Parenting: Children and Money

This post is in response to Lenore (America’s Worst Mom) Skenazy’s request: Giving Kids Control of Money (So They Don’t Always Need Yours)

Money seems like it is a very difficult concept for parents to discuss with their children. I’m guessing it is because it is usually a difficult topic in general for the household (i.e. WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH OF IT!). I’m providing my two cents on what I’m planning on teaching my girls about money.

Learn to Earn
I think the most important lesson for a child to learn is to earn the things they want. Delayed gratification will set them up to be better investors in the future. My family is well off and I can buy my kids any toys that they want. My daughters are currently 3 and 4. They see the neighborhood kids with their scooters flying up and down the sidewalk. They tried them out (with their helmets on of course!) and really enjoyed them. I bought two scooters at the store for them. All they have to do to earn them is get ready in the morning: Make their bed; get dressed, brush their teeth and brush their hair. If they do all that without me or my wife telling them to they get a stamp. Seven stamps = 1 Scooter. They haven’t earned those scooters yet with only two stamps each, but they want them, and they beg and plead. Dad says to them, “Of course you can have your scooter as soon as you get seven stamps. How do we earn stamps?” The kids groan “Make our bed, get dressed, brush our teeth and hair.” Dad says, “Great! Then do that and you can get a scooter!” This technique worked for earning a bicycle bell by finishing reading lessons.

Buy for Value
I really don’t have a problem with my kids wasting money on items that will soon lose their interest. It is my job as a parent to point out that the toy will become boring once they get it home and offer them alternate suggestions. Give your kids a choice. Dad says, “Are you sure you don’t want to save your money for that new bike you wanted?” Its a good lesson to teach to children to buy things that have lasting value. It’s hard from them to see a toy go for sale for $.25 at the yard sale when they used their hard earned money to buy it. The same goes for adults who put a $25 sticker on a $800 treadmill they only used once.

Lay-A-Way
As kids get older the toys will become more expensive. I’m sure I will hear the whine at the store, “~DAD~, I REALLY WANT THIS GAME! They are sold out everywhere!” Fine, I say. I’ll break out the wallet and buy the game (because honestly, it is a pain in the ass to find high demand products. Nintendo Wii near it’s release date, anyone?). However, it will go on lay-a-way. For those who didn’t grow up with parents that were out of work frequently and couldn’t get credit (as easy as it is to right now) a store would hold an item for you. You would make weekly payments until the purchase price was fulfilled. Then you got to take home your item. The same works for the game. Your child can earn the game (back to the earning concept) by doing extra work around the house or paying you back when they get cash from grandma and grandpa. As long as they keep making weekly payments, you’ll keep holding the item. If not, there is always E-bay or craigslist.

Get a job!
As your kids get a little older (10yrs and up) it is time to learn the value of money. I don’t really like the concept of an allowance. I especially don’t like tying an allowance to jobs that have to be done around the house. Everyone lives in the house, everyone has to help out with the weekly chores according to their ability (dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, toilets, laundry, etc). If my child needs something (food, clothes, shoes, etc) I buy it for them. If they want something above and beyond their daily needs they can again earn it. They say “~DAD~, I REALLY NEED THESE JEANS! Everyone is wearing pre-ripped, pre-strained, overlarge ones and I don’t have any!” Dad says, “I’m not buying those, they’re stupid looking. But if you want to do extra work around the house…” Give them the choice, do they not want the jeans or do they want to work for them? I’m all about getting extra work done around the house. It would make my life easier if they took out the garbage. But let us be honest about how much money is deserved for each task. If they want to take out the garbage for me, great! That is unskilled labor worth minimum wage. I take the minimum wage rate and calculate their earnings for the 10 minute task. According to the current federal minimum wage of $6.55 they earned $1.09 (and that is tax free!). That is learning the value of a dollar. Now, if they decide to do more unpleasant work like scrubbing out the trash cans, I’m willing to negotiate (because I don’t want to do it myself!). Just keep the rates honest with the work they are doing. If they make an honest effort at trying to earn the money, I see no problem helping them out by paying $20 of their $60 stupid looking jeans.

