Family

Bartiromo Talks with Sarah Palin
Great interview (though I cringed at the "McCain=Maverick" meme...) Best part comes at the end.

I'm doing a pro-life speech. Four months ago, my fifth child was born with Down syndrome…so I value innocent life. It took many months for me to get my arms around the idea of, first, having a fifth child at my age, but also knowing that my child would have an extra chromosome. But I prayed the whole time, "God, just prepare me, prepare my heart and prepare my family." And talk about confirmation of that prayer, I mean, Trig is just—he is to me—absolutely perfect. And everybody's in love with him, and he's the sweetest little baby in the world.

Still not convinced to vote for McCain, but I could vote for Lapin.

A Cry From the Heart of a Generation -- The Pain of Divorce
Kenneth Lowe is a young man with a message -- and a rather stark message at that. He has written a powerful essay that serves as an indictment of his parents' generation. The issue is divorce and the emotion is intense.

(Via Albert Mohler dot-com)

iTurk's blog-ego has been bruised because a well written post on a very serious issue didn't generate nearly the amount of traffic some of his more contentious stuff gets. Do him (and perhaps yourself) a favor and read his third in a series of posts on marriage. For you attention deficit guys out there (aren't we all attention deficit?) here's the money quote;

And that said, men, Paul has much more stern words for you: Love your wives as Christ loves the church, as you would love your own bodies. That is, love her in spite of what you think is sinful or offensive. Love your wives for the sake of sanctifying her. But notice: that’s not a love of attrition where you love her by correction and denial: it is a love of example (Eph 5:2), and sacrifice (1 Cor 15:3), and patience (2 Pet 3:9), and intention (Acts 2:14-41). Christ loves the church by giving himself up for her. What about you? Do you give up a round of golf for your wife, ever? How about even 10 minutes of TV at night?

HAPPY MOTHER(S) DAY

Hal at The Great Separation was taken back by a fortune he recently pulled from a cookie, which reminded me of my own recent fortune cookie excitement.

My son and I don't go out for chinese very often, perhaps 4 or 5 times a year. So what are the odds of this happening?

Confessional writing seems to be a popular literary artform, so I think I'll delve into the world of baring my angst.

Confessional Angst #1- I Hate What Thanksgiving Has Become.
I love the Lord, and give Him thanks everyday for the world He has made, the wife and son He has blessed me with, the air I breathe, and the fact that He has redeemed me by the blood of His Son. Every day I am thankful, though sometimes less so than others. For that reason, it ought to be a great blessing to have one day where everyone, as a community, joins in united recognition of and thankfulness for the blessings that are ours by our Creator.

Turkeys and parades and sales at the mall and snowmen and multi-cultural politically correct depictions of real historical events and pumkin pie and football games and the celebration of gluttony are not it. So long as these things distract us from offering our gratitude to the one holy God, they are an abomination, and I despise them all. (All except the pumpkin pie. It is humanly impossible to despise pumpkin pie.)

Confessional Angst #2- I Hate Deboning Turkey.
I do not believe that God intended for eating turkey to be the main element of a ceremonial display of gratitude. Otherwise, He would have created the animal with less connective tissue and more accessible meat portions.

Let me explain: You start out with a beautiful, golden brown bird. It is the centerpiece of a well provisioned table. With a sharp knife, a cut is made laterally across the breast, exposing a succulent slice of tender, moist meat. two more such succullent portions are removed, and everyone begins to stuff themselves on cassaroles, pies, cranberry sauce, more pie, bread, stuffing, gravy, and another slice of pie. At this point, everyone is fat and happy (except me- see Angst #1).

Later that night, the inlaws are gone, the dishes are put away, the leftovers are crowded into the fridge. Crowded, because this huge bird carcass is taking nearly a third of the refrigerator space. Here is an 18 pound dead bird, with perhaps two pounds of meat missing. There is still LOTS more meat on this sucker, but it ain't comin' off like those first three slices. Joints will have to be broken and sawed through, cartilege will have to be seperated from meat, bones will have to be pulled out, sharp knives will be used at tricky angles with greasy fingers.

Confessional Angst #3- I Can't Stand Cutting Up Dead Animals.
I have never hunted. I am not a fisherman. I have never field stripped a deer, or gutted a fish, or skinned a snake. I skipped the frog disection in the 10th grade. I have never worked in a butcher shop, have never performed surgery, and am not licensed in the state of Texas to do autopsies. I don't even watch CSI.

I have plucked a chicken before, but I don't remember enjoying it. I do enjoy cutting up a creature called "ribeye", but that is hardly the same as deboning a turkey (see Angst #2).

Supporters of Prop 2 are having a rally/concert/get-together thingy at Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater in College Station on Monday, Nov. 7. The band Antioch will be performing, and featured speakers will include one of the authors of Prop 2.

