Erik's Essays

Symphony of Destruction

2009-03-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

These alternate lyrics to "Symphony of Destruction" are dedicated to my beautiful and destructive daughter Sarah.

You take a mortal girl,
And put her in a house
Watch her start to destroy,
Watch her break it all
it all...

/chorus/
She is a destroyer
Sarah rules the house
Scruffles runs in fear,
Swaying to the symphony...
Of destruction

Acting like a robot,
her little brain computes.
You try to redirect her,
Before the house explodes.
Explodes...

/chorus/

The floor starts to rumble
when she climbs a chair
up onto the table,
A little girl stands tall
Tall...

Stealing from Our Children

2009-03-01T05:27:00.000-08:00

Who among us would steal from our children? Would you take money from your child's savings account? Would you take out a loan that you would not repay and instead require your children to pay it back? Most people would say that no, they would never do that.

But Barack Obama thinks it is a great idea.

If his requested $3.6 Trillion budget is passed, we will add $1.75 Trillion to the budget in a single year (the 2009 Fiscal Year). Who will pay for that? Future generations of Americans. Our children will be forced to pay back the massive debt that is being incurred by the Obama administration.

So that you don't think I am being unfairly critical of Obama, lets look at our most recent president. George Bush. George Bush also increased the deficit, much to the dismay of the conservatives who elected him. Bush strayed far from the principles of limited government on which the Republican party must stand. But even his excessive spending is dwarfed by that of Barack Obama's administration.

Here is a table showing budget deficits under the Bush administration.
Scroll down, I am not sure why it puts so much spacing in here.

Fiscal year	Value
2001	$144.5 billion
2002	$409.5 billion
2003	$589.0 billion
2004	$605.0 billion
2005	$523.0 billion
2006	$536.5 billion
2007	$459.5 billion
2008	$455.0 billion
Total during Bush Presidency	$3722.0 billion

Obama's first year budget of $1.75 Trillion is more than the total deficit generated by Bush's first 4 years of office. Our new president is taking spending to a whole new level. Just wait for the next few years to see how much this guy can spend once he really gets going. And it is not just the economic stimulous that is bringing up the deficit (the stimulous package accounts for less than half of Obama's projected deficit) - Obama's budget includes huge new programs that don't stimulate the economy and that we can't afford.

Coupling Obama's love of spending other people's money with the democratically-controlled congress is a recipe for disaster (Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are hardly known for fiscal restraint). It will take many many years to pay off the debt that will be generated during Obama's first term. We need a government that will learn to live within its means.

This debt will be paid by our children in the form of crippling taxes.

These are my thoughts. What do you think about Obama's spending?

Toys

2008-11-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

Kids love toys, and most kids especially love shiny new toys that they don't yet have. With the approach of Christmas, many kids are gearing up for a season of pressuring their parents to buy as many shiny, new, and generally expensive toys as possible. Many times kids get ideas about what new toys to buy (or ask their parents to buy) based on advertising. This is all normal for 21st century America. The part that is different this year is that some parents are speaking out against toy advertisements in an effort to lower the expectations that their children have for new toys.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459185,00.html

In a down economy, many parents don't have enough money to spend extravagantly on toys for Christmas, and some parents are forced to shop extremely frugally. This is all understandable - parents who are having financial troubles need to prioritize the mortgage over toys.

The part that I find to be absurd is the attempt by parents to rely on others to teach their children important life lessons. Many of our current economic problems are caused by our impatient entitlement culture - people spend more than they can afford in order to live the lifestyle that they believe they are entitled to. Instead on relying on fewer advertisements to make life easier on parents, lets use this downturn as an opportunity to teach children the true meaning of Christmas. Here's a hint: the true meaning of Christmas is not about accumulating as many toys as we can, it is about a gift given to us by God over 2000 years ago.

A common reason that parents place so much importance on buying expensive toys for their children is that they want their children to fit in with other kids at school. Some parents place an extremely high value on ensuring that their kids have the same toys as their peers - one mother even said that she would resort to prostitution in order to be able to afford toys for her kids. Basically, parents are teaching their children that happiness in life involves having all of the latest gadgets that other people have. This act of teaching children to (from the very youngest ages) keep up with the Joneses leads to adults that expect to live the same way, which has contributed to our current economic crisis. There is nothing wrong with parents buying nice gifts for their children (or for themselves). But when we start planning our purchases based not on how much we (or our children) will enjoy using an object but instead on how we believe other people will perceive us (or our children) if we own the shiny new toy, we are chasing after temporary relationships that will never last.

