)
White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)
White Stripes – Elephant (2003)
White Stripes – Icky Thump (2007)
Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters (1995)
Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace (2007)
Linkin Park – Meteora (2003)
Dave Matthews Band – Crash (1996)
Oasis – (What’s the story) Morning Glory (1995)
Smashing Pumpkins – Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Sublime - Sublime (1996)
Offspring – Smash (1994)

And I also considered some that I personally think are great but don’t have a wide enough audience to be consider great on a grander scale:

Cake – Fashion Nugget (1996)
Kooks – Konk (2008)
Tesla – Into the Now (2004)

But none of these last three really fit the definition of a great album (widely accepted by rock fans as a great album) because their popularity is not broad enough. The same can probably be said for Beck, GBV, DMB, Sublime and Radiohead as well. The Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, first Offspring, and first Foo Fighters albums are probably too old to consider (still in the grunge/GnR era).

That left me with eleven potentially great rock albums in the last 13 years (in bold above). Maybe that’s not so bad: a little less one per year. But I don’t think that favorably compares to the era from 1965 to 1995. Just considering Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Sabbath, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Kinks, Who, Guns N Roses, and Nirvana albums alone would probably average to more than 2 or 3 per year.

So perhaps my friend's point is correct (just a little exaggerated). It is not true to say there have been NO great rock albums since 1995, but certainly there have been very few in the current era.

Another point to consider (though not here) is that this may be more an indication of the death of the album format than of the decline of rock as a genre.

"I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing"

2009-04-09T14:24:00.003-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Baracknophobia - Obey

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

Obama and wire tapping

2009-04-09T09:38:00.002-04:00

For the most part I have been pleased with the Obama presidency. He has followed through on many of the things he said he would do in the campaign:

Cut middle class taxes
Focus on green energy initiatives
Work toward universal health care
Shut down Guantanamo
Cease the use of torture
Work toward withdrawing our forces in Iraq
Improve relations with our allies

One recent decision by his administration is causing me concern, however. Earlier this week the Attorney General's office submitted a legal brief stating that the administration intends to continue the Bush wire tapping program and even try to extend its power by arguing that US citizens cannot sue the government over even illegal use of the program unless the government willingly discloses information obtained via the wire taps.

This is troubling because it is not consistent with President Obama's promised transparency nor his vow to restore civil liberties. Newsweek's Howard Fineman has an interesting take on this seemingly out of character decision by the POTUS. He supposes that the administration is showing deference to the intelligence community in order to gain their allegiance. Fineman argues that the CIA and NSA represent a consituency in and of themselves (as opposed to just the citizenery of the country) that Obama must win over. He needs their honest support and has decided to compromise on this issue toward that end.

If this is true, I can appreciate this political shrewdness. I think the decision is distasteful, but I can understand the need to sacrifice one thing to get a potentially more important thing.

My Scott and Jean: Stan Lee

2009-03-30T06:30:00.001-04:00

[Note: This blog entry is my contribution to the "What's Your Scott and Jean?" featured at Alert Nerd.]

Don't mess with Stan Lee. He is a genius and more than marginally responsible for everything cool and decent in Earth-616, this universe (Earth-1218), and probably in many other universes.

He had the inspiration to make comic book characters experience real life (even if it is Earth-616 real life). He is responsible for creating a super hero team that is a brilliant metaphor for minority relations (X-Men). He is responsible for a super hero as much concerned with his teen-age angst as with capturing Dr. Octopus (Spider-Man). He created a magnificent combination of Frankenstein's monster and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde that also is a commentary on the cold-war nuclear world (Hulk). He wrote about the first super hero team that behaved among each other like a family would (Fantastic Four). He developed a blind (BLIND?!) super hero (Daredevil). He revived mythological characters and brought them into the modern world (Thor, Hercules and all their Asgardian and Olympian buddies). He created a team of super heroes that has had dozens of lineup changes over the years but continues today as strong as it has ever been (Avengers). He birthed the master of the mystic arts (Dr. Strange). And a modern day knight/Tin Man who struggles both with alcoholism and with being the face of the military industrial complex (Iron Man).

