Rick's (not so) Deep Thoughts

U2 at MSU

2011-06-28T21:31:00.002-04:00

Sunday night I went up to Michigan State University, along with about 65,000 others, to see U2 on their 360 tour. This marked the third time I had seen them in concert, the first time being over 20 years ago . . . .and I'd gladly see them again. They are an incredible live band.

The first time I saw them was in 1987 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. This was the year they exploded in popularity with the Joshua Tree album. For this concert, I paid a whopping $5.00 for the ticket. No, I didn't get a big discount, that was face value for any ticket that night. You see, they were filming for the "Rattle and Hum" CD and movie, so to ensure a packed house, they had the huge discount. If you listen to "Bullet the Blue Sky" on the Rattle and Hum CD, that was recorded live the night I was there. They played all but one song that night from Joshua Tree, still their best CD ever.

The next time I saw them was in 1997 at Chicago Soldier Field for the "PopMart" Tour. A big stage and light extravanganza that sorta worked, sorta didn't at times. The CD was so-so. But still, a great live show overall. The Edge lead the crowd in a sing along of The Monkees' "Daydream Believer."

In 2001, I TRIED to see them again at Chicago's United Center. Myself and 2 other friends, the same ones at Michigan State this past Sunday, bought what turned out to be bogus tickets on the street (we had also bought tickets on the street for Popmart with no problem). As we entered the arena, and they scanned the tickets, we were told to go stand against the wall and they filled out a police report. So, somewhere in the Chicago police department archives, my name is on a report. We then looked at the Michael Jordan statue . . .and went home.

Sunday night at Spartan Stadium, we had actual tickets (which, by the way, were a gift from our friend Peter . . .yeah, quite a guy!). The crowd in 1987 in Arizona was all young, as U2 had just burst onto the scene. But this past Sunday night, it was mostly an older crowd like, uh, myself. This tour, the "360 tour" had a massive set with a huge screen. But as they perform, they are a rather unpretentious group. The Edge casually does his thing. I've seen bigger drum sets in a church worship band than what Larry Mullen has. Adam Clayton kinda struts around with a sly grin. Bono, of course, is the more bombastic one.

U2 took to the stage and did 3 songs in a row from "Achtung Baby" and for the rest of the night did a mix of the old and new. Yep, you had "Pride," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "I Will Follow" and many more. They sang for just over two hours. For the final encore, they did "With or Without You" and then one of their all-time greatest songs, "Where the Streets Have No Name" amped up in a live setting with The Edge and his awesome guitar. There was also a neat tribute to Gabby Giffords, with a taped segment from the International Space Station with her husband, Mark Kelly.

A great concert by a great band that 30 years later, isn't really showing their age. Not sure if I'll get a chance to see them again anytime soon, but over a 24 year span, I've seen three awesome concerts by the lads from Dublin.

The Power of Forgiveness

2011-05-03T21:05:00.007-04:00

On Tuesday at IU South Bend we had a speaker named Eva Kor on the topic of "The Power of Forgiveness." What made her qualified to give such a speech? Well, she was a survivor of the holocaust. Traumatic enough, certainly. But she also survived Auschwitz, the most infamous of all the Nazi death camps. But further yet, her and her twin sister were victims of Joseph Mengele's cruel experiments. Yes, if she can forgive after going through all that, I'll listen.

She was only 10 when she got off the cattle car at Auschwitz. She lost her father and brother in the crowd, never to see them again. Her mom held on tight to her and her sister. A Nazi guard went around asking who were twins. When her mom was asked if they were twins, her mom said, "Is that good?" The guard said yes, and took them away. Eva never saw her mom again.

All the twin girls, ages 2 - 16, were housed in a cramped barracks. On her first day, she went into the latrine and saw three dead children lying there. Eva said she made a vow at that moment to survive, no matter what. All that at age 10. Although she didn't go into great detail, she described one experiment she was subjected to when blood was drawn from one arm and some unknown substance injected into the other. This made her extremely sick and she vividly remembered Mengele laughing how she only had two weeks to live. But she did survive, both her and her sister. They hid in the barracks as the camp was being emptied out shortly before being liberated. Of the over 1,000 sets of twins that were at Auschwitz, only about 100 survived. Many of the other experiments were cruel beyond measure. Mengele was a true monster.

Through a long set of circumstances, Eva one day in 1993 found herself back in Germany at the home of a doctor that also was at Auschwitz and oversaw the gas chambers. He claimed that Mengele did not let anyone else know about his horrific experiments and, like many during this time, said he was only doing what he was told to do. But Eva was struck by the doctor's kindness and genuiness at what he claimed was the daily nightmare of reliving what he was made to do there (he was acquitted of war crimes at a trial in 1947). At that moment, she decided that she must forgive not only this doctor, but all those that had been a part of her cruel ordeal.

Eva is in her late 70's now, and the capacity crowd at IU was totally silent the whole time, mesmerized by her story. She has made it her mission late in life to travel around and tell her story and talk about how liberating it was to forgive those that many would say are beyond and completely undeserving of such.

During the day, they were led off to Mengele's laboratory. Many times, her arms were tied extremely tight with ropes and blood was drawn out of one arm and an unknown substance injected into the other. What that substance was, she never knew. But one day, she got extremely sick.

Oscar Yawner

2011-02-28T15:41:00.005-05:00

Wow, that was a pretty boring Oscar telecast last night. I had a great time at the party I went to, but the show itself left much to be desired. Some random observations:

James Franco and Anne Hathaway ventured into David Letterman/Whoopi Goldberg territory as all-time worst hosts. Franco in particular was really, really bad. The taped bit at the beginning was good, but once they were live, all downhill.
I lost the pool because I was the only one to pick Hallie Steinfeld for "True Grit." The little punk lost and so she joins Amy Adams on my list (I lost the pool when I went solo on picking Amy Adams for "Junebug" and she didn't come through).
The presenter/winner combination of Kirk Douglas and Melissa Leo was pretty weird and at times a little cringe-worthy.
Our host, Carolyn, won the pool after a long drought (no one ever dominates, we all take turns winning). She also made some excellent shrimp!
Oh to be like Randy Newman where you can sing so poorly yet reap such a long career.
I was the only one to successfully pick "God of Love" for best live action short film. I have no idea what significance that holds, but figured I might as well put it out there.
One of the biggest standing ovations of the night was when Billy Crystal came out as a presenter. Hmm, perhaps the Academy should take note and book him now for 2012?
Humming any of the nominated songs from last night? Didn't think so.
Best acceptance speech? Uh, I guess the old dude who won screenplay for The Kings Speech and the Director who thanked his mom.
Worst acceptance speech? Pretty much everyone else, but Melissa Leo set the bar high with her F-bomb, rambling speech.
Carolyn kept us informed of Tweets by Roger Ebert, Bill Maher, and others. These were as entertaining as anything on the show.
They no longer allow the audience to clap during the dead people montage. So now, you no longer here the loud applause for the big movie star followed by a few random claps for the the costume designer from "Gigi."
Why do the hosts announce someone to the stage, and then this person's sole reason for being there is to announce someone else to the stage to do the actual presentation?
Cheesy as it often was, sometimes I miss the Oscar telecasts of old, complete with Rob Lowe and Snow White, endless clips, big production numbers, and Jack Nicholson grinning from the front row.

Oscar Movies, Part II

2011-02-21T20:51:00.003-05:00

Some more of this year's nominees:

Best Picture Nominee: The King's Speech
Colin Firth plays Prince Albert, who becomes King of England when his brother abdicates the throne to marry his American mistress. Problem is, Albert has a major stammering problem, which wreaks havoc for someone that's expected to give public speeches. This is even more pronounced as this takes place in the run-up to World War II. So he seeks out the help of a speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush. Both Firth and Rush were nominated for acting awards, as was Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Albert's wife. Very good movie, one that seemed made for Oscars. This is considered the front runner, but I still believe The Social Network was better, but you won't go wrong seeing this one, it is still very good. Note: The movie is inexplicably rated R. This is basically for two brief outbursts of profanity, part of his "therapy," that is all done in a very humorous manner, not offensive at all. The rest of the movie is perfectly clean. Take away those instances and this is a very good movie for all ages.

Best Picture Nominee: Inception
Big summer movie that I missed when it was in theatres. Wasn't enticed by the previews, seemed too convoluted or another variation on The Matrix. But I was very wrong. This is an excellent movie. All about Leonardo DiCaprio who specializes in entering people's dreams and extracting info. But this time he is hired to enter someone's dream and plant info. I know, sounds kinda strange, but it is all easy to follow and the movie hums along quickly, even at 2 1/2 hours. Directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, Dark Knight). He knows his way around action movies. Very original concept, although movie buffs may recognize the basic concept from an 80's movie with Dennis Quaid. Highly recommended, and of the Best Picture nominees, I'd call this one my 2nd favorite behind The Social Network.

Best Picture Nominee: Winter's Bone
Obscure movie that no one saw when it was released. Young girl with a do-nothing mom is basically raising her little brother and sister. Finds out their house and land will be taken away if her dad (who long deserted them) doesn't show up for a court date. Quiet movie, rather bleak, but still well done. Oscar nominations for unknowns Jennifer Lawrence as the daughter and someone else who I can't remember as one of her uncles, who is quite good. It won't win anything, but it's worth checking out, but it's not the most uplifting movie you'll ever see.

Rooting Against the Steelers

2011-02-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

It's not that I have anything against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's just that, okay, yeah, I do have a LOT against them. Every team I've ever rooted for have had their aspirations one way or another thwarted by this team.

The first team I ever rooted for were the Dallas Cowboys, back in the Landry, Staubach years. Later on, after moving to Indiana, I picked up the Colts. The moving to Arizona, I was there when the Cardinals came to town and was a season ticket holder their first two years (so I can truly say I've been an Arizona Cardinals fan all my life). But woven amongst all three of those teams, have been the Steelers.

1976 - Super Bowl X. Cowboys v. Steelers. Lynn Swann makes an incredible acrobatic catch that Bradshaw threw from his own end zone. This got them out of trouble and lead the way to victory.
1979 - Super Bowl XIII. Another Cowboys v. Steelers matchup. Featured the most agonizing dropped ball in history as Jackie Smith, wide open, dropped an easy Staubach pass for a sure touchdown. Had to settle for field goal. They ended up losing by 4 points.
1995 - AFC Championship. Colts v. Steelers. The Colts had the game won so many times, but kept letting the Steelers back in. One play left, Jim Harbaugh of the Colts throws a Hail Mary pass to the end zone. The ball bounces up and comes down right on top of a Colts receiver. I mean, it lands right on his stomach. But he can't grab ahold of it and it fall to the ground. Game over.
2004 - AFC Divisional Playoffs. Colts v. Steelers. The Colts are about to lose as Pittsburgh drives for a touchdown to seal the win. Then Jerome Bettis fumbles at the goal line, Colts run it back to midfield. Peyton Manning drives them downfield. Time for a field goal to send it into over time . . . . not even close.
2009 - Super Bowl. Steelers v. Cardinals. The most agonizing loss ever for a team I've rooted for. Cardinals ready to go up by 4 points at halftime and Kurt Warner throws an interception. Time has expired. But wait, the Steeler defender is still running, still running. Somebody stop him!!! No one does. Touchdown, Steelers up by 10. But in the second half, Cardinals come back. Time running out, Warner hits Larry Fitzgerald running across the field and he scampers in for a touchdown. The kickoff pins the Steelers deep into their own territory. They just have to hold Roethlisberger. They don't.

Curse you Steelers and your six Super Bowl rings. Sorry, but here's hoping you don't win another. Yes, I'm a SORE LOSER!!

Oscar Movies, Part I

2011-01-26T14:14:00.007-05:00

The Oscar nominations are out. Seen some of them, still need to see some others prior to the telecast in February. Here's some comments on the ones I've seen, more to come later.

Best Picture nominee: The Social Network
At one time was a shoo-in for Best Picture, but may have gotten passed up by some others. This movie is all dialogue, absolutely no action; yet it is very fast paced and very interesting. I loved it. Does it stay true to the facts? Don't know for sure, but Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg is great (and was deservedly nominated for Best Actor). According to this movie, Zuckerberg was a combination geek-nerd-outcast-genius-manipulator who took/stole an idea in his dorm room and became a billionaire. The script was nominated for an Oscar too, and should win. The dialogue is kind of Quentin Tarantino-esque and you'll be hooked in the opening scene. Kudos to Justin Timberlake in his role as the founder of Napster. Note: the actress playing Zuckerberg's girlfriend in the opening scene is the new Lizbeth Salander (if you don't know who that is, you're not interested anyway).

Best Picture nominee: True Grit
For a movie overlooked at end of year top ten lists, this one racked up a lot of Oscar nominations. I liked it, but didn't necessarily leave the theatre with a huge WOW factor. But the more I think about it, yeah, it was well done. Jeff Bridges was nominated for Best Actor but he just won last year. However, he certainly did a great job with Rooster Cogburn. Hallie Steinfeld as Mattie Ross would be my choice to win for Best Supporting Actress (even though she was the lead). Anytime she's on screen, you are definitely paying attention.

Best Picture nominee: The Fighter
A true-life movie in which I admired the performances but overall didn't really like it a lot. It's a loud, frenetic, Boston movie (if that description makes any sense). Mark Wahlberg is an up and coming boxer whose brother once fought Sugar Ray Leonard but has since spiraled into drugs. Christan Bale as the brother (Dicky Ecklund) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. His performance is good, but boy is he hyper. Melissa Leo also was nominated as Best Supporting Actress. Again, I guess a good performance but it was very grating, if not downright annoying. Amy Adams also picked up a Best Supporting Actress nomination. She usually plays sweet characters, but not this time, and she is good. A very odd part of this movie were the boxers' 8 sisters, who usually just sat around and functioned as sort of a Greek Chorus, responding to everything else going on with "oh no you didn't" or "you go girl" comments or expressions.

Best Picture nominee: Black Swan
Okay, this movie was just downright weird. A psychological thriller/ballet horror movie. I guess I should admire Natalie Portman's performance, as she will likely win Best Actress. Suffice it to say she is a long way from Star Wars in this role. One of those movies where everything is not as it seems, so don't bother trying to figure it all out. More violent than you might be expecting and just an overall dark atmosphere. The only movie I've seen where even a fingernail clipping scene makes you squirm. Definitely NOT a movie for the little ones, especially if you ever want them to take up ballet.

Movie: "True Grit"

2010-12-29T20:12:00.004-05:00

Saw the remake of the classic John Wayne movie today. I was somewhat hesitant to see it becaue it's directed by the Coen Brothers, who tend to make odd, off-center movies (some are good, some not so good). I was afraid this would follow that pattern, but it doesn't. It's far and away their most straight-forward movie I've seen from them (their movies include Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, and others).

My memory of the John Wayne original is somewhat fuzzy, but this seems to be a faithful remake. I think the focus may be more on Mattie Ross, as she seems to have more scenes, especially at the beginning. But the actress playing the part is wonderful, echoing the toughness of the Kim Darby role years ago. Although sometimes her dialogue in this version seems a little too poetic at times. But overall, it's a great performance and likely to secure a supporting actress nomination.

Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn doesn't make you forget John Wayne, but neither does he make you long for him either. He does just fine, neither adding or taking away anything John Wayne did. Matt Damon is much better in the role played by Glen Campbell, who was a terrible actor; definitely an improvement there.

As I said, I don't completely remember everything about the original, but certain scenes seemed to play out exactly as they did before (for example, the final 1 against 4 battle on horseback). The movie is rated PG-13, but foul language is minimal and although a couple bursts of violence, nothing too gory. Definitely worth seeing.

Rosa Parks

2010-12-02T16:29:00.003-05:00

December 1 was the 55th anniversary of when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. Recently, IU South Bend hosted a speaker, Nikki Giovanni, who wrote a children's book about Rosa Parks and shared many insights into Parks that I hadn't heard before, or explained in detail (Giovanni knew her personally).

Contrary to the myth, Rosa Parks did not refuse to move because she was tired from working all day, she moved because she was "tired of giving in." She was already very much an activist within the NAACP so she was very much aware of the repercussions of her actions.

She sat in the blacks only section. But when the white section was full, the bus driver ordered her to give up her seat (in essence, expanding the whites only section). The bus driver was the same one who, 12 years earlier, sped off and left her in the rain when she initially refused to enter through the back of the bus.

Parks wasn't the first to refuse to move. Nine months earlier, a 15-year old girl refused to move and was arrested. So why didn't this spark a boycott? Well, the treatment of blacks on the city buses had been an issue for a while. But if a case was to be made, they needed a claimant above reproach. This girl, shortly after her arrest, had a child by an older, married man. The NAACP figured she'd be vilified in the press and so they didn't pursue a case (and charges against her were later dropped). Parks fit the bill as above reproach, similar to how Jackie Robinson was selected to break the color barrier in baseball.

But the most fascinating anecdote Giovanni shared was one that I had never heard before. Rosa Parks was not the only one asked to move. There were a couple other black men that were asked to move, and they did. They were never heard from again and Giovanni speculated that they were likely ashamed of their actions and would probably be seen as cowards for abandoning this woman.

But Giovanni said these men absolutely did the right thing and wish they could have been commended for doing so. In those days, for a black male to put up such resistance would have had dire consequences. Their refusal to move likely could have resulted in violence and certainly a much different outcome. The bus boycotts may never have happened.

So when these men sitting next to Rosa Parks moved, this allowed her to sit there all alone, determined to hold her ground . . . and the rest is history.

Book: "I, Alex Cross"

2010-11-08T09:00:00.003-05:00

The latest in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. All of these books used to be based on nursery rhymes, such as Along Came a Spider, Jack and Jill, Roses are Red, etc. But I guess Patterson used all these up, so now the novels are all different variations of Cross (the last 4 novels have been Cross, Double Cross, Cross Country this one, with Cross Fire due for release shortly).

Nothing new or earth shattering in this one. As always, Cross is on the hunt for a creepy killer. More or less the same as in other novels, but this one, as is usually the case, is quite good. Although, it might spend a tad too much time on Cross' home life and Nana Mama.

This always had the makings of a great movie or t.v. series, but they botched it when they cast Morgan Freeman in the two movies that were made. Way too old for this character. Never quite sure why they did that. Always figured a Denzel or Wesley would have been the way to go.

Anyway, for an enjoyable, quick (and I mean quick) read, you can never go wrong with James Patterson. He has a couple of other series going. The Women's Murder Club, which has 9 books now. I only read the first one, which was quite good, not sure why I didn't keep going. Also has a series about teens with wings, which always sounded a little weird. Patterson then also churns out random books with other authors that seem to come out monthly. I've read a few of those and there have been some good ones.

Dos Buen Peliculas

2010-11-06T10:29:00.002-04:00

I think my Spanish is accurate in that the title of this post means "Two Good Movies." Both are in Spanish and subtitled, but don't let that scare you away. These are very good.

Sin Nombre
This has two story threads. A girl traveling with family members from Guatemala to try and ente the U.S. Evidently, it's common for people to hitch rides on the top of trains en route to the U.S. border. The other thread is a teen trying to escape his gang life, and of course the two meet up. Features a very creepy villain with one of the gang leaders. Puts the immigration issue into a different light. Not everyone trying to cross our southern borders are drug dealers. Some are desperate for the better life they know they can get here.

The Secret in Their Eyes
This won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year, and wow, this is a good one. Can't really describe it too much because I don't want to give anything away. The story begins what is in effect 25 years later, as former law office colleagues are reunited. He's retired and is writing a novel, she has become a judge. There's a case from the past that he's now writing about. Thus, the story goes back and forth between the past and present. Don't let the subtitles scare you away, this is a very absorbing movie from start to finish, one of the best foreign films I've ever seen. A word of warning, there is a brief scene of assault early on that is a bit jarring because the movie starts out with a rather meloncholy tone. But I highly recommend this one. Also, I don't usually notice camera techniques, but there is an unbroken shot in a soccer stadium that I'm not quite sure how they filmed it; that is, where exactly the cameraman would have been at.

Election Ramblings

2010-11-03T21:37:00.009-04:00

So now instead of wall to wall campaign ads, it's wall to wall analysis of the meaning of the election. The meaning is this: the Democrats received a "shellacking" (Obama's own words). It's a massive repudiation of the last two years, just like 2008 was a massive repudiation of the previous several years, and so on. Wait until 2012, probably more of the same.

My election ramblings as I was up to 1:00 a.m. watching the returns:

On my Facebook status, I identify myself as a "Right Wing Evangelical Republican Wacko." So yes, I liked the results. I've always identified myself as a Republican and always will. I have cheered many times for what Republicans have done over the years, and cringed just as often. But I'll keep sticking with them. However, I have never voted straight ticket, and never will either. Nor do I embrace the term Independent, which means you don't have to stand for anything and can claim credit for whoever wins.

How DID Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory so quickly? I mean, flash back to November 2008. The Republicans were exiled to the political wilderness and it seemed like a long, long time before they'd ever be back. It's amazing how it turned so abruptly. I still think it was Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts that started it. Democrats fell asleep on that one and from that point on, Republicans got momentum and a huge boost of confidence and never let it go.
The young voters that propelled Obama to power in 2008 stayed home in rather significant numbers. Older voters that voted Democrat in 2008 made a huge swing to voting Republican this time around. Those changes in voting patterns were very detrimental to the Democrats.
I know you can't stand her, but Democrats, quit underestimating Sarah Palin. Also, don't think we Republicans will embrace her as a candidate for President. Polls clearly show we like her as a campaigner, but absolutely not as a candidate.
Republicans all over have absolutely dreamed of the day when Pelosi has to hand over the gavel (I don't think a lot of Democrats will exactly miss her either).
Hey Meg Whitman, was it worth the $140 million of your own money?
Hey California, Jerry Brown was a little wacky when I lived in California while he was governor, and that was 30+ years ago. You may be in for a ride.

Laugh at you want at the Tea Party, but they did make a difference, both good and bad (I mean yeah, they probably caused the Senate to stay Democrat). But the voters discerned very well in keeping Angle and O'Donnell out. They had no business there and were poor candidates. Still, gains were made in the Senate anyway with Dan Coats here in Indiana and a huge symbolic victory by taking Obama's former seat in Illinois.

The only cable channel I get is MSNBC, so it was sometimes painful and oftentimes borderline hilarious watching and listening to Rachel Maddow, Chris Mathews, and Keith Olberman report on the Republican landslide (sorry, tsunami has been used enough).

The best election night news is NBC. ABC is okay, but CBS should just shut down operations on election night.

As I expected, Jackie Walorski lost Indiana's 2nd Congressional District in a close contest. The Libertarian got over 9,000 votes, so that could have been a spoiler. His name was Mark Vogel, one of my former student workers. My boss, a Democrat who is on the South Bend City Council, said he has a future in politics, and I would agree. He held his own in the debate with Walorski and Donnelly. Donnelly is a good guy, and he likely got a lot of well deserved Republican votes. But he won in 2008 by about 15,000 v0tes and Tuesday night by just under 3,000, so Jackie put up a very good showing. She says she'll be back in 2012, but who knows, she may decide life outside of politics ain't so bad.
I like the tone John Boehner set in his speech. No balloons, no cheering, kept it subdued, unlike Gingrich in 1994. The only question is if he'll cry when he gets the gavel from Pelosi.
I really like the diverse field of Republicans that won office, such as Nikki Haley and Tim Scott in South Carolina, Susana Martinez in New Mexico, and others. No, it's not widespread diversity, but definintely a change from how it's been in the past and something the party absolutely has to do.

This was not a vote based on anti-incumbent fever. It was clearly a vote against the Democrats, because very few Republican incumbents lost and a slew of new and long-time Democrats went down. However, it also was not necessarily an embrace of the Republican Party. They have been given, extraordinarily, a second chance after an epic squandering of a political opportunity by the other party. But come 2012, they could just as easily be on their way out as power no longer lasts a generation, but a mere 2 years.

So, we'll see what happens . . .

Voting for Jackie

2010-11-01T09:05:00.002-04:00

While I am very interested in pretty much all the national races taking place tomorrow, one that has my particular attention is that of Indiana's 2nd Congressional District. This pits incumbent Joe Donnelly against Jackie Walorski, who has served as a State Representative for the past several years.

Jackie at one time was the director of development at IU South Bend, so I knew her as a fellow employee. Her parents at one time attended our church in South Bend. She also married Dean Swihart, a longtime friend and colleague of Dorene's, who is also a music teacher in the Mishawaka school system (he plays a mean saxophone, maybe him and Bill Clinton could have a jam session if he gets to Washington).

But the time I most remember about Jackie was when we heard her speak at a previous church we attended. Her and her husband talked about their missionary work in Romania. This was long before she was even in the political arena. She spoke of their work and it was by far the most inspiring talk I've ever heard about missionary work overseas. They were very committed and very passsionate about their work with Romanian youth. Hey, I was ready to head over there myself after hearing her speak.

I always said she was one of the best speakers I'd ever heard, so when she decided to throw her hat into the political arena, I figured that was a good fit. Sure enough, she ran successfully for the Indiana Statehouse in 2004. One of her most "controversial" moves was when she missed the vote that could have possibly stopped our move to Daylight Savings Times, which for me is still one of the most absurd controversies in the history of Indiana politics, as you would have though we were talking about seceding from the Union. But she got through that and in 2006 when pretty much every other Republican went down in flames, she was reelected. In 2008, when every other Republican statewide and nationwide also went down in flames, her and Mitch Daniels bucked the trend and stayed put.

After a few years in the Indiana State House, I knew she would someday go national, and this year was definitely the time to give it a shot. Do I agree with everything she's done? Absolutely not, but that's okay isn't it? Not sure why we have to expect 100% personal compliance from all our elected officials. She is definitely not a lightweight (paging you Ms. O'Donnell) and deep down Rep. Pat Bauer probably would love for her to be gone.

My gut feeling, however, is that she will NOT win this year, and that's okay. Joe Donnelly is quite moderate and has actually done just fine. He was at IU South Bend once for an appearance and I happened to walk through before it began and he approached my to introduce himself and was very personable. He's not one that you can pinpoint any big missteps during his 4 years in office. The campaign against him is basically that he's tied to Obama and Pelosi, which I don't think will work for this race (and Donnelly, like any politician who's party is seen as vulnerable, has done a lot to try and distance himself from the party and Obama/Pelosi, which may or may not be good strategy).

While I will cast my vote for Jackie, I think it'll be a tight race but she'll come up short. But she'll be back again. Is a good portion of my reasoning to vote for her personal? Yep, it certainly is, and why not? When you have personal attachments to a candidate, kinda makes it easier to cast your vote that way, whether or not you agree with everything they do.

Thoughts on Competing Against 7-Year Old Kids

2010-10-04T12:47:00.004-04:00

Okay, so there's this table tennis wonder kid named Michael Tran. He is from Minnesota and is in the second grade. He recently won an event at the U.S. Open Table Tennis Tournament back in July, against adults much older than him.

I myself played him at a tournament in May of this year. I won the first two games quite easily, then he won a game off me. I then took the next game to finish him off. But my oh my was it strange playing this kid. For one, he attracted lots of onlookers, so here I am at 45, having to play pretty hard to beat this kid. His parents were also right there watching. Nice added pressure that I then had the responsibility of eliminating him from the tournament in front of mom and dad.

You look across the table and it's like all you see is this paddle sticking up, he's very short (which is how I beat him, with quick shots to his forehand that he just couldn't get to). But the fact that I'm talking about how I managed to come through to beat a 7-year old kid is just very bizarre.

By the way, his parents were wonderful. Very nice and supportive, and not "little league" parents. Competitive yes, but they will have him well grounded. I just fear that by the time he's 8, my time will have passed that I can still beat him.

Governor Daniels at IUSB

2010-09-23T22:17:00.004-04:00

Governor Daniels made a trip to IU South Bend recently to talk to a group of Business students. It was special invite only, but on the day of his visit, I asked the Dean of the business school if there were any tickets left. He said he did have one so I was able to go.

It was held in our smaller auditorium, so I was up pretty close. Daniels talked for a little bit about the state of the state, basically bragged on what a good job his administration has done and how we're in much better shape than other states (which we are). He then took quite a bit of time to field a number of questions from students, which he answered thoroughly. He was asked directly if he is running for President. Daniels said he's not "currently" running for President, but was straightforward that he hasn't decided one way or the other yet.

I was impressed by his demeanor the whole time he was here. When he entered the auditorium before the speech, he bypassed all the administrators and other dignitaries and went right to a group of students and began talking to them. The Business Dean later told me that he did the same thing when he arrived in his car. Basically ignored him and walked over to a group of students. I like that.

He didn't seem to be in political mode and was very down to earth and eager to talk to us common folk. But at the same time, he was all business. He didn't disguise his disappointment with Obama and his policies and said we're heading in the wrong direction with the current economic policies. Make no mistake, Daniels is all about running things efficiently and he says bigger government is definitely not the answer (he remarked that in Indiana we have 300+ school districts and that we could easily get by with 1/3 that many).

I'm not sure how well Daniels would do on the campaign trail for President, especially against a master campaigner like Obama. But, who know, maybe we'll find out someday.

Seinfeld Reunion?

2010-07-15T12:09:00.006-04:00

"Seinfeld" is easily one of my all-time favorite shows. There are few shows where 10+ years after it went off the air, I'll still watch at any given moment when it comes on. It was a true masterpiece. It's also famous for having one of the all-time worst series finales. Yep, they really botched it. Always wish they'd do a reunion show, but that's never to be. Or is it?

You may not know, but the cast did indeed get together for a reunion episode, sort of. On the HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," starring Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, there was an episode arc last year featuring the original cast as themselves getting together to do a reunion show. On the last show of the season, that "reunion episode" aired.

It's not a full episode, just a few minutes long, but the cast picked up right where they left off, they didn't miss a beat. You can watch it here.

Why I (still) Don't Like Soccer

2010-07-08T15:44:00.004-04:00

Okay, so it's the Netherlands v. Spain in the World Cup final. Alrighty then. If I'm by a t.v., I guess I might check it out, but if not, no big loss.

