Sarah Barracuda Resigns

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

The Specter Switch

Arlen Specter switching sides was about as surprising as Joe Leiberman going independent. No shock there. Yes, the Republicans are flailing around trying to find their voice, and aren't doing a very good job of it yet. I like this quote from Republican Senator Lamar Alexander regarding the 2006 & 2008 elections:

"The American people sent us to the woodshed. And when you go to the woodshed, the best course of action is to sit there, be quiet, figure out why you're there and what you can do about it."

I think that is a good course of action. The Republicans will be back, may be soon, may be later, but they will be. I wonder if Specter will want to switch back when that happens.

Would You Listen to This Guy?

The Detroit Lions recently fired their team president, Matt Millen. Since then, he has signed on as an analyst for ESPN. Now, Millen was the architect of years of bad draft decisions by the Lions and was there for the historic 0-16 season last year. So, I'm thinking, what exactly does he bring to the table as far as commenting on the NFL draft and a team's performance in general? One columnist likened this to having Isiah Thomas as an NBA announcer. Thomas, by the way, has recently been named coach of Florida International University. He has failed miserably as an executive and coach in the NBA, ran the once-profitable CBA into the ground, and now gets to apply his reverse-Midas touch on the college ranks.

U.K. Has Some Talent

How can you not like Susan Boyle? Have you seen her performance on "Britain's Got Talent?" This is a show sort of like American Idol which also features Simon Cowell as one of three judges. If you haven't seen the video via Youtube, click here. It really is an amazing performance from out of nowhere. This from a 46-year old woman that lives at home with her cat and just wanted to be a famous singer but no one ever gave her the chance. Well, people know who she is now.

This isn't the first time this show has had a performance like this. A couple years ago, an unassuming mobile phone salesman named Paul Potts that wanted to sing opera came on and blew everyone away.

But the show is doesn't yet, check out the kid named Shaheen Jaforgholi and how he rebounds when Simon cuts him off and makes him sing something else.

These are performances that our American Idol doesn't seem to have anymore and a big reason I've lost all interest in that show. But check these clips out, they are a lot of fun.

Shooting Some Hoops (sitting down)

At IU South Bend on Tuesday night, there was a fundraiser for our disabled student association. The fundraiser featured a wheelchair basketball game pitting a faculty/staff team against the River City Rollers, an actual wheelchair team from neighboring Mishawaka.

I was part of the faculty/staff team and wow, it is not as easy as it looks shooting baskets from a wheelchair. You can't use your body at all to push off, it's all in the upper body. As you move down the court, you have to dribble once for every two times you turn the wheels, so it is quite a workout. Some guys that are in pretty good shape were worn out by the time we were done.

How did we do against the River City Rollers? In the words of my daughter Anna, who was there to see it, "You got creamed." The game was just 20 minutes and we scored 11 points while the other team scored . . .many more. They had one kid that could just zip zip zip all over the place and then sink baskets with a sling-shot style of release.

One of my colleagues took some video of the event. I come in at just about the 7-minute mark, where I miss what will be the first of 3 missed shots during the time I played. Actually, everyone missed a lot of shots, and each time we were practically under the basket.

We did take pride in one fact, though. Before our game, the Rollers played a team made up of the IU South Bend basketball teams. They only scored 4 points the entire game, so we doubled their output.

All for a good cause, I'm told the student club sponsoring the event raised a few hundred dollars and it was a lot of fun participating.

Foreign Policy Ramblings

Isn't it about time to start arming some of these ships so that they can defend themselves against the Somalian Pirates? Now that they've taken one of our captains hostage, hopefully this will spur some action here. I just don't understand why something more can't be done.

When was Cuba a threat to us? Okay, back in 1961 when we had the missile crisis and essentially up until the Soviet Union crumbled. But since then? I don't know why we haven't restored diplomatic relations with them. Yeah, so Castro has outlasted several U.S. Presidents, but really, is there anything to lose by restoring relations? I believe it was Bill Clinton that enacted laws that makes it much tougher to restore relations (it now takes an act of Congress as opposed to the President just wanting it to happen). But, why not? Just not sure what we're gaining by keeping them down.

On September 12, 2001, a candlelight vigil took place to honor those killed on 9/11. The vigil took place in . . . Tehran. the Iranian people have actually always liked us, just not our government. They've also been cursed with some horrible leaders. I think they could be a pretty good ally for us, but we also have to keep a sharp eye on them too. They still have the radical element that could cause trouble.

As for North Korea, I really feel sorry for them. They are still trying to live out some sort of glorious communist past. Their economy is in a shambles and their leader is truly unstable and not one I'd really trust. I would think China should be able to play a role here in taming this guy. But I don't consider them a true threat, Kim Jong just likes to pretend he's all powerful, kinda like Noriega when he was in Panama.

Baby Allie at 6 Months

Dennie Family Portrait (taken 3/28/2009)

Farewell and Welcome Back to Libby the Dog

Cute dog, huh? Yeah, well looks can be deceiving. Libby is a golden retriever/golden lab mix that we've had for almost three years. A nice dog, very playful, but totally rambunctious and eats everything in sight, including the cedar shingles from our house. She bugs the kids when they are outside playing and chews all their toys.

We had decided to get rid of her, and had found a place that would take her (a place called Camp K9 in South Bend).

However, a funny thing happened on the way to get rid of her . . .we just couldn't do it. We're not ones to give up on animals and are going to give it one more try. The lady at the Camp K9 gave us a muzzle to try on Libby and tips on how to make her a better dog. We'll see what happens. So far, the results have been quite encouraging. With the muzzle on, Libby does very well in the house and is much more calm.

Tournament Sunday

No, not the NCAA, but the Newgy Robo-Pong St. Joseph Valley Open Table Tennis Tournament in South Bend (wow, that's a mouthful). For this tournament, I entered three events, the under 1500, under 1625, and under 1750. My USA Table Tennis rating going in was 1352, so I was hoping to boost that number. It happened and it didn't happen.

In the under 1625, I was a match point away from advancing further but couldn't close the deal. I led 10-9 in the deciding 5th game, but couldn't end it. So, that was it.

In the under 1500, I lost to a kid with a ranking of 998. That will cause a huge plunge in my rating. However, the kid then lost 3-0 to another guy that I played. Had I beaten this guy 3-0 I would have advanced in this event. However, I only beat him 3-1. So, once again, so close.

In the under 1750, I figured I was just along for the ride. But then things got interesting. I beat a guy with a 1,500+ ranking. Then, in a match my brother Steve called one of the sloppiest he's seen, I took out a guy with a 1,600 plus ranking (he was right, it was a garbage win, but it was still a win). I then finished out by beating a guy with a ranking just above mine, which allowed me to advance into the quarterfinals, which I lost in 3 straight to a 1,600+ player by scores of 11-9, 11-7 and 16-14. So, I was very pleased. This should help regain some of the points I lost to that punk kid from the under 1500 (who actually was a very good player with a good attitude).

