ARRR ME MATEYS! Piracy and the cycle of life.

What is up with all the piracy. I mean the real, old-fashioned kind of pirates in ships?

AP Top Headline: "DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Somali pirates hijacked a supertanker hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, seizing the Saudi-owned ship loaded with crude and its 25-member crew, the U.S. Navy said Monday...."

It couldn't have happened to a better entity. (Not fond of Saudi Arabia, and it irks me that our country has any relationship with them at all, let alone a good one.) Still, piracy! Insanity.

Is this a sign of the times? Are moving backwards instead of forwards? Civilization is failing, not progressing. I am not surprised, really. I mean, if you look back in history, all the way back to the ancient "Sumerians" you can see the rise and fall of civilization or empires time and time again. It's obvious we are heading that way again.

The good news is we seem to advance a little bit more whenever a fall occurs. So after centuries of misery, it will get better again for a few more centuries.

I think everyone should read Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible). It covers the rise and fall, cycles, etc. in depth. Everything man does comes and goes and comes again. Nothing under the sun is new, and all things repeat. Only that which God creates is eternal and lasting and eternally pleasing. Solomon was a deep thinker. He pondered and pondered and pondered the meaning of life, it was a torture to him. He saw the cycles, he saw the toil, he saw the toil of past empires and how there was nothing left of them now. He saw these things and it troubled him to some extent, including his own riches and the things he built (including the Temple).

In the end, he realized that a man must be content in living his life, in the day to day details of his life; it is in the details we will find God. God lives in acts of kindness, in love, in doing "the right things at the right time." And wherever God is in, you know it is something that extends beyond this world, this life.

No new Sheriff in town...

I am not a fan of Sheriff Joe.

I don't hate him or anything like that, he is just another bureaucrat in a sea of bureaucracy that is the government of Maricopa County. He does some good things, but he also does some very intolerable things. What made me think of this today is that I have an online friend in Pakistan who is experiencing very hard times. While we really are blessed in this country (USA), we have our own problems on many different levels. Politicians are politicians wherever you go, corruption included.

Back to Sheriff Joe. As I said he does do some good work, and he has a "presence" that intimidates. He has implemented things like the infamous "tent city" (google it for enlightenment - or google Sheriff Joe Arpaio) and SEEMS to be tough on illegal immigration (altho' there is some question as to how effective he has been, and whether or not his tactics are appropriate). But he also does some very very questionable things to show everyone "who da man!"

Examples of what irritates me most is his habit of revenge against anyone who questions him or his office. Seriously. Here in the USA, in Phoenix of all places... you question Sheriff Joe, expect retribution. He has struck back at investigations aimed at his office by the District Attorney investigating fund mismanagement and by reporters for doing stories with a negative view of his work. His revenge includes freezing assets, seizing computers and files, locking offices, etc. Crazy, isn't it? Since he does not target the general population, he continues to be re-elected.

I did not vote for him (his campaign ran ads of his opponents calling them very bad things, I cannot understand why they were allowed to be run) and will not vote for him in the future, unless he changes some of his strong-arm tactics.

Appreciation

My wife has been basically MIA (missing in action) every night for the past week and a half. She is involved in a musical (Oliver) and also belongs to a choral group. The play opens this weekend, so as you can imagine she has been extra busy with rehearsals and such.

This is not a bad thing because I like it when she gets out and does stuff like this. It makes her happy, and we get to see her act.

The bad part is she falls behind on things she would normally do around the house. I did not realize how much clothing we go through in a week. I managed to get the laundry done for her, and cleaned the bathrooms. I also managed to not lose our children and to get them to bed at a decent hour each night.

But I forget that she does these things, along with feed all the pets, vacuum, mop, sweep, pick up after the little ones, shop for food... the list goes on and on. I fear we do not show nearly enough appreciation for all the things she does.

In other news, the transition period for the presidency has begun. I think it is a relief to all involved, including the current president. I think he can't wait to be out of the White House and back to his ranch in Texas, full-time.

I will be heading up to Boston for work for the first week in December. Yay. (I am very happy to HAVE work, just don't like traveling much. Also, it will be COLD in Boston in December. Brrrr!) I will miss the kids and my wife.

On Monday we are traveling up to Flagstaff to see the Mars 3D exhibit. Should be interesting. We'll take the dogs and stay overnight in a motel near downtown, that way we can walk around and visit all the touristy shops.

That's it for now!

Disappointment in the rest of the world...

During the election I jumped from channel to channel, mostly CNN and BBC.

I was very disappointed that every other sentence out of the mouths of everyone reporting on BBC was how "America elected an African American into the White House." On CNN, CBS, etc. that was maybe mentioned twice the entire night. Why is it that the rest of the world is apparently obsessed with the color of our President elect's skin?

Look, America is a MELTING POT. We have always been proud of this fact even though it was a long and painful struggle to enable the same rights for everyone. I honestly don't care, and I don't really think the vast majority of Americans care, that Obama has dark skin. Don't get me wrong, I understand this is HUGE for African Americans, and that there are people who carry prejudice with them. But honestly, I think the reason more people voted for Obama is because he is calm, stately, and very intelligent. He is an intellectual with good organization skills and while he is rather stoic, he is also charismatic. People chose Obama because they really do believe he will have the skills necessary to help us "fix" our country.

So to the rest of the world, please don't view this as election as the end to prejudice in our country, but to the fact that we can still come up with a good candidate and have the sense to elect him or her as the POTUS.

And so it begins!

After spending hours watching the returns pour from all the states last night I can safely say that the end of the election was the best part. I am referring to the concession and victory speeches. Could they have been more different? Yet both were moving.