I've been engaged in some friendly back and forth with some of my student workers, several that are international, in just how boring soccer is and how it'll never be as popular here in the U.S. While I certainly gave it a try for this World Cup, and started getting a little excited when the U.S. advanced, I just can't embrace this game. Here are a few reasons why.

It's Boring - One of the biggest arguments for the pro-soccer side is that soccer is non-stop action and a typical NFL game only has about 12 minutes of actual play time during a 60-minute time span. Okay, technically that's true. But just because there is sustained movement going on doesn't mean it's exciting. They kick the ball this way, they kick it back the other way, they kick the ball this way, and so it goes. Think to any recent last-minute touchdown drive in the NFL and how exciting it is when every play is huge. Very, very exciting.

Stoppage Time - I don't get this rule. Time runs out, they keep playing, making up for injury time or something else. Think of your NFL team kicking a field goal as time expires, but the ref says, "Uh, we still have 3 more minutes to play."

Referees - This recent World Cup could mark a change in how the game is officiated. When the U.S. played Slovenia, we kicked a goal and it was disallowed. However, the ref did not say why. Nor is he required to ever explain his reasoning. Nor is the league office required to explain it.

Furthermore, in baseball, there are 4 officials on the field at a time. In the NFL, there are several. In soccer, there is only ONE to cover a very large field. How could they possibly get all the calls right, or even close sometimes. That makes no sense. But this all could change this year as there have been many questionable calls.

Low Scoring - A 3-1 game is considered a blowout. More often than not, scores are 1-0. Yeah, exciting stuff when they ALMOST score often.

Television - Soccer seems especially dull on t.v. Maybe being there live helps, I don't know. But to watch it, with the continuous play, just doesn't make for very exiting t.v.

Would I be watching the final if the U.S. was in it? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean I'd ever watch soccer again for the next 4 years (kinda like the Olympic sports you only watch when they're on).

So world, enjoy the futbol on Sunday.

#1 at the Table Tennis Club

2010-07-02T10:33:00.003-04:00

It took a while, but last night I made it to the #1 table at the South Bend Table Tennis Club. But I didn't stop there. I not only made it to the top, but I won the table outright. You can check out the results here.

Okay, there is a catch. It just so happens that this week is the U.S. Open Table Tennis Championship up in Grand Rapids. Thus, all the top players in the club were gone, which is the reason I even got to play at the top table.

Next week, I'll be at the #1 table again, but all the top players will be back and I'll get absolutely squashed, thus ending my 15 minutes of fame at the Club. But for one night only, I'll get to hear the coach, Dan Seemiller, say, "Table 1 winner Rick Dennie starts off tonight against . . . ."

Allie @18 Months

2010-05-17T23:11:00.000-04:00

My little girl is already a year and a half! Where's the time going?

Graduation Day

2010-05-11T17:19:00.004-04:00

Tonight is commencement for Indiana University South Bend. It's actually held at Notre Dame because we don't have large enough space on campus. So, for one day, the Irish campus is decked out in IU red.

As the students come forward to receive their diploma, their names are read off by one of our faculty members in the speech department. He does a very good job and really nails some of the long international names. A name like mine would be easy to pronounce. Or would it?

Flashback to 1987 when I'm graduating from Huntington College. As I walk up to get my diploma, the academic Dean calls out my name as "Rick Deenie."

Anna's Final Quiz Meet

2010-05-03T17:37:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday was Anna's final quiz meet of the year. She joined the team at Trinity Evangelical Free Church and this year they studied I & II Corinthians. She really enjoyed it a lot. During one of the quizzes, it went into an overtime 5 question round. She answered the final question in overtime which gave our team the victory. Way to go, Anna!

We asked her what she enjoyed the most about quizzing, and she said when she placed in the top 10 and received a medal (which happened at her first meet). When asked what she didn't like, it was when she didn't place. Hmm, it seems she is able to correlate the effects of studying the material and doing well in a quiz. Next year, she says she'll definitely study more.

It was fun to just play the role of parental observer this time after several years of coaching (and this particular quiz meet at Trinity is one I would have had to coordinate). My parents were also able to be here the quiz, as was Dorene's parents. Anna will be back next year to quiz over John.

At the Table Tennis Tournament

2010-05-02T21:18:00.002-04:00

Today I played in the 46th annual St. Joseph Valley Open table tennis tournament. This year it was held at a brand new facility at Holy Cross College (across the street from Notre Dame and where "Rudy" first attended). I went in having come off a horrible tournament last November where I didn't win a single game and was hoping to do better.

That I did. I came home with a 3rd place trophy in one of the events I entered. I know, you're asking "So what 10-year old oriental kid did you have to beat to get this trophy?" Well, first of all, he was only seven . . .

I ain't kidding. There was this little dynamo that was the star attraction of the day. Every time he played, there was a crowd. I drew him in my final bracket of the day. I called Dorene and told her I was about to play this kid that was a little shorter than Cameron (our 8 year old). I watched him play and he was moving all around the floor, not missing too many shots. When it was my turn, I quickly dispatched him in the first two games, because his weakness was, well, he was so doggone short he had no reach. I hit it to the opposite side and he couldn't get there. Well, at least at first. By the third game, he was moving even quicker and returning a lot of shots I thought were winners. Although, he was so small, I look over and all I see is this paddle waving around furiously. I can't believe how quick he was. He took a game off me, but I came back and won game 4 easily and the match.

So, here I am, 38 YEARS OLDER than this kid. Of course I want to win, but it's oddly conflicting to rejoice in your triumph over someone born in 2003. Although I wasn't the only one having trouble, he was giving lots of older players fits. Although older is a relative term . . . everyone he played was older, anyone younger and they'd be in diapers.

So, I took out little Michael Tran and advanced. I was oh so close to advancing to the finals but lost a 5-game match to a kid from the South Bend club, who is irritatingly nice, so it's hard to get upset at him for beating me. But at least this time I came home with a trophy, something I hadn't done in a couple years. I still have a little bit left.

Note to Steve the next time you are at the Fort Wayne Club. I told a few of your club members sitting close by (Ron Forks, Ricky Reed and others) to take a vow of silence and not tell you I barely beat the little pipsqueak Michael.

"Glee" - I Don't Get It

2010-04-21T20:50:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to latch onto the "Glee" phenomenon, but I just don't quite get all the hype. I've watched the show the past two weeks to see what all the fuss is about. Last night's show revolved around Madonna songs. Lots of musical numbers and reworking of some of the videos, like "Vogue." All well done, I guess, but overall, I didn't find the show all that enjoyable.

Maybe I was expecting a riff on High School Musical. However, when you have two teenage couples rolling around on the bed singing "Like a Virgin," then we've deviated just a tiny bit from the family-friendly confines of those movies (I guess maybe I should have known going in that Glee was more adult oriented).

For all the "Gleeks" out there, more power to ya. Maybe I'll give the show another chance, but it just ain't clicking with me.

Getting Cultured

2010-04-09T21:08:00.002-04:00

Last night I attended the senior piano recital of Tinatin Saralidze, who is part of IU South Bend's Toradze Piano Studio, which features world class piano players. Now, why would I be doing that? Actually, Tinatin (who goes by Tika) is one of my student workers. She is from Georgia, the former Soviet Republic. International students are very much restricted on how they can work when attending college here and are limited to on-campus employment, so I tend to hire quite a few of them (Tika is actually my third Georgian piano player who has worked for me).

When she asked if I could attend the recital, I asked her what she was playing. She said Beethoven's 7th. Now why did I ask that? What do I know about classical piano? What was I going to say, "Yeah, that's a good one. I'll be curious how you play the moderato section in the middle. Oh, you're playing it in D Major? That will really bring out the nuances in what I believe was one of Beethoven's best compositions."

This was her senior recital, as she will be graduating and then headed off to Chicago for graduate school. She, along with all the international student workers I've hired, are great workers and I enjoy getting to know them. As for the recital, I was only able to stay for the first of two pieces (which still ran about 20 minutes as it had 4 different movements). I thought she did a very good job. Kind of amazing that they have to play such complicated compositions totally by memory.

Fortunately, no one put a Pez dispenser on my lap.

. . . And You Think Butler Came So Close!

2010-04-08T14:03:00.003-04:00

Check out this video of the Women's Final 4. Xavier v. Stanford, with the winner going to the finals. A choke for the ages by a Xavier player who will forever be replaying this game in her mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR3OyP8f8Fc

Cell Phone Problems

2010-04-05T20:23:00.000-04:00

My phone has been giving me a lot of trouble. I dropped it a few months back and a piece of it broke off, so I had to tape it back together. It often shuts off automatically, which isn't exactly convenient.

So, Dorene went to the AT&T store to see what they could do. After much back and forth and haggling over early upgrades, etc., it finally came to an equitable resolution, as Dorene is quite the negotiator. She now will be getting a brand new phone and I'll be using her old one.

Let's see now, MY phone was broken, so SHE gets the new one and I'm using the old one. Hmm, did I miss something here?

Allie's First Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-04T22:59:00.005-04:00

We had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning at our church. Lots of neighborhood kids showed up. Allie caught on pretty quick to the whole routine.

Bored at the Oscars

2010-03-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to my annual Oscar party with a bunch of other movie geeks (that is, those that can accurately name, and have seen, most or all 10 Best Picture nominees, can describe why a movie's cinematography or art direction is best, and have actually seen some of the movies in the obscure categories). This was an off-year for me, as I only saw a handful of the nominees. As for the Oscar telecast:

All agreed it was probably the worst show in years. Long, boring, slow-paced, lethargic. Just not an exciting show.
However, I thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did a very good job. They were pretty funny, but seemed to disappear for long stretches. Could've used more of them.
Where was Jack Nicholson?
We were all laughing wildly at the "interpretive dance" number. When you got guys break-dancing to The Hurt Locker, something's amiss. Kinda conjured up the infamous Rob Lowe-Snow White debacle.
Ben Stiller and Tina Fey/Robert Downey, Jr. were the only presenters who seemed to enjoy themselves. Everyone else was pretty blah.
Okay, why a montage of horror movies? Ah yes, trying to woo the Twilight crowd, thus the presence of Taylor Lautner and Kristin Stewart. Awards shows are not popular like they used to be, and I guarantee you the younger demographic won't be tuning in anytime soon to watch this show.
Of course, if you are going to woo the younger crowd, giving the top award to the lowest money maker in Best Picture history isn't a good place to start.
Nice tribute to John Hughes. Makes me want to revisit Breakfast Club, Ferris Buehler, etc.
The whole thing where they have people giving tributes to the Best Actor/Actress nominees is too much. Hey folks, they ain't up for a Nobel Peace prize!
Best Director should have been James Cameron. He took something from scratch and made a billion dollars and transformed the way movies will probably be made in the future. Nothing against Kathryn Bigelow, but her achievement just doesn't compare.
However, I must say that The Hurt Locker was very good and I highly, highly recommend it. Certainly one of the best movies I saw last year. A very tense movie, not very relaxing. It especially does a good job showing how tough it is for our troops to know who is friend or foe (makes you appreciate how well trained our troops are not to fire indiscriminately at every perceived threat). It is very suspenseful all the way through. But shouldn't a movie that wins Best Picture be seen by more than just a handful? It's budget was $11 million and it made about $13.5 million.
No performances of the original songs. Too bad. Can you believe one of the highlights would have been a duet with Jeff Bridges and Colin Ferrel? I saw Crazy Heart and really liked it, with one of the highlights being a duet with those two. But then again, hearing all the songs would have meant also hearing from Randy Newman.
Without Bush in office, no political jabs. I guess suddenly everyone in Hollywood, including Sean Penn, likes the war in Iraq after all.
Overlooked movie: Invictus. I don't understand the rules of rugby, even after seeing the movie, but a great story of how Nelson Mandela used the all-white South African rugby team to unite the country.
Sandra Bullock, excellent acceptance speech and great sense of humor.
Monique, dial it down a notch, you didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize (okay, I already used that line).
Jeff Bridges, you said "man" a lot.
What's the matter Barbara Streisand? Ticked off you didn't win with Yentl?

I didn't win the pool again. I basically win every 6 years and am not due until 2013. My picks were pretty lousy. So much for the Oscar movies, time to switch gears and look forward to Iron Man 2.

Last Ticket to Avatar

2010-03-05T09:16:00.002-05:00

Last night I became probably the final remaining person on the planet to see Avatar. This was the last week it was playing, so I wanted to see it before the Oscars on Sunday since it is up for multiple awards.

I wasn't sure what to expect, since I was seeing the movie 2 1/2 months after its release and long after the hype and a gazillion articles had been written about it and it had become the #1 movie of all time. So, I guess my expectations were rather low.

But I was very impressed and loved the movie. For being nearly 3 hours, it never slowed and I thought the storyline (criticized as being weak) was just fine. Then the technical aspects of the movie were truly astounding. Much better use of CGI than Lucas did in his newer Star Wars movies. The 3-D effect was not gimmicky. There were maybe only a couple shots where something comes right at you (which is typically what 3-D movies go after). Instead, there was just an amazing depth and clarity to all the scenes. I often looked out over the top of the 3-D glasses to see the difference and it was huge. If you saw this movie in 2-D, then you really didn't see it as was intended, because you missed out on what James Cameron had been perfecting for the past 14 years.

This movie and The Hurt Locker are supposed to be the top contenders for Best Picture. I thought The Hurt Locker was very good, but which of these two movies will stand the test of time? No contest, there. Cameron shouted out he was "King of the World" when we won for Titanic a while back, and he may get to do that again.

Sending My Taxes to Fresno

2010-02-25T16:58:00.004-05:00

Today I mailed my completed tax forms to the IRS in Indianapolis for my state return and to Fresno, California for my federal return (that's the mailing label I was provided). Wait a minute. Fresno? Not a city that probably many people know about, but seeing as I grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley, I know exactly where it is. So, here are my Fresno memories:

We actually lived 60 miles south of Fresno in a little town called Pixley. Don't even try and tell me you know where that is. Compared to Pixley, traveling to Fresno was going to the BIG city.
Fresno is the raisin capitol of the world. In the 3rd grade, we took a field trip to the Sunmaid raisin factory. At the end of the tour, you get a box of raisins. In the 5th grade, we toured the olive factory in Lindsay, California and you got to sample olives. I much preferred touring the Hershey chocolate factory as a kid.
We traveled to Fresno a lot because they had a big Christian bookstore that my dad liked to go to. They also had a nice big mall.
Not nearly as popular as the Ft. Wayne Komets, but we occasionally ventured out to see the Fresno Falcons hockey team.
I really got into Fresno State University basketball in the early 80's. They had a good team and went all the way and won . . . .the NIT tournament. Hey, it was still exciting for that part of the country. Go Bulldogs!
In the early 80's, Fresno was named the worst city in the country, and there was a mini-series called "Fresno."
All the t.v. stations we got were based in Fresno. I remember once while on spring break with a college friend in Flint, Michigan, we turned on the news and there was a former sports anchor from Fresno. Hmm, went from Fresno to Flint (which also at one time was named worst city in the country).
Nothing much exciting happened around Fresno, except for one time in the neighboring city of Chowchilla in 1976. A school bus full of kids were kidnapped and buried underground in a semi-trailer. That was one of the first 24/7 news stories I remember following. It turned out good, as all the kids were rescued, but everyone was riveted waiting to hear news, because nothing like that had ever happened anywhere.