Steve, meanwhile, started off early by taking out a guy with a ranking 200+ higher than him, then held his own by not losing to anyone lower. So he should see a healthy spike in his rating.

But, I am WORN OUT! That was quite a workout today. I will sleep well tonight.

A Week Off

The kids were on Spring Break this week, so I took vacation days to stay at home with them. It's been a wonderful week.

On Monday and Tuesday, we went to Fort Wayne to spend a couple nights at mom and dad's house. On Monday evening, everyone but Benjamin was able to come over for the usual (but far from ever being old) dinner of mom's noodles and homemade rolls. It was a fun time having everyone over. Dorene's spring break isn't until the first full week in April, thus the reason she had to stay behind.

Tuesday evening I went with Steve to the Fort Wayne table tennis club. There's a big tournament this weekend in South Bend, so this served to give me some extra practice. I won some, lost some, but overall played pretty good.

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out with the kids, firing up the grill for dinner, and just taking it easy. If any monumental events took place in the world, I would have missed it because I pretty much ignored the news (except for the NCAA tourney).

The next couple months will be very busy for all of us, so the timing was good for the break, and I'm ready to get back in the swing of things on Monday.

BBQ for Lunch

Dorene had to stop by my office today during lunch. She asked if she wanted to bring me anything and I said, "surprise me." So, she brought in rib tips from Frankie's BBQ, the best joint in town. Located in the 'hood, the place ain't pretty, but it's got the best rib tips around.

But now, I'm really full and don't want to go back to work. Oh well, lunch hour is almost over, guess I gotta do what I gotta do.

NCAA Tournament - Dennie Family Predictions

It's tournament time again! Below are the Dennie family picks for this year's tourney:

Rick
Upset Specials - Western Kentucky over Gonzaga; Mississippi State over Washington.
Elite Eight - Louisville, Michigan State, Purdue, Missouri, Xavier, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona State
Final Four - Louisville, Missouri, Xavier, North Carolina
Finals - Louisville over Xavier
I, of course, conducted extensive analysis before filling out my bracket. In other words, making picks based on actual knowledge of the teams. But then again, I never win this thing either.

Cameron (age 6)
Upset Specials - Radford over North Carolina; Stephen F. Austin over Syracuse. For that second one, he just wasn't impressed with "Orangemen."
Elite Eight - Arizona, Dayton, Washington, California, Oklahoma State, Texas, Akron, Michigan
Final Four - Dayton, California, Oklahoma State, Michigan
Finals - Michigan over Dayon

Cameron made his picks based on the coolness of the mascot. He especially liked the Dayton Flyers, the California Golden Bears, and the Akron Zips. But nothing trumped the coolness of the WOLVERINES, due to the X-Men character.

Anna (age 10)
Upset Specials - Morgan State over Oklahoma; North Dakota State over Kansas. I mean, can a "Jayhawk" really beat a "Bison?"
Elite Eight - Arizona, Boston College, Washington, California, Pittsburgh, American, Butler, Arizona State.
Final Four - Arizona, Washington, American, Arizona State
Finals - American over Arizona

Anna made her picks based on her love of U.S. History, thus the picks of "Boston" and "American" and "Washington." She picked Pittsburgh because it's in Pennsylvania, which of course has a lot of history behind it. I think some of her other picks are based on her daddy's love of anything Arizona. Butler snuck in since they are the Bulldogs.

Dorene
Could really care less that the tournament is going on

DC Newsboys

One of the all-time great (and certainly one of my favorite) Christian bands is going through a major change. It was just announced that Newsboys lead singer, Peter Furler, will be stepping down and being replaced by . . .Michael Tait!? He is one of the three original members of DC Talk, along with Toby Mac and some other guy. Now, I really like DC Talk, but I'm trying to picture Michael Tait as lead singer of a band that has had a fairly distinct sound all these years (think Aussie accent). This could take some getting used to. Maybe they should have replaced him with Rebecca St. James and kept the Aussie accent thing going.

In Defense of AIG

Uh, I don't think so. Yeah, I know, they were contractually obligated to give these bonuses to keep the "best and brightest" among them, but are they paying attention to what's going on in the economy? Did they think there wouldn't be any outrage? Their defense was the same as Obama defending all the earmarks; it was a done deal by previous folks and there was nothing they could do about it.

But NEXT time things will be different. Uh huh, we'll see.

Early Morning Prayer

This past Saturday, our church held a special prayer service for Hope Ministries, a local homeless center that we've been involved with for several years. The organization was going to several churches in the area that were holding similar services.

It's a great organization and one of the highlights each year is we take our kids down there to perform the Christmas program we work on. Every other month we also serve a meal and conduct the chapel service.

We had a pretty good turnout for 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday. I've never been the type that could do the early morning prayer/Bible study thing. I'm just not awake enough and will often find myself drifting off to sleep during my prayer time. I'm much better during the midnight hour (isn't that a song?).

After the prayer service we had a breakfast then moved into a work day. Got a lot of stuff done, including cleaning out our balcony which had turned into a major storage/junk area. People can actually sit up there now. But of course, we kinda need to work on getting people into the seats on the main floor first.

Charming the First Grade Girls

Recently I was clearing out Cameron's backpack and found that he had three of his sweatshirts stuffed into it that he wears over his polo shirts. I asked him why he was stockpiling the shirts at school and he said, "Well, I get warm inside the school so I don't need to wear the sweatshirt once I'm there, but Lexy sometimes gets cold so I let her wear mine so she stays warm."

Quite the charmer.

Sign of the End Times?

Last weekend, there was a reunion concert in Orem, Utah that featured, drum roll please, MC HAMMER and VANILLA ICE!

The sad thing is, I actually remember when they were considered cool. Although, Vanilla Ice's coolness reign was a lot shorter.

Deep Theological Question

IU South Bend is an ACT testing site, so I often administer tests on the weekend. On Sunday, I'll be administering a test individually to someone that couldn't test at the regular time on Saturday. The reason they couldn't is because they are Jewish and Saturday is their Sabbath. Thus, I am skipping my Sabbath and will be making money so someone else didn't have to work on their Sabbath.

Am I going to burn for this?

You CAN Count the Stars in the Sky

On the way home from church tonight, Cameron told me that he counted the stars and that there are 21 of them.

As we pulled into the driveway, he evidently had found more, because he said, "Dad, actually there are 57 stars."

Trivia Champs

At work on Friday, we had a trivia challenge to raise money for the Tom Smith Memorial Scholarship. Tom was a colleague in our tech department that died suddenly of a heart attack just a couple months after getting married back in 2000. They had been attending Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend, which is where Dorene and I used to attend. So I knew hi fairly well. He was a great guy and very much well-thought of at IU South Bend.

