Thoughts from the Oasis amidst the Corn...the old stuff

A six year's old view of theatre...

2006-12-05T13:19:00.000-06:00

Opening weekend went well. We got a lot of comments from audience members saying we had put them into the Christmas spirit, so that's good. We also were asked if we plan to make it an annual Christmas show, which is an interesting thought.

Two more performances on Saturday, December 9 at 6:30 and 8:30 pm at Old Brick. Go to Dreamwell's website for all the info and to reserve tickets!

Rachel saw the show, which was the first time she had ever seen me act. She said I was good, but my voice was funny. Also sometimes I was mean. Both of things are true. My old man accent for the Record Keeper is definitely funny sounding. And some of my other characters are certainly mean. I talked to her about how I was just playing a character in the story and sometimes characters in stories are mean. She seemed to get that. Then I asked her what her favorite part of the show was.

"Intermission! I got TWO cookies!"

A Day filled with rather huge news...

2006-12-01T10:50:00.000-06:00

Two life changing events to announce today...

This should give you a hint...

Yes, we're having another baby! Little squirmy is due June 11. Big sisters are excited. Well, Rachel is. Sammi appears cautiously optimistic. She did want Sharon to take the baby out so she could see him. Sharon had to explain that it didn't work like that. We're going to get some books with pictures so she can see what the baby looks like while in Mommy's tummy.

And the other big news...

I got a promotion! I am now a financial aid advisor, which means more responsibility, more money, and a nice office. I've only been at Kirkwood a little less than a year so it's a big jump in a short period of time. I gotta say I am really enjoying this job more than any other I've ever had. The interaction with the students is my favorite part of the job. Every day I'm helping people figure out how to pay for college. It's so satisfying to have a job where I'm doing something positive rather than selling something, buying something, processing something or selling or buying something processed (movie reference...did you get it?). Before I can move back to my office, however, we need to fill at least one of the two openings in my department, so if you know anyone who needs a job...

Marley's Christmas Carol

2006-11-30T14:14:00.000-06:00

Dreamwell is back with a new show - Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol by Tom Mula. It was originally done as a one-man show, but the version we are producing utilizes four actors. I am one of the four and play the most characters. It's sometimes dizzying switching from one character to another in the space of one minute. It's also been a lot of fun. The other actors are Chuck Dufano in the title role, Josh Sazon as the deliciously cruel Scrooge and Karl Gronwall as the ever delightful Bogle.

Chuck and Karl in rehearsal

So come one, come all to a fun holiday show Dreamwell style. It's December 2 and 9 at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm each night at Old Brick. Bring a food donation to benefit Old Brick's charitable groups.

The link to the PC article is here.

Ah, Azael...

2006-11-27T00:02:00.000-06:00

Yeah, if you've never roleplayed, this one won't mean much to you... and if you've roleplayed with me, this won't surprise you at all... and if you get the title of this one, well damn, that was a fun game, wasn't it?

You scored as Character Player. The Character Player enjoys creating in-depth characters with distinct and rich personalities. He identifies closely with his characters, feeling detached from the game if he doesn't. He takes creative pride in exploring different characters, often making each new one radically different than others he's played. The Character Player bases his decisions on his character's psychology first and foremost. He may view rules as a necessary evil at best, preferring sessions in which the dice never come out of their bags. For the Character Player, the greatest reward comes from experiencing the game from the emotional perspective of an interesting character.

Character Player

100%

Storyteller

95%

Weekend Warrior

45%

Tactician

45%

Casual Gamer

25%

Power Gamer

Specialist

What RPG Player (Not Character) Type Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Take a deep breath

2006-11-12T09:38:00.000-06:00

You know, I hope the Democrats don't think that they really won on Tuesday. A majority of voters didn't vote for them. They voted against the Republicans. I don't think the majority of Americans were jumping around screaming "Yay Dems!" on Wednesday. We were screaming "Yay Republicans lost!" We want a new direction for our country and in our political system, unfortunately, there are only two viable choices. One choice sucked it up really good, so we're giving the other choice a chance.

Don't blow it.

Credit to the President

2006-11-08T13:22:00.000-06:00

I have to give Bush credit. He has listened to the American people and has accepted that we want him to change the way the war is being waged in Iraq. Rumsfeld is out!

This is why this country is great. Democracy does work.

Election aftermath

2006-11-08T08:58:00.000-06:00

Well, it happened. At least in the House and probably in the Senate, too, if the current counts hold up. Now the Democrats have the chance to show the Republicans the proper way to act when in the majority. I remember after Bush won re-election in 2004, I lambasted him for saying he had a "mandate" when it was clear he had won by the smallest margins. Yes, the Dems won control last night, but just barely. Many of the races were ridiculously close. So far we've heard from Nancy Pelosi that she wants to work together with the Republicans to get things done. That's a good start. It's time for our country to start to come together. Let's hope I won't have to lambast any Democrats because they start spouting off about a "mandate".

In local news, a fine man was done in by George Bush's failed presidency. Poor Jim Leach. He's been serving in Congress for 30 years, is an excellent man, and has real character. But he lost because he's a Republican. That's truly the only reason he didn't win. Good luck in Washington, Dave Loebsack. Try to fill that seat with the same sort of integrity Jim Leach possesses.

As for our new Governer, I am holding him to one his campaign promises: making Iowa the first state that is not dependent on foreign oil. That's why I voted for you, Chet. Make it happen.

Quiet strength

2006-11-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

I went to the Democratic rally last night on the Ped Mall. I felt like something of an interloper since I don't really consider myself a Democrat and am not really that excited about Chet Culver becoming governor. I went to see Barack Obama in person and I'm fairly certain I wasn't the only person in that crowd of one thousand who was most interested in hearing the Illinois Sentor speak.

It was an education in local politics. Lots of yelling about how the Dems are going to take control of government and woo hoo woo hoo! Clearly a rally is not a place to throw any real ideas out there - everyone spoke in generalities and were greeted with raucous applause.

It was a chance to see two potential Democratic presidential hopefuls - Obama and Tom Vilsack, our current governor. What a study in contrasts. Vilsack was swinging his arm and shouting at the top of his lungs and struck me as trying waaaaay too hard.

And then there was Barack. I was surprised at his appearance when he first walked on stage because he is so thin. Skeletal almost. Of course, as a skinny guy myself, I'm not holding that against him. And it didn't help that he was standing next to Chet Culver who is built like a football player. Otherwise, he's a handsome guy with a huge smile. And he looks very young. He's 45, but he looks only a little older than 35 or so.

There were many times when the crowd called out for Barack even when others were speaking. At one point, Vilsack was introducing Tom Harkin, but the crowd thought he meant Obama, and the cheers were deafening. Harkin made light of it when he came to the microphone, but it was clear the crowd would have annointed Obama President that night if it could have. What I appreciated most was Obama's restraint. He was humble in the face of that adulation and made it clear that the reason he was here was to help the Iowa Dems whose fates would be decided on Tuesday.

When he finally spoke, we weren't greeted with the now stereotypical Martin Luther King-like delivery. He spoke quietly, but with confidence and passion. He didn't need to raise his voice to raise our spirits. He spoke about the "audacity of hope", which is also the title of his book and admitted that he filched that phrase from the pastor at his church on the South Side. He rejected the cynicism of politics and asked us Why not? Why not make things better? Why not do it today? He said it so much better than I can write it. His words were possessed a quiet passion that ignited a fire within us. It wasn't that he was saying anything we hadn't heard before. The difference was when Barack spoke of hope, we believed him.

Obama Interview

2006-11-02T17:03:00.000-06:00

The following excerpts are from an interview of Barack Obama by David Remnick at the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

And I guess what I was trying to describe is a faith that admits doubt, and uncertainty, and mystery. Because, ultimately, I think that’s how most people understand their faith. In fact, it’s not faith if you’re absolutely certain. There’s a leap that we all take, and, when you admit that doubt publicly, it’s a form of testimony. Then what I think it does is it allows both the secular and the religious to find some sort of common space where we say to each other, Well, I may not believe exactly what you do, what you believe, but I share an experience in wondering what does my life mean, or I understand the desire for a connection to something larger than myself. And that, I think, is in the best of the United States religious tradition.

There's too much certainty in the faith of our leaders... and our enemies. An admission of uncertainty leads to an understanding and tolerance of another's point of view. Which is not to say we should tolerate or understand the Islamic fascists who seek to destroy us, but it would benefit our country if we attempted to understand and tolerate the viewpoints of our neighbors who do not believe exactly the same things we do.

I think the next President is going to have a lot of problems to clean up and not a lot of resources to work with. So whoever is elected is going to have to have a conversation with the American people about what our challenges are, what steps we can take, how long it’s going to take, and ask that they join, that they take ownership in this project.

That’s the power of the Presidency that I don’t see used enough. The capacity to explain to the American people in very prosaic, straightforward terms: here are the choices we have. The biggest problem we have in our politics, and our campaigns press this upon candidates, is to lie about the choices that have to be made. And to obfuscate and to fudge. ... Everybody’s all happy and feel-good, until you actually say to them, Well, you know what? Actually, if we have a real energy plan it’s going to cost something. There’s not a magic energy store where we can buy a new gadget; we’re going to have to invest and make some tough decisions. But I do think the American people respond better to that conversation than we give them credit for, and it’s not tried often enough.

Tell me that you wouldn't want a President who is willing to shoot straight and explain the problems we face and offer solutions. A President who believes that we are smart enough to understand the issues. A President who doesn't lie or even obfuscate.

And audience member then asks this of Obama and gets a very straightforward complete answer that shows vision and practicality. (I numbered his response for clarity.)

Question: ...what would you say were the three most important priorities that the new President, with a Democratic Congress, should present to the American people as the things that need to get done?

(1) Well, it is hard to anticipate at this point where we’re going to be in Iraq. But first priority would be to stabilize and extricate ourselves from the morass that we’re in right now....More broadly, and this I think would be one of the most important things a new President can do, is to essentially figure out what is the updated version of the post-World War II order that was structured by Truman and Acheson, and Marshall and Kennan—what does that look like? What is our national-security strategy? Because we’ve never gone through that process. In the nineties, the basic feeling was, you know, as long as McDonald’s are opening up all over the world everything’s going to be O.K. And then we had 9/11, and immediately launched into a unilateral, sabre-rattling approach to foreign policy. But what we’ve never really done is thought strategically about how, in an age of asymmetrical warfare, with countries like China and Russia that are no longer direct enemies, but are clearly competitors, and huge chunks of the world that are essentially collapsing and ungoverned—what does that mean for us? And what does that mean for our military?

(2)...On the domestic front, I would say that it is time for the Democrats to get over what happened in ’94, and to move on an aggressive plan for health-care reform in this country. And I personally think universal health care remains a vital goal for us to meet.

(3)... energy. I believe Al Gore—and the other, you know, ten thousand scientists out there. ... From a national-security posture, there’s not a better thing we could do—for example, dealing with proliferation issues in Iran—than to drive the price of oil down to twenty-five bucks a barrel. It’s the single biggest thing we could do to effectuate change and cut the legs out of some of the fundamentalist impulses in the Middle East. And so why we’re not pursuing that in a very aggressive way baffles me. And I think the country’s ready for it. I mentioned that, travelling around the country, what I’ve been struck by is the degree to which, despite gas prices going down, the issue of energy policy is still registering very high among voters. They recognize that the current path we’re on is unsustainable.

Go here for the whole interview.

Obama in Iowa City

2006-11-02T17:00:00.000-06:00

I am going, are you?

Link

Trick or treat, smell my feet...

2006-11-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

Rachel learned this little ditty from her friend Grace, who no doubt learned it from her big sister:

Trick or treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat
If you don't
I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear

I had never heard the underwear part of the song. Anyway, last night we went trick or treating. The girls were dressed as princesses, costumes by Grandma. Rachel was a glamorous pink princess and Sammi had chosen her favorite color purple. Each had crowns and wands, although Sammi didn't wear hers and neither of them carried the wands. We went racing from one house to the next. Or Rachel did. Sammi would get the candy and toddle away from the house seemingly in shock that they'd just given her more candy. I would have to say "Come on, Sammi, let's catch up with Rachel." And she'd say, every time, "We going to the next house?"

About halfway through our adventure, Rachel began singing the song above as we ran to each house. Rachel never said it when asking for candy, however; she stuck with the simple "Trick or Treat". The song had clearly gotten into Sammi's head however. When we got to one house, Sammi shouted to the mom holding the pot of candy, "Trick or treat, smell my underwear!"

I don't think I've ever seen anyone's eyes get as big as that poor woman's. She was shocked. I think I mumbled something like "Big sisters, you know. Ha ha, happy Halloween..." and we moved on as fast as we could.

After trick or treating on our block, we drove to two of Rachel's friend's houses to drop off invitations to her birthday party. So Rachel jabbered with her friends for a while sharing Halloween stories. We also stopped by the coolest Halloween house in the neighborhood. It had a bunch of those huge inflatable decorations. One of which was an actual Haunted House big enough for the kids to walk in. Rachel went through it twice. Sammi went in once, heard the scary music and ran back out. That house also gave out full size Hershey bars. We weren't the only people who drove to that house.

We got back home and ate dinner around 8 pm and inadvertantly discovered a way to keep both girls at the table eating their dinner - starve 'em for an extra hour or so... Both kids crashed pretty quickly at bedtime and so ended our Halloween fun for 2006.

