bogdownedness, Harold Ford is making it up

Senator Harold Ford Jr., in a debate with Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, actually used the "word" bogdownedness to describe the situation the US finds itself enmeshed in in Iraq. Pretending for a moment that it's a real word, I guess it is not inaccurate, but there's the whole not real part. I also know that I myself sometimes misuse prepositions, but if you'll pardon me, "in which" can go straight to hell and die.

I've got the debate playing in a little window down at the bottom of my screen, and I'm listening to Bob discuss his way out of wanting to raise the minimum wage. Apparently only young people just getting started are making minimum wage, and for them it's okay because they don't need the money anyway, and too little pay is incentive for people to get better jobs. He doesn't seem to understand how low minimum wage is when compared to what people need to earn. He also doesn't seem to understand the relationship between what the minimum wage is and what you can expect to make in some jobs. If the minimum is $5.25, and you make $7, then you are making 25% more than minimum wage. Perhaps that sounds like crap to you, and perhaps it sounds like even more crap to people who could stand to make more money regardless of the job they are doing. At some point, out of respect for the person and what they need, out of respect for hard work at any level, people should be able to make a reasonable living.

Bob is also really good at jumping back in time to questions that he should have already answered. Harold Ford is getting annoying jumping back to some question of illegal aliens working for Corker and dumbass Corker keeps taking the bait. He really ought to have just let it go. I don't like what either of them have to say about immigration. I really dislike the phrase "illegal aliens." This is one of my dishonesty issues that I have with politicians because the fact of the matter is that this phrase is hiding the fact that these are real people with real lives and real families. Corker described being in Arizona and looking into the desert at the path that had been worn in the sand by the illegal aliens. How many thousands of human feet have trod the desert to wear a path in the sand, and why aren't we seeing their faces instead of their status?

Ford supports drilling in Alaska. I'd like to believe that we are approaching a sensible view of energy, because I want to believe that we are finally reaching a point where we can no longer ignore it. Maybe the current regime is helping push the issue, which I'd prefer, hoping we approach it now while we have time. He didn't elaborate at all on this stand as he didn't answer the question as it was asked but merely said that yes he does support the drilling.

This is the closest I've gotten in years to really looking at candidates, and this debate pretty much explains my stance. I don't really like what either of these guys said. Bob Corker, the republican, seemed like an ass speaking to his people. His answers seemed really ignorant, as if he just said what he was supposed to say, and he spouted the party line for the most part. Harold Ford Jr. our democrat, seemed to be trying to give the right answers. It was as if he knew the audience and what this particular group wanted to hear. It all had a sort of Clintonality to it. (I too can make up words.) But he was a lot more on top of things than Corker. He seemed like a decent guy, likable, knowledgeable, desiring to be honest even if he is a politician.

I don't generally watch political commercials, but having heard some things about Ford, I almost started to watch one which begins with a shot of him sitting on the arm of an airplane seat, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up. He was riding the "terrorists out to get us" theme which immediately turned me off. I didn't even bother watching the rest of the commercial. And I really hate that we are being sold candidacy based on protection. I want liberty, not protection. I'm not a child, and I don't want a government that treats us as children. Ford was no different in this respect than any number of people running for office this year. The sad fact of it is though that he's still the best choice in this race.

There is my opinion. I'm feeling the bogdownedness of modern day civic duty. I'm once again offered the vote, my right as a human, not just an American, and my choice is whether I'd rather the cat merely shit on the bed or shit AND piss on the bed. Hmmmmmmmmmm . . . can you give me a minute?

It just makes it hard to want to even bother voting sometimes. I'd rather there be some other sort of apparatus for determining our political representatives. I need to keep that thought in mind, because here again we have another post for another day.

the coal comercial I hate

I've been seeing a new coal commercial lately, and I get just a little more pissed off each time I see it. The first time was bad enough, as I stared gaping at the television at the audacity of the people behind it, and I considered then that I was going to have to write something about this. According to the commercial, the US has 250 years worth of coal. WOW, suddenly oil isn't that big a concern. We have plenty of coal, and we are working daily to make it cleaner. Okay, so you can make coal burn a little cleaner, which isn't really saying much. What's a little cleaner than filth? But what about getting it out of the ground? Have you ever seen what a mountain looks like when you blow it up to get at the coal underneath? We can't make mountains, but we can sure as fuck send them straight to hell.

beat up by girls

There is a special, for lack of a more appropriate word, feeling one can find playing against a team of girls from the local high school. My soccer team didn't have a game scheduled yesterday, so we met to practice at the local AYSO fields where some of us coach and some of our kids play. At the same time, the high school team was practicing. They agreed to scrimmage with us for a bit, though neither team was complete. With the loan of one of our players to play keeper, they had eight players to our eight, so the sides were mostly even.

I admire those girls mostly for getting in our faces and not backing down in the least. I have to doubt that they very often play against a team quite like us, but they didn't show any sign that they cared. The single fault I could find with this team would be with their strikers. They weren't great at timing their shots and didn't put the power into most of their shots. With a little work in timing and power, they could easily have burned us. As it was, we and they were pretty evenly matched.

I took a few spills here and there. Some of it was my usual inability to stay on my feet (I'm a slide tackling fool), but I have to think that some of it was trying not to hurt the girls, trying not to be as physical as I would be against adults. I found myself contorting oddly on occasion trying to keep some semblance of not being overly physical or aggressive. My payment for this is to feel like they dropped me in a sack and threshed the grain with me. The scary moment of the day ended up being the least painful. I kicked the crap out of one of their girls, but the kick was one of those freaks moments of soccer. She had passed the ball a moment before my foot came in, and I kicked the very bottom of her cleats with the top of my foot. I'm doubt she even noticed, though I was certain for a moment that I had to have done some damage to myself. Apparently I'm okay though as the foot doesn't hurt at all today.

Typically, in our regular games, I don't care about gender. Getting on the field basically erases that, though in my mind, it only applies to adults. Playing against those much younger girls, I felt a little protective. Certainly I want to win, but even against adults I don't want to win at the expense of other players' safety. Now make that team the smaller and younger one from yesterday, and make all but two of them girls, and I find I try harder to be cool to them than to beat them. As we played they demonstrated that this wasn't a concern to them, so I slowly played a little tougher.

It's always great to be on the field, no matter who you end up playing. The day was perfect for soccer, mostly cloudless, temperatures in the very low seventies. The game wasn't overly serious and everyone seemed to have fun. Their coach was on the field with them, and compared to the other coach I've mentioned in a previous post, she was a joy to be around. She seemed to respect her team as people. Instead of shouting commands and micromanaging, she spoke loudly enough to be heard and gave advice. She wasn't telling them what to do, but she was telling them the best option in a given situation. She spoke like a cross between a good coach and a good keeper.

Aside from the feeling that I got beat up by girls, I had a great time yesterday. Meaningless games for practice and fun are always more fun than league games where we care about our standings. I'd like to think that playing against us, though we didn't really force them to play that hard, had to have been good for them on some level. I have to think that situations like this can show the girls that their being girls isn't always a factor. We weren't boys and girls yesterday. We were all soccer players, no more, no less. I feel that, if they took nothing else away from the game, that would be good for them to see.

more oddish visits

A popular blog post subject that I've used and have seen used is the searches that bring people to our pages. If you have a blog, there are many free services, such as Statcounter, that can allow us as bloggers to know more about people visiting. Often people find our blogs through some very odd searches. Just as often, some seemingly mundane search brings visitors to a post that is odd or funny in relation to the search itself.

So here is the odd search of day. Click this link and enjoy. Pay attention to the text on what is at first glance an average Google search page.

impeach bush NOW!

