A lot of posts tonight

I want to let you know that I've written four (now five) posts tonight. I don't want you to miss them if you are interested.

So keep scrolling down.

mwz

Frances Update

I haven't posted about Frances for a while.

Today, we were rolling a ball back and forth (well she was bouncing it to me) and the ball rolled through her legs. She watched it go through and looked between her legs as it rolled away. She retrieved the ball and then proceeded to roll it between her legs again (like snapping a football) and watched it as it rolled. She did this several times. Arial said that this is a milestone of some sort. That made me proud.

Once a week, we go to this play group thing at a local elementary school. It is for kids five and younger. They have a lot of big toys there to play with like play houses and tricycles and small slides. It's kinda cool and nice to get Frances interacting with other kids. For the most part she is shy but she isn't mean and she is pretty good at sharing (except that she doesn't like to give up the drivers seat in a play van).


She normally has a pretty good time (if she isn't hungry or overly tired). This last time though was a little trying. Frances was playing in a little house and this older kid wanted in (we'll call him Jerkface because I couldn't call him that there and I need to get it out of my system before we go back again). Frances was by the door so Jerkface pushed her down.

His parent or guardian was no where to be seen. Frances cried and we carried her out for a little bit. She bounce back pretty quickly and seemed excited to go back in. We played happily for a while.

Later, she was playing in a different house. Jerkface and another older boy (his brother?) were chasing each other or something and they decided to crawl in the windows of the little house. Frances was just standing by the door (not really in his way this time) and he said something like "Get out" and pushed her in the back.

That made Arial and I angry. I yelled "Don't push her" and he seemed to realize that he had been caught. He said "sorry" and his mother/guardian (who happened to be near this time) seemed to think that he wasn't just sorry that he got caught.

We picked up Frances who was crying again after being senselessly pushed. I took her out and I could hear Arial telling the mother/guardian what had happened (both times). She pointed out that he wasn't being properly supervised. The mother/guardian explained that he had said that he was sorry. Arial told him that it was good of him to apologize (which was probably better than what I thought which was "Sorry doesn't unpush my daughter").

I was proud of Arial. She did a good job walking the line between stern and completely enraged. I'm sure she did a better job than I would have. I probably would have either just walked away giving an angry look as I walked by or yelled at the lady and Jerkface in a completely inappropriate way. I don't know which. But Arial did a great job of sounding like an adult.

So, I calmed Frances down some and when Arial got done with them, she helped too. We stayed out a little bit longer that time but eventually she did want to go back in. She played fairly happily for a while longer, although initially you could tell that she was looking around to see that Jerkface wasn't near.

It still makes me mad but Frances managed to get past it. I suppose, I should too.

mwz

Limon's a Boy

We found out a while ago and most of you probably already know but Limon is a boy. Which is good because I had already started referring to him as "he".

mwz

Taxes

I recently read this post by Rhymes With Right. The gist is that some anti-war people (hanguponwar.org) are refusing to pay an excise tax on their phone bills because it supports the military. Some phone companies are letting them do it and no one is being punished for tax evasion.

That's absurd. The thing that gets me is that a lot of the anti-war crowd is pretty well entwined with the political left. Those are the people who want government to give money to poor people. Or put another way, they want to force people into giving to charity.

What this looks like to me is that these people want to pick and choose what they fund. Well, I'm all for that.

I want to pick my charities and not be forced to give money to an oversized bureaucracy that does little except keep people dependent on it. I want to withhold money from various pork projects. I want to stop funding abortions. I want our garbage men to pick garbage off the curb instead of having fancy golf carts to drive down driveways. I want to keep my social security money. I want to withhold my funds from universities that use race as a factor in deciding who gets accepted. I don't want to pay for people who are in this country illegally to get drivers licenses. I want my governments to give back any money it has left over. They can get new money next year and if the people don't make as much, the government shouldn't have as much then either.

But if I try to withhold my tax money for any of those reasons, I'll be thrown in prison and my life is ruined. I guess the hanguponwar people are doing this for the "right" reason.

As a parting thought, remember that every time you vote for a levy or a tax increase, you are telling your neighbors, "I want you to pay for this or go to jail".

mwz

YMCA Showers

So I've been training for a triathlon lately. And that means that I've been working out at the local YMCA.

It isn't a very large Y but it's suitable for my purposes. However, there are two things that are really starting to bother me. One is that there is a very cold stair well between the locker room and the pool. The door to the outside is right next to the men's locker room door. It is winter and I walk in that stairwell wet. Not very comfortable.

The other thing is the shower. Well, not so much the shower itself but the smell of the shower. And not even the normal smell of the shower, I mean the smell that only arises when you turn the hot water on and the warmth awakens the scents trapped on the floor.

Most often, it smells like various body scents. Which can be a little disturbing, depending on what you think you're smelling. But Tuesday, it was surprisingly worse. It smelled like a sickeningly sweet strawberry sucker.

Now you might not think that would be that bad but the smell was so strong. It made me want a glass of milk to pour down my nose. It was like I had a mouthful of hard candy and I couldn't wash it down.

Why would a shower smell like that? I guess I should just be glad that whoever dropped their candy in the shower didn't pick it back up and eat it.

mwz

ps Thanks for reading my gripes.

Triathlete?

So, my brothers have convinced me to train (and presumably do) a triathlon. At first I thought it was a crazy idea but now I've sort of gotten into it.

We got a YMCA membership and everything... okay, I don't have a bike... or a racing swim suit... or goggles... or a swim cap... or a bike helmet... or good running shoes... but I do have a membership at the Y.

This morning, I was up at 7 am to go swimming. It wasn't actually as bad as it sounded. (Since I work at home I usually get up around 8:30.) Tomorrow, I'll get up at 8 to run in the snow. That should be fun.

I'm thinking about going to a spin class next Wednesday (I'm sort of hoping J-Funk will post some notes on what a beginner might expect in a spin class (either in the comments or on her own blog).

If you are interested, you can follow our training at triathlblog.blogspot.com.

mwz
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ps. I was surprised to learn just now that the Blogger.com spell checker doesn't know the word "blog" in it.
Odd.

Frances is adorable

Frances has learned a lot more cool things lately. She can kick a ball, blow kisses and beg for ice cream. After church she likes to run up and down the wheelchair ramp (I have to pick her up when people need to use it).

We got some snow the other day. Frances and I went into the backyard and played a bit. We bundled her up quite well with her snow pants, coat, stocking cap and grocery bags on her feet (we hadn't yet bought her real boots). She brushed her hands in the snow a little but she really seemed to like walking in fresh snow. I don't know if she liked making tracks or just thought the untrampled snow was neat. The grocery bags worked out really well and her shoes nice and dry when we came in.

For Arial's birthday a while back, I got her the first season of Veronica Mars. (It's a really good show, you should check it out.) During the theme song we dance. When Frances hears the beginning, she gets a big smile and runs out into the middle of the room and then we all dance. The song is by the Dandy Warhols who I like a lot. (Buffy's theme song was by Nerf Herder who I also like quite a bit. People who work on really good TV shows must have really good taste in music.) I only wish the theme song was longer. The fun stops way to soon.

mwz
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Frances is Growing Up

It's been a while since I've posted about Frances (or anything if you don't count the tooth brush post that I just did). I thought I would catch up on some of the stuff that Frances has been doing.

She has sort of said her first word. When you give her a ball, she can say "ball" (or "baw" if you want to get technical). I don't know if that really is her first word because a few weeks ago she may have said (and meant) "mama".

I had gotten up with her early on Saturday morning. Frances had her breakfast and was playing. I left the TV off so she could play in peace. She gave me the remote at one point. A little bit later, she started touching the TV screen. Then, she just turned and said "mamamamamamama" as she ran to the stairs (the stairs that led to where Arial was.

I later found out that she was trying to tell me that she wanted to watch cartoons. I was just missing the signs.

---

On a related note, we play this game (well, it's sort of a game) where we run back in forth in the living room (as much as you can actually run in a living room). She loves seeing us run and she runs too. When I'm running, I always say "Run run run". I don't know why. I think it comes from playing with the cats. But now when she wants to play that, she runs (well she mostly walks quickly) and says what sort of sounds like "Run run run" (but is probably actually "Ra ra ra". It is super cute.

---

Frances can now stack blocks on her own. She can stack those peek-a-blocks somewhere around 5 or 6 tall. She has these other plastic things that are sorta like Lego's but with much looser couplings and she can stack those around 8 pieces tall.

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She loves to dance. In "Clap Clap Bow", she can do the bowing and the turn yourself around. She will also make the spout in "I'm a little tea cup".

But most of all, Frances likes the theme song to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. We have been watching the series on DVD a lot lately and when the theme song comes on (both opening and closing credits), she runs to the middle of the room and dances (kind of runs in place and claps). She gets really excited. It is really cool to see.

Well, that's all I have for now.

mwz
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Tooth Brush

I'm not terribly into oral hygiene. I brush everyday to keep my breath fresh (I hope) and floss occasionally but I haven't been to a dentist in years. I say this because I am about to gush over a tooth brush and I don't want you to think that I am obsessed with my mouth.

