Sarah Palin who?

I know a lot of people out there do not follow politics and certainly haven't shown very much interest in the current Presidential Elections. I'm here to tell you that you need to be aware of what is happening on the national stage.

John McCain has made a point of attacking Barrack Obama's lack of foreign policy experience. This, along with his accusations of elitism, have been the largest attacks coming from the McCain camp. McCain can no longer make those accusations.

Sarah Palin is no doubt a wonderful person, the mother of five (including a Downs Syndrome baby born just this past April 18th. She has been a force of ethical integrity for the last few years. She's married to a blue collared oil worker on Alaska's North Slope. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. She was the mayor of a small town (5500 people) in Alaska until December 2006 when she became the first woman governor of Alaska. Now, in 67 days this self proclaimed "hockey mom" could be one heartbeat away from being the most powerful person in the world.

You see, this morning, John McCain proclaimed in Dayton, Ohio that Sarah Palin would be his Vice-Presidential running mate.

Let me explain about John McCain. John McCain, if he was to win the office of President would be the oldest person to ascend to the position of President at 72 years, 144 days old. This should scare everyone to death. McCain has survived cancer (and while his most recent exams have shown him to be healthy and cancer free) yet at age 72 anything could happen. If it did, the station of President would fall to Palin, and therein should be where we are concerned.

When asked if Palin would be interested in the job of Vice-President Palin refused to comment stating that [paraphrasing] she cannot be qualified to speak on how well she could do without first knowing what the VP job was all about. Palin has absolutely no experience in the world of foreign policy yet Republicans have claimed she is qualified because her son leaves in September for a tour of duty in Iraq.

Palin has no national experience whatsoever. Palin has less than two years as the governor of Alaska. Palin has less education than anyone in this election. Palin isn't qualified to be our President yet she is on the doorstep of that office because of John McCain's decision to put her on the ticket.

I'm sure Sarah Palin is a wonderful individual. She is a beautiful woman with a record of being tough on rule benders and a house cleaner who takes no prisoners. Yet she is still so young (she could have went to my high school had we grew up in the same area of the country), so inexperienced and so distant from the Washington political scene (both in experience and physical distance).

I hope the American public sees the risk McCain is taking putting her on the ticket. I really feel as we cannot elect him now, simply because there is way too much risk with her on his ticket. I really hope Palin has a wonderful political career, but she isn't ready for the top office. Not yet.

Where is Our Country Going?

Okay, this is goiong to be a rant, plain and simple. I couldn't think of anything to write, so I've decided to just blurt out some of my political thoughts. You may agree with some, you may disagree. That's fine, in fact I would be happy to argue with anyone about them (surprise there, eh?). So, off we go...

-- Gas prices have dropped here in Indiana to a respectable $3.69 a gallon. So, my question is: when the hell did $3.69 become respectable? $3.69 a gallon is ridiculous. The United States is arguably the most innovative and intellectually rich countries in the world yet we can't figure out how to take a vehicle froom point A to point B without burning fossil fuels. How sad is that? The fact is that we have technology but lack the infrastructure to put clean vehicles on the road. The brilliance of the Eisenhower administration was its vision and pursuance of the adoption of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Let's imagine how many new American jobs could be created by developing brand new products used to fuel/power electric vehicles. Additionally the United States could put itself back on the automotive map, surpassing Honda and Toyota by becoming the world leader in electric vehicle production. How cool would that be?

--We are still at war in Iraq and planned to be until 2015 until the Iraqi government compromised and said we could stay until 2011. They didn't want us there past 2010 but we felt we needed to be to "protect American interests". American interests = oil fields. Don't listen to the rhetoric about the savagery of Iraq's previous regime when US allies like Saudia Arabia are also horrible perpetrators of human rights violations. If the US was serious about human rights then they would do something about slapping restrictions and tariffs on China who has been identifed as one of the world's worst violators.

--College education (education in general) and medical costs are two of the most out of control costs in our country. It seems to me that if there was anything worthwhile in our country for the government to invest our tax dollars in it would be those two thing. Yet we give tax breaks companies that result in billions of dollars going directly into the pockets of CEOs in the form of bonuses. Even floundering companies like Countrywide reported huge bonuses for their CEOs because tax loopholes have made it possible to make that money untouchable. It sickening to hear a company is looking for government intervention only to learn that the CEO pocketed $40+ million dollars in bonuses.