A few weeks ago, my small group had the opportunity to serve dinner at Faith Mission. This is a shelter for homeless men who have nowhere else to turn. It is the second time that I have been able to serve there, and each time is rewarding. I am reminded of the many blessings God has given me. I may not have designer clothes or a luxury car (the old Taurus with a big scratch in it does not quite count) but I have a beautiful wife, two wonderful (when they are not screaming) children, and a great home. I have much to be thankful for.

If you have children of the appropriate age (we definitely plan to include ours when they get older), give them the opportunity to serve someone less fortunate. Seeing a homeless man who is truly thankful for something as simple as a meal (which most of us take for granted) is an eye opening experience. If our children learn to appreciate what they have instead of complaining about what they don't have, they will have gained a gift that will serve them longer than anything you can buy at a store.

A Sad Day for America

2008-11-04T20:06:00.001-08:00

The day we have elected the most liberal member of the Senate to the presidency is a sad day for America indeed. It is my fervent prayer that we can get through the next 4 years without suffering irreparable damage to our country. Only time will tell.

The Future of America

2008-09-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today, we were listening to more of Barack Obama's comments from the Saddleback Forum. One thing that he said struck me. The quote is "a critical juncture economically...(skipped a few parts)... we have to make some big decisions not just for us but for the next generation". That is one of the wisest things that I have heard Obama ever say, although I doubt he meant it in the same way that I take it. We are definitely at a critical juncture economically, and we need to make some changes so that the next generation can have the same benefits that we have. The size of our federal government is growing out of control, and we are promising things that we will never be able to pay for. Social Security will be bankrupt, our Medicare program has been greatly expanded, and the government takes a greater and greater portion of our country's resources for ever-expanding entitlements.
Obama is right that we are at a critical juncture, but his plans to increase the size of our government are the wrong direction. As a Republican, I am dissapointed in President Bush for adding billions of dollars of entitlements to our future spending, but Obama will take a bad situation and make it much worse. Hopefully John McCain will be elected and will have the courage to tackle the size of our government in the ways he talks about. It is completely irresponsible for us to leave our children with these unpayably huge debts. Lets work toward electing leaders who will make the tough decisions to shrink government programs.

Vice President

2008-08-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

As you probably know, Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate. I see this as a strategy blunder on Obama's part. I say that primarily because selecting someone with Biden's long experience in congress does not fit well with Obama's strategy. Obama's campaign is built around the themee of change, which is basically a way to try to make Obama's lack of political experience look like a benefit (because he is not a political insider). Choosing a running mate who is very much a political insider seems counter to his strategy. In fact, it might lead some voters to wonder if things would be better off if Biden was running for president with Obama as his vice president.

Beyong the campaign strategy, does Biden bring any embarassment to Obama's campaign? Lets look at what Biden said about Barack Obama:
"I think he can be ready but right now, I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."
That does not sound like he has a lot of faith in Obama's ability to lead.

On the other hand, what does Biden think about Obama's opponent (John McCain)
"I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off."

So the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate does not think that Obama has enough experience to be president, but he thinks that the Republican candidate would be good for the country? Great choice Obama!

What do you think about the selection of Biden?

Now to the other side of the aisle. Who do you think John McCain will and should pick? I would like to see someone different, young and charismatic, or otherwise interesting. Obama has the John Kennedy type appeal of youth and being a powerful speaker. McCain needs someone to counter that. Someone like Bobby Jindal might be a good choice, so that the Republican ticket does not look like two old white guys. Another interesting one (for different reasons of course) is Joe Lieberman. Yes, he is a democrat, and no I don't agree with Lieberman on several issues, but he would really help McCain pull in the middle voters in a way that most Republican candidates would not. He is one of the few Democrats that understands the importance of the war on terror. While it pains me that Lieberman is pro-choice, I think that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would win the election by a large margin, as many conservative Democrats would end up voting for McCain. Please John make a good choice, don't screw up this important decision like Obama did!

2008-08-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

Gina wanted me to make a meme, so here it is.

The Least of These

2008-08-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you have probably seen clips from the political forum held at Rick Warren's Saddleback church.