My toothbrush was getting old and we had some coupons for some Oral B CrossAction Vitalizer tooth brushes. We got to the store and looked at them and they looked freaky. They have different types of bristles and weird rubber tendrils. I was skeptical but we had a coupon and you can't argue with a coupon.

When I tried it though, I was immediately won over. The crazy looking tooth brush works really well. Each stoke feels like it's doing the work of five. The experience was sort of how I imagine an automatic car wash would feel in your mouth (but without the yucky water).

My teeth still feel clean even 12 hours after I last brushed. And I'm looking forward to brushing again tonight.

That's a powerful tooth brush.

mwz
215

Family Stuff

Two hours before her bedtime tonight, Frances was quite crabby. Two hours is a long time in tired toddler minutes. To keep her mildly amused (and therefor happy), we decided to take a walk.

I lugged the large stroller outside but then when it was time to put her in it... well... she just seemed like she would be happier walking. We pushed the stroller for when she got tired but we let her walk. (It only seemed right to let her walk on our walk).

And walk she did. She fell down a couple times but managed pretty well over the occasionally rough terrain of the our side walks. For a while we let her walk on her own. She moved at a surprising speed (almost jogging for her) and pretty much stayed on the side walk. We kept her from venturing near the street by pushing the stroller between her and it

We walked around our block (our block is quite large) and Frances nearly walked it all. (We didn't let her walk on the portion with the busy street.) I was really impressed.

BTW, the nice thing about Arial being pregnant is that we get to have ice cream everyday. I gained ~25 pounds when during the first pregnancy, I'm hoping that I don't repeat that performance.

mwz

Limon

Today, we saw the heartbeat of the newest member of our family whose pre-release name is Limon. After release, Limon's name will change... to a different pseudonym.

I guess Frances will no longer be the sole focus of this blog.

mwz

No Longer Reading Atrios

I haven't felt like blogging in a while. I don't know why. Lately, I just haven't felt like writing.

But I have to finally write this post because I've stopped reading Eschaton. Atrios has grown increasingly rabid (which is the trait that drove me from daily Kos) but he finally went over the line for me by basically saying it was justice that Michelle Malkin be called racial slurs. In my book that makes him an apologist for racism.

Here's a little background, Michelle Malkin wrote a book called "In Defense of Internment". In the book, she supports the decision to intern the Japanese Americans during WWII using the information that they had at the time. If it makes any difference to you, she is Philippino (I think), so her arguments are not as easily dismissed using the race card.

I haven't read the book, mostly because I don't have any interest in the subject. So I'm not going to debate the book.

Because of this book though, the left hates her. There was a spat in August where the left was really riled about her discussion on Cindy Sheehan. In one of many posts (link) attacking Ms. Malkin, Atrios finally killed my interest in reading his... um... work.

[Michelle Malkin who wrote ] a highly misleading and historically innacurate (sic) tract which defends the mass arrest and internment of American citizens based on nothing more than who their ancestors were has pretty much given up any right to complain about such comments.

Emphasis his.

So what he is saying is that someone who holds an opinion different than his, on something he feels strongly about, should just suck it up when facing racism. It's what she deserves right?

Of course he starts his post with " I certainly don't approve of racist comments of any kind, and people who make them should be ashamed of themselves, but" which he feels absolves him of his later remarks.

It just reminds me of the They Might be Giants lyric "Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding".

So Atrios no longer.

mwz

Frances and a Pen

We've been on vacation and I might get a vacation post up in the next couple days but sometimes it gets kind of daunting. I couldn't let this pass without a post.

Frances loves to carry around pens (she also likes to collect sticks when she is outside but there are no sticks inside, so she is stuck with pens). So today, it didn't come as much of a shock to see her with a pen.

The really cool thing was that she was able to put the cap back on (and that she realized this was something that could be done). She repeatedly took the cap off and put it back on. It was fun to see her do it and then look proud when I cheered for her.

Arial also says that she has started figuring out the shape sorter but I haven't seen it so I'm not going to blog about it... Not that I don't believe Arial... I just have nothing to say on the topic.

mwz

Sin City

Last night we rented Sin City for our last movie before we quit our Blockbuster movie pass thing (they raised the rates). It was incredibly good.

It was visually interesting and it kept my interest the whole way through. Normally, I'm too antsy to watch a movie (at home) without getting up and walking around but I sat and watched all of Sin City.

Also, it had Rori from Gilmore Girls and Bruce Willis (who reminds me of one of my brothers).

You should go rent it, unless you don't like movies with a lot of violence or are opposed to comic book movies in general (as Arial is).

mwz
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Brick Border

Today, we put in a brick border around the shrubs near our house. It was a lot of work. I had to dig a trench.

Digging a trench may sound easy but keep in mind that it has to be the right depth and width to fit the bricks. You can't just dig a trench all willy-nilly and expect it to come out right. At least I hope not, otherwise I put in a lot of work that I didn't need to do.

That said, I expected it to be difficult so it wasn't much of a shock.

The worst part (it turns out), is that I did the work without a shirt on. Not only did this let the neighbors see my large tummy but it also exposed the pale skin on my torso that is normally protected by my shirt. I didn't think about sun screen and the layer of dirt clinging to me apparently didn't help.

I went to bed (for a nap) at 9pm because I was wiped. At midnight, Arial came to bed and I got up to feed the cats. Afterwards, I couldn't get back to sleep. So here I am, blogging at 2:40 in the morning.

I've gotta try to seem again. Good night.

mwz
219

Rau Rau Rau

Since I work at home, I occasionally leave my office, go downstairs and see Arial and Frances (usually on my way to get a snack, which is why I'm not the slender, young fellow that I used to be). Sometimes when I go back upstairs, Frances protests my leaving. To try to get her to understand that I'm going upstairs (and that she needs to deal with that), I say "Bye-bye" and "I love you" a couple times.

On a couple occasions over the last few weeks, when I've gone upstairs I heard Frances say something that sounded like "I love you". It was in the same intonation that I use when I say it to her in that circumstance.

Now the question is this, are those her first words? Or am I just hearing what I want to hear like the lady whose dog "says" "I love you" but actually just howls three times?

Either way, it is neat that she picked up the intonation from one time and applied it to the next.

mwz
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Been Away For a While

Last week I had to go on a business trip. It was kind of last minute so I decided to drive the 5 and a half hours. Since I was driving, Arial decided to come along (bringing Frances of course).

Frances did about as well in the car as can be expected. No major crying fits or anything. Although the first night we got there, we wanted to get some local food. But Frances had been in the car all day and didn't want to be in it any more, even if we were hunting for a good restaurant. So when we saw a large man walking with some KFC (meaning there was one close) we quickly gave up our hope for local cuisine and got some chicken.

It was pretty warm while we were there and the hotel had a pool. So, everyday I took Frances swimming.

Now, you know how sometimes the water is a little cold at first but after you get used to it it is fine? Well it turns out that part of the "getting used to it" is moving and generating your own heat. Curling yourself into a little ball and trying to snuggle close to the large person holding you is not going to get you warm. None of our swimming sessions lasted longer than ten minutes.

The longest time we spent swimming was when I finally figured out (based on something Arial suggested) that when I lifted her out of the water and then put her down (in a fun manner) that she would kick her legs. This got her to the point were she didn't look cold. She also seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, that day I was keeping her from her nap and she was tired (and therefore grumpy). That session didn't last that long ether.

One of the guys I was working with gave me a tip on a good, "organic" restaurant. They apparently package their food and sell it in grocery stores (or co-ops, I guess). We thought we would give it a try.

We learned two things:

1. Restaurants that only serve organic food are expensive. Pesticides are used for a reason and part of that is to keep costs down.
2. We don't like "wholesome" food. After our pricey meal where we consumed what looked like a reasonable amount of food, we were still hungry.

So, we went to the grocery store, bought a half gallon of ice cream and since we didn't have a freezer, tried to eat the whole thing by ourselves.

And we very nearly did.

mwz
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Laundry Detergent

I believe the people who make my laundry detergent are a bunch of shysters.

We have liquid detergent. I don't know what brand (it is all the way in the basement and I'm not going down to check). Like most liquid detergents, the cap is also a measuring cup.

For a while, I assumed that you just fill up the cap and dump it in. I mean they make the thing, they should be able to make it the right size so I don't have to measure much.

But one time, I noticed three lines about a third from the top. I looked at the bottle and sure enough, these were the measurement markings. The top was for really large or dirty loads and was about a quarter from the top. That means that even if I was doing extra large loads (which is most of the time) I was still using a third more than I needed.

I think that the detergent company expected a lot of people not to pay attention to the faint lines on the cap. The cap didn't need to be this large, there is plenty of space for the spigot (I love the spigot design, BTW). This way, they can say that the bottle does X number of loads but really it does much less (unless you read the bottle). I mean, does anyone actually count how many loads of laundry they get from a bottle of detergent.