A TV Meme

2006-10-31T16:55:00.000-06:00

Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

24
227
60 Minutes
7th Heaven
A Different World
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Barnaby Jones
Battle of the Planets (ADDED)
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bionic Woman
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Buck Rogers (ADDED)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Captain Planet
Carnivale
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dallas
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (original)
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Eerie, Indiana
Empty Nest
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Matters
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Knows best
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Forensic Files
Frasier
Friends
Full House
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gundam Wing
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Hart to Hart
Head of the Class
Hell's Kitchen
Highlander
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
Just the 10 of Us
Kate & Allie
Kath and Kim
Kim Possible
Knot's Landing
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Major Dad
Malcolm in the Middle
Mama's Family
M.A.N.T.I.S
Married... With Children
Medium
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Millenium
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
Mr. Show with Bob and David
My Family
My Life as a Dog
My Name is Earl
My Secret Identity
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
Nurses
One Tree Hill
Out of This World
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
Robot Chicken
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Saturday Night Live (ADDED)
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Simon & Simon
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Space:1999
Space Ghost
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Starsky & Hutch
Step By Step
Strange Luck
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
SWAT
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Amazing Race
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Hogan Family
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Partridge Family
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Tomorrow People
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Thundercats
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
UFO
Veronica Mars
Weird Science
Wings
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace

Two mile Turkey Trot

2006-10-30T09:58:00.000-06:00

On Thanksgiving, I'm going to run a two mile race called the Turkey Trot. My brother and sister and their kids having been doing it for a few years now. I decided I ought to run two miles at least once before then to see if I was going to embarrass myself or not. So yesterday I ran two miles in almost exactly 16 minutes. Not too bad. I wish I had been faster, but since I hardly ever exercise I suppose I can't be too surprised. If I can find the time in the next few weeks, I'll try to run a few more times to see if I can break 15 minutes.

I did check the results from last year's Turkey Trot and I'm slower than my brother (14:45) and my 15-year-old nephew (15:24) but faster than my sister (22:59), my 11-year-old niece (22:43), and 9-year-old nephew (16:54).

I admit it - I really want to beat my brother. Heh.

Save the cheerleader, save the world

2006-10-27T16:52:00.000-05:00

You are watching Heroes, right? I was sure it wasn't going to last very long, but I've been pleasantly surprised. No one is going to win an Emmy for the show, but it's an entertaining show especially if you used to (or still do) collect comic books. It's basically a comic book on TV but without the silly costumes and superhero names to turn off the majority of the population. It has all the comic book conventions - guy comes back from the future with cryptic messages, beserker hero who can't control her powers, most powerful hero is the nerdy guy who knows all geeky references - and I'm enjoying them. The acting is decent, not wonderful, but decent. And the mystery is intriguing. I am really enjoying the indestructable cheerleader character and the cop who can read minds. And, of course, Hiro is the breakout character of the whole season. He was the only reason Sharon was watching it at all.

So are you watching? Why not??

Frightmare!

2006-10-26T11:57:00.000-05:00

You should head to Frightmare Forest this weekend and get the beejeebees scared out of you!

Dreamwell folks will be there parking cars and raising money so we can bring you more exciting theater!

And so it begins...

2006-10-25T08:37:00.000-05:00

Rachel, walking to school this morning:

"Donovan says he's my boyfriend, but he's not!"

I said that she gets to decide if she wants someone to be her boyfriend. She said, "Yeah!"

Kindergarten!

Faith

2006-10-23T00:55:00.000-05:00

My post about Barack Obama has generated a link to this guy's blog where he attacks the Illinois Senator. First of all, let me just ask that people who comment on my posts actually, you know, comment. A link to your blog feels more like spamming and I'd appreciate the courtesy of some words to go with your link. But that's beside the point. Porkopulis contends that Obama is "a propagandist, bullshit artist and lying politician." He quotes Obama as saying that the new Detainee Bill is the first time Habeas Corpus has ever been eliminated in our country's history. This isn't correct, of course, as Abraham Lincoln suspended it during the Civil War. Porkopolis calls him a liar. Did Obama purposely lie to gain advantage or did he make a mistake? He then quotes Obama as saying the legislation would "not give them that basic hearing in court". Porkopulis goes on to say that "Mr. Obama claims that a "basic hearing in court" would be denied to combatants is a flat out lie". Unfortunately, Porkopulis left off an important word when quoting the quote: "that". Obama is refering to the fact that this legislation doesn't give detainees the Habeas Corpus hearing, not any old hearing in court.

To me, that's part of what is so wrong with political discussion today. We are so quick to believe the worst of everyone. And that goes for Democrats and Republicans (and apparently Libertarians as that's how Porkopulis identifies himself). I'd far prefer to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and believe he made a mistake. Just as I give George W. Bush the benefit of the doubt and believe that he really thinks what he's doing is what's best for our country. And just as I give Porkopulis the benefit of the doubt that he just misread Obama's quote.

That's really just a small part of what I want to write about. This Nation and specifically, the Democrats and Republicans, could have a civilized discussion about their different points of view on this Habeas Corpus issue instead of viciously attacking each other. I can see both sides of this issue. It comes down to this question: Should we treat suspected terrorists the same way we've treated soldiers of enemy countries during wartime?

The Bush position is Yes. And I understand where that thinking comes from. We are at war with these terrorists in the sense that they have declared a desire to destroy our country and our people and our way of life. Holding a enemy combatant until the war is over has precedent. And if the person is proven to be a terrorist, then I have no problem with keeping that person locked up.

The reason there's disagreement is because this is not a traditional war. There is no country to attack. We can't easily tell who is on the other side. And we have no way to know when this war is over. There is no country to make peace with. This war has even changed fundamental terms as another website points out. "The term ‘enemy combatant’ has historically referred to any member of the armed forces of a state with which another state is at war. Enemy combatants in the current conflict are not defined by simple, readily apparent criteria such as citizenship or military uniform, and the power to name a citizen as an 'enemy combatant' is therefore extraordinarily broad." (wikipedia)

So do we treat suspected terrorists as enemy combatants or do we treat them as criminals who would have full access to our legal system? Because this new type of war has made the classification of enemy combatant so broad, there has to be a middle ground between the two choices. Habeas Corpus is simply the right to challenge the legality of detention. If we believe in this right, we should believe in it for all people, not just Americans. It seems to me that if we're to live up to the ideals of this country that we all love we must err on the side of giving more rights rather than limiting those rights. It is critical that we hold fast to the faith that embracing our ideals will lead us to victory. To do otherwise jeopardizes the ends for which we strive.

Have faith in our country. Have faith in our ideals. Have faith in our freedoms. And have faith that by standing firm to what we are as a Nation, we will prevail.

Barack Obama

2006-10-22T10:11:00.002-05:00

Every time I've seen Obama speak, I've been impressed. He has that "IT" factor that true leaders possess. Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton all had it. I watched him on Meet the Press today and again was impressed. He doesn't dance around like so many politicians. You ask a politician what his take on increasing taxes is and he'll say, "Well, when I was a boy, we played a game called Red Rover. Ever hear of it? Well, it was about breaking through a line of people trying to stop you from accomplishing what you want to accomplish. I feel I have to break through a lot of lines, I have broken through a lot in the past, and I'll keep breaking 'em if that's what it takes to fight for the American people."

Right, but what's your take on increasing taxes?

The question never gets answered. With Obama, he answers the questions. Tim Russert played a tape of him from two years ago saying he would not run for President. What happened between then and now, Barack? Obama says that he felt that way at the time, but he's been talking to a lot of people and running is something he is now considering. He changed his mind.

What I think has happened is the Democrats are looking at their possible candidates - Rodham Clinton, Edwards, Feingold - and they see themselves losing to John McCain. So they're trying to find someone who has the charisma, the x-factor, that undefinable something that will capture the hearts of all of America, not just the Democratic party. And that someone is Barack Obama.

This is from his speech at the Democratic National Convention:

"The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

This morning he talked about how the old fights between Democrats and Republicans are outdated. He used big government vs. small government as an example. It's not about either of these two concepts, but rather about smart government. In other words, when it's important for government to take a greater role in an issue, it should. And when it should take a smaller role, it should. Smarter government is what this generation of voters wants. And that's absolutely right.

I plan to read his new book and see if I agree with all of his politics as much I as appreciate his leadership and speaking abilities.

Somehow

2006-10-21T09:02:00.000-05:00

Kevin Tillman, brother of Pat Tillman, wrote about the war and you really should read it. It was posted on this site.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

The Radloff's Random Midnight Thoughts

2006-10-21T08:28:00.000-05:00

Just discovered this blog because the author commented on my blog. His most recent post has a rather accurate statement about why the Republican's traditional supporters ought to be wary of the current administration. It's in the middle of that post I linked to under the heading of "Bullies".

And his wife's name is Dagmar. Cool, huh?

We're not dead yet...but we're going to Hell!

2006-10-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

It's been almost three quarters of a year since we last performed in Iowa City, but that's going to change in just six weeks. Yes, Dreamwell is back with a new show! And no we haven't found a permanent home, but you know what? We gotta put on a show anyway. We're getting bored having meetings every month and not doing, well, theater! And people keep asking if we're ever coming back. So yeah, we are returning to the stage with our first ever holiday show.

Wait.

Holiday show?

Um, this is Dreamwell we're talking about, right?

Now come on, you don't think we're going to do It's a Wonderful Life or the stage version of Tim Allen's Santa Clause movies, do you? It's still Dreamwell. And our holiday show is a little bit... different.

For instance, it begins in Hell. And there's a demon in the show. Okay, now it sounds more like Dreamwell, right?

It's Dickens' Christmas Carol story from Jacob Marley's point of view. You remember Marley, don't you? He was Scrooge's partner who died and came back to haunt the old miser before those three ghosts showed up. Turns out there's a lot more to this story that we just never knew. The show was first done at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago as a one-man show. We're doing the four actor version. This is real storyteller theater unlike anything we've down before.

So get ready for Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol starring Chuck Dufano, Karl Gronwall, Josh Sazon, and me! Ably directed by Madonna Smith, this is the one "holiday" show you just can't miss.

Oh yeah, we're doing at Old Brick because they are wonderfully kind and supportive of the arts over there. And you gotta bring a foodstuff for one of their community programs to get in. Cause it's the holidays, you know. We want to help those less fortunate than we are even if we're going to Hell.

Or maybe especially if we're going to Hell.

The Race

2006-10-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

Well, we did it! It was a drizzly, cold morning, but the excitement in the air just cut right through that. So many families were at the starting line ready to run. Rachel and I moved into the big glob of people, trying to inch our way kind of near the front. Ready, set, go! We starting running as fast as she could. Eventually, she wanted to hold hands as we ran. She saw a number of other kids doing that. So we ran linked together, passing some people, getting passed by others. She just kept pushing with this look on her face of pure determination. I told her before we began that it didn't matter if we won or not... our goal was to keep running the whole time and finish the race. At one point, she asked if we could walk and we slowed down to a fast walk, but that didn't last more than five steps before she was jogging again. The last bit of the race was marked with cones and I told Rachel I was going to let go of her hand at that point and I wanted her to run as fast as she could to the finish line. (I couldn't run through the finish line because I wasn't actually signed up for the race. I was her moral support.) We hit the cones and she snatched her hand away and ran as fast as she could.

Being a parent isn't easy. If things don't go well for your kid, even the little things, it hurts you as much as it hurts them. Their failures are yours. If they break a leg, it hurts you, too. But of course, the other side is true. Their successes are yours, too.

Watching Rachel reach that finish line filled me with joy. Just pure joy for her and her accomplishment. That's why being a parent is the best job in the world.

epilogue....

Rachel, after the race:
That was a half mile?

Me:
Yes.

Rachel:
That was pretty short.

Run for the Schools!

2006-10-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

Every year, they have a Road Race to benefit the Iowa City area schools. This year my daughter Rachel informed us she wants to run the half mile race. She is, of course, in kindergarten. I wasn't sure she was really up to it, so I insisted we train for it. The first day we ran most of the way to her school (which is over a mile) and she did really well. Today I signed her up. If you'd like to support my plucky little kindergartner, go this website and donate a little bit. Doesn't have to be a lot - anything will be much appreciated!

Rachel on her first day of Kindergarten

There was this debate, see...

2006-10-05T08:50:00.000-05:00

On Monday, I went to my first gubernatorial debate. It was taking place at Kirkwood just an hour after I got off work, so I figured what the heck. Besides I hadn't made up mind about the candidates. Bruce Aune and a couple of reporters from the Gazette asked the questions, which I thought covered a lot of ground. I was struck by how big Chet Culver is and how small Jim Nussle looked in comparison. However, Nussle had more poise and definitely spoke better. Culver kept taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopping his face. I flashed back to the Nixon-Kennedy debates. (Well, okay I flashed back to footage I've seen of the Nixon-Kennedy debates.) Culver looked very uncomfortable just like Nixon did. And Nussle was calm, funny, and pointed in his remarks.

Still, in listening to the content rather than the delivery, I guess I come down on Culver's side. Assuming he can deliver what he promises. The main thrust of his message was making Iowa the first state independent on foreign oil. He wants to make us the center of the alternative fuel boom and compared it to the creation of Silicon Valley in the 1990s. Can he do it? I don't really know, but the idea sounds good.

I did get a little tired of Culver blaming Nussle for taking a record surplus and turning it into a record deficit. I mean, come on, he's one representative - it's not all his fault. A lot of what Culver did was attack Nussle, bringing up the Foley scandal, which has nothing to do with Nussle at all other than the fact that Foley is also a Republican.

Nussle's stance on social issues was disappointing, but not surprising. He goes too far on abortion even for me, a pro-lifer. He doesn't like the anti-bullying legislation because it makes gays a "protected class", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Honestly, when all is said and done, I'm not excited about either candidate. Which is pretty normal for me.

Mmmm.... cookies.