Barack Obama answered "What would be the greatest moral failure of America?" by saying that "we still don't abide by that basic precept of Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me"
He brought up several specific examples:
poverty, racism/sexism, and ladders of opportunity into the middle class
This is a great mindset for the leader of our country - to protect "the least of my brothers". Poverty is a problem that plagues many communities, and we can do better to create jobs and raise the standard of living for millions of poor Americans. Unfortunately, Obama is missing the one group in America that needs protection more than any other - the only group of prople in America who can be legally killed without any cause other than being inconvenient - unborn children. Since the Roe v. Wade decision, there have been 40 million abortions in the US. That is 40 million of "the least of our brothers" who Mr. Obama does not want to help; he instead prefers to keep allowing them to be killed. If he really wanted to help "the least", he would work to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.

When asked "At what point is a baby entitled to human rights" (which Obama never really answered), John McCain quickly answered "at the moment of conception". Isn't it obvious which candidate really cares about "the least of my brothers"?

See the two candidates' answers on abortion here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRZX_ndZN-g

Voluntary Taxation

2008-08-16T18:31:00.001-07:00

According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, our income taxes are a voluntary system. This is a classic example of political doublespeek - politics at its worst. Harry Reid is completely out of touch with the rest of the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mRSI8yWwg&eurl=http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/

Maybe this is why liberals always seem to want to raise taxes - they think that people don't have to pay if they don't want to. Somehow I think that the IRS would disagree.

The Cutest Little Girl Ever

2008-04-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

I don't need to say much here. My Jenna is just the cutest girl on the planet.
You want proof? Here.

Sarah

2007-12-23T20:00:00.001-08:00

Introducing Sarah Noelle Cooper
Born: 12/23/2007
Weight: 6 pounds 9 ounces
Gender: Would anyone really name a boy Sarah? Of course she is a girl

The Purity of Children

2007-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Our daughter Jenna is the definition of cuteness and innocence. She sees the excitement in ordinary events that completely pass by me. Seeing the world through her eyes is truly refreshing. But where does that cuteness come from? Newton's Third Law of Motion states that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". This shows us the dark side of Jenna's childish perfection. For her to be so incredibly cute, there must be and equal and opposite reaction - there must be some evil created to balance out the good that we see every way. But how can Jenna possibly be associated with the loathsome reality that is required to exist? The answer is simple: dirty diapers. So that the universe remains balanced, all of her goodness is balanced by a truly toxic production from the nether regions. Her emissions have given her a spot in the EPA's top ten list of the world's worst polluters. Maybe I should hope that our next child is not so cute.

libertarians

2007-07-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

What is a libertarian? In the specific political case, this refers to a member of the Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org/). I am not a member of their party (I am a registered Republican) but I like much of what the Libertarian party believes in. Unfortunately, while the Republicans talk about smaller government, in reality it seems that our federal government still grows under recent Republican administrations (just grows a little slower than under Democrats). I agree with the Libertarians on all major issues except abortion. The Libertarian party thinks we should keep abortion legal; I don't see any reason why a civilized country should permit parents to murder their children. But aside from that, they have many excellent ideas and their core beliefs are right down my alley. Here are some excerpts from their web site:

Libertarians believe in, and pursue, personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility. The Libertarian Party itself serves a much larger pro-liberty community with the specific mission of electing Libertarians to public office.

Libertarians strongly oppose any government interfering in their personal, family and business decisions. Essentially, we believe all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do no harm to another.

In a nutshell, we are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

I am a strong believer that we should shrink the size of our national government, that government should not act as parents to the population, and that adults should be allowed to live in freedom and make their own peaceful decisions. The government should not be in the business of providing ever more costly entitlements, and should endeavor to encourage economic growth through the freedom brought by low taxes. I believe that the federal government has usurped many of the powers that the Constitution gives to the states, and that this trend should be reversed. Our government should reduce spending with a goal of paying off the national debt in a reasonable timeframe (maybe 20 or 30 years). Of course none of this will happen, because people have been coddled by the government for too long. The attitude of entitlement with which we are burdened makes any real change very difficult. But I can always hope.

debates

2007-07-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Did any of you see the YouTube Democratic debates? It was really interesting. Individual YouTube users posted a variety of questions for the candidates, someone picked the ones they liked the best and asked them at a televised debate. The Republican version will be in September I believe. I did not see it on TV, but have watched a few of the responses on YouTube. For those of you who don't know, I lean Libertarian on many issues and vote Republican. Ok, lets be realistic, only 3 people actually read this bog and you already knew that. Oh well.