One issue confronting our youngsters is that they can’t get a job even if they want a job. Child labor laws have really hurt companies ability to hire anyone under 18 years of age. That’s fine, because it is time to sell your child out. Sell your offspring’s skills to friends, neighbors, and relatives. I know a lot of people who could use help shoveling snow, mowing grass, walking dogs (and picking up said dog’s dookie), ironing, being a second pair of hands, washing windows, washing floors, painting, pulling weeds, raking leaves, watching children, lifting heavy objects, emptying gutters, washing cars, cooking, cleaning and all those other skills you have taught them. Also, make your kids work cheap. The neighbor kid offered to cut my grass for $50. It only takes me 45 minutes, get off my grass you little cretin. However, cheap labor will get you more jobs in the future. If he had said $10 he’d probably be cutting my grass twice a week.

I had some more to say on teaching your child budgeting. But we’ll save that for another article.

CHOOSE FREEDOM! Happy 4th of July!

I am a citizen of the United States of America. If you ask my fellow citizens if we are free, they might respond with, “AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!“. We do have many freedoms in this country, and for those I am thankful, but those freedoms are slowly being eroded, given away, or taken away from us. I think most Americans need a refresher course on what freedom means and I am hear to provide that refresher. Happy 4th of July. My general definition of freedom is that everyone should be able to do what they want as long as they are not hurting anyone else. Or you can read dictionary.com’s definition.

What should I be able to do?
Let’s start with an example. I would like to have a cigarette. Should I be allowed to smoke? I know it is bad for me. It is addictive, hurts your lungs, and contains carcinogens. A free society says, yes, I should be allowed to smoke because it is only hurting me. Should I be allowed to drink alcohol? It is bad for me. It impairs my motor skills and damages my liver. Yes, I should be allowed to drink alcohol. Should I be able to use other currently illegal drugs? Real freedom means, yes, I should be allowed to abuse drugs because they would only hurt me. (FYI, this is all hypothetical, I don’t smoke or use illegal drugs.)

Choosing Freedom also means Choosing Responsibility
Should I be allowed to smoke by my children? As a parent, I would not smoke around my children. But should you be able to smoke around your children? Again, I say choose freedom, but by choosing freedom you are also choosing responsibility and that means you still don’t get to hurt others. There is damage caused by second hand smoke. Then, should I be allowed to drink alcohol by my children? Ingesting alcohol only hurts the person who is doing it. So yes, I should be able to drink by my children. However, having freedom also means using responsibility. If I’m prone to violence while drinking should I do it? The answer is an obvious no, and we have laws on the books criminalizing assault and battery. Should I drive after drinking? Again, impaired driving causes accidents hurting others. That’s why laws criminalizing driving under the influence make sense.

Personal Safety
We have laws in this country that make it illegal to NOT wear a helmet, to NOT wear a seatbelt, to NOT use a child safety seat, and to NOT have automatic rifles and hand guns. These laws are meant to save lives. Let’s look at it through the freedom lens again. Does it hurt anyone beside myself to not wear a helmet? If I crash it’s my brains being splattered on the asphalt not yours. This law should be stricken down. Should I have to wear a seatbelt? Again, it would be me thrown out of my vehicle or thrown through the windshield not anyone else. This type of law should be stricken down. I do see some gray area here though if by wearing a seatbelt you are able to keep your vehicle in control to limit further property/personal damage. But what are the statistics on people who are not wearing a seatbelt causing further damage than just damage to themselves? If it is huge then I think a law is important to protect others. If it is small, then it just doesn’t make sense. Should I have my child in a booster seat until they are 12 years old in the back seat even though most of the protection comes from just being in the back seat with a seatbelt on? (see Freakonomics for most statistics on child safety (Here is my Review) ) Again, choosing freedom means choosing responsibility: it is important to put your infant and toddler in child safety seats, apply sunblock, and read to them every day. But be pragmatic, what are the real chances of your child being stolen away by a stranger if they are playing in the front yard by themselves. Oh! Oh! I have an answer 1:1.5 million. Don’t let CNN scare you into keeping your kids inside. In fact you shouldn’t even be watching T.V. unless you want to waste time (but that is a rant for another time). So let kids have age appropriate freedoms too. As for weapons, I am of the opinion that any arms that could be brought to bear against me I should have the right to own myself. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. But it is my responsibility to make sure that I know how to operate those weapons safely and that I secure them from theft and misuse.