2006-10-04T13:59:00.000-05:00

Wanna know what love is?

Love is when you really want chocolate cookies and your wife, who can’t eat the darn things because they’re full of gluten, graciously helps you make cookies from scratch at 10:15 pm.

That’s love.

Heard in the car today

2006-10-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

"Daddy, I want a little brother so then I can start liking boys."

"Daddy, you can't make a baby. You have to wish for one." She then demonstrates wishing by clasping hands together and looking up at the sky with a pleading expression on her face.

There really wasn't much I could say to that. I didn't think the two minute drive to school was the best time to explain about making babies.

A handful of words, that might make you laugh

2006-09-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

Ten years ago today was really the best single day of my life. Don't get me wrong - those days when Rachel and Samantha were born were amazing, too, but they wouldn't have been nearly as great if that day ten years hadn't happened. You see, I married Sharon ten years ago and I think that was probably the single smartest thing I've ever done. Marriage is not always easy - ours has had its tough parts - but if there is anything worth working at, it's that. So we've worked at it and we've supported each other and we've laughed together and we've forgiven each other and we've surprised each other and we've always, through it all, loved each other. I'm not sure why I get to be so lucky in this life.

And now.. a couple of top ten (or five) lists:

Top ten moments of our Years Together:

10) Devaki's Dance Den
9) The Orange Pop and Milky Way bar.
8) That beach in California.
7) Visiting for New Years 1993 and staying for a whole week.
6) "You are a bag boy!"
5) Exploring the French Quarter.
4) The dirty ugly snowman.
3) Edited out because it's none of your business really.
2) Witnessing Samantha's birth. (For Rachel, I looked at Sharon at the precise moment Rachel slipped into this world. And Sharon wasn't watching at all.)
1) Watching Rachel choose her own name.

Top Ten Moments from our Wedding:

10) Jane singing Time in a Bottle
9) Our families attempting the macarena... twice!
8) Dieter with the pig in his pocket
7) Grandma Moore's advice to us via the video camera: "She needs a little church in her life. They both do!"
6) Finding out Sharon's boss had quit while getting well wishes from everyone outside the church
5) "I'm not falling down!"
4) Our one choreographed move during our first dance
3) The Big Pig!
2) Forcing the Unity Candle to stay lit with my stare of doom
1) Saying our own vows that we'd written together

Top Five Songs:

5) Lady in Red
4) 1985
3) And So It Goes
2) The Search is Over
1) Dream Come True

Top Five TV Shows:

5) Friends
4) Quantum Leap
3) Everybody Loves Raymond
2) How I Met Your Mother
1) Mad About You

Top Five Places:

5) Those rocks we climbed around on near San Francisco, CA
4) That voodoo shop we went back to numerous times in New Orleans, LA
3) The Ped Mall in Iowa City, IA
2) That wooded trail we walked outside of Salt Lake City, UT
1) Our couch in our living room

And finally a picture of us ten years later and still completely happy:

Hrm

2006-09-21T22:56:00.000-05:00

I have had no interesting thoughts of late.

Job is good. Wife is great. Kids are doing well. Dreamwell is even starting to perk up a little bit. And I'm writing again which is good.

So yeah.

How you doing?

The problem with fantasy books

2006-09-13T00:06:00.000-05:00

I read Dies the Fire by SM Stirling last week. I was really enjoying it until I was about two-thirds of the way finished with it. I realized that while I really liked the setting and the basic story - one day all electronics in the world stop functioning and the United States attempts to deal with it - the book had no heart. The characters were not that interesting. I wasn't invested in them. So I haven't picked up the second book in the series. I may get it out of the library eventually, but I doubt I'll buy it. This is not unusual in fantasy books. So often, authors get so wrapped up in the new world they created or the over-reaching story, they forget to focus on the characters. We read these books because we can relate to the people in them, even if they are elves with pointy ears.

If you want a great series of books that creates an amazing world, has an overreaching storyline that's fascinating and has incredibly interesting characters, check out George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Although the last book wasn't as good as the previous three.

9-11-2001

2006-09-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Remember.

.

As 9/11 approaches...

2006-09-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

...I'm glad they're reporting stories like this one.

I think I'll root for the Giants this weekend.

No coat!

2006-09-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

Days like this are not my favorite. It's cold in the morning, but will get warmer in the afternoon so a jacket first thing makes sense, but by eleven a.m. you've shed it. Rachel insisted she didn't need a jacket today. I might have given in, but she has the startings of a cold and I don't want to do anything to exacerbate it. So we argued. And argued. And it finally came out that she didn't want to wear a jacket because the others kids wouldn't be wearing them. It's Kindergarten and she's already worried about fitting in with her peers! I thought I had another year or two before that nonsense started. Not that that's really nonsense. I felt for her, I did. I remember arguing with my mom over wearing a jacket or more often a hat. And I can't count the number of times I'd wear a hat when I left the house and take it off after I'd cleared our block. Since Rachel gets driven to school, she doesn't have that option. So I get it. I do. I remember.

She still has to wear the jacket. I did let her pick which one she wanted to wear. And when she put it on, she defiantly pushed up the sleeves and glared at me. Which made me smile, actually. I do like that my kid has the steel in her to fight back a little bit.

And when we got to school some kids had jackets and some kids did not. I wish her friend Grace had a jacket on, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that I am the meanest dad this side of Holiday Road.

Oxford Project

2006-09-04T11:34:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I participated in the Oxford Project. In 1984, Peter Feldstein photographed the residents of Oxford, Iowa. No poses, just simple shots of each person in front of a plain background. Twenty-one years later, Peter returned to Oxford and photographed as many of the people as he could find. He then teamed with Stephen G. Bloom, who interviewed the Oxford residents. A portion of each interview was printed between the two pictures, which was then shown on a television screen, with actors voicing the words of the Oxfordians. It's a simple project, a simple idea, and one that is profoundly moving. My part in the project was to provide the voice for four of the individuals. I recorded their words in about an hour one weekday evening. One talked about meeting Demi Moore and what a real person she was. Another spoke simply about ther deaths of his father and mother; tears welled in my eyes when I was done with that recording. The third individual showed he was horribly racist; it was hard to read those words. The last was a preacher who believed the end of the world was coming in twenty years. These are real people speaking the truth about their lives. Sometimes we get caught up in the big moments of life - war, politics, whatever - and we forget the power of the simple true words we all have within ourselves.

The Oxford Project is showing at the Johnson County Historical Society, in its new location at 860 Quarry Road in Coralville, across from the new Marriott Hotel.

Summer realities

2006-09-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

I've been watching both Big Brother: All Stars and Rock Star: Supernova this summer. I enjoy Supernova because it's a showcase for extremely talented rock singers. Each of them is good enough to be a recording star; luck is what they need to make it now. My favorite has been Ryan Star (not the same Ryan Starr who was on American Idol a few years back), who did an amazing version of Losing My Religion a few weeks ago. It doesn't hurt that it's one of my favorite songs. He has other great performances and so when they cut him last week, my interest in the show has really dropped. The lead singer is going to be either Dilana or Lukas, who have been the front runners since week one. I enjoyed Dilana in the beginning just for the sheer novelty of her wacked out acid high performances, but now she's getting old. Plus her rendition of Harry Chapin's Cats in the Cradle still makes me cringe. (Of course, I have no idea why that song was even on the song list. It was almost as bad an addition as I Will Survive.) Lukas can be good when he listens to Jason whatever his name is from whatever famous group he was part of. Jason has told him many times to actually, you know, sing instead of screech and scream. He says it a little nicer - "Open up your voice" - but that's what it amounts to. Still just like last year, with Rock Star: INXS, it's more about enjoying the performances each week than caring who gets to be lead singer.

Onto Big Brother... what the heck is Evil Dr. Will still doing there? Oh yeah, he's easily the best reality TV player in history. The man is born manipulator. He came into the house with a perfect plan. He has one strong alliance with Mike Boogie and then he makes alliance after alliance with everyone else. They all think they're using him when really he is manipulating every one of them. He's also the master of knowing when someone is about turn on him and removing that person. James and Danielle are excellent examples of that. If Will makes it to the Final 2, it would be impossible to vote for anyone else. No one came into the game with the least chance to win and no one made the amazing moves that he did to survive.

And it's set up perfectly for him to win. The only flaw in the plan is if Erica goes on a HOH or POV streak. She'll choose Boogie over Will. But Will still have Boogie and Janelle on his side, so he's put himself in just about the best position he could.

I have to say Big Brother: All Stars is probably my favorite season because the game play has been great. Everyone still around is playing the game and playing it hard. I kind of hope this is the last season because there's no way any season could be better than this one.

Dear God.... I can't believe it

2006-08-29T16:32:00.000-05:00

You have 88% Iowa in you!

Wow! You're almost all Iowa. No wonder you're such a likeable person. Isn't it great being so close to the greatest state in the country!

Do you have Iowa in you?

1971

2006-08-17T00:46:00.000-05:00

Today I am closer to 40 than 30. That's a very strange feeling. When I was younger I could imagine being 30. I have never been able to imagine being 40.

I'm not doing too bad physically for a 35 year old guy. I have a lot more grey hair than I used to. And I'm finally starting to get a little thick around the middle. But really I don't feel any different than I did was in 25. I still stay up ridiculously late and can still handle the lack of sleep pretty well.

One of the stranger things for me is that I always figured I wouldn't live to be that old. Don't know why, just always had the feeling 70 was about as old as I was going to get. I am now halfway there. I definitely am re-evaluating that idea. I have a lot to do and 35 years isn't really enough time.

I am getting to be more of a pacifist in my old age. One view that has completely changed in the last ten years or so is my view on the death penalty. When I was young, I was entirely in favor of it. Then I decided that I'm not against the idea, just our government's execution of the idea. Now I am fully against it. I just have found this intense respect for life, all life, as I've gotten older. Having kids probably helped that along. But it's not so much that I have respect for an individual killer's life, but the very concept of life itself. It's an amazing thing to create life, create a conscious being with thoughts and feelings, and we should never de-value that by destroying any life, even those who have shown no respect for life.

I see all this war that fills the world and it exhausts me to think about it. I understand why people go to war, why they feel it's necessary to do so, and I can absolutely see that point of view. At the same time, I wonder why we can't figure out a better way to work things out. Of course, we're dealing with terrorists who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to kill us, so it's hard to imagine any way to "work things out".

When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, there was the Cold War. We were hoping the Russians loved their children, too, so World War III wouldn't happen. Then in the 90s we lived through a time when we didn't feel threatened. We emerged from a long dark tunnel and the sun was shining. And then September 11 put out our sun and it hasn't shined since.

I asked Sharon tonight what good is going on in the world. All I see is fighting and anger and sadness. She came up with a list of three or four different groups that are bringing a little bit of sun. Doctors without Borders was one. But all of the examples seemed small to me compared to Civil War in Iraq, the Lebanon - Israel War, and the constant threat of terrorism not to mention the government's slow and constant destruction of our American ideals. This is why I haven't blogged about politics or current events much lately. It's all too depressing.

So I say to hell with the messed up world. I'm going to focus on my little piece of it here in Iowa, with my wonderful wife who loves me and my two shining girls who brighten my darkest day.

Yeah.

Hrm.

I think turning 35 is making me moody, too.

First comes love...

2006-08-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

2006-07 is turning into the year of the wedding. We've got two weddings in back to back weekends in September. And we just found out last night that there's a wedding on the horizon for an old college friend who's marrying the girl he had a crush on in high school. So 06-07 (I think in school years now that I'm working at a college) is the year of the wedding. And you know what that means...

2007-08 will be the year of the baby.

Speaking of babies, I met my niece Nora last Saturday. She's a cutie. I got plenty of babytime and discovered holding, burping and feeding a baby are bicycle skills - you never forget how to do it. Hanging out with that little munchkin made me realize just how big my kids are. Sammi is the "baby" in our family, but she's definitely no baby! Rachel was fascinated by Nora. She held her, fed her and played with her as much as you can with a two month old baby. For her part, Nora seemed very interested in Rachel. I look forward to three or so years from now, when Rachel will be leading her younger sister and cousin in some game she has devised.

Horse heads and so much more

2006-08-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

It's tough to relate to kids because it's hard to remember what you did when you were six, let alone how you felt inside. But I try. Last night, Rachel was treated to a very fun visit from Mateo and Mary. She was absolutely thrilled to see them and had a great time playing with them.

(Sidenote: Mary (not Mateo suprisingly enough) came up with the idea of putting Rachel's hobby horse under the blanket on the bed and then allowing an unsuspecting person to lift the blanket and scream a la The Godfather. I imagine in about fifteen years Rachel will see that movie and suddenly understand the reference to this soon-to-be-favorite childhood game. And then, of course, she will finally realize how crazy her parents and our friends really are.)

Anyway, the problem came after they left. Rachel was just devastated because she knows they live far away and she won't see them again for a long time. Now as an adult I have the emotional fortitude to deal with not seeing friends for a long time, but Rachel is just a little kid and this was the absolute-worst-thing-in-the-entire-world and lead to racking sobs for a half hour. Sharon came up with the excellent idea of writing M & M a letter to which Rachel said, "And can I send them a picture?" So in the end, things are going to be okay. And we all agreed that it was far better to have M & M visit for a little while than not at all.

As a parent, of course, you don't want your kids to be upset, to cry, to feel sad. Intellectually, you know it's a part of growing up. Understanding and accepting that life doesn't always work exactly the way you want it to is an important lesson. But it still tears you up to see your child so upset.

I suppose this is just a long way of saying, it's hard being a dad.

