A Mad Dash

Today we were sitting around watching our Netflix, and by that I mean I was watching as Becky and Sal snoozed.  While I was watching I got a voice mail from my gran, so once the movie was over around 8pm I listened to it and then gave her a call back.  It was just the basic call to see how we were doing and chat for a few minutes.  However in it she told me that apparently tonight we're supposed to get some snow.  I saw the little snowflake on my weather app, but they don't really indicate how much snow to expect.  Turns out we're supposed to get a foot or more of snow!  WHAT?!  How did I not know this?

Well, given that our normal grocery day is Sunday we figured we may not want to go out into the snowy mess that was coming and so we rushed to pack up Sal and head out to the store to pick up what we needed and avoid the roads tomorrow.  As we were driving it occurred to me that perhaps we were a little late to the party and the stores would be empty, but it turns out that other than the lack of selection at the deli counter, and the total lack of milk at Kroger, we had no problem getting what we needed (though we didn't need milk, it was just weird to see the shelves totally empty with a sign saying they were sold out).

So, we're all prepped for the storm tomorrow!  I was kind of hoping that I would get out of having to shovel, but I don't think a foot of snow is going to be something I can ignore,

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 31
Ok, so not one of my pictures, I actually got this from George Takei, but it reminded me of the last time we saw the show and complained to the staff about the annoying people behind us.  It also turned out that a friend was tweeting about someone in her theatre class claiming it was ok to talk because they paid for the show so it's their right or whatever.  Anyhow, it amused me.

Full Of It

I tried to take a picture today only to be told that my phone was full.  That's right, my brand new phone has been filled completely.  A lot of that has to do with stuff that was transferred over from my old phone.  Some of it has to do with the music that I should probably adjust, I have more than I need, I'm sure.  I don't have a ton of apps so that probably helps, though I'm sure there are some that I could remove since I don't use them often.  I think the biggest issue may be that I have 1,611 photos and 46 videos on my phone.  Nearly all of them are saved on my computer (except for the ones I've taken since my last backup), but for some reason I feel uncomfortable deleting them.  I know that they're saved, but I find it really hard to delete photos.  What if they are gone forever?  What if something happens and I lose them?  I know I have them saved on my computer and a backup drive, but it just makes me nervous.  Perhaps I need some cloud storage or something that has more redundancies. 

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 30
My students during my last assignment introduced me to Marcel the Shell, and Becky found this while shopping and sent me a picture.  I'm curious what happens in the book, perhaps we'll have to go back and get this for Sal's library.

Breaking Bored

I'm getting kind of bored with Breaking Bad.  We're onto season four, and I feel like I've watched half of season four only to realize it's just been two or three episodes.  I feel like I'm never going to get through it, and I feel like I'll be glad when it's finally over and I don't have to watch it any more.

I think the problem is it's getting kind of repetitive, where it's constantly on the edge of collapse and Walt gets all stressed and then does something he probably shouldn't.  I'm already nearly finished so I'm not just going to drop the show, but I've only got maybe 20 episodes left or something like that, and I wish we could get through them faster.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 29
Sam seems to think that Sal's lounger is his pillow as apparently every morning when Becky comes downstairs he's sleeping on it like this.  As a note of reference he's not even supposed to be on the couch but like a honey badger he just doesn't give a fuck.

Off To Neverland

There are a lot of things I don't understand about young people today.  I hear them say things like "I need to get my likes up," count their "followers", make great attempts to say something that people will reblog or retweet rather than something that's genuine and sincere.  Most the time I just want to shake them and shout in their face, "NONE OF THIS HOLDS ANY MEANING OR VALUE!" but for whatever reason they can't seem to see that and decided that it somehow translates into their worth, or that somehow they will become famous for simply reblogging others or posting picture of themselves.  It's a desperate cry for attention, but it's attention that comes from those that don't matter and it isn't attention that has any real substance to it.  It's phantom attention that is no more real than a hologram or a mirage, but it's ever so important.

However, that being said one of the things I understand least about this group is their overwhelming Peter Pan syndrome.  They refuse to grow up.  They make excuses as to why they aren't prepared to grow up.  They constantly run from responsibilities, shrug off doing what they need to do, and hide from having to make decisions.  They have no plans at all for anything other than to do what they are doing in the here and now.  They do not organize and they do not DO anything unless it's planned for them.

Now, I know a lot of the excuses here about how "well parents structured everything so how should they know how to do anything on their own?" or "they''re overwhelmed by all the demands on us these days because it's not like it used to be and they can't be held to the same standard."  Well, that's true it's not like it used to be, it's easier with instant access to each other, endless resources, technology that reduces the time it takes to complete a task (remember when writing a paper meant the literal act of writing.  You know, where you had to physically write five to ten pages of information rather than type it or in many cases copy and past from Wikipedia? Or how Wikipedia didn't even exist and finding something out meant going to a library and doing ACTUAL research in books.).  They act like no one in the world has ever had to work and go to school.  That no one before them has ever had work, school, and social obligations to balance and that they can only do two of them but not all three.  As if it's totally new to have homework and deadlines and no one in the past ever had to deal with that.  They waste hours on time sucks like the brainless games on their phones, Twitter, Tumblr, all the while complaining that they don't have enough time as they binge watch their 4th episode of something on Netflix.

They refuse to grow up and make the adult decisions that are required of them.  They act as children, wanting play dates and the ability to do only what they want when they want.  They refuse to do anything that they don't want to do because they think that should never have to do something that doesn't please them.  They can't be expected to work and study because they have to spend hours on Netflix, and endless time scrolling their "blog" and taking selfies and hanging out with friend, and smoking pot, and going to movies, or out to dinner.  Those things all take priority over meeting their actual obligations.  They lack efficiency, structure, and the ability to sacrifice to achieve a goal.

However, perhaps that's because they don't have any goals.  They bemoan the idea that they are "forced to pick a life path at only age 18" as if no one before them did the same thing.  Or worse, as if they have no other options afterwards, which makes no sense since we are living in a time when so many retrain themselves for new jobs and learn new skills all the time.  Then they complain of constant anxiety and stress about what to do with their lives because they don't actually make a decision or have goals. They just float listlessly through while complaining that they have no purpose.  Well, perhaps having goals would help, and then taking actions to reach those goals may reduce a lot of their problems.

They don't ever want to be pressed to think ahead.  They don't want to be told that they need to make decisions and take ownership of their life and choices.  They expect to be coddled and agreed with on 100% of what they do and complain of negativity or lack of support if anyone doesn't tell them how wonderful they are and give them the out that they're looking for.  They demand everyone respect them but expect others to earn their respect.

It doesn't make sense to me.  Life is far harder and contains far more stress and anxiety when you don't know what you're doing.  When you make a choice then go in a direction that YOU CHOOSE then you have a goal and a meaning for what you're doing.  You begin to have a purpose and it reduces your anxiety and stress.  Yet, they stay in this self-fulfilling loop of stress from having to choose, then stress from not choosing, then stress for having no purpose, and then back again to the start.