First off, hat tip to Ed at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, which is at Science Blogs. As I scroll through the headlines from Sb in Bloglines, his headlines pull me in more often than many other of the bloggers there.

Today he's mentioned what's become an old story. Legislation gets signed by the president with a little p.s. telling us that he has read and has decided not to be bothered by the legislation. Once again, our elected official Bush has flipped us all off, told us that he is smarter than anyone else and that he will do whatever the hell he wants.

I've asked the question before, and I even left it as a comment at the blog mentioned above. So far I have not been answered, and I haven't found a good enough answer on my own.

Why has Bush not been impeached? Why have the American people not fired him? If you had an employee that acted as he has, you would have fired him long ago. I've fired people for less than he's done.

When we found out that President Clinton was getting head, every Republican in the country raised a stink. The entire nation ground to a halt as we spent millions on investigations to learn for certain what had happened. He lied to us, and he probably lied to his wife. I personally was pretty sure that he'd gotten some head, and I still don't care. It's a minor thing, especially when measured against his accomplishments as president. The Republicans think getting your dick sucked is worthy of impeachment.

I wish someone reading this would leave me a comment and name one good thing Bush has done in his presidency. Helping out his family and friends doesn't count. Enriching major corporations doesn't count. Starting a bloody, bullshit war doesn't count. I want to know of one truly good thing that Bush has done that wasn't directly for his own benefit. I want to know how he's kept from being impeached.

Finally, to the Democrats. Are you Democratic office holders in this country that scared of him? Are you such pussies that you won't do what's right? You have lain in the streets in front of the Republicans and allowed the party of the wrong to trample and piss all over you and done nothing to stop the evil. You sometimes make stirring speeches and condemn the president and his henchman, but you haven't done anything real. Fuck talking, get in the game and show us.

the make up game

Thursday night was the night we, Big Brother and his U8 team mates, made up a game that had been rained out a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of other, older all girl teams also playing, though overall, it was a nice quiet night at the fields. Saturday mornings are a whole different story as the droves of people show up for the regular schedule games.

I thought I had a good line up going into the game, but they just didn't get into it at first. Add to that that the other team was a good bit more physical than my guys. They got several goals ahead of us out of nowhere in the first quarter, though we stopped them for the most part after that.

The following quarters we held our own. We kept the other kids from scoring, but we couldn't seem to get the ball into their goal more than a couple of times. We ended up losing the game, but I can't blame my team at all. A couple of the goals were most likely our own fault, due mostly to the confusion of that many little feet right in front of the goal, all trying like hell to be the one to put the ball where it needs to be.

This all comes back to an issue that I've faced before and possibly even mentioned in a post. Part of my coaching ideals involve teaching the kids to play the game right, to obey the rules. I'm not in any way suggesting the other team didn't play fair, but this does get at my issue because they were so much more physically aggressive than my guys. Some of my guys are younger, haven't played that much soccer, and several of them have just moved up from U6. Soccer as something more than just running and kicking is still pretty new to some of my team, and to run up against the team we faced had to have been a bit of a shock.

So, my dilemma, how do you get kids six to eight years old to play tough and aggressive and also make sure that they are playing by the rules? How do you teach them or let them learn that, if you are hurt, we will take care of you, but most of the time you aren't really hurt?

Playing with pain isn't always a bad thing. I've done it, and I will do it again. It's part of doing your best in sports sometimes. Playing with an injury is a whole other story, and I do not want my team to be so driven that they will make an injury worse in order to please me or their parents or anyone else by playing when they should be done for the day. I have no respect for the idea of playing through an injury. For the team's sake, it makes sense for the injured to step aside and let fresher legs take the field. It makes sense to limit the injury as much as possible so that you can heal quicker and rejoin your team as an able bodied member.

When you are a child, hurts are a big deal. I'm not a little kid, and most of the hurts I get are really no big deal. I've known real pain, and I know my body well enough that I know when I'm really hurt and when it's just going to be a nasty bruise later. I can't expect U8's to know that, and I don't want to introduce ideas that are unhealthy. They are kids before they are soccer players, and they need to know that we will take care of them, but they are also learning to deal with things by themselves, to accept life's/soccer's bumps and bruises.

We have a game Saturday and back to practice Tuesday. Based on the two games from this week, I'll decide how to approach practice. I've spent a lot of our time on dribbling and passing, but at this age, passing in a game situation is hard to remember. I know these kids have the hardest time trying to think to look up and find a team mate. Once they get the ball it's beeline for the goal.

For all the frustration of getting beaten up a little, I have to say that I watched one of the most dramatic games I've ever watched. There is of course a measure of heartbreak whenever your kids lose a game, but our kids played so hard. I tell them at every practice and game that all I expect is their best, and I know for certain that they gave their best. We got surprised by all the quick early goals, but once our guys settled down, they fought like hell. I am so proud of them. They didn't give up for one second, and that is one of the best lessons I think kids can take away from sports, to never give up.

terror and stuff

Certain countries seem more likely than others to export terror as we've come to know it. There is a certain terror associated with the knowledge that we really can't know for sure when something or other is going to be attacked with bombs. Living in the US, we can of course make educated guesses at the sorts of things we are likely to see attacked, assuming another attack on our soil is likely to happen.

Certain countries seem more likely to have a population of scared people who are willing to put up with a lot due to the fear of abuse and death. Certain countries have this fear combined with another fear of invaders entering their country, of being caught between two warring factions that would each think they were acting in the best interest of the frightened party in the middle.

That frightened party in the middle probably wants just to be left alone to live his life. Or perhaps she just wants to live her life dressed as she personally feels is appropriate. Maybe they both just want to be. Maybe it the rock music they like. They certainly don't want a gut full of bullets from the local Islamic law enforcement club because they wore shorts on pants day. Neither of them want to step on a land mine or drive past the convoy as the IED goes off.

There are all kinds of terror. One kind stalks the streets with a gun at the ready, damning all who disagree with a particular translation of an esoteric text, carrying out sentences based on dogmatic judgements.

Another kind of terror sits in a whole other position of power. He runs an entire country through fear and intimidation, trying to convince us all that he is saving us from certain doom. His true desire seems to be power, and he will stop at nothing to attain this power. He too plays by the rules of an ancient text. His story has been told before, rising to greater and greater power on a wave of scare tactics and xenophobia. He buys friends at the expense of true safety, at the expense of the people and the land.

There was a time, in my younger days, when I loved to discuss my American Empire theory. I'm sure we can all say it together, the thing about all empires crumbling eventually. I loved talking about it and laughing about who would be against the wall first. But I've come to a point where I'm afraid we might have just lost something good. Our country had such potential there for a while, and maybe we still do. But given the power structure as it stands, regardless of the particulars of who holds which now, I think we might have finally gone too far.

big party

Momma and Big Brother took a trip to Party City today to finish picking up party supplies. Of the things that she intended to buy, she let him choose the motif. The invitations had already been purchased and even mailed, though barely on time, but due to running late for something the day we bought the invitations, we didn't have time to buy any of the other stuff, which I'm getting to.

He picked Harry Potter invitations which are pretty cool. I like Harry and his pals, and I'd love to be eightish and go to a party with a HP theme. He also picked HP plates and cups. The napkins however are Power Ranger and the goody bags for the guests, whatever the hell you call those things, have Sponge Bob on them.

His final present showed up today on a UPS truck. He's wanted a skateboard for the longest time, but we've put off getting him one. Knowing a very little something about skateboards, I refuse to buy him some Wal Mart piece of crap that sticks when you turn and throws you off. That one actually came from Target, and I could conceivably fix it, but it really is piece of shit. We can get him a good one at a decent price, built from the deck down, at a local shop, but we've put it off. And we still are.