However, it's also more than worth it. For instance, this morning I came upstairs to discover my girls snuggling together on the couch. Big sister Rachel had her arm around her little sister as they watched a cartoon together. It was a moment that I wish I could have frozen forever.

And that's why it's great being a dad.

I could...

2006-08-03T08:38:00.000-05:00

Sharon asked me if I'm ever going to blog again. The answer is well, sure. But the fact is I don't have anything interesting to say. Or rather I have topics in my head but they're not very well-formed.

I could write about Rock Star Supernova, which isn't as good Rock Star INXS, but is still enjoyable because every night there is at least one stand out performance. Did you catch Ryan's amazing rendition of Losing My Religion on Tuesday? All of the contestants are amazingly talented, but I don't find it as satisfying as last year's show because I don't enjoy as much of the music they're choosing.

I could write about Big Brother, which has Evil Dr. Will back for the All Star season. He's as funny and as good of a manipulator as he ever was. You would think he'd been evicted by now, but the morons keep letting him screw with their heads. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually won the whole thing.

I could write about the Black Dog playwriting group I am part of. We've had two meetings so far and I've really enjoyed reading the plays and sharing my own work. We have a very good mix of people who have smart insights into writing and drama.

I could write about my girls. Rachel is going to kindergarten in just a few weeks. I can't believe how big she is. Sammi is also getting bigger every day and is so smart and talkative. Rachel mostly learned how to swim last week while we were on vacation. She still needs more practice, but she's reached that comfort stage in the water and can swim a few strokes before her head ducks underwater.

Or I could just wait until I have more to say.

Fringing Sondheim

2006-07-19T08:27:00.000-05:00

Dreamwell still does not have a permanent home, but does that mean we're sitting around moaning about it? No freakin' way. We've got two, count 'em, two events going on this weekend.

First of all, we're travelling to Des Moines to take part in the 2nd Annual Fringe Fest. Three short shows written by three Dreamwellians - this stuff is out there and thought provoking and one of 'em will leave you laughing and laughing. So take a road trip to Des Moines this weekend. Or if you live there, go! go! go!

And then on Sunday at Verde, we're doing our second (annual?) night of Sondheim music. It was a huge hit last year when we did at the now defunct Siren. Three very talented singers will be performing songs from Company, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Anyone Can Whistle. Check it out!

More Appalachian Trail Pictures

2006-07-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

Here are my brother John's pictures from our Appalachian Trail hike in the Smokies this year.

John and Jim at Fontana Lake on day two of the hike.

John and me hanging out in one of the shelters.

This is me on the AT on day three, I think.

On our last day, Jim hiked very quickly with the single minded purpose of getting to the car as quickly as possible. John and I hiked at a more leisurely pace. This is me at around 5500 feet up in a grassy clearing where we decided to rest for a little while.

Here we are at the top of Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the Appalachian Trail at 6,643 feet.

It's not easy to climb those mountains. Oftentimes, it's a matter of just focusing on your feet moving one step at a time up the mountain trail and blocking out the pain in your legs. Sometimes you ask yourself, "Why the hell did I ever agree to do this? Again?! Am I insane?" Fortunately, reminders of why you chose to put yourself through it again are all around you every moment. The green of the trees, the blue of the skies, the sounds of the birds, the feeling of being part of nature rather than part of civilization.

This is what I'm talking about:

Bad Endings

2006-07-14T07:55:00.000-05:00

Have you ever read a book, got totally caught up in it, were emotionally invested in the characters, desperate to find out what happens... and then suffered through an ending so bad it just completely ruined the entire experience?

Let me introduce you to My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It's about a thirteen year old girl who was born to be a stem cell donor for her sister who is suffering from leukemia. Over the years, Anna has gone through medical procedure after medical procedure in order to keep her sister alive. Now her sister needs a kidney and Anna hires a lawyer in order to get medically emancipated from her parents. Of course, Anna does love her sister and the decision to do this is heartbreaking for all.

The story is told from multiple points of view and is very well written and evocative. There's a subplot romance between the lawyer and another character that is kind of distracting, but overall I was absolutely drawn into the story and really wanted to know what would happen with Anna and her sister.

And then.

And then.

The author does the unthinkable, completely changing the entire story and taking these fascinating choices out of the hands of the mere mortals with a deus ex machina ending that she should be ashamed of. I recommend reading the book up until the end of the trial and then making up your own ending. It would be far more satisfying, I assure you.

Happy Birthday

2006-07-12T08:03:00.000-05:00

Today is my wife's birthday. I met Sharon in 1992 - nearly 14 years ago. Amazing. She's still a great partner, supportive and loving. She's still the first person I want to talk to about the events of the day. She's still beautiful. She still has my heart. Next to the births of the girls, our wedding day is still the greatest day of my life.

Thank you, Sharon. I love you.

Yarggh!

2006-07-03T09:36:00.000-05:00

I am addicted to a video game. Mind you, I am not a "gamer". There are two games on my computer that I play every once in a while: NFL Blitz and Civilization II (I don't like the later versions). And that's about it. Until last week.

Are you familiar with the ninjas vs. pirates debate? If you come down on the side of the swashbuckler, this game is for you: Sid Meier's Pirates! (Yes, the exclamation point is part of the name.) You can do everything in this game: ship to ship combat, sword to sword combat, make money through buying low and selling high, go on quests to rescue lost family members, dance with pretty girls... it's got it all. The drawback is your wife gets understandably annoyed because you're on the computer too much.

This review sums up the problem rather well:

"You'll find yourself saying 'Ok, I'm going to do just one more thing'. The next thing you know, a couple hours have blown by." - Subism

So if you're single, it's a great game for you.

A juicy dream

2006-07-03T08:09:00.000-05:00

I don't often remember my dreams, but last night was an exception. I was in a race. We were ice skating up and down a mountain. I don't know exactly how that worked, but it did. It was really hard to get up the mountain and I fell behind. By the time I reached the "lodge" or whatever it was, other racers were already taking off in these little one-man cars. I wasn't sure where to go exactly, but I headed in what I thought was the right direction. I soon realized I was lost, so I decided to go into this high school. I was asking people for directions to Sacremento (apparently I was ice skating down mountains in California), and finally this obnoxious girl said she could help me and told me where to go. Then I noticed she was wearing a James Juice Blog t-shirt. No, I'm not kidding. I told her I knew James and she got all "Ohmygod, you know him? Ohmygod!" about it. I told her he was quitting and she said it was the worst thing ever. Then I left. There was more - I crossed a bridge in the rain and dark, got into a house where there were guns blazing, but all that's hazy. It was mostly the James Juice Blog t-shirt that stuck with me.

Clearly, my subconscious mind doesn't want James to quit. And neither do his California teenage girl fans.

Weekend...

2006-07-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

We had a really nice weekend. Saturday we did a bunch of errands, one of which included going to University Camera and learning that our camera is messed up and will probably cost more to fix than to replace. So that wasn't great, but Sharon's getting a second opinion on that. Still the four of us had a good day just being together. That night I played poker and while I just missed getting into the money both games, it was still fun. I like winning, don't get me wrong, but the most I ever lose is about $10 and that's pretty cheap entertainment really. Sunday, we went to the pool. I love Coralville's pool as I think I've written before. Rachel is turning into a fish. She hasn't figured out swimming yet, but she's close. And she has no fear of going underwater. I seem to remember still being afraid to get my head underwater at her age. Sammi really like the water, too. And what's great about this pool is that it has sections for all ages. There's a diving board into deep water, two great waterslides, a shallow area for Rachel-size kids, and even a fountain area which Sammi really loved running through. This year, Rachel got far more autonomy. As long as she was in the little kid section, we didn't feel the need to be next to her all the time. When we came home from the pool, we barbequed some chicken on our grill. First time we've used that this year. I love grilled food.

Today we're back at work, but tonight we may check out some fireworks. And of course tomorrow is a holiday, and one of my favorites to boot. I'll write more about that in another post.

Killing us slowly

2006-06-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

The only suprise about this report is how long it's taken to get out there. The Surgeon General has stated unequivocaly what we've all known for many, many years: secondhand smoke kills people.

"The debate is over. The science is clear. Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance but a serious health hazard," Carmona said.

Seperate smoking sections in restaurants do absolutely zero good. The only way to protect non-smokers from the health risks is to prohibit smoking in public places. All public places, including parks. The most important part of this report is the information about the effects on children:

But the surgeon general is especially concerned about young children who can't escape their parents' addiction in search of cleaner air: Just over one in five children is exposed to secondhand smoke at home, where workplace bans don't reach. Those children are at increased risk of SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome; lung infections such as pneumonia; ear infections; and more severe asthma.

I understand how difficult it is to quit smoking. I understand that smokers have a right to smoke if they want to. What they do not have a right to do is smoke in a public place where they are endangering the health of others. I suppose there's an argument that restaurant owners should be allowed to determine whether they can have smoking in their restaurants. But I don't agree. We're talking about public health. Just as restaurant owners are responsible for serving food that won't harm people and assuring that people do not drink so much alcohol they get poisoned, they should be responsible for providing at atmosphere that will not harm the public. Allowing smoking will harm the public.

So I strongly support a ban on smoking in all public places, both inside and out. That's right - no smoking in public places outside either. If you want to smoke, smoke in your house. Or better yet, quit.

Plumbing

2006-06-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

This weekend I decided to fix the slow draining sink in our bathroom. Now, I am not Mr. Fix-It. Sharon's Fix-It uncle came over this weekend and replaced one of the posts that holds up the walkway from our backdoor to the garage. I asked him if his father had taught him all the fix-it knowledge he possesses. He said his grandpa had actually taught him. He was his grandpa's helper starting at around age eight. I wish I had had that opportunity. I've had to learn all of that stuff as an adult. I took a class on electrical wiring and I am probably going to take a plumbing class in the fall (free since I'm a Kirkwood employee!). But my slow sink couldn't wait so I tackled it yesterday. It was pretty disgusting as a lot of muck had accumulated. But I got it cleaned out and enjoyed a strong sense of accomplishment. I always feel good when I do pull off these home improvement challenges, probably because I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. My biggest home improvement challenge involves tearing out part of the bathroom wall, fixing the shower head and pipe, and then re-drywalling. I may need to call in brother help on that one.

Brandon Ray

2006-06-24T23:45:00.000-05:00

I just learned that an old friend from my college theater days passed away suddenly from a heart attack on Wednesday, June 21. I met Brandon Ray through West Side Players, the University of Iowa's alternative theater group that was filled with all the actors who weren't theater majors. He was a really nice guy and very smart. A kind soul. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him in years. I wish I had made the effort. He was only 46 - way too young to leave us. My hearfelt condolences go out to his family and friends. For those who remember Brandon, you can send condolences to the family through the funeral home's website.

Appalachian Trail Pics

2006-06-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from the Appalachian Trail hike.

I am on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina in the middle of the Smoky Mountains.

My brother Jim and I at Fontana Dam before we began our trek into the Smokies.

One of the many scenic views from the Appalachian Trail.

This snake was hanging out at one of the shelters, waiting for a hiker to throw down a sleeping bag. They like to cuddle up with hikers for warmth...

John and I pitched tents instead of sleeping with the snake.

This shelter was in the Smokies. It was the first time I'd seen one with a fence. That's to keep the bears out. There were signs up at every shelter warning us of "Aggressive Bear Activity". We chose to sleep in the shelter behind the chain fence instead of a tent that night. It was probably was a mistake as the other hikers in the shelter snored and snored and snored. I got very little sleep.

Strep

2006-06-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, I had strep throat many times. We talked about removing the tonsils but never actually did it and I guess it's a bigger deal to remove an adult's tonsils than it is to remove a kid's. I don't know why. Anyway, I haven't had strep throat in ... I don't know how many years. I think the last time was probably before I got married. I have had serious sore throats. It seems like that's the first thing that happens to my body when I don't get enough sleep, get too much stress or whatever. It's my weak point, my throat is.

Rachel was sick this morning with a sore throat and fever and lo and behold, she has strep. She's got meds and movies and is snuggled into the couch with her teddy bear. Hopefully, it won't be too bad for her. Her tonsils are huge, but she isn't complaining too much. My big girl.

This means I get a day off from work. Which isn't good for work as my emails tell me two other people are out sick. I feel bad about not being there, but when you got a sick kid, whatcha gonna do? Sharon will stay home with Rachel tomorrow and she may be better by Friday - we'll just have to wait and see. We try to keep the sickie duty even for the sake of both of our workplaces.

I guess this means I can catch up on my blogging and such. I have some pictures from the AT hike that I'd like to scan and post. And I want to write about the FCC's outrageous indecency fines. So this may be a prolific blogging day. But first...

Lunch!

Evil!

2006-06-20T08:54:00.000-05:00

I am convinced I got this answer because I chose "d12" as my favorite die.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Uncle!

2006-06-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

I am an uncle again. I love being an uncle - it's a great job. What's especially exciting about this newest niece of mine is that she's the first on Sharon's side of the family. She is a big baby - nearly eleven pounds! - but I am reminded how Sammi started out pretty big and ended up being a little on the small side, so you just never know how it'll all turn out. I can't wait to meet her but it sounds like I'll have to wait as there's a no-kid-under-ten rule in place in the household. That means Sharon will go by herself on the out of state trip while I stay home with the two under-tenners in this house. Hopefully, my sister and brother in law will come to Iowa for a visit before too long. I know Rachel wants to meet her cousin. Sammi would probably be excited to see someone smaller than she is, too.