I also don't understand it because I know that younger people don't plan for the future in the same way adults do.  They don't get a 401K and worry about health care, and all that kind of nonsense.  However, at the same time, I was that age not that long ago and I remember planning and thinking about the future in the sense of things I wanted to do.  I had ideas about what I wanted to do even if I hadn't settled them on one specific path.  I had thoughts about my first apartment, things I'd like my life to have, things I'd like to do, places I'd like to visit.  I had a framework; a sketch; a rough draft.  Further, once I had those things I started to DO THEM.  They seem to want things but not want to actually work and sacrifice for them, but rather just receive them.  They want things as long as they don't actually have to do anything to get them. They want instant gratification and won't do anything that's further out than the near future. They want the spoils without the sacrifice.

They get all bent out of shape when people talk about them and their vanity and self-centered attitudes.  They want to blame others than actually look at themselves and what they are doing.  They expect all their actions and thoughts to be beyond reproach and tune out or isolate anyone that disagrees with them so they can maintain their bubble of approval failing to recognize that support can be given even if there is disagreement when the overarching goal is ones best interests.

In the end we aren't Peter Pan, and eventually we must all grow up if we want to be successful.  We have to start acting like an adult.  We have to start making decisions, making goals, and making sacrifices.  We can't act as if the world can be circumvented, and eventually shortsighted attitude and lack of direction will result in being left behind and stuck in situations we don't want to be stuck in.  There are those out there that are making decisions and are doing the things that they said they wanted to.  They are planning ahead for their future and making arrangements.  They are making connections and taking actions based on their goals.  They are living rather than sitting.  The longer the refusal to grow up and make decisions, the fewer options there will be.

It's amazingly frustrating and exhausting to watch it happening.  To sit by and let people make poor decision after poor decision as they slowly slide into a path that they aren't even aware that they're choosing.  The path is being made for you and before you know it you'll be so far along it that you'll either fail to get out of it, or have to work all the harder to find a different path.

So, drop the Peter Pan syndrome and grow up.  Growing up doesn't mean that you don't get to play anymore, it just means you sometimes have to eat your vegetables before you get to go on your next adventure. The upside is that you get to pick the adventure.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 28
The other week when we were at Becky's work part we also got to tour the locker room for the Red Wings.  I never posted a picture of that so I figured I'd post one since I was going through my pictures and saw it.  I'm not a big hockey fan, but it was still pretty cool.

70 Years

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.  There has been a pretty good set of stories on BBC, and a few on NBC talking about survivors and their journey back to mark the anniversary.  Some visiting for the first time since being freed, and with their children and grandchildren. Many talked about how it was necessary for them to return because they were going to a place that was trying to wipe them off the Earth, a death camp.  By returning they showing that they are alive that the camp wasn't able to kill them and instead they were able to live long and full lives despite the best efforts to ensure that didn't happen. Others talked about how they needed to return in order to give voice to all those that were murdered and do not have a voice to tell their stories.  I can't imagine how hard it must be to return to that place given the horrors that they were subject to. 

When we were in Europe we didn't have a chance to visit this place, though in the original plan we had made arrangements to go but that trip ended up getting cancelled all together.  It is on my list of top places to go because as a history teacher I want to go to the places I've read about, to where history took place.  I also relate to the idea that you must be there and know what happened for those that were lost.  Remembering is all that can be done for those that are now gone, and listening is important for those that lived.

I want to attend an event with a survivor and hear their story.  We are quickly running out of time for that as the survivors are getting older and older and soon will all be gone.  The chance to hear first hand will soon be impossible. 

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 27
It begins!  The scripts for the summer show have arrived, and plans are starting to happen for our fifth summer production.  This should be a fun one, and one of the better known shows so it may produce some larger crowds than in past years.  Our first three shows were a bit more obscure than last year and last year we saw the biggest crowds we had yet seen.  Next year will be a well known piece as well, so perhaps we will get some even larger crowds.

It's Been... One Week

So, I was off for about four weeks and my first week bad wasn't all that bad. I actually wasn't dreading coming in to work on Sunday night like I usually am.  To say the least the time off helped me recharge and keep me from feeling totally annoyed an overwhelmed and angry about my situation.  That lasted for exactly one week until Major Shithead decided to be a dick because his office was too hot.  He mentions it and so I ask the facility guy if anything is going on that could cause that to happen (since there are a variety of things that could mess with the heat temporarily and cause a five degree increase in the temperature in his office).  So he comes around again to ask and tell me it's now up to 78 degrees so I told him I checked with the facilities guy and then he said nothing was going on so we sent something to our operations people to come look.  Basically that is all that I can do.  I can't do anything else than submit a work request to have someone who knows how the heating and cooling system works. 

Well he comes back after lunch and gets shitty with me and demands that I get someone there today to fix it.  As if I have any power to make that happen.  As if I've just done nothing so far.  I've done everything that I can do and there is no way that I can control when someone from a different department comes out.  I call and tell them what's going on and they tell me that they should have someone out to look at it this week and that they'll put an ASAP note on it, but that's all they can do, and there's nothing more I can do.  So I get that fat windbag being rude and nasty to me because I can't get something to happen that's outside of my control and that I took all appropriate steps to resolve.

I then decided to try and find something else to apply for which is a wonderful thing to do because it reminds you how you can be a college graduate with high honors who has absolutely no employable skills and only has choices to continue doing work that I hate.  Hooray!  I might as well just lay down in the street and be a speed bump because I have no options and I can not continue to do this. 

In honor of the blog title, here is One Week by the Barenaked Ladies

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 26
It was very sunny today on my lunch walk.  Though, it was still pretty cold and I was glad when I made it back to the office.  The upside is that today was the second day in a row that I hit my step goal.

Breaking Bad

Given that we had a lot of time off we decided to Netflix it up, and as I mentioned I got to watching Voyager during my break.  It's actually nice to watch Star Trek, it used to be such a regular thing and actually probably did a lot to form my outlook on the world.  Basically it's good to dip back in.  However, it's also good to see new things and to be able to know what is going on in popular culture.  In this case we came to the party very late as Breaking Bad is over, but we started watching it a few weeks ago and have now finished the first three seasons.  We've got two seasons left to go and I think that boils down to maybe two dozen episodes or so. 

Basically when it was on people would go off on it as if it were the best thing that had ever been created.  It was so clever and innovative, or deep and amazing.  They raved and raved about the show in ways that I haven't seen for a lot of other shows.  The problem is that every time people rave about how good something is I tend to find those things a bit lacking from what I've heard about it.  The same turns out to be true about this show as well.  That's not to say I don't like the show.  I enjoy the show I'm interested to see what happens, I'm compelled to watch the next episode and I can enjoy some of the things that are done.  I can even appreciate that in the context of a season finale there were some pretty good cliffhangers that I'm sure people were super excited about (I mean, the next to last episode of season three I actually said "WOW! Holy shit!" So it's not to say that I can't see the things that they did (at the same time I saw part of the "wow" moment coming, but they did surprise me a bit.  At the same time I don't feel it's anything so amazing to garner the praise that was heaped on it.  It's a good show, it's a show I enjoy, it's not the end all be all.