If you're in College Station Monday night, come on by!
(Begins at 7:30)

Don't forget, VOTE TUESDAY.

Here's a short list of both the good and the bad observations made during our San Diego/Carlsbad CA trip;

GOOD
Jay's Gourmet Seafood and Pizza
Vinaka's Cafe
Legoland
Beautifully landscaped freeways
Miles and miles and miles of beaches

BAD
No gas stations
No Wal-marts
No Blue Bell
No oil wells
Rude drivers
Lousy maps/directions to major attractions
(Shoulda tried YahooMapfirst.)

TEXAS HAS BETTER
Mexican Food
Ice Cream
Directional signage
Highway road signs
Availability of;
- Walmarts
- Gas stations
- Pick-up trucks
- Oil wells
- Grocery stores, corner stores

(As I write this, the police are breaking up a near riot in the parking lot below my window. Wow, who knew California would be so exciting?)

Rusty made some helpful suggestions for things to do when we go to Carlsbad. Here's a few of the things we may take in;

Legoland
The Flower Fields of Carlsbad
San Diego Zoo
Balboa Park, with its various museums and gardens
San Diego Wild Animal Park
Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Carlsbad Surf School

This warbird adventure looks like fun but I don't think I'll be able to talk the missus into goin' up.

Rusty Lopez has some beautiful pictures up from a recent trip to the San Diego Zoo. Our family is planning a trip to southern california this spring, and a trip to the SD Zoo is on the list of things to do.

We've got a beach front condo reserved. I'm really looking forward to a week of this view off our front balcony. Besides the zoo, we'll be doing a couple of days of Legoland. If anyone out there has some family friendly suggestions for other activities in the Carlsbad/San Diego area, please feel free to comment. I'm not interested in doing the Disney thing, but educational activities would be a plus.

We've recently done a brief study of W. A. Mozart, and are concluding the lesson by viewing The Metropolitan Opera's rendition of "The Magic Flute." The performance is very enjoyable, more so with the subtitles turned on.

A few months ago Bob Jones showed a production of Macbeth on Homesat, which the boy and I thoroughly enjoyed. They've been running it again this last week, and he watched it twice. While we were driving around earlier he began reciting several lines. Eight years old, quoting shakespeare. Dat's m'boy!

So, my son asks an insightful question about technological development and planned obsolescence. Well, not in such terms, actually. He was curious as to why they don't make new games for the Nintendo 64 platform.

I explained how newer, better technology tends to displace older technology. We discussed the history of recording media, working back from DVDs => CD's => Casssetes => 8- tracks. To further illustrate this idea, I attempted to contrast the availability of the modern writing instrument against the quill pen of yesteryear.

I asked "Why do you suppose it is that there are no quill pens in the office supply store?"
He answered "Because they got tired of plucking all those turkey feathers."

Yeah, I think he got it.

So, the other day I'm sitting at a red light, minding my own business. All of the sudden, I see in my rear view mirror a little green truck sliding towards me. There was only enough time to **BLAM**!

Great news first... no one was hurt.

The collision pushed the bumper of our Chevy Tahoe into the quarter panel slightly. We've been driving it around fine since then only just today even bothered with dropping it off at the shop for repairs. The Dodge Dakota was that hit us was worse off. His quarter panel got shoved all the way into his front tire.

It's a popular rant to decry the evil SUVs on the highways, but let me tell you something... when my only son is in the car, I'll take the Tahoe over the Dakota any day. You would too, if the life of someone you cared for was at stake.

Oh, and more great news! The rental? A Cadillac Escalade!

After seeing Jim Carrey's lewd portrayal of Dr. Suess's beloved Grinch, I was very apprehensive of seeing him in any other children's movie. I must say, however, the folks at Nickelodeon did a good job of keeping his standard fair in check. Other than one unnecessary curse word, his performance of the villainous Count Olaf was splendidly nefarious. I've not read the Snicket series, but this movie has convinced me that this should become a literature study in the not too distant future (my boy agrees as well.) Warning to parents- some themes and scenes may be quite intense for younger children. Be prepared to discuss the realities of death, evil, greed and malice. There is no graphic display of violence or death, but multiple murders and attempts to murder for financial gain are clearly portrayed. There is no question that the evil Olaf is indeed wicked, yet the children always respond with courage, character, and consideration for the well being of others. A common theme in movies these days teaches kids to connive and manipulate for their own advancement. This movie definitely breaks that mold with a powerful message; one does not have to become evil to resist evil. * * * UPDATE * * * If you came here from google looking for info on the 0x8DDD0004 thing, try this post instead. I have no clue why google thinks 0x8DDD0004 has anything to do with Lemony Snicket.