Just something to watch out for, I guess.

mwz
217

Peanut Butter and Jelly: Day 3

Okay, I quit. Around 8pm tonight I decided that today would be my last day on the PB&J diet. I've felt run down all day (which could be attributed to the lack of caffeine but it felt like more than that). I can't be sub-par for work on Monday, so I decided to call it.

A bit before 10pm, I realized that since I was already quitting, there was no point in waiting until morning. So, I had some leftover pasta that Arial had made for herself. It was so very good.

I can now say, with real understanding, that the PB&J diet sucks. I can see why they fight so hard during the food competitions. Although, I found out tonight that they get condiments and spices, too. Maybe with condiments and spices I could have made it.

But tonight, I get to dream about the big bowl of cereal that I'm going to have in the morning.

mwz
217

Peanut Butter and Jelly: Day 2

Today was the second day on the PB&J diet. It went a lot better. I think that was because I have figured out what to expect. PB&J sandwiches are pretty good but that's the best you can do. It's not going to magically turn into chocolate or ham... mmmm... ham.

Anyway here is a list of food that I ate today (if you care)

• Breakfast: 2 pieces of white bread toast with grape jelly
• Lunch: 2 PB&J sandwiches on whole grain (what I'll call "wheat") bread
• Supper: 2 PB&J sandwiches on wheat bread
• Snack: 2 pieces of white bread (not toasted) with jelly
• Snack: 2 PB&J sandwiches on white bread

Yesterdays post received a fair number of comments from people that I don't know (which I always find cool). A couple people wondered how my digestive system would handle this diet.

I'm going to let you know right now that you don't have to worry about me disclosing that information.

You can stop thinking about that now.

mwz
219

Really, stop it.

Peanut Butter and Jelly: Day 1

So yesterday I posted that in order to enhance my appreciation for Big Brother, I would go on the peanut butter and jelly diet that they go through. I forgot to mention that I was doing it for a week.

Anyway, that means I only get peanut butter, jelly, bread and water for the whole weak. (Due to me accidentally re-addicting myself to caffeine, I am having a pop at lunch to stave off the headaches. I'll deal with the headaches on the weekend.)

• Here is what I had today
• Breakfast: 2 pieces of wheat bread toast with jelly
• Lunch: peanut butter on a toasted bagel (we were out of bread, I had to eat something and a bagel isn't too far out of line).
• Snack: 1 piece of white bread microwaved with peanut butter (not as good as I had hoped, plus runny peanut butter is hard to keep on a piece of toast. Also, it's still peanut butter.)
• Supper: 2 PB&J sandwiches on white bread
• Late Night Snack: 1 PB&J sandwich on white bread

I can now say, with full confidence, that this really does suck. The people on Big Brother aren't whining about it because they are too spoiled to rough it. It really sucks.

I've only been through one day of it and I hate it. I like to drink milk with my PB&J sandwiches but now I just get water. I get hungry and wander toward the kitchen but I stop realize that the only thing I get is something that I can concoct from peanut butter, jelly and bread. It really has cut down on my snacking. That has to be why they lose weight.

Oh yeah, and I can't get the smell of peanut butter off of me.

mwz
220

BB

I'm going to make a confession. We are really into Big Brother. Not the one that watches me even though I think I'm alone, the reality show on CBS.

Quick description of Big Brother:
If you are unfamiliar with it, the premise is that 14 or so people start off in this house. They are cut off from the outside world, no tv, no internet. There is not much entertainment in the house (this year they have chess and foosball). They have no pre-determined teams. Each week someone wins "Head of Household" (HoH). That person nominates two people for eviction and then the rest vote one of them out.

It started the same summer that Survivor did (what a great summer of reality tv that was) but I like it a lot more. I don't even watch Survivor any more but we haven't missed a season of BB.

For one thing, it is currently going on right now. There is no worrying about anyone spoiling who wins because it is still happening. Oh, and it's on three times a week, so get a little closer to the people. (The first season it was on like five times a week which was cool if you were into it but they figured out that there was only so much television generated in a day.)

The producers also like to mix it up a quite a bit, they call it "the twist" (even though there are usually a bunch of different "twists" throughout the season, everyone likes to declare "This is The Twist"). As an example, this year, everyone started out knowing one other person in the house but thinking that they were the only pair. This really puts a different spin to the game unlike Survivors twist of having gender specific tribes.

The strategy is interesting because a lot of power is held by the HoH but that power switches week to week. Plus, the only thing they really have to do is plot and gossip. They are really stuck in this house (well, there is a back yard area, too).

That is another part of watching BB, the people really wind up suffering from cabin fever. They literally only get to see the other people in the house. They don't see the camera men, all the cameras are build into the house. The host does talk to them during the live show but that's it. They start going a little nuts (although if they get too nuts, they kick them off the show).

To top it all off, once a week they have to compete for food. Sometimes, only half the house gets good food, and sometimes the whole house competes as a group but if they lose or fail, they only get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the week.

You might say "on Survivor they have to live on rice and the gunk they find under their toe nails". Well BB isn't a show about starving people. It is all about the strategy.

Anyway, they certainly hate being on the PB&J diet. Some have claimed that they lost weight on it. I'm not sure if it is because PB&J is good for you or because there is only so much of it that you can stand to eat.

Either way, I've decided to try out the PB&J diet. Partly because I want to find out if it really is as bad as they make it out to be and partly because I want to lose a little weight. I'm thinking about it as a television supplement to enhance my understanding of what I'm watching.

I'll let you know how it goes.

mwz
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Why I Blog

So CTG over at Auxiliary Clinton (currently dead link) has deleted her blog again. This got me thinking about why I blog. So I thought I would do a little naval gazing and post about it.

When I started this, I just wanted to place to vent my (mostly political) thoughts and maybe coalesce some of my opinions into a coherent argument. Meaning I have a huge head and wanted people to know what I'm thinking about... because it's really important... or something.

But slowly I started writing about my daughter. At first, I just wanted to talk about her. Then, I decided that blogging about her was better than writing in her baby book. But now I've started feeling like most people don't care about my political views as much and are probably more interested in Frances.

So this blog has slowly turned into the Frances blog. I'm still going to write political stuff when the mood strikes me but most of my posts will probably be about the family. But I could change my mind.

That said, in the comments section of my last post, CTG gave one of her reasons for deleting her blog. She said, "I like to not be bound to previous stated opinions". I can certainly understand that. Blogging can feel a lot like talking and it is pretty easy to just let something slip that you don't necessarily mean just to prove a point. But there is a permanent record for people to read through and play "gotcha".

So, let me just say that there may come a time when I contradict something that I've previously written. I may have changed my mind or not really thought something through. If that comes, please point it out. I will do my best to either explain my logic or fess up to the inconsistency.

Just for the record, I think that we are all hypocritical at some point or another. I know I am even though I try not to be. So, if you catch me being a hypocrite, I'm sorry.

mwz
220

A New First

Yesterday, we went on a picnic. We went to a pretty nice park that we think they made on top of an old quarry. It was a nice day and Arial had packed sandwiches and strawberries. There was a picnic table under some tries by a big grassy open space. It was nice.

Frances seemed to have a good time. She was running around on the grass, falling occasionally. She does a pretty good job of picking herself up and continuing. Then she did a face plant on the ground. I'm not really sure how she managed to do it but her face was the first thing that hit. She was upset by that but after we picked the grass and dirt from her mouth, she seemed better.

We decided to wipe off the rest of the dirt and the strawberries with a baby wipe. It worked (as it always does, I don't know how we lived before we carried baby wipes around with us all of the time). But then there was more strawberry on her lip. Arial wiped that off but then it returned. It was then that Arial realized that it wasn't strawberry but blood.

That's right. My little girl had her first bloody lip. I am so proud.

mwz
220

Oh, and don't worry she's fine. It was only a little cut.

So Far Behind

[Oops, Arial wanted to use the computer when I was in the middle of this post and I forgot to come back to it, well here it is.]

Cleveland is apparently part of the third world. I'm pretty sure that first world cities get continuous power. Over starting last Friday, we have been having periodic power outages that last from a half an hour to many hours. So basically that puts me quit a bit behind in my baby blogging (or should I say toddler blogging).

Frances had her first birthday. It was a lot of fun. We didn't invite anyone over or anything but we had fun anyway.

We let Frances open her presents... well, we more coerced her into ripping off some of the paper. She was pretty good at that. She even opened up one of her own cards, pulled it out of the envelope and everything.

She started getting tired and irritated that we wanted her to keep opening presents. She wanted to play with some of the presents that were already opened, which actually seems quite logical. A toy in the hand is worth two in the box... or something.

After the presents, we gave her cake (of course we sang to her but she didn't care). She got a whole piece to herself and she loved it. She would mush it into her hand, shove it into her mouth, bite off the large chunks stuck to her hand and repeat. It was actually a little disturbing how much she was into the cake. Birthdays are special so we let her eat the whole piece but she didn't get any more of her birthday cake.

I'm sure that she had quite a sugar rush but since we had kept her up well past her bed time, she had no problems sleeping.