I don't want to hear "But Steve Ditko..." or "Without Jack Kirby..." or "Bill Everett did..." or "Didn't D.C. first do...". Don't want to hear it.

Stan is THE Man.

'Nuff said.

(P.S. Excelsior!)

Twitter and Facebook Revolution hits the Wendel Homestead

2009-03-25T11:21:00.002-04:00

In the past month or so Heather and I were both convinced to start using Facebook by a few friends. Almost simultaneous to that I was convinced to start using Twitter by a friend of mine.

I have had a My Space page for a couple years, but honestly I didn't get much out of it. It was cool to see updated news on some bands I like, and I did trade a personal conversation with Brian Wheat (bass player from Tesla), but other than that, my reaction was: meh.

Facebook is different. The integration of threads from my friends' pages is the killer feature. It is interesting to see what people are doing from time to time. In the past month I've done more with Facebook than I did in the total years I had been on My Space.

Twitter is a different animal entirely. From the outside looking in, the concept of Twitter seems stupid. And I haven't successfully explained it's attraction to anyone who hasn't expreienced it. But once you are in, and you find the right Tweets to follow, you will be hooked. I primarilly follow A) commedians and other funny people, and B) comic book creators and fans.

The Tweets that fall into the funny category make me laugh several times a day. A quick break from work to scan recent Tweets always makes me crack up. And it is cool to read the comic related Tweets to see what new things are on the horizon for my favorite artists and writers; and to read criticism and praise from fans.

The Daily Show

2009-03-13T11:14:00.005-04:00

You must see the Jon Stewart beat down of Jim Cramer

Dayton Daily News Profiles MVUUF

2009-03-08T15:11:00.002-04:00

The Dayton Daily News had a profile of my church in today's paper. It included this video:

Conservative World View

2009-03-05T11:21:00.002-05:00

There have been a lot of books written about how conservatives and liberals view the word differently. I'm sure the differences exist, but I've started to notice a particular difference that is becoming more and more evident to me.

I think everyone agrees that there are people in society that are moochers. People who for whatever reason would prefer to be lazy and leech off of government handouts without really trying to take personal responsibility to improve their lives and become more self-sufficient.

I think a big difference between fiscal conservatives and liberals is the perception of how numerous these people really are.

I have talked to a number of conservative friends who are not opposed to legitimate uses of government assistance. Unemployment insurance, food stamps, medicare, etc. are seen by virtually everyone as legitimate programs that can help people who are in the midst of unfortunate circumstances to get back on their feet. These government programs are legitimate ways to keep the most vulnerable in our society from falling into truly tragic situations.

And I have no doubt that there are some people who unethically use programs like these to avoid responsibilities.

As a liberal, however, I think that number is relatively small and I think most uses of these programs are done correctly to help people get back on their feet, or to help the elderly, or children, or infirm who have no other options.

I think, that fiscal conservatives believe that MOST people who are beneficiaries of these programs are gaming the system. I've heard many conservatives claim (sarcastically and otherwise) that there is little motivation to be truly successful because the government will tax them so some welfare cheat can sit on his butt in front of his big screen TV all day. Or "why should I pay my mortgage when the government will just bail me out like all those lazy/greedy people who are in houses they can't afford."

I think that most conservatives would agree that the government should provide a safety net for folks who have fallen on hard times. But because there is a perception among conservatives that abuse of the system is rampant, the whole system is painted with a negative brush.

I think most liberals think these government programs are used legitimately the vast majority of the time and that fraud and abuse is sensationalized and exaggerated by only anecdotal evidence.

I would love to see an independent analysis of real data. Is there a way to determine the effective use vs. the fraudulent use of government social programs? I would hope that faced with facts we could bridge some of the gaps dividing us.

I've finally embraced Web 2.0

2009-02-23T13:04:00.002-05:00

[Ed note: I've long been somewhat annoyed at trendy, ambiguous technology buzz words (e.g. thin client, net-centric, cloud computing, etc.) so take the title of this entry with a grain of salt.]

Within the past week or so I have started to twitter and I've started a Facebook page.

A friend of mine (through no fault of his own) convinced me to start twittering. To my surprise I really enjoy it. If you twitter and want to follow me, my twitter name is BillWendel.