I hate the way that politicians will never give you a straight answer to a question. Of course, this is not a problem specific to Democrats; they all do it. I can just pick on the Democrats now for two reasons. First, their debate just happened and second, I think they have a lot of horrible ideas and really bad candidates.

Lets look at an example, picking on Sen. Biden. A question was asked about what would you do as president to lower taxes?
See the question and Sen Biden's response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTv4huOtNA
To sum it up, when asked how you would lower taxes he said that he would do it by raising taxes? Huh? Maybe he lives in opposite land. Lets see who else is out there.

Maybe Kucinich can offer us some wisdom. OK Dennis, here is your shot, this is an easy one. Are you in favor of reparations for the descendants of African slaves? He answered yes. He actually thinks that is a good idea. So, your plan is to reduce racial discrimination in this country by creating a whole new form of government-sponsored discrimination? Are you trying to tear the country apart? There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea that I think my blog would crash if I listed them all. Is there anyone in this debate who has any common sense? If I have time in the next few days I will continue the search.

monkeys

2007-07-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today, Gina is having a play group with several kids here at the house. I am hiding in the computer room working and posting to the blog. At the moment, I can't tell if there are children playing or if our house has been taken over by an army of thousands of rabid monkeys. This many children should not be permitted inside a single building, unless sufficient soundproofing were first installed. Days like today make me very thankful for Jenna - she is so good. She never runs around screaming while breaking everything in sight, as these children seem to want to do.

fun with baseball

2007-07-24T09:09:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I drove to Cleveland to see the Red Sox play the Indians. The Red Sox won 6-2! Woohoo! I was surprised by the large number of Boston fans at the game in Cleveland. People in the stands were shouting "Lets Go Red Sox", and lots of people had Boston jerseys/hats. Maybe the world is starting to see the beauty of the Red Sox. We can only hope. That was lots of fun. Unfortunately I am tired today since I drove back home from Cleveland last night and I had to do some work for a client at 7:30 this morning. But it was well worth it. I can always sleep later.

Misfortune

2007-07-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

I had the misfortune to be sitting at my computer in the computer room when Gina discovered Grease on TV. I had never seen Grease. It is a truly awful movie. I hope it will end soon.

Hypocrisy Matters

2007-04-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today is Earth Day, a holiday of sorts for some and to others a reminder that we should treat the planet well as it is our only home. I am all for protecting the planet; I don't want to see our ecosystem collapse. But I am also not going to try to grab political power by scaring people into believing that the earth is going to turn into an oven if we don't all start driving hybrids.

On Earth Day today you will read articles and possibly be forced to listed to people drone on about how the entire scientific community is in agreement that Global Warming is real and is caused primarily by humans. These people are trying to take control by fear, without concern for the truth. There is general agreement among scientists that the earth's temperatures have risen in the last century, but there is far from a consensus about the cause of this change. This has become a politically correct issue where in some cases, scientific people can be kicked out of professional organizations for suggesting that humans might not be the cause of global warming.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2165452.ece
Don't believe the lie that all scientists believe that global warming is a human-caused phenomenon. The truth is that there is a lot of scientific debate about the true cause of the earth's temperature changes. There is a lot of evidence that most of the climate change we see is actually caused by an increase in the heat output of the sun, certainly not something that humans have any control over.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml

So why do we see such strong avoidance of real scientific debate and such rabid adherence to claims of environmental groups from much of the left? The reason is simple - modern environmental activism has much less to do with actually protecting the planet and much more to do with power, and controlling people's lives through a huge worldwide bureaucracy. Lets take Al Gore as a great example. Everyone knows about his movie An Inconvenient Truth, in which he calls on Americans to do their duty to help the planet by reducing our electricity usage. What you may not know if that Al Gore uses 10 to 20 times more electricity in his house than the average American. In August 2006, Al Gore's home in Tennessee used 22,618 Kwh of electricity. For all of 2006, we used 19,307 Kwh in our home. This is a classic example about how environmental groups are looking primarily for power and only secondarily toward protecting the environment. If Al Gore really cared about the environment, he would reduce his own usage, but apparently for him that would be too Inconvenient. Hypocrisy Matters, Al.