I think it was a good birthday (for her and us, both).

mwz
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Slinky

After multiple years of marriage I’m still learning new things about Arial. I have recently found out that she is a genius at untangle a Slinky. She is masterful.

A couple weeks ago (on the same trip that took us to the old style playground), we bought Frances a Slinky. Technically, it’s a Slinky Jr because it is smaller and made of plastic. Frances is still to young to play with it like older people do but she still enjoys flailing it around. That, of course, leads to it getting tangled.

When I look at a tangled slinky, it makes my head spin. For some reason, I just can’t work out how it could possibly end up the way it is. I think it is the same mental block that keeps me from being good at a Rubix cube.

But Arial seems to understand the Slinky geometry in a way that I will never fully comprehend. Given a hopelessly tangled slinky and a few minutes, she will return an untangled slinky with only the damage that was done to it during the tangling.

She’s amazing.

mwz
218

Toddling

My babies is now a toddler. I know this because she toddles. Any time she is standing up and wants to move she prefers to toddle and she can toddle quite well.

Toddling isn’t all benefits though. She has discovered the ugly truth about tripping. Things on the floor that she normally would crawl right over have the potential to trip her. She doesn’t trip to much and when she does she doesn’t make a big deal about it but it is her new danger.

Her other new danger is the doctor, at least from her prospective. We went to her 1 year appointment today. She got two vaccinations and blood drawn. They drew the blood just like with adults. Although, it isn’t as much fun watching the vacuum tubes fill up when you’re holding your crying daughter still.

She was a trouper, though. She didn’t cry terribly long after the shots or the blood draw. Poor thing.

On a side note, we decided to give her the VZV (chickenpox) vaccine. I was strongly against the vaccine when it was only supposed to last 10 years but I’ve heard that it is now believed to last much longer. The doctor said it was good for lifetime but I don’t trust her. Our real doctor moved away…

mwz
218

Deja Vu

You know the saying “speak of the devil, and the devil appeared”? What do you say if just after exclaiming that, the devil actually appeared. You would be in bind. You can’t simply repeat what you just said, even though it would be the most appropriate thing to say.

I would suggest running.

mwz
220

4th of July Weekend

This weekend was quite nice. I had Friday off, so it made for a four day weekend.

Last night we took Frances to the fireworks. We decided to make the trek into the city and see the big fireworks show. It was supposed to be the largest in the state. I wanted Frances' first fireworks to be good.

Some babies cry when they see fireworks, but not Frances. She thought they were neat. After watching them for a little while though, she seemed to get bored and turned her attention to scarfing down some Cheerios (I don't use a word like "scarfing" lightly. She ate more Cheerios at a faster pace than I've ever seen her eat). Sometimes she would glance at the fireworks but mostly she ate.

While Frances liked the fireworks, I was disappointed. I didn't think there were near enough to claim the title of largest show in the state. The finale was short and didn't have a lot of fireworks in it. When people started getting up, I thought it was silly of them to leave in the middle of the show. Oh well...

Most of the weekend was spent doing landscaping. A tree (a little taller than a large bush) in front of our house was dieing so I dug it out and replaced it with a different short tree. We also dug out some dieing, ground cover bushes.

Digging out those large plants taught me an important lesson. A blister really hurts in the shower. I don't know why but it's true. But more importantly, a blister hurts more if you aggravate it the next day by doing the same thing that caused the blister in the first place.

...and then taking a shower.

mwz
218

Famous People

I had a dream the other night. I was with some friends at the bar in a restaurant (this is just part of a larger dream with a lot more context but let's just keep it simple). Also sitting at the bar was John Stewart. That made me feel quite awkward.

I've liked John Stewart since the John Stewart Show on MTV. We still catch a lot of the Daily Show. So when I saw him, it felt the same as if I had seen a friend, there was that sense of recognition.

That is what made me feel awkward. I didn't really know him and he definitely didn't know me but it felt like I was ignoring a friend. That's a really weird situation. I don't think we are built for the one sided relationships that we have with people on TV and in movies. It's too easy to get attached to those people.

Once, (in real life) while on a business trip, I was in the security line at the airport and I saw the guy who plays Grissom on CSI. I'm pretty sure it was him (although, I'll never actually know). He saw me looking at him (I was probably staring because I was trying to figure out if it was him and because I'm a dork with no social skills). He gave me a look like "please don't make a scene". I smiled and looked away and didn't talk to him or stare anymore. It was just nice to see a familiar face while on the road.

In the dream I wound up say hello to John Stewart and feeling stupid. I'm glad it was a dream because it saved me the embarrassment.

Update Type Things

I just had a couple updates to some old posts.

---

Flag Burning: When I wrote this post, I forgot to mention the other half of what I wanted to say.

While I don't think flag burning should be a crime, I think that people who hear of a protest where flags will be burned should come with forms to help the burners renounce there citizenship. If they really think America sucks so bad, then they obviously don't want to be citizens anymore. Help them out. Are there such forms?

If they are not citizens, suggest that they leave the country whose freedoms they are enjoying and yet they despise. Frankly that would go for citizens too.

---

Eminent Domain: Rhymes With Right has an article about an eminent domain case where the city "fairly compensated" the owner $14,000 for his property but then sold it to a developer for $60,000. Read all the way to the end and you can get the gist of why we need to be wary of corruption in our government.

---

Kyoto Protocol: QandO has found an article pointing out how a good portion of the first world countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol are going to fail to meet their goals. These are the countries that pooh-poo'd us for not signing but it appears that they aren't really doing anything to meet their self-imposed obligations.

---

This isn't an update but Arial wanted me to mention that tonight we passed up free ice cream. We went to the weekly concert put on by the city (and paid for by everyone, even those who don't go). As we were leaving, they were giving away Klondike Bars (which are apparently Kosher, or so we were told). But since we are trying to lose weight we passed it up.

That is will power.

mwz

Flag Burning

I figured I weigh in on the subject of a constitutional amendment banning flag burning.

I think it's a bad idea because it becomes a crime of intent. Are you burning a flag to protest America or are you giving it a proper farewell? To make a law against burning cloth is silly, even if that cloth symbolizes the US. Would we make it illegal for someone to rip up a Denny's menu if they first said "This Denny's menu represents America and all the people who died defending it." Destroying symbols shouldn't be a crime. Rude, distasteful and moronic yes but a crime, no.

On the same token, I don't understand why Muslims are all pissed about the Koran being pissed on. (Did you see how I used the word "pissed" in two different ways? Now if only I could work in a drunk Brit...) That's pretty sad. My God can handle someone tinkling on His divine word, or more correctly, a book in which his word is written. He might not be terribly happy with the person doing the weeing but that's really between the pee pee man and God. As long as no one is trying to force me to disrespect God, I'm not going to get worked up over it. I figure God can handle the situation on his own.

While I'm on the subject, I don't think I could be a guard at Gitmo. They have to show deference to the koran. To me that is idol worship. I couldn't do it. I think I could pass out korans just as I could pass out any library book, but I wouldn't show it any special attention. It's a book. A book.

In summary, symbols are symbols not the real thing. Don't get them confused.

mwz
219

Power Button

Frances has discovered the power button on the cable box. She loves it. Apparently, it doesn't bother her that when she resets the cable box, it switches to channel 15 ( a local access channel). I guess she doesn't like the shows that we pick.

Yesterday, when she was doing it, channel 15 was showing a polka band. She really liked that. She would turn off the box, then turn it back on and dance for a little bit. Then repeat. It would have made her great-grandmother proud (who every week tuned into their local polka show, "Bandwagon").

The button pushing is going to be wonderful.

On a side note, I saw this page at digg. It was hard to keep my laughs from waking the baby. There is a lot of content that could eat up an evening. You have been warned.

mwz
219

Guilt and a Merry-Go-Round

Tonight we went to Babies-R-Us (please invert the "R" as you read that). It is really far away from our house, so we decided to eat out (which is a rare occation now that we have a child). We went to Hardee's because the closest one to our house is near the Babies-R-Us and as I said that is far away. We really like Hardee's so this was our chance to go.

We ordered Frances a Spicy Barbeque Thickburger which she enjoyed very much... Okay, that was for me (and I thought it had to much BBQ sauce). We brought food for Frances.

Now, Frances has started pulling off her bib in the middle of meals. It is really irritating and we really haven't been able to figure out how to stop her from doing it.

But tonight, at Hardee's, Arial gave Frances a "you're making me so sad" face and she stopped tugging on her bib. That was the first time that a guilt trip worked. It's an important development because it means that 1) Frances is able to understand that we have feelings too and 2) that we have a powerful new parenting tool.

Arial wanted to make sure that I marked this occation with a blog entry.

Across the street from Hardee's was a park. So, after supper we walked over to it. The park was old and so was the equiptment. It was the fun equiptment made of metal that you could (potentially) hurt yourself on (but never did). The park had those little horses that you can sit on and they rock. There were big swings (the kind that you could go high enough that it was scary to look down at the peak). There was a free standing metal slide (although it was kind of short) and teeter-totters that only used the power of levers to work. (The park that we go to near our house has this weird spring powered teeter-totter that you can use by yourself. I think it's for lonely children).