Heather got me interested in Facebook. I've had a MySpace page for a long time and I resisted Facebook because the MySpace GUI is much more flexible. But after being a part of Facebook for just a few days I can tell you that the functionality of Facebook blows MySpace away and more than makes up for the GUI deficiencies. Your Facebook page tightly integrates with your connected friends' pages so news about them is easilly viewable on one screen. Very nice.

Creed Rocks!

2009-02-10T07:55:00.000-05:00

If you are a fan of The Office, I think you will get a kick out of this. The actor that plays Creed Bratton, is actually named Creed Bratton. The character is supposedly a fictionalized version of Creed's real life. And Creeds real life is made more interesting by the fact the he was the lead guitarist of a rock band called The Grass Roots that had a string of hits in the late 60s and early 70s. He's second from the left in the album cover pictured here.

I consider myself a rock music afficianado, but I had never heard of the band before. Then I listened to a few of their songs and severeal were instandtly recognizeable: "Midnight Confession", "Sooner or Later", and "Let's Live for Today". Here is a video clip of The Grass Roots performing "Let's Live for Today" on the Jimmy Durante show. Creed is most evident at about 1:30 and 1:50 into the clip.

What news achors do durring commercial breaks

2009-02-10T07:47:00.002-05:00

This is a very funny clip of what happened during a commercial break on the WGN news set:

Spider-Man & President Obama

2009-02-05T15:32:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago Marvel published Amazing Spider-Man #583. Normally this wouldn't be a reason to blog. But this particular issue was timed just before the inauguration of our new president and it included a short additional story in the back where Spider-Man intervened to stop an impostor from taking Barack Obama;s place at the swearing-in ceremony. Essentially the Chameleon thought he could be president if he was able to fool everyone by taking the oath.
Any who, the issue of the comic featured a typical Spider-Man cover for most copies. There was however, a special variant cover produced featuring President Obama produced for every 50 normal covers.

The variant became extremely popular and sold out before it hit the shelves. Marvel Comics distributed a second printing this time featuring only the Pres. Obama cover. It also sold out instantly. As did the third and fourth printings. A fifth printing is on it's way to comic stores next week.

First printings of the variant cover are selling for oner $200 on eBay. Second printings are going for over $50. I was able to acquire a third printing at the cover price, but even it is now selling for $12 or more.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow

2009-01-30T09:19:00.004-05:00

The white stuff started coming down earlier this week and at its peak it was falling at a rate of an inch an hour. We have about a foot on the ground right now and another inch is predicted for the next 24 hours. The kids were off school all day Wednesday, they had a two hour delay yesterday, and are off again today.

It's good for the kids that it hasn't been too cold. The temperatures have been mostly in the 20s during the daytime so the kids have been able to get out and enjoy some sledding and other snow play.

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States

2009-01-20T11:06:00.002-05:00

As I contemplate the inauguration of President Barack Obama a number of disconnected thoughts occur to me:

There is such a sense of joy, hope, and pride evident in the faces in the crowd at the inauguration ceremony in Washington DC.
Reggie Love has perhaps the coolest job in the world.
I really appreciate the obvious connections that Pres. Obama makes with history. His frequent references to Abraham Lincoln and and George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt are inspiring. It is refreshing to have a literate president.
Although he is not aggressively pursuing all the policy positions that I personally care about, I am very impressed with the way Pres. Obama understands that he leads all Americans, not just the liberal or Democratic ones that voted for him. It is quite a contrast to G.W.Bush.
Pres. Obama could have avoided a lot of controversy if he had selected Rev. William Sinkford to make the inaugural invocation instead of Rev. Rick Warren. There have been rumors circulating that Pres. Obama is a "closet unitarian" (he attended a UU church as a child and his grandmother's recent funeral service was in a Unitarian church). Rev. Sinkford would have delivered a stirring invocation that would have been truly inclusive of all Americans.
It was interesting that Pres. Lyndon Johnson was not sworn in with a Bible. He used a book of common prayer that was among Pres. John Kennedy's possessions. Pres. John Q. Adams was sworn in on a US law book. There is nothing in the constitution, nor laws, that requires the use of a Bible for swearing in.
I liked a number of points in Pres. Obama's speech, including: the note that we are as productive and inovative as we were before the recession, the recognition that the world is changing and that we must change with it, the note that we will return science to it's righful place in policy, the inclusion of "non-believers" among Americans when he listed religions to highlight our diversity, the focus on clear liberal ideals throughout, "the price and promise of citizenship", and the announcement to the world that "America is ready to lead once more." There were several obvious jabs at Bush-era policies.