One thing I'm not really a fan of is that I don't feel there was much in the way of development of Walt from this unassuming straight and narrow high school teacher to what he becomes by season three.  Basically it's as if he switched straight from one thing to the next.  He doesn't really evolve over time the way that I would expect, and then sometimes flips back to what he was before.  Basically it often feels kind of two dimensional and doesn't really seem to react how I would expect a person to react.  It's almost as if while he's the catalyst for the show, and it follows his actions, he isn't the main character really.  He's just there to move everything along.

At the same time I really like Jesse.  I feel like he's gone through so much and has changed a lot more than Walt in ways that seem natural and what you would expect to happen given the circumstances.  I feel like he's actually a good guy who just was doing the wrong thing.  I enjoyed the things that were changing about him, and was so sad for him in season three when so many things go wrong for him.  When he yells at Walt about how Walt coming into his life is what has caused the problems I'm totally with him.  Before Walt sure he wasn't doing great but he didn't have so much bad shit happen to him.  He wasn't getting his ass beat, or in these terrible situations, or had to do things that he wouldn't do otherwise.  I feel bad for him, and I want him to be successful and better. 

Overall, I'm enjoying the show.  I'm looking forward to the next two seasons to see how this show plays out and how it ends.  It is certainly a good show, I just don't think I understand the hype of it, but then again maybe it's something that you had to experience in real time.  There's something about the shared experience of something that connects it to you in a way that you wouldn't get otherwise.  I often think about that when I consider being a part of the Harry Potter fandom during those years between books where we had to guess and talk about our theories and how we thought things would change, where we'd look at all the evidence and come up with crazy ideas.  Where we waited and waited and then got to be there the second the book was released.  There something about experiences like that, so perhaps that's why it doesn't strike me as hard.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 25
This is one of her favorite things apparently because she seems very happy to sleep right on me quite regularly.  I think it's because I'm mushy and warm.  I don't mind, we just sit and watch TV a bit and she sleeps away.  Norbert used to do the same thing.

Classy

Four hours on a Saturday morning is no joke.  The good news is that this week didn't feel like it dragged nearly as much as last week did.  I'm learning little things here and that that I didn't really understand what they did exactly and how to use them more effectively.  Basically my take on the class would be kind of like taking a cooking class.  I can take a recipe and produce something that is pretty decent, but if I were to take a cooking class on that recipe they would teach me better techniques to result in a much improved product.  So far I thing the class is good, the instructor is interesting and doesn't put you to sleep with his lectures.  I am kind of annoyed by the peanut gallery that comes in and talks during lectures and puts on makeup as if we're in high school, but they usually shut up eventually.

I'm not sure how I'm going to enjoy classes in a few weeks though, my next two classes start in February and are also long classes a couple nights a week.  I've considered dropping on of them because it would just be too much time away from home. Basically starting in a few weeks I will not get home until 9:30 three days a week.  My hope is that for two of the days that there will be a bunch of lab time that I can do at home instead.  I have all the software and equipment that I need at home so assuming that the course is more hands on then I won't need any lab time and could at least be home with my family for a bit longer every night.  The good news is that the course started later so there will be fewer weeks where I'll be gone since the semester still ends at the same time as the classes that started in January.

My hope is that classes will be a bit better next semester.  I'll also have to consider if I want to take anything spring/summer, which may be hard since we'll also have the summer show to do.  Then I still have the question of what to do about my certification and if I should apply to grad school, and if I do where do I want to apply.  The easiest would be Eastern.  I've already talked to the grad adviser and basically the requirement is that I need to apply and then I'll be accepted.  It's easy and guaranteed.  I could also apply to say UM or something but that would entail more work.  Dunno.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 24
We had to do a little exercise in class to show that we know how layers and a few other Photoshop functions work. Basically we were given the picture of the birds to the left and had to create three layers, merge a layer, duplicate a layer and add some text.  That was the only information we were given and I didn't know what to do, so I drew eyebrows on the birds and then slowly it evolved into this.

Acceptance, Support, and Agreement

Dealing with some people is really difficult because they have very skewed ideas on what the ideas of acceptance and support are and confuse it with agreement and endorsement, and sometimes even the thought that their actions should be free from all consequences.  Basically, what happens is that some sort of situation comes along and if you don't agree with them then somehow you are not accepting of them or supportive of them.  As if their actions are merged with their being as a person.  There is no difference to them between behavior and self, and therefore disagreement regarding behavior is somehow an attack on their self rather than a disagreement over a behavior.

I recently saw someone I know post something to the effects of "I want my kids to be able to talk to me without feeling like they’re going to be punished, so they end up isolating and keeping things from me. " This is a perfect example of that need to always have their behaviors validated and never being told what they are doing isn't agreed with.  However, that's a very childish attitude because the fact is that if you're an adult then you take ownership of your behavior and you don't hide it simply because you don't want to hear contrary opinion.  You take what you've consciously decided to do and you don't hide it like a child because you have made that choice and should be standing by it.  If you can't stand by that choice it isn't the issue of those who disagree with it that is the problem, it's the choice to begin with because you know that you are doing something that you shouldn't be.  If people who are closest to you and who want only the best for you are critical of your decision, then perhaps one should look closely at what they're doing and why those around them are critical of it rather than hiding like a child who doesn't want to be punished.

In the end, the issue isn't being punished or being "judged" it's the complete inability to communicate with someone and to listen to a differing point of view open and honestly.  If there are people in your life that are looking out for you and there for you, then their criticism will be constructive.  Further their disappointment or disagreement aren't attacks on you, but relate strictly to your behavior. 

For example, there are some people that I care for very much, but they hand around with people that I do not care for, they do things that I am adamantly against, they make poor choices in my opinion.  However, when we have talked about those things I have always said, "this is my opinion, but your choice, you can take what I say or you can leave what I say."  My goal is to be constructive and let them know that I care about them and that I don't agree with the behavior because I feel it is not in their best interest.  However, at the same time those people hide things and isolate themselves rather than hear anything that goes against what they thing or are doing.  Further they then talk to people who aren't constructive and are actually tearing them down, being critical and nasty, and refuse to acknowledge that these people have done anything wrong. 

The whole thing boils down to the warped ideas of acceptance and support and the fallacy that in order to be accepted and supported you need to be agreed with 100% of the time. The reality is that people who are always in agreement with you are not the ones you need to be listening to.  In business we call those people "yes men" who simply reaffirm anything someone says.  The person you should be listening to is the one that listens and says "here is my input on what I see and what I think, it may disagree with you but I still respect you as a person and care about the outcome."  Those are the ones that are actually supporting you because they aren't just validating everything you say and rather speaking up when there's an area that isn't as strong as it should be. 

Since I love analogies, you want a building inspector to tell you if your house has termites and not someone who just says "No, it's a beautiful house, I agree you should buy it!"  You need to know the real situation and the real challenges if you are to effectively face them and find solutions.  People who only agree with you will not tell you what you need to hear, and you just end up in an echo chamber of your own opinions.  They say we only learn when we make mistakes otherwise we just continue on doing exactly what we're doing.  Hearing disagreement from those that are there to help you are not the lack of acceptance and support, they are the very people you should be listening to in the first place.  It's sad that some people never learn that.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 23
Fluffy is trying to be majestic, but she needs a furcut because her mane is getting a bit out of control. Incidentally she is also sleeping on Sal's lounger.  She's a commandeering a-hole!