Climbing Clingmans

2006-06-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

I am back from my yearly Appalachian Trail hiking adventure. Compared to previous years, it was pretty uneventful. No one collapsed from exhaustion. No monsoon-like rain sent us swimming down the mountain. No knee problems, no major blisters, no problems at all really. It was, as always, the most physically challenging experience possible. This was my fifth year hiking and the first one where I actually completed the hiking we had planned. My first year, I wasn’t prepared for the physical toll hiking can take on my knees. I only completed about twenty miles that first year, I think. In the second year, my knees were good, but I got a blister the size of my entire heel. At the time, it seemed like too big of a deal to go on, although this year, I wouldn’t have let it slow me down. Live and learn. I think we only got about 22 miles that year. In year three, I got off the trail with my sister (she got bad blisters that year and was just tired of it, I think) so she wouldn’t have to hitchhike to civilization alone. I was supposed to meet my brothers on the AT the next day, but they called us that night asking to be rescued from the torrential rainstorm. They were done after that and I couldn’t go alone since they were my ride. Last year, my brother John got sick on the mountain, cutting that hike short. But this year… THIS year we hiked for five days straight, almost 50 miles up and down the mountains reaching the highest point on the entire AT (Clingman’s Dome in North Carolina at 6,643 feet). It was damn hard, but I have rarely felt as good as I did when we climbed that last hill and reached the summit. I am a skinny guy, never excelled at sports or anything, so pulling this off was just overwhelming. I conquered the mountain and it felt good.

One last meme before I go...

2006-06-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to SideNotes.

Matt Needs Money....Always true.

Matt needs Tasks....I have plenty, thank you.

Matt Needs Spaz....I think that's supposed to be "is a spaz".

Matt Needs to Stay Awake....Oh, how true...

Matt needs to do my laundry....Matt does all the laundry in this house!

Matt Needs to not play every little blog meme that comes along....Ha! Got me!

Matt needs a blog....Um. Okay. Look around.

Matt needs help....Truer words were never written.

That's my girl...

2006-06-09T12:33:00.000-05:00

In the truck today, I told Rachel that she had something at the corner of her mouth. She looks at herself in the mirror, removes the crumb, and then says, "Cute!"

There's that ego I know so well...

Hiking preparations

2006-06-07T09:22:00.000-05:00

I am almost ready for my annual Appalachian Trail hike. (See my pic of the "week" to the left.)I’m driving to Chicago on Friday and then my brother John and I head south at the crack of dawn Saturday morning. Other older brother Jim will meet up with us on Monday. I couldn’t find my hiking poles which is really aggravating. I picked up a cheap one at Walmart for $10, but I’d really like to find my blue pole that I’ve had since year one. If I don’t find it, I’ll have to pick up another Walmart special. I need two for the descents to protect my knees, my weak points. I am borrowing a bunch of gear from my sister in order to get my pack weight down. I set up the tent I borrowed from her the other night. It’s pretty easy to pitch, although I admit I had four stakes left over so I may be missing something… Still, it rained and the inside stayed dry so that’s good. However, yesterday a strong wind storm and I found the tent had been pulled up and flown across the yard. Hopefully, the winds won’t get so strong on the mountain…

I was figuring out food and I’ve decided to go with my brother Jim’s mini-bagel and apple diet. I’ll supplement with some beef jerky, fruit rollups, and candy. I am brining a little stove and some freeze dried food as well as ramen noodles, but I don’t know how much I really need that. I find that while I’m out there, I’m even less hungry than usual. I eat because I know I should, not because I want to. Out there the drink is always water. I am not a water drinker usually. But when you’ve just climbed a mountain, there is no better drink than water from a mountain stream.

Last night, I went to Scheels and learned all about the Therm-a-rest self inflating pads. One of the biggest problems I’ve had while hiking is getting a good nights’ sleep. I’ve brought these foam pads, but they don’t do enough to cushion the rocky ground. My sister had used a therm-a-rest pad and liked it, so I borrowed hers. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to self inflate. It’s supposed to be stored unrolled which she hadn’t done. So I went to Scheels and talked to a very helpful salesman who explained how they worked and advised me to pick a particular pad that he had used and liked a lot. I bought it, but I decided I had to check to see if I could get my sister’s pad to work. The guy explained that even if it didn’t self inflate anymore, it could be manually blown up. The pad I bought was $90. Ack! When I got home, I found I could blow it up quickly and easily, so I’m returning the one I bought and will use Jane’s pad. This should lead to a good night’s sleep and better hiking next week.

I can’t wait to get out there!

Lots of random political thoughts

2006-06-05T09:38:00.000-05:00

I will admit before this post even gets started that I am not delving deeply into any of these issues. These are just some thoughts that are floating around and I want to get 'em down.

So, about this congressman whose office was raided by the FBI. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that THIS is the issue the Dems and Republicans can agree upon. And I think the Congress's position about how it's a violation of separation of powers is bogus, too. Why? Because they had a warrant. Which means both the executive branch and the judicial branch were involved in this. Checks and balances, people. Both parties of Congress are really annoying me on this issue. They are more willing to look the other way or make weak, ineffectual protests when the executive branch okays torture, taps international phone calls, get phone records of domestic calls, and who knows what else... until it affects them directly. Hypocrites.

About Iran... looking at from an Iranian's point of view, of course they want nuclear weapons. If I were Iranian, I'd want my country to get 'em too. Of course, from our point of view, we have to do everything possible to stop them from acquiring them, because, well, their leader has said he'd like to see another country wiped off the map. And that doesn't show a stable government capable of possessing nuclear weapons. So I guess my point is... we can't really blame the Iranians for wanting them or working to get them, but we still have to do what we can to stop them.

I just read today that Bush is going to push for a screw-you-gay-people ammendment. It has no chance of passing, thank God, but it just perfectly demonstrates what a jerk Bush is.

And now onto state politics. I am voting for Ed Fallon on Tuesday. I've met Ed, he's a reasonable guy, has a strong affinity for the arts, is going to work for election reform, and well, he seems like the outsider of the Democratic party and, not being a big fan of the party, I like that. I am certain I don't want frontrunner Chet Culver to win. Come on, the guy's name is Chet. What kind of name is that? Is it short for Chester? Blouin is popular where I work as he used to be an administrator here. I don't know too much about him, but I'll take a Mike over a Chet any day. And there's a glimpse into my political decision making process.

Dancin' on the ceiling

2006-06-02T10:04:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted for a while because I am suffering from brain lock. I have too many subjects I want to write about. Stuff like Iran and the war on "terror" and the search of Congressman's office and much more. But I am overwhelmed by all these serious topics so I am going to ease back into blogging after my brief hiatus by writing about getting old.

My brother turned 40 last week. I have two other brothers who are into their 40s, but this brother is only five years older than I am. Which means 40 is not that far away for me, too. Honestly though I think it’s going to be easier to accept 40 than it was to accept 30. I went kicking and fighting into my thirties, but my forties… Well, I am feeling much more satisfied with what I’ve accomplished in my life so far. That was the issue with turning 30. I kept saying, “I’m turning 30 and I haven’t done half of things I want to do!” I’m enjoying my 30s a lot. Sharon and I very happy together… I have two great kids… there’s the Dreamwell accomplishments… I hike the Appalachian Trail every year for a week… I have a job I enjoy. So yeah, forty. No big deal.

We’re heading to Chicago this weekend for my brother’s big birthday bash. It’s apparently 80s themed and we’re supposed to wear appropriate clothing. I don’t think a lot of people are going to be doing that. Sharon is talking about doing 80s makeup. I told her she needed to do one of those ridiculous big hair bangs that girls had when I was in high school. She said she couldn’t figure out how to do that when she was in high school. At least she doesn’t have any embarrassing big hair photos floating around. I, on the other hand, have my junior year picture. My hair was combed up in a spikey fashion and, well, it was the only time in my life that I actually hit 6 feet tall.

Run, don't walk

2006-05-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen X-Men 3 yet (and it opened today, so there's a good chance you haven't), GO! Now! It's great!

Monsters

2006-05-24T14:12:00.000-05:00

There’s been a lot of talk about monsters in our house lately. Rachel has talked about monsters sneaking in her window, for instance. I told her last night that there are no monsters and even if there were, it was my job as daddy to protect her and I’d always keep her safe. The problem, of course, is that there are monsters in this world and it’s impossible to guarantee the safety of our kids. There are no monsters like the ones Rachel is imagining, all purple with big teeth and a big horned head, but there are people who act in monstrous ways. Today as we were driving to preschool, I had NPR on. I wasn’t really listening to it, but Rachel was. They were talking about the Muhammad-Malvo sniper case. The reporter read a statement by Malvo who testified that Muhammad had turned him into a monster. Rachel turned to me and asked if the woman really meant that or was she just joking. I told her she was just joking, which since Rachel was picturing purple monster with big teeth was not technically a lie. At some point I’ll have to talk to her (and Sammi) about the real life monsters of the world, but when? I am certain the time is not now, but I’ll admit to complete uncertainty concerning when that will be. And of course, it’s entirely possible, even likely, that it will be taken out of my hands and she’ll learn about the monsters of the world from her friends or someone else. Do all parents think about these sorts of things? Or do most just take a “it’ll all work out” kind of attitude?

A fun quiz...

2006-05-17T13:33:00.000-05:00

I had never heard of this person. I am curious to know who else you can get. So take the quiz and share your results!

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

United 93

2006-05-14T10:44:00.000-05:00

I saw this film a week or so ago. It was a movie experience unlike any other. I didn't feel like I was watching actors. I felt like I was watching the actual event. There was no focus on any one individual in the movie - there was no one hero that we were supposed to empathize with - but instead we saw ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And that is the heart of what happened on that plane on September 11.

I didn't go to see the movie because I expected to be entertained or even to feel good about how those patriots acted on that day. It was a very difficult movie to watch. The audience was silent. I was aware of the audience, though, because we were reliving that life changing day together. At one point I looked over and caught the eye of a woman who had an expression of horror on her face. I think I had a similar expression on mine. We shared a second of understanding.

I went because I felt I had a duty as an American to honor what they did that day. There are many ways to honor them and I don't think everyone needs to go to the movie to do it. But for me, it worked well.

Elliot!?

2006-05-10T09:46:00.000-05:00

I watched American Idol last night and was shocked by how good Elliot was. We've always known he has a good voice, but his past performances just haven't been good enough. They've been missing a spark. Last night was far more than a spark - we're talking fireball! I just have to wonder if it's one week too late. He was definitely the underdog going into the night and fortunately for him, Katherine was terrible. Both songs were screechy and just painful to listen to. She's just not that good when she's belting a song. She needs to sing the easy-going fun songs, like her second choice last week. Chris and Taylor were clearly good enough to make it through to the Final Three so it's going to come down to Elliot or Katherine. My prediction: All men in the Final Three.

(Poor Rachel. She loves Katherine. When I opined that Kat was screechy, Rachel said defiantly "She's great, Daddy!")

Still missing her...

2006-05-08T00:23:00.000-05:00

Rachel told me tonight that she misses Great Grandma, who passed away March 1. It was the first time Rachel had ever had to deal with the death of someone she knew. Tonight I told her a story about Great Grandma and that seemed to help. She told she remembered Great Grandma wore a blue dress at the funeral. I didn't remember that, but I don't doubt her. She wondered if she was wearing shoes and I told her I thought she was. Rachel said she that she was wearing shoes, too.

It's suprising to me what a big impact Great Grandma's death has had on my little girl. They weren't that close; we didn't see Great Grandma nearly as often as we should have. I think she's probably dealing more with the idea of death than this specific loss.

There is a momento of Great Grandma's waiting for us at my mom's house - the binoculars. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do at Grandma's apartment was look out the window with the binoculars. Grandma lived on the 17th floor and the view was incredible. Not that long ago, my mom took Rachel to visit Great Grandma and the one thing she couldn't wait to tell me about later was how she got to look out Great Grandma's windows with these really cool binoculars. I told her I had used those same binoculars when I was a little kid. We shared the same memory, only twenty five years apart. My mom managed to get the binoculars for us and we're both looking forward to taking that momento home with us.

"There were never such devoted sisters"

2006-05-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

This morning Rachel and Sammi were pretending the changing table was a spaceship. Rachel was on top of it (with lots and lots of animals and baby dolls) and yelled to Sammi that they were talking off. Little sister was playing with a baby doll and not moving quickly enough for big sister, so Rachel warned Sammi that when the countdown got to one, they were taking off without her.

10...9...8...7...6...

Sammi's not moving.

5...4...3...

Sammi bolts for the changing ta... spaceship.

2...1...

She didn't make it!

Rachel says, "Okay, I guess we'll do the countdown again."

In the dramatic tension vs. sisterly love battle, score one for sisterly love.

Weekend with the girls

2006-05-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

Sharon has jetted off to Minnesota for a baby shower leaving me with a Daddy-Daughters weekend. It's been a lot of fun so far. We went for a walk in the woods this morning. Sammi rode in the baby backpack and big girl Rachel walked. Rachel was surprised at how many hills we had to climb up. We ran across a dead mouse on the trail and Rachel said that was the first real mouse she'd ever seen outside of the Madeline movie. After a while we rested, ate peanut butter crackers and listened to a woodpecker peck some wood. I talked to Rachel about how much I like the woods and being out in nature, how this all real world and not man-made and that makes it special and precious. She said she really likes it in the woods too because she loves the green trees. And the woodpecker. The woodpecker was really cool. Sammi mostly just enjoyed the peanut butter crackers.

Sammi decided she wanted to walk on the way back and she did that for a while but then started demanding "Uppy!". So I carried her the rest of the way; she didn't want to get back into the backpack. We were all getting tired and hungry and were happy to see the van. When we got h ome, we had a nice lunch (cookies for desert!), and then all of us took a nap. Mine was the shortest and Sammi's slept the longest. Rachel cleaned her room while Sammi slept earning herself another cookie. Now Sammi is awake and the girls are playing with babies upstairs. Time for dinner, I think.