A scholarship was begun in his name and is used for full-time staff at IU to pay for books and other expenses they incur from taking classes. The trivia challenge was used to raise money for this scholarship fund.

The format was teams of 8-10. When a question came up, you discussed it amongst your group (quietly) and wrote the answer down. Each category had 5 questions, so the group with the most right after 10 categories was the winner. Our group consisted of student affairs staff, with a couple of our big guns (vice chancellor and associate vice chancellor). We had a very good mix of knowledge, with everyone chipping in one way or another. I came in handy when it was necessary to remember a detail from "Willy Wonka" or to identify a picture of Yosemite State Park.

We finished with 48/50 correct. It was especially sweet because we beat a couple groups comprised solely of faculty from the school of education and the college of arts and sciences (in other words, those groups had all Ph.D.'s in them.

Oscar Night

Last night, I went to my annual Oscar party with a few co-workers. Or, as Dorene would say, I went to a boring party with a lot of strange people that sit around and talk about movies that nobody in the country has gone to see. I take offense to that, WE saw the movies. Okay, she has a point, the combined grosses of contenders Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Milk, The Wrestler, and Vicky Christina Barcelona are still less than that of Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

The show was quite different than in past years, and at times it was a good thing and at times it wasn't.

• Host: Hugh Jackman started off good with a musical number similar to what Billy Crystal always did. Overall he did pretty good. Although the whole song and dance thing got a little old. Anne Hathaway can sing.
• Excellent bit with Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Also good was the piece with Seth Rogan and James Franco, where they bust up laughing at serious films like The Reader.
• That musical number with Beyonce was pretty lame and just kinda strange at times. Mixed a whole bunch of songs at the same time which just didn't really work.
• Bringing in 5 previous winners to talk about the current nominees? Okay at first, but it got kinda old. Besides, these were just acting awards, they weren't up for a Nobel Prize. Kinda overboard on showering each nominee with praise. I mean, it's not going to change the world that Marisa Tomei and Michael Shannon were nominated for movies no one saw.
• No real surprises with any of the awards.
• Will Smith gave out 4 Oscars. Let someone else help out.
• What was Sophia Loren saying in her tribute to Meryl Streep?
• Where was Jack Nicholson? Tom Hanks? Or last year's Best Actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis? Or last year's Best Actress (bet you can't name her, it took a few of us a while last night to remember).
• Jerry Lewis has been doing the "Jerry's Kids" thing much longer than I realized.
• No memorable acceptance speeches, except maybe when Phillipe Petit balanced the Oscar on his chin.
• Yawn, Sean Penn getting political. Points for making light of his gruff nature though.
• Certainly the moment everyone was waiting for was Heath Ledger winning, and his family coming up to accept on his behalf. That was a good moment.

I did miserably on the Oscar pool. Picked most of the major nominees correctly, but botched everything else. No one correctly guessed that "Smile Pinky" would win Best Live Action Short. I stood alone in picking "Slumdog Millionaire" to win Best Sound Mixing (yes, you should be in awe of me for that).

Did "Slumdog Millionaire" deserve to win Best Picture? Yes, absolutely. Much more deserving than last year's "No Country for Old Men." If you haven't seen Slumdog, I highly recommend it. Certainly one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It's well worth seeking out and needs to be seen on the big screen. Be sure not to hop right out of your chair when the movie ends.

Oscar Movie Review - "Slumdog Millionaire"

This is the third and last of the Best Picture nominees that I've seen. I am not curious at all about "Benjamin Button" and don't even have a 2% interest in seeing "Milk."

But back to "Slumdog." This was a wholly original movie that I highly recommend. To give a synopsis of it doesn't really do it justice, but here goes. A kid from the slums of Mumbai gets on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be Millionaire" and is one question away from winning a bunch of rupees. He's suspected of cheating (no "slumdog" could possibly know all the answers) so he's interrogated/tortured by police to confess. How he knew the answers sets the story in motion as it flashes back to his childhood and works it's way up to the present. Now, all this is put forth in the first few minutes, so I'm not giving anything away here.

The movie is fast-paced and has a kinetic visual style that keeps you interested, and an excellent soundtrack. It is all filmed on location in India and you definitely get a feel for the class warfare that goes on in that country and wonder how anyone could emerge from the widespread poverty there (which exists side by side to some extreme wealth and a fast growing middle class).

The three main characters are the "slumdog" Jamal, his brother Salim, and Latika, an orphan girl that Jamal befriends and spends the rest of the movie trying to get together with. The movie is rated R but it probably could have been a PG-13. There is no sex and no gory violence. There may have been a handful of swear words, but that was it. Much of the violence is directed at children, so that level of brutality probably gave it the rating (overall, the tone is pretty intense).

This is the front-runner for Best Picture and I hope it wins because it definitely deserves to. In a lot of ways, the underlying story is fairly traditional (rags to riches, boy gets girl), but the way it's told makes it seem totally original. It's probably a cliche to say you haven't seen a movie like this before, but the fact of the matter is, you haven't.

Final Justice, 20 Years Later

The Indiana Supreme Court just ruled today that the murder convictions of Jeff Pelley have been upheld. This brings final closure to a case that began in April of 1989 and that my family was very much intertwined with, since dad took over the church shortly after Jeff killed his minister father, stepmother and two stepsisters.

There had been an issue as to whether or not Jeff's right to a speedy trial was violated. Turns out, it was not, so he'll be spending the rest of his life in prison. I don't imagine he's much of a threat in prison and he'll now have a lot of time to think through how his life would have been different had he accepted his dad's punishment and not gone to the prom that night.

Anna @ 10

Yesterday was Anna's 10th birthday. Dorene and I took her out to celebrate minus Cameron and Allie. Anna got to choose where to eat and she chose Olive Garden (fine by us, we love it there).

For her birthday present, we didn't give her an actual present to unwrap. For Anna, the best gift you can give her is time, and that's what we gave her. Her present from Dorene will be a day trip to Chicago to meet up with her sister and go to a museum. Her present from me is a night out going to a movie. Anna said she much preferred getting that as opposed to a present (and she means it, she's very hard to shop for at Christmas time).

However, we still took her to Toys 'R Us and let her pick out a "Littlest Pet Shop" figurine that she collects and gave her a birthday card, which she loved, even though it wasn't like the kind she gets from grandma that has money in it.

We had a wonderful evening and my (first) little girl is quickly growing up on us. She is a true delight, quirky in many ways, and it's been 10 wonderful years with her (well, except maybe you need to talk to Dorene about when she turned 3).

Oscar Movie Review - "The Reader"

Hmm, not sure how to review this movie, the second of the Best Picture nominees I've seen. Parts of it are really good and parts of it are, well, kinda not so good (I'll get to that later).