Take good care of my tax forms, Fresno. Send me a refund, but you can hold the raisins.

Working the ACT

2010-02-21T23:19:00.000-05:00

IU South Bend is a testing site for the ACT, so many Saturdays I am on campus administering one of these exams because I'm the site coordinator. This past Saturday, I gave the ACT Explore, which is a pre-ACT exam designed for elementary age students.

It's a pretty easy gig. I just need to arrange the rooms and other workers, and make sure all materials are held in confidence and returned immediately. Students are always easygoing and follow the rules. Even though the verbal instructions ask if anyone has any questions, I don't think anyone's ever asked a question in the 15+ years I've been doing this.

Of course, I wasn't at the ACT Explore exam in January, when one of the elementary age kids did have questions/suggestions. It was after the break and the adminstrator asked if there were any questions. This 5th grader pipes up, "Yes, how about if we go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves." So, they did that. Then, the same kid asks "How about if we find out what everyone wants to be when they grow up?" So, they did that too.

Oh yeah, why wasn't I at this particular exam? Well, I was playing the role of the parent this time around and as such, wasn't allowed to be an administrator. So, yes, that was Anna in the testing room getting everyone to introduce themselves and disclose their future ambitions (my colleague said, "your daughter is a real trip"). If you don't know my daughter, let me tell you that is pretty much par for the course. Put her in a group, and she's already getting them organized.

Oh Yeah, the Olympics Begin Tonight

2010-02-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

I had kinda forgotten this was a winter olympics year, and with them being held in Vancouver, we'll likely see a majority of events live. I don't really know who our prospects are, except for Apollo Ohno and basically all of our snowboarders, who I don't know by name, except for Lindsay Jacob-Ellis, who tried to show off 4 years ago at the finish line, fell down, and finished with a silver.

I'm not familiar with our figure skaters, but that will soon change because coverage of that event goes 24/7 once the games begin. I'll still tune it at times. I especially like some of the skiiing, such as the men's downhill (one of my earliest Olympic memories is Franz Klammer winning it in wild fashion back in 1976). The luge and tobaggon can be fun to watch, and also the ski jumping. Speed skating is kind of boring, and hockey just doesn't cut it anymore since 1980 when our true amateurs beat the Russians.

Well, That Stunk!

2010-02-07T23:03:00.004-05:00

Thought we had the makings of a Super Bowl blowout after the first quarter, but the Colts really let this one get away. I thought the Colts lost this one in the final minute of the first half. When they stopped the Saints at 4th and goal, that was huge. But then they went all conservative and went 3 and out, giving the Saints time to get a field goal and swing the momentum back their way. I think that gave the coach more confidence to go for the onside kick to start the half, which was a huge gamble that paid off.

Did Drew Brees have an incomplete pass in the second half? He just totally picked apart the Colts pass defense. Manning couldn't get anything going either, only tried the long ball a couple times. He then had his Brett Favre moment at the end with that horrendous interception for a touchdown. They just couldn't get things to click the second half, but the Saints were totally unstoppable. But it didn't help as it seemed the Colts really never let their offense loose. Way too conservative play calling on the part of the coach.

As for the other part of the game:

In the group I was with, everyone laughed the most at the Dorito's commercial where the dog puts the shock collar on the guy at the park bench. That was good.
The "casual Friday" commercial was also pretty good.
A good chunk of the commercials were pretty lame. How many did Budweiser have? They sure had a bunch.
So, what was all the big deal over the Tim Tebow ad? That was much ado about nothing. Unless you knew the story behind the ad, you probably had know idea what it was even about.
I wish Danica Patrick wouldn't attach herself to the risque Go Daddy commercials. That's when we always have to distract our kids.
I'd say the halftime show with The Who was possibly the worst show in quite a while. I wasn't sure Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend were going to make it through their set. Just not a whole lot of energy.

So, another successful season for the Colts. They've won more games than any other team over the last 10 years. That should be commended. However, in that same span, Tom Brady has won 3 Super Bowls and Ben Roethlesberger has won 2.

Oscar Nominations

2010-02-02T13:31:00.003-05:00

This year, a total of 10 movies were nominated for Best Picture. I've seen two of the nominees thus far, so I'll need to get busy in time for the Oscars on March 7. The nominees are:

Avatar - I'm the only one on the planet who hasn't seen it yet.
The Hurt Locker - However, very few on the planet saw this, as it made less than Avatar made in one hour, but it's supposed to be very good. The director, Kathryn Bigelow, used to be married to James Cameron, director of Avatar. Can you imagine if she beats him out, since his movie has made so much money?
Precious - I don't care if I see this one, no matter how tastefully it deals with incest.
Up in the Air - Not a single person I've talked to has really liked this movie.
The Blindside - On the other hand, every single person I've talked to has really liked this movie; I'll try and check it out; heard Sandra Bullock is especially good.
Inglourious Basterds - I did see this one and it was sort of odd; not the action movie you may be expecting, but lots of long dialogue scenes with quick bursts of violence, and it rewrites the ending of WWII. Not a boring movie, but not one I'd consider great, either.
Up - Pixar can do no wrong.
District 9 - Cool sci-fi film from South Africa; very well done, I liked it a lot.
An Education - Please raise your hand if you've heard of this movie.
A Serious Man - Again, please raise your hand if you've heard of this movie.

"Simon," Our Low-Tech Content Blocker

2010-01-31T20:58:00.002-05:00

Who Dat Next to Freddie Simpson?

2010-01-27T10:35:00.004-05:00

Okay, so who exactly is Freddie Simpson? Well, he's the President of the Rail Teamsters Union, which is part of the national union run by James Hoffa.

He is also Dorene's uncle, who we see when we are down in Kentucky for family reunions (and being a supportive member of the extended family, I still have a Hoffa/Simpson bumper sticker on my car when he ran for union president back in 2006).

Now I know when I think Teamsters, I tend to think of the old rough and tumble days with Jimmy Hoffa, bodies buried in the end zone at Giants Stadium, that sort of thing. But I've met "Uncle Freddie" several times and he is the nicest guy you'd ever meet. Very laid back, soft spoken. I imagine to rise to the top of a union you have to be fairly forceful, but then again, maybe nice guys do indeed finish first. I've always been very impressed with him.

Recently, Dorene's parents visited her grandmother, who is in her 90's and in a nursing home, and showed her the above picture. Now, of course, her mind sometimes isn't like it used to be and she kept asking, "Who is that standing next to Freddie?" They told her it was the President, then a few minutes later, she again asked who that was standing next to Freddie. She asked the same question a couple more times while they were there, just not sure who that man was standing next to her son.

So, sorry about that Mr. President, but for this old lady in Kentucky, you're not the celebrity in the picture.

A Note to the Colts and Coach Caldwell

2010-01-23T15:04:00.002-05:00

Just remember, that back in December when you rolled over and quit against the Jets, that game, had you won it, not only would have given you the run at history, but also would have eliminated the Jets from the playoffs.

Now the Jets are back and playing like they have nothing to lose, and so far they haven't. The Colts are favored, but so were the Chargers and Bengals in the playoffs. The Jets owe you big time if they win tomorrow, and you'll have one long off-season explaining this one away.

Jay v. Conan

2010-01-21T16:19:00.002-05:00

Well, this got kinda interesting. Looks like NBC's experiment didn't work out so well. Conan's last show will be on Friday, then Jay returns to the Tonight Show spot on March 1 as NBC abandons the Leno show at 10:00 p.m. Meanwhile, Conan can't do anything until September, due to his contract. But don't shed too many tears, he's getting something like $40 million to walk away.

I didn't think Leno's show was THAT bad, but I also have to admit I haven't watched a single episode since his first. It seemed lacking some of the energy of his older show, but I still thought it would turn out okay. As for Conan, I watched his Tonight Show #1 and that was it. Maybe I'll watch his last one Friday night, or maybe not.

Either way, they both ain't no Johnny.

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

2010-01-20T09:26:00.003-05:00

That would be the Democratic party this morning. In what surely has to go down as one of the most botched campaigns in history, the Democrats lose a seat that belonged to the legendary Ted Kennedy, with his signature issue, health care reform, as a central issue in the campaign.

It's typically no surprise when one party has complete control in Washington and screws it up. Democrats did it when Clinton first took office, Republicans did it when Bush was in office. But I have to say I figured it was going to be a long, long time before Republicans made any kind of inroads to returning to power (even the GOP victories in Virginia and New Jersey last fall were sort of written off). Had you said just a few months ago a Republican would win Kennedy's seat, you'd gotten laughed off the stage.

Problem is, I think Martha Coakley believed that too, in addition to the fact she'd be the first woman senator from the state. I watched MSNBC last night (we recently downgraded our Dish Network package and that's the only news channel we get). Even the trifecta of Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman weren't putting any positive spins on this one. None of the pundits they brought on were saying, "Hey, the night is early, let's wait until all the returns are in." Essentially, the blame game was on, but this time no one could blame Bush or a vast right wing conspiracy. It was a poorly run campaign, pure and simple (and even Matthews and Maddow couldn't say anything bad about Brown, who they admitted ran a masterful campaign).
The Democrats were blindsided by this one, and it was too little too late when they tried to rally at the end. From what I heard, Coakley took the holidays off while Brown campaigned hard. Probably made the difference.

As for health care reform? If it all comes down to whether the Democrats have 60 votes, then it's probably not a good idea. I certainly agree we need some major fixes in health care. We recently had our baby daughter in the hospital. Had we not had insurance, then the bill would have sunk us. Something certainly has to be done here, but who knows what'll happen now.

One thing that will happen is that the Democrats have re-energized the Republican party in a huge way. Not a good move on their part. Suddenly, the 2010 mid-term elections are going to turn into a real dogfight.

The Cardiac Cardinals

2010-01-10T21:55:00.002-05:00

Wow, what a game! That was the single most nerve-wracking game I've ever watched. I really thought the Cardinals had a choke for the ages, but they pulled it out by the ridiculous score of 51-45. When Neil Rakers missed that short field game as time expired, I figured the Packers would march right down and score (which both teams were doing because neither defense could stop the other). Green Bay gets the ball, then they rush Aaron Rodgers and before you know it, the Cardinals defensive end has the ball and is waltzing into the end zone. Game over. What an incredible finish.

On to New Orleans . . .

Our Manger Scene

2009-12-29T21:28:00.005-05:00

Here is the manger scene we set out for Christmas every year. This has been in the family a very long time, I'm not sure when my parents purchased it, but I remember being very little and playing with the sheep and camels.

The stable we had to replace and the figurines of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are replacements, but all the others are still original. I would have to say it's about 40 years old.

I'm not sure who had it last, but when I heard it was in a box somewhere, I snatched it up. Now, my kids get to help set it up as I did way back when.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me!!!

2009-12-28T22:59:00.002-05:00

We were in Kentucky over the weekend with my in-laws. When I say Kentucky, I mean in a remote area with no t.v. or internet access. Thus, I heard no news. On the way home today at a restaurant, I happened to see a sports wrap-up show (with no volume) and noticed the Colts lost. Yikes, I was afraid that might happen, because the Jets are a good team and had to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

But when I got home, I decided to get the scoop and find out what happened, and I am totally aghast at the coach. A chance for history and they don't even make a feeble attempt at capturing it? Why did Manning not go back in when the Colts lost the lead? I didn't see the game, but I imagine Colts fans all over were screaming at their t.v. to put Manning back in.

So, the Colts are in the playoffs and have home field advantage throughout. Yeah, whatever. You know, it's going to be kinda hard to get totally excited about them in the playoffs. They could win the Super Bowl but there's always going to be a big "What If . . ." hanging over the season. They had a chance to be one of the all time great teams. A loss to the Jets would have been disappointing, but to lose in the fashion they did just really casts a pall on the entire season, no matter how it ends up.

As for the coaching decision, it only gets worse the more you read. I read a column by Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. He made the following observations about games earlier this season:

The Colts led Arizona 31-10 in the fourth quarter. Manning was behind center the entire game.

The Colts led Seattle 31-3 with eight minutes left. Manning was in there until the bitter end.

The Colts led at Tennessee 31-9 with five minutes remaining. Manning was in there, as usual.

Same with the game in St. Louis. Complete blowout. Manning was behind center in the fourth quarter.

Yeah, I'll stop now because this is going to keep me ticked off for a while.

The Value of Friends

2009-12-22T17:14:00.002-05:00

We've been having a lot of vehicular challenges this past week. On the way home Saturday evening, our 1996 Buick suddenly stopped. I mean, it just stopped running and I was barely able to get off the side of the road. I was on a very busy street and sort of felt like a sitting duck, because the battery was drained and I couldn't even use my hazard lights. Dorene was in our van so she was able to come by and at least serve as a beacon for oncoming traffic.

We called our pastor and he came by and gave me a jump start so I could drive the car to the nearby Meijer parking lot, where we let it sit for a couple days. I had visions of major $$ having to be spent, so I wasn't anxious on finding out what was wrong (figuring that maybe this car was done for).

It turned out that the alternator gave out. A couple in our church canceled their plans last night and Harold came by and diagnosed the problem. In spite of my suggestions that it could wait until morning, he took out the alternator and we went and got a new one. Then, in the rather frigid temperatures last night, he installed the new alternator and I was able to drive the car home without incident as it ran perfectly.

Needless to say, we took them out for pizza, the least that we could do. Guarantee you that was a lot cheaper than a mechanic would have charged (another drawback to living far away from a mechanic brother that can also do this stuff). But wow, that was so great of Harold to do this. All I did was hold the flashlight and watched him stand there in the cold and help us out. You can't put a price tag on that folks.

Meanwhile, we just had to put 4 new tires on our van, because we were basically driving on bald tires. Yikes, I just love cars!

@Ford Field

2009-12-21T16:33:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I got to finally spend my September birthday present. Dorene had gotten me tickets to see the Arizona Cardinals v. Detroit Lions at Ford Field. I'm a big Cardinals fan and I took along our pastor, who is a huge, huge Lions fan. Since we had to skip church to go to the game, I assumed God would favor the Cardinals, because the Lions have had such a lousy team lately.

It had been 20 years since I went to an NFL game, as I was a season ticket holder of the Cardinals for their first two seasons in Arizona. They played at the stadium of Arizona State University. Lately, teams have been building these football palaces, and Ford Field is no exception. It is in downtown Detroit, which is not the scary looking place I thought it might be. It is right next to Comerica Park, where the Tigers play. Parking is scattered about in downtown lots. The farther away you park, the cheaper it is. We parked about 6 blocks away, which wasn't too bad.

The picture above was taken just before kick-off from where our seats were at, and as you can see, not exactly a full house (and they were advertising cheap tickets for the season close in January). But the stadium is gorgeous. It's essentially a mall with a football field in the middle. Concession stands or shops every 5 feet, with all kinds of different food items. Very clean and well maintained and light years ahead of the college stadium the Cardinals used to play in (although they have their own football palace now). Ford Field seats a lot, but it seemed to me every seat was a good one, even if you were all the way at the top.