For a short period of time, in and around wanting a skateboard, he's also discussed rollerblades. Those get pricey and kids grow straight through stuff like that, so we've been a little leery of that as well, which was probably for the best because he was never really gung ho about them, but added to the list, he wouldn't have been upset to get them. He isn't getting them, at least not this time around.

As they will, the fates have turned yet again, and this time we broke down, or I should say that Momma broke down. Big Brother now wants a pair of quad skates. And yes he'll grow out of them, but he can wear two pairs of socks for a month till his feet grow, and by the time Chriswanzakuh comes around, he'll outgrow them and get a skateboard in time for the cold months. It'll work perfectly. It was of course roller derby ultimately that brought the quad love. With his own skates, he can skate whenever he wants now.

Momma feared that the quads wouldn't arrive in time, but our experience with the internet purchases and shipping has been pretty good, frighteningly so it seems. Thank you UPS.

Just a quick note to UPS while I'm on the subject, solid brown as a color scheme really flat out sucks. I'm not personally against brown, but there's also green, which looks nice with brown. There are other colors, but we won't be listing them here. That really isn't part of the original story. But honestly, a little something to break up the monotony, a little dash of just about any color. Brown is pretty simple to work with, so I'm not really asking that much. If I worked for them I'd wear a name tag that said my name was Drab. I'd listen to the Cure and drive around crying.

the grass

I'm developing quite a grudge toward one of our neighbors. The neighbor on one side does a normal job on his lawn every week to two weeks. He does a decent job of it, nothing fancy or elaborate. He does have a riding mower which makes me a little jealous, but he also has a decent patch of grass to mow.

The other neighbor is the one making me have issues. He is fastidious in his once every single week lawn care regimen. He takes it very seriously, and his lawn shows the effort. It's not a showpiece as such, but it's nice and always looks good.

It would be so much easier for me if I mowed at least once a week, and it doesn't really take that much time. We do have a fair piece of land to wander over behind the mower, but it's only difficult because I let it be. And it's not that I hate doing it, which I do, it's just that I get lazy and put it off.

There are certainly more contributing factors than laziness. I've finished the mowing in time to cook supper too many times. There is special feeling when one is cooking supper while the sweat of manual labor dries on you and the grass is still sticking to your legs. There's a whole other special feeling knowing that your kids are going apeshit while you are in the shower, and I hate taking a shower when Momma isn't here to keep the craziness down somewhat. I never know what I'll exit into otherwise.

So the grass grows taller, and I can see the neighbor from my kitchen window as he casts a disapproving glance at my yard. Well suck it neighbor man! Not all of us care that much, and some of us have things to do other than spend one day in seven getting crazy busy with the lawn. I could also make fun of his Big Dog brand shirt and the fact that he tucks his shirt into his jeans even when doing yard work, but I won't.

My whole point here is that I'm starting to get really bothered just seeing this neighbor. I know he hates my yard and my jungle like grass. Hell, he should appreciate that it makes his look nicer, but somehow I don't think that thought crosses his mind.

My options here seem limited. I could get into the habit of at least keeping the grass height reasonable, or I can continue to grow more aggravated by his glances at my yard, or I can just ignore him entirely. I've been working on a combination of the last two for this summer, but summer is almost over. If I can remember to get that one last mow in I'll be happy through the winter though.

The last mow is fairly important. I didn't get it in last year leaving the grass just too high for my wishes. The yard looked especially hellish all through the winter, but by that point it was too cold to mow, of course. And each spring rolls around, I have the same thought. Each spring I swear that this is the year I maintain the yard as opposed to sporadically mowing it just enough to appease the neighbor somewhat. So, I look forward to the last mow, and I know in my heart that, promise or not, next summer will likely be the same thing all over again.

procrastination

One of these days, I'm going to make a real effort to not be such a lazy procrastinator. I know for a fact that I've said those same words before, many times over the years in fact. Yet saying and doing are really not the same thing.

The current bit of not doing involves Big Brother's birthday party. He is currently mere hours away from being eight years old. The party is mostly planned, and I've IMed a parent to invite his daughter since her invitation is still sitting on the desk, right in front of me, with no address. He did email his address to Momma, but since she doesn't check her email that often, we had to find alternate invite techniques. I'd have called him days ago, but knowing that he works third shift, I'm never eager to call very early in the day.

The party is set for this Saturday, assuming something doesn't come up, and we still haven't gotten all the supplies we will want. That trip is set for later today. I also need to think of something to cook the next two nights to add to the list Momma is going out to purchase.

It seems every year we are running around at the last minute to figure out his birthday. Last year got so bad that we just took him shopping for gifts. This year we actually have all them purchased or ordered as of now, but his big gift, somewhere en route we hope, is on order and will arrive sometime.

We had actually planned to plan a decent party. We were going to do it at a local roller skating rink, and we were going to plan it early enough so we could save enough money for the party. That didn't happen, and now that option is off the table. So we are going to do it at a park to avoid having all those kids at the house.

And there is more procrastination in my lack of having gotten the house presentable. It wouldn't be that hard to maintain, but I don't seem to do things that way. From the yard work to the house cleaning, I'm very adept at allowing things to get way out of hand before I fix them. And sadly, I know how much easier maintenance is versus huge cleaning jobs or mowing grass that's grown over a foot tall.

Maybe I'll just keep enjoying being a lazy bastard for a couple more months. I'll be overly lazy in an attempt to rid my system of the lazy procrastinatory leanings, then, with the new year, I will resolve to stop being so lazy. And then all my problems will be solved. Yeah, that's what I'll do, and future parties for the boys will be so well planned and executed that people will be astounded at the glory of it all.

this here thing here

Because all, or some, of the cool kids are doing it, here's my list of things that could be done, my own accomplishments being those in bold. Thanks Ron at Atypical Homeschool for giving me this Myspace moment in the blogosphere. Ya know, there's a drinking game called I Never that goes a little something like this. You take turns saying things like those found in this list, prefaced with the phrase, "I never . . ." If you've never, then you DON'T drink. If you've ever, then you DO drink.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - still raising!
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. (helped) Save someone’s life

who can't help it?

Me! That's who! Yes, more fun at says-it.com for this li'l monkey.

a li'l comic strip

Thanks to says-it.com for all these fun toys to make funny things come out of the mouths of bad people. Go visit the site and make up your own funnies, then post them to your blog. It's a damn hoot and a half.

how is rachel ray still on?

This has been bothering me for some time. There was a short spell during which I could almost watch her cooking show; brand new cable will make you watch anything. And it's true I tried on occasion to watch her "travel show," which has it's problems outside of her cooking show.

I could give two shits about formal chef training, one common anti-Rachel Ray argument. Formal chef training is for people who can't learn how to cook by cooking or for people who think they need a piece of paper to prove they can cook. Believe me, anything you learn at Johnson and Wales I can figure out. I too have a copy of Escoffier's ponderous old sack of right and wrong, and I have enough Julia Child to field a team with substitutes.

Is my problem with Rachel her perkiness? I don't think so. I love Paula Dean, sometimes, and she's perky enough for a truck full of belles, but Paula, in addition to the accent, has history and some credibility that Rachel doesn't seem to have. I've worked with perky people, but they're usually servers and don't belong in the kitchen anyway. She obviously doesn't belong in a professional kitchen, which is fine. Her show is about home cooking. I don't especially care for perkiness, but I can look past most afflictions to the person underneath.

I hate that she can't just say olive oil, but instead she calls it E.V.O.O. Pointing out the "extra virgin" all the time is just pointless. I mean, who the hell buys anything else? If you don't want extra virgin olive oil, then use butter, but no, dumbass Rachel Ray has to call it E.V.O.O. If I hear somebody say E.V.O.O. I'm going to hit them with a saute pan.