Misses

Lately I've been really missing being in the classroom and talking about all the fun history.  It's really hard to believe that it's been five years since I did my student teaching (actually five years ago right now I was just finishing up my third week of student teaching).  Or it's worse to think that the last time I was in a classroom at all was in 2011, which is now four years ago!  Where has the time gone? 

The next question is that my teaching certification is going to expire in a year or two, so the question is what am I going to do about it?  To keep it I have to take some classes toward a masters, which isn't really that big of a deal, the requirement is only like two classes or something along those lines.  The bigger deal is that I'd have to start toward my masters, and I'm not sure if that makes any sense at all to do.  At the same time by not doing it I end any hope of ever doing the one thing that I actually want to spend my day doing. 

But I do miss lecturing, facilitating group work, class discussions, even the craziness of lesson planning and paper grading would be nice.  I don't like that I'm in a job where I have to try to find something to keep my brain going.  Herding cats so that a meeting can be scheduled, taking lunch orders, picking up bagels and making coffee, it's like I'm just sitting around all day abusing my brain.  Even when I worked at Ford at least there was some physical movement and a tangible product that I was creating.  Here I'm a giant fat lump sitting in a chair all day doing virtually nothing. 

The upside is that being off for so long I've broken some of the time consuming habits that I used to do and instead have devoted that time to more useful activities.  As a result I've made some progress on a few of the project that I've been working on, which is nice.  The down side is that doing them alone makes me feel like they are never going to be successful, and all I hear is doubt about even putting them into motion.  Why should I bother, it's never going to go anywhere, or be anything, or I'm the only one doing any work and it isn't a sustainable way to do it.  Basically all I see is a mountain of work, with no positive outcomes, and no benefit for doing it other than to keep myself busy.  At that rate why bother? Why do something for the benefit of no one and is only something to consume my own time?  Meh.  This is putting me in a cranky mood so I'm going to end there and think of puppies or kittens or look at my picture of the day a couple of times.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 22
Ok, to start off the original picture was when we were at Sal's pediatrician appointment, and she was making a kind of funny face, thus a picture.  That picture alone makes me laugh and or smile every time I see it.  However, Becky has a little app that lets you put stickers on pictures, so now this one is just hilarious.

Pain In The Seat

The thing about being off work for so long is that you realize once you go back how certain things are causing problems.  Case in point, I've spent nearly four week away from work, and now that I'm back I'm realizing how uncomfortable I am physically at work.  Sitting all day is not good for me, and I don't enjoy it.  Now, I sat a lot at Borders, but it was a big office and I did get up a lot and walk around a lot taking things to the other side of the building and what not.  Here, I don't have any of that.  In the summer I'd take walks around the courtyard behind out building, but it's too cold for that now.

I also think that my desk is a problem as I have to sit at a stupid position in order to use the keyboard.  The result is this annoying pain in my back and side.  It's been weeks since I've felt it, but there it is again giving me grief.  All the other offices have these really nice desks that have height adjustments so people can stand and work. I'm at a reception desk so I have no way to stand and do anything.  I've already had the ergonomics team come out which is why I got a keyboard tray, so there's not really much that can be done other than to get a job at a place that's better and where I can move a bit more or at least have a better work station.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 21
Some unexpected snow this morning meant that the drive in was a pain in the ass.  However, it covered our skylight in a kind of a cool way.

State Of The Union

I decided to write this as I'm watching, so it's a live blog if you will, that will poster after, so it's like a game show where it's "recorded live" kind of a thing.  So, here we are, one of the last State of the Union addresses that President Obama will deliver.  It's also being delivered to a Republican controlled Congress which could end up being like the last two years of the Clinton administration, or on the other hand it could go the way it's been going and we end up getting even less done than we did during the last Congress.  So, it will be interesting to see what the president has to say tonight given the climate of what's going on.  My hope is to see the campaign Obama who can help inspire as we are starting to see the economy turn around.

The first portion thus far has been kind of setting the stage of how the economy is improving, that jobs are being create, gas prices are lower, fuel standards are higher, and things are looking up.  He has set a good basis for things are doing better than they were, that things are stronger than they were and that things are starting to look up.  Basically he's doing the "Democratic Greatest Hits" of the last six years or so since Obama became president. For the most part it's a defense of Democratic principles and how because of these actions things are doing better. Also calling out the Republicans for constantly fighting over repealing Obamacare, shutting down the government, and pulled out the threat of a Veto for things that would go against these things.

I'm glad that he threw out the Veto threat because I feel like it shows that he's not playing games and winning political points aren't what needs to be done.  It's also a waste of time to go after these things that don't matter and that are just symbolic (for example voting like 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act).

So, he's talking about child care, which is going to be important soon because it's crazy how expensive it is for that shit.  There's a daycare up near my office that caters to UM people, and it's like $1600 a month for someone Sal's age.  That's nearly my entire monthly paycheck.  At that rate why would I even bother working?  I could work a part time evening job in the evenings and come up with the rest of what I would have left over after paying $1600 a month for child care.  I also totally support the idea of sick leave and parent leave that he's talking about.  I was lucky enough to have a few weeks of vacation time that I could use but really getting balanced to a new life needs more time.

Now, I can't support the idea of free community college for two years any more!  It is a wonderful idea and it will help those that need it the most.  Many people who go to a community college do so because it's all they can afford to start off with, or they do it as a stepping stone to a larger university. This is an opportunity that makes a lot of sense.  We are not an economy that people can just graduate high school and find a job.  Manufacturing isn't like it used to be where my parents or grandparents could just graduate then find a job down at the Ford plant for the rest of their lives making good money and receiving good benefits.  Also, the low end jobs are going to disappear and become automated just like Manufacturing was.  Why do we need three cashiers at McDonalds when they can just set up screens where you can order and pay yourself?  Look at Chili's where you now can pay and order drink refills or appetizers or desserts already.  Soon waiters and waitresses will just be servers who deliver the food and nothing more.  Education is going to become more and more important and we need to invest in that now and be preemptive rather than react once thing go south.

YES! Talking about Orion!  The president of the United States just said that he wants us to go out to space not to visit but to stay.  That's colonization right?  We're talking about going to Mars and staying there, right?!  Perhaps the way to do that is to fund NASA more.  It's R&D and the returns on what we've done so far has been very good.

Well we're on to taxes and according to the NBC side bar what the president is talking about is closing loop holes and raising capital gains taxes to 28%, which to me doesn't sound like that bad of a thing because that's where the rich make their money.  Who cares about the income tax, they don't make income at the same scale as they do from investments, which is where capital gains comes in.  Seems like a logical plan given the income gap between the upper classes and the lower.

On to ISIS, and the request for the use of force against ISIS.  I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't happened yet.  I mean we're already bombing them, so what more are they looking for?  Also some tough talk about Russia.  Also a lot of support for Cuba, though they did a nice shot of Marco Rubio sitting silently.  I think the general public supports the idea of ending the embargo, it's been 50 years and it's really getting king of silly at this point.  It's more like when you say you're going to do something but you don't mean it but then you're stuck and have to keep doing it because you've been doing it for so long. Finally a discussion on talking about Iran and how the strategy there has been going better there than they had been, and some talk about North Korea and hacking and how that was addressed.  Basically it seems like what Obama is trying to do argue agains the idea that some are trying to paint saying he's been terrible on foreign policy.