The movie is primarily set in the late 50's and 60's in Germany, where a young man has an affair with an older woman, who has a secret past which he finds out about later in the movie. It's this later part that is really well done and the most compelling part of the movie. It deals a lot with how Germans have come to terms with their past and asks the question who was and who wasn't guilty during the Nazi regime. Very good stuff here.

However, the affair part during the first part of the movie is a little unsettling. You see, the "young man" is only 15. So, well, there you have it. There's quite a bit of nudity in this section (note to Pam, Kate Winslet is the new Susan Sarandon) and it is just a bit uncomfortable seeing a bedroom scene between characters that are supposed to be 15 and 30. I coulda done without that.

So, I can recommend the final 2/3 of the movie, but the first 1/3, not so much.

Ready for that Stimulus Check

Here's a viewpoint from a year ago that is now relevant to the stimulus checks we may soon be getting:

"You're getting $600 - what can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything, but maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn't pay down every bill every month." The short-term, quick fix kinda stuff sounds good, and it may even feel good that first month when you get that check, and then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings."

Michelle Obama (7/11/2008)

Super Bowl: Final Notes

• Had the day off on Monday because baby Allie was sick. Spent a lot of time reading Super Bowl recaps. I always like reading columnists from the cities of the teams that played. Most of the articles in the Arizona papers were of the "Destiny Denied" variety while those in the Pittsburgh area were a little more upbeat.


• The consensus was that it was possibly the greatest Super Bowl of all time. I could care less, my team still lost! Yes, I will whine about it for a while.


• James Harrison, who made that play before the half, had barely made the team. As recently as 4 years ago, he had applied to be a bus driver. The Steelers gave him one last chance. I'd be just as happy had he been off driving a bus on Sunday. Still don't know how the Cardinals couldn't at least push him out of bounds on that play.


• Why was 50+ year-old Bruce Springsteen acting like he was in his 20's? Some of his moves looked kinda silly for his age. He started off kind of weak but came on strong towards the end with "Glory Days."


• Many years ago I worked for the State Bar of Arizona (which certifies applicants to practice law). One day a young man fresh out of law school stopped by to get some information on taking the bar exam. His name? Michael Bidwell, who is now President of the Cardinals and a prime reason the team has turned it around.


• The commercials were hit and miss. One of my favorites was one that you would have missed (literally) had you blinked. Miller beer did a 1-second commercial which consisted of their delivery guy saying, "Miller High Life" and that was it. That was clever. The Go-Daddy commercials were very risque for what is a large family viewing audience.


• The Steelers are now officially my arch-villain. They beat my Cowboys in two Super Bowls years ago, handed the Colts two very heartbreaking playoff losses, and now taken out the Cardinals.

Cardinals: Oh, the Agony
Oh my, what a heartbreaking loss this was, after what looked like a thrilling comeback. When Larry Fitzgerald broke through on that touchdown late in the 4th quarter, the room erupted (I was at our pastor's house, and everyone was rooting for the Cardinals). Although all of us were a little leary of giving the Steelers so much time left to score, which of course they did. I think had the Cardinals got blown away, it would have been much easier as it would have been simple to say they were outmatched. But doggone it, they could have won this thing. For Cinderella teams like this, you gotta close it out.

A bunch of "what ifs" on this one. What if the Steelers didn't score before halftime? That was huge. What if the Cardinals defense would have sacked Roethlesberger more? It seemed like he was always getting away when it looked like they had him cornered. Then that last drive. Where was the defense? They just got picked apart. However, that final touchdown pass was perfectly thrown and Holmes made an amazing catch, with 3 defenders around him.

I guess there's always next year and maybe this will finally bring the Cardinals into the fold as one of the league's top teams after being so down and out for so many years. We'll see if Warner comes back or not, I figured he may have retired had the Cards won. But boy oh boy this was a frustrating loss and Cardinals fans will have a hard time forgetting the image of Harrison rumbling and stumbling for that touchdown before halftime.

Oscar Movie Review - "Nixon/Frost"
This is the first of the 5 Best Picture nominees that I've seen. I imagine the title of this movie either intrigues people or they just keep on walking. The title says it all, this is indeed about the 1977 interviews between David Frost and President Nixon.

Your enjoyment of this movie would heavily depend on your interest in the subject matter. Although it begins with a short recap of what led to Nixon's resignation, it still assumes a lot of knowledge on the part of the audience. Since I've always been fascinated by anything and everything Nixon, I loved the movie, although I understand it probably has very limited widespread appeal.

Frank Langella, nominated for Best Actor, does a very good job embodying Nixon, even if he doesn't really look like him. But you never doubt for a minute that is Nixon. The actor playing Frost does a great job also. Very well done, and if you are interested in this place in time that took place over 30 years ago, I highly recommend it.

Obama v. Limbaugh

It's his choice, but I'm not sure why he is going up against this guy. I'm talking about Obama. Does he really think that blasting Rush publicly is going to make him go away? Think about it. The most powerful man in the world, who has a host of major problems to deal with in running this country, is instead talking about Rush Limbaugh. Perhaps there are other issues on Obama's plate he should be more concerned with?

How do you think this makes Rush feel? He is absolutely loving it. Clinton did the exact same thing and it only empowered Rush. I don't listen to Rush much anymore, although I do get daily email summaries of his show. It always amuses me when people spend so much time talking about how much they hate listening to him. But if you hate listening to him, WHY DO YOU KEEP LISTENING?!?

Reminds me of a story about Howard Stern's early days. His manager despised him and asked the marketing folks how long the average Stern fan listened. It was something like 2 hours. He then asked how long the average Stern hater listened. It was about 3 hours.

This is why Limbaugh is absolutely loving all this. Whether you love him or hate him, a ratings point is all the same if you are tuning in.

The Bush Legacy

Wow, does it seem like the Bush/Cheney years never happened? In just his first three days, Obama has pretty much done all he can to erase any memory of Bush being in office. Every executive order and other directives he has issued to this point have been aimed at making people forget Bush was even in office.

It has been said that history will not be kind to Bush and that he will quickly disappear as he left office with a dismal approval rating. But it's too early to write the history on Bush yet. I'm not convinced, even with all that went wrong, that he will be judged as harshly down the road.

As for his remaining years, Americans have a tendency to like their leaders, popular or not when they leave office. Carter was a disaster as a president, whose own party turned on him and paved the way for Reagan. But as an ex-President he's been considered one of the best. Look at Nixon. After resigning from office, in his later years he still commanded lots of respect for his foreign policy expertise. George H.W. Bush, unpopular in 1992, has remained quite popular in the years since leaving office. Bill Clinton's legacy was slightly tainted during Hillary's campaign but still can wow an audience.