As for the game, the Cardinals took a 17-0 lead in the first half and it looked like a blowout. The Cardinals were getting ready to score again in the 3rd quarter when Kurt Warner pulled his move from the Super Bowl. At the Lions 10 yard line, he through a pass that was intercepted on the goal line, and the defender . . .yes, he ran it all the way back for a touchdown. Yikes, suddenly we have a game. The Lions got the ball back quickly and on their first play from scrimmage, the running back goes 64 yards for another touchdown. I had commented to Pastor Greg that I didn't want to see a blowout, but now I was having second thoughts. The Lions ultimately tied the score, but then with just a couple minutes remaining, Warner engineered a perfect drive capped off by Boldin scoring the winning touchdown. The other picture above is me after the game in hostile territory celebrating the Cardinals win (and they clinched their division and are headed to the playoffs).

The Lions have a fight song. Every time they score, a guy comes out and leads the crowd. I wasn't sure if it was cool or cheesy. The lyrics go something like this:

Forward down the field, a charging team that will not yield;
And when the blue and silver wave, stand and cheer the brave,
RAH! RAH! RAH!
Go hard win the game, with honor you will keep your fame;
Down the field and gain, a Lions victory.

Maybe if they are winning, it would be cool, but when your record is 2-28 over the last two years, it seemed cheesy. The fans are getting a little disgruntled. In fact, on the way out, some fans were selling their version of the Steelers' "Terrible Towel." This one was called the "We are Terrible" Towel. Ouch!

But anyway, had a great time. If you've never been to an NFL game, I highly recommend it. A much different experience than watching it on t.v. My only complaint is every time I see a game live, they keep taking away that yellow line so I don't know where the first down is at.

A Day Without The Kids

2009-12-19T22:25:00.002-05:00

Today, Dorene and I got to go Christmas shopping, sans kids. Dorene's sister is in town and booked a room at Varsity Club Suites in Mishawaka. So, she took Anna and Cameron. Dorene's parents went to the hotel and helped watch Allie. That gave us a day to finish up Christmas shopping, and we certainly needed the time because the stores were packed.

However, I love it. I've never complained about stores being too busy. Because, DUH, it's Christmas time, it's supposed to be busy. If you are too bah humbug, stay away and let the rest of us enjoy ourselves.

We didn't quite finish everything, still have to get Cameron something, but that's about it. Everyone else is all taken care of.

An interesting thing took place at Meijer. We were looking at toys and a kid, about 10 or 11, nice clean cut looking kid, came up to Dorene and handed her a two-dollar bill. Said he wanted to give it to us because we seemed like a nice family (by this point, we had Allie with us while Anna and Cameron stayed with Dorene's sister). Never had that happen before. Have no idea why. But, hey kid, that was very thoughtful of you.

My Wife, the Amazing Teacher

2009-12-10T12:03:00.002-05:00

Last week, Dorene had her annual Christmas program at Navarre Intermediate Center. Now, you've possibly been to middle school programs before and suffered through them. Well, you don't suffer through Dorene's programs, you truly enjoy them. She doesn't just have the kids stand on risers and go through the typical Christmas songs. She does full-scale productions.

This year was no different as she put on a musical called "Santa Goes Green" which, as you can tell by the title, emphasized the environment. Her standout performance was by Mrs. Claus, by a student that is probably borderline autistic, but that just totally nailed the character. I guarantee you no other music teacher would have given this student a chance, but Dorene did and she was definitely the highlight.

Dorene didn't feel this was one of her better performances, although the rave reviews from fellow teachers keep coming in. My nephews Curt and Jonathan came up as Jonathan did a DVD of the program to sell and Curt manned the sales table.

There's something else that you'll notice when going to one of Dorene's programs, and that is the discipline. Her kids are not talking during the performance or being a distraction. If they are not performing, they are being quiet, which is quite an accomplishment for middle school kids.

In fact, earlier this week, Dorene herself was surprised when all her kids sat quiet and actually quite spellbound by a group from IU South Bend that did a performance for them at Navarre. What was the performance? It was an opera, and these middle school kids didn't make a peep the whole time.

Our Christmas Kick-Off

2009-12-07T21:06:00.003-05:00

For the past couple years, we've kicked off the Christmas season at the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park near Angola, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite family gathering places. It's about a two-hour drive, which is far enough so we feel we're far from home, but doesn't take too long to get there, so it's not too taxing on the kids.

The rooms are nice. Not huge, but more than adequate for what we need. It has a pool that the kids spent a lot of time in. This was Allie's first experience in a pool and she was cracking up as Dorene and I tossed her back and forth. Anna and Cameron are absolute fish in the water and are never ready to get out of the pool but could go for hours.

There is also a really cool craft room that Anna especially likes. You can choose from tons of plain wooden, foam, or paper crafts which you then paint, color, etc. Anna and Cameron both made gifts for their teachers and some others. Cameron likes it but would prefer to go next door to the game room where I introduced him to Ms. Pac Man (I scored 135,700 thank you very much).

The one attraction that Pokagon is famous for is one we actually didn't do, and that's the toboggan run. Neither Anna or Cameron wanted to do it yet, although I think by next year they'll want to give it a try. No big deal, we're not going to force them to have fun ("hey, we drove all this way, you WILL try it"), so if they'd rather just hang out in the motel, that's fine.

The pool sufficiently wore the kids out so both nights we were there they slept quite good. We took our own food and ate at the buffet at the Inn on Saturday, which was pretty good. The place has a very down home feel and is very family friendly, lots of people come to kick-off Christmas as we noticed several carrying in presents during check-in. We'll definitely be back next year.

Notes from the World of Football

2009-12-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

No surprise here in South Bend, Charlie Weis was fired at Notre Dame. When he took the job, he said a .500 team just didn't cut it. Well, after back-to-back 6-6 seasons, he was right. Don't shed too many tears, Notre Dame has to pay out the remaining 6 or 7 years of his 10 year contract they stupidly gave him a few years ago. The coach that seems to get mentioned the most as his replacement is Brian Kelly from Cincinnati. The last coach Notre Dame got from that town was Gerry Faust.
I don't care who plays for the BCS Championship, because the usual suspects Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc. have all been there. It won't interest me at all. However, what WOULD interest me would be to see Boise State have a shot. I'd be watching that one.
At this point, can anyone even touch the Saints? They are absolutely crushing everyone they play, but don't always get the headlines. They remind me of the St. Louis Rams when Kurt Warner joined them and they came out of nowhere and just cruised through the season en route to a Super Bowl victory. This just may be one of those years for the Saints, with a Purdue quarterback leading the way.
Say what you want about his being wishy-washy, but Brett Favre is having an incredible year for the Vikings. If my Cardinals don't make it back to the Super Bowl this year, that's the team I'd like to see get in from the NFC (just as long as they lose to the Colts).
South Bend is losing the College Football Hall of Fame next year. So hurry on up if you don't want to miss it. Let me know if you come, maybe I'll join you. It would be my first time visiting, too.

Facing the Penguin

2009-11-23T23:09:00.003-05:00

This was a toy that baby Allie received from her Uncle Stu and Aunt Joyce. However, it has since become Cameron's chief nemesis. For whatever reason in the mind of our 7-year old son, he starts off every morning locked in mortal combat with this inflatable penguin.

He always hurries through his breakfast and asks me if he has time to "fight the penguin" before it's time to go to school. So, he marches off to battle. Mr. Penguin gets thrown across the room, slammed, jumped on, and generally pulverized. But he keeps coming back for more (kind of the Weeble effect). It's a pure bare-knuckle brawl, Cameron has yet to get out his light sabers or other weapons of mass destruction.

Why exactly must he fight the penguin? I have no idea. It just started one day and it's been going on for a couple months. I don't think any winner has been declared yet, it's still a draw.

Back on Track with Table Tennis

2009-11-19T22:37:00.002-05:00

Had a good night at the South Bend Table Tennis Club tonight. Won all 4 matches, gained a lot of points on my rating, and won my table so I can move up. Beat a guy which frustrated him so much that he broke his paddle. Actually, it's the second paddle he's broken on my account. You know, I have that real intimidating, trash talking persona that brings out the worst in people.

Just Saying Thanks

2009-11-19T15:47:00.003-05:00

One of my student workers came by the office today with a petition that is going to be sent to our state and national representatives. Of course, my first thought was, "okay, what cause am I being asked to support?"

But nope, no cause. The petition read, "We're not asking for anything today, just wanted to say thank you for all the work you do." A petition to say thank you to our elected leaders. I think we could stand to see more of that. Come to think of it, that is a good cause to get behind.

Help from a Good Samaritan

2009-11-17T21:04:00.002-05:00

This last weekend, Dorene and a friend were shopping when an announcement came over the PA system for the owner of a red Chrysler Town and Country to come to the front. Well, that was our mini-van, so Dorene went to see what it was all about. They went to the parking lot and a man was standing there who was very nervous about what had happened. Dorene could see that the side door was open and the man indicated that he thinks someone had gotten in and ransacked the van. Who knows what they may had stolen. This person was very helpful in reporting this and Dorene was grateful. However, as it turns out, all was well, no crime done.

You see, when Dorene went into the store, Allie's diaper bag fell into the way of the automatic sliding door and kept it from closing. That's why it was left open. As for the van being ransacked? Well, what the gentleman saw was just the normal state of our van with three kids. Yes, perhaps it does need to cleaned out.

I'm sure mom must be so proud.

The Colts Won???????

2009-11-16T09:06:00.001-05:00

I went to bed early, figuring the Patriots were headed for a blowout. Should've known better, I guess, although the Colts just didn't look as good.

As for Bill Belichick, that was a choke for the ages. No matter how bad your defense is playing, it's always better to punt it away and make them go 70-80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown rather than gift wrap it for them and start on your own 29.

Not than I have even .0000000001% sympathy for Belichick, because I don't.

Not My Best Tournament

2009-11-15T22:57:00.000-05:00

I traveled to Highland, Indiana today for the annual Highland South Shore Table Tennis Tournament. I've had a very good experience with tournaments. I either bring home a trophy or at least add some points to my rating. Well, neither happened yesterday.

The first two events I was in was for those with a rating under 1500 and under 1625. In the Under 1500, I beat one old guy and lost to another. The one I lost too I remember him beating me a couple years ago. He's actually quite good and puts some real tough spins on the ball. In the under 1625, I barely beat one girl and then lost to another after being up 2 games to 0 (Steve, this was Cindy Trykall). Then I lost my final match, which would have advanced me had I won, but losing 3 games to 0 easily prevented that from happening.

For my third event, I did something more for just the fun of it. There was an event called the "hardbat open." This is essentially old school ping pong. You use a paddle with no sponge, just the rubber with pips facing out. Basically the kind of paddle you play with in your garage or church basement, which produces a real "thunk" when you hit it. In addition, the games are best of 3 to 21 instead of best of 5 to 11.

I lost both of my matches in this event, although one I was up 20-18 in the final game and then choked. But it was interesting playing this type of game. For one, it is more tiring. No spin on the ball, so rallies are much longer. Seeing as a regulation game can be 40 points instead of 20, it also takes longer to play a game and there's time to recover from a slow start. You don't need nothing fancy. I got a $5.00 racket from Dick's Sporting Goods and did just fine. I'm hoping that the annual tournament in South Bend next spring has this, because it was fun.

So overall, bad tournament for my rating, but I still had fun. Better luck next time.

Breaking News

2009-11-12T12:17:00.002-05:00

I get "CNN Breaking News" alerts sent via email. The one today was, "Fort Hood Suspect to be Charged with Murder."

Uh, yeah, as opposed to . . . . .?

Movie: "Michael Jackson This is It"

2009-10-28T22:23:00.007-04:00

It's kinda interesting when you think about how the public perceives Michael Jackson now and how they did just before his death. He was scheduled to do a series of concerts in London, but when they were announced, it barely caused a ripple here. Even as they approached, you never heard much about them, or that MJ was in Los Angeles rehearsing. It seemed the concerts were a last ditch effort by him to either regain some of his stature as the King of Pop or to pay off the massive debts he had. Michael had become nothing more than a tabloid sensation, with ever increasingly bizarre behavior, and he hadn't performed in almost 10 years. After he died suddenly in June, interest did grow about these concerts he was preparing for, and then it was found out lots of rehearsal footage existed, which was made into the documentary I went and saw tonight.

Based on what I saw, I would have to say that Michael was poised to make a phenomenal comeback. He wasn't just planning a concert, but it was a massive stage production complete with 3D special effects, filmed sequences, and much more. He assembled an impressive line-up of dancers and musicians (my favorite being female guitarist Orianthi Panagaris, but the other lead guitarist, a male, ain't no slouch, either).

I guess what most people will wonder when they first go to see this is, how does he look? Well, he is very skinny, but other than that, he seems just fine. He's very courteous to his fellow performers and crew, makes his intentions clear without being a spoiled prima dona. Can he still dance? Oh yeah, he still has the moves, amazingly so. He never seems distant or detached, just his usual calm, reserved self that I remember from his 80's heyday.

The rehearsal footage assembled is pretty amazing. You see many songs performed close to how they would have been performed in the actual concert. The sound is very good, it doesn't have the feel of raw footage being shot by a handheld camera. The dancing is wonderful, and all the instrumentalists are great (and Michael isn't selfish, he allows them to be spotlighted). Also, they just seemed to be having a blast! This would have been one fun concert to be a part of. I don't think anyone was expecting this from Michael at age 50. He wasn't just going to phone in his performance, he was truly giving it his all, and it shows in the rehearsals.

You don't have to be a big MJ fan to enjoy this. I don't know how much fans were paying for the London concerts, but they were going to get their money's worth. Would Michael truly have ended his career after the London concerts? I don't know. After word got out how great they were, I think there would have been a huge demand for a worldwide tour. Based on what I saw in this documentary, I would loved to have seen the final, polished product (but what you see is still very impressive). This is only playing in theatres for two weeks, so go quickly, you won't be disappointed.

Clever Students

2009-10-21T23:28:00.002-04:00

I teach a freshman-level college skills course at IU South Bend. This past week, we spent time in class preparing for an exam they were to take. I divided everyone into small groups to review the different test strategies and how to memorize the material. The test was over a chapter from the textbook. One of the strategies was taking random information and organizing in a way that would be easy to remember. For example, taking a list of 6 terms and making a sentence out of the first letter of each term.

For this example, the first letter of each term they were trying to memorize was E, L, D, H, C, W. Below is the sentence they came up with using these letters:

Every
Losing
Domer
Hates
Charlie
Weiss

I thought that was pretty good.

Dodgers v. Phillies

2009-10-17T21:54:00.002-04:00

Watching the Phillies play the Dodgers in Los Angeles brings back memories of when I was at my peak of baseball fandom (my interest now only somewhat perks up during the playoffs). Back in the late 70's, the Phillies and Dodgers met several times in the National League playoffs. At the time, we lived in California and each year we made a trek down to Dodger Stadium. The first game we ever went to? Yep, Dodgers and Phillies during the regular season.