But the best peice (and the reason we went over there) was the merry-go-round. It was a real metal merry-go-round. The kind that you could spin so fast that you were afraid to jump on. The kind where there was a hint of real danger when you ventured out toward the edge. It was a little wobbly but was still being greased so it spun smooth when everyone was in the center.

There was the characteristic path around it where no grass grew. Kids were obviously still playing on it. That made me feel happy to know that not everyone was growing up today in a completely sanitary environment. There are still kids risking being tossed off a merry-go-round or worse, being drug around in a circle.

The only worry is that after being raised where everything is completely safe, they might not know that the danger is real. But I guess kids wouldn't care anyway.

So, we pushed Frances on the swing and took a couple spins on the merry-go-round. She seemed to like it. Even though she kept spining her head with the turns, there was a big smile on her face.

I hope when we eventually move that we can find a place near an old park for Frances to play in.

mwz
219

Two Irritations (3 of 2)

You get one bonus irritation.

I really dislike the practice of eminent domain. I understand the need for roads (and maybe schools) but I can't stand the idea of local governments taking land to sell/give to businesses.

The supreme court ruled today that it is just peachy to take homes that people have lived in all thier lives and sell them to large corporations in an effort to increase the tax base and make new jobs.

The right side of the blogosphere was all over this with condemnations. There are some great posts by QandO, Michelle Malkin and Rhymes With Right). Basically all agree that the government shouldn't take things from individuals and give them to corporations.

You would think that the left side would be angry about giving to corporations part. Both Oliver Willis and Kevin Drum are silent and Atrios gives a half endorsemnt in this entry. He says that he doesn't support the decision but:

[T]he alternative could've been a conservative written opinion severely limiting the power of eminent domain and the concept of public use, which would've eviscerated a truly necessary government power.

What? I guess I should say that I also think it was a bad decision but it's better than if they would have mandated the the current residents were dragged out in the street and murdered. He seems to be so afraid of the government losing some power that he prefers to give it too much power.

And yet he doesn't support the Patriot Act.

[Update] Powerline has a very well thought out post on the subject.

mwz
219

Two Irritations (2 of 2)

The second thing I find irritating about the liberal blogs is their crying about Carl Roves statement (NYT article):

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.

Here are some examples of their hysteria.

Kevin Drum seems to think that insulting liberals "is patently more despicable than anything Dick Durbin ever said". (Dick Durbin recently likened things happening in Gitmo to things that happened in the holocaust.)

I don't get it. Frank J. at IMAO.us suggested (mostly in jest) "Now, to test our power, I think we should see if we can make a groundswell of anger against something a Democrat says that's completely uncontroversial." I think that is what the Dems are trying to do.

Remember that Carl Rove is Bush's political advisor. He is supposed to be partisan. His job is to make sure his side wins and the other side loses. Given such a task, I'd bet that he would choose to work for the side that he believes in. Is it that bizarre to think that he doesn't think much of liberals.

Are liberals that sensitive that when someone shows them in an unflattering light that they whine and cry? The answer is yes, I guess.

Don't forget that it was the Dems party chair, Howard Dean who said, "I hate Republicans and everything they stand for".

Check out Rhymes With Right's entry on this topic. It is very nice (plus he commented on this blog once).

mwz
219

Two Irritations (1 of 2)

I read a few liberal blogs and there are a couple things that really bother me.

First, I'm really tired of the "chickenhawk" argument. I see it brought up all the time (although right now I can't find an example). The arguement goes that if you aren't willing to enlist and go to Iraq, then you are morally corrupt if you support the decision to go to war. It's such a stupid arguement but it's like their rallying cry.

I need food but I don't want to be a farmer. I need my sewage removed from my house but I don't want to work in a waste treatment plant. I (and my family) need to be kept safe but I don't want to be in the military. I fully support the idea of people growing food, sanatizing waste and waging war for me.

See, we have this neat little system set up where different people do different things to benifit the community. I do my job and it benifits people, in return I get "credits" that I can distribute to other people who benifit me. It's a lot like communism but with incentives. Some people (God bless them) benifit our society by fighting for us. That is their job and they are good at it. Much better than I.

Now, you can debate the virtues of this particular war (and you probably should) but to say that one position is invalid because the person presenting it doesn't meet certain qualifications is stupid.

mwz

Night Food

So, I'm trying to get back down to my fighting weight. I've blogged about this before but I lapsed. Basically, I'm on a diet. Not a fancy schmancy one, I'm just exercising and not eating as much. Pretty simple.

I've come to notice a flaw in our culture. It's more like a bug.

In the evenings, I watch tv (I was going to say "I some times watch tv" but I'm not going to be pretentious). I'm usually mildly hungry in the evenings because I no longer snack.

Now here is where the problem lies. Restaurants like to advertise on tv and when they do, they tend to show their food. They make it look as appatising as possible. And that makes me hungry.

I don't blame them, they want to get the word out about their business. But generally, by the time prime time rolls around, I've already had supper. I'm not going to go out and get another meal just because it looks really good. So from their perspective, it isn't really the best time to advertise. All it does is make me hungry.

In a perfect world, restaurants could advertise to me before I eat supper. Then they get the plug in while I might do something about it and I wouldn't have to be reminded of food every 5-15 minutes.

mwz
222

Movies

This last Saturday we took Frances to her first movie. Well okay, we went to the drive in and she didn't watch the movies but she still had a great time.

It was a nice evening so before the movies started we pulled out the lawn chairs and sat outside for a while. Frances had a blast watching all the people and looking at her new and strange surroundings. She was so very excited. It was like she knew that she was going to stay up past her bed time.

It got a little chilly so we went inside the car. Frances loved that too. She is always stuck in her car seat when she is in the car but that night she got to crawl around in the front seat. About halfway through the first movie, she finally fell asleep on Arial's lap.

The plan had been to put her in her car seat to sleep. So, at intermission Arial transfered her back into her seat.

That lasted five minutes.

It turns out that she likes to sleep on her stomache (which we knew). She found out that it is hard to roll over to your stomach in a car seat and once you get there, it isn't very comfortable. That woke her up.

Arial had to hold her the rest of the evening (until we strapped her in to go home). Arial said she didn't mind. I hope that was true.

Frances had a hard time getting back to sleep when we got home. We think she wanted to be held all night. But when she did get to sleep she slept until 9:30 so that made up for it some.

Incidentally, we saw Mr and Mrs. Smith and Star Wars III. Both were entertaining and it was a good evening.

mwz

Big Band Music

Tonight we went to see a local big band. Our city puts on free, weekly concerts once a week. Last week was a concert band (like high school but with adults playing) and this week was a "swing" band (think high school jazz band but with adults). They were both pretty decent.

Frances loved it. She stood on our laps and danced a quite a bit. Of course by "dance" I mean bounced and wildly swung her arms. She seemed to especially get excited when a new style of music was played. It was like she would get used to a style and then it would get boring after a while.

On a side note, you can tell that your old when your favorite band comes to town and you don't even bother to try to get tickets but given the chance at a free, family-friendly concert you go no matter what is being played.

mwz

Kyoto

This post is basically to point out this post on QandO about the Kyoto treaty.

The article is about New Zealand overshooting it's greenhouse emissions. Now a good portion wants to pull out of the treaty because instead of getting money, they will have to pay into the system an estimated 1 billion dollars (I don't know if that is NZ dollars or American dollars).

From the article:

When we ratified Kyoto in 2002 one of the reasons Hodgson gave for doing so was that not to ratify would be to set fire to "a very big cheque".

It just shows the absurdity of the thing. Why wouldn't underdeveloped countries sign up when it's basically free money? Plus, they can always back out if they need to.

I too am glad we stayed out of it. I just wish that people on slashdot would stop posting about it.

You might want to read the QandO post too. They have a different thesis than I do.

Jealousy Tax

Some people like to call the estate tax the "death tax" because it is the fee that the government charges rich people for their death. I like to call it the "jealousy tax" because the main arguement that I hear in favor of it is "Why should they get all that money?".

There may be some validity to the "redistribution of wealth is good for everyone" argument, but I haven't read enough about it to believe or refute it. But since people only really care about visceral arguments (otherwise there would be no protectionists), I'm going to talk about that one.

Basically, the arguement goes like this: The children of wealthy parents didn't do anything to earn their forturne, they were just lucky enough to be born into a rich family. They didn't have to work for it (working hard is the American way). AlsoI wasn't born into a rich family so therefore they don't deserve to inherit all of their parents money. Some of it must go me. Well, the all knowing, beneficent government, at least.

We'll ignore that a good portion of the people that actually make that argument were born into middle class households and had all of the advantages associated with that (not to say that people can't rise up out of poverty, it's just harder to do). Do they feel guilty when they drive through the ghettos, to the point that they want to give away half of their stuff?