As for W, I think the same will happen to him, even though right now you won't hear anyone giving any kind of favorable review of his adminstration. But time has a way of making people forget and rethink things. Although it may be hard to see it now, I think Bush will someday return in a favorable light as he now joins the popular club of our ex-Presidents.

Oscar Nominations

Okay, out of the 25 nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress, I've seen one (Heath Ledger). As for the Best Picture of the Year, I have a hard time believing that a movie like "The Reader" or "Milk," even though I haven't seen it, can be considered a better movie than "The Dark Knight" and will stand the test of time.

For my annual Oscar party, I will go in only knowing all the animated features. I also got a jump on next year's nominations by seeing "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" last weekend.

Inaugural Notes

Watched the ceremony here at IU South Bend in a packed room with lots of faculty, staff and students. As recommended by my brother Steve, I also checked out the live blog on Swampland, which is often very funny. Some random observations:

• Barbara Bush looked the same now as she did back in 1988. Bush, Sr. was really looking old this time around (maybe it was the way he was walking).


• Image of the day? Cheney in a wheelchair! What a farewell shot of this guy. He has been called the worst vice-president of all time, the one who really ran the country and ran roughshod over the constitution and was despised by many. But here he was, confined to a wheelchair. Kinda reminds me of Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat). A guy that brought down Nixon we only remember as this 90 year-old with a walker.


• A little long on the prayer Mr. Warren, you could've cut it a bit short. One of the Swampland bloggers asked, "Why did Rick Warren say "Malia and Sasha" like he was introducing Siegfried & Roy?" Kudos for Obama for not replacing Warren after the criticism he received.


• Nice job by Aretha Franklin. She can still belt it out. But what was up with that hat?


• The music by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and those other two? Kinda strange and surprisingly downbeat for such an occasion. Don't think the younger generation really connected to that. Not that he needed Springsteen or Bono to come out and sing, but, well, maybe he should have.


• Lots of people in the room I was watching laughed when they saw the size of that Bible. The thing is huge!


• Another Swampland nugget: "Dorky constitutional question: after Biden takes the oath of office, is he, for however many minutes, technically George W. Bush's vice president?"


• Did Obama flub the oath or did Roberts? Will David Letterman add this to his "Great Moments in Presidential History?" A swampland blogger said, "I am registering www.obamaflubbedtheoathandthereforeisnotofficiallypresident.com".


• Obama's speech? Very anti-climactic. He's been trying to dial down expectations ever since election night and he seemed to be trying extra hard to do so with this speech. I was kinda lost at times at exactly what he was saying. I figured we'd see the Obama from the campaign trail, as this was the time to really inspire the audience. But much of it fell flat to me, but I imagine the analysis will say it was great. I also expected him to be interrupted multiple times with applause (like in a State of the Union speech), but that never really happened. Maybe it was just the hype, but overall a curiously downbeat speech. Lots of zingers thrown in at the Bush administration, though, as Bush sat right there beside him. Overall, the speech just seemed to be missing something.
  
• But the crowd! All this for a presidential inauguration? It was a sight to see. There's no way Obama will be able to keep up this fervor, but on this day, it was impressive to see everyone excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Yes, Obama does make you feel good about America.
  
• Uh, why exactly did we need a poet there at the end?
  
• Was that a prayer or a speech by Lowery? I don't know, but it was good.
  
• Neat seeing the Obama's walk along the route back to the White House. They seemed most relaxed at this point. Is this the most photogenic first family or what?
  

Okay Obama, you got the Congress, Senate, and White House all to yourself. Your move.

Game Over, Ready to Exhale

Cardinals in the Super Bowl? You gotta be kidding. But it's happening. What a game. First half was great, 2nd half was nerve-wracking, and I was fairly convinced the Eagles would prevail. But Warner pulled them through.

I don't care who they play in the Super Bowl. Getting there's a great accomplishment. But you never know what can happen. Remember last year when the Patriots were a sure thing to go undefeated? Not so fast.

An Amazing Happy Ending

Not too long ago, I watched an episode of "When Weather Changed History" on the Weather Channel. The story was about the Air Florida jet in 1982 that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, DC, killing just about everyone on board save a few passengers lucky enough to get out.

When I first got a "breaking news alert" on my computer about a jet going down in the Hudson River, I assumed the worst. When I watched the coverage I was astounded that everyone got out alive. This pilot, "Sully" is definitely a hero in the truest sense as his soft landing in the water without breaking the plane apart allowed everyone to get out as the plane never sunk. Also, there seemed to be very little panic inside the plane as everyone exited pretty calmly, which is incredible when you think about what had to be going through their minds knowing they crashed into water.

What a great story!

. . . .And Doggone it, People Like Him

Yikes, it looks like Al Franken is the next Senator from Minnesota, although this is going to be challenged in the courts for a while. Certainly shows how every vote counts. I'm just not a big fan of this guy. He was funny at one time, but most of his attempts at humor now just aren't even original.

Now someone like Michael Moore, who is extremely liberal like Franken, I'll go see his documentaries even though I disagree with a lot of what he says. But he can sure say it in an entertaining fashion. Franken titles his book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." Okay, and I'll write a book and call it"Keith Olberman is a Dork." I don' t mind insults, but make 'em at least partially unique.

So what kind of Senator will he be? Minnesota put up with Governor Jesse Ventura not long ago, so they are used to elected officials who kinda surprise themselves by getting in office. Franken is extremely critical and mean-spirited towards Christians, so I imagine it won't take him long to say something stupid. I would venture to guess that even Obama isn't all that impressed with him.

Good Answer

We've been having a lot of problems with Cameron (age 6) not asking permission to do something when he should be. In particular, when candy or other treats are involved. He'll sneak a piece of candy then have to hide his tracks, and, of course, get in trouble for doing so.

The other night, he brought Dorene a piece of candy and asked if he could have it. Dorene said, "Why should I say yes?" Cameron replied, "Because I actually asked."

He got the candy.

Cardinals 33, Panthers 13

OH YEAH, BABY!!!

Wow, can't believe how Arizona stuck it to this team. Warner was awesome, their receivers were incredible, and Jake Delhomme totally stunk it up for Carolina. That first half was so fun to watch.

Arizona going to the NFC Championship? Hard to believe. I'll be rooting for the Eagles tomorrow, because if they win, Arizona gets to host the game rather than travel to New York.

Twenty years after moving from St. Louis to Arizona, the Cardinals are one step away from the Super Bowl. Who would've thunk it?

Boring BCS Game

Not a very exciting game last night, although it's always good to see Oklahoma lose. Their vaunted offense that averaged 60 points a game during the season kinda got shut down.

I noticed that Florida QB Tebow had "John 3:16" imprinted on the eye glare he was wearing. He made a good impression when he proceeded to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the closing minute when the game was already decided.