Tomorrow we're off to the Children's Museum.

Snappity snap

2006-05-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

Rachel learned how to snap her fingers the other day. She is quite proud of this accomplishment. She told her daycare teacher about it, who was quite impressed with her. In fact, today when Rachel showed up, the teacher asked her how the snapping is going and requested a demonstration which Rachel was happy to provide. And that's what teachers are supposed to do. Show an interest in the kids in their class. It's not hard at all and it means the world to the kids, helps them to feel happy and secure, and leads to better learning. I mentioned in a previous post how unhappy I've been with Rachel's preschool. The fact is, in two years, Rachel has not bonded with either teacher. And I have talked to the teachers about this in a very non-threatening way. Just asked them to talk to Rachel, draw her out, etc. They're just not really good at that. I have also encouraged Rachel to reach out to the teachers. For instance, with this snapping thing, I suggested she tell the teachers about it. She said she didn't want to and she's just going to tell her two good friends. I know she learns things at preschool, but I worry that she doesn't get how fun school can be. And how a teacher can be someone you look up to. Sometimes I wish I had gotten this job earlier so we'd have discovered the onsite daycare early enough for Rachel to have gone there the whole time.

But still. Snappity snap. Next on Rachel's agenda: learning to whistle.

Working out

2006-05-02T17:41:00.000-05:00

I have never been an "exerciser". I've never "worked out". Every spring for the last few years, I have prepared for my annual hiking trip by hiking the hills around here with a lot of weight on my back. And I do exercises to build up strength in my knees. But that's about it. This year, I have had access to my work's rec center. There's a large indoor track, lots of machines, a weight room, and basketball courts. With this new job, it's hard to find time to get out to the woods for the hiking training, but I can fit in a half hour or so at the Rec Center three times each week. So I've been running. I have always enjoyed running. Back in high school, lo those many years ago, I ran a six minute mile. It's been slow going getting back into running shape though. My first time out a few weeks ago, I could only run 3/4 mile. Last week I ran a mile and timed myself at right around ten minutes. Today I decided to push myself and ran a mile in 8 minutes. Not too shabby. I've also been strengthening my legs with one of the machines. I am really enjoying it, too. I have always enjoyed doing physical stuff within certain paremeters. Playing football with my nephews and brothers is a lot of fun. Hiking the AT, of course, is satisfying. I'll never be a jock (ha!), but I do enjoy exploring that side of me from time to time. With the rec center so convenient (not to mention free!), I may keep working out past my hike this year. As I get older, it's more important than ever to get into shape.

I wonder...

2006-05-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

...if anyone actually wades through those really long posts.

Here's a short one. Rachel and I have a little song that we sing as walk into preschool. I say, "What are we going to do today, Rachel?" and she sings, "Gonna have fun todaaaay... gonna have fun todaaaay!"

Today she says to me: "Except you Daddy, since you have to go to boring ol' work."

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

2006-04-30T14:19:00.000-05:00

This post has been simmering inside my mind for a while now. It started coming to the surface when a friend of mine talked about how the United States has to be willing to "get their hands dirty" if we're going to win the war on terror. That sounded remarkably like what my fellow Iowa blogger Homercles wrote in response to a question I put to him in his comments. Despite being far off the original topic, he was gracious enough to answer it.

My question:

So tell me because I truly would like to know - how can you, a Christian, support [Bush]? Or do you not see that he has no right to the moral high ground that he claims?

Portions of Homercles's response:

First, you need to understand my one fundamental assumption: that Islamic Fundamentalism must be stopped now, and that any price we pay now will be less than the price we pay if we do not confront immediately and aggressively....

Going back to my fundamental assumption, you have to understand that I feel we're in a time where we may have to do a great many shitty things to come out of this alive. You're worried about moral high ground, and I'm worried about Americans everywhere still being able to suck oxygen.

Any temporal, ethical, or spiritual price we pay will be terrible, but it will be infinitely less terrible than the price we have to pay if we continue to ignore the wolves at our door. All in all, it would seem that my willingness to do the exact opposite of what I was taught would make me a pretty poor Christian. I'm not happy about that, but I accept it. If it means that the next generation can finally have a chance to grow up in an era without fear, then I'll support any number of ruthless deeds without hesitation.

I don't think Homercles is alone in this opinion. I think this country is gripped with a paralyzing fear of terrorism. And because we were so afraid, we are willing to allow our country to do things we'd have never agreed to before September 11. I understand this fear because I absolutely felt it too after 9/11. I was in favor of the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan. I didn't worry about torturing terrorists. I wanted them dead, all of them, or in as much pain as possible. That's a normal reaction to the trauma that we all faced on 9/11. And when I was told by Colin Powell that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and needed to be stopped, I supported the invasion of Iraq. At the time, I was scared of what might happen to us if we didn't strike first. And at the same time, I was fearful of this policy of pre-emptive war. It is a policy based in fear. But I was too afraid to not support it. And I think my fear was the same that was felt by an overwhelming number of Americans. No one wants to admit to being afraid; we mask the fear with anger or cloak it in justice, but at the root of it all is an overwhelming dread that we might see airplanes crashing into our cities again. We may not admit the fear aloud under the bright sun of day, but in our bedrooms in the dead of night, we feel it crawl into our hearts.

If I were a pyschiatrist, I'd say our country has an acute case of post traumatic stress disorder.

Whether this fear has been encouraged by the current administration is immaterial. I don't care to argue politics when our nation's soul is at stake. We are responsible for allowing fear to grip us. If we do not speak out, we are responsible for the actions this country has made in response to the fear we all feel.

Homercles says that while I'm worried about a moral high ground, he's worried about surviving. It's an old question, I suppose. Do the ends justify the means? As each year passes by, as I strive to provide for my daughters a clear path to follow, the more I believe the means are everything. The fact is, nothing ever ends. We won't get rid of fear. All we'll do is show our children the wrong way to deal with it.

"...if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

I say tear your eyes away from the abyss. Look into the eyes of a child. And then tell me that we don't have a duty to find a better way.

Ah, the Onion...

2006-04-28T08:42:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me and I just have to share.

I love the Onion.

A short play

2006-04-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

Scene: The living room of a modest suburban Iowa home. There are two characters, myself and Rachel, my five year old daughter. It is morning and we are about to leave for preschool.

ME
How do I look, Rachel?

RACHEL
That shirt does not work with those pants, Daaaad.

ME
(somewhat dumbfounded)
What?

RACHEL
Daddy, that shirt does NOT work with those pants.

ME
Oh. Okay, let me see what else I got.

I exit to the bedroom, return a few minutes later wearing a different shirt.

RACHEL

That's so much better, Daddy.

End scene!

Going back to Appalachia

2006-04-23T11:38:00.000-05:00

Once again, my brother and I are going back to the Appalachian Trail for another week long hike. Well, we'll see if it's actually a week long hike. Usually it doesn't last that long. We're hiking in June this year, which is about a month and a half earlier than usual. I can't miss work in August as that's the busy time. That means I have only a month and a half to prepare. Fortunately, there's a great facility at my work that's free. I started working out on Thursday and then went again on Friday. I started by running as I've always enjoyed that. I ran 3/4 of mile both days on the inside track. I also used one of the machines to strengthen my legs. I was really aching yesterday, but am feeling okay today. I plan to get to the Linder Trail near my home too, and hike with the backpack as I've done in previous years. It's nothing like hiking the AT, but it's as close to it as I can get in Iowa. I also do exercises to strengthen my knees; otherwise they have a tendency to lock up on me.

Why do I keep going back?

Probably because it's the one way that I have to test myself physically. My life is filled with a lot of sitting around. I sit at work. I sit at home writing or doing other work for Dreamwell. I sit and watch way too much TV. We live in a sedentary society. This hike affords me the opportunity to stretch myself physically. I could do a lot of simpler activities, I suppose, like join a volleyball league or go to the swimming pool a lot. But those are easy things and I'd rather do something really difficult. It's just the way I am.

And besides the land is so beautiful there. You can almost forget that we've transformed this amazing green world into a mess of iron and steel.

Ah, Rachel...

2006-04-16T21:02:00.000-05:00

The other day, I was driving Rachel to preschool and she asked me if God made the tornados. I told her I wasn't sure (because you know, I'm really not).

She said with a little annoyance in her voice, "Come on, Dad, can't you just make a guess?"

This is why it's tough to raise kids in a culture permeated by religion when you're not religious. I did make a guess, by the way. I told that while God didn't create the tornados that hit our little town, he probably did create the world and everything in it and that included tornados that pop up from time to time. She seemed satisfied with that answer.

Another Rachel moment... she was asking me about dying Easter eggs. I told her that we don't really celebrate Easter, no one in our family actually likes eggs, and so we probably wouldn't be dying any eggs.

"But Dad," she says in her wheedling voice, "it's fun for the whole family!"

Fortunately, they did Easter eggs at preschool. I have to wonder if there were any Jewish parents who were a little uncomfortable when their kid brought home an Easter egg.

Tornado in Iowa City

2006-04-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

A tornado whipped through downtown Iowa City last night causing much destruction. We're okay as it didn't come near us at all. The girls and I spent the night in the basement watching the green and red blobs move across the TV.

I drove through part of downtown today and it's really a mess. Lots of cars smashed, trees down all over the place. A Dairy Queen was destroyed. The roof blew off Menards and hit the nearby Walmart. Car dealerships were really hit hard too. I drove by one and it was devastated. Cars destroyed, trees down, just amazing amounts of damage. St. Patricks Church lost its roof. One of the really nice parks in downtown Iowa City had a lot of downed trees. They're working hard to get them removed now. That park will look very different when they're done. The power is still out in downtown Iowa City. National Guard troops are directing traffic.

Here's a picture of St. Patrick's Church.

Wow, we're the lead story on CNN.com.

Idol round up

2006-04-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

So I was wrong about Carrie. I admit it. She wasn't horrible. She was decent. Damn it all. But again she shows she's either incredibly stupid or incredibly fake. She claims to not understand the phrase "on paper" as in "On paper, that should have been a terrible performance." Even Simon appears to be getting annoyed with her dumb girl act as he started to explain and then just said, "Oh forget it."

Chris disappointed. I agreed with Simon. Chris could have used this week to really create one of those moments to remember. Like when Constantine sang Bohemian Rhapsody last year. Instead we got a never heard of Queen song and was completely forgettable.

I appear to be the only person on the internet who thought Ace was the best performer last night. I really enjoyed his take on We Will Rock You. I am shocked that so many people didn't.

Bottom three:

Bucky, Elliot, and Ace probably. Poor Ace. I think it'll be Bucky going home, though.

Idols sing Queen

2006-04-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have much fear heading into tonight's show. Can the Idols do justice to Freddie Mercury? USA Today spoils the songs each contestant will sing. My comments are in bold.

•Ace Young, We Will Rock You: "I urbanized the verses a little, just by riding on (the notes). I put a little R&B soul on it. When we were done, they said, 'That sounds like a record.' " I think Ace has a decent chance to sound pretty good this week. This could be the week where he returns to his Father Figure form.

•Bucky Covington, Fat Bottomed Girls: "Yes, we all love the fat-bottomed girls." Oh, Bucky. Just when I was beginning to like you. This will be a train wreck. Bucky may finally get his ticket home. Let's hope so anyway.

•Chris Daughtry, Innuendo: "It's a relatively unknown song. It just had a mixture of a dark feel and a positive message. And I just found out they've never performed this live." I don't know the song, but knowing Chris, it ought to be good.

•Elliott Yamin, Somebody to Love: "I was drawn to the passionate emotion of the song. I heard a lot of soul in it." This could be good. Maybe.

•Katharine McPhee, Who Wants to Live Forever: "How could (this) not be fun? We're working with so many different legends." I don't know the song.

•Kellie Pickler, Bohemian Rhapsody: "We only have 1 minute and 30 seconds, and the song is really long. Having to cut so many pieces is really hard to memorize, because I'm not singing the song as it's originally played." Ugh! I can't believe she'd be stupid enough to do this song after Constantine's performance last year. Oh, wait, we're talking about Kellie. Crash and burn.

•Paris Bennett, The Show Must Go On: "Being with the band was a big experience to me, never being with a rock band before. I was able to pick a song that fits me, that's still rocky." Don't know the song. I don't think I do anyway.

•Taylor Hicks, Crazy Little Thing Called Love: "You listen to a Queen song, it's really melodic and very powerful, and the dynamics (are) really cool." This could be a great performance. Looking forward to it.

The other side of the bus story

2006-04-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

There is a guest opinion in the PC today which sheds some light on the bus drivers' position. I wrote earlier in the week about how they endangered school kids by striking in the middle of the day. Bus driver Dean Phinney has a lot to say about it.

Phinney says the bus drivers "asked the school district for a student list to enable us to call the night before and to tell parents about any disruption of service, but this was denied." I am damn glad they denied that request. Speaking as a parent, I hope a group of disgruntled workers wouldn't be allowed access to my phone number and address.

He then lists all the ways in which they tried to contact the superintendent, the school board, and the PTO. He includes this out of context quote that makes no sense: We were compared to the old, less-than-legitimate Teamsters when the board president said, "When Teamsters were Teamsters under Jimmy Hoffa." How about giving us a little context so we can understand exactly what was said, Mr. Phinney.

I had wondered how the schools were able to handle the situation so well when the drivers abruptly struck in the middle of the day. Now I understand. They knew something like that could happen and probably were pretty prepared. It'd have been nice if the PC had done a little more investigating and reported that.

