A new addition to the family

Okay, the idea was this: Diane wanted a new kitten. So, Dorene found one in South Bend and we took it to her this past weekend for her to have on a trial basis and see how it works out. To repeat, this was in no way going to be OUR cat, but would be for Diane. If it didn't work out for her, the kitten would go back to the owner.

So here we are a few days later and the kitten has just returned from the vet with it's shots and is now part of our zoo. How did that happen? I blame Anna and the kitten.

On the way to Chicago, this kitten was so calm. Didn't fuss at all. We had it loose in the van and she just sort of wandered around. But she really latched onto Anna. She would crawl up on her lap and just soak up the attention. She then went to sleep in a little makeshift hammock between Anna and Cam's car seats. All weekend, the kitten was constantly after Anna, wanting her attention.

So, before we even got to Chicago, I had decided that we'd keep the kitten if it didn't work out with Diane. As it turns out, Diane really, really liked the kitten, but there was a problem. She got scratched by it. During this time where she is going through chemotherapy, her immune system will be very low. A cat scratch could actually have a very adverse affect on her. We were going to explain this to Anna but she replied, "yeah, it's because her white blood cells are low." Okay, I guess she is learning things in school. So, right away, we knew the kitten had to go back.

Of course, when given the chance, why not have a little fun and torment my wife? Dorene really wanted this kitten. I mean, really, really wanted it. It looks like a siamese cat and Dorene has always wanted one. So, I kind of toyed with the whole idea, saying I didn't want another cat, etc.
Finally, I let her know we'd keep it. Of course, there was no way we could drive back and pry the kitten away from Anna. Not a chance.

The kitten's name is Gracie. We call her Gracie Girl, or GG for short. Anna's name means "full of grace" so it's a good fit. Yesterday was the one-year anniversary when we had to put Max the Cat to sleep, so it was also good timing.

The one condition I gave to Dorene about keeping Gracie? Diane was on her own in finding a kitten. We wouldn't be taking any to her on a "trial basis." Because, let's face it, I'm the sucker here for cute kittens.

A Busy Weekend

This past weekend, being Memorial weekend, we crammed a lot of activities into the three days.

Friday
I got off work early and we headed off to Chicago to visit Diane. Dorene's parents also went, driving separately. We basically just spent the weekend hanging out. This was the first time we had seen Diane since her chemotherapy treatments had begun. She had just recently lost all her hair. When she greeted us at the door, she was wearing a pink wig, which the kids laughed at. They didn't seem to mind that she didn't have her long curly locks. Before we left, she asked if they wanted to see her bald head and both said yeah. Anna rubbed it and thought it was no big deal. Cameron wasn't sure, but she is still "Aunt Dee Dee," so in the end it didn't really matter.

We also celebrated Cameron's birthday that evening, with cake and presents. Cameron got a couple puzzles, a bat and ball, and a John Deere snowglobe for his room. Plus, a leaf blower. Not a toy kind, but a real one. In addition, he got a real extension cord to power it. When we were leaving the next day, Cameron carried the leaf blower in one hand and power cord in the other. Looked like he was leaving a construction site, and loving every minute of it.

Saturday
A big long lazy day. We just slept in, then stayed at Diane's condo all day long. Helped her plant some flowers and eventually went out for ice cream, but otherwise just stayed there. Early in the evening, we headed home, with John aboard this time. Carlene decided to stay for the whole weekend with Diane.

Sunday
Nothing too special. We went to church, then came home and stayed out of the heat, because it was HOT! Took the kids to a park with a water playground.

Monday
Headed off to Stu and Joyce's house for a Memorial Day cookout and birthday celebration #2 for Cameron. Stu cooked up some burgers, brats and dogs. Mom brought her great baked beans. We really wanted to play some intense volleyball, but the heat was just a little too much. We played a couple games in the heat of the day but it wore us all out. When it cooled off, we got in a couple more games, but that was it as people had begun to disperse.

For this birthday, Cameron got everything he'd possibly want. A motorcycle and some guns. That is, a battery powered motorcyle that he could ride and some squirt guns. He basically stayed on the motorcyle the rest of the afternoon.