The main issue that I have with her is her tipping. She doesn't go anywhere without a camera crew, as we see on her shows, and she makes every single restaurant go through this painful pretense that they like her. No restaurant is going to turn down free publicity, even if it is Rachel Ray, because it really isn't hard to slap a decent meal in front of anyone and make them happy for the viewing audience, and what looks better than happy people in your dining room? Perhaps some customers might be afraid that Rachel will come back and might avoid the restaurant due to that fear, but overall, she has to be at least not bad for business.

But I can guarantee that the staff hates the sight of her. The kitchen knows that she's coming back to peak at them if they so much as meet her hungry gaze from the kitchen, and no one wants Rachel Q. Public rambling around tasting the sauces. The servers all know that they are going to be screwed if they get her table. She's going to grill you about the menu, knowing that her budget is ten bucks and that the only thing she can have today is in the very middle of the menu, but she just has to know about everything. . .oh, and can you hurry? The dollar tour at Fort Knuckleworth is about to start and she needs this segment filmed quickly so that she can go film that segment. So all the servers run like hell to be peeing or smoking or anywhere out of site of management, except for that one perky bitch that no one likes anyway, or the head waiter if he/she actually gives a shit about the restaurant itself. And for all that trouble, they are lucky to walk away with any sort of reasonable tip

And now she has an actual network television show. Who thought this was a good idea? Who has enough clout and little enough sense to . . . uh . . . oh yeah, network t.v. I guess that answers that. So, yeah, she has a "real" show now. I don't watch a lot of morning t.v. so it isn't really anything that'll bother me. But sometimes I do happen to check out the lower number channels, and it's traumatic to jump from Martha Stewart to Rachel. Martha, even before her stint in the pokey could have stomped Rachel into a bulb and planted her ass.

So there it is. Because she's a poor tipper, Rachel Ray doesn't deserve to have a television show. All the other strikes against her are really small in comparison to her blatant insistence on tipping poorly.

I will admit that one of the greatest lines I have ever heard came from an episode of her show, though I forget the name of the program, Three Piss Poor Tips Across America in a Day or something like that. The point being that she was in Chattanooga TN and was boarding the Chattanooga ChooChoo. An employee opened the door for her and asked where she was visiting from. Rachel replies, "New York City," to which the man answers, "Welcome to America."

second thoughts on an earlier post

Just over a month ago, I posted a rant about a roller derby match in which I perceived some inequities in some parts of that match. It took them a while, but some of the people from the Tragic City Rollers found that post and commented about it. Having written the post over a month ago, I had basically forgotten about it till now.

Based on the comments, as well as a couple of things that have happened to me recently playing soccer, I've had to rethink the post. As it turns out, I may not be the cleanest soccer player around, guilty of some fouls that I wasn't aware I was making. I've had two separate occurrences to lead me to this conclusion and the rethinking of the rant post.

During halftime of a game a couple of weeks ago, the refs addressed the captains of both teams to address some issues of aggressiveness. On our team, I was mentioned specifically for hacking at people's ankles. I still have a knot on one calf from getting kicked in that same game, one week and a half later to give a clue as the overall style of play we met that day. But meeting fouls with fouls is a shitty way to play, so that's no justification.

The second incident occurred last night while scrimmaging against a local U19 team. The coach of that team mauled the shit out of me at one point. I was doing okay keeping the ball away from him, but he was seriously attacking me soccer style. I was slapped, hit, kicked, elbowed
and eventually knocked down. The coach perceived some of how I was playing as being dirty, so he attacked me. I of course protested this and his suggestion that he was fair in repaying me in such fashion. I still feel that he set a shitty example for his team, but that's beside the point and no reflection on lessons I need to learn.

Upon asking my own team if I was the hack at the ankles guy, one person answered to say that he didn't think I did it intentionally. Well, there you have it. Intentional or not doesn't make it any better, and if my own team sees me this way, then this is no longer an issue of perception. But I will take it as a sign that I need to work at my game. It is not acceptable for me to play dirty or to cheat.

So what does this have to do with my rant? Of three comments the rant has garnered so far, the commenters seemed to think that their team did a fine job and in fact did the best job that they could. Add to this that this was their first home match, their first time hosting and being in charge, and perhaps my indictment of their intent is misplaced. Upon rereading that post, regardless of my perception of that match, my assertions were equally out of line. That's not how I want to be seen, perception again.

If this post has any point at all, it's that we all perceive things differently based on any number of elements. The game looks different on the field or the rink as opposed to safely on the side. You and I are always better off keeping our mouths shut and doing our best. I can't very well bitch about one perceived slight when I'm as guilty as I suggest of others. At the time I posted the original rant, I felt justified in being upset. I suppose I was quite full of righteous indignation. Looking back at it now, I'm kind of embarrassed by my rant. There is no grace in calling fouls after the fact, and though grace can certainly go straight to hell most of the time, I wish now I'd been more respectful in that ranting post.

showing support?

This just has to be seen and spread far and wide, so I am doing my part. It's a great song and a great video. I first saw it PZ Myers Science Blog.

Hard Knox Rollergirls debut

Perhaps I should have posted this already. It's a three day old post that I sat on because I wanted pictures. I know that soon enough I'll be able to snag a couple, but I can't find anything at the moment.

Sunday night was the hometown debut of the Hard Knox Rollergirls featuring the Machine Gun Kellys, Momma's team, versus the Black Bettys. Many of the girls actually debuted their skills in Birmingham, but this was the first chance most people in our town had to see real derby action, live and in person.

The league has three different teams with the Lolitas Locas finishing up the trio. I didn't like this name at first and had to assume that most of these people were not familiar with Nabokov until Momma explained to me that it's some sort of Japanese fashion. None of that is the point however other than to mention that there were some Lolitas skating with both teams. Due to the ebb and flow of membership and participation in the league, some Lolitas were asked to skate as honorary Kellys or Bettys in order to round out those teams' rosters.

There were some problem areas that I'm sure will be fixed next time. The teams had intro music that was supposed to play as they were introduced, and I didn't hear either team's song. The announcer, in my opinion, needs a bit of practice, and I was ready to be unhappy with his performance until I considered that he'd likely never done anything like this. Add a crowd estimated at between 200 and 300 unfamiliar faces, and I changed my mind. He actually did well, all things considered.

And then came the derby. All the work, the sweat, the bruises, the falls, I really don't know how to put into words what I've seen over the months of work the league has put into preparing for finally bouting. This day seemed some times like it would never come, and when we finally got a date, it almost seemed too soon. And it all culminated in this grand spectacle Sunday night.

I'm again almost at a loss for words. The girls started slow, the first period almost wanting for excitement. As in many sports though, the first period is often like this, feeling out, warming up. The heat didn't take long to show up though, and by the second period, the battle was going strong.

Momma was on fire! She made some amazing runs through the pack, upsetting blockers and pivots who scrambled to catch her with even a bit of shoulder. She certainly ran into her share of shoulders. The Bettys were not going to be displaced too easily, and they knew to keep an eye on her, which they did as well as they could. Momma is also sporting the worst injury of the night, a jammed finger.

The lack of injury in general says nothing of the action. Both teams wanted the win, and both teams put every bit of themselves into this match. One beauty of the league is that the girls practice together. There are team practices when possible, but the two a week that are mandatory involve whole league. In addition to the friendships between girls on different teams, I think a big advantage to this is that they all build a respect for each other. Regardless of team affiliation, they do so much work together as a league. I think this was manifest in the match, the way the teams treated each other even while working so hard to beat each other.

In the end, the Black Bettys skated off with the win. They took an early lead that they were able to hold onto. They never got a very large margin over the Kellys who almost caught up several times. Of course I'd rather Momma's team had won, but there's always next time.