Happy Holidays 2008

2008-12-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

Update

2008-12-01T13:01:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while, so here is an update.

Ethan had his eighth birthday last week. He was lucky enough to have several parties between his immediate family, extended family and friends.

Last Thursday we drove up to Coldwater for Thanksgiving celebrations. We had lunch with Heather's folks, and dinner with mine. Heather went Christmas shopping with her sister and mom on Friday and we returned to Tipp on Saturday.

Sunday we put up the Christmas tree.

Election night video from American University

2008-11-14T14:51:00.000-05:00

Obama and Americans are winners

2008-11-05T07:40:00.001-05:00

Heather and I are so proud to be American's this morning. For the past several weeks, Heather has worked very hard canvassing and phone-banking for the campaign. And I have worked with her the past two days to get out the vote. And while we are a little disappointed that Obama didn't do better in Miami County or Tipp City, we are thrilled that he won in Ohio and in 350+ electoral votes across the country. (At the time of this post, Missouri and North Carolina are too close to call.)

We were pleased with the graciousness and call for unity in Sen. John McCain's concession speech.
And we were more thrilled with the magnitude of President-elect Obama’s acceptance speech. I was particularly moved with his continued call for unity. I truly believe that he sees his chance at an enduring legacy tied to crushing the old ideas of partisan politics, red vs blue states, left vs right. I believe he is going to build a rational, centrist coalition in his administration to govern this great land.

Conservatives voting for Obama

2008-10-29T13:28:00.000-04:00

Defining Moment

2008-10-27T08:17:00.001-04:00

Tesla in GR

2008-10-20T10:27:00.003-04:00

I took my nephew Jesse to see Tesla in Grand Rapids over the weekend. It was his first rock concert. It was the 8th (?) time I have seen Tesla in concert. I think it was my last. They are still my favorite rock group, but I'm afraid they are starting to show their age - especially singer Jeff Keith. He turns 50 this year and his voice isn't what it used to be. Guitarist Frank Hannon (who's guitar chops are NOT showing his age) had to help out for the high notes on a number of songs.

It saddens me to say this but their best days are behind them. I will still buy their new music as it is released, but I want to remember them as a live act when they were in their prime.

Kooks wsg The Whigs at Bogarts

2008-10-14T12:13:00.002-04:00

Heather and I went to see the Kooks at Bogarts in Cincinnati. We went with the Blake's and had a great time.

Here's the Kooks:

The opening act was great band that we didn't know anything about. The Whigs are from Athens, GA and they are quite good.

Here's The Whigs:

Bill & Heather on national television (sort of)

2008-10-09T22:19:00.002-04:00

I found the above screen shot online. It's not the clearest picture, but that is me inside the red line and Heather inside the blue line. It was much clearer to see us on the actual video we saw on tv.

Obama Rally in Dayton

2008-10-09T22:01:00.004-04:00

Heather and I attended a Barack Obama rally today (along with 8,000 other folks). We were lucky enough to get tickets that allowed us to have seats very near the podium (as you can see from the photo above). It was a thrilling event.

Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin was the opening speaker. She was followed by Ohio Governor Ted Stickland. Obama took the stage and spoke for about 40 minutes. The focus of his speech was jobs and the economy. After he spoke he shook hands and signed autographs for another 20. We didn't get close enough to him, but I did shake hands with Ms. McLin and Gov. Strickland.

Later in the evening there was footage of the event on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and you can clearly see me and Heather in the crowd scene. If I find any video online, I'll try to post it.

Downtown Owl

2008-10-08T11:14:00.006-04:00

I've just finished a great book. Downtown Owl is the first novel by essayist and popular culture observer Chuck Klosterman.