What I really want to point out is how the parents (or ancestors) must feel. They managed to build up this wealth that has others so jealous. If I was extremely wealthy, I would want my children to be taken care of. I would want to give them every advantage that I could (heck I'm not extremely wealthy and I feel that way). If I didn't want to "burden" them with the wealth, that could be my choice but I would also want the option of giving them everything I worked for (or everything I've worked to keep, as the case may be).

I think it's disgusting that people want to dig into the pocket books of other people and still want to believe that they are doing good.

Thou shalt not covet.

mwz

Iowa City Wal-Mart Update

Just a quick post. According to this article, Iowa City city council has rightfully approved the rezoning of the land that Wal-Mart purchased.

My favorite quote from the article is from Councilor Mike O'Donnell. He said, "If people were not shopping at Wal-Mart, then Wal-Mart would not be opening in Iowa City".

mwz

Wal-Mart

I occationally like to take a look at the school newspaper from my college. It's the Daily Iowan. It is a pretty decent paper, especially if you want to keep up with what's going on in Iowa City. (I don't know why I'm interested, I just am.)

Today, I happened apon this letter to the editor. In it, a resident lets us know that it isn't too late to contact the city council and stop them from re-zoning land to allow Wal-Mart to build a super-duper store.

He says, "[W]e still must let them know that the majority of Iowa Citians do not want this abomination in our midst." Note that when I left when I was last in Iowa City, there were two Wal-Marts in the area, one of which is a super store. Wal-Mart's web page confirms that they are still there. It's not like Wal-Mart is breaking into a brand new market.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of people in Iowa City do, in fact, want "this abomination", otherwise Wal-Mart wouldn't be building it. Say what you will about that corporation but they are not stupid. I'm sure that thier research shows that this new store will be a success.

I think the situation really is that a small minority object to Wal-Mart's buisiness practices and want to impose their will on everyone. If a majority really don't want a new Wal-Mart, then they just won't shop there. They will "vote" with their money.

If this concerned resident was so sure that "the majority of Iowa Citians do not want this abomination in our midst", then he would be happy to let the store open and then close. But I think he knows that it will be different.

mwz

Disclaimer: I don't shop much at Wal-Mart, not because of any principle but because I don't like the quality of their products and our closest store is dirty.

First Steps

Today, Frances took her first steps. She walked (a couple steps) between Arial and I. It wasn't like in the movies. I was barely paying attention. Arial was sittin in our rocking chair and was in the couch right next to it. Frances had a bottle in one hand and was using Arial for support. Then she let go of Arial and took a couple staggering steps to me and grabbed onto my leg.

It was definitely walking. It was kind of a surprise though. I don't know how anyone could get that moment on video, unless they were filming every possible attempt. There have been a lot of times this week that I thought she was going to walk but didn't. But tonight (at 8:56 EST) she just did it.

And that was that.

mwz

Bloggity Blog Blog

Just about every blog I read has done a post about blogs and how they're so great. Generally, it's about how bloggers can challenge the MSM and hold them to higher standards and blah blah blah.

But I've realized a new "Great Thing About Blogs". As you can see by the side bar, a few of my friends have blogs. I really enjoy reading and commenting on their blogs because even though we are really far apart we can still interact.

I know that we could interact using email or the phone or whatever but for some reason blogging is a lot more like hanging out together. Someone just posts something they find interesting and we can discuss. The threads don't get very long but then there is always a new post to talk about it.

And that is where blogs beat email. Email correspondences tend to die out without someone tending them. If you don't have anything particular to say in response to something that can end the conversation.

But blogs are more ego driven. That's the real reason that I started this blog. I could have started a diary and gotten some of the same benifits but I like the idea that others might read it and say nice things.

Blogs are put a bit more urgency into it. I don't like to go a week without at least two posts because if I actually do get some consistent readers, I don't want to bore them away.

So, with blogs it's more like we are all just hanging out and when people want to say something, they just do. It's good to hear what far away friends are thinking about. It keeps them closer.

Plus, I'm pretty sure that we're all going to get rich with our blogging.

mwz

Slippery Slope

I was having a conversation with a friend a couple weeks ago about slippery slopes. He was saying that the "slippery slope" argument is often overused and keeps people from compromising. His thesis was that people don't want to give even a little bit from their position because they are afraid that the new position will be chipped at too, until they have lost everything.

What he was saying made sense to me at the time (especially since we were eating at a really good Indian restaurant and that generally makes me agreable).

But then I saw this article (through QandO). Apparently, there was an editorial in the British Medical Journal that called for banning the sale of long, pointy kitchen knives. This has been around the blogosphere and back already, so I'm not going to comment much on that. (Although, next they are going to want to ban all arms... and legs, so that no one can hurt anyone else. I'll be here all week.)

This article made me think about the slippery slope conversation.

I think now that the problem isn't that people rely on the "slippery slope" argument but rather that it is a valid observation. People never argue from a situation in the past, they argue from the current position.

Put another way, let's say there is a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is one extreme position and 10 is the other extreme postion. The current policy/law/social placement is at 9.

People say, let's compromise. The position shifts to a 7.

Then when the topic comes up again, they say "7 is way to high, let's compromise to 5", completely forgetting that 7 was a compromise.

Then when the topic comes up again, they say "5 is way to high, let's compromise to 3", completely forgetting that 5 was a compromise.

The same thing happens again until it's at a 2 or a 1.

The way to shift a population is little by little, compromise by compromise.

A very easy example is dress lengths in America. At one time it was risque for a woman to show her ankles. You know where I'm going with that... I'm not going to type it.

My point is that I think the "slippery slope" is real.

mwz

New Blogs

This is long overdue. I have added several new blogs my psuedo-blogroll.

Most notably is Doctor Pistachio, who is a friend of mine. I've been reading the blog for weeks and just haven't gotten around to putting it on the list. It's pretty funny, if you don't mind occationally reading about biology.

La Shawn Barber's blog is pretty good. She is a Christian conservative and has an interesting take on a lot of things. I haven't been reading her recently because I lost her rss feed and I can't find it anymore. I don't know what happened.

And last, Rhymes With Right is a conservative blog written by a teacher (I think middle school but I not 100% on that). He usually has some interesting things to say about current events, particularily ones involving schools.

mwz

Memorial Day Parade

Today we went to the Memorial Day parade that our little suburb puts on. It is a little parade but it's only a (giant) block away from our house and it's kind of fun to go to.

It was Frances' first parade and she seemed to like it a lot. She nicely sat on my lap and watched. We think that she got a little bit of sensory overload. After a bit of a break in the parade, given time to let some of it sink in, she seemed quite happy. A couple times she stood up (still on my lap) and jumped with excitement.

On another note, there were these annoying kids near us. I will usually dismiss a lot of bad behavior due to the excitement of the parade. For instance, we were sitting next to them near the curb. They had their space, we had ours. As the parade progressed, they started crowding us. It got to the point that they were actually standing in the street, directly in front of us. That was pretty irritating, especially since I was holding a baby, who I thought might want to see some of the parade. So I moved. The kids didn't seem to even notice.

That was one thing, I can easily chalk that up to excitement. So even though it was irritating, I could understand.

What I cannot understand is that when they would get a peice of candy that they didn't want, they would drop it into the street. What kind of spoiled brats throw away candy in the street? When I was a kid and I got parade candy, I ate it. It didn't matter if it was a tootsie roll, I ate it because it was candy.

Then of course, they threw their wrappers on the ground. I very nearly said something but instead I bottled it up so I could spew it onto my blog.

I talked about those kids with Arial on the walk home and she said that it probably wasn't their fault. She pointed out that their parents (or guardians) weren't any more considerate of others. They had parked their chairs in the middle of the sidewalk at the corner. So to go by them either direction you had to go into the grass. They didn't seem to mind that we had to push our stroller through the grass. A minor inconvenience but indicative of a parent (or guardian) who doesn't care if their kids litter.

mwz

Post

I wanted to get a new post up because I haven't in a while. My whole families been sick. We came down with a cold a week ago and we still have it.

Colds are sneaky. With the flu, you feel bad, you throw up some, you start to feel better and then you are better. But a cold has such a maze of symptoms that you never know when your getting better.

This cold started with aches and a sore throat on Sunday. We thought we were getting better on Tuesday. But then on Wednesday the cold struck back with runny noses and general head fogginess. Friday started the coughing and that is where we are still. Who knows what's next?

On a completely unrelated topic, I heard a little ska-punk on the radio last night and it really took me back to high school. There were a couple years there when ska really came out of the woodwork. It was a lot of fun to go to the shows. With ska, it didn't really matter if the band was good or bad, it was still fun. I suppose that is what it's like for people who listen to disco, a nice memory trip. Who knew you could rationalize listening to disco.

mwz

I'm back

I've been out of town for a while. I have returned but not before Frances caught a cold and gave it to Arial and I. It is really sad to see Frances feeling sick. I'm sure she doesn't know why she feels bad and that must make it worse. She also doesn't know not to violently shake her head in an attempt to get away from the tissue. This tends to create a trail of snot across her face.

We are getting better at blowing her nose, even if she doesn't actually blow.

