vacation prep

Due to the plant shutdown in Mossville, I will be on vacation next week hanging out with J's family (parents, brother, sister in law, niece, nephew). This is our first trip since getting rid of the minivan and replacing it with a smaller vehicle. The additional rigor of packing more efficiently is stressing J out. Unfortunately we will not be able to see the air show this year since we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully the trip will result in something interesting about which to blog.

what I learned while being sick last week

• J is the best, a true partner and caregiver
• 102.2 °F temperature really gets people's attention (especially in an adult)
• intense illness = weight loss
• if it weren't for the need of money, I think I could be happy without working
• one can learn how to solve a Rubik's cube from YouTube

little bird briefly leaving the nest

Our older son, J2, is leaving tomorrow morning for a half week camp in Michigan. This will be his first time away from home, without us and without grandparents. This will be a big challenge for him. Or so I think. I never went to camp of any kind so my vision of what can/might happen at camp is derived entirely from movies. Combined with J2's various social and personal issues, I am left with feelings of total dread and worry. My response to this has been to avoid thinking about it in any detail and hope for the best. Being generally pessimistic, chances are that things will go better than I might fear.

excellent summary of michael jackson coverage

Here is a little cartoon perfectly encapsulating the agony of watching any TV the last couple days. It comes from the blog of a guy whose site is "pictures for sad children".

all the trouble in the world

I have been reading P.J. O'Rourke's 1994 book: All the Trouble in the World. Like other books of his, it is both entertaining and insightful. There have been many quotable passages. The most recent couple being:

Government subsidies can be critically analyzed according to a simple principle: You are smarter than the government, so when the government pays you to do something you wouldn't do on your own, it is almost always paying you to do something stupid.

Government is not in the business of producing results. Government is in the business of producing government: passing laws, changing rules, setting up bureaucracies. This is why government is always more interested in problems than solutions.

just passing this along

While I have been home sick today, I had a little more time than usual to surf the web. I came across this Burger King ad (that, according to one article, is only being used in Singapore). You can read an article to see what some of the smaller text in the ad says. I have to admit that the glutton in me wants to try this sandwich and the teenage boy in me enjoys the sexual innuendo. Though this is probably too overt to qualify as innuendo.

government spending transparency

Here is a list of Illinois government school districts that have released their checkbooks for public review. Bravo to these districts. Boo to the rest.

air conditioning martyrs

I think it is funny how every year there are people who say something like "I only turned on my AC yesterday". They usually say this between several days and a few weeks after I started using mine. I infer an air of superiority in their tone when they say this. And then I think to myself: how is spurning one of the great luxuries of Western civilization a badge of honor? There are billions of people in the world who would love the opportunity to use air conditioning. Choosing not to use it is like thumbing your nose at those people.

demographic oblivion

I should have more than two children. While the descendants of Western civilization continue to have fewer and fewer children, many cultures which do not share the positive hallmarks of Western civilization are breeding like rabbits. Perhaps some of this is hysteria and it won't go the way things are currently projected. Or maybe it will and Western civilization will fade away as it is overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people either opposed to it or ignorant of it. I believe this will be a bad thing for humanity. Western civilization has done more good for more people than any other. Certainly it has done many bad things as well, but the net results are far, far more positive than negative. More people enjoy more freedom and higher standards of living due to Western civilization than due to any other.

that should cure me

I finished the Steamboat 15k this morning. It was a good reminder of why I haven't "run" any races in a few years. This morning's effort left me feeling depressed because it highlighted how crappy I am at "running". Like Mt. Elbert last year, this morning clearly showed how unexceptional I really am. I can now go back to jogging alone with burning calories to avoid becoming a tub of goo as my only goal.

The only bright spot this morning was the superfluity of intense hottie sightings.