--In Fort Wayne yesterday two kids were pulled from a school bus and cuffed by city police officers. It seems that the two boys got into a fight and when the bus driver tried to break it up, they attacked her. The police promptly showed up and while talking with the boys, were attacked themselves. That led to the officers putting them in cuffs. What makes me angry is that people in Fort Wayne were in an uproar because the police did this. How crazy can people get?

--The governor of Indiana is looking into leasing out the state lottery to help pay for education. The state lottery has supposed to be there to help with education but for some reason it isn't working. The money is being spent on things other than schools (investigations have shown that there have been issues with people at the state government level using the money to pay for trips, personal expenses and other things). Why don't we just crack down and make it work as it was intended?

--What is so difficult about illegal immigration? Hispanics are coming into our country from Mexico in droves. Why? Because conditions here are better than they are in Mexico. So, why don't we try this: Don't give jobs to illegals, if you are discovered employing illegals, you pay a very significant fine, your business license is taken away, or you and those who do the hiring are put in jail. Do not give social security cards or drivers licenses to illegals. If you give medical care to illegals require hospitals/doctors to report them to immigration immediately. Make it a requirement to show citizenship to enroll children of illegals in school. Basically make it so difficult for illegals to get anything accomplished in this country that they have to go through the correct channels to achieve citizenship. I have nothing against people trying to find a better life for themselves, but I do have a problem with them doing so at the expense of our taxpayers.

Okay, I got a bunch of stuff off my chest, and I feel better. If you want to let me have, I would be happy to hear what you've got to say.

Can't forget Bub

I would be remiss if posted about Gracie without also writing something about her little brother.

I'm not going to get all mushy about him, mostly because he is simply a terror right now and as much as I would like to fawn on about him, I really don't feel like it.

Bub is having some mouth issues. He has sores on his tongue that I guess he probably got from scraping it with his finger nails. He is having so many problems with his teeth that he puts his hands into his mouth and I think he is tearing up his tongue. I think Angie is going to see if she can find some children's Abesol to put on it to relieve some of the pain. I know that he didn't nap at all yesterday and struggled to go to sleep at bedtime. He just stands in his bed and screams. Eating is difficult for him. I hope these teeth stop hurting him soon as he is simply unbearable as he is.

Balin is starting to talk more and we have been able to pick out a few words. The other day he said Megan and that surprised us. He has also said Gracie, Daddy, Mommy, kitty, see it, and once we thought we heard him say thank you. It si so hard to tell when they are that little, but we do know he is progressing. He can point to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, hair, toes and fingers. When you ask him to do simple things, like throw something away he understands and does so (he is very disciplined in that when you ask him to do something he does it right away).

Balin also understands different things. When you ask him if he wants a bath he runs into the bathroom and regardless of what he is wearing, tries to get into the tub. He knows what to do when you ask him if he wants to go outside, typically running to, opening, and scooting out the door. All I can say is you better have your shoes on when you ask because he throws a fit if he can't go out right away after you make the suggestion.

One thing I can say about the little guy is that he really loves his sisters. You can tell that he misses Megan. He loves to hug Gracie and whenever she is on the floor he wants to play with her. All and all he is a good little boy. He is smart, funny and determined. It will be interesting to watch him evolve as he grows older.

Soon he will be back to his normal self, the happy-go-lucky little guy who is cruising all over the house, getting into stuff and loving life. Until then I suppose we are just going to have to grin and bear it. I will try to get some morres of him when he is feeling a bit better. He just wasn't up to snuff this past weekend so my shots were limited.

The Rush of Daddyhood

When I brought my camera in to work this morning I knew I was going to have to post a couple of the pictures that I took this weekend but in truth I really didn't know what kind of story I was going to put to the pictures. Sometimes it is difficult coming up with topics to talk about when it comes time to update my blog. This is especially true when it comes to the kids. It's easy to write about things that they do, or accomplish but it is difficult on those everyday type times when things are just status quo.

Such was my quandry this morning as I was downloading the pictures. Once they were finally transferrred to my computer I took the opportunity to open a few of them up to see how they turned out and that's when it hit. That's when the "Rush of Daddyhood" overcame me and I knew what I was going to write.