The Kellys next bout is in November against the Lolitas. The Bettys and Lolitas have a match in October. We learn soon which Kellys get to be honorary Bettys and Lolitas, so Momma may be in the October match. I can handle temporary misplaced allegiance if she gets that chance. Either way I'll provide a loving post.

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

How Logical Are You?

I suppose I feel pretty good about myself right about now. I am not saying I should or shouldn't, but I do.

today just feels . . .

I'm not really sure about today so far. It's an odd day. There are the usual aspects of the day in that, physically we are all doing what we would normally do, at least the boys and I are. Momma just left to go meet with her boss about her job. We've had breakfast and lunch, and the boys have been watching a Pokemon movie since right after lunch. They played with swords and drove me crazy a little bit before that.

The weather is pretty cool out. It seems cooler than it has in days, but this is the first day in several that we haven't gotten rained on. I don't think it's rained since some time early last night. It is pretty cloudy on top of the coolness, and that's adding to today's sort of feeling.

We have the windows open in the back of the house. If it stays cloudy enough on the sunny front side, I may open a couple of those windows soon. The sun blasts right in through those windows most of the day, and with winter a few months away, I'm reminded that I don't always hate those front windows.

I did have a pleasant moment earlier. After finishing something or other, I sat down on the sofa for a few minutes. The Pokemon movie was (is) still on, Momma was just about to leave, and the latest laundry load was just about ready for the washer-dryer switch. As I sat down, The Boy was roughly eight inches away, but he quickly scooted over right next to me. He didn't want to play or even to cuddle. He just scooted in really close without even taking his attention from the movie.

Part of today's oddness may be Momma's meeting. She had her own moment, rather unpleasant, at work Thursday and was given a few days off to think about what she'd done. What she did, while pretty bad in restaurant terms, was not without some amount of pressure from different sources, and should certainly be outweighed by the service she's provided over the couple of years this place has been open. I could turn this into a post about a certain type of server and about respect for position, but I tried doing that last week and didn't like what I came up with at the time. I have a post in me about servers, but it'll have to wait for now, and if I were being honest, I could do the same disservice to cooks.

I don't have any idea what will come from Momma's meeting. If she were not going to remain employed, I'm sure we would know that by now, but what terms she may be asked to accept to remain are certainly unknown. I may at any moment receive an unhappy phone call from Momma, explaining that I will need to dust off my resume. My resume is actually just a list of the last few places I worked and the kitchen managers' names, but that's not the point. I may be soon going back to work, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

It won't much matter how I feel, but I'm kind of thinking that I'd like to get back into a kitchen somewhere. I miss so much of that horrible, wretched job, even the bad parts kind of, but I would miss other stuff that I get to do not working. Our homeschool group has been picking up lately, and we've been getting together a lot. The boys and I have so far only been to the play days, but different members of our group have been putting lots of things together. It's great to see the group as a whole coming up with classes and educational opportunities together, and it's great to all meet at the playground. Momma would work less if i were also working, and our staggered schedules versus her overtime might mean that we saw each other a bit more.

Finally, here is my giggle of the day. I found a visitor in my statcounter searching "bobby flay ribs". I had a couple of beers and such in me when I found this late last night. I was just about done on the computer and heading to bed, and I laughed so hard about this I hurt.

silly monkeys

This from Wired in a story about pirate radio stations. Regardless of how you feel about the FCC and broadcast regulations and pirate radio, this story is funny as shit.

When federal agents raided free radio Santa Cruz in 2004, a crowd of several hundred protesters soon gathered at the 10-year-old broadcast center -- including the mayor, who was shouting through a bullhorn. The tires on the FCC agents' cars were slashed before they could leave, and then they received parking tickets before they could repair them. A few days later a fundraiser brought in more than $25,000 and Freak Radio, which is still on the air, was launched.

word of the late night

Our newest word of the day, a feature I'd nearly forgotten, is prelapsarian. The word describes some idyllic past that we all seem to remember, though it's always a different past. Thank you dear Wordsmith dot com.

It's always funny to hear people talk of innocence in past ages, periods of time when we are to believe that all was well and kids were kids. Perhaps god was smiling on the nation because we looked at sin and saw sin. People were just better, and they would help you out if you needed it.

But these days are so full of sin. We let the gays go and be gay all they want, and women are getting abortions every time they wear out a pair of running shoes, which is what comes of giving them the vote in the first place. Girls are getting tattoos and boys are getting pierced.

Really, my point here is that there was never an era in human history that was even close to innocent or happy-go-lucky. Most wars are religious in nature. When it comes to money, most people would just as soon screw you as look at you. Relationships stay fucked up because people are stubborn assholes. People will always try to screw the service staff, one way or another. Some people just can't hold their alcohol. Too many people can't just mind their own damn business. This is how life has always been. To hell with prelapsarian ideals! Damn them all!

pair of pictures

I think the closest I've come to posting family pictures here is a derby shot of Momma. We have plenty of cameras floating around the house, but only the two that are primarily phones are able to send those pictures anywhere but to film.

Having finally set up my phone to access my email, I was finally able to use the phone to also send pictures. Perhaps I could have done it before, but beyond sending the random dirty picture to Momma's phone, I never bothered.

Finally, a picture presented itself at the dining table today. The first is Momma and Big Brother, setting and following the example of meal time behavior. Following that, mostly to balance it out and give you a look at the whole family, are me and The Boy. I hope you are all able to figure out who is who given those descriptions.

Now you may all bask in our reflected glory at your leisure.

recently read books

Having read through a few more books since the last time I posted about books, I keep meaning to sit and discuss some of those books. I've covered a variety of genres in my recent reading, fantasy, historical(ish) fiction as well as nonfiction.

The first book I'll talk about is the historical fiction book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. It's the story of the Watson family, living in Flint Michigan. The father is from Flint while the mother is from Birmingham. The book is almost entirely about the Watson's life in Flint, the trouble that the oldest son gets into eventually leading the family to Birmingham where the trouble son is going to spend the summer with his grandmother.

The Watsons end with the near loss of the youngest child, the daughter, in a church bombing. The girl doesn't die, as does the middle child not die earlier in the book in a swimming accident. These two incidents basically ruin the book. The fact that the book doesn't address the racism inherent in the church bombing certainly doesn't help. Instead of covering an important part of history, the book turns these two situations into some sort of spiritual moment with a bit of cheating death mixed in.

It was a mostly enjoyable book, but I didn't feel that the author really used the story that ended the book to his advantage. The church bombing almost seemed tagged on at the end to give the book a little more edge. So while I won't dissuade Big Brother from reading it, it won't serve the purpose I had hoped for upon taking it from the library.

Book two is The Tiger's Apprentice by Laurence Yep. It's a fairly basic fantasy story using a lot of random Chinese mythology. I'm not sure what to think of the Chinese mythology as I have no knowledge of that subject, but it did seem like it may be a decent introduction to the mythology should one care to delve further. I did however enjoy the book. It was fairly simple, very quickly read, and it's also book one, so the story will continue assuming I can remember and can find number two at the library.

The final book of the day is A Little House Traveler. It's a compilation of writing done by Laura Ingalls Wilder over a number of years. The first part of the book is her journal kept when she and husband Almanzo and daughter Rose left De Smet, Dakota Territory to move to the Ozarks. The next section of the book is letters, mostly from Laura to Almanzo and a few from Rose, written in 1915 when Laura went to San Francisco to visit Rose and her husband. Following that is the journal Laura kept in 1931 as she and Almanzo went back to visit family in De Smet.