Dodger Stadium is not located in the heart of Los Angeles. You exit the freeway and go up this hill to get to it. You kinda wonder where this thing is at, then suddenly you come up over the hill and the sky blue stadium sits in the middle of a massive parking lot (which, by the way, is a zoo getting out of).

We usually went down 1 - 2 times a year. Ironically, I was never a Dodger fan. In fact, I rooted against them big time. I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, this during the era of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose. So, we often went to see the Reds when they came to town. But, despite my interest in seeing them lose, the Dodgers were an enjoyable team to watch during the late 70's and early 80's. For one, this was when teams stayed together a long time and they had a remarkable team with players like Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and many others, including Mike Sciosia, who's now coaching the cross-town rival Angels.

The first game I went to featured home runs by Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies. For the Dodgers, Rick Monday hit one and a grand slam was hit by none other than Dusty Baker, now a successful coach in the major leagues. Yeah, not quite sure why I remember who hit home runs for an early season game over 30 years ago, but maybe since it was my first trip to a major league game, that made it memorable. It was also memorable in that we were delayed in traffic several hours getting there (traffic accident on the mountain pass) and delayed again on our return trip (another traffic accident on the mountain pass). Not sure if she sang it at the first game I went to, but I remember multiple times Toni Tenille singing the national anthem (you know, as in Captain and . . .

Dodger Stadium is quite old now, and I think it's the oldest next to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. I've been to several stadiums in my lifetime, but this one is still the best. Plus, it also has the best hot dogs of any ballpark . . .Dodger Dogs!

Returning to Bible Quizzing

2009-10-14T09:24:00.003-04:00

Anna is on the quiz team at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend. Dorene and I used to be quiz coaches there and it's been fun returning but this time in the supportive parent role. We're not switching churches, just having Anna join their quiz team as a free agent. Kinda cool in that two of our former quizzers are now the coaches.

Anna had her first quiz last weekend in Peoria, Illinois. We weren't sure how she'd do because quizzing puts you in the spotlight and you also get told "wrong" several times. This didn't faze Anna a bit. She stepped it up and kinda surprised us. She finished in the top 10, which is quite good for her first quiz meet.

Even better is that quizzing is divided up into two divisions, upper and lower. As a 5th grader, Anna is on the lower division. However, there weren't enough teams quizzing in the lower division, so they combined everything so the lower teams (typically first-year teams) quizzed against the experienced teams with high school juniors and seniors. Anna held her own and outjumped many of the older, much more experienced quizzers. Can you say, YES!!

Cameron has played soccer, basketball, baseball and gymnastics. Anna has not really had anything to call her own. But she called Grandma Dennie after the quiz and told her, "I finally found my sport."

Not to brag on her or anything, but watch out, she's gonna be a good quizzer and comes from good quizzing pedigree. Both my brothers quizzed as did all my nephews and niece (whom I told practiced with laminated note cards in the shower). Myself, we didn't have a quiz team at our small church in Pixley, California, so I never got to quiz. But if we had, I'm sure a team that had me and Jeff Prine would have been unstoppable.

A Nobel Peace Prize for Obama?

2009-10-09T09:24:00.004-04:00

Any Republican that questions this is going to be called a right-wing nut that can't accept the fact that Obama is President. But wait just a minute here. Does he really deserve this award NOW? I mean, what has he really done after just a year? I perfectly accept Obama as being President, he won handily, but this award kinda puzzles me.

When I think Nobel Peace Prize, I think of past winners like Lech Walesa, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Gorbachev, and Jimmy Carter. Usually the award is given as more of a lifetime achievement or for some truly monumental efforts at peace (like Walesa and Gorbachev). Oftentimes it goes to someone you've never heard of, but who has done something extraordinary.

I just don't see Obama deserving this just yet. His "war of necessity" in Afghanistan has gone quickly downhill in his year in office with last August being the deadliest month yet for our troops (we lost 48, but no one seemed to notice). Iraq has stabilized, mainly due to the troop surge he was against. Not saying Obama would never deserve the award . . .but not yet.

Is this making up for the sketch on SNL last weekend which mocked him as a do-nothing President?

Allison Diane Dennie @1

2009-10-08T11:20:00.001-04:00

My baby girl turned one today!

Bring Home the Games, Obama

2009-10-01T08:41:00.002-04:00

For some reason, Obama is getting some heat for lobbying on behalf of Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Not sure why this could be a bad thing. I think it would be great if Chicago were awarded the games. If ever I was going to have an opportunity to see an Olympics in person, this would be it. In fact, I'm not positive, but South Bend could possibly be a site because of our artificial white water course (which has been used before in Olympic trials). If anything, I think it would be cool to see the torch relay come nearby and to go see that.

A few years ago, Paris was the frontrunner for the 2012 games but was upset by London. A lot of the credit was given to Tony Blair for his lobbying on behalf of that city. So, if Obama can bring the games to us in 2016, more power to him.

However, I'm thinking that Rio de Janeiro is going to get the games. South America has never been awarded an Olympics and recent history has the U.S. doing pretty good securing the games with Lake Placid (1980); Los Angeles (1984); Atlanta (1996); and Salt Lake City (2002). The other cities in the running are Madrid and Tokyo. I would think Madrid would be a long shot since Barcelona just had them recently. Tokyo would probably be the long-shot upset if they won.

Note to Bill Clinton

2009-09-29T16:39:00.003-04:00

Okay, so you still think there is a vast right wing conspiracy? Now, did it keep you from being elected twice to the Presidency? Did it keep the Democrats from retaking the House and Senate in 2006? Did it keep Obama from gaining the White House in 2008? If there's a conspiracy, it sure ain't doing very good at whoever they are conspiring against.

Wait a minute, are you still not coming to terms with the fact Obama beat your wife in the primaries last year and you don't have direct access again to the West Wing?

Birthday Weekend

2009-09-28T22:24:00.000-04:00

The birthdays for myself and Dorene are just 3 days apart, so we usually combine celebrations. Not this year, however, since Dorene reached the milestone of 40.

I got her a room at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewana for her and two of her friends last Friday, which was her actual birthday. They came back late on Saturday after doing the shopping thing in Shipshewana. She had told me a while ago that this is what she would like to do on her 40th when I was suggesting how it should be celebrated (she had actually forgotten she said this, so she was surprised when I told her what she's be doing). Meanwhile, I stayed at home with the kids and had a lot of fun just hanging out with them.

For my 45th birthday tonight, I came home and Dorene, the kids, and the dog were all gathered around the big rock in front of our house. Made for a nice picture but I didn't have my camera with me. But that was a nice thing to come home to. For dinner, I got some wonderful lasagna cooked by Dorene and Cameron (not exactly sure what he did, but he was very proud of it). Anna made my favorite cake, which is yellow with chocolate frosting. Allie just sat in her high chair and didn't contribute.

For my present, I got a Cadbury candy bar, which is one of my favorites. However, tucked in the wrapper were tickets to see the Cardinals v. Lions at Ford Field in December. Okay, this is a really good candy bar now. She said she tried to get tickets to the Cardinals v. Bears, but they were much more expensive. Go figure, it costs more to see the Lions than the Bears? The game is in late December, so by then Ford Field could be really empty unless the Lions make a serious run at it this year (after 0-16 last year, probably not). For the Cardinals, hopefully they can get it together, but either way I look forward to seeing Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald in action.

Next up: Allie turns one on October 8.

Catching up with Alex Cross

2009-09-23T11:00:00.002-04:00

Recently finished "Cross Country," the latest novel by James Patterson to feature detective Alex Cross. One thing about a Patterson novel is if you say, "Wait just a minute, I need to finish this chapter," you are actually overestimating the time it'll take to finish. Patterson is known for his rather short chapters.

I've always very much enjoyed all of the Alex Cross series, but this one probably ranks near the bottom. It starts off well enough, with Cross on the trail of a typically ruthless serial killer. But then he sends Cross off to Africa, and everything kind of bogs down. Not much really happens, and I guess Patterson wanted to show his humanitarian side by describing the plight of the Nigerians. In addition, Cross seems to get beat up a lot, which is unusual for this character (note to Hollywood: Morgan Freeman was the wrong choice to portray this guy).

So, not too thrilled with this book. Will have to wait for the next one, which won't take long, because Patterson really cranks these out. He's also written a number of other books with other authors. I've read several of these. One I won't read is "The Quickie," if for no other reason so I don't get caught coming out of the library with a book called, "The Quickie."

The "New" Jay Leno

2009-09-15T11:26:00.003-04:00

I watched the rebooted Jay Leno show last night. It actually was okay, only I'm not sure what exactly was new about it. It seemed to be pretty much the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He had guests, some pre-recorded bits, pretty much what he did before. Came out shook hands with the crowd as always, joked with Kevin Eubanks, had some pre-recorded bits. Nothing all that new. Maybe a little bit less formal than the Tonight Show, but basically the same.

However, with Conan's ratings not doing so hot, maybe the same old show is what people want. I've never "got" Conan. His style of standing up there and making jokes of how unfunny he is was much better mastered by Letterman and (especially) Johnny Carson. Conan just doesn't do it for me and after his premiere, I've yet to watch it again.

Leno seemed to be enjoying himself and I think his show will probably do just fine (although the interview with Seinfeld was kinda boring). As for Kanye West, I thought he was basically a jerk for what he did in stealing Taylor Swift's moment so his teary confession last night didn't move me a bit. In fact, some of my student workers were talking about him yesterday, and were saying how it's getting harder to listen to his music because of all his antics.

Maybe Wilson is On to Something

2009-09-10T12:06:00.002-04:00

Of course the most memorable part of Obama's speech last night was Rep. Joe Wilson shouting out, "You Lie!" in the midst of it. As expected, this was called "outrageous," "unheard of, " "outside the boundaries of civility," and the list goes on. Wilson apologized, saying his emotions got the better part of him.

But you know, maybe he's onto something here. You ever watch the Prime Minister questions that takes place in Britain? Occasionally I've come across this on C-SPAN. I believe it takes place on a weekly basis, where the House of Commons gets to directly ask questions of the Prime Minister, and anything goes. There is nothing scripted here, so the Prime Minister has to be ready for anything, and it's not always pleasant. Lots of grumbling goes on during the responses he gives. Yet, the country goes on. I've never heard of House of Commons representative coming to blows, so they must have mastered the art of how to appear uncivil but asking questions they feel need to be asked.

We often complain about so-called Presidential press conferences and how scripted they are. Or, how the President doesn't really have to answer to anyone and avoids any kind of direct question that isn't fed to him in advance (this goes for any President).

So, what if we adopted the British model? Have a time each week where the Congress could ask the President anything they want and have him respond on the spot? For Bush, this would have been a nightmare. For Obama, he'd need an IMAX size teleprompter to be ready for all the possible questions.

Going to the Circus

2009-09-04T11:46:00.005-04:00

Last night the famous Carson & Barnes Circus came to the town of North Liberty, Indiana. Okay, THEY say it's famous and been around 70+ years, but I'd never heard of it. This was actually a fundraiser for the small Christian school that our kids attend and the big top (which was pretty good size) was set up in the grass by the North Liberty Church of Christ.

Growing up, I vaguely remember a 3rd grade field trip in Arizona to see a circus. But other than that, never went to one nor remember ever caring to go to one. Although, I guess I also did go to Circus Circus, but that was in Las Vegas and not exactly the same thing (the trapeze artists for the circus last night, we were told, came from Circus Circus).

The kids absolutely loved the circus, and even baby Allie sat there kind of awestruck. They had the usual assortment of circus acts. You had your jugglers, your acrobats, trapeze artists, and of course the animal acts culminating in the elephants doing their thing ,which Anna really thought was cool. There were also clowns, but I wasn't scared of them like Kramer (that's a "Seinfeld" reference).

Dorene and I were not into it all that much, but it wasn't for us, it was for the kids and they indeed had a blast. We sort of analyzed what the circus life must be like. One thing I noticed was that every single act began with the announcement, "From South America, please welcome . . . " In other words, these were probably all undocumented workers making minimum wage (if they were lucky). I believe just about every act was from South America, except for the dog act from the Ukraine.

The ringmaster was straight out of some old movie. A large fellow with a booming voice. During intermission, he came out with a yellow python that you could get your picture taken with. Anna likes snakes, but not that much. Also during intermission, they do all they could to milk more money out of the parents. They set up pony rides and elephant rides right there in the middle. How could you say no? Thus, Cameron got his elephant ride and spent his other $$ on a light saber, to go with his ever growing collection.

40 Years in Prison . . .Justice Served?

2009-09-03T12:07:00.003-04:00

Susan Atkins is 61, has terminal brain cancer, and is paralyzed over 85% percent of her body. However, she was just denied parole from her life sentence in prison. Has she paid for her crime? The victim's sister doesn't think so, and she says Atkins staying in prison for life is the least that can be done.

I guess both sides have a point. No, Atkins isn't exactly a threat to society anymore, so what harm would it do to release her? Hasn't she served enough?

But, on the other side, you have the sister of Sharon Tate, victim of one of the most horrific murder scenes in recent memory. Susan Atkins was part of the infamous Manson Family that went on a murderous spree in 1969. I can see why she wouldn't want Atkins out, paralyzed or not.

Athough, I guess one could argue that Debra Tate should "move on" with her life and take solace that the family members have stayed in jail for as long as they have (they let Squeaky Fromme out recently, but she wasn't involved in the murders). It seems almost an unhealthy obsession 40 years later to be arguing for more prison time.

But then again, I read the excellent book about the case, "Helter Skelter," and remember Atkins describing how she held down the very pregnant Sharon Tate as she pleaded for her life and that of her unborn baby, but to no avail as she was stabbed multiple times.

We'll leave this one to the parole board.

Back in Class

2009-09-01T23:06:00.001-04:00

Today was my first day teaching class for the fall semester. I teach a class called "Threshold Seminar" which is designed for under-prepared, incoming freshman. Have a nice diverse group of students, including 4 older students (we call them "non-traditional" students in higher education) who tend to be more vocal than the pups right out of high school.

Had some brief introductions and reviewed the syllabus (that's higher education talk for course outline) then jumped right in on case studies of potential problems that students may have beginning college. Had great discussion, kinda surprising on Day 1 for everyone to chime in, but they did. This bodes well for the rest of the semester. I also have a student mentor working with me the whole class, which really helps because that tends to ease the anxieties of incoming students when they have a fellow student in such a role.

Looking forward to class on Thursday, but not necessarily looking forward to having to grade homework all the time.

Glad That's Over

2009-08-22T22:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the final new student orientation of the summer at IU South Bend. Orientation is one of my major job duties and yesterday we had our largest ever. Over 450 domestic undergraduate students in attendance with an additional 40 international students and 125+ parents and guests. My job? Well, basically coordinating everything from A to Z in regards to orientation. Everything from recruiting and training student mentors, staff and faculty advisors, lunch, all the set-up logistics, rounding up speakers, printed materials, you name it. A lot of work, but always very rewarding. It's exciting to see all these students and parents on campus beginning their college careers.

But I'm still glad this one was over. Being so big, things had the potential to go wrong because I'd never worked with this large of a crowd before. But they didn't, everything went quite smoothly. Rain would have been a disaster but it held off until after we were done (I always tell people I do an anti-rain dance the night before).