So far we're a good way into the speech but it doesn't feel like he's asking for a lot of things, more he's just talking about what they've been doing and how it's been working.  I'm not saying that's good or bad, it just feels a bit different.  I know there have been some specific things such as the college plan, the tax plan, and the authorization for the use of force agains ISIS, but other than he's not really asking for anything specific.  Perhaps that's just a misconception by me as I'm trying to blog and watch.

Now we're off to Climate Change.  I love how he just used the "I'm not a scientist" nonsense that politicians use and followed it up by saying "I know a lot of scientists and this is what they are saying!"  I like that he said scientist say it's a problem, and the Pentagon says it's a national security issue.  Really the other side of this doesn't have a legitimate leg to stand on for this issue.  The science is there, the military is behind it, people who know what they are talking about are behind it, so there's no reason we're still fucking around on this.  It was also a nice reminder that the US and China did come to an agreement on climate which I had forgotten about.

I'm not an overly critical person, but I'm not so sure I'm feeling confident when the President talks about how we don't torture and that we will use drones responsibly.  I'm still very annoyed about the torture report that came out and even more annoyed that it was just dropped as if it wasn't a big deal.  It's a huge deal and it's just swept under the rug.  We can't stand on our values and our principles when we're doing that sort of shit.  And I can't really trust that we're doing right given that we weren't and that we hid it.  The idea of terrorism was used to scare us into doing despicable things that go against what we are about, but when you star tot do those things and start to defend it then perhaps we aren't what we're about and maybe we're the bad guys.

Here we come to the climate of Washington right now.  Imagine if we did something different, which given Boehner's uninterested face I'm sure he's not even listening.  He's sort of staring blankly into the crowd and then doing his best noncommittal clap when everyone else starts clapping.  This is clearly falling on deaf ears.  You can't have people "Join the great mission of building America" when the other side doesn't feel like you should be building anything.  The Republicans feel like it's not the government's job, which is why that kind of thought won't come to anything.  They are on the "limit government" train, so you can't expect that they'll get onboard with much of anything except dismantling what has been done in the past.

Really I think that is what sums up this speech.  The entire time you've got Boehner kid of looking out and not paying attention and the President talking about what he wants and how he sees us.  He's totally disengaged which is exactly what the Republicans have been for years now.  They have the policy of doing nothing, and they plan to keep that up.  I don't feel at all optimistic about how things will go forward from here.  It was a decent speech and I agree with what he had to say but I feel like it's falling on deaf ears of those who think that they are somehow the only ones who get to do anything.  They expect that they can do nothing unless it's 100% what they want and compromise on nothing.  Perhaps time will show differently, but I doubt it.  Here's to hoping that the next two years show something getting done and that things can swing back the other way at the next election.

It seemed like a shorter speech and the mood was different than it used to be.  I don't feel like the crowd is as respectful as it used to be.  There were kind of heckles that remind me of the "you lie" comment a few years back. That sort of things never would have happened to Bush, so why is it happening now?  Anyhow, another State of the Union is down, he's got one left, but this was really the big one since next time surely we'll be into election mode and the lame duck will fully set in.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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A view of my set up as I watched the speech.  As a kind of follow up I thought the Republican rebuttal was absurd. Again they were all about Keystone XL, and repealing the Affordable Care Act.  Also, I felt like I was watching some movie where they had the leader of some evil government talking like they are for you and good people.  You know, like the Hunger Games, or V for Vendetta.

Back To The Grind

Well, here we are again, back to work for the first time since December 23rd.  I'm a bit surprised that I'm not more ill at the thought of being at work today.  It was a bit of an off day, I came in to find that the BFS wasn't in today, so I thought it would be a nice, quiet day, only to find that someone I thought was traveling was not traveling.  For the most part I was able to get things done and deal with all the e-mails that I had.  I came in to find my inbox filled with 280 e-mails.  Now, I know that sounds like something that would result in a lot of work, but being efficient, and also being copied on a lot of things that I have nothing to do with means that a good portion of those were simply deleted or filed somewhere for reference.

One thing I have discovered is that I really haven't missed some of the activities that I used to use to keep me busy.  My games are totally uninteresting to me.  I spent a little time on Tumblr but in the end I unfollowed about 20 blogs and didn't bother going too far back into the log to see what I had missed since the last time I was on.  I'm not missing anything and I like that I got out of the habit of it because then I can devote time to things that will be far more useful.  I think by dropping some of the blogs I followed it will also mean that there isn't nearly as much content as there used to be.  And really, a lot of it was repeat or just kind of stupid stuff anyway that I would just skim past.

In other news I started my first book of the year, Children of God by Mary Doria Russell, it's the sequel to a book I read years ago and I've had it handing out on the bookshelf for ages.  It's not too long, only about 400 pages and I'm now about 25 pages in.  The basic premise of the first book was that we found life on another planet and the first mission is mounted by the Catholic church with some Jesuit priests going but things don't go well and only one man survives.  This book picks back up where the other one left off.  So far it's not too bad.

Anyhow, first day back. Would rather be home.  Sad.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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A view of my pretty clean desk since I haven't used it in nearly a month.  Everything is pretty organized and having the time off was good to help me not feel so overwhelmed all the time.  New year and hopefully new job sometime soon.

Getting Moving

One of my mini goals I set for the year had to do with getting moving more and being consistent about it.  The basic goal I have is to get moving for at least 30 minutes a day, which doesn't seem like too much.  The first few days of the month I didn't get too much in but it was also coming out of the hospital, getting used to having a baby around, and all that.  This past week I've done a lot better, I missed my goal for the week by only 10 minutes.

For the month I'm averaging about 16 minutes a day, so I've got to get that up to meet my goal.  My original thought was that it's a flexible goal and that it's more of a long term plan so I'm not concerned that it's taking a bit of time to get into it.  At the same time I think that's totally fine because you don't want to go from zero to working out all the time overnight.  Right now I'm starting off somewhat slow and my goal is to start ramping up the activity.  So right now I'm forming a bit of a deficit in the work out but my hope would be that as things go I'll be doing more and chip away at that as I start becoming more active.

The one thing I really want to do is to get my treadmill working again.  It's cold and it's icy so it's not really the best time for running, so getting a treadmill working would be helpful until it warms up.  Back when it broke I was running every day for about an hour a day.  Anyhow, I'm hoping to ramp things up and get moving more once it becomes more of a habit.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Saw this on the U-Scan and thought that it was pretty amusing.  It's nice that they have a bit of a sense of humor for ID checks, especially when some people get so piss at being carded.

Back To Business

Today I got back into business and started my first class of the semester.  It's quite a start to the semester being that it was a four hour class and I kind of thought that part of the class would be lab time where we could leave a bit early, but in fact we went the entire class and it seems like that will be the way of it every week.