The Failures of Modern Christianity

2007-01-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

I decided to write an entry with a more serious tone, so no movies here. Just my thoughts of the failures of Christianity in America in the 21st century.

Lets start with what the church is doing well. The church as a whole has adapted well to changing social ideas and has made its message more relevant to modern audiences. This has been accomplished chiefly through the use of newer music and a more casual atmosphere throughout the entire worship experience. I don't mean to say that all Christian churches have adapted, nor should they. - there is still a portion of the population who prefers traditional services. This adaptation has largely taken place in new churches which have sprung up to meet the demand for spiritual guidance without the stuffiness that accompanies many older denominations. Through this transformation, the church has reinvigorated itself with many younger members who are interested both in learning and serving. This young generation is involving their whole families in the church life, leading to many more young believers as children grow in a church that speaks in a language they can understand.

But there exists a dark underside to this transformation: the weakening of traditional moral values. In order to appeal to unbelievers, the church has correctly backed away from fire and brimstone presentations of sin. But in too many cases the church has backed away from the condemnation of sin entirely. Certainly, it is no surprise that Christians are also sinners (all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God), but what I find most surprising is that Christians are in many ways morallly identical to nonbelievers. This problem exists at the highest levels of leadership in certain denominations (ordainment of openly homosexual pastors) and at all levels through out the church. From Jim and Tammy Baker to Ted Haggert and many others, church leadership has continually brought embarasment to the church. Even within my own circle of friends at a modern evangelical church, we have experienced out of wedlock pregnancies, adultery, and many other problems. The great tragedy here is the impact that these moral failings have on those outside the church. When Christian leaders get high while porking male prostitutes, steal money from their church, or abuse innocent children, the church loses its influence with nonbelievers. After all, if Christians don't follow the teachings of the Bible, why should anoyone else?

cidvain deco

2006-11-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

What? Has Erik really posted two blog entries in a single week? Maybe that small town in Michigan has finally frozen over. Anyway, those of you lucky to read this get more blogs for your money.

We recently watched the Davinci Code. I liked the movie, although I don't agree with Dan Brown's theology. Stop reading now if you don't want to hear anything about the movie. The central plot to the movie is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a child, and this secret has been covered up. The reason for the cover up (supposedly) is that if Jesus had a child, that would somehow prove that he was not the son of God. I don't know if Jesus was married, although I believe it is possible. I am not aware of any Biblical references that specifically say he was not married. And therefore I consider it possible that he could have had children. The part that does not make sense is the idea that if Jesus had children, he can't be the son of God. Did I miss something here? That argument is basically saying that the son of God should be able to perform all sorts of miracles but can't do one thing that all healthy men are capable of doing - to father a child. Tom Hanks does figure this out at the end of the movie, but there is a large conspiracy of people trying to kill all descendants of Christ since those people would somehow prove that Jesus was not divine. The movie was fun and enjoyable, just don't base your life on Dan Brown's bizarre conspiracies.

On an entirely different note, I installed a set of glass doors on our fireplace, which really look nice - much better than the black chain which used to cover it. The installation process was easy, with one exception. The instructions said that it was important to clean the glass of any fingerprints or other dirt before burning anything in the fireplace, otherwise those spots could be burned on to the glass. However, the company put a large warning sticker on the glass of the fireplace. To make it worse, it was the sticky paper kind which are really difficult to remove. We had to soak the glass for several hours to get the sticker off. Here is a bit of free advice to people who sell products: don't annoy your customers with stickers that are difficult to remove, especially when the instructions say the the product must be cleaned before it can be used.

Mr. Scratch

2006-11-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

More than a month ago, we took our car to Mr. Tire for repair work. Contrary to what you might expect from the name, they perform full automotive repair (with the key exception being body work). There was a problem with the steering which they fixed. Unfortunately, while they had the car, they also dropped a metal object on it which produced a nice scratch and dent on one side. The manager was very apologetic and promised that if we got an estimate they would pay to have it fixed. I asked if they could fix it, but (as I previously mentioned) they don't do body work. I brought two estimates for the repair and was told that they would call me. Two weeks went by and I had not heard anything, so I stopped by and talked to the manager. He said that he had submitted the paperwork to the central office and they would be calling me. That was a few weeks ago and I have still heard nothing. The Mr. Tire that I went to was previously Procare and I always got great service there, so I think that Mr Tire might not have the same customer-centric approach that Procare had. I will be taking my car somewhere else for repairs in the future, and I suggest that you do the same. Of course, if I ever hear from Mr Tire, I will post that information here. There is a Monroe down the street but I don't want to go there as that is the parent company of Mr. Tire. Maybe next time I will try out Tuffy, has anyone been there?