What You Can Do
There is something you can do to help this country maintain its freedom. Use your authority of as a member of the jury. This is the one time you are above the law. When someone is prosecuted for breaking the law, you get to not only judge whether the defendant is guilty/innocent of the law but whether the law is correct. Vote for like minded individuals in every level of government. Know your candidates and support those who cherish freedom (not control). Use your right to protest peacefully, when is the last time your protested for freedom? I’m still appalled by the most of the provisions in the ‘Patriot Act’. A real patriot does not give up freedoms for anyone!

Book Review: Julie & Julia – My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

Julie & Julia – My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell ©2005. I don’t usually read books my wife has laying around, but since I know she is going to drag me to the movie version I would at least be able to smugly say, “The book was much better.” This book covers the adventures of Julie Powell as she tries to cook every recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child in one year. She kept a blog about her exploits that were then organized into a book.

There were definitely some humorous moments in the book describing the anxiety of butchering her first lobster. And the detailed disasters of many failed attempts at completing the recipes. All the writing about the trials and tribulations of cooking kept me entertained. Her personal life and that of her friends kind of disgusted me. Although I’m reading her personal thoughts and feelings (which if everyone knew what I thought would probably be equally disgusted) I couldn’t help but think, “This woman has not matured emotionally since she was 15.” It is important for everyone to nurture the different aspects of their person and I think she learned that by the end of her experience. And the part in the book where maggots and flies overcome her kitchen/loft because she hasn’t washed the drainage rack for her dishes grossed me out. What that says to me is, “We’ll do the dishes but we are too lazy to dry and put them away.” I hate that kind of laziness. It’s disgusting. Yes, everyone is tired and no one wants to do work. Too bad. Come home. Make dinner. Do your chores for the day. Shower up. Kiss your lover goodnight. Then do it all again the next day.

Cooking: How to Smoke a Brisket

Coated with Mustard & Magic Dust

Smoking on the Grill

Smoking Complete, finished on the top shelf

Get ready for the oven by sealing it in foil

After cooking SLOWLY for another 5 hours.

Voila! Ready to serve. If is looks a bit managled it's because it falls apart when you try and slice it.

Smoking a Beef Brisket is easy! (It just takes a lot of time) I usually like to get started around 8am.

Before you get started make sure you have everything you need.

1. Charcoal
2. Lighter Fluid
3. Hickory Chips
4. Aluminum Foil
5. Beef Brisket, you can use the point or the flat, or the whole darn thing (You’ll need a bigger pan though)
6. Mustard
7. Magic Dust
8. BBQ Sauce!

Steps

1. Get the brisket out and let it start warming to room temperature
2. Start soaking your Hickory Chips! (I usually forget this)
3. Rinse the Brisket and pat dry with paper towel
4. Start with the fatty side down and coat liberally with mustard.
5. Cover the brisket with Magic Dust.
6. Flip the brisket over, cover with mustard and then magic dust.
7. Start up the Grill! Only use 40-45 charcoal briquettes. Set the coals at your grills lowest level.
8. Always cook the Brisket fatty side UP. This allows the fat to move down through the meat.
9. Put the brisket directly over the heat source for approximately 15 minutes. This chars the bottom of the brisket and adds some nice flavor, but don’t do it too long otherwise you’ll dry out the brisket (which is exactly what we DON’T want to do).
10. Move the brisket to the top shelf of the grill and let it cook until the coals burn out. Approximately 2hrs
11. Remove extra wire shelves from the oven. Pre-heat your oven to 240F (155C).
12. Create a foil wrap for the brisket. Take 3 sheets of aluminum foil approximately 1yd. (1m) long and fold them tightly together lengthwise.
13. Place the foil in a baking pan (to help catch the juices) and transfer the brisket to the pan. Seal the foil completely. If there are openings in the foil your brisket will dry out
14. Place the pan in the oven and let cook slowly until dinner!
15. Remove the pan from the oven and open the foil (careful of the steam! don’t burn yourself!)
16. Transfer the juice from the pan with a baster to a large bowl
17. The Brisket should stand for about 15 minutes
18. Transfer the Brisket to a cutting board and remove excess fat. (The fat should be able to be wiped off with the back of the knife if cooked correctly)
19. I like to divide the brisket into three long sections and then thinly slice each length
20. Transfer to a platter and lightly coat the slices with the drippings collected from the pan
21. I like to serve the brisket with buns and multiple options of BBQ sauces

Tips
Low and Slow
This rule applies to all tough cuts of meat. You want to cook them at low heat very slowly. This allows the tough muscle tissue to unwind to make the meat more tender. Purists might say when smoking a brisket you should add more coals and keep it on the grill. That is fine, but not necessary. The smoke and char is a ‘flavor’ once you have it you don’t need to keep it on the grill. The oven allows for a long consistent heat instead of the ‘up and down’ of the grill.