So, my first class of the semester is a shop on Photoshop, which isn't required specifically for my course, but a lot of web designers need to use Photoshop and a lot of the stuff I do for the theatre and for my personal photos so it seems like it will do well in the big scheme of things.  For today's class it was kind of on the slow side because it was the most basic kind of things like opening files, working with layers and stuff like that which I already know about. So it was a basic intro kind of a thing but I think as things go they'll be a little more interesting, and I'm looking forward to some of the later lessons about colors and photo alterations.  The instructor is also going to be doing a section on doing art in Photoshop which should be pretty interesting too.  So far even though it's a super long class I think it's going to be really interesting.

One weird thing is that when I came in there was this person sitting in the row I was that looked really familiar and I couldn't quite place her until she did the "introduce yourself" part of the class and I realized that she was one of my students when I was student teaching.  Unfortunately I knew her because she wasn't doing well and me and the cooperating teacher had to have a chat with her regarding her performance and what she was doing and why that was an issue. I'm happy to see that she still has the same classroom habits, only now she just sits playing on her phone the entire class.

I don't understand that.  You are paying to be in this class, if you don't want to be there then just leave.  Why did you even register to be in the class if you're just going to waste your time by not getting your money's worth?  It doesn't make much sense to me.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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On break in my first class of the semester while we were working on our first little exercise.  My mouse wasn't working right and that was really annoying.  So, this is how I'll be spending my Saturday mornings until May.  Every week 10-2.  It's a long class.

Party Time

Tonight we had our first night out since becoming parents when we went to Becky's work party.  Last year was a bit of a downer for the party since when we got home Becky fell and broke her elbow which led to surgery and some months of recovery.  This year lucky there was nothing like that, and I will say I think the party this year was a lot more fun.  Last year it was a weird little venue right on the river in Detroit, but it was small and there weren't a lot of tables or food.  This year they rented out Joe Louis Arena, and all the tables were right down on the ice.

This year there was a good amount of food, plenty of places to sit, and then we got to do tours of the Red Wings locker room.  The food was decent, and there was the awesome people watching getting drunk and dancing. It's always fun to watch old people dance to music from when they were young.  Especially when they dance super awkward.  It's better when the same people dance to modern music in that same awkward manner.

It was a pretty neat venue, and even though I'm not a big hockey fan or anything but it was kind of cool to go into the locker room and see it.  So, it was interesting night and a lot nicer than last year.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Adjustments

It's kind of amazing how fast time passes.  I've got a few more days left of my time off, and it doesn't seem like it's been nearly a month since I was at work.  That's a lot of time, and it's been so good.  Three days left after today and then it's back to work.  I don't so much care as much about having to go back to work, it's more having to go back to that work.  Sure, I've very much enjoyed my time off to spend with the new family, and specifically the Salamander.  It's been good to get used to having a different kind of routine and how to manage everything.  It really hasn't been that hard to adjust, it has been very tiring at times, but we had a pretty good system where Becky would take care of the first few feedings of the night, then I'd get the early morning ones so that I could sleep at first, and then she could sleep later in the night.

It'll be another big switch next Monday once I go back to work since I won't be able to take the early morning time so Becky can sleep, but perhaps if we shift back the time so that I go to bed early and then wake up a bit early we can still adjust so she can get some sleep.  It'll be a bigger adjustment, but we seemed to shift into parenthood without too much stress so I'm sure we'll make the next step too.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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The Salamander was sleeping on me and was just too cute.

Unproductive

I had big plans for things that I could do while on break, and I don't feel like I've really done much of anything.   I get these bursts where I feel like I should be doing something and then something else happens and it just never gets done.  Blah.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Paint me like one of your French cats.  Fat Chops likes to beach himself on the bedroom floor and then wait for you to come pet him.  I weighed him today and it turns out he weights twice as much as Sal.  So holding Chubbs is like holding two Sals.

An Oldie But A Goodie

Today since the little salamander was up and ready for food early and I was awake I got up a bit early and took her downstairs so Becky could sleep.  Since I didn't want to watch anything that Becky might be interested in so I decided to watch some Star Trek.  Since Netflix has all series I decided that I'd watch some Voyager since I don't recall the last time I saw an episode, much less the stuff from season one.

As I was watching episode one I was reminded that I probably hadn't seen it since it first aired, then I realized that it was some time ago that I was in middle school.  So I decided to look up the show to see when it first aired.  Turns out the show premiered exactly 20 years ago this Friday.  Haha!  I can't believe it's been that long!  At the same time it seems like just yesterday that I was excited that the show was premiering.  I recall that I had only one "friend" in middle school named Jose Rivera and we had Spanish class together and then lunch right after.  He was a big Star Trek fan too, so every week we'd talk about the show at lunch.  We actually stayed friends through high school and at lunch together.  We never hung out outside of school, we were just lunch friends.  I remember coaching him in his theatre classes because he'd practice his monologues at lunch and ask me what I thought and what he should do.  I guess I was a director before I was ever a director.  Weird huh.

Anyhow, I ended up watching a few episodes today, it was a good time.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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It's snowy and cold out today but the sun is really bright and warm.  I opened up the blinds to let the sun in because it really warms up the house when we do that.  It's supposed to be really cold tonight, which I'm not amused by so I'm glad I'm inside where it's warm and enjoying the sun for now.

One Week Out

I've got a week left until I have to get back to work.  That's a really long time and yet it also feels like it's really short time.  In fact I'm already starting to have freak outs about having to go back to work.  It feels like when you're playing Monopoly and you know that there's nothing you can do to win, but you're not out of the game yet.  So you're still playing the game but there isn't anything you can do and every time around the board you lose a little more money and you know you're going to lose you just have to keep going while it slowly happens.

The last three weeks have been really good, and I've felt so much better than I have in quite some time.  I'm also very happy with the new family and feel much more relaxed and happy than I have.  I'll try to enjoy the next week but the thought of going back next week makes me feel extremely anxious and stressed.  It's not fun.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Just snuggling with the baby salamander.  She booped my nose.

Jumping Through Hoops

Taking classes are causing trouble as they seem to do quite often.  This semester I've registered for two classes that ended up getting cancelled, then I got dropped and the class I wanted to take filled up before i could reregister.  Not to mention I'm not feeling great at all about this program.  I've pretty much got a good handle on things and I'm not any closer to having a viable career option and the last three classes in the program aren't going to give me much more knowledge that would suddenly make it possible for me to get a job.

Either way, getting classes arranged was taken care of finally, it was a pain in the ass but it was taken care of.  One of my classes starts on Saturday, the others start in February.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 11
Last year we found this great paper store near us that sells these lovely calendars that have really neat art work that also has instructions on the back so you can turn them into boxes, or envelopes, or other such things.  Since we really liked the one we got last year, we headed up there the other day and grabbed one for 2015.  This is our January picture.

Recharging

Well it's the 10th of January already, we've nearly made it half way through the first month of the year, which is crazy.  It's been great to have so much time off, it's been good to recharge and relax and to get into a new norm with the baby and trying to get a new routing going.  Right now the routine has become that every night at 11 Sal starts screaming bloody murder.  For no reason really, there's nothing wrong she's had her food she's got a clean diaper, she's just in a mood.  She actually did the same thing tonight.  We went to bed a little early since we didn't sleep much last night, and Sal was asleep doing fine, then at 11:08 she started screaming.  So I grabbed her and went downstairs so Becky could get some sleep.  She's not slept really well at all since the night before we went to the hospital because of everything that's happened.  My plan right now is to hang out downstairs for a good deal of time so that she can get some good sleep and we can keep it quiet for her.  The fun thing is we get downstairs and she totally calmed down.  I'm starting to wonder if perhaps she just doesn't like our bedroom?