Now, it's time to begin planning for next summer, but first I need to get ready to teach my class of 20 students in our freshman seminar. That too I look forward to each fall. Classes begin August 31, so I probably should get rolling on this.

Tired of Brett Favre

2009-08-19T12:46:00.002-04:00

Okay, so he IS now going to play for the Vikings. Wow, this guy is full of drama. Does anyone really care to watch this guy? Will anyone really want to tune in on October 5 when the Vikings host the Packers or on November 1 when the Vikings play at Green Bay?

Yeah, I'll be interested, too.

A Couple Clint Eastwood Movies

2009-08-13T11:36:00.003-04:00

Clint Eastwood directed two movies that were released last year. One was a huge hit and the other was a huge bomb. I caught up with both of them recently.

Gran Torino
This was the huge hit. Eastwood plays an aging racist who comes to befriend the Korean neighbors next door, in particular the son who tried to steal his car. Ultimately the movie plays out fairly well, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Part of the problem is with the Eastwood character. He seems a little over the top in his racist rants and there's a strange scene where him and a barber are teaching the Korean kid all about racist dialogue. I just didn't buy into the fact the Eastwood character was really like this, didn't seem very realistic (was this "Dirty Harry" in retirement?). So, while it does build up to a pretty good ending and there's an interesting priest character, I just didn't like the movie as much as I thought I would.

Changeling
This was the huge bomb, and to me, the far better movie of the two. In fact, very, very good. It tells a true story that seems almost to "out there" to be true, but it is. I checked on a lot of the facts and Eastwood pretty much told it straight. It's set in 1920's Los Angeles where Angelina Jolie, a single mom, has a 7-year old son that goes missing. The cops aren't too eager to help find him, but suddenly do . . .only Jolie insists who they found is not her son (he's not). How the cops respond to her is more of the story that I won't divulge. Suffice it to say that women questioning the cops in 1920's Los Angeles was not looked on too favorably.

While that part of the story I knew going in, there was a subplot that I was not expecting, and it plays a critical role in the movie. There is another villain that enters the story that may or may not be part of the whole mystery of what happened to Jolie's son. It's another true story that seems too far-fetched (and horrifying) to be true, but it is.

I highly recommend this movie, but parents be forewarned. Do not under any circumstances let your kids watch this. There are a couple scenes that to me were downright horrifying. At one point towards the end, I almost stopped watching it, and I don't usually have that strong of a reaction. But being the father of a 7-year old son, you'll know why when you see it. Yes, the movie is very well made, and not explicit, but what is implied is more than enough.

Changing Names

2009-08-11T22:15:00.001-04:00

Radio Shack has recently decided to change it's name to "The Shack." Their rationale was that everyone already refers to the store by that nickname. In talking with my nephew that used to work there, he said only internally was it ever referred to that way. Hmm, we'll see how that all works out.

Recently, Circuit City changed it's name to "The City." They went bankrupt before all their signs could be updated.

Kentucky Fried Chicked has survived the change to KFC, as has Federal Express to FedEX. However, will anyone truly refer to that big building in Chicago as the "Willis Tower?"

Another strange one is the cable Science Fiction Network changing to "Sy Fy." Yeah, that helps promote literacy in our nation.

Anna and the Underdog

2009-08-10T09:44:00.005-04:00

Our 10-year old daughter Anna is a social butterfly. Nothing makes her happier than to have other kids around to play with. When we go to a motel, after about 5 minutes in the pool, she knows everyone's name.

But there's a deeper part to her that really makes me proud. Anna also is very inclusive. She wants every kid to have a good time and makes sure that happens. Anna herself is a little quirky and a little odd, so maybe that's why she doesn't see anyone else as being quirky or odd. She just wants them to have fun. Recently we were at a playground and one girl was crying because another girl had evidently hit her. She was over with her mom and wasn't going to play anymore. Anna went over to her and before you know it, both of them were running around having a great time. I've seen her sit with special needs' kids and talk to them like she would anyone else, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were different. She has a heart for the underdog. Those that might get left out, she makes sure they get put in.

On Sunday, our pastor spoke on III John. One of the verses he highlighted was verse four, which reads, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Someday, I imagine Anna could give us a run for our money on that one and make us wonder what we did wrong. But for now, nothing makes this father more proud than to see his daughter practicing the golden rule to its fullest.

World Pulse Fest 2009

2009-08-08T23:12:00.006-04:00

Spent all day today at the World Pulse Fest here in South Bend. This is the annual FREE Christian music festival that just gets bigger and bigger. I believe the crowd estimates today were about 50,000. It rained pretty hard in the morning then got really hot in the afternoon. For the first time, I borrowed a canopy and took it along, which really helped.

As we always do, we hosted a "pre-Pulse party" at our church for some visiting churches from Michigan and Ohio. The Ohio church group were brought over by my nephews Jonathon and Benjamin (sporting his recently shaved head, a contrast to Jonathan's ample hair supply). Dorene and I stayed up until about 1:30 a.m. playing games with the Ohio group. Played some game where you basically beat the crap out of someone with a rolled up magazine as you try to guess what cartoon character they are.

As for the music this year, things started off with the Robbie Seay Band, who provided a painfully bland set of unmemorable music. They were followed by Aiyesha Woods, a talented voice, but not much to get excited over. I dozed off a bit during her set, catching up on the lack of sleep the previous night. But I knew good things were to come, and they did.

Next up was Hawk Nelson, a Canadian group that has really hit it big in the last few years. They are a very energetic group. Not real deep on the lyrical content, but a very fun group to see live. In fact, the lead singer said, "I'm not good at speaking, I'm better at using music to speak." A lot of singers should take that advice because nothing's worse than trying to hear someone be profound when they have no public speaking skills. I like this group and had seen them once before and really enjoyed them. They are very popular with youth today.

It was the next group that I looked most forward to seeing. I had heard that David Crowder Band was a very good live act, and wow, that was certainly an accurate assessment. This is one talented guy and probably one of the most unique personalities in Christian music today. He is a very gifted writer and his concert went against my expectations. I mean, he has kind of a strange look and with his deep lyrics, I was expecting an introspective concert with a lot of deep insights. Not at all. This guy is FUNNY, and in a very offbeat way. Kinda hard to describe. For example, at one point he gets out his keyboard guitar, and deadpans, "Behold, the keytar." He keeps playing it for the next song because, "I can feel the keytar, are you feeling it?" Very offbeat sense of humor, but I just loved it.

There were no deep insights (he just let the music do the talking). Some of the banter back and forth with his bandmates was really funny. Crowder has a unique look and voice. You think he'd be pretty calm on stage, but then he's off jumping up and down with the other guitarist. I love this guy! If you ever get a chance to see him in concert, please do.

You know what else he does? He has fun on stage. There is a joy in his performance that to me is missing with a lot of Christian performers, particularly in the worship genre. There seems to be this notion that you can't just have a concert and certainly can't have fun at it, but that you have to provide a "worship" experience, otherwise it's not legit or something. What makes one concert worshipful and others, like Crowder, less worshipful? He's easily one of the best songwriters and performers out there right now, but he doesn't take himself seriously, and didn't force us to have a "worship" moment all the time (you know the drill: stand up, raise your hands, close your eyes, go accapella on the last run-through, look upward, and be careful not to smile too much, otherwise it might look like you are enjoying yourself).

Mr. Crowder, you just made one somewhat marginal fan a HUGE fan today.

There was another act to close out the day. The Pulse Fest has a way of having this great act followed by a mediocre one that is a huge letdown. A couple years ago, Kutless had an awesome set and were followed by Michael W. Smith. Last year Toby Mac's adrenaline rush of a performance was followed by Casting Crowns (who I'm sure provide many "worship" moments). In both cases, we skipped out. Today, after the awesome David Crowder performance, he was followed by Jeremy Camp. Yep, we skipped that one, too.

The Films of John Hughes

2009-08-07T10:58:00.005-04:00

John Hughes died yesterday at the age of 59. The last film he directed was "Curly Sue" in 1991. Hmm, no, I didn't see that one either. Before that, his most recent movies had been "Uncle Buck" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Both of those were pretty good, but not what I would consider great movies.

Ah, but go back a few years, and he made some truly great films, one of which I would put on a very short list of my all-time favorite movies. His first movie was "Sixteen Candles," which served to launch my college-days crush on Molly Ringwald. Very funny movie, especially in the scenes featuring "the Donger." This one also featured a geeky Anthony Michael Hall. Hughes also directed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." If I come across this movie on t.v., I'll always stick around for the scene in downtown Chicago where Matthew Broderick leads everyone in "Twist and Shout."

But it was his second movie that he'll be best remembered for and is one of my all-time favorites. This would be "The Breakfast Club." I had no desire to see this when it played in theatres and just sort of rented it as an afterthought one night. Wow, I was totally blown away and watched it repeatedly over the next few years. Kinda strange in that basically the whole movie is 5 teens just sitting around talking. Not something that you think would be all that interersting, but it was and holds up well (and, it also had Molly Ringwald).

I couldn't necessarily relate to the characters in the movie (all had messed up home lives and casually did drugs), but nonetheless, it was a movie that has stuck with me all these years. Plus, I would say that it has the all-time greatest theme song. The song was "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds. It plays over the opening and closing credits. If you are watching the movie for the first time, it's just another song. But after the movie is over, the following lyrics are very poignant:

"Will you recognize me, call my name or walk on by . . . ."

A Bit of a Water Leak

2009-08-06T15:39:00.002-04:00

The sink in our bathroom is slightly clogged, so you can't leave the water running. We've known this for a while, but just haven't gone out to get that $5.00 jug of Drano to get it unclogged. Been too busy.

We're not too busy now.

On Tuesday, Cameron had a dental appointment. As Dorene was in the van getting ready to leave, she sent Cameron back in to wash his hands. He did. But he left the water running. At full blast. The appointment was at 1:00 p.m. They returned at 7:00 p.m. Figure it out.

Dorene called me at work and said we had a bit of a catastrophe. Water was all over the bathroom and it leaked down into the basement and thoroughly drenched our laundry room (cement floor, luckily) and also the carpeted area of the basement (not so lucky). We borrowed a pump and wet vac and did all we could, but the carpet especially was still soaked.

Dorene called the insurance company to see if they covered water-related damage caused by 7-year old kids and irresponsible adults. To our surprise, they did. Although, we still have to cover the deductible, which is substantially more than the $5.00 jug of Drano. So, we had the professional water-removers come out, because to not do so and risk mold down the road could then lead to thousands of dollars. So right now, we have blowers all over our house getting rid of the water, and it's working quite well.

By the way, before I went home after Dorene called me about the damage, I stopped at Menards and got that $5.00 jug of Drano and fixed the clogged sink.

Back from Campmeetin'

2009-08-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Last week, our family attended Wesleyan Family Camp at the church campground in Fairmount, Indiana. For trivia buffs, that's the hometown of two "Jims," Dean and Davis (as in movie star and cartoon cat creator). The campground is situated on the edge of town and is fairly large, and fairly rustic (no Camp Michindoh here). Earlier this summer, we purchased a pop-up camper, so that's what we stayed in for the week.

It had been over 25 years since I attended a church camp for an entire week. I remember the days of Canyon Meadows (family camp) and Quaker Meadows (teen camp) in California. But it had been a long time since I had taken a whole week off. The summer is always my busiest time at the university, because I coordinate orientation for incoming students. Family Camp always conflicted with orientation so what was the solution? Hmm, suddenly orientation didn't conflict this summer. Wonder how that happened.

It was a great week. We camped alongside our pastor's family (8 kids, yes, 8 kids). Our campsite is located right next to the playground, which makes it very convenient. You can eat in the dining hall and the food isn't all that bad, but we did all our own cooking anyway. Got one of those portable table-top propane grills so I did burgers, sausage, chops, etc. all week long.

There were services in the morning, but the afternoons were open and often there were activities available for the kids. Although for the most part, our kids enjoyed riding their bikes around camp and just hanging out with our pastor's family more than anything else.

Evenings services began at 7:00 p.m. and a couple evangelists from within the denomination took turns speaking at night (they both spoke during the morning sessions). One of the speakers was HC Wilson, who heads up Global Partners, the Wesleyan missions organization. He was very good and had a very downhome style, with lots of asides (which some may have interpreted as being all over the map, but I loved it). The other speaker was John Ott, from a mega-church in Roanoke, Virginia. He was also quite good, although sometimes was a little too dramatic and I found myself trying to Google some of the "true stories" he told to verify his facts (evangelistic hyperbole perhaps?).

After the evening services, we usually visited the snack shop (a really nice one) and hung around our campfire until midnight or later. One night we drove a short distance to Upland, Indiana and a visit to the famous Ivanhoe's ice cream parlor. Some good stuff, used to go there occasionally while attending Huntington College.

If all goes well, this will be our family vacation for many years to come. We all enjoyed the week very much and you truly "get away from it all" during this time. This was the first time ever where for an entire week, I literally did not read a single news headline, sports score, or knew of anything else happening in the world. It was nice.

Clinton to Obama: "You Owe Me One!"

2009-08-04T23:50:00.000-04:00

Clinton did his job freeing the two journalists, but have you seen any of the pictures of him with Kim Jong II? I think Clinton is doing all he can to mask his contempt for the little pipsqueak and having to apologize for what happened. He knows Jong will take this and show how he helped bring America to it's knees. I'm sure Clinton could not wait to get out of there and not have to get his picture taken anymore with Jong.

Movie: "Public Enemies"

2009-07-19T18:13:00.002-04:00

Saw this movie yesterday. Good retelling of the Dillinger story. Directed by Michael Mann, who did Last of the Mohicans, Miami Vice, Collateral. His movies always look good, and this was no exception. Nothing really new to the story, so if you are familiar with the Dillinger saga, all the usual bits are here (escape from Crowne Pointe jail with a fake gun, escape from Little Bohemia, etc.). Johnny Depp plays Dillinger quite well. Christian Bale is okay as Melvin Purvis.

It wasn't a great movie, and if you are not interested in the Depression-era gangsters, you probably won't like it all that much. It doesn't really add more than you already know, although there's a bit of revisionist history as to who exactly shot Dillinger and evidently the "Lady in Red" was dressed in orange. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although if you like the story, the early 70's movie, "Dillinger" with Warren Oates is one of the better ones.

I'm Not a Big Golf Fan, But . . . . .

2009-07-18T21:01:00.004-04:00

The British Open is one of the big 4 major tournaments in golf. After three rounds, the leader is none other than Tom Watson. A blast from the past, Watson is 59 years old! He won the British open back in 1977! The oldest person to win a major tournament was I believe 48. I read that Watson recently had hip replacement surgery. He's playing against much, much younger players. The other odd thing about this tournament is that Tiger Woods didn't even make the cut.

I believe I'll be tuning in to this tomorrow to see how it all pans out (although with the time difference, I think you can catch it all online before the U.S. network coverage begins). If Watson wins, it would go down as one of the biggest surprises ever in any sport.

Bush v. Obama at Baseball

2009-07-15T17:10:00.008-04:00

So, who is the better pitcher, Bush or Obama? Obama had his chance last night at the All-Star game, and there has been some watercooler talk about it. By the angle shown on Fox, you can't tell if he made it to the plate or not. From what I've read, it didn't quite make it (the catcher, Albert Pujols, helped him out).