Baby Allie at 3 months

Yep, Anna and Cameron like their new baby sister!

The Atlanta Braves of the NFL

For 14 consecutive years, the Atlanta Braves made the post-season, often with the best record in baseball and often-times with MVP winners or at least candidates. In all those years of getting to the post-season, they only had one championship to show for it.

Looks like the Colts are following suit. Things were looking good. They rolled into the post-season and were playing a team that had to win 4 games in a row at the end just to have a record of 8-8. But, like last year, the Chargers took the Colts out. Time may soon be running out on Peyton Manning to get that second trophy and for the Colts to make their mark as one of the all-time teams. Another frustrating post-season loss for them when everything seemed to be in place.

The bright spot? My Arizona Cardinals won their first home playoff game in 47 years! Kurt Warner is looking good. They are off to Carolina next weekend. Win that one and they are one game from the Super Bowl. I wonder if the fans in St. Louis are glad they let Warner go?

A Couple Good Movies

Caught up on some of the holiday releases the past couple days.

Valkyrie

I enjoyed this one a lot. Tom Cruise, despite all the negative publicity he's been getting, did just fine as Colonel Stauffenberg, the main instigator of the plot to assassinate Hitler. The movie manages to generate some suspense even though you know in the end that (spoiler alert) Hitler wasn't assassinated. Okay, if you didn't know that, then I can't help you. The movie made what was probably a wise decision in allowing the actors to keep their American accents so you didn't have them trying to speak in a fake German accent, which sometimes can border on parody. The movie didn't seem to play loose with the facts but kept everything historically accurate.

A nice companion movie to this one is the excellent "Downfall" from a few years ago. This one is subtitled but is far and away the best portrayal of Hitler's final days I've ever seen. The fact that it is in German gives it an extra layer of realism. If you ever see this, you'll recognize one of the co-conspirators from "Valkyrie" as one of the lead characters (don't know the actor's name, but it's the bald guy).

There was a preview to a movie called "Defiance," a fact-based story about Jewish resistance in WW II starring Daniel Craig. It looks like it will be really good.

Bedtime Stories

Took the whole family to see this one. Allie slept through the entire movie, much to the happiness of some movie-going folks like Steve and Pam who would have cringed at the sight of a baby carrier being brought into the theatre (as would I, but we timed it so she would have just eaten and it was nap time).

This one starred Adam Sandler who's going more the family-friendly route now. Basically, he has to watch his nephew and niece as his sister is out of town and the bedtime stories he tells them start coming true. It is all very well done and the kind of family movie I truly enjoy and not just tolerate. Nothing objectionable at all and we all enjoyed this one very much.

Allie Gets a Playmate

That is, in about 9 months Allie will be getting a playmate. Paula informed us on Saturday that her and Tom are expecting their first child. She will now be subject to 9 months of ruthless ribbing by her brothers about her weight gain (it already started that night).

Way to go Paula, we're all very excited for you!

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

Last March, we went to Pokagon State Park for the surprise announcement that Baby Allie was on the way. This was such a surprise for Anna that she screamed at us how we had "ruined her ENTIRE life."

Well, flash forward to this past weekend and we returned to Pokagon for an overnight stay. As you can see, it looks like Anna has come to terms with little sis. We do have her entire outburst on tape, although at this point, Anna still refuses to watch it.

We really enjoy Pokagon and plan on returning there every year December. The Potawatomi Inn is a great place to stay and has lots of activities for the kids. There's a refrigerated tobaggon run but the kids weren't into that this year. Give it time, they'll be wanting to go on it.

They instead spent most of their time in the pool, where Cameron was pretty much off by himself jumping into the pool about 5o times in the first 30 minutes (I was counting). As for Anna, given the same amount of time, she had basically met every kid in the pool and was organizing a game. I asked her later kind of sarcastically if she knew everyone in the pool and who all did she meet. She said, "I met two Olivias, a Cassidy, a Denae, a Megan, and lots of others." I imagine they are already planning their one-year marco-polo reunion.

A Family's Loss

Yesterday we received news that Brian Waterman, a very close friend of Stu & Joyce's family, was killed in a car accident Tuesday evening along with a co-worker. I didn't know Brian all that well, but I know he was around Stu & Joyce's house a lot, and he and Benjamin were particularly close (he accompanied Benjamin up to South Bend a couple times). He was certainly the kind of kid you'd want to have around and I was always very much impressed with him. He had recently completed college and was in many ways just starting out in life.

I can't imagine what his family is going through (I know how hard it is with Stu & Joyce). There will not be much holiday cheer around Brian's house this year, as his was a life cut way short.

It's easy to forget, but the holidays aren't always the happiest time for many. My sister-in-law lost her father a year ago, so this time of year brings back some sorrowful memories (of his passing, not of her father himself, whom she was very close with). I'm sure many are experiencing many raw emotions during this "festive" season.

Gymnastics

We have Cameron enrolled in gymnastics. Why you ask? For one, he really enjoys it (says he wants to be in the Olympics some day). Secondly, it keeps him from climbing the walls, literally, at home.

Where's Joe?

You know, as in Biden? Mr. Vice President Elect? When was the last confirmed sighting of him? He was chosen for his foreign policy expertise and has immediately gotten overshadowed by Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State. He has been invisible for quite a while. Wondering if he's thinking, "Hey, what about me?"

Not Considered a Holiday Classic, But Still a Good One

There's a pretty good chance you haven't heard of this movie, called "Joyeux Noel," but you may be familiar with the event that it is based on. In the early stages of World War I, French, Scottish and German troops laid down their weapons for a Christmas Eve truce. They came out of their trenches and shared food and drinks, played soccer, sang songs, exchanged pictures . . .then returned the next day and resumed the war.

The movie dramatizes these events and I'm sure probably fictionalizes them a bit, although from the actual accounts I've read, it's fairly accurate. It's mostly a subtitled movie (it's made in France) although many passages are in English in dealing with the Scottish troops.

You won't find this one playing non-stop during the holiday season like "A Christmas Story" or any of the others, but it's worth seeking out (if you don't mind subtitles). The scene where the troops tentatively come out of their trenches when they hear Christmas carols coming from the other side is particularly well done.

Fatherhood, Part 3

Yep, I'm cut out for this fatherhood thing at age 44!

Anyone Still Watching?

NBC announced that the final episode of E.R. will air in March. I don't know of anyone that actually still watches this show. We used to. It was one of our favorite shows and was very well done. The last season we watched was when Anthony Edwards' character died. After that, we just lost interest (Julianne Marguiles and Eriq LaSalle had also left). Besides, there was just getting to be too many "Tonight, on a very special E.R....." episodes. The only major character left was Carter, and he started to get a little annoying with his angst. So, when the series finale airs, I have absolutely no interest in tuning in, because I've completely lost track of who's who.