Anyhow, it's been a crazy week and everyone has been so great bringing us food, taking care of us, coming to visit.  It's really been nice.  Today we got a visit from all three of the Roberts girls, and Wyatt.  It's been so long since I've seen Eila, and it was so nice to have all three of them visiting.  Something about the Robertseseses are a wonderful recharging source for me.  It was a lovely lunch of laughing and they had some nice time with Sal.  It was just a wonderful time and I wished we had more time to visit and just hang out and chat.

I still have a week before I have to head back to work.  I'm hoping that I can get a few more things in order and move along on some of the projects I'd like to take care of. I feel like I haven't done a bunch of stuff I really wanted to get done over my break.  I still need to figure out what I'm doing with classes for this semester too.  I got eight days to figure some stuff out.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I was going through my phone and found this picture from last week at the hospital.  This was the view from our hospital window.  It was a little weird to look out and have a view of the cemetery. It seems like people may not really appreciate having that sort of view in a hospital.  Like, sure we were there for a birth but looking outside was a nice reminder of what happens eventually.  A bit morbid, but that's just what it makes you think of.

Beat It

Earlier today the Dalai Lama had a tweet that said "If we were to think of other people as our human brothers and sisters, there'd be no room for quarreling or killing each other."  I of course retweeted this because in the broad sense of what he's saying is that when we stop looking at groups of people who are different from us as "others" that aren't like us we will realize that they are just like us.  We begin to realize that we are all people then we'll start treating them as human beings that have hopes and dreams that are no different from our own. It's a great point that when you look at people as just like you and show empathy for them then you don't have room to be nasty to wish them harm.  The idea that killing others because of a difference in how we look at some things is totally foreign and unthinkable when you look at people as just like you.

But what do we do when it's someone that we do see as like us that we do understand and think of as people and yet there are still acts of violence and harm?  What kind of thing do we say to those who abuse their own children or their own partners?  What do we say to those who do this to those that are closest to them?  What shift in our viewpoint can we have to change this sort of situation?  How do we respond when someone does this type of behavior?  Worse, what do we do when the victim refuses to speak out and remove themselves form that sort of situation?  That type of thing is so incredibly frustrating because you always see these people who refuse to leave a situation because of all the complex ties such as children or family ties, but in the end that type of situation is unacceptable and it's good for anyone.

I grew up getting slapped around a bit, and I understand being very frustrated and stressed, but I have a little girl and looking at her I can't imagine knocking the snot out of her like I recall getting every once in a while.  I can't imagine beating my wife or allowing my wife to beat me or my kid.  It just doesn't make sense to me.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 9
It's lady nap time in our house right now.  Every female in the house is on this couch right now taking a nap, including Fluffy.  Though Sam isn't far away either snoozing in front of the fire place, and Ronan is napping over in front of the door too.  It's probably good that everyone is resting up before my cousins arrive soon visit.

Deep Freeze

It is COLD out.  Like, really cold out.  Single digit cold out!  I can always tell that it's really cold when I go outside and I can feel the inside of my nose start to freeze up.  It's not the most fun.  I generally don't mind the cold and I'm not overly concerned this time either, but then again I don't have to go anywhere since I'm using some vacation time this week.

At the same time when it's cold I start to think about the summer and all the things that I'd love to do outside.  All those wonderful warm days at the park for our theatre program, the nice evenings in the backyard and the new fire pit.  The wind blowing through the windows.  I love the summer, and so rather than complain about the cold I'll think about all the nice times I will have once it warms up.

Then again I also remember that right now I'm on vacation for a bit and perhaps it would be easiest to just drive to Florida for the next week. HA!

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I really can't deal with how cute my daughter is.  Tonight she got her first at home bath.  She didn't like it at all and was really cranky until I got her into her lamb bath towel.  Seriously, I can't deal with how cute she is.  It's overwhelming and I don't know how I'm supposed to manage it.

Je Suis Charlie

I saw this picture while reading about the attack in Paris and I really thought it was a wonderful sentiment about what has been happening and what it all means.  There were quite a few of these comics that I thought were pretty powerful, but in the end they all capture the idea that the acts of terrorism in Paris came down to some people attacking others because of comics, satire, and works of art. As I've been looking at a lot of the art that has been made over the next few days the image of the pen standing up to weapons and violence has been a common image.

There's a lot that we still don't know about why this all happened, but it doesn't seem to take much to figure out why this company and these people would be attacked.  The suspects that are being searched for had a clear motivations. The way it's all sounding is that it has to do again with the class of civilizations and cultures. In the end it's kind of a tough situation for someone of a more liberal mindset where you believe in people being free to practice their religion and their beliefs, and being aware of the discrimination that minorities have to deal with.  At the same time when you have these sorts of things take place it becomes hard to determine where the line is between respecting the cultures of others, and still maintaining your culture.  How do you balance when one side believes that speech must be free even when it's something you disagree with, and the other believes that there are no exceptions for some kind of speech.

France has made news in recent years in their harder line on cultural assimilation and what is and is not allowed in France.  There was a controversial law about overt religious displays which would make it illegal to wear head scarfs in schools (though also would do the same for other religious clothing or jewelry to my understanding).  Their position seem stop be that they believe that those moving to France should assimilate to French culture and conform to the value of the French people rather than maintaining their own culture from where they come from.  Is that the right way to do it?  Is that inconsiderate of minorities?  Which is right?

The next portion of the agreement that will come will be that we can't paint with a wide brush when these sorts of things happen.  It will be framed in the context that just because some fundamentalist groups did this doesn't mean that is indicative of the religion.  Not all Muslims would do this, which instantly makes me think of the #notallmen trend recently when the discussion of rape was the big news story.  There is also the question of while not all people who follow Islam would do this, and a large portion do not agree, at the same time there is a very high rate of those that while they wouldn't carry out such attacks agree with the idea and feel that the cartoonists got what they deserved for depicting the prophet based on information from the Pew Trust.  This is much the way that perhaps while not all people owned slaves they supported the institution, or further they may not all have bene in the clan but felt that people like Martin Luther King, Emmett Till, and Malcolm X (not to mention many others who were victims of lynchings and violence),  got what he deserved.

That being said does that mean that Islam is bad?  Does that mean that everyone believes that these things are OK?  No, of course not.  Pointing these things out is not in any way saying that Muslims should be discriminated against, nor that the actions of some are what most would do.  However you do have to acknowledge that we are experiencing a clash of cultures where we have very opposing views.

In the end, freedom of speech, expression, and the press is the most important cornerstone of our civilization.  The ability to call out hypocrisy, to criticize those in charge, to be critical of our government, religious institutions or corporations is what makes  our form of government possible.  The ability to call out whatever we feel is unjust is the most important part of our way of life.  Being able to exchange ideas to engage in debate, to say things that others may find distasteful is the the reason we have been able to progress.  Being able to criticize our government was what allowed us to form a better way to govern.  Being able to go against the ideas of the church allowed us to better understand the universe.  Progress has been made by speaking out and calling for change.