Starting the Grill
Stack your coals in a pyramid shape and soak each coal in fluid. Light them up and don’t do ANYTHING until there a ring of gray around EVERY coal. We’re not in a rush since most of the cooking will happen in the oven. Knock the coals down flat once they are ready. Make sure you have long tongs or an asbestos glove when moving the coals.

Chips versus Blocks
You can get two different cuts of wood for smoking. Either blocks or chips. The chips will burn up quickly if placed directly on the coals. After soaking, make a foil container for the chips and then toss them on the coals. Note that wood burns hotter and faster than charcoal. If you use blocks these might dry out and start burning really hot! I usually put my soaked blocks on the edge of my coals so even if they do catch fire they won’t be directly underneath the meat and burn it.

Different Grill?
Not everyone has a grill like mine. You can still do this in a kettle style grill without options to adjust the height of the cooking surface and without an upper shelf. Just stack your coals on one side of the grill and cook the brisket indirectly (Don’t knock down the coal after starting). You’ll probably have to rotate your brisket every 20 minutes or so to keep the edge nearest the heat from drying out.

Ingredients
I get my Brisket from Sam’s Club. They have surprisingly nice cuts of beef. Additionally, I get BBQ sauces from Target their Archer Farm’s brand is quite excellent, might I recommend the Kansas City BBQ and the Carolina Style mustard BBQ sauce.

—–
If you give it a go, let me know how it turned out for you!

Rough Bicycle Commute Today

Today has started off just peachy. The dog got up a half hour before I wanted to get up after I had stayed up late playing poker the night before. I had all my saddle bags packed before I went to bed, so I put on my clothes, kissed the wife & kids, and hopped on the bike to ride to work! I manged to catch every single red light. The area I live has plenty of sidewalks and no bike lanes. To try and ward off the aggressive drivers (who try and teach you a lesson for riding your bike on the road) that swerve too close or honk, I hop on the sidewalk. This however gets you out of the flow of traffic and at every intersection someone is trying to turn in front of you. But they are looking for cars, not bikes. They are looking at the road, not the sidewalk. Probably about 6 times, there was someone waiting to turn with their car parked WAY over the cross walk. Of course, they don’t see me because they aren’t looking, or they are playing with their radio, or they are talking on the phone. I have to come to almost a complete stop a few feet from them before they make their OH I DIDN’T SEE YOU face. Of course, you didn’t see me. You weren’t looking.

Now, here is the major bad thing that happened and it was totally my fault. I’m on the sidewalk (because there are no bike lanes) and a bus stops ahead of me. Two people get onto the bus. I think the bus is about to close it’s doors and leave because after riding the bus for 3 years the Chicago I know about how long it takes to load/unload a bus. NOPE! A large man steps out of the rear door with the confidence of someone who is going to have a great day! WRONG AGAIN! I slammed on my disc breaks skid about 4 feet and hit the guy with my left shoulder, which caroms me off to the right toward a newspaper stand. I stick out my right hand and catch myself with a large thud and the newspaper stand tips over. OUCH! My right hand hurts now. I have a big bruise on my palm by my thumb and a scrape on my wrist. The guy was very apologetic. Even though it was totally my fault. He said he had seen me riding and can’t believe he didn’t look when he stepped out. Now, I’m a jackass because I was mad. I didn’t say anything mean, but I didn’t ask if he was OK. It could have just been the comparison with hitting a newspaper box, but it felt more like I bumped him than hit him. “Hey, Dude with the yellow Angelia Jolie style sunglasses, hairy shoulders, white tank top, and lisp! I’m sorry! Are you OK?” Seriously, I feel like a major d-bag.