E for Excellent

2006-10-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have not written in the blog for a long time, and I did not know what to write about. Conveniently, we just watched V for Vendetta. Wow. That was a seriously good movie. Weird, but if you like movies that are a little out of the box without being totally out there, this one is for you. The brothers obviously like conspiracy theories, and this is no disappointment. I may not agree with them politically, but they make great movies. I can only hope that the world they foresee never comes true.

So what else is new? My company has moved into our own offices. Finally we have our own place instead of renting space inside someone else's office. It somehow makes the company feel more successful. I will still be working from home most of the time, but will probably end up there occasionally. Plus we have a new product coming out, so it is an exciting time at work.

Beyond that, it has been the usual flow of home improvement projects. We painted the upstairs bathroom with fish for Jenna, painted the kitchen and we are getting a new floor in the kitchen in a few days. I love home improvement! Speaking of homes, we finally sold our old house. It is great to have that taken care of, plus it provides some funding for our new projects.

Jenna is cute, and she knows the right words to say. Gina asked her: are you mama's baby? Jenna said Noooooo. Gina said: Then who's baby are you? The correct answer came back: Dadda. At least she knows she is a daddy's girl. Let's just hope she never forgets.

Fenway

2006-09-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a week at a customer site outside of Boston. The highlight of my trip was going to Fenway park to see a Red Sox game. While it does not have the same modern features of some of the newer stadiums, Fenway has so much history and character - it is just a great place to see a game. And they have the green monster - a huge wall in left field. In most stadiums, it would be covered with advertisements but here they just have a red sox symbol and a display about a charity that they support. The best part of course was that the Red Sox won on a home run in the bottom of the 10th. The game was just a great experience. The atmosphere there is incredible - much more like a Buckye's football game t han any baseball game I have ever been to. The crowd is into the game, the streets are packed, and everyone seems to be paying attention. And this was with the Red Sox 9 games behind the Yankees. I would love to see it when they are in a close race.

Now getting there was another story. I have heard that Boston is difficult to drive around, and that is true. Especially now that they have shut down part of the big dig, even I90 goes through busy city streets. And enough of the streets are one way or have dividers in them that it makes it tough to get turned around if you head the wrong direction (which I did frequently). Luckily I did manage to find both the staium and my customer site, so my driving in Boston experience had a happy ending. And they don't seem to mind you making U-turns. I am not sure if they are legal or not, but i saw other people doing it so I ended up making a bunch of u-turns and I never got pulled over. The directions to get to the car rental lot even include making a u-turn at a certain light. I had a rental Dodge Stratus which i somehow avoided wrecking. It would be a nice car if they gave it a little more power. I think the sport version would be great, but this one was a bit slow. Maybe they gave me the pedal yourself car because they were mad that I did not buy the special rental car insurance.

I had heard that Boston was full of rude people, but I did not find that to be the case. I really though that everyone I encountered was polite and friendly. Maybe that was becaue I had a big sign on my forehead that said "I am not from here so please be nice to me" or maybe the whole population of Boston just won free all you can eat Taco Bell for life so they were in a really good mood, but either way I was pleasantly surprised.

I even bought Jenna a Red Sox shirt. She may not know it yet, but she will grow up to be a Red Sox fan, even in the middle of Ohio. Jenna will be required to root for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Buckeyes. I hope she does not become an Indians fan, because I would really feel bad if I had to ship her off to military boarding school at age 5. What can we do as parents? We do the best to teach our kids, but in the long run it is up to them to make the right decisions (or live in boarding school in the middle of Montana).

Even with all the fun in Boston, I am glad to be back. Travelling can be fun but coming home is ever better. Gina had made me a great dinner with crab legs and shrimp linguini - it was wonderful. That makes up for eating all of those boring sandwiches at the office deli.