In the end the actions were an example of exactly why we need these freedoms. There are those out there that want to silence things they disagree with, and that is not who we are as a culture.  We believe that people should be willing to live how they see fit and allow others to do the same even if it is different.  Is a hard thing to balance in a world that's more connected where people can come and go in ways that they couldn't in the past, but these are our basic values and my hope is that these people who wish to censor others and intimidate us won't win.  That like the image above the attack will result in us defending that belief and doubling down on that.  It seems that may be the case given all the images I've seen and the sentiment of those defending the pen and holding to the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 7
This is one of the gifts that we got and it's freaking great.  It's so easy but so wonderful.  You just put them where ever you want and then they are easy to get to and they dry very well.  It's such a simple ting but it's so helpful!  Plus it looks kind of cool.

Gratitude

Gratitude is kind of a buzz word these days.  You see all these articles on gratitude and people posting about how grateful they are for superficial things like the softness of marshmallows, or the existence of paperclips.  I'm behind the idea of gratitude, it's an important aspect of self reflection and realization that you live in a very good time and have things that you should be grateful for.  However, I often feel that this gratitude is kind of superficial and done in an attention seeking kind of way.

There are some people who very much sincerely believe expressing gratitude and I totally support that but there are those that I see posting things that are kind of missing the point of what it means to actually be grateful.  Like, are you *really* grateful that you got a good deal on some boots that you really don't need?  I don't think that's the kind of thing the articles are talking about when they say that you should log you gratitude.

Personally I have a lot to be grateful for, such as the great luck to live somewhere that has access to proper medical care that surely resulted in a far better outcome over the past weekend than would have if that wasn't present.  I'm grateful for living somewhere that has infrastructure that allows me to turn on a light and instantly have light any time I want, or to adjust a dial on the little box in my house and warm my house on cold nights like tonight.  I'm grateful that there are tons of things I don't have to worry about, such as finding clean water, general safety and security, and plentiful food and drink.

However, one special thing that I'm am exceptionally grateful for these past few days is the overwhelming excitement, kindness, caring, and love from my friends, family, and "family". The sheer volume of offers of support are really something I wasn't expecting.  The abundance of visitors clamoring to come and wish us well and to see Sal have been heartwarming, as have their very excited and sometimes emotional reactions.  To see someone so happy that they are brought to tears is really kind of surprising to me.  Further the number of people going out of their way to do things for us has been astounding.  We have had people bring us food, run errands for us, create the most amazing gifts, and make us ready to eat dinners so we wouldn't have to worry about what to do for a few days.

The level of gratitude I have for the goodwill and kindness of these people is more than I can really express.  There are good people in this world and I feel like I surely must have cheated someone by having so many in my life.  Even for those can't be here are sending so much love and happiness that while they may not be physically present they are surely here in spirit.  It is a testament to their caring and support that despite having a flood of visitors for four days straight it hasn't felt at all exhausting or troublesome.  It has instead felt like a week long celebration and the way you would want any family to be.  Bringing meals, visiting, laughing, crying, sharing experiences.

I am so incredibly grateful to have surrounded myself with such amazing people.  While there may not be blood ties with some of these people, we have formed an amazing family.  I'm so happy that they are just as happy and in love with our newest addition and that they are so compelled to go out of their way to see her, visit us, and be an amazing support system for us.  I look forward to everyone being a part of Sal's life, she is going to learn so many wonderful things and have such a strong family to fall back on.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 6
Sal doing her best Assassin's Creed impression.  She was sleeping in her car seat and so I pulled the hood down a little because I thought it was funny and reminded me of the game.  Yes, this is what I get to do now, use the Sal as a prop for amusement.  She didn't seem to mind.

Home Again, Home Again

Sometimes you really don't recognize how grateful you are for some things until you go a little bit of time without them.  We arrived at the hospital on Friday morning around 7am, and we left it today around noon.  For most of that time I didn't leave the room I was in, with the exception of going to the OR, the Recovery Room, or our second room.  I took a short walk down to the end of the hall, but for the most part since Friday I have stayed in exactly the same place.  While I feel that UM has a great facility and I'm totally happy with the customer service provided (with the except of one cranky nurse), leaving and getting to come home is great.

The first thing I've missed a lot is being able to have hot food.  Like, I got home today and had a slice of warm banana bread with melted butter.  We've had warm food of course, but it's always just slightly warm like when you go to a Grad Party or a poorly run wedding buffet.  It's always warm enough, but it's not the same as having a pipping hot meal where everything is hot out of the oven or warm off the grill.  It was such a pleasure to be able to do that today.

I also am in love with my shower right now.  I need my daily shower to feel good, and going for some time now without it was not something I enjoyed.  It was so nice to get into my shower with all my shampoos and washes.  To let the water just flow.  It was the best.  There was a shower in the room, but it was really weird and because I didn't expect that I'd be at the hospital as long as I was I didn't bring an overnight bag with me, much less a bag to cover a three night stay at the hospital.

Of course, whenever people are away they often miss their own bed.  That's so much more true when you've been sleeping on this conferable couch made of vinyl and not all that wide.  I came home and just got in bed to appreciate how wonderful it is.  It was the most amazing thing.  It was soft, not a hard nasty sofa that turns into a "bed".  It had sheets and proper blankets.  It was big, and I could spread out.  It was the best thing ever.

I'm thrilled to be home, and that while the experience was super stressful and exhausting that everyone is home now, feeling good, and healthy.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 5
My gran wasn't able to come up to the hospital to visit us or see the Sal.  It sucks that she doesn't have e-mail or do any electronic stuff because that means she didn't even get to see pictures until she came over today to see her.  She also decided to bring Becky some flowers, which I thought were quite lovely.

Human Again

Eight hours and 35 minutes.  I got eight hours and 35 minutes of sleep last night and it was so wonderful.  I was able to get so much sleep last night and I'm so much better than I was last night. I probably could have slept longer, but this was so needed.  I was able to fall asleep around 10:30 last night when we put Sal down to sleep, and Becky was pretty set and we had our great nurse from the night before, Julie.  I feel asleep in just a few minutes and was out cold.  They came back and did a lot of stuff around midnight and I heard nothing! The next thing I knew I heard Julie saying goodbye and bringing back Sal, then I fell asleep again for another 30 minutes before I woke up and got out of bed.  It was amazing.

Today was another flurry of visitors, though not really until afternoon so we had the whole morning to just kind of chill.  We got to see parents again and a bunch of friends/family who didn't get to see her yesterday.  It was a nice visiting day, but despite being human again I'm still sitting here pretty tired.  Sal is fussing a bit right now, and the nurses just stopped by for their final evening check up.  Becky's now a Jailbreak model because she is now detached from everything including the IV port that they were keeping on just in case.  I'm going to try and get some sleep and tomorrow we finally get to head home.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 4
Little Sal having a nap.  I know everyone thinks their kid is the cutest thing ever, but I can't help it.  I think she's the cutest thing ever and so wonderful.  It's crazy how they get right to you so quickly.  Crafty babies invading your heart.