Various Thoughts on a Monday

Beautiful day in Seattle today. Clear, blue skies and a crisp 53 degrees. It's days like this that make you appreciate the sunshine, as they seem to be so infrequent here.

My Dad rolled into town Sunday night. It's great to see him again, it's been over a year. He was amazed at how much the kids had grown since the last time he saw them. Is there anything like children to make us realize how quickly time passes?

Crock pots are great for cooking. I'm convinced you could probably put roadkill in it with chocolate sauce and cat litter and, eight hours later on low heat, have a culinary masterpiece.

Anyone else start getting a little let down at the 10-week point of the college football season? It's kind of like early afternoon on Christmas day. You've got your presents but there's no going back to that magical time when they were still wrapped and under the tree.

Cheezits are addictive. Perhaps the world's most perfect food.

Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream is #2.

Mix them together...that's not so good. Like peanut butter and salami sandwiches.

First Wrestling Match

Saw the tail end of my sons' first wrestling match tonight. Glacier View Junior High vs. Columbia Junior High (of Fife, not Cola, SC). My younger son William goes down in the record books, registering the first pin in Glacier View Wrestling sports history. Nathan held his own, but ended up getting pinned late in the first round by a veteran wrestler. Very proud of both of them. I see them every day after wrestling practice--both look like they've been put through the wringer. Rode hard and put up wet.

Perhaps Todd Matrix can show them a few moves when he comes out this way for a visit? What's your signature move? I told the boys to pull a "Nacho Libre" and whip out the patented "neeeeple tweeest" or the "anaconda squeeeezzzzzeeee." Don't know if those are officially sanctioned moves or not; maybe they can be the trendsetters.

A Few Items From the Menu

Federal holiday today, so us AF folks had the day off. Sitting around the table with the family for breakfast this morning, we struck up a conversation on various things about each of us. "What is your favorite color? What is your favorite book? What meal would you eat on a desert island if you had to eat the same meal for the rest of your life?" This line of questioning morphed into various strange things that my family has been know to eat from time to time.

For example, my son William's latest creation is the Salami and Peanut Butter Sandwich. Sounds nasty. I've been a trooper and tasted it. Yep, it's nasty. My son Benjamin is fond of his Swiss Cheese and Grape Jelly Sandwich. Nasty as well. They all gag at my strange sandwich: The Banana and Mayonnaise Sandwich. Something magical happens when those two ingredients mix.

Is it just me, or is this sandwich a Southern staple? I remember growing up eating them all of the time. Ask folks around here and you get the deer-in-the-headlights look. They don't know what they're missing.

My Little Businessman

My 100th post. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Well, enough of that...

Talking with my son, William, last night, I realize what a budding young capitalist I have on my hands. He's worked out a deal at school where he helps in the lunchroom doing odd jobs during lunch. Whether it's putting out cookies or a handful of french fries in a basket, he diligently serves each and every day. The "deal" is that he gets his lunch free for his services and his mother has agreed to pay him the cost of his school lunch each day. Pretty sweet deal. He's clearing about $15 bucks a week. This is the same son who asked for his allowance in Euros while we were in Germany.

"Five Euros is worth more than $5 with the current exchange rate."

In true Republican fashion, he wants others to be rich as well. A potential self-help book author, he tells any of his classmates that'll listen of his path to riches.

I can scarcely contain my pride, but must admit I was curious of one thing. "William," I said, "aren't you the least bit tempted around those cookies? I mean, don't you sneak one every now and then?"

"No. Well, not in front of everyone. I usually sneak the 'scrub, deformed' cookies and take them back to the freezer. That's where I eat them."

"Executive perks." That's what I call that. Future CEO there...

A Discussion About Dogs

As you may have gathered from past posts, my young daughter pretty much can get me to do most anything she wants. Last night she came downstairs right before bedtime (perhaps the cutest time of the day for little kids, with their little PJs on) and hopped up in my lap.

"Daddy, we need to have a discussion."

I was intrigued. "Okay, what do you want to discuss," I asked.

"I want a dog. For me. And I want it to sleep in my bed with me. And I want it to be all mine."

We just found out the other day that we're going to get to stay in Seattle for another couple of years. The last obstacle is out of the way for getting a dog. Now the only question is what kind.

I came home from work the other day espousing the benefits of a smallish dog breed, the American Eskimo. Guy at work brought his in one day. Looks like a nice breed. My wife had other ideas.

"I want a big dog," she said. Notice where my daughter gets her matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Like a lab?"

"No bigger. I'm thinking a Great Dane or Irish Wolfhound."

She's taken the leap from big to gi-normous. Between two teenage boys and a 100+ pound dog, I'm cringing at the thought of the grocery bill.

Canoe Trip From Hell

George recently wrote of his exploits on a hiking/camping trip in SC. I read this and had to chuckle. It reminded me of a canoing/camping trip my brother-in-law, a friend of his, and I went on about 13 years ago.

My brother-in-law Bill came home from work one day (we were staying with them in Oklahoma while I went through C-17 school) with the crazy idea for this canoe trip over a weekend. We would pack up our stuff in the canoe and paddle down the mighty Red River to a highway overpass in Texas, where our wives would pick us up. Sounds great, right?

The problems started almost immediately. We dropped the canoe and loaded it up with our stuff at a convenient spot. We three grown men hopped in and, with cavalier waves to the wives, started off on our journey. We got about 100 feet before we hit the first sand bar, our canoe grinding to a halt. We had to get out and pull the canoe to a deeper part of the river. This went on like that for the next 6 hours. See, the Red River is really a river in name only. There's barely any water in it. Tough to canoe when there's no water. It was like paddling in the rain gutters on the side of the road after a light rain.

We hiked/paddled/hiked/paddled/hiked/paddled all together for about 12 hours before we gave up, walked to a nearby farmhouse, and called our wives to come get us. They laughed and laughed. Lewis and Clark we were not.

George, at least you guys saved face and made it to your car.

Thoughts on VP Debate

Listened to the first part of the VP debate on the way home last night and watched the last half with the wife. My first reaction was that Palin had not done all that well. Biden sounded pretty good. Though I still don't agree with the socialist/wealth distribution/fairness message, he did deliver it well. After the debate ended, I sat back and reflected. Perhaps I expected too much from Palin? She did deliver a solid performance and, I believe, held her own against a guy who's been doing this sort of thing for 30+ years. She's had, what, two months? The more I think about it, the better I feel about how she did. No knockout punches, but a solid showing.

Bottom line, which of the two candidates reflect my beliefs in where I think the country needs to go. Parties aside (believe it or not, I'd vote Democrat if it was the right person), who is the better man to lead this country? Who has the better message? It just blows my mind that people just don't see that the "tax the rich and give to the poor" mentality just doesn't work. Biden talked about fairness. What's fair about taxing a person more who's done well through his/her own blood/sweat/tears, who's taken advantage of every opportunity given, who's taken a chance and had it pay off. Why should that person have to pay more (percentage-wise) in taxes than the person who does not get paid as much? Does the rich person enjoy more government benefits? Is he/her more of a citizen?

I've been disappointed with the Republicans the past few years--gov't spending is through the roof. I like McCain's message of fiscal responsibility. I can't spend more than I make (well, I can for a while). Why should the government be able to? Chuck, I think Dave Ramsey would make a fine Sec of the Treasury...what say you?