Life is extremely imperfect. We trudge through many parts of it, forced to face situations that we would rather just ignore. There are so many moments of monotony, of stress and of anger and frustration. Then there is the "Rush of Daddyhood".

When I opened the picture you see above something happened to me. My heart lept and a smile came across my face as I looked upon the image of my little girl. What an incredible feeling it is to have someone like Grace in my life. There are so many moments where she erases all dread and stress and for that I feel extremely blessed.

Some of those moments are very mundane, like when she falls asleep on the couch and I have to carry her in to bed. Others come in what she says, like when she tells me she loves me all the way up to the sky.

Sometimes it is just watching her when she doesn't know I'm peeking in on her. Like in the van when a song comes on and she begins to sing. I love to listen to her and watch her in the rearview mirror. Eventually she looks up and sees me and that smiles explodes across her face as she quits singing in embarrassment.

Other times it is her profound reliance on me for love, protection and strength. I remember the last big storm we had she was so scared. She came to me in the living room and she and I sat in the dark, her huddled up next to me, jumping at every thunderclap. I wrapped my arms around her, and while this may sound selfish, allowed her to cling to me as I basked in the feeling as I allowed her to take solace in my protection.

I heard the Kenny Chesney song, "There Goes My Life" yesterday and couldn't help but think about Gracie and how perfectly she fits that song. As we recently sent Megan off to college, I imagine Gracie, 12 years down the road, doing the same thing and it made my eyes tear up a bit. She is my little princess. I tell her everyday how much I love her and love it when she reciprocates. Everytime she does I get that satisfaction felt only with the "Rush of Daddyhood".

I know that eventually there will be a time when she goes away and makes a life of her own. Those days will be painful for me, as she is my life and will take a huge part of me with her when she goes. Until then I will steal every moment I can where I can feel the rush that tells me that at this very moment, this very second, I am living life as it was intended to be lived: with a profound feeling that God is lookng down on me, giving me a gift that makes all other travails trivial. He fills me with a feeling born in Heaven and only granted to those who are deserving of his Grace. Funny how that works out.

The Olympics are over, but are they?

This past Sunday the 2008 Olympics came to a close with the ceremonies in Beijing, China. They were exciting to watch and while I had grown a bit tired of them, many people didn't want them to end. There was a lot of excitement and incredible stories of human endurance, accomplishment and triumph. They were enjoyable from start to finish.

For many, the Olympics are not over, but instead, they are just about to begin...

I want to tell you about a guy named Kevin Stone. He is a 47 year old guy from Kodak, Tennessee. Kevin has been married and divorced, raised two kids, a boy and a girl, and served his country in the army. Kevin however isn't a typical guy though. Kevin is a fighter whose determination is driven by every cell of his body and he has an incredible story.

Kevin is an accomplished archer. So much so that he is considered one of the top twenty markspersons in the United States. On August 23rd, 2008 he kicked off the fire works for the Knoxville Smokies Triple-A baseball team by lighting the first fuse with a flaming arrow from 325 feet away. To put that in perspective think about how difficult it would be to shoot ONE arrow the length of a football field to hit a target. Now imagine that arrow on fire with the entire stadium full of people watching you and your target being a small ring. That is an incredible feat to say the least.

A crazy as his abilities with a bow, Kevin is even more amazing because of his past.

In 1985 Kevin was in the army, stationed in Granada. On his way back to base one day he was the passenger in a jeep, sleeping soundly, when the driver lost control. The jeep plummeted over a cliff, with Kevin strapped inside. The driver managed to bail out, but Kevin had been sleeping and suffered an impact with a granite ledge. Hitting top first, Kevin took the impact to his head. It drove his skull into his spine column and broke four vertebrae. The diagnosis for Kevin was grim: "Death, or total quadriplegia forever." His family was told he'd have neurological damage, degenerative disc disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's and degenerative brain disease.

Kevin would not give up fighting though and eventually left the hospital, wheelchair bound and doped up on large amounts of medication. In the years that followed Kevin continued to fight and eventually learned to walk again. He was so determined to live a normal life that at one time he even played volleyball in his spare time with his friends he met while going to college to ear two degrees in art and music.