I have been a fan of Klosterman's non-fiction books and his monthly articles in Esquire magazine for years. I first became attracted to his writings as he is one of the only writers about heavy metal and hard rock who has been taken seriously. His early works are almost exclusively on this subject. But his later works have expanded to cover many other forms of popular culture and general observations about society. He is bright and clever.

Downtown Owl is about many characters in the fictional small town of Owl, North Dakota in the early eighties. I found myself really caring for the characters and marvelling at how similar the social constructs were to my own youth in Coldwater, Ohio in the same time period. My only complaint is that the book was far too short. I wanted to experience more of the lives of these people before the climax of the book took place.

I highly recommend this book.

Homer tries to vote for Obama

2008-10-02T07:55:00.000-04:00

God bless our two party system

2008-09-30T14:10:00.001-04:00

We voted today

2008-09-30T09:07:00.003-04:00

Early voting began today in Ohio. Heather and I took the kids with us to the Miami County HQ for the Barack Obama campaign at 7 AM. There was a rally and march to the courthouse to vote. We were finished by 8:15 and are proud to be among the first people in the country to cast our votes for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

I was also somewhat reassured that I was able to vote on a paper ballot.

Washington DC

2008-09-24T16:35:00.003-04:00

I'm in Washington DC (actually Centreville, VA) this week for a business trip. All is going well.

Before I left Heather told me that for my birthday she is getting me a new tattoo. I have an appointment to get that done when I return to Ohio on Friday. I just need to decide on a design that I like.

New Tesla video has been released

2008-09-23T17:26:00.001-04:00

McCain's Health Care Policy

2008-09-19T10:48:00.002-04:00

Recently, the non-partisan online journal Health Affairs published a comparison of the health care plans proposed by Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. The paper was written by scholars from Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and the University of Michigan. The New York Time's columnist Bob Herbert does a good job summarizing it.

The main concept of the McCain plan is to get families out of employer-paid health coverage and into the health insurance marketplace, where unregulated competition is supposed to take care of all ills.

The McCain plan would treat your current employer-paid health benefits as income that you would have to pay taxes on.
The McCain plan will force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system (where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited and people will lose access to benefits they have now) - the net effect will be to increase family costs for medical care.

America is not just a blessing, but a responsibility

2008-09-13T15:09:00.001-04:00

Obama has already shown a mastery of foreign policy

2008-09-13T13:02:00.002-04:00

Have you noticed that Sen. Barack Obama has been proven correct on many of his critical foreign policy assertions that were initially criticized by his opponents?

Here are some examples:

Sen. Obama opposed the Iraq war as a distraction from the real problem of terrorism (stopping al Queda and the Taliban in Afghanistan & Pakistan). This is now largely accepted as correct.
Sen. Obama supported the idea of using diplomacy and meeting face to face with world leaders who are at odds with the United States. The Bush administration has since had productive face to face negotiations with South Korea, Syria, Iran, Libya, etc.
Sen. Obama proposed the idea of shifting more troops to Afghanistan. This is now being done.
Sen. Obama has strongly supported a time table to reduce troop levels in Iraq. Iraqi leaders embraced the idea shortly afterward and is now negotiating an agreement with the Bush administration on a time line for troop reductions.
Sen. Obama stated in a debate months ago that he supported the concept of a military intervention into Pakistan to attack terrorists. The US defense department recently revealed that they have begun to do just that.

On each of these issues Sen. Obama was criticized by his opponents as naive and not ready to make foreign policy decisions. And on each of these occasions, events have proven him very prescient and well versed in foreign policy.

A great response to McCain's lies

2008-09-12T09:41:00.003-04:00

Lately I've blogged a lot of anti-McCain stuff and and not as much pro-Obama information. I promise I'll get back to more reasons to vote for Sen. Barack Obama soon.

But for now, I ran across this video put together by a Sen. Obama supporter who does a really good job counter-punching the lies from recent McCain advertisements.

McCain campaign is really reaching

2008-09-10T10:23:00.003-04:00

Yesterday in a campaign stop in Virginia, Sen. Barack Obama said the following:

"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're really going to shake things up in Washington.' That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."

The McCain campaign hosted a conference call within minutes and soon started running an advertisement accusing Sen. Obama of calling Gov. Sarah Palin a pig!