Today she got macaroni and cheese. Not mac and cheese from a box but home made using real cheese. Frances loved it. It was a pretty safe bet that she would. It provides two of her favorite foods, pasta and cheese. All the pasta made its way into her mouth. A good portion of the cheese made its way onto her face. But thankfully, none of it made it to the floor, which would have been a mess.

As a side note, I discovered that using nacho Doritos to scoop the macaroni was quite good. Possibly a little over the top cheesy but good none the less.

mwz

Health Care Rights

One of the guys at QandO and Ezra Kline have been bantering back and forth about universal health care. The QandO guy, McQ said that "Rights don't involve, involuntarily, the assets of others." Ezra came back by calling libertarians "callous" and making the argument that universal health care is "a right because the citizens and government have decided it's a right".

That has really started to bug me. Just because governments have decided to provide it to everyone, doesn't make it a right. It just makes it a government provided service.

What about this situation? The emergency room has been flooded with patients from some big accident (we've all seen this on ER). They only have so many staff members. Some people are going to wait until someone can get to them. Some of those people will die. That sucks but have their rights been trampled on? Does the government need to make sure that there are always enough doctors and nurses at the hospital to handle a major crisis?

What about someone out in the middle of farm country who gets injured and dies on the long car ride to the hospital? Was the government responsible for that person's death because they didn't have enough emergency clinics scattered across the plains? Are city dwellers more equal than farmers?

The problem is one of limited resources. Until we have unlimited resources some people are going to needlessly suffer and die. It's really depressing but that is the way it is.

mwz

One final note: In a way though, health care by itself is a right. You have the right to seek any treatment that you can afford. In other words, I have the right to own a gun but that doesn't mean that the government must provide me with one.

Baby Blogging

As I just posted, I haven't had a whole lot of time to post. Frances had a pretty big weekend.

On Friday, she finally said "mama". She didn't mean the word "mama" but she figured out how to make "M" sounds. That was a nice surprise just before Mother's Day.

She also got her first major cold on Friday. She was up quite a bit that night. I even got up with her and had her sleep on my chest (while I reclined on the couch). My theory is that keeping her head relatively vertical keeps the sinus pressure down.

Since we had friends over, Frances got a lot of attention too. She seemed to enjoy that. It turns out that our friends are good with babies. Who knew?

Her sleep schedule was all messed up because we were out and about during her naps. The excitement and the cold didn't help either. But she was a trouper and wasn't too grumpy.

Well, if there was anything else, I've forgotten and it is lost forever.

mwz

Weekend with Friends

It's been a while since I've posted but I've been busy.

This weekend we had our college friends visiting from out of town. Our entire core group of friends came. It was a lot of fun. I thought that after the first "how are things going" we would run out of things to say (since we don't have common classes and stuff to talk about). But it turns out there was plenty to talk about. A whole weekends worth.

Unfortunately, now I'm paying for it. I have a big deadline coming up at the end of this week and since I didn't work this weekend at all, I'm spending most of my waking hours working. If I hadn't caught a cold, it wouldn't be so bad.

mwz

Babies

I have recently discovered that I don't think I could adopt a baby. Maybe a toddler but not a baby. At least not after having my own.

With Frances, everything was wonderful. I liked her regular smell and I didn't mind her disgusting smells so much either. It didn't disgust me when she spit up. I'll even eat things that she's slobbered on.

Arial has started baby sitting for a couple from church. The baby is cute enough (not as cute as Frances but I don't see how any baby could be). But I've found that I don't like how he smells and his spit up kind of turns my stomache a little.

It really makes sense when you think about it though. Evelutionarily speaking, I should be attracted to protecting my offspring and not so much someone else's. Although, now that I really think about it, it could be that I am so used to Frances' smell that any other baby smell is bad, just like how every other baby looks wrong because they don't look just like Frances.

So back to my thesis. I don't think I could adopt a baby because smell and tending to their needs are the only ways to connect to a baby. Before they can give you any feed back, you have to be carried through (emotionally) by your intrinsic love for the child. I think it would be hard to really nurture a baby whose smell you didn't like.

A toddler though, can interact with you. You miss out on shaping a good portion of their personallity but you can fall in love with their smiles and giggles and their personallities. We are not looking to adopt but if we were, I would stongly consider a toddler.

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Illegal Immigration

I'm not going to post any links for this because I'm lazy but a couple days ago (or longer) Arnold Schwarzensomething (I'm also too lazy to look up the correct spelling) said something to the affect of "we should close the borders". The next day, he said that he meant "secure" not "close" which I thought was reasonable.

In some of the blogs I read, they said that left wingers were all up in arms that Arnold said he wanted the borders closed. For some reason, I didn't really believe that anyone would be that stupid to think that he actually wanted to close the borders.

But tonight I caught the begining of O'Reilly and there was a guy arguing against border security and he said something like "Arnold said he wanted to close the border, but later back tracked". I couldn't believe that he actually thought that the simpler explanation was that Arnold, an immigrant himself, wants to close down the borders and keep out foreign students and scientists and all the goodness that comes with new blood in our country.

Yeah, that is much more likely than it was a slip of the tongue.

And while I'm on the subject, when did it become controversial to believe that our immigration laws should be enforced. I know a quite a few immigrants who jump through all sorts of crazy hoops to stay and work in the country. A lot of them are PhDs who we really should be wooing. But they willingly jump through them.

But when we treat illegals to free health care and welfare services and have sanctuary cities where they won't be deported, it has to be a slap in the face to all the hard working legal immigrants.

It's all very lame. Just enforce the laws.

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Cake Mix

Arial has taught me an important lesson. Just about the worst thing you can do to cake mix is turn it into a cake.

If you've ever made a cake before, you know that the batter is delicious. It is very sweet and tasty. But somehow the baking process dilutes the flavor until it's cake, heats the taste right out of it.

Arial has found a way to keep the goodness in. Okay, I think she found it on the side of the box but still she had to try it.

She makes these great cake cookies. They are like condensed cake (but better). It's like eating little disks of batter (but without the spector of eating raw eggs). Good stuff.

She also does a crisp/cobbler (I don't know the difference between the two) with peaches. Apparently, it's pretty easy to make but it turns into this amazingly good dessert. It's like a food drug. Since there are only two adults in the house, it usually sits on the counter where periodically we can have a little bite of ecstasy.

That's all. I just wanted to warn everyone to stop wasting cake mix on cakes.

mwz

Random critiques

I have two little things that I want to write about.

The first is Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls is one of the shows that we make sure that we catch every week. It is a really good show with good writing, blah blah. It's no Buffy but what can you do.

Anyway, I really like Gilmore Girls but occationally they throw in some really irritating little political lines. They don't advance the plot or add to the humor, they are just the writers trying to slip in a little soap box. There are only two that I can remember off the top of my head. The first was when Rory wasn't invited to a party that Seymore Hersh was at. This was about the time that all the blogs on the right were talking about how Hersh is a big hack. But Rory swooned at the thought of meeting him.

The second was last night when Lorily was complaining about her mother and said, "She's the Condoleeza Rice to my Barbara Boxer". It didn't really make much sense unless you believe that Ms. Rice is evil and Barbara Boxer isn't just a grandstander.

I watch fictional shows when I don't want to think about politics and spin. I can handle people on shows having opinions about issues like the death penalty or gun control or whatever. I can even stand some amount of preachiness. But when they start talking real world politics, it takes my mind out of the show and it takes some of the fun out of it.

The second little thing I wanted to mention was that tonight we went to TGIFridays. All three of us. It was the first time that we had all been to a restaurant together that wasn't on the side of an interstate.

Frances did very well in her high chair and many people complemented her on her cuteness. I figure that since they benifit from being allowed to see such a beautiful child, it is their duty to complement her. (I'm a little proud of her, can you tell?) Arial brought her supper with us and we took turns feeding Frances while we ate (Arial did most of it, but I helped too). It all worked out very well.

But what I really wanted to write about was the burger I had. We've gone to Fridays for many years (like 5 or something) and we've watched their menu change over that time. I was disappointed when they got rid of the day-of-the-week burgers. I usually had the Wednesday burger. It turns out that it was just a mushroom, onion and swiss, so I got over that.

But tonight I ordered the same burger that I always get (when I get a burger) and it was like 10 times better than it had been. I was a little intimidated at first because the patty was nearly an inch thick. I didn't know how I was going to get it into my mouth without making a mess.

But then I discovered the secret. They have new, magical buns that can hold a large sandwich together. It was amazing. I think it was a combination of the shape of the bun and it's integrity. It was sturdy enough to support the thing until the end. I'm used to the burger or at least some toppings slipping out the back (I'm not a very talented eater) but for my last bite, I had burger with a bit of toppings and bun on both sides. Incredible.

On a related note, somewhere around 3 months after I started trying to lose weight, I am 7 lbs heavier.

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Pope

I can't take it anymore. I have to get this out of my system before my brain explodes.

A new pope was chosen. Let me say now that I am not catholic (I'm Lutheran), so I don't care all that much about who the pope is. What is bugging me is the criticism of the new pope in the media (including left leaning blogs).

