Little Baby Boy
February 25, 2006
My 17-month old little boy, Ryan, has this pattern of sleep in which he wakes up at about 10:30 every night. He lays in his crib crying, but still trying to go back to sleep. I just can’t help but go upstairs to love him and rock him in the rocking chair. I give him his little “cuddle blankey” and he always clutches it to himself with such need, then I cover him up with a bigger blanket and just hold him to me while rocking in the chair. With the other kids, I don’t think I felt this much of a tug to go up and console them. I love all of my kids immensely, but there’s just something about Ryan that requires me to go console him. All I have to do is rock him for 5 minutes, then put him back in bed, and he just rolls over and goes back to sleep.
I wonder why I seem to be more involved with him at this age of his life. It’s very possible that I am more attached to him because he’s most likely our last child. It could also be because I see the process of having a toddler differently now that I have experience being the father of a 7 year old, which is so different. With David, my oldest, I’m letting him play games on the computer and write emails and such. With Ryan, however, I’m helping him learn how to use a fork. David has all sorts of friends who call him now, asking if he wants to come over and play. Ryan, on the other hand, still looks at me as his best friend.
I wouldn’t trade this time with Ryan for the world.
Home Improvement
February 25, 2006
I finally got around to working on one of my home improvement projects again today. I’m wood-wrapping the two windows in the master bedroom, as well as putting in a nice decorative wood and panel trim on the lower half of the walls all throughout the room. I got the windows finished today, and five of the sixteen panels up that I need to install. When I’m done with all of that, I’ll decide on a chair railing for the top of the trim that I’m currently installing.
When it’s all installed, I’ll paint it white, take some pictures, and post them online.
By the way, have I mentioned how much I like doing this sort of work? I can honestly say that I work my day job so that I can afford to do this sort of thing. I’d love to be able to do this sort of thing as a side business.
C’mon, Robin. To the Potcave!
February 25, 2006
I would love to see what the designers of this home could have built if they had put this much effort into legal pursuits.
Parade of the Cartoonists
February 23, 2006
A bunch of cartoonists fight back. Some of these are SOO well done.
Did I Mention …
February 19, 2006
… that it’s dang cold here? On Friday, it only “warmed” up to 13 degrees, and was down below zero at night. Yesterday, when I showed up at the home of some people who were moving into our ward, it was 15 degrees. Then, I was putting up some posts for the handrail on our porch at 8:30 last night when I looked over and saw that it was 5 degrees. Here’s a hint: When you’re out in temperatures that cold, don’t touch metal things to your bare skin. It kind of hurts when it sticks.
To the Ladies: Why Geeks Make Great Fathers
February 18, 2006
My wife thinks this top ten list is great. I know that some of those reasons fit me to a T.
To Do or Not to Do
February 13, 2006
So, apparently, lots of people are concerned about how the US and the UN are going to handle Iran and its nuclear goals. Get this, though:
69 percent said they were concerned that the Bush administration would be too quick to use military force, yet 67 percent were also concerned the United States wouldn’t do enough to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
So, let’s all be clear about this. Bush shouldn’t do anything, but he also, at the same time, shouldn’t do nothing, either. This all means that he has exactly 0% chance of success no matter what he does.
Also, I don’t see anybody else providing ideas of what TO do. All I’ve seen is that “Fifty-six percent of respondents said they disapproved of the way the president is handling his job.” Apparently, there’s no RIGHT thing that can be done, or NOT done, so how on Earth is he supposed to prevail, or NOT lose?
Earl
February 9, 2006
I’m watching “My Name Is Earl” on ReplayTV, right now, and I just heard a few great lines.
“Dang it. I can only think of things I can think of.”
“This ain’t the first time a lady kicked me in the cherries and called me a rat, but it’s the first time I didn’t mind.”
“… and usually the Air Force would shoot you for doing that, but they figured that I was too drunk to remember what I saw. But, as we all know now, they were wrong.”
Watching Friends
February 6, 2006
I’m watching the episode of Friends where Rachel tells Ross that she’s pregnant with his child. I love the following exchange:
Rachel: Condoms only work, like, 97% of the time.
Ross: What, what? WHAT!? WELL, THEY SHOULD PUT THAT ON THE BOX!!!
Rachel: They do.
Ross: NO THEY DON’T!!! (he runs into the other room and comes back looking closely at a box of condoms) WELL THEY SHOULD PUT IT IN HUGE BLOCK LETTERS!!!
Rachel: OK, Ross, come on. Let’s just forget about the condom …
Ross: OH, WELL, I MAY AS WELL HAVE!!!
Rachel: Listen. You know, I was really freaked out, too …
Ross: Oh, I’m not freaked out. I’m indignant, … as a consumer.
I love this episode. The part where Ross tells Joey about the warning that’s on the box of condoms is also great.
On Communism and Islam
February 5, 2006
Rusty Shackelford has a longish post about the similarities between Islam and Communism. He compares Marx with Muhammed and Totalitarianism with Terrorism.
Many of us would like to think that Islam is just another religion. That sentiment comes from a good place. Most Americans want to believe that about our fellow Americans. In fact, I would argue that America has always had a national ecumenical spirit. But such thinking is also ignorant of Islam as it is, and not as it should be. I would like Islam to be just another religion which asks only for the soul of the Muslim and not his political fealty, but that is not the case.
As the vast majority of Muslims will readily admit to you, Islam is not simply a mode of worship, it is a total way of life that demands every aspect of a person’s being. In other words, there is no render unto Ceaser that which is Ceaser’s. There is no assumption of the separation of individual duty to God, and a society’s duty to God. Thus, it proscribes not only what I should do as an individual, but what we should do as a society.
As such, it is not, strictly speaking, a religion. It is also a coherent socio-political system.