John McCain gave the most powerful and gracious speech I have ever heard from any presidential candidate. He is a good loser. If he had spoken like that during the presidential race I have no doubt the outcome would have been different. I can only hope that his followers and all the people of this great nation listened well to his speech and adopt his stance to work WITH the new president.

Barack Obama, our president elect, gave a different sort of speech. Mr. Obama is not an emotional man and the tone of his speech reflected the seriousness that I have come to admire throughout his campaign. What I particularly liked about his speech, and what first turned me on to him during the race, was his call to all Americans to start BEING true Americans, for individuals and churches and organizations to start reaching out and helping one another. I believe this is the ONLY way we can move on and regain our stature and hope. Barack knows this, he wants US to drive the change, not him. This insight is what drew me to him like a moth to the fire.

I have a problem...

Oh yes, I have a problem. My problem is my pokie.

I hear you ask "Your WHAT?!" A pokie is an ornamental Tarantula from the Indian subcontinent (for the most part). My particular pokie is a Poecilotheria regalis. He/She is a beauty too. Pokies are known for three things: 1. They are very very fast; 2. They are very defensive and 3. Their venom is particularly painful to people. Pokie movement is often attributed to "teleporting." Now you see it, now you don't. Their defensiveness tends to manifest itself in bites if one is not careful and relaxed. Finally, from bite reports i have read, their venom causes muscle spasms that lasts for days.

So what's my problem? My pokie has been eating very well and has molted several times since I purchased her. She has grown much more than I expected with each molt. The problem is: I need to move her into a larger cage.

When I first got her home, I moved her into her current cage with some difficulty. I wanted her to march right into her new home, she did not want to march into her new home. After several tries I managed to get her into her new cage and was able to slam the lid shut before she could zip right back out (again). Now she is several times the size, and no doubt can cover a lot of ground with her long legs, and she is manifesting more defensive behavior now that she is older. I fear that I am doomed.

I have been putting of moving her, but it really has to be done. I will figure something out. I could try refrigerating her for a little while, that would cool her off and slow her down quite a bit. But I also don't want to harm her. *sigh* Any suggestions out there?

Religious Right and Christopher Hitchens

I was just reading some Facebook comments on a note written by someone on my friends list.  He was talking about how he was leaning in the presidential election when someone responded with this:

i have a thought.. Barrack is a socialist, anti american muslim. His hatred for this country, constition are second to none. In his home stat IL a father shot an scum bag home invader just after tucking his kids into bed. he father gets arrested for shooting the low life. The state legislater tries to write new legislation to help the father and ... Read Moreprotect american familes from future breakins from degenerate crooks. barrack HUSSAIN (i'm not a muslim) yobama (his name doesn't deserve to be capitalized) voted down this legislature 4 SEPERATE TIMES! barrack would rather you lay down and have your childer slaughterd and property stolen then given the right to be an AMERICAN and defend yourself. This radical muslim should be SHOT. We have a patriotic duty to defend out constition from all enimies both foriegn and domestic. there is not greater threat to the WORLD WIDE EMULATED way of life then this racist muslim (i'm a christian yet i sat and listend to the Rev. jeremaih wrong for 20 years) loser.

This is the kind of stuff that really frightens me.  This is the kind of thing that the left rails against as the "religious right" and what I sometimes get automatically wrapped into simply because I am Christian.  This is not reasonable, it is not Christian.

On another note, I feel badly for atheists of late, not because of their lack of faith, but because they have their own clown in their corner:  Christopher Hitchens.  Has anyone seen any of his recent debates?  They are ridiculous.  He seems to show up under the influence of alcohol, and instead of debating with his opponents he simply tosses off insults and sarcastic retorts which are, I assume, meant to be funny.  That man needs to find God.

Atheists have to find someone better to represent their position.

GET OUT AND VOTE!

Vacation, Politics and my shoulder...

We recently returned from New York.

We visited Sandi's relatives in Suffern.  It was a nice visit.  We tried to plan a day in NYC, but we ended up picking the only day it rained, AND we had less time than we had expected.  So we visited the Museum of Natural History and hit a few exhibits that we thought the kids would enjoy.

Sandi and I voted early.  Arizona allows early voting so we took advantage of short lines and got it done a week ahead of Election Tuesday.  I went prepared for all the propositions, but neglected to read up on our judges and about 4/5's of the ballot consisted of keeping/not keeping existing judges.  I went status quo and said keep them all.  Some people just did not answer those questions.

A year ago this past June, I injured my left shoulder, popping it in/out of socket in the famous "squirrel maneuver of 2007."  It hurt a lot, but I did not go to the doctor because I thought "what could they really do about it?"  I still feel this way, but last Sunday on our flight home my daughter fell asleep and fell over on the man next to her.  I reached out with my left arm and hauled her up and onto me, but in doing so I "popped" my shoulder again.  Wow did that hurt and still hurts.  I finally went to the doctor, got an x-ray as a prelude to an MRI.  Should hear back from him on Monday.  He gave me pain relievers and muscle relaxers.  Helping, but my arm still cannot perform better than about 40%.  Even so, what can they do about it?  Nothing really... just let it be and hope it recovers again to about 70%, until the next time I pop it.  Oh well.

Friday was Halloween and also a field trip for my kids' (school).  I was a chaperone.  It was a zoo!  We visited a farm in Glendale and it was kind of wide open and the kids were drawn here and there.  It was difficult to keep track of them all.  It was fun tho'.

See our gallery (link up top) if you so wish.