At the end of his opinion, Phinney writes:

"We tried several different venues and kept getting the doors slammed on us. What were we to do? We had no intention to use the students as "pawns" as stated by the P-C. Drivers and associates needed to have people finally take notice and listen."

After reading this opinion, I think it's very clear that Phinney and his fellow bus drivers had every intention of using the kids as pawns. They felt they had to do that in order to get people to listen. I support their efforts to unionize, but their methods are not at all justified and frankly make me sick.

Parent-garten Roundup

2006-04-07T10:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I attended kindergarten roundup, where the parents and kids visit the school, meet the teachers, and learn what they need to do to be ready for fall. There was one moment that really affected me. After the principal welcomed all of us, she introduced the teachers one by one. If our kid had the same nametag as that teacher, he or she should go with the teacher to a classroom. Rachel was in the first group. She just jumped right up and made a beeline for the teacher without a glance back toward me. I noticed this was not at all uncommon. With one exception (there’s always one), these kids were ready to go. But I wasn’t so sure I was ready. It was another one of those moments that gave me a little more insight which lead to more understanding of my parents’ actions when I was a kid. You never really appreciate all your parents go through until you have your own kids and experience those feelings for yourself. Anyway, after the last of the kids had gone, and we parents were all sitting there with wistful, sad smiles on our faces, the principal says with compassion, “That was just a taste of what you’re going to feel that first day of kindergarten.” And then she went on to say that the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) will have a coffee and cake get-together for parents after drop off on the first day. That kind of stuff makes me feel good about this school.

Other quick thoughts…

-- The art teacher made a big deal about the kids not wearing clothes on art days they’d be afraid to get messy. I was thinking to myself, “Um, Rachel won’t care what shirt she gets messy!” The art teacher also said they do 50 minutes of art per week adding that if she had her way, it’d be a lot more. That’s a good attitude for an art teacher to have.

-- I am thinking about getting involved with the PTO. I want to know what’s happening at school and working full time lessens my every day access. So I may do that. It’ll cut into theater time, of course, but well… you know, kids are important.

-- Notes home are categorized using the traffic light as a metaphor. Green notes are “Your child did this really wonderful thing.” Yellow notes are warnings. And a Red note means your kid hit someone or teased someone or some other horrible thing. After the principal explained this, a dad in the row ahead of me leaned over and whispered to his wife, “We’l be seeing a lot of red notes.” And he said it was a slight smile on his face, which I found to be very unnerving.

-- I found it interesting that the school counselor has become more proactive. In my day, you never saw the counselor unless things were really bad. Consequently, I never once went to that office in my 12 years of school. Apparently, this school counselor spends 15 minutes each week observing the class and will often schedule one on one with kids just to see how things are going.

Judas... not such a bad guy?

2006-04-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

If this account is true, then the story of Judas and Jesus becomes much more interesting. It basically suggests Jesus told Judas to betray him. Judas' act was one of great heroism and self sacrifice because without the betrayal and subsequent crucifixion, Jesus could not have fulfilled his destiny.

It's a much better story that way, don't you think?

Goodbye Mandisa

2006-04-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

Mandisa was kicked off American Idol last night as predicted. She was the first of the top 12 that was booted who had a chance of actually going far. But she chose some bad songs the last couple of weeks and her performances were not as good as we'd seen previously so it wasn't a complete shock. Plus, she probably lost the gay vote because of a comment she made last week.

"This song goes out to everybody who wants to be free. Your addiction, lifestyle and situation may be big, but God is bigger."

Using the word lifestyle lead to a bunch of people on the internet wondering whether she was subtly bashing gays. And then it was pointed out that homophobic author Beth Moore was Mandisa's "American Idol". Whether or not Mandisa actually agrees with Moore's homophobic views is unknown. However, it seems possible the suggestion of that, true or not, contributed to her demise this week.

(There's a great post about the whole controversy here. MJ's Big Blog is a great source for AI news.)

All I know is I didn't appreciate being "blessed" by Mandisa at the end of show last night. Ob-NOX-ious.

Dennis at Kirkwood

2006-04-06T10:10:00.000-05:00

On June 30, Dennis DeYoung will perform at Kirkwood's Cedar Rapids campus as part of the Freedom Festival. Tickets are only $10. This is great news! I've been a Styx fan forever and my favorite Styx songs have always been the DeYoung ones, not Tommy Shaw's contributions. The only downside is that it doesn't sound like he's doing the full orchestra concert like he's done in the past. I saw the first concert of that sort that he did in Chicago a number of years ago. Hearing Come Sail Away with an entire orchestra behind him was amazing.

(So, Ali and Dieter, whatcha doing June 30?)

The Fives Meme

2006-04-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

My wife tagged me with this one...

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?

Since I only get five minutes, I think I’ll choose to lay down outside in the grass in my backyard looking up at the sky on a warm summer day. I can do that for about two minutes before becoming bored. The other three minutes I guess I’ll spend playing the girls.

2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it?

I’d get a Star Wars action figure. One of the cooler ones. Just cause what the hell.

3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already? (In other words, cull the junk, mentally at least.)

Some of the “momentos” on my dresser which are really just crap I ought to get rid of.
At least half of the old computer equipment in the basement.
I am sure that’s five items at least.

4. Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?

The photo albums, especially the wedding one.
The kids’ baby books
My computer
The Dreamwell files
All of my writing from ages past

5. Five words you love?

Smooth
Vicarious
Superb
Penultimate
Victory

Country night on AI

2006-04-05T13:52:00.000-05:00

Last night was country night and I watched somewhat sporadically, which means I fastforwarded through a number of performances. So my comments will be short…

Taylor – this it the third week in a row he’s given a boring performance. It’s time for him to hit the bottom three and realize he’s got to step it up.

Chris – last week he said he could sing a ballad if he had to and this week he proved it. Nice job, Chris.

Bucky – a co-worker of mine loves him and I had to admit this morning that her favorite was one of the best of the night. This was pretty difficult for me.

Kellie and Elliot were good, but not shockingly good.

Mandisa, Ace, Paris, and Katherine were all different levels of enh. Katherine, in particular, cannot connect with the audience. She stands up, sings, looks beautiful and no one is touched by her song. This is purely speculation and I admit not very kind, but I bet she’s a bitch in real life.

Bottom three: Mandisa, Ace, Katherine

Goes home… in a shocker, it’s Mandisa!

How rude

2006-04-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

Ah, preschool. You’d think the whole thing would be simple. Unfortunately, it’s been anything but. We’ve not been entirely thrilled with Rachel’s preschool for a number of reasons that all boil down to the lead teacher, but we stuck with it because Rachel does seem to like it and she has good friends there. But today was an excellent example of why we’ve questioned our decision to keep Rachel enrolled. One of the things this preschool requires is that the parents bring milk a few times each semester for lunchtime. (Why this isn’t covered with the tuition is one of the many questions I have, but anyway.) Rachel has been going there for almost two year now and we’ve never forgotten to bring milk when it was our turn … until two days ago. Today when I dropped off Rachel, I was accosted by the lead teacher who informed me that we were supposed to bring the milk on Monday. I apologized, but she cut me off to say that I’d have to the pay the school for the milk since they had to send someone out to the store (which is a block away, by the way). I said I’d do that and then tried to apologize again, but she ignored me, turned on her heel and walked away without another word. She was completely rude and unfriendly and wouldn’t even acknowledge my apology for what was, frankly, a very small matter. I am glad we have only two more months at that place. I just wish we had made a better choice in the beginning. And I really hope that Rachel’s kindergarten teacher is good.

Thoughts about 24's latest twist

2006-04-04T14:18:00.000-05:00

Of course, I've been watching 24 this season. It's still one of my favorite shows. However, I am more a little unsure about the latest twist. Don't read any further if you didn't see last night's episode.

Last night we found out that the President is behind the terrorist attacks that are going on, or at least involved in some way. This is the bumbling, unsure, weak willed president that has been a truly fascinating character. For him to suddenly be the bad guy strains credibility. Are we supposed to believe he's been acting weak all this time to hide his nefarious plans? Seems unnecessary as a strategy since he's, you know, the PRESIDENT and could just use the power of the office to do stuff. But even if we let go of the unbelievability factor, the fact remains that they are completely altering one of the most interesting characters on the show, if not all of television.

Of course, maybe we'll find out next week that really someone else is pulling the President's strings. That would be understandable. That I could buy. This president is wishy-washy. He's not a criminal mastermind which is how that last shot of him on the telephone suggested.

I'm reserving final judgment until next week and we find out exactly how the President is involved. If they have completely changed his character... well, I'll probably still watch it anyway.

Bus Drivers screwed up big time

2006-04-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

The bus drivers in Iowa City went on strike yesterday afternoon and in doing so showed they should not be entrusted with the care of our children. Do they have a right to strike? Absolutely. But to do so in the middle of the day and leave school administrators scrambling to find ways to get kids home safely was reprehensible. In the end, it worked out, but that doesn't change the fact that the school bus drivers showed at best a complete lack of thought about the repercussions of their actions. They abrogated the safety of children for their own ends.

The Press Citizen agrees.

UPDATE: Strike is over according to the Press Citizen. That has to be the shortest strike ever.

Is Bush the worst? Impossible to say right now...

2006-03-31T15:18:00.000-06:00

I have taken my time responding to Tusk and Talon and Homercles, who have graciously responded to my request for reasons why President Bush shouldn’t be considered the worst president of all time. You should really check out their responses. Particularly T&T, who have really made some excellent arguments. What follows is my response.

Homercles, first. The nice thing about his response is that he outlines a number of things he feels Bush didn’t do well first. That’s appreciated.

However, his first two positive points about Bush are the appointments of Bolton to the UN and Rice as Secretary of State. Even if you do like these appointments (and I like one out of two), you can look at other appointments he’s made or attempted to make (Brown in charge of FEMA, Chertoff in charge of Homeland Security, Miers to the Supreme Court) and you realize this is someone who often appoints friends not qualified individuals. This was never more apparent than during the Hurricane Katrina response. I am not one of those people who closes my eyes with regard to the failures of the local governments, but I absolutely hold Bush responsible for the failure of the federal government. Either 1) his decision to fold FEMA into Homeland (Michael Brown’s assertion) or 2) Brown being appointed to run FEMA when he wasn’t qualified to do so contributed to the loss of property and loss of life.

Homercles also supports Bush’s moves in the war on terror, but I’m going to skip that one for the moment and come back to it.

Next Homercles applauds Bush saying we need to look into alternative fuels. Saying it and doing it are two different things. What exactly has he done besides point out the obvious? Not to mention the fact that I’m taking points off for waiting until now to even admit that there’s a problem.

Homercles brings up the AIDS appropriation. Like Bono, I give Bush props for that. However, unlike Homercles, I think putting conservatives on the court will hurt our country more than help. But I do agree about the need to get Kelo overturned based on what I read about the case today. In any case, this is one of the points where it’s impossible to agree as we just have philosophical differences.

Homercles final point is about exposing Russia and France for their immorality. Did Bush do that? Seems to me that happened on his watch. And exposing immorality of other nations hardly qualifies someone as a good president. I have a higher standard than that, I guess.

Okay, let’s check out what Tusk and Talon had to say.

First Don explains how he determines what makes a good president. I agree completely with this statement:

I define a president who protects the elements of American freedoms as “good”, and one who yields them as “bad”. It is difficult, but necessary to differentiate between short-term expediency and long-term effects of any action, or decision not to act.

According to Don, those elements of American Freedoms include:

Our constitution and bill of rights guarantee majority rule with protection for minorities. Free-market capitalism allows the most opportunity for people to get those things they desire while rewarding innovation and economic growth. And hundreds of years of history have ingrained transparency, tolerance and respect for private property into our culture.

Again, I agree with that, however where I differ a little bit is that I recognize that a free market economy is not perfect and there are times when an outside force (i.e. the government) needs to step in. But still, I think we’re starting at a pretty similar place.

The first point that Don brings up is Bush’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty. I’m pretty torn on this issue. I think it’s impossible to say that Bush’s refusal to sign this treaty was a good thing at this point. We may not know for many years whether this hurt or helped us. On the general issue of the environment, Bush has clearly failed. Go here for more information on that front. Don makes the point in one the quotes above that we "must differentiate between short-term expediency and long-term effects of any action." On the environment, the Bush administration has clearly ignored the long term effects of its actions.

Don’s next point is tax cuts. We’re not going to agree on that issue and I’ll just say we have a different philosophy on this issue and leave it at that.

Moving on... the No Child Left Behind Act has failed. It’s great that he tried to do something, but it didn’t work. You don’t get president points for trying, you get points for succeeding.

Don then brings up the appointment to the courts of judges who will base their rulings on the constitution. This one makes me smile a little bit. I have to give Homercles props for admitting that he applauded Bush for putting conservatives on the court instead of hiding behind the 'judges who use base rulings on the constitution” line. Let’s face facts, the constitution requires interpretation. Individuals are going to bring their biases to the table. Presidents are going to choose individuals who think the same way they do on issues. As someone who is pro-life (which is a terrible label, but everyone knows what I mean when I use it so there you go), I am glad to see the court move toward a makeup that is more in line with my views on that issue. Of course, there are other issues that the new judges will probably not go my way on. I guess I’m kind of jaded on the whole Supreme Court issue.

There’s still the one big issue that, as Don points out, will be the determining factor in figuring Bush’s place in history: The Iraq War. And the problem with that is… we just don’t know how it will all turn out.

So here’s what you get from asking the question and getting well reasoned, informative answers. I will not say that George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime… at least not yet. Right now, it doesn’t look good and in fact, I don’t see any successes that both political parties can point to and agree on, but I suppose if by some miracle his plan to create a democracy in Iraq leads to more democracies in the Middle East, then I’ll give him props. And that success could be enough to lift him out of last place. But I think that plan is doomed to failure because you can’t force democracy.