There was clearly no mention of Gov. Palin in Obama's use of a very common expression.

Sen. McCane used the same expression last October when he was criticizing Sen. Hillary Clinton's health care plan: "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig."

McCane's people have gotten the press all up in arms about Obama's "gaffe." How ridiculous.

What is she afraid of?

2008-09-05T16:03:00.002-04:00

A senior McCain campaign stated that, "despite the gaggle of requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won't submit to a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local news entities in Alaska, but until she's ready -- and until she's comfortable -- which might not be for a long while -- the media will have to wait."

This weekend Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden will all be on the Sunday morning talk shows. Where is the Republican VP Candidate?

I suspect the speculation that she is not experienced enough and unprepared for the job may be correct.

John Stewart on Sarah Palin

2008-09-05T13:08:00.003-04:00

These Republican talking heads look foolish.

Fact check: Wasilla is the 9th largest city in Alaska (5,469 according to the 2000 census). That is equivalent to the 264th largest city in Ohio (Northwood).

AP reports Republican attacks are full of lies

2008-09-04T08:46:00.004-04:00

Even the AP couldn't stand the lies that were told at the third night of the Republican National convention. Here are a few samples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state - by population.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right _ change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington _ throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

Read the entire article here.

Forever More

2008-08-31T11:35:00.003-04:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a big fan of the band Tesla. From the initial album, Mechanical Resonance, in 1986 when I first heard Modern Day Cowboy I have been sold on them.

They have a new album, Forever More, going in sale 7-Oct. The first single from the new album, I Wanna Live, was released Tuesday. The song rocks! It is is much heavier than the material on their last studio album (Into the Now, released in 2004). Go to their My Space page to have a listen.

McCain selects who as his VP nominee?

2008-08-30T07:25:00.003-04:00

Sen. John McCain has selected first term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you were like me, the first thing you did was said "Who?". The second thing you probably did was checked the Googles and the Interwebs.

Here's what I found...

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms."
"Governor Palin and John McCain are a good match because they both want to overturn Roe V. Wade, they both want to continue the failed economic policies of the Bush administration and they both offer more of the same that has led this country down the wrong path. McCain clearly sees the power of women voters in this election but has just as clearly failed to support any of the issues that they care about."
Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards said the fact that McCain has picked a woman who is so adamantly opposed to abortion "shines a light on these issues more sharply than if he had picked just another guy."
"In an interview with Roll Call two weeks ago, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said she had met presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain only once or twice."
"[McCain's] betting his presidency on a naked political play for holdout Hillary supporters and other female swing voters - and hoping that a large share of these predominantly pro-choice women will ignore or overlook Palin's staunch pro-life, anti-stem cell views."
Her experience: Wasilla, AK (pop. 6,715) City Council 1992-1996, Wasilla Mayor 1996-2002, Governor of Alaska Dec. 2006 - present (18 months!)
Alaska Republican State Senate President Lyda Green remarked, "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?"
She supported a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny benefits to homosexual couples in Alaska.

What's your Obama Tax Cut?

2008-08-28T13:08:00.003-04:00

Check out this great site that estimates how much your federal taxes will change under Sen. Barack Obama's proposed tax plan: ObamaTaxCut.com. It also estimates how your federal taxes will change under the proposed plan from Sen. John McCain. It's interesting to plug in different numbers to see how different income levels will benefit.

Fight the swiftboating of Barack Obama

2008-08-26T17:19:00.001-04:00

If you think you know John McCain, you should read on.

Earlier this year, John McCain was interviewed on television, and he promised that he would work against these shadowy outside groups that spread lies and pollute our country with their smears. He was asked specifically about the “swiftboat” people from 2004 in that question.

Then, when he’s behind in the polls, one of those new groups pops up, funded entirely by one billionaire who was part of those swiftboat people in 2004. And it’s again spreading lies.

You may have heard about it. They dragged up some obscure 60s radical who happens to live in the same neighborhood as Barack Obama, and they try to say that they have this big connection. Months ago, the Chicago papers called this a “phony charge.” They have no connection (Obama attended one reception at the guy’s house once, and has condemned what the guy did way back in the 60s, when Obama was 9 years old).