Hmm, I'm not always into these conspiracy things, but it does seem like they purposely played that angle so he wouldn't look bad. When a pitch is thrown, the shot you always see is from the centerfield camera. The camera angle on Obama was nothing that's ever used and seemed like the equivalent of an amateur botching the shot.

Compare it to the Bush video of throwing out the pitch at Yankee Stadium shortly after 9/11. It was a perfect strike (and seen from the centerfield camera).

Doin' the Moonwalk

2009-07-14T16:44:00.009-04:00

This is a picture that Associated Press picked up on. A guy by the name of Tim Gilleand jumped up on the dugout and started doing the moonwalk during a Michael Jackson tribute last week in Gary, Indiana. Tim is from South Bend. He is also the worship leader at our church, Sonlight Fellowship Wesleyan Church.

He also has a complete video clip doing MJ's "Billie Jean" dance from the Motown special. He's actually pretty good. Check it out.

Sarah Barracuda Resigns

2009-07-07T14:51:00.002-04:00

Hmm, can't completely figure this one out. Palin was considered a front-runner to run for President in 2012 and has been commanding big crowds wherever she goes. But she's giving up the governorship with still a lot of time left.

I don't buy the whole "lame duck" thing. If that was the case, one should never run for re-election where term limits are involved, because you'd be a lame duck as soon as you were sworn in for a second time.

Doesn't seem to be any special investigation of her going on by the FBI (well, nothing that they are admitting to. No disappearances to Argentina or the Appalachian Trail.

Maybe she's just tired of it all. She has been under intense scrutiny (and that's a major understatement) since that day she was introduced by John McCain. Could be she never realized just what it was like to be under the national spotlight. Not sure what this will do for any future political aspirations . . .and maybe she doesn't have those anymore.

However, don't shed too many tears. She'll be fine and if she chooses to do so, she could have an extremely lucrative career on the lecture circuit. I'm sure we haven't heard the last from her, but it certainly was a surprise to everyone when she suddenly resigned.

Like I said, maybe she was just tired of it all. I certainly wouldn't blame her for that.

Flying Solo This Week

2009-07-06T09:34:00.004-04:00

It's just me at home until Friday. This week is Junior Bible Camp and that is where Anna is the whole week. Dorene is also there working security (?!), which basically gives her an excuse to ride around in a golf cart. Our pastor's wife is also doing this with her and I'll guarantee you they will have a blast and the campers will enjoy having them around. Baby Allie is with Dorene also. Cameron, meanwhile, is at mom and dad's for a few days.

This is a very busy week for me as I am coordinating 400-500 students and guests that will be on campus this Friday for new student orientation. So, I couldn't exactly take any time off to watch the kids.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T16:41:00.002-04:00

With all the tributes pouring in about Michael Jackson, I kinda wonder if high school and college-age kids are thinking, "What's all the fuss about?" All they've known in their lifetime is Michael Jackson the extremely strange recluse and accused child molester. They have no idea just how big he was in the 80's.

And he was big. I remember in college many of us in the lounge watching videos (this when they were still a new art form and fun to watch). His videos for "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" were played constantly, and were very well done. When "We are the World" came out, that seemingly was on MTV and the radio every 5 minutes. He then took videos to a new level with "Thriller." As a live performer, he was incredible. I didn't necessarily listen much to his music, but certainly recognized a music virtuoso.

So, what would these upcoming London concerts have been like? This was supposed to be his big comeback. Would it have been a spectacular rebirth of the King of Pop? Or would it have been like watching Michael Jordan play basketball with the Wizards, or Muhammad Ali trying to eke out one more fight late in his career?

A Life Cut Short

2009-06-20T22:30:00.004-04:00

This past week, one of my former student workers at IU South Bend died of injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Jennifer Myers was only 32 and the South Bend Tribune had a nice article on her in today's paper.

Everyone that knew Jen said she was full of life and very fun to be around. That was certainly true. She livened up our office every time she was there. She could be a little brash at times, a little rough around the edges, yet she loved collecting "Hello Kitty" memorabilia. There was never a dull moment when she was around. She was very kind hearted and was always willing to do everything she could do help staff members and fellow students.

Towards the end of her tenure at IU South Bend, she began to lose her direction a bit and wasn't as good a worker as she had been previously. As such, it got to the point that we had to let her go. She graduated shortly thereafter and then started a new job at the local hospital in which she thoroughly thrived. In fact, she said us letting her go was the best thing that ever happened to her, and it was. She was kinda delaying entry into the "real world" and when we forced her into it, she responded quite well. She was one we were very proud of and she would occasionally come back and visit us.

Jennifer's sister, Julie, also attended IU South Bend and worked for us. Today at the viewing I was able to speak with Julie briefly and she and I both recounted a story about Jen that everyone in the office remembers. Julie, an accounting major, was with us first and was a bit more refined. She told us one day that her sister was coming and that "she was not like me at all and we should be ready." Sure enough, she was right, they were certainly polar opposites, but got along very well (they were just getting ready to go on an Alaskan cruise and both had been sent to Australia as graduation presents years ago).

Where is Jen now? That is certainly out of our hands. I know when she was with us, she made it a point that she was agnostic, but I also know that she had come around and had been attending Granger Community Church. Can only hope that at some point, this "Sister of the Wind" motorcyle enthusiast had made a decision so that I can see her again someday.

Taking it to the Streets in Iran

2009-06-18T10:06:00.002-04:00

30 years ago, protesters were taking it to the streets in Iran, and that's when our embassy was seized. Flash forward to today, more protests are happening, but it's a far different story. They aren't out there protesting the U.S., but their own government.

One thing is certain, Ahmadinejad needs to go. But, is Moussavi any better? They kinda need to overhaul their whole government. Maybe we're seeing the beginnings of that, or will this will be another replay of Bejing 20 years ago when the government rolls in and violently squelches the protests.

The Iranians want their freedom and are fed up with what's been going on. This is getting pretty interesting.

Little League Parents

2009-06-11T15:54:00.004-04:00

Cameron is playing "transitional league" baseball this spring. This is in-between T-Ball and Little League. In Transitional, a pitching machine is used. Cameron is really enjoying it and we enjoy going to his games.

But some of the parents? Wow, the term "Little League Parents" certainly applies here. I hadn't been around this for a long time so I forgot how parents could make total jerks of themselves. At a game earlier this week, we sat in front of a mom who blamed absolutely everything that went wrong on the coach. A kid throws to the wrong base? Coaches fault. A kid forgets to tag the base and get the runner out? Coaches fault for not teaching the fundamentals. Their kid, as we were told, had the 3rd highest batting average last year. This year? Coaches fault, he's not hitting as good. Each time he came to bat, the dad would go right up to the backstop and shout out instructions, in full range of the coach.

The coach is a wonderful guy named Randy, who is active in the local church and whose wife and Dorene go way back to their days as undergraduates at IU South Bend. He's very calm, and that also was cited as a fault. Keep in mind, these are 7-8 year old players. They may still get things together in time to get drafted by the majors out of college, but my oh my, we were both taken aback at just how bad they acted.

As the dad crouched down behind the backstop to shout out instructions to his son, I wanted to point out to him the sign just above that reads, in part:

Welcome to North Liberty Youth League
Let the players play
Let the coaches coach

Amen to that.

Cameron at 7

2009-06-08T16:35:00.009-04:00

Cameron turned 7 back in late May. We had a couple different celebrations for him. We went to Chicago to visit Dorene's sister, Dianne (known as Aunt Dee Dee to the kids). Here he opened presents from her and my in-laws. Cameron is a huge Transformers fan and this is the present Anna got him, much to his delight.

His birthday "cake" consisted of a large platter of fruit, which he devoured. He loves fruit, just like his cousin Curt, who just happens to share the same birthday.

Back at home, we celebrated Cam's birthday by letting his friend Lydia, one of our pastor's daughters, spend the night. Cameron got a Nintendo DS for his birthday, as we are trying to encourage early video game addiction for our kids. In the picture below, Cameron is trying out his new birthday present, as Lydia observes.

A Cow in our Backyard

2009-06-01T23:02:00.005-04:00

Cameron came running into the house recently and said there was a cow in our backyard. Sure enough, there was. We live next door to a farm and kinda surprised it hasn't happened before.

It was a big bull named Hugo. Well, at least Anna calls it Hugo. She's actually named a lot of the cows that come up to the fence by our yard. She enjoys feeding them grass (probably why Hugo ventured over into our yard). The other cows, according to Anna, are Julie, Sunny, and Mary.

We called the neighbor and they were eventually able to coax it back through a gate.

Mickey v. Mickey

2009-05-31T23:10:00.002-04:00

So, it's Disneyland v. Disney World for the NBA Finals. Not sure I really care all that much. I guess it would be nice to see Orlando take it all, but like I said, not sure I'll be all that interested in watching.

Dad's High Tech Solution

2009-05-29T11:11:00.002-04:00

Dad has been up at our house the last couple days working on all sorts of things. Something I had him look at was the lighting in our basement laundry room. We had two lights in there, but the lighting was not all that good. I had asked about possibly adding a third outlet for a light, so as to brighten it up more.

When I came home yesterday, the room was much, much brighter. He had replaced the bulbs we were using with some brighter ones.

Oh yeah, that probably would fix the problem.

Rush Limbaugh and Fran Tarkenton

2009-05-28T16:24:00.003-04:00

Fran Tarkenton ripped into Brett Favre recently over how he's gone back and forth over the last few seasons as to whether or not he will retire. Tarkenton is especially irked that he's jerking around his former team, the Vikings, as it appears he wants to get back at Green Bay for not letting him unretire a couple years ago.

When asked if he thought Favre should go to the Vikings, Tarkenton replied, "I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail."

Stern's Worst Nightmare

2009-05-27T09:22:00.003-04:00

David Stern, the NBA commissioner, probably didn't sleep well last night. Orlando took out the Cavs in overtime and now lead the series 3 games to 1. It had already been pre-ordained an NBA finals of Kobe v. LeBron. But now it's looking like that will not be the case.

Whoever is carrying the finals on television can't be too happy either. A Nuggets/Magic final would probably be the lowest rated of all time, whereas a Lakers/Cavs would be huge. All I know is this, if it's Nuggets/Magic, I ain't watching.

Back in Action

2009-05-22T09:41:00.003-04:00

Yikes, not a fun week. I had gotten to feeling not so well over the weekend, but still came to work. Made it through Monday and Tuesday, but just barely. Meanwhile, Dorene was not doing so well and the kids were coming down with something too. Turns out, we ALL had strep throat.

So, Wednesday and Thursday were spent at home. Anna and Cameron both had field trips at school they had to miss (although they weren't too disappointed). Luckily, we caught Allison in time with an antibiotic before she really got sick. I'd been pretty much fighting something for well over a week, but being in an extremly busy season at work, couldn't take any time off until now.

But, all is well. I'm just about over it and am back at work today. Now, looking forward to the 3-day weekend. Heading to Chicago for the weekend, then to Ohio on Monday.

When Athletes are Idiots

2009-05-18T15:26:00.002-04:00

James Harrison, who made the 100-yard touchdown run just before halftime in the Super Bowl, will not be going to the White House this week with the rest of the team. His reasoning?

"This is how I feel -- if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won."

So, Obama should just invite the Steelers over some time to just hang out at the White House? Harrison thinks the Cardinals would have been invited had they won? DUH, of course they would have been.

A Tale of Two Commencements

2009-05-09T22:32:00.002-04:00

Next week at the Notre Dame Joyce Athletic Center, there will be two commencement ceremonies taking place. The first one involves my workplace, Indiana University South Bend. Several years ago, we ran out of space so we moved our commencement there so that graduates wouldn't be limited to the number of guests that could attend. So for one day, Notre Dame is decked out in IU red. Our special speaker is always the President of IU.

The other commencement ceremony taking place there the following weekend features a speaker you've probably heard of. Yeah, this is when Obama will finally show up in what has been a big controversy in the Catholic Church and the pro-life circles. There has been pressure for the university to rescind it's invitation, but that would never happen. Alan Keyes is coming to town to protest Obama's pro-abortion stance and Randall Terry had already set up shop some time ago. Obama has had an easy go of it so far, a little controversy and protest was bound to happen at some point. I can't say I exactly agree with his stands on abortion, so I say more power to the protesters, but it's not my thing to get out there and march.

I believe this is Obama's first commencement speech. Back in 2001, Notre Dame is also where George W. Bush gave his first commencement speech.

But They Promised Me!

2009-05-06T19:57:00.002-04:00

Arlen Specter didn't just give up his GOP affiliation, he just gave up his seniority on two powerful Senate committees. He now drops to the bottom of the heap on the Appropriations Committee, the powerful committee that doles out $$. He also drops to the bottom of the Judiciary Committee, just as it would be firing up to question Obama's Supreme Court nominee. When it comes time to question a nominee, he will ask questions right after Ted Kaufman, who has been a Senator from Montana for 4 months, compared to Specter's 29 years.

I bet he is kinda ticked off right about now, because he said Harry Reid assured him his seniority would remain intact.

Summer Movies

2009-04-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the official beginning of the summer movie season, so it's time to switch gears and leave movies like "Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," and "Slumdog Millionaire" behind and focus on the mindless summer movies. Actually, mindless is a good thing and that's what summer movies are all about.

I read a preview of the summer movies and here's some that are coming out:

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" - This franchise can go on forever because you can do an "origin" movie for each of the characters and then a sequel to each of those movies. Previews look pretty good.

"Star Trek" - A reboot of a franchise that hasn't really delivered for a while. Lots of interest on this one. I'll be there.

"Angels and Demons" - Sequel to The DaVinci Code, one of the most overrated books ever. I'll probably skip the movie sequel, like I did the first one.

Terminator: Salvation - A sequel of sorts in that it focuses on John Conner during the days when he's at war with the machines, fighting alongside Kyle Reese (his future father in the past). Can't say I was eagerly anticipating any more Terminator movies, but it has Christian Bale and looks like it'll be a fun ride. Supposedly Arnold is making a cameo.

Transformers 2 - I just wasn't a fan of the first one. But my son will be begging to see this one.

Public Enemies - A retelling of the John Dillinger story starring Johnny Depp. Yep, I'll want to see this one.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - A remake of an excellent movie from the 70's about a subway hijacking in New York City. John Travolta takes over the villain role from Robert Shaw and Denzel Washington takes over the cop role from Walter Matthau (yes, Walter Matthau). Check out the original sometime, it's quite good.

On the other end of the spectrum, my kids will want to see "Up," which is the latest Pixar, which means it'll be very enjoyable for adults too. I'll also have to go see "Land of the Lost" a big screen version of a very cheesy 70's Saturday morning show, and "Night at the Museum 2," a sequel to what was a surprisingly entertaining first film.

Movie with the biggest curiosity factor? That would be "Inglourious Basterds." The preview has Brad Pitt instructing a squad of soldiers that are to go out and bring him back Nazi scalps. They are to do so with an emphasis on cruelty that repulses the Germans. It's directed by Quentin Tarantino, so it may be a tad bit violent.