Anna, we didn't hear much from all day. We brought along Tatum, one of her classmates from Veritas. We'll be doing this a lot. Anna is very, very social and likes to have someone to play with. Cameron doesn't really care, he just kind of does his thing.

We didn't get back home until about 12:30 p.m., so getting up for work Tuesday morning was not the easiest, but we made it. All in all, a very fun weekend. The next time we're all together, we say goodbye to Paula Dennie and hello to Mrs. Paula Merkle.

Goin' the extra mile . . .

I enjoy the faculty here at IU South Bend. In my position, particularly with New Student Orientation, I get to interact with a bunch of highly dedicated, student-centered, top notch faculty. Today, one of those faculty exemplified all of those attributes.

Today was my rotation into our information center. Dr. Griffin came in with a student that last attended in 1993 and was thinking about coming back. How did she know this? She was talking to her at the bus stop. The student was thinking of returning but wasn't sure when she'd be able to get over here. Well, Dr. Griffin decided that now was the time for the student to come over here and get the ball rolling. So she had this student get in her car (whom she had never met) and brought her over. We checked her records to see how many credits she had, what monies may be owed, and what her next steps were.

We talk a lot in higher education about retention. What programs are needed to make students stick around and the funding that needs to come with it. But the retention program that Dr. Griffin implemented with this student doesn't cost a dime. All it cost her was a little bit of time. I bet this student does indeed follow through and come back. Dr. Griffin is dedicated to the cause of higher education for anyone that wants to pursue it. Like I said, it didn't cost her anything but her time.

Actually, it did cost something. Dr. Griffin also took the student out to breakfast.

The Other American Idol

Last night was Dorene's spring concert at Brown Intermediate Center. In addition to the choir singing a few numbers, Dorene started something last year that continued this year . . .the Bison Idol show (Brown's mascot are the Bison). Yes, it's an American Idol clone complete with it's own Ryan, Randy, Paula and Simon.

This year contained a wide range of diverse acts. You had:

• A rock guitarist.
• A dance routine featuring four African American girls.
• A drum duet.
• A girl from Africa singing in French and also rapping in French!
• Two Latinas singing a Selena song in Spanish.
• A dance duo featuring one black and one caucasian girl (that really brought down the house).
• . . .and many more.

The final act of the night was a fifth grade boy singing "Train up a child in the way of the Lord." This kid had his own "dog pound" in attendance complete with signs and loud cheering. Even without the extra support, he was clearly the crowd favorite and won, deservedly so.

Yes, this is a public school, and yes, the song he sang was overtly Christian. Besides that, the choir closed with a rendition of "Joyful, Joyful." But, don't expect any lawsuits about the content of this concert. Dorene has included gospel songs in her concerts for years and years and it's never been an issue.

If you've ever been to a middle school concert, I guarantee you've never seen one like the ones my wife puts on. These are full-fledged performances that are very entertaining and very good. The gymnasium was completely packed, with overflow crowd spilling out of the bleachers and sitting on the floor. Bottom line, Dorene is good! She gives her kids a great deal of ownership, letting them decide many aspects of the program, from stage design to choreography, to the songs they are going to sing. With that kind of ownership comes a great deal of pride in the program, so they aren't just showing up to do their concert and get it over with. They truly have fun out there and you can see it on their faces.

You can also see it in the annual increase in kids wanting to take choir. Dorene makes taking choir a pretty cool thing to do. She's not training these kids to be classical musicians and to go out listening to Bach and Beethoven on their iPods. No, she's taking this moment in time when she has them to give them an experience where they indeed do learn a lot about music but also have a lot of fun with it so that even if they never move on with music, they at least have an appreciation of it and some memorable times.

Yes, I'm a proud husband here!

As for the real American Idol, we went out to eat and didn't get back until about 10:30. I had recorded it. I rewound to the last song where Taylor and Kathryn sang, "I've Had the Time of My Life." Too bad Kathryn didn't sing and have stage presence like this during the competition, she might have won. It was very obvious Taylor was going to win, which he did. They didn't give the vote totals this time, the first time that's ever happened. I'm figuring it was Taylor in a runaway.