Cuttin' Down the Christmas Tree

This past weekend we went to Hensler's Tree Farm in Hamlet, Indiana to cut down our Christmas tree. We used to do this but then stopped for a couple years and used an artificial tree. But we missed going out and getting our own so we decided to return to this.

This isn't just a lot with a bunch of trees on it. It's quite the production. There's a large gift shop, real reindeer, snack shop that sold a lot of hot chocolate on this very cold day, a huge selection of handmade wreaths, petting zoo, and a little hut where Santa and Mrs. Claus hang out at. Cameron sat on Santa's lap and asked for some toy called "Spike the Dinosaur" (he's easily influenced by what he sees on TV).

At Hensler's, you can pick out a pre-cut Christmas tree, but that's no fun. What we like doing is getting on board the horse-drawn wagon and riding out to where the trees are still growing. From there, you grab a saw and have your choice of hundreds of trees. You pick it, you cut it, you haul it back to where you got the saw and some guys run it through a machine to shake out any dead brances and also to wrap it up with twine.

Below is a picture of Cameron dragging the tree with a little help from his sister, who has hold of a small branch and is being careful not to over-exert herself. This was a great family outing and we plan on continuing this tradition for many years and leaving our artificial tree in the garage.

My Least Favorite Meal of the Year

You know, I don't really care for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Rattle off the main dishes: stuffing - don't like it; mashed potatoes and gravy - don't like it; cranberry sauce - don't like it; turkey - don't really care for it, only eat it once a year.

So, Thanksgiving Day is not my favorite meal of the year. However, my mom redeems everything with her homemade noodles and homemade rolls (and topping it off with homemade pumpkin and apple pie). Without that, I'd have to order a pizza. Thank you mom!

Ugh, It's United Way Time!

I really hate when this rolls around each year. Time again for us to give to our employer's United Way campaign. We have to be convinced each year how much good they do and that this year "let's break our previous giving record." Emails come at you hoping you'll give so that "we can say our department had 100% participation" in this year's campaign.

Well, my department will never have 100% participation, and that's all because of me. My feelings about United Way go back about 20 years when I was working in Arizona. While there, the pressure was enormous to give so we could get our 100% participation plaque to display in our conference room. Never mind if someone was basically coerced into giving, we still got our plaque. I indeed did give, because one was quite frankly bugged (i.e. harrassed) until they gave at least something. That's not charity to me, so when I left that job I vowed to never give again to this organization, and I haven't. Furthermore, it was implied that if you didn't give to United Way, you didn't give to any charity. Wrong again!

Does that mean I don't believe in what they do? No, they do a fine job. Although, I must say that the year I left Arizona was the same year the William Aramony scandal broke where it turned out the national chairperson was pilfering all those dollars for himself. That gave me even more reason not to give. Furthermore, I read United Way's campaign manual years ago and there was a specific reference in there about employee participation. United Way itself said that 100% participation was NOT a desired outcome, because that would mean some employees had likely been coerced into giving. But I don't think they exactly discouraged this from happening, because high-pressure campaign tactics have always been used everywhere I've worked.

So, here we are once again in the midst of a fundraising campaign and I'll probably have to fight off those emails about giving. I've had a couple run-ins with employees over the years pushing the issue, but I ain't backing down on this one.

By the way, I reread United Way's manual not too long ago. The part about discouraging 100% participation? No longer in there. Hmm.

Smokey, McGruff, and Stephanie

USA Today reported that the group behind Smokey the Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog have developed a new campaign to convince people of the need to go through inspections before boarding airplanes. Evidently, people aren't as compliant as they once were and are especially annoyed at having to remove their shoes. So, they are bringing in "Stephanie the airport screener" as part of their new campaign.

Back in 2001, I flew to Kansas City for a conference about 2 weeks after 9/11 (much to the dismay of Dorene). However, if ever you wanted to pick a safe time to fly, it would have been then. I remember going through the airport check points and no one had any complaints. Heck, I think you could have made people wait 2 hours per person and they wouldn't have minded. Check my luggage? Sure. Check my shoes? No problem. Leaving the plane, everyone was thanking the pilot and just being so polite overall. I was impressed how quickly the TSA was put together and how well everything seemed to work.

It's now been 7 years since 9/11, so it's easy to understand that people would return to getting more annoyed by the prospect of missing their flight than it being hijacked. Will there be another attack? Well, the two attacks on the World Trade Center took place 1 month and 9 months into a new President's administration. Hopefully Joe Biden is incorrect and something will not happen within 6 months of Obama being inaugurated to test him.

Back in My Son's Good Graces

Last spring when I returned home from a table tennis tournament without a trophy, Cameron was very disappointed. He asked if I was done forever playing table tennis. Guess he figured I was washed up if I couldn't bring home a trophy every time (the previous tournament I had brought home two).

So, this past Sunday, I played in the Highland Open tournament in northwest Indiana. Played well enough in one of the events to bring home a 2nd place trophy pictured above. Probably should have finished first, because the kid I lost to I regularly beat at the South Bend club. But he was on his game and I just couldn't get past him.

In fact, it seemed like I was playing kids all day. I skunked a couple of 10 or 11 year olds. I kinda felt like Kramer in the "Seinfeld" episode where he's taking karate lessons and beating up on kids. But then again, I also lost to this pipsqueak of an Asian girl that was rated one point higher than me and took my butt out 3 games to 0. Truth is, I let up. Okay, no I didn't, I was trying to take her out. Which does sound odd, I'm fighting for all I'm worth to beat this young girl that was probably in the 4th or 5th grade (tops).

I'm hoping I gained some rating points. I beat a guy almost 200 points higher than me, but the kid that beat me for the first place trophy was almost 200 points lower than me, so I probably broke even. Will try again next May at the annual tournament at IU South Bend.

Now I Know How Mom Felt

When we lived in Arizona, we went to the Grand Canyon. Mom has always said that going there was way too nerve wracking. You had these huge drops and virtually non-existant railings to keep little ones like me from going over the edge. Watching this video from CNN I think I now know why she felt this way.

$1.99 a Gallon

In North Liberty, the price of gas finally went under $2.00, by just a penny. Never thought I'd see that again. So, whose fault is this? Bush is still President, is he to blame? The oil companies again posted record profits, but prices went down. Are they to blame? I don't think I'll ever understand how gas prices are set. Just a month ago we were in this huge crisis and all the talk was energy independence. Now, everything's honky-dory. I just don't get it (not that I mind paying over $2.00 less than I was not too long ago).

An Acting Legend (?) Retires

Joaquin Phoenix announced he is giving up acting. His last 6 movies have been Reservation Road, We Own the Night, Walk the Line, Ladder 49, The Village, and one of the voices in Brother Bear.

Wow, first we lose Paul Newman, now Mr. Phoenix. I was really hoping for that Ladder 49 sequel.