The ride wasn’t over yet. Besides the cars crossing my path and red lights and minor injury, I got passed by a dump truck. For .25 miles (.40km for my non U.S. friends) it stunk so bad that I felt like I had to vomit. Then as I am almost to work I pass one of those industrial strength lawn mowers that showers my legs with hard little pieces of grass, sand, and stone. Finally, I made it to work and take a shower. I have grease on me. I couldn’t seem to get the grease off my elbow, fingers, and neck (off course I had to scratch my neck with greasy hands!). So now I’m work with a healthy bit of grease on me relating my story.

Surprisingly, I’m not in a bad mood. It’s actually kind of funny to me. I know it could be worse, did I tell you about the time I failed to climb a 2 inch ( 5.1 cm) curb? My front shock compressed and my tire snapped to the side and threw me over the handle bars where I broke the fall with my face and shoulder. That little trip kept my from cycling for 3 months.

Life is short, so have a good day, I know I will!

Book Review: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a non-fiction book by Joseph Campbell ©1949. The premise of the book is that there is only one hero story, the monomyth. All stories share similar seeds of the idea of the hero. Joseph Campbell uses hero stories from varied traditions like Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Native American, Australian, African, Irish, Nordic, and the far east to use as examples of the universal condition of man. The concepts in the book are exhilarating, however Campbell’s literary style has him flowing from topic/example to another and then back again. And other than his over zealous support for Freudian psychoanalysis and dream analysis (which was very popular at the time of writing) it was worth a read. I enjoyed Part I which focused on the exploits of the hero more than Part II which revolved around the cyclical nature of the universe and the hero’s role in it.

Mythology has been interpreted by the modern intellect as a primitive, fumbling effort to explain the world of nature (Frazer); as a production of poetical fantasy from prehistoric times, misunderstood by succeeding ages (Muller); as a repository of allegorical instruction, to shape the individual to his group (Durkheim); as a group dream, symptomatic of archetypal urges within the depths of the human psyche (Jung); as the traditional vehicle of man’s profoundest metaphysical insights (Coomaraswamy); and as God’ Revelation to His children (the Church). Mythology is all of these. The various judgments are determined by the viewpoints of the judges. For when scrutinized in terms not of what it is but of how it functions, of how it has served mankind in the past, of how it may serve today, mythology shows itself to be as amenable as life itself to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age.

This book had a profound influence on George Lucas and the Star Wars story. The Hero with a Thousand Faces had me thinking of the many parallels of the hero stories I’ve enjoyed which I would like to align with the chapter titles in the book to add to his examples. So, let’s see how our modern tales fit in the monomyth (paraphrased for entertainment value by myself).

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

1. The Call to Adventure – Take the ring to Elrond.
2. Refusal of the Call – I can’t go I’m in love with the Shire. What’s that? Bad things are coming to kill me? F@#$ this place.
3. Supernatural Aid – Tom Bombadil, enough said. Old Man Willow should have ate their sorry hobbit behinds. Not too mention that Gandalf gets resurrected, talk about Deus Ex Machina. (Not that I am criticizing J.R.R. Tolkien my personal literary god.)
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – Let’s run to the Prancing Pony!
5. The Belly of the Whale – You’re holding The One Ring to Rule them all. *uh oh*

The Matrix by Larry and Andy Wachowski

1. The Call to Adventure – Follow the White Rabbit.
2. Refusal of the Call – Climb out the window?! GTFO. <<Insert mechanical insect>> On second thought, where is that red pill?
3. Supernatural Aid – I’m going to learn kung-fu? Yes dumbass, why else would we stab you in the brain?
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – Free your mind.
5. The Belly of the Whale – Your whole life was a fabrication called The Matrix

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

1. The Call to Adventure – You’re a wizard and didn’t know it. Congratulations
2. Supernatural Aid – Hi, I’m Hagrid here to bust your ass out and be your BFF even though you’ll never appreciate me.
3. The Crossing of the First Threshold – To Diagon Alley!
4. The Belly of the Whale – Welcome to Hogwarts! Time to meet your mortal enemy!

Star Wars by George Lucas

1. The Call to Adventure – Come with me to Alderaan.
2. Refusal of the Call – I can’t I’m in enough trouble as it is! Oh, it turns out my foster parents are dead. I think I’ll go with you instead.
3. Supernatural Aid – “hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side”. Actually, it turns out they are.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – That little droid is going to get me into a lot of trouble! … I see two banthas down there but no Sandpeople… *URRGHGG UR UR URRRGGGH*
5. The Belly of the Whale – The Death Star. The metaphor doesn’t even have to stretch.