Soul Patrol v. McPheever

If you don't understand the title of this post, then you are completely out of touch with reality (t.v.). The Soul Patrol is Taylor Hicks and McPheever is Kathryn McPhee, the two finalists on American Idol. Last night, each contestant sang three songs. Based on last night, Taylor will win. He came out strong while Kathryn came out very weak. She picked it up with her second song but then finished with a whimper. Even the usually very complimentary Randy and Paula were fairly subdued, and the crowd reaction was tepid at best. Taylor was so-so on his second song, but then kicked it in for his final song. Both performers had robed gospel singers on stage for their last song. This fits Taylor's style much, much more than Kathryn's.

Simon predicted that Taylor will win, and he is right. Dorene and I liked Taylor from his very first audition. If I had to pick someone that I would like to hear in concert from this year's groups of contestants, it would definitely be Taylor (with a warm-up act by Mandisa).

This year was better than last year, but I'm partial to season 3, when you had the showdown between Fantasia Barrano and Diana DeGarmo. Plus some strong runners up such as Jennifer Hudson, who ironically beat out Fantasia for a plum starring role in the upcoming movie version of "Dreamgirls". You also had Jon Peter Lewis, who was an odd mix of Taylor and Kevin from this season.

American Idol is a fun show to watch. Nothing profound, it's not going to change the world. I'm not a better person for watching it. It's just mindless entertainment, and sometimes what more do you want?

Home Schooling for Anna? Believe it or not, yes!

We have now joined the ranks of home schooling . . . but with a caveat. It's only for the last three weeks of the year.

For her first two years of school, Anna has been going to Veritas Academy in South Bend. This is a charter school run by Ball State University. The words "charter school" to my Democrat and union family members is clearly a sign of the end times. Mention the word "voucher" and that will really send them over the edge.

Anna has had two very good years there. She's had excellent teachers, and that truly makes all the difference. This year, she has developed a major love for science, due to the teacher she has had. She has learned a lot and developed a great foundation. Plus, she's been allowed to be a kid.

But, on the administrative level, things at the school have not been so rosy. Last summer, the headmaster who founded the school was dismissed when it was discovered he had been misappropriating funds. In addition, teachers were not getting paid. His successor was only here for the first few months of the year. They next hired someone who I don't believe has an adminstrator's license in Indiana. The school board is one of those entitities that invites feedback but gets ticked off if it ain't what they want to hear.

Then there was the incident a couple weeks ago with one of Anna's fellow 1st-graders. For gym class, they all load up in vans and head down the street to a church gymnasium. One of the 1st grade students had gone to the bathroom at the church. Those in charge of getting the students back to the school (they are in assigned vans) did not notice she was not there and returned to the school. It took them a while to notice their mistake. In fact, when Anna got to the church for her gym session, the girl was still there.

Uh, this is not good. Obviously, this put a lot of parents in an uproar. It very easily could have been Anna. You just can't make these kinds of mistakes with kids. Plus, of course, it's a clear violation of the No Child Left Behind law (chuckle, chuckle). So, Anna is out of there. Her "grammy" will watch her for the last few weeks, and we've bought some schooling materials to keep her busy throughout the day. We're not 100% sure where Anna will be going to school next year, but it won't be at Veritas.

Home schooling is not exactly the most regulated thing. To let the state know you are home schooling, we basically had to submit an online form with our name and address, that's it. So, whether you are taking trips to the museums in Chicago to just watching Scooby Doo videos, there won't be anyone checking up on you.

President Gore?

Al Gore did the opening sketch on SNL this past weekend. It was a "what if" scenario with him being midway through his second term. I think this guy has gone through a transformation, because I thought he was hilarious and at the same time seemed very presidential. There was something about him that made you want to listen. I thought he made a great connection. Could this be his Bill Clinton on Arsenio Hall moment? Will he actually run again? I basically made fun of this guy in 2000, but at this point in time, I'd have to say I'd consider voting for him. I'm wondering if this appearance was sort of a trial balloon to see what the reaction would be. For those wondering if there's a precedent to him running again, there is. In 1960, Richard Nixon lost a very close election to John Kennedy, only to resurface 8 years later and win the election.