So these are obvious lies, just like John McCain said he’d condemn. But instead of condemning them, he actually suck even lower than George W. Bush did in 2004. He repeated the attacks in his own campaign statements!

This is a shockingly dishonorable thing to do. And I’m just tired of it. Broken promises, lies, shadowy groups funded by billionaires, we need to get rid of all of it.

The only way to do that is to pass this along, tell everyone you know what John McCain is doing. You won’t hear all this on the news, probably. So we need to tell everyone what’s going on.

We need to have politicians that talk about us and how they can fix things, not talk about the latest lies and smears some shadowy group dredges up.

Let’s forward this along and get some truth back in this country.

Word of the day: "post-rational"

2008-08-26T11:49:00.004-04:00

The word post-rational was used exquisitly last night (and several times previously) by MSNBC political commentator Rachel Maddow to describe the (lack of) logic for Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters at the Democratic National Convention. There is no rational argument for these PUMAs (Party Unity, My Ass) to be threatening support for John McCain.

They supposedly are Democrats (Sen. John McCain is not), are pro-choice (McCain is not), and profess to follow the lead of Sen. Clinton (who has told them to support Sen. Barack Obama). But yet they make illogical arguments for denying reality.

Ms. Maddow went on to describe how uninformed one particular PUMA is. McCain is running an ad featuring a former Clinton supporter - a nurse who now says she supports the Republican candidate. At a press conference held by the Republican National Committee, a reporter asked her how she can switch her support to McCain when her admitted key issue is reproductive choice. The nurse responded that as far as she knew, McCain was pro-choice and would not try to overturn Roe V. Wade! This poor uninformed woman has been used by the RNC,

Obama's tax plan - great news for the middle class

2008-08-25T17:00:00.007-04:00

There have been a number of urban legend-type emails floating around about Sen. Barack Obama. Most of them are so ridiculous only the stupidest reader could believe them. There are a few, however, that appear to be more credible. Clearly someone has been going to great lengths to give the impression of authenticity.

One of the most egregious concerns Obama's tax plan. I don't want to quote directly from it, but the gist of it is that McCain's tax plan benefits everyone and Obama will tax the life out of you. Fortunately for us (but unfortunate for the sake of honest political discourse) the viral email is completely false.

The truth is that if you make less than $250,000 you will pay less in taxes under Obama's plan than under the current system or under McCain's plan. If you make over $250,000 I'm not too sorry to say that the gravy train is over - you have been blessed with wealth and it is time to start paying more of your share again.

Here are some facts:

Sen. Obama's plan will give 95 percent of American families:

A $1,000 tax cut
Eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000
Cut capital gains taxes for small businesses to zero percent
Ensure that no one making less than $250,000 pays a dime more in taxes (and 95% of small businesses earn less than $250,000).

Here is a video that explains more:

Even the conservative Wall Street Journal says: "Both candidates for president have proposed tax plans. But they are starkly different in their approaches and their economic impact. Sen. Obama is focused on cutting taxes for middle-class families and small businesses, and investing in key areas like health, innovation and education. He would do this while cutting unnecessary spending, paying for his proposals and bringing down the budget deficit. In contrast, John McCain offers what would essentially be a third Bush term...the McCain plan would lead to deficits the likes of which we have never seen in this country. It would take money from the middle class and from future generations so that the wealthy can live better today."

You will hear (correctly) that Sen. Obama wants to roll back part of Bush's tax cuts. And while this will negatively impact those making over $250,000 it will not hurt those making less. Paul Krugman, the New York Times economist, reported that the provisions of the Bush tax cuts that most benefited middle-class families (the Child Tax Credit, the reduced tax bracket for lower incomes and marriage penalty relief) will stay in place under the Obama plan.

So, treat those "Obama will tax you to death" emails just like those crazy ones you receive about winning European lottery tickets and your share of millions in Nigerian wealth - send 'em to your deleted folder.

A telling video about John McCain

2008-08-24T15:06:00.002-04:00

And a complimentary piece on CNN.com by Jack Cafferty states: "It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president...one after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none."