Post-Election: Over and Out

It's finally over. The world woke up on Wednesday morning and . . . life went on. Funny how that happens. Some random thoughts:

• The result was much as I expected. Fairly large electoral win for Obama, although some of the states were extremely close. The popular vote total was pretty close for a while, then Obama pulled ahead. Won by almost 8 million popular votes, or 53% of the vote. Is that a mandate? I'm never quite sure what that means. Doesn't the winner usually have the mandate? They always talk about how the winner needs to be bi-partisan and reach acrosst the aisle and all that. But, in reality, they don't have to do jack squat for the loser. Hey, to the winner goes the spoils.


• McCain gave a very good concession speech. Coupled with his hilarious SNL performance the previous weekend, this was a John McCain that I think people would have preferred to see much more of. But he did choose to take the high road out and I applaud him for that.


• Note to the McCain staffers: Sarah Palin did not lose this election for you. Remember, it was her coming on board that made the election as close as it was. Picking someone like Lieberman, Romney et al would have completely bombed. You forget that Republicans were not enthused at all about McCain UNTIL he picked Palin. In addition, a Republican simply was not going to win this year.
  
• Obama's victory speech was very much subdued. He talked right away of how they may not get everything done in a year or a first term. It was like "Oh crap, I just won this thing and now we have complete control so anything bad that happens we are solely to blame now and since I promised everything to everybody I'd better dial down those expectations right now so people don't expect too much and therefore I am officially changing my slogan from Yes We Can to Yes We'll Try."
  
• Indiana was unique. Obama barely won the state, but Mitch Daniels easily won re-election, when reports had that race very close. Maybe people finally got over daylight savings time. Or maybe Jill Long-Thompson ran a horrible campaign (as my co-workers indicated).


• How did you like that great promotional video taking place in Grant Park on Tuesday night? Over 150,000 in downtown Chicago with no incidents. Think some people took note? You know, like those from the International Olympic Committee? I bet Chicago just jumped to the top of the list for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The favorites had been Tokyo or Brazil, but I have a feeling we'll have the Olympics. Up here in South Bend, we have an artificial whitewater course, where they might very well hold some events. Now that would be pretty cool.


• If there is justice, Norm Coleman will prevail in Minnesota. I can not stand Al Franken. Once upon a time on SNL he was quite funny ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough . . .") but those days are long past.


• The city of Sacramento has a new mayor. Who is it? My all-time favorite NBA player. Yes, KEVIN JOHNSON, aka KJ, is the new mayor of California's capitol. If our last baby had been a boy instead of a girl, he was going to be named Kyle Joseph, and we would have called him KJ after, yep, you got it (Dorene liked the name KJ, but not for that reason).


• Joel Hunter, pastor of the megachurch in Florida, prayed with Obama just before his victory speech. On Sunday, he'll deliver a sermon and will mention the election. He gave a preview of his sermon: "If you pray, 'God, put who you want in the White House,' and you believe that God answers our prayers, then it is logical to assume that Barack Obama is God's answer to our prayers." Hunter is an interesting figure who is increasingly at odds with other evangelical leaders (especially after his ill-fated succession of the Christian Coalition).

I think I'm going to take a political fast for a while. All the pundits can keep talking, but I don't think I'll be listening much for a while. My hope is that Barack Obama becomes the greatest president in the history of the U.S. I know there are those that will be hoping to display a "Don't Blame Me, I voted for McCain" bumper sticker at some point. But why hope for failure? I want the best for my family and our country, so even though I didn't vote for him (and my vote was more against one-party rule than anything), here's hoping that this is the beginning of something great.

Hey, things are looking good for the Arizona Cardinals this season . . . .

Casting My Vote . . Still a Republican

It just would have been too easy. Everyone is railing against the Republican Party and jumping ship. Bashing Bush has become a national pastime. I've been a registered Republican for 24 years and seen some high points and low points. Tonight will be a very low point (and by 7:30 p.m. when polls have closed in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia, we'll have a good idea of what happens). The media will probably be "shocked and surprised" by what takes place. It'll be a Republican bloodbath, no doubt about it, but I've been expecting that all along.

But voting for Obama? I just couldn't do it. Yes, I understand his campaign for change and even I felt energized when I attended his rally back in the spring. I absolutely see why his campaign has resonated so much. But he still remains very much a mystery to me, more of a concept than a candidate.

I felt the Republicans needed to use this election to retool, and McCain is helping do just that. Like sports teams you stick with when they are down and out, I couldn't just abandon the party that I've identified with for so long. I've worked locally on a couple elections and will probably do so again in the future. The party will be back again, although it could be a while. But they have a lot of work to do repairing the Bush damage. So, for those Republicans that jumped ship for this election, "Y'all come back and see us sometime."

Election Eve Notes

So, we're almost done with all this. I read an article recently about "post-election blues" for those that read every last bit of election info there is. I'm basically in that category, although I think my life will continue just fine after the election.

Some thoughts before casting my vote tomorrow:

• Before the campaign started, I felt the Republicans needed to sit this one out and retool. In a lot of ways, I think that is what they've done. Yes, there may have been things McCain could have done differently, but he is being rejected for the same reason Hillary was rejected in the primary. He represents old-time Washington and the phenomena that is Obama just couldn't be stopped. Obama's campaign machine has been pretty remarkable. He's been steady the whole time and McCain has had to just launch attacks on the hour. At times I thought his strategy was poor, but being the huge underdog, not sure what else he could do.


• Many are wanting to blame Palin, but I think that is being overstated. Read the recaps of her appearances around the nation. She has rock star status. Maybe the pundits don't like her, but she has energized the party like no one else could have. I do believe she was mishandled at the outset. It will be interesting to see if this is it for her or if she comes back.


• Speaking of Hillary, I imagine no one is kicking themselves more than her. What if she had run in 2004? But no, she only had 2 years experience in the Senate at the time. Surely people wouldn't vote for someone with that little of experience. I still don't think the Clintons can quite believe they lost to this guy.


• A landslide is being predicted, although I'm not sure how that is defined anymore. The days of a Nixon or Reagan thrashing where the opponent only wins one state are long gone. There's always talk of cultural, economic, racial, etc. divisions in the nation. I think one of the biggest divides is simply party affiliation. There's just no way some people will ever cross over and vote the other side.


• Many of my co-workers are Black, and this election means much more to them than you can imagine. I think they are as equally scared of losing as they are of winning. Lose, and all the hopes they had over the past year go the drain. Win, and as Al Sharpton said last night on CNN, "We're in the pilot's seat and have to prove ourselves worthy of being given the seat in the first place." I don't even try to pretend to understand their stake in this election. I've told my colleagues repeatedly that they have nothing to worry about, but to no avail. They still fear some 2000 Florida scenario that snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.