In the early 90's the pain became even more unbearable. He was taking up to 4,200 milligrams of narcotics a day to deal with his medical conditions. Additonally the brittle bones in his legs started to chip from his efforts to try to move without a wheelchair. Eventually the doctors wanted to amputate his legs. Kevin refused to allow them to.

Then in 1996 a therapist suggested that Kevin suggested that Kevin get involved with athletics. He headed out to Seattle for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games where he saw people competing with more limitations than he had and they were blowing away any score he possibly could imagine.

An accurate long-range shooter in the Army, Kevin decided to compete in rifle shooting. To his surprise, he was beaten by a paralyzed veteran who used a blow tube to activate the trigger and moved the rifle with his chin. In the end this motivated Kevin and he began to train in earnest.

This new fight gave Kevin new motivation and provided him with an upgrade in his quality of life. Always a fighter, this gave Kevin an outlet for his energy, and he began to excel. He managed to medal at various events, finding success in team pistols.

It was then that Kevin decided he was going to up the ante and become an Olympian. He switched his discipline to archery and managed to qualify foir the U.S. Archery Team, disabled team. With that he traveled to Madrid, Spain and competed at the World Championships. The following year he represented the United States at the Paralypic Games in Athens, Greece.

The Paralympic Games are the shadow of the Olympic Games, occuring in the same city as the Olympic Games, just a few weeks later. They have similar events for handicapped individuals. The similarity doesn't end there though. There is also stringent drug testing and Kevin knew that preparing for though games meant getting off the meds.

Kevin suffered through a month of pain medication withdrawls, going from 4,200mg to 10mg of meds a day, including abandoning a 17 year habit of taking 160mg of morphine every day. This came in addition to working out 10 hours a week, strengthening his back and core muscles, and shooting a bow and arrow 30 hours a week. In 2004 he went to Athens and came home with a bronze medal in team archery.

In less than two weeks Kevin will travel to Beijing to compete in the 2008 games in both team and individual archery. Among Paralympic archers, he's ranked in the top 10 in the world.

He works hard to keep that ranking. Kevin practices archery for five hours a day, six days a week. He also works out three hours a night at National Fitness Center in Sevierville: 35 minutes of cardio, a half-hour of core training (sit-ups, back extensions), one of various routines using weights, and a half-hour solely on his legs. He can walk short distances but risks breaking bone.

So, to say that the Olympics are over would be an understatement as I know that Kevin's aren't, nor are the games for 100's of others across the globe who will converge on the same venues that we, over the past two weeks, have become familiar.

There won't be the same coverage for these games. You won't see blocks of competition broadcast on NBC, or scrolling results at the bottom of your screen on ESPN. Yet these athletes will be giving the same degree of effort as Michael Phelps, Husain Bolt, and Misty May.

I will be following the results as best I can, watching online to find out how Kevin has done. Over the last few days I have thought back to those games of volleyball I shared with Kevin. I remember going back to Adrian College for homecoming and hearing how Kevin refused to bring his wheelchair to the football game because he didn't want any of his fraternity brothers seeing him diabled (this was at the time when his doctors were suggesting that Kevin get his legs amputated). I remember Kevin joking with me, calling me Captain Adverb (in reference to the old School House Rock cartoon "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here"). You see Kevin is my friend and brother. One that I've known since shortly after his accident. I learned his story as he's lived it. I got to see him struggle with raising a family with his horrible disability. I've got to see him watch his wife Bonnie work while he put himself through college.

It is so rewarding to see him find something that he excels at and claim back his life that was written off by so many doctors. Kevin is a great guy, with a great heart and the drive and determination to never, ever give up. I am proud to have him as a fraternity brother. I am proud to have him as a friend.

So, if the readersof this blog can find it in them to give the Olympics a little more attention, I encourage you all to follow Kevin's progress in his quest to get a gold medal while in Beijing. Think about him when he leaves and competes during the second week of September. I will keep you all updated on his results. Let's hope he brings home gold.

And Kevin, if you happened to read this article, I just want to tell you good luck and as always, Love and Respect.