Biden is Obama's choice for V-P

2008-08-23T17:15:00.006-04:00

This morning at 3:32 AM I (along with millions of others, undoubtedly) received a text message from Barack Obama announcing that he had chosen Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate. Heather and I are very happy with the selection. We have long been admirers of Sen. Biden's and have thought for the last few weeks that he would make an excellent vice presidential candidate to compliment Sen. Obama.

We think this election (like the last two) are supremely critical for our nations future. The last eight years have been disastrous on practically every front (foreign policy, energy, environment, economy, national debt, etc.). This country needs a change.

To paraphrase from a recent op-ed in the New York Times:

Obama can connect with voters on the economy by using history as a guideline. According to the non-partisan and non-political Princeton academic Larry Bartles (after an exhaustive study of Democratic and Republican presidents in his book "Unequal Democracy") - the Democrats build a better economy and a more just society. Since 1900, Democratic presidents have not only "won" but dominated on every economic front: GDP growth, employment, deficit, income equality, better performing stock market, and a more fiscally-responsible spending. There's no need to listen to McCain's marginal rates, death tax, deregulation, trickle-down, supply-side shenanigans because historically Democratic presidencies have produced better economies.

First week of school is in the books

2008-08-22T10:03:00.003-04:00

(Sorry for that bad pun.)

The kids have both survived their first week of school. So far all is going well with no worries. Although, I have to admit that I am not yet used to the change in our schedules. I had grown accustomed to the relaxed summer.

This morning (for example) Heather had too go to work early, so I took Grace to her bus stop. When I returned home I started working as usual. I must have forgotten that we have another child and Ethan's alarm did not go off. At 8:40 I suddenly realized that he was not out of bed and that the bus went past our house five minutes ago! I quickly got Ethan out of bed, got him dressed, made his breakfast, he brushed his teeth, and I drove him to school. We made it a 8:56. School starts at 9. Whew!

The pictures above are from a day earlier in the week when both kids made it to their buses on time.

Pat doing well at our house

2008-08-20T22:17:00.003-04:00

Heather's mother Pat had successful hip replacement surgery on Monday. While there was a chance she would be dismissed from the hospital on Tuesday, her doctor elected to have her stay one day longer. She is now staying at our house for a week or two as she recovers. She is getting around slowly with the help of a walker. I'm sure she appreciates the well wishes she has received from friends and family.

Pat's surgery and the start of school

2008-08-19T10:31:00.003-04:00

We had a good weekend. Saturday night we went to the annual Median's Party hosted by Joe Zimmerman and Genevieve Harvey. It was a nice, casual evening.

On Sunday Heather's mom Pat arrived at our house. She will be staying with us for awhile as she recovers from hip-replacement surgery. The surgery was yesterday and everything went well. We expect her home from the hospital later today. We are looking forward to her visit.

Last night I took Grace to the open house for her school. She will again be attending the Nicholas School in Piqua. She did a great job there last year and we expect the same this year.

Ethan's school open house is this evening. Both kids start school tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Grace!

2008-08-15T04:56:00.000-04:00

Grace Marie Wendel turns 9 years old today. Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Summer update

2008-08-12T15:03:00.000-04:00

It is almost time for Grace and Ethan to go back to school, so now is as good a time as any to update you on their summer activities.

Grace will turn nine later this week. She has spent most of the summer playing with the neighbor kids. She has attended a couple day camps: one at the Audubon Center called "Earth Yoga" and another dancing class at the Tipp-Monroe Community Center. She participated in the Tipp Library Summer Reading Program and has spent a lot of time swimming.

Ethan is seven and has spent all of his summer time focused on Bionicles. He had his best friend Caleb play with their Bionicles every day for hours on end. He has also attended a couple day camps and he participated in the summer reading program.

We are very happy with the new deck roof that we had added to our house this summer. We are eager for the kids to be back in school.

Blog Procrastination

2008-08-12T14:53:00.001-04:00

I have been continually putting off coming up with a plan to stop procrastinating when it comes to updating our web site.

I hope that this new blog format (which is easy as pie to use), will solve my problem.

If you are reading this, and this is one of the only posts I have made, and the current date is sometime well after 13-August-08 - you will know that I have failed.