---

The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Table of Contents
Prologue: The Monomyth

1. Myth and Ream
2. Tragedy and Comedy
3. The Hero and the God
4. The World Navel

Part I: The Adventure of the Hero
Chapter I: Departure

1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
5. The Belly of the Whale

Chapter II: Initiation

1. The Road of Trials
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
3. Woman as the Temptress
4. Atonement with the Father
5. Apotheosis
6. The Ultimate Boon

Chapter III: Return

1. Refusal of the Return
2. The Magic Flight
3. Rescue from Without
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
5. Master of the Two Worlds
6. Freedom to Live

Chapter IV: The Keys

Part II: The Cosmogonic Cycle
Chapter I: Emanations

1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
2. The Universal Round
3. Out of the Void–Space
4. Within Space–Life
5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
6. Fold Stories of Creation

Chapter II: The Virgin Birth

1. Mother Universe
2. Matrix of Destiny
3. Womb of Redemption
4. Fold Stories of Virgin Motherhood

Chapter III: Transformations of the Hero

1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
2. Childhood of the Human Hero
3. The Hero as Warrior
4. The Hero as Lover
5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
6. The Hero as World Redeemer
7. The Hero as Saint
8. Departure of the Hero

Chapter IV: Dissolutions

1. End of the Microcosm
2. End of the Macrocosm

Epilogue: Myth and Society

1. The Shapeshifter
2. The FUnction of Myth, Cult, and Meditation
3. The Hero Today

Perl: Finding a Class in a Jar file.

I was having some trouble finding which jar contained a class I needed. I wrote a perl script to find it.


#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

# flush print to the output after every write.
$| = 1;

##############################################################################
# Parse the parameters.
##############################################################################
if( (scalar @ARGV) ne 2) {

   print "Expected arguments: findClass.pl <ROOT_DIRECTORY> <CLASS_NAME>\n";
   exit;
}
print "findClass.pl\n";
my $dir = shift @ARGV;
my $targetClassName = shift @ARGV;
print "Using root directory: $dir\n";
print "Looking for class: $targetClassName\n";

##############################################################################
# Backup your current directory, go to working directory
##############################################################################
my $currDir = `pwd`;
chomp $currDir;
chdir $dir;

# work
searchDir();

##############################################################################
# Return to previous directory and exit.
##############################################################################
chdir $currDir;
exit;

##############################################################################
# Subroutines 
##############################################################################
sub searchDir {
   my @jarList = `find . -name "*.jar"`;
   my @classList;
   my @results = [];

   foreach my $jarName (@jarList) {
      print ".";
      @classList = `jar -tf $jarName`;
      foreach my $className (@classList) {
         if($className =~ /$targetClassName/) {
            print "*";
            chomp $jarName;
            chomp $className;
            push @results, "$jarName:$className";
         }
      }
   }

   foreach my $result (@results) {
      print "$result\n";
   }
}

The Joy of Parenting: Embarrassing Remark

My four year old decided to let her swim instructor know that she had bug bites all over her face. The trouble is that it was acne not bug bites.

So again, we have to teach the lesson, we don’t tell people things about themselves they already know. We don’t tell people that they are short, fat, skinny, tall because they know by looking in the mirror.

The Joy of Parenting: Star Wars

I was exercising on my bike trainer in the basement. My daughter (4.5yrs) came down and we were watching Star Wars (IV). It was her first time seeing the movie. She had a lot of questions. But the most profound was at the very end where they are celebrating the destruction of the Death Star. “Dad, why didn’t the alien (a.k.a. Chewbecca) get a medal? He helped, too!” She was very upset over the unfairness of the situation.

Atheist Affirmation: Live for the day

I’m glad I’m an atheist because I enjoy each day just a little bit more. Thinking about our ultimate demise and the lack of a fun-filled-unicorn-inhabited-skipping-and-prancing after life, I know we get nothing. Someone once told me that you can’t have love without Jesus in your heart. I would like to affirm that is just not true. I hold my wife a little closer. I hold back more harsh words. I cling to my daughters just a little longer. I stop and smell the roses. In fact when I let go of my religious beliefs life became that much harsher and that much sweeter. You realize that the only thing we have is each other and it is important to treat each other well. Life is good.