Island Vacation

2006-08-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone up for a free trip to the island? We just watched The Island, a really good sci-fi movie which involves issues that may come up during our lifetimes. With lots of excitement along with a strong sci-fi base including some interesting moral questions, I thought the movie was excellent even if it was a bit predictable. I think I will stop buying those lottery tickets to win the free tropical vacation.

Gina's favorite number is 4

2006-08-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Gina's favorite number is 4? Its not really important here, except that we just watched Fantastic 4. The movie was entertaining, although not as good as the X-men movies. Too bad the metal man of doom tried to kill them all, or they could have worked together and been the Fantastic 5. That way they at least would have had a prime number in their name. Of the 4 fantastic people, Gina would most like to be the invisible woman. I would have thought Kate Moss would play the part of the Invisible Girl, that way they would not need any special effects for her not to show up on camera. Since I don't want to be a woman or a big rock, and generally don't need to set things on fire (although that would come in handy when camping) I guess I would choose to be stretchy guy. Super stretchy ability would be great around the house - how else could I get all the toys that Jenna has managed to hide under chairs? And imagine how easy it would be to run new cables through walls if I was elastic man. Oh well, seeing as I don't have a space station to stand on when a solar storm comes around, I will have to stick it out without any special powers. I guess that is why I have a wireless router now - it is the next best thing.

From A to B

2006-08-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Uijt xfflfoe, xf buufoefe uif hsbevbujpo qbsuz pg pof pg pvs gsjfoet.

Corn

2006-08-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have been transported to Corn World. Here, the entire universe is really just one big ear of corn, or at least it seems that way. I drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Pekin, Illinois to meet with a client (an ethanol company, of course). Between Columbus and Pekin, the only breaks in the corn came from Dayton and Indianapolis. Other than that, looking at the side of the road all that you see is corn, never ending corn, and maybe an occasional soybean field. Maybe someone will invent an air conditioner that runs on corn. That way my hotel room would be more like a room and less like a sauna. Speaking of hotel rooms, checking in today was interesting. I checked in to the hotel, and the woman at the desk gave me a key and assigned me to room 205. I wandered upstairs and opened the door to 205, only to see a woman with 3 kids in the room. I know Day's Inn is not a high-class place, but I did not think they made you share a room with prople you don't know, so I apologized to the woman for coming into her room and walked down to the front desk to see what had happened. Apparently, someone had assigned that family to the room but forgot to write it in the book. Oh well, now I at least have my own room, even if it is a sauna.

Normal on Screen

2006-07-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Movie Review: The Last Samurai

Watching The Last Samurai made me forget, if only briefly, how weird Tom Cruise is in real life. On second thought, he was the only white guy in a sea of Japanese people, so he stuck out like a sore thumb. Luckily, he did not try to convert them to scientology. I liked the movie, anything with that many swords has to be good. Some parts seemed improbable, but if I only watched movies in which everything seemed possible then I would only get to watch documentaries. And nothing by Michael Moore, since those tend to depart from reality as soon as you get to the title. I guess I could watch March of the Penguins over and over again. That was an entertaining and realistic, and it even involved something getting eaten (always a plus). Anyway, The Last Samurai was entertaining and action packed, while still having time to include an interesting plot line.

Super Size My Wallet

2006-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Movie Review: Super Size Me

I just finished watching Super Size Me. The basic plot of the movie is that Morgan Spurlock, the narrator and main character, will eat nothing but McDonald's food for a whole month (3 full meals daily) while intentionally not exercising and will show what happens to his overall health. Huh? Am I missing something here? I am amazed that this guy was able to make money by producing a documentary which teaches us the blatantly obvious: eating fast food 3 times a day is not healthy. Next up: Expect Morgan Spurlock to star in a movie where he smokes 2 packs a day and acts surprised when he has a hard time breathing. Well, at least Super Size Me was better than Fahrenheit 911.

observation

2006-07-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Today, Gina took Jenna to a farmer's market with another woman Jen and her daughter Rachel. Jenna just stood and looked around, taking everything in. Rachel was running all over the market in a flurry of activity, while Jenna stood by watching but doing nothing. I think this means Jenna is headed for a career in the UN.

Intro

2006-07-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

I guess I need to climb into the modern age and finally create a blog. Here you will find my thoughts on a variety of issues, hopefully with a bit of humor. Enoy.