Diane's Chemotherapy

This past weekend, Dorene's sister began her chemotherapy treatments. Not something Diane was looking forward to, as the side effects can be pretty miserable. Dorene's mom went to Chicago to be with her.

Saturday morning, Dorene calls her and Diane says she's feeling great. On Sunday, she talks to her and again she's feeling great. What an incredible answer to prayer. It looks like the treatments are not going to adversely affect her. Sometimes it works that way with chemo, sometimes it doesn't. In this case, it did work out that way, and we are all so thankful.

My First USTTA Sanctioned Table Tennis Tournament

On Saturday, I played in the St. Joseph Valley Table Tennis Open, which was held at my workplace, IU South Bend. The gym floor was filled with 32 tables as players from all over the country descended on my workplace to show off their skills.

I did not have an official United States Table Tennis Association (USTTA) ranking, so I was placed in the bracket for those with a ranking under 800 or with no ranking at all. I looked forward to establishing myself as a force to be reckoned with in this sport.

Lo and behold, I swept through my bracket and won five straight matches en route to an undefeated record and first place finish. Not bad for a first-time tournament.

My first match was against Lena, who tried to argue after game 4 that I did not win 3 games to 1 but that we were indeed tied at 2. She also argued over the score in the one game that I lost (she was wrong, but I let her win the game). She also had someone coaching her from the sidelines the whole time, which is a big taboo. But that's alright, I let my racket do the talking. YEAH, TOOK HER DOWN!!!

After that, I had no problem the rest of the way:

. . . okay yes, I did beat Joyce from northern Kentucky, who was not all that good.

. . . okay yes, I did beat Joanne from Toledo, who was about 60.

. . . okay yes, I did beat 12-year old Kevin. Yes, I said he was 12. Hey, he put up a fight in the game I won 11-2.

. . . okay yes, I did beat 9-year old Alma. Yes, that's right, she was 9. But she was tenacious, and the last game I squeaked by 11-3.

So, I guess at my next tournament I'll need to move up a bit and play against those with a higher ranking. But for all you under-800 players out there, Rick is in town and ready to play some pong, so you better watch out!!

The DaVinci Code discussion, Part MCXXXVIII

Okay, start counting. How many churches are going to devote a Sunday morning series to this book, now that the movie is coming out? Or, how many small group Bible studies will use this as a "hook" to get people to attend? I bet these are popping up all over. Last winter, it was Narnia-mania.

I personally have never read the book. I guess I don't need to read some thriller which purports to speculate that Jesus got married to Mary Magdalene and it has been held secret all these years by some albino monks. Just not interested. I've heard so much discussion about the book, I felt I've read it already.

But is it fair for DaVinci to get this much attention? What about some of the other summer movies that won't get their moment in the sun as a topic at Wednesday night prayer meeting?

Here's some alternatives:

Mission Impossible III: Our superspy's mission is to convince a Baptist church to use the NIV translation of the Bible. The first two missions failed miserably as our hero was unable to convince the Baptists that Sandi Patti is not rock music and that every day is not "gay day" at Disney World.

Poseidon: A remake of the disaster movie where survivors seek escape from a capsized ocean liner. Church groups will use this as an analogy of how upside down our lives are. The devil is the wave that has capsized our ships (our lives). Things have gotten so out of whack in our lives that to be rescued, we must descend all the way to the bottom in order to get out the top in our ship- turned-upside-down-world.

Garfield II: Hero-worship on all levels is bad. A cartoon kitty voiced by that degenerate Bill Murray is definitely not something our kids need to be exposed to.

Our longing for a savior to come down from the sky to make the world a better place will certainly be a hidden analogy in Superman Returns. I have no idea what parallels can be drawn from Johnny Depp's character in the Pirates of the Carribbean sequel, but we Christians have a way of taking what's popular and putting our own negative spin on it.

Curses on you, Mr. Bryant!

Good ole Kobe Bryant. Makes two spectacular plays to beat my Suns in overtime yesterday. Puts them up 3 to 1. Not looking good for Phoenix. I know Kobe is good, but, but, but, oh well, I gotta move on. The Suns will probably come back and win game 5, but to win the series, they'll have to win in L.A.