I grew up reading Little House in the Big Wood, and as Big Brother's bedtime reading became mostly chapter books, we picked up the entire Little House series for ourselves. This book, based on the topic, was in my library stack as soon as I saw it. One of the main qualities of this book, in my opinion, is the view one gets of history as common life changes so much. Laura, Almanzo and Rose travel from De Smet in a covered wagon. This is nothing new to readers of the series as Laura has moved lots of places in a covered wagon. Her journey to San Francisco is on a train. The final journey in A Little House Traveler is by car.

I love to see the differences that Laura experienced throughout her life. I can't help when reading about Laura and Almanzo thinking back to their courtship with Manly in his sleigh taking Laura for rides during the winter, Manly building the wagon that took them to the Ozarks. Then in 1931, the couple is driving in a 1923 Buick. This book may not be as interesting to younger readers, and I don't really expect Big Brother to read it just yet. He might, and he may if he chooses to.

Any of these books would be fine for kids to read. They were all well written and interesting. The Laurence Yep book was just a fun read. The Watsons as a family seem like nice enough people, but their story, while mostly interesting, just fell apart at the end. I'm always a sucker for Laura and her family, so I'll generally always like their stories.

who'd a thunk it?

Yeah, it's Saturday, and I'm going to talk about soccer again. Actually, it's not really this time, but it's not not either. I did however wake up on time this morning, though it barely mattered in the end.

Our game was rained out today. The opposing coach called as we were walking out the door and said it was pouring at the fields. At our house the rain was sort of on and off. It's been like that the whole day since. We did drive to the fields anyway; it kind of seemed like we should. At this point, no games had been officially cancelled, though the option was left to coaches and parents. The one person from the team that we did see had already called us on the way out.

Driving west toward the fields, the sky over the ridge looked like we were driving into the night. It's not even that far from the house, ten to fifteen minutes outside of rush hour, and I could tell those clouds were sitting just past the ridge. We actually didn't really see the worst of it till we were almost at the fields. We got the call at that point that the U6 and U8 games had officially been cancelled as someone had finally contacted the director.

Momma took the team list from me and started calling families as we drove home. Only one family was home, and after getting two or three answering machines, she gave up. If they were still home, they didn't plan on leaving, and if they weren't home, our telling their machine not to go to the fields from which they were currently driving home wouldn't help.

Currently, from my window, the weather seems like near perfect soccer weather. There are different perfect kinds of days for soccer in my opinion, though this is as a player as opposed to viewer. While I might play in the wet, I prefer to keep my ass dry as a spectator.

The rain seems to have let up. The temperature outside is a little cool. It's cloudy enough that the little sun we might see shouldn't steam shit up as too often happens. I did recently see random sun that seemed really out of place in the mostly gray sky.

This is the kind of day where you get wet, and when you play like me, you get a little muddy. Everyone gets the splatter up the back of the shirt from running, and many of us get muddy knees. The mud and the wet grass are so much nicer to slide on too as the friction is much less.

It was on a day much like this that I had a particularly soccer moment. I slid across in front of an attacking player in our box, knocking the ball away, but the other team quickly regained possession. As I was standing back up, still squatting mostly, a shot came right past my face, and I took a face full of turf. It's a memorable moment because it was as if it were in slow motion. The player's foot flashed the shot, and as I watched several quarter sized pieces of grassy clumps shooting at me, I tried to dodge the barrage while trying to get in front of the shot, and soccer field doesn't taste very good.

If I had a dollar for every time balls flew at my face . . .

can't think of a rant obviously

But give me a few minutes, and I'll come up with something. For now I'm just going to talk about aches and poop.

Seriously, that's all I can come up with anymore. I'd like to think I typed up a couple of decent rants before I ran out of steam. So I won't be blogger of the year and find some way to get rich while talking about poop and roller derby. Dammit! That's what I had, the thin filament of dream that kept me going.

Well, other than the all star away match in Birmingham, the derby girls have yet to make their debut. If you lived around here, you could come out Sunday night and see the real league debut. The mighty Machine Gun Kellys further blacken the Black Bettys. I get to play half a game of soccer Sunday so that I can get home and clean in time to drive to the bruisin' the Bettys fest, but I'm sure I'll find a way to be okay about it.

Speaking of soccer, I don't really have anything to say. I'm going to assume that our Wednesday scrimmage opponents are going to be the U19 team that has worn us down the past two weeks. Add this past Wednesday two Mexican guys that helped fill out one side, and you get the beauty of Victor Ashe park soccer.

Big Brother was excited upon hearing that today is Friday because that means he has a game tomorrow. That of course means that I need to take the time tonight and figure out the game for tomorrow. I need to place my players each quarter so that I make sure they all play as much as possible while the time is equally distributed among each player. It's an early game, perhaps not early to farmers, but my heathen ass should not ever be up early enough for a 9:30 game.

Simpsons quotes

The quotes are from the John Waters episode. He plays a gay man who runs a store that specializes in camp. Homer of course, being so obtuse, doesn't get that John is gay until it's explained very plainly to him. He then freaks out and suddenly starts seeing signs that Bart is also gay. Homer then tries a number of ways to make Bart straight. So because they are funny, here are a couple of favorite quotes.

Bart-Dad, why did you bring me to a gay steel mill?

Of course this is when Homer takes Bart to the steel mill to show him "real men." It turns out to be a gay steel mill. It's just a great scene as Homer realizes he's completely surrounded by gay men and that one more of his attempts has utterly failed.

John Waters-Deer?! They won't find any deer around here. They all migrated North when the state parks converted to astro turf.

He says this when he hears of Homer's newest scheme to degayify Bart, killing a deer, because as everyone knows, only hetero men hunt.

Once upon a time, some distant past when Momma and I had more time or something, we started our own Simpsons library. Yes, we taped several VHS tapes worth of Simpsons episodes, sometimes even pausing to avoid commercials, often poorly. While searching through the cabinet of video tapes, Big Brother came across the Simpsons stash. This and Futurama have become his new late night viewing. We haven't read a book together in ages, but he has watched a lot of old Simpsons episodes.

roundabout link hopping

Going through my statcounter, I learned that once again my blog has been visited by someone searching my name. So, in the interest of interest, I clicked the search link to see who else showed up. This video was one of the hits, and I liked it so much I'm sharing it.

li'l woohoo

Slowly, so painfully slowly, The Boy is nearing using the potty. He does now on occasion use the potty, and he's getting better at pooping in the potty. He's almost three and a half, at which age Big Brother was well on his way to being diaper free.

I'm really proud of him for doing such a great job, and I'm happy that my frustration hasn't made the issue noticeably more painful. But I'm still tired of diapers. I'm ready personally for us to finally be diaper free as a family, but we still have to wait on The Boy to decide he's done with them.

But all signs point to us finally be getting to the end of diaper days. Oh those glorious days ahead when he finally stops wearing diapers and at long last he gets to wear the Thomas the Tank Engine underwear.

Again, li'l woohoo! We're on the way!

updating the soccer post

Anyone who read last week's soccer post will likely remember my hip concern. I left the game last Sunday when I made a move that caused my hip to feel as if the joint of thigh and hip was grinding. It hurt and caused concern for the Monday pain buffet. That however didn't happen. Monday came and went and I felt fine.

Well this week is the painstravaganza that I know so well.

Upon waking this morning, my first bad sign was my right shoulder. It even hurts to pick up my coffee cup. Next is the right knee, actually a little below the knee. I'm pretty sure that was a direct kick. Finally comes the left calf, a little low on the calf is a small knot that is likely another direct kick. The odd pain today is in my right wrist. It is likely from falling onto it, and it's very minor, but it is there.

As far as I know, that is the complete menu. There is always a chance that I'll find something else. The calf is a perfect example of certain types of injuries in that I didn't find it till I was putting socks on. There are those injuries that hurt with use of the affected area, and then are those that you notice by accident, and these are usually the small places, generally where someone hit or kicked me.

new week, same game

From my own experience I've found that the sports teams that most loudly lobby the ref about fouls are generally the most likely to actually commit the fouls. These same teams are often the ones most likely to dive trying to draw the foul yet again.