It's not so much the criticism, it's why they are criticizing him. Apparently, he is to... Oh, what's the word... Catholic. He has the audacity to actually believe the things that catholics believe.

I heard on the news that people were upset with him because he once wrote that the only way to heaven is through Jesus. I can't even put into words how stupid those people are. What do they think the point of Christianity is, a way to meet nice people to get together with on Sundays?

People are also unhappy that he believes that homosexuality is a sin. Silly him. I guess he doesn't watch much tv, otherwise he would know that he isn't supposed to think like that. He's living in the dark ages. He probably wants to keep that old "murder is wrong" thing on the books too. Oops, I wasn't going to write about abortion.

Here's the deal. If you think the catholic church is wrong for theological reasons, then your not a catholic. If you believe in Jesus, that makes you a protestant. Either way (protestant or no) it's none of your business what the pope says and thinks. He's leading a religion, God really shouldn't sway with public opinion.

Okay, this is the last little bit. I saw on Eschaton this little snippet from Michelangelo Signorile's Queer in America. It is about a speech that the author attended by Ratzinger (who is now the pope). In it he talks about how protestors erupted at the beginning of the speech and didn't let him talk. Here is an excerpt:

It was electrifying. Chills ran up and down my spine as I watched the protestors ad then looked back at Ratzinger. Soon, anger swelled up inside me: This man was the embodiment of all that had oppressed me, all the horrors I had suffered as a child. It was because of his bigotry that my family, my church -- everyone around me -- had alienated me, and it was because of his bigotry that I was called "faggot" in school. Because of his bigotry I was treated like garbage. He was responsible for the hell I'd endured. He and his kind were the people who forced me to live in shame, in the closet. I became livid...

So basically, Mich was teased growing up and he wants to take it out on a guy who had nothing to do with it. A guy who would probably not want any child to be teased for any reason. This man doesn't approve of his lifestyle, so it's his fault and he must be silenced.


And that makes me angry. Why is it that liberals can't stand for people with different opinions expressing them? Why don't they like free speech and open debate? Why is it that (generally speaking) they feel like they have to disrupt events held by people they disagree with? They had people disrupt the Republican National Convention. They hold protests to stop or at least be an annoyance to conservative speakers at college campuses. They hold protests to keep military recruiters from college career days.

Liberals can't allow opposing ideas to be spread because then they will have to defend their own.


[UPDATE]: I just took a quick look around the blogosphere and apparently, I'm not the only one with these thoughts. QandO, Powerline, Ace of Spades all have similar thoughts.
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Park

I haven't posted in a while but I wanted to commemorate an important step in my babies life.

This weekend we went to the park for the first time. The weather was beautiful so Friday we went to a park relatively close to our house.

When we got there, we had to figure out what a baby who can't walk yet would want to do at a park. We decided to have her go down a slide.

The first slide we found was this weird thing that had rollers that you (the child) just kind of roll down. It was kind of neat but we were afraid that her fingers would get cought between the rollers. So we kind of hand slid her down it a couple times. She kind of liked it but after a couple go rounds, it seemed that she didn't like the bumpiness of it.

Then I held her in my arms as we slid down a tornado slide. She didn't seem to think anything of that. To her it was just like being carried anywhere else.

Then we found a normal childs slide made of plastic. There, Arial lay her down (so she wouldn't bump her head) at the top and I would catch her four feet later at the bottom. She seemed to enjoy that quite a bit for a little while.

Then we went home.

We went back on Saturday, like park junkies. We did similar things.

Then today, we went to a school playground near our house that has swings (because we can't get enough of the park). They didn't have baby swings so Arial held her while she swung. It was nice.

I don't think that Frances likes the park as much as she could because the thrills that she can get there (the slide, the swings, etc) are not as much fun as the thrills she can get when we flip her upside down or fly her around the room or put her on our shoulders. She seems to be okay with going to the park but I think to her it's about the same as going to the grocery store. It's all just stuff to experience.

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Last Week

Last week kinda sucked. Last Sunday, our internet connection failed. I called Adelphia (my provider) and was told that the next available time that someone could come out was Friday.

All this week I was thinking about things to blog about (but couldn't), the top thing was of course how I was pissed at Adelphia. I was going to write a big long thing about how sucky I thought Adelphia was but now I don't want to bore anyone (or relive it myself). Plus all the people I met face to face were really nice, top notch people. That makes me think that it is the management of our local branch that sucks. A week to get an appointment is not good customer service.

But once the guy came out, he replaced the line from my house to the pole. Then called some other department to check out and fix the carrier line. That guy was there within a couple hours and had everything back up and running very nicely. So I think the people on the ground are great (including the nice lady who let me swap my modem at the adelphia office).

So that's why there haven't been any posts in a while. (I didn't feel like posting yesterday.)

Oh, I'm officially a yo-yo dieter. I've gained all my weight back plus some. It's great being old, fat and bald.

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224

Awake

I'm awake, so I may as well post.

Arial and I have been talking about the Blockbuster lawsuit that was just settled. The lawsuit claimed that the "No more late fees" ad campaign was illegal since you can't keep the movies that you rent forever.

Basically, the suit was brought by an idiot too stupid to know that they are proclaiming to the world "I don't understand how business works! I'm dumb!"

The first thing that we did when we heard about the "No more late fees" thing was to grab a pamphlet to see how it worked. If you don't know, it works something like this (I'm working from memory so it might not be exactly right): You get a week grace period after the due date to return the movie. If you don't, they charge your credit card the price of the movie. If you bring it back within a month (or a week or something), they will take the charge off the card but charge you a restocking fee. Otherwise, you now own it.

We were happy about this because we can manage to bring a movie back in a week. Before this whole thing, we would get hit with late fees for returning movies minutes after noon on the due date. But not anymore. It was great.

But then someone had to ruin it for the rest of us.

They are now offering refunds to people who were charged a restocking fee. We think that in order for people to get the money back they should be required to stand on a chair in the middle of the store and yell "My stupidity has become so debilitating that I can't read a pamphlet!"

Just a thought.

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222

Whatever

So I'm going to do a Terri Schiavo post. I'm sorry.

What I find sickening about this whole ordeal is how peoples opinions seem to fall down party lines. If I hear one more liberal say "permanent vegitative state" or one more conservative say that this is a "right to life" issue, well, I'll cringe just like the last hundred times it happened.

To me there are two important issues that drive to the core of this whole thing:

1. Did she really not want to be allowed to live in her present state?
2. Is it morally okay to dehydrate a person to death?

I don't really see how a person could answer those questions based on their political beliefs. Basically, you believe the husband or you don't. I don't see how your stance on the financial policy should affect that.

--STOP READING NOW--

I didn't think I wanted to do this but what the heck. I don't think the husband has her best interests in mind. Apparently, he was able to hire a great lawyer for the court hearing that decided Terri's wishes. He had just recieved $300K from the malpractice lawsuit. Her parents however had to beg an inexperienced lawyer to help them. Given a fair fight who knows what the judge would have ruled her wishes to be.

I am also of the opinion that if you are going to euthanize someone, just do it. It's one thing to shut off a respirator but don't pretend that keeping food and water from someone isn't killing them. Not to mention that some people might think providing food and water to people on death row is an "extraordinary measure". It's not like your actually killing them.

Okay. I'm sorry.

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222

Change in Blogroll

Well, it's time to update my blogroll. I have heard about Oliver Willis from both sides of the 'sphere (note how cool I am for abreviating blogosphere) and decided that I should check him out.

I've been reading his blog "Oliver Willis - Like Kryptonite to Stupid" and have decided it's a keeper, for a little while at least.

Basically, it could be subtitled "Like Kryptonite to Stupid People" because unable to fend off the idiocy, the stupid people will be left weaker (and less informed). I enjoy it because it doesn't take much thought power to discount each post. It's basically just silly partisan banter and pathetic "I told you so"s to straw men. Most importantly, it makes me feel smart.

On another note, I'm dropping two of my conservative blogs, Bob Kohn and The National Debate. Neither have posted in a while. The National Debate came out and said that they were done. Bob Kohn was sort of losing my interest before he lost interest.

This brings the tally to 4 conservative blogs and 3 liberal blogs.

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222

Why does Evee Cry?

Every night, usually just after we go to bed, Evee lets out a series of sad meows. She normally starts on the first floor, although she could start in the basement since I doubt we would be able to hear that. She then meows all the way up to the second floor.

It's like she's looking for something or someone.

It's certainly not us that she's looking for. When I go find her, she acts like she normally acts (moderately interested but a little nervous). She does stop meowing but she doesn't look pleased at my presence.

We got her from the APL (pound) when she was about a year old. The only thing we know about her previous home is they gave her a stupid name ('Diva') and that they were the kind of people who want a kitten but don't want a cat. I often wonder if someone there beat her because she is a nervous kitty and is incredibly afraid of the broom.

But maybe there was someone there that she loved and now she calls for that person or cat every night.

It makes me sad.

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