Trick or Treating - 2006 (Taking To Much)

Jacob & Ethan trick or Treating on our street - 2006 Here is another funny video from last night

2006 Halloween - Photo Album

Global Warming Skepticism Grows!

Renowned Scientist Defects From Belief in Global Warming – Caps Year of Vindication for Skeptics

Paleoclimate scientist Bob Carter has noted that there is indeed a problem with global warming – it stopped in 1998. “According to official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the UK, the global average temperature did not increase between 1998-2005.
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Earlier this year, a group of prominent scientists came forward to question the so-called “consensus” that the Earth faces a “climate emergency.” On April 6, 2006, 60 scientists wrote a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister asserting that the science is deteriorating from underneath global warming alarmists.

“Observational evidence does not support today's computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future…Significant [scientific] advances have been made since the [Kyoto] protocol was created, many of which are taking us away from a concern about increasing greenhouse gases. If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary,” the 60 scientists wrote.

Find much more here: http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777

Another day at the office

"We have been notified and are fully aware of the skunk smell on the first floor.  Animal Control and the building manager have been notified."

- A memo from the front desk sent out to the 900 people in my office.  Makes me glad to be on the 4th floor  :-)

Middle America

Anyone that tries to tell you that we are worse of today than we were yesterday or that our kids are not going to have it as good as us needs to read this article!!

http://www.forbes.com/home/economy/2006/10/16/demographics-income-population-biz_cx_tvr_1017median.html

Four Dollars Worth of Torture

We spent the weekend in Medicine Lodge for the Peace Treaty Pageant. We watched the Parade Saturday morning that included 3 or 4 of the Indian Tribes that took part in the treaty. They were at the front of the parade and they danced along the way with big drums and most of them wearing the authentic dress. Then they had all the different characters from the Pageant, but I couldn't help but laugh wondering when the fake Indians came out at the end on horses, they consisted of just local people dressed like "Indian Warriors", if the real Indians where offended by the fake ones. We also saw Martina McBride. She is the lady on the back of the motorcycle with her dad in the pictures. That evening we went to the carnival. The boys had fun on the kid's rides and then we went downtown to get what we hoped would be a cheaper funnel cake than at the Carnival, it wasn't. There we watched some of the stage events. A man and woman were singing folk music with a guitar. I thought, man that looks like someone I know so I asked around and found out that yes it was Willis Pracht (I hope I am spelling his name right) who was my 5th and 6th grade principle at Garfield. He was very good; I wish I could have heard more of it. I was disappointed that he wasn't playing with his Hummingbird that he bought back from Linda. Instead he was using a 12 string which was probably more fitting for playing solo before such a large crowd. After the music they reenacted some Medicine Lodge history including a bank robbery in which the town citizens carried out some good old fashioned mob justice :-) Then they had a historical Congressional election debate between a big city proper Republican and local Populous candidate. About half way through it I thought man that Republican looks familiar, so I asked Jenny who said it was Mr. Germes. He was my AP History teacher my Junior year. From this I concluded that they couldn't have put on this event with out people from Garden City ;-) Then we went back to the Carnival to finish off our tickets. We waited in line for the Tilt-A-Wirl for probably 30 minutes. Jenny and the boys and I all rode on it. The carni taking tickets was like "All four of you? OK...." Like he thought that was a bad idea but wasn't going to stop us. About 30 seconds into it I realized why. The more weight the faster it spins. All the other carts either had 1 person in them or 2 smaller people. From about that point on I spent the rest of the time praying that it would be over. Apparently I am too old for spinning in circles fast anymore. Jenny and Jacob loved it though and couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Ethan had a poker face through the ride. I just kept thinking "Why did I stand in line for half an hour and pay four dollars to torture myself?" I am pretty sure that they would not be allowed to do that to the prisoners in Gitmo. Although I think an hour or 2 of something like that would be pretty effective in getting information on anyone. I am pretty sure I would have told them whatever they wanted to know. The family picture is of us in the torture machine before it started and the blurry pictures of Jenny and of Jacob laughing are of them during the ride. After the ride of pain we went home. It took me a good hour to recover to where Jenny and I could go back downtown to the street dance where Jenny was wanting to meet some friends, and we left the kids with Bonnie at the house. Later I had a chance to talk to Mr. Germes and his wife. I told him who I was and when I had been in his class but I am still not sure that he remembered who I was. At least he was very friendly and we talked for a good 20 minutes. It was a fun weekend though and now it is getting late. I wanted to put the pictures throughout this post but it would only let me do 4 at a time so I just opted for the one and you can see the others in our web album. No time for proof reading now :-S Good night.

Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

Sep 30, 2006 - 11 Photos

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.