For anyone who doesn't know, a dive is intentionally falling down so that the ref will assume a foul has been committed against you. It's an illegal move and one that I've seen draw a yellow card.

Playing against the cheating/whining style team is very frustrating. One reason is that the cries of foul and the dives are often seen as real and fouls are called that weren't committed. Often the ref is just doing the best job he can, and I generally tend to trust refs are doing so, even if they call a few nonexistent fouls. But as a game progresses, a good ref will learn how the different players on the field play. He will see the fake fouls and the real fouls, but this isn't always the case. It wasn't the case today.

I'm not going to pretend that we lost today because of cheating or bad calls. The winning goal was scored off a free kick that happened due to a hand ball inside the box. That sucks, but at least it was a valid call. All goals scored were done legally and were not the result of cheating. I will complain some about the game I endured today.

Today's gripes: I was slapped and shoved pretty hard in the back several times. I was hit in the ribs. I was thrown to the ground. I even had some one's shoe right in my butt crack. I was kicked in the knees, and that's were tonight's pain is mostly centered.

A good physical game is a thing of beauty. Two teams with respect for the game, themselves and their opponents can play a rough, physically aggressive game without cheating, without hitting, without throwing people down. I know it can happen. I play aggressively, but I am strongly anti-cheating. To me, cheating is admitting that you aren't good enough.

So the cheating was mostly, in my opinion, a lack of respect for us and the game. We should have beaten this team, and with some better passing and shooting, we would have. We did this in spite of being knocked around and tripped. At one point, one of the opposing team was actually holding one of my team mates down after a slide tackle by pushing his head so that our player couldn't get up. The ref called the foul on our guy, said he was playing the ball from the ground. That's the kind of service we got from the ref today. He was more concerned about my foul language than calling the came correctly.

Oh well, next week we play the South team. I know one of their players as a grade A grumbler, the guy that sails balls ten feet over the goal and bitches about the grass. We'll beat them, and next week's soccer blog will be carefree and full of happy woohoos.

Blogger SAT challenge

Yes, just like it sounds. A blogger at Scienceblogs, Cognitive Daily, has come up with a way that all of us can take a test similar to the SAT writing test. Don't look at me for the story. Go to their blog, read their story about the whole thing, and take the challenge. It's harder than you think. See how you compare with the kids. Look back here for my own results whenever it happens.

you HAVE to read these books

Andrea at Atypical Homeschool wants to know what books folks think all kids should read. I could come up with a list that would never stop growing, but I can easily hold back and make it quick and easy. I can think of a concise list can't I?

I feel I should begin by pointing out that I don't believe in this list. I don't believe in subjective restraints on what children should or should not read. I believe firmly in censorship within the family itself based on the content of individual books and the maturity (for lack of a better word) of the child or children. When I think in terms of appropriateness, I consider sexual content, types of violence and adult themes, drug use for example. These are all subjects that children should be taught about with complete honesty, but I want to reserve the right to time those discussions for when they are most appropriate for my children.

As almost the only author I will list by name, I think all kids should read the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. We are of course all aware of his four most popular works, The Hobbit as well as the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These are perfect books to get lost in, to sink into as too many hours slip past unknown. What I've read of his other work, though not quite as lengthy, is also fun to read. These are the kind of books we read as kids then get excited to read to our own kids. These are the books that we cherish as old friends, books that we read and reread over the years, the books that cause me to lament that I can only read them for the first time once.

Kids should read historically accurate stories, both fiction and nonfiction. These books are fun because they give us a look at a time past. We could all use a little view of ourselves in relation to the never ending rush of time and history. Perhaps Laura Ingalls didn't change the world and doesn't show up in world history books, but she's changed the view of plenty of people over the years with her Little House series of books. Through those books we see how different life was not so long ago. Along with this, kids should read biographies and autobiographies. What better way to explore the lives of people that made history happen, though they little thought it at the time.

Kids should read crap, and I mean that in the best possible way. The Animorphs series of books are not likely to win any Nobel or Newberry awards, and they aren't the deepest most well thought out paragons of writerly ability. They are fun to read though, and they can pull you right into their fantastic stories of DNA acquiring kids who change into animals to fight the evil alien invasion. This is the kind of book that's perfect for when you want a quick read that will let you let go for a couple of hours or days.

If any point just sticks with me it's simply that kids should read. Parents should know what their kids are reading to be able to weed out books that are not appropriate for their kids, but beyond that, why stand in the way of a kid who wants to read? I fear that many parents limit their children's reading by making up standards of quality, the people who will tell you that their kids never read twaddle, that their kids only read classics. I say there's room for all books and that no one should be made to feel bad because of their choice of what to read. It's that old unschooling philosophy to me, giving kids the richest library we can, making them aware that it exists for them and that they are welcome to what they want.

mmmm yogurt

There's nothing quite as tasty as a Brown Cow cream on top yogurt, my favorite being the cherry vanilla flavor. I'm currently possibly having a raspberry as that was the last flavor we had, and I'm possibly having it as opposed to definitely having it because of the following reason. There's also nothing quite like wondering whether or not you should keep eating that yogurt because it might just taste a little funny. But it could taste a little funny because I just brushed my teeth prior to eating this yogurt. So I take another bite and keep wondering. I'm sure if it's the toothpaste that pretty soon the yogurt should start to taste normal again. But then I notice that the cream, which is no longer on top, isn't quite blending as it usually does. Instead of this, it's remaining rather lumpy, which it never does. That can't be a good sign, though it makes it easier to taste to see if perhaps I should stop eating. But then the lump seems to taste like maybe it's the toothpaste which really should have stopped being a factor, at least by now, it seems. But all in all, as I take spoons full to taste, it almost seems like maybe it's starting to taste right. Mostly, the flavor is bitter with none of the usual sweetness from the raspberries. It is yogurt, so it's going to taste a little sour, but this flavor, and it still could be the toothpaste, is just, well, dodgy I suppose. It's not that it tastes bad but that it might taste bad. And while I am a little hungry and hate to waste food, I'm just not sure I'm happy with this, which sucks because I'm not sure it's really not the toothpaste.

the book thing

I've seen this floating around for a bit, then Audrey didn't not tag me, and I've wondered whether or not I was going to ignore it. I tend sometimes to kind of forget books to some extent because I tend to speed through them fairly quickly. I do often reread books that stick in my mind though, so I end up getting it in the end it seems.

So on with the questions. It's all about books.

A book that changed my life:
Probably the best book in this category would be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Yes it's funny and not to be taken at all seriously. It was one of the first books that I read that wasn't a western or a Hardy Boys book. I read it around the time I would have started driving meaning that I could get to library at my will and find more and more books that wouldn't usually have gotten through the parental filters. This book gave me an idea of scale in which we as humans weren't the center of the universe. The possibility that there could be so much more than I had ever imagine really opened my eyes to how small my own world was up to that point.

A book I would take on a desert island:
This one is a hard one because it's hard for me to just answer. I have too many questions, from how am I getting stuck on this island to would I know where this island is. I'd want to think of some book that would aid me in surviving on that island, but what book exists to tell you how to live on a dessert island? If I had to take a nonfiction book, I might pick a Mark Helprin. His work really transports me into the world of his characters. For this I might pick A Soldier in the Great War, though I've read it once, but I might find one I haven't read yet.

A book that made me laugh:
I have to revisit The Hitchhiker's Guide again. Having read certain books from the trilogy numerous times, and all of it mulitple times, I still laugh as I reread it every couple of years.