Don also brings up the wiretapping issue and I’ll address that in another post.

Finally, I just want to say thanks to both Homercles and Don from Tusk and Talon for responding. You both gave me a lot to think about.

Thursday funny

2006-03-30T14:04:00.000-06:00

Check out this blog post from my friend James. Damn funny.

Rain forest moving on

2006-03-30T11:00:00.000-06:00

And now something more local...

What are the community leaders of Pella, Riverside, Grinnell, and Tiffin thinking? Did they miss the aggravation Coralville went through when dealing with the people involved in this Rain Forest Boondoggle? What I love best about the article, and by love I mean despise, is the headline: Rain forest finalists named. It makes it sound like these cities are close to winning some sort of contest when really all their winning is misery. Check out this part of the article:

The focus of the next six weeks, at least for the selected communities, appears to be the ability to raise the requested $25 million.

The project leaders' plan calls for a two-tiered approach of community-driven and project-driven private financing, which would go along with federal funds and potential state funds. The community would be expected to raise money first before the project signaled their private financers, Oman said.

Ha, ha, ha! This is rich. The community has to raise the money and then Oman will get those mysterious private financers to throw in with it. Ha, ha, ha! Listen carefully, Grinnell, Riverside, Pella, and Tiffin. There are no private financers. It’s not going to happen. Get out now while the getting’s good.

Probably too idealistic

2006-03-29T15:57:00.000-06:00

There’s a very interesting and important case in front the Supreme Court right now - Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. It involves Salim Hamdan, the driver for Osama bin Laden. He’s been held as an enemy combatant. He filed a writ of habeas corpus, which basically challenges the lawfulness of his detention. However, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act. This ridiculous piece of legislation on one hand mandates that the detainees not be tortured and then with the other hand it states that the courts have no authority to enforce that. In fact, it states that the courts have no jurisdiction over detainees whatsoever. This could be construed to eliminate the right of a detainee to file a writ of habeas corpus although it does not explicitly say so. It sounds like the Supreme Court is leaning against that curtailment of its powers.

If they do rule that Detainee Treatment Act does not remove the right of habeas corpus then they’ll rule on whether the military commissions set up by the Bush administration are legal. From law.com:

The commissions, which exist separately from courts-martial, operate under rules that allow the defendant to be excluded from trial and impose other limits on protections for defendants. Guilty verdicts and sentences are reviewable only by the president.

President Bush declared a war on terror. During wartime, that means our suspected enemies should be protected under the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. However, because the terrorists are not operating with the backing of a foreign government, the theory is that they’re not protected under this. So we have these military commissions set up to prosecute the suspected terrorists.

I don't think Geneva really applies because we are not at war with the nations that these individuals call home. We are at war with "terrorism", which is a new idea that requires new rules.

However, from all reports, it sounds as if these suspected terrorists are not receiving the same treatment you and I would receive were we held for the suspicion of a crime. Some would argue that’s fine – they’re terrorists, remember 9/11?

I’ll never forget 9/11. And now is the time when we must bend over backward to assure fair and humane treatment of our enemies. The world is watching. We have been claiming that this is the greatest nation on earth and that our principles, our way of life, should be emulated. A nation that tortures or denies to others inalienable rights that we ourselves would never give up is not one that others would find worth imitating.

I think these individuals should be prosecuted as suspected criminals and if found guilty receive appropriate sentences, but they should go through the same legal process that we go through. It’s the best system we’ve come up with; why shouldn’t these people be allowed to go through that system? They are still human beings. Being born American doesn’t make us better than them. They should be considered innocent until proven guilty. We believe in that concept – why do we believe we have the right to deny that to others?

I do believe in our country and the freedoms that we stand for. And I think the best way to spread those beliefs is not through war, but through example. I suppose this is why some people call me idealistic.

Bad night for the Idols

2006-03-29T13:59:00.000-06:00

Wow, that was a terrible week on American Idol, wasn’t it? Almost all of them sucked pretty bad. Chris was good, but even I, a big Chris supporter, am getting a little bored with him. He told Ryan he could pull off a love song, so let’s hear it, Chris.

My favorite for the week was actually Elliot. He sang Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be", which was done by Bo Bice last year. Elliot’s version was completely different, but no less effective. I thought Taylor did a good job, but I was a little bored again. That’s two weeks in a row that he’s sung a repetitive song. I liked Paris’ performance, but I was not familiar with the song and the words didn’t stick with me during the show. I read online today that it’s a very suggestive song and a lot of people have a problem with a 17-year-old singing that song. I tend to agree, but rating her just on performance and not song choice, I thought it was one of her better performances.

In the they-were-pretty-blah category, we have Katherine, Bucky, and Mandisa. All were okay, but not spectacular. In the oh-my-god-that-was-painful category, we have Lisa, Kellie, and Ace.

Who will be bottom three? Ace and Lisa for certain. I am afraid Kellie will stay out there for another week, unfortunately. That probably means we’ll see a shocker in the bottom three… like… how about Mandisa?

I predict Lisa will go home.

Oh and by the way, Rachel decided she’d rather play Strawberry Shortcake and Old Maid than watch American Idol. She is planning on watching Katherine’s performance tonight. I was told I had to save it for her.

My War to Bush to Why We Blog to AI

2006-03-29T11:57:00.000-06:00

So I finished My War by Colby Buzzell. He’s the soldier who started a blog while stationed near Mosul and took some heat for it. It’s an excellent book and really gives an authentic view of at least one part of the Iraq war. But don’t go looking for any truth, any black and white facts about the war. It is right or is it wrong? Who the hell knows? From the book, it’s clear that some Iraqis are thrilled we’re there and some are not. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to determine objectively if that war was right or wrong.
Look at the facts:

Fact 1: We were told we were going there because Iraq had WMDs and it turned out there were no WMDs. That's a bad thing.

Fact 2: We removed Saddam Hussein who was clearly a criminal and caused much hardship and worse for the Iraqi people. So that’s a good thing.

It comes down to a “Do the ends justify the means?” question. Nothing ever ends, Adrian. (Name the reference and win a virtual prize. Or did I make a reference to this work before? No matter.)

What’s still undetermined is whether we’ll succeed in creating a democratic country in the Middle East and that will breed more democracy in that area of the world. That appears to be Bush’s plan. If it works, then Bush has got a chance of bring considered a great president. My opinion is that it won’t work because of one basic fact: you can’t force democracy. It has to happen naturally.

Anyway, back to the book. One of the more interesting parts of it is the idea that we should take control of the media ourselves. Dead Kennedys’ frontman Jello Biafra is Buzzell’s inspiration for this theory. In his book, Buzzell includes CNN’s version and the official army report of a particular engagement in Mosul where Buzzell was nearly killed. Then he writes the about it from his perspective in the middle of the firefight. He ends by asking if the media and the army are not telling the whole truth about what’s happening where he is in Mosul, what else are they not telling us about the war. Bloggers can do a good job of taking control of the media and it’s clear our impact is growing. I know that this little blog doesn’t reach that many people but I think it’s likely it’s had an impact on some of those who have read the posts. Perhaps those readers started a conversation with someone else because of something I’d written. I think that’s the goal really. Be the impetus for conversations. Get people talking about the things that I think are important.

And of course, the unimportant stuff too. Like Chris Daughtry. He was good again last night, huh? Of course, I would like to see him sing something a little outside of the rock and roll comfort zone.

A quiz...

2006-03-27T12:19:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Sidenotes...

You Were a Coyote

Brutally honest, you encourage people to show their true selves.
You laugh at life - none of it can be taken too seriously.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

Movies and more movies

2006-03-27T11:27:00.000-06:00

I saw a few movies over the weekend. When I was at the video store the other night, I realized just how many movies I have missed in the last year. I need to catch up, but it’s slow going.

The one movie I saw in the theater this weekend, Brokeback Mountain, was very good, but I am glad that it didn’t win Best Picture over Crash, which I re-watched on Friday. Crash was just as good on the second viewing. And what I liked most about it was the way it wove different storylines together both through plot and theme. I am inspired to create a play with that technique although for a play it’d have to be on a smaller scale. And I’d need to figure out what I wanted to say. But back to Brokeback. It’s a great movie, certainly worthy of a best picture nom. I haven’t seen Capote yet (it’s high on my list) but I’d say that Phillip Seymour Hoffman has to have given the best performance of his career to have done a better job than Heath Ledger. Ledger created an entirely new person, unlike any other character he’s every portrayed. You know how when you see George Clooney in a movie, you never really forget he’s George Clooney? I completely forgot that was Heath Ledger up there on the screen. He was simply amazing. The most interesting aspect of the movie was not the love story, but rather the reminder of how bad things used to be for gays. Not that things are perfect now, not by a long shot, but the fact was Ennis (Ledger) chose an entirely unsatisfying life, denying who he was because he believed he would be killed. While that still happens forty years later, there are now lots of places in the United States where a gay man or woman can live and feel safe in their community. We have come a long way.

Enough with the Oscar worthy films. I also rented Serenity, which was a movie spin off from the failed television series Firefly. I never watched Firefly so I came into the movie completely unaware of the history of the show. I was afraid I’d get lost and I’m sure there are parts of the movie that would have resonated more if I had watched the TV show, but the fact was I really enjoyed it. I picked up on the characters and their relationships easily and the plot was both interesting and exciting. The only reason that the movie didn’t become a big hit was the lead actor. I don’t know his name, but he’s no movie star. I can see him doing well on a TV show, but that didn’t translate to the big screen. He was decent, don’t get me wrong, but he just doesn’t have the charisma and acting chops to send the movie into orbit. Oh, and I have a question for those who did watch the TV show. The guy who died in the crash near the end of the movie – was he a regular on the TV show? Just wondering if that would have been a shocking moment for fans of the show.

Walk the Line is next on my list of movies to watch. It’s rented and waiting for me at home.

Ahh! Interview!

2006-03-24T15:56:00.000-06:00

So I had a job interview today. It's at my current workplace. Someone is retiring in a couple of weeks. Thing is, I didn't know I was having the interview until a half hour before it was to start! Pressure. You see, I came into work today to find that a number of people were interviewing for the job and I thought, well, I guess I'm not going to be considered. Which I thought was strange since I have received such good feedback from my boss. So part way through the day, I decided to step into my boss' office and ask if she received my resume. She said no and that she was surprised she hadn't. Well, that's better than receiving it and saying "Ha! As if!" I told her I sent one in so she checked with HR and found that there was a snafu and mine hadn't been forwarded. At first, she was all "I don't think we can do anything about this" as she had the four candidates they wanted to interview. However, a few mintues later she came by and said the committee could stick around a little longer to interview me, too. Which was great, but nervewracking. I like time to prepare for this sort of thing. Plus, I was wearing jeans since it's casual Friday. Still, it all worked out well and I think I did a good job. I won't be too disappointed if I don't get this job as I've only been here a few months and wouldn't mind a little more experience before taking on more responsibility. Of course, at the same time, it'd be great to get the promotion and all that comes with it. And I know I'd do the job well. So we'll see what happens. If I don't get this one, another will come along eventually. I have been enjoying my current job a lot so I'm feeling good about things no matter what happens.

Godot in Cedar Rapids!

2006-03-24T11:07:00.000-06:00

We're taking our most recent production on the road! Waiting for Godot comes to Cedar Rapids this weekend only. Come see the show and get a chance to look around inside a masonic building - it's held at the Scottish Rite theater space. Seriously, though, I saw the show in Iowa City and it is excellent. Funny, thought provoking, everything good theater should be. Don't miss it! Especially if you're one of those Cedar Rapidians who never find the time to drive down to Iowa City. We're coming to you! Check it out.

Wow

2006-03-23T17:03:00.000-06:00

Okay, I don't think I've ever had a Werther's candy until today and ohmygod, that's good. I mean damn tasty. Wow.

You would think at my age I wouldn't be finding new tasty candy treats. I can't believe I went through 30 some odd years without having one.

I gotta get me another one of them.

AI Thoughts: Chris should win

2006-03-22T16:17:00.000-06:00

Well, Rachel seemed uninterested in actually listening to the performers last night. Perhaps she was soured on the whole thing after previous favorite Melissa was ejected last week. (If I hear the question “Why did Melissa get voted out?” one more time…) Of course, she has now decided she likes Katherine based solely on a tiny picture of her. She didn’t really care to listen to the singing. I have a superficial daughter, I guess.

Anyway… did you hear Chris sing Walk the Line? Wasn’t that amazing? Day-um. I know there’s a bit of a controversy right now because the producers lead us to believe Chris created that version of the song on his own when really it’s very similar to Live’s version, but frankly, I don’t give a damn. It was an electrifying performance. However, Sharon thought it sucked. She thinks Chris keeps doing the same thing over and over again and he needs to break out of the box. But I guess I just like that box that he’s in.

Kevin was good again. Sorry Kevin-haters, I don’t think he’s going anywhere tonight. Bucky wasn’t very good at all and I think he’s going home. Lisa was too good, either, and that’s two weeks in a row for her. Still, I think almost being booted last week will help her. Her peeps will rally around her and save her for one more week. Taylor bored me this week. The song was just too repetitive and he didn’t mix it up at all. I am totally done with firecracker Paris. She can go home anytime now.

Overall, you have to give props to Barry Manilow, who helped the contestants prepare this week. All of them were at least good, and some were outstanding. It was a much better week than last week’s terrible Stevie Wonder night.

Bottom three prediction: Kevin, Lisa, Bucky

Going home: Bucky