It's a Beautiful Day

We started the day with Jacob practicing skipping in the driveway as we left to go eat at Denny's. After Denny's we went to the zoo for a while. This evening we went and met Bonnie and Jeff at Riverside Park near downtown where you can see the kids playing on the playground and Jacob following a guy around with a metal detector for about 10 minutes. He kept asking the guy questions but the man couldn't hear him b/c he had on headphones, so I don't think many of Jacobs questions were answered. Also note Ethan pouting off by himself after he got in trouble for yelling at other kids 3x's his size and telling them NO. He's so bossy. Click on the picture below to see more.

It's a Beautiful Day Sep 9, 2006 - 21 Photos

"I Dee It"

FREEEEEDOOOOMMM!!! (to be yelled like Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart when he is being tortured and they give him one last chance to recant)

I just finished my last 2 projects for my VB.net II class.  Which means I have now made it through the 4 hardest classes in my Computer Programming degree program (and with straight A's I might add).  Now I am going to take a break b/c my life has been on hold for the last 8 months that I have been taking these classes, not to mention organizing a class reunion. 

The amount of stress in the last month has been killing me.  Now with the reunion over and my classes being done (for now) it is a huge weight off my shoulders and I don't know what I will do with all of the extra time!  My stomach started even bothering me a lot last week.  The prescription strength Prevacid stopped working so I doubled the dose and it still has been pretty bad.  I have some Nexium samples from the doctor that I am trying out.  Hopefully with that and the reduced stress my stomach will go back to normal.  If not they will have to put this scope down my throat and through my stomach to see what is going on!  I hate not being able to eat hardly anything or drink in Coke :-(


**"I Dee It" is what Ethan says anytime he accomplishes something cool.  = "I did it".

Man Gets Jail for Fake Newspaper Obit

ABC News: Man Gets Jail for Fake Newspaper Obit

A northeast Iowa man who filed a fake obituary with a newspaper is headed to jail. James Snyder, of Stout, was accused of submitting the obituary for his girlfriend's 17-year-old son to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier last December to get out of work. more>>

I find this really funny.  My question is, if he had made up a fake "son" that died, instead of using a real person that would be seen around town, would he have gotten away with it?  Or if he had gotten caught would he have gotten in as much trouble.  Hmmmm...

"Head-in-the-Sand Liberals" by a liberal

Head-in-the-Sand Liberals - Los Angeles Times

TWO YEARS AGO I published a book highly critical of religion, "The End of Faith." In it, I argued that the world's major religions are genuinely incompatible, inevitably cause conflict and now prevent the emergence of a viable, global civilization. In response, I have received many thousands of letters and e-mails from priests, journalists, scientists, politicians, soldiers, rabbis, actors, aid workers, students — from people young and old who occupy every point on the spectrum of belief and nonbelief.

This has offered me a special opportunity to see how people of all creeds and political persuasions react when religion is criticized. I am here to report that liberals and conservatives respond very differently to the notion that religion can be a direct cause of human conflict.

This difference does not bode well for the future of liberalism....  more >>

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I have been seeing more and more articles like this of liberals opening their eyes to this problem. Very interesting.

The Silent Thud

I was just working on my homework upstairs when I heard a loud thud. I knew what it was right away so I ran into the boys room and there was Jacob, not on the floor like I had expected from him falling out of bed, but more just hanging there in mid air. His arm and head where touching the floor but his body was suspended in air and his legs where caught up in his covers still up on his bed. He was just peacefully hanging there completely silent still asleep. Like a content little bat :-)

Sorry I didn't think about getting a picture of it until after I had gently placed him back in bed. Maybe next time.

A DEADLY KINDNESS

A DEADLY KINDNESS By RICHARD MINITER - New York Post Online Edition: Postopinion

The high-minded critics who complain about torture are wrong. We are far too soft on these guys - and, as a result, aren't getting the valuable intelligence we need to save American lives.

The politically correct regulations are unbelievable. Detainees are entitled to a full eight hours sleep and can't be woken up for interrogations. They enjoy three meals and five prayers per day, without interruption. They are entitled to a minimum of two hours of outdoor recreation per day.

...Call it excessive compassion by a nation devoted to therapy, but it's dangerous....

...Other cells pass messages from leaders in one camp to followers in others. How? Detainees use the envelopes sent to them by their attorneys to pass messages....

...No expense (is) spared for al Qaeda health care...

...Of Gitmo's several camps, military records show that the one with the most lenient rules is the one with the most incidents and vice versa. There is a lesson in this: We should worry less about detainee safety and more about our own...

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When these terrorists capture innocent non-military Americans they take care of them by beheading them. When we capture people actively involved in murdering Americans and plotting to destroy our country we give them the royal treatment with full health care. This is outrageous and is endangering innocent American lives. These lawyers and others who think
protecting the rights of terrorists is a higher priority than protecting Americans will have innocent blood on their hands when we get attacked again. Unfortunately I doubt even then they will take this war seriously.

My two kids wake me up multiple times in the middle of the night, I never get a full nights sleep. Up until a year ago I didn't have health insurance and was paying for my health care out of pockett. I am lucky if I get 30 minutes outside a day let alone 2 hours. These guys are living better than me!

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Update:

Speaking of the lawyers... Here is what one had to brag about.

'We have over one hundred lawyers now from big and small firms working to represent these detainees. Every time an attorney goes down there, it makes it that much harder to do what they're doing. You can’t run an interrogation and torture camp with attorneys.'

http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/03/ratner.html

Can you OD on Antacid?

I am working on it.

Rio Karma

Sometimes my MP3 player knows me like a close personal friend other times it is a stranger throwing random songs at me like rocks trying to provoke me.  Today it is a brother handing me the right songs in the perfect order to comfort, inspire and motivate me.  Yesterday I left work a little early feeling like I could do no more...of anything.  Today I went into work feeling the same and wondering how I would make it through another day of toil and playing catchup.  But with the selective combination of Arrested Development, U2, Waterdeep, Foo Fighters and Pedro the Lion I now have the strength to press on.

At least it is Friday... back to work now.

The Religion of Peace

I think it is ironic when someone criticizes Islam for being violent and Muslims become outraged and respond with violence.

Pope comments explosive in Mideast: analysts

Not to say that all Muslims are violent, but stuff like this sure doesn't help the image of Islam.

The "Fluffy Planet"

Come on, so this big ball of helium and hydrogen gets called a planet, but not Pluto? Where is the justice.

Astronomers find distant, fluffy planet

Our Day At The Air Show

Our Day at the Air Show

Sep 9, 2006 - 14 Photos