A book that made me cry:
It takes a good bit to get me to cry, the closest I get being a little chokey. I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird. There are plenty of unhappy moments in this book, but Dill's reaction at the end of the trial kills me every time. His childlike inability to understand the evil that humans can do to each other is so sad. It also serves to illuminate in my own mind that I still don't understand the evil that we are all capable of.

A book that I wish had been written:
If only there had been some book back in the dark ages that highlighted to people that we are all the same, regardless of how we look or where we are from, we are all more alike than not. Too many of the horrors of human history seem to revolve all too often around perceived differences with no basis in reality.

A book that I wish had never been written:
I'm not sure what to think about this question. There are plenty of books that have led people to commit seriously vile actions, and too many of these books have been misused for these purposes. Their are likely books that have been used exactly as they were intended and have led people to do evil. I suppose if nothing else these books could give us an insight into evil.

A book I've been meaning to read:
Not really sure I have one. Generally, if I learn of a book that interests me I find a way to read it. I'm sure immediately after posting this, I'll think of the book that fits this question, but I really can't think of it.

I'm currently reading:
While at the library recently, I picked my usual armload of books from the kids section. We have several Chris Van Allsburg books as well as one written and illustrated by Tim Eagan, a writer suggested to us by a homeschooling friend. On the way to check out, I decided to grab a moment at the new releases, located about ten to twenty feet from the checkout desk. I immediately noticed a Neil Gaiman book. I'm not familiar with his work though I've long known of it. When I had comic book money I just never bothered with his stuff. I've known he's branched out from comics, and I've finally picked up one of his books, Anansi Boys. I've enjoyed it so far, but I'm only about three chapters in, so I haven't yet quite formed an opinion yet.

That's my list. I'm not personally comfortable with tagging others. I know it's done and is okay, but like wearing white shoes, I just can't get myself to do it. Don't ask why, 'cuz I don't know.

interesting reading on sleep and children

One of the Science Bloggers I find myself reading more often than many others has written some posts concerning sleep. This isn't a subject I'd ever really given a lot of thought, especially as he relates it to school performance as well as general safety issues. Read his blog posts that got me thinking here and here.

I won't even approach his scientific discussion beyond mentioning that humans go through phases in regards to their sleep, happening loosely around adolescence, teen (high school) years and then adulthood, around 30 years old, at which point we settle into our adult sleep patterns. From reading his posts, I would say I'm an owl in that I tend to fall asleep and wake up later. I'd always assumed this was due to jobs I'd chosen, but perhaps it's more that I chose jobs that corresponded with my basic circadian rhythm. Working in restaurants I've always felt that, in the end, it's the business that does the picking, but that's another post. In addition to owls there are also larks, people who tend to fall asleep and wake up earlier, and what he calls the median, self explanatory in meaning. I remember years of thinking that I didn't sleep because I would toss and turn in bed for hours before getting to sleep. I was also difficult to wake up in time for school.

I certainly believe that school starts too early. If I were creating a public school system, early mornings would certainly be out from the very beginning. I would say honestly that a part of our homeschooling decision was based on the timing in general of school, from the early mornings to the forced late nights. The early start certainly wasn't a huge factor in the decision, so perhaps it's more a huge residual benefit.

dreading tomorrow: in which we revisit our friend the soccer season

This weekend saw the first games for both Big Brother and me of our separate '06 fall soccer seasons. His was Saturday, and he seems completely recovered from the game. Mine was today, and as happens during each Spring and Fall, I'm dreading Monday morning.

As for this crop of U8's, including of course my own, I like these kids. I always tend to like the kids on the teams, so this isn't a surprise. I've memorized their names pretty quickly. We know one of the kids already from having been on a U6 team together. And at least one other of the kids I remember past teams playing against.

Big Brother's game was fun and exciting. He seems to be getting more into the game, but he's also getting older, so I would expect him to either put more effort into it or start to decide that it isn't for him. He may also decide he likes to play during the season and mostly care less in the off season, which is where's he's been. I hadn't considered before now that I set that example. I tend to completely let it go when I'm not playing.

The opposing coach was a guy I've played a few seasons with. I'd love to play with him again in the future, though I think our team is a little player heavy at the moment for many more players. He asked at the beginning of the game not to beat his team by too much. He was of course joking. Both teams played well, but the one week of practice we missed really did seem to set us back as the other team just played together better from the beginning. My guys did get it together, but not till after the other kids took an early lead. We evened up the score and the game stayed pretty even till the very end.

The end was pretty funny if a bit tragic for my team. One of the opposing players discovered that he could kick the ball right over my defense and goalie and send shots right into our goal. My defensive player hasn't played before and was a little leery of getting in the other kid's face. After a couple of shots over his head and some encouragement, he finally started playing a little more aggressively, getting in the shooter's face and taking away his shot. But it was already late in the game, and we didn't have time to come back from that.

There's always next Saturday, and until then, I know some things to work on. At this age, getting the kids to be a little more aggressive is kind of tricky. I don't want to coach kids to be mean or dirty, but they need to learn that walking up to a kid and taking the ball away isn't going to hurt, but you can't do it from three feet away. Just as difficult is working on passing. We play AYSO and just don't get a lot of time with the kids. At this age, I don't see that as a problem, and I actually sort of dread the older ages and oftener practices. I also sort of don't. But I've got plenty of games and variations for practice. I'll have these kids passing, or maybe I'll just set them up to make better passes as they get older.

My game today turned out similarly in scoring ratio if not amount. We could easily have beaten this team given our talent. But a team has to practice together more than never to be able to work as a team during a game. That's all the space I'll give that rant/excuse. I have no idea how often our opponents practice, however little that effects my own team's performance.

One light in the day, assuming this game to be indicative of future games, was that no one got yelled at by the halftime coach, the guy that doesn't play as well as he demands of others, the guy who forces every possible reason we aren't winning to reflect back his own loudly proclaimed opinion. I'm not sure if he's moved to a different team or not, though I'm sure I look forward to disallowing him the joy of a goal.

Our opponents had some rude players, the guys that play as though there might be a scout hiding in the bushes. But we apparently now have our own as well. They had the typical fusser who wants to scream about fouls he's imagined. There was also the big guy that landed on me going for a header, which is where my pain began. I think this was the same guy slapping me in the head later, but I'm not certain.

Being landed on by a much taller and heavier player is never fun. I'm not sure exactly what's happened, but somewhere about where the thighbone is connected to the hip bone, a little flame of something wrong was brewing. Later in the game, in a freak slide tackle incident I fanned that flame to full worry inducing pain. I went off the field and rested for a couple of minutes. If I stretched the wrong direction, the pain radiated down the back of my thigh seeming more hamstring than joint related, though I'm certain it isn't the hamstring. I walked a bit before the pain subsided some, took a jog then a sprint and okayed myself to go back in. That wasn't likely the best decision, but I knew the game was nearing the end, and I wasn't done playing.

So sometime tomorrow, shortly after 8:00 most likely, I awake to the full flame of today's issue. I'm certain that whatever I've done isn't serious, but it hurts now, so it is something. Generally, the usual round of aches appear the next day, and as the season progresses, and as my body almost approaches an approximation of fitness, the Monday's aren't so horrific. But those Sundays that I actually do more damage than a kick in the knee or ball in the face, the Monday's will always be especially sad.

suddenly worried about that god dude

This song has me worried. All my sinning ways are going to catch up with me, and I wanted so to disbelieve that it could happen. Go straight to the song here, or the blog hosting the song here. Or check out the science blogger where I found it here.

Headphones may be a good idea if you feel you need them. If wirty dords bother you, listen anyway and get your irate on. I personally had to stop eating my banana to be sure it didn't exit via my nose holes.