2 Out, 5 In

This weekend was all about teeth. It was a long weekend and by Sunday night Angie was begging to let her go to work for me so she could get away from the kids. We both had our fair share of the little hellions this weekend and Monday morning couldn't get here soon enough.

We'll start with Balin. He has not been feeling well. In fact he was running afever on Friday so Angie took him to the doctor's to find out that he has 5 new teeth coming in. Yup, 5, all at once. This has turned him into a Devil-child. He may be as happy as can be at one moment, and the next he is screaming at the top of his lungs, his fingers in his mouth trying to massage the sore gums. It has been extremely trying for us. He won't sleep through the night, waking up crying once or twice a night. He won't take good naps because he wakes up and his mouth hurts. He can't eat much and we are trying to find soft foods but even with those he only eats a little bit. It has left both of us with the hope that he gets over it soon.

Grace has had her share of tooth problems over the weekend as well. The last time she lost a tooth she was initally very excited, and then proceeded to pass out cold in the bathroom. That said, this time around she was terrified of losing her newest loose tooth. She wanted it out, but as soon as we went to help her she started to lose control and just sob uncontrollably. At one time Saturday I truly feared that she would hyperventilate she was breathing so fast. She wanted me to pull the tooth and besides my own teeth, I have no experience with that kind of thing. When I had a loose tooth as a kid I just went into the bathroom and wiggled the stupid thing until it came out. Gracie would have no part of that. Finally on Sunday Angie just reached into her mouth and yanked the damned thing out. That was the end of that. Grace was fine, she didn't faint this time and was happy to put the tooth under her pillow last night with instruction to the Tooth Fairy not to take the tooth because like her first one, she was saving it.

Megan called from college yesterday. She and her roomate are both sick. Kendra has been throwing up the last three days and Megan has both a terribly sore throat and three fever blisters on her lips that hurt and cause her great consternation. I think that most of the problems come from their collective worrying, which Megan is very good at. She did say that she met a girl down the hall and has been hanging out with her as Kendra has been too sick to leave the room. It makes me happy to hear that she has started making friends. She is coming home this coming holiday weekend (I imagine it is the need to pick up some things she didn't take with her the first trip down than it is to see the family she is missing). I know I look forward to seeing her and hearing about all the new things she is experiencing. She starts class today and said she would call tomorrow (her light class day) to let us know how they are. I will post an update when I find something out.

On a positive note, Angie and I took the kids on a picnic lunch to the rose gardens yesterday. I was able to get a few pictures of the kids that I should be able to post soon (I forgot to bring my camera to work today otherwise I would have done so with this post). Balin was having tooth issues, so I only got one or two of him, but I did get some good ones of Gracie. I especially like one of her high up in a tree. It turned out very good. You'll see.

Well, that's a little taste of my weekend. Nothing else much happened. Lots of teeth, that's about it.

One Down, Two to Go...

Well, we turned Megan loose yesterday. At about 1:30pm we left home, the van and her car loaded up with her stuff, off to college for her first semester away from home.

To say that yesterday was a stressful day would be an understatement. Megan was a mess all day long up until we left her last night.

It started bad. She decided that she was going to meet Caleb for breakfast so she could say goodbye to him. Granted, they broke up a couple of months ago, but they have remained close and have spent time together. We have no problem with this. Evidently she does. She came home just wailing and crying. I guess he gave her a note and she was so distraught she couldn't even read it. I felt bad for her, but I think she will find out that she did not make a mistake when she decided to move away to go to school.

When I got home at 11:30 I asked Angie and Megan if they wanted something to eat and that I would run to the store to pick up something. Megan said that if she ate anything she would throw up (she was stressed/nervous). She actually broke down and started crying when we were clearing out her room, saying she was afraid and scared to death because she didn't know what to expect. I tried to make light of it and tell her that she could come home anytime she wanted but nothing would help, other than letting her cry herself out and get over her fears.

Anyway, we made it to Ball State. Wow, the traffic was horrible. It seemed like a million people were moving in at once. Megan actually got to move in a day earlier than the rest of the population because she signed up to live in the dorms for two years, otherwise move in days start today. Let me tell you, I think everyone is staying in the dorms for two years and everyone has a last name that starts with an A-E because it seemed like the whole student body was surrounding Studebaker West (the dorm Megan lives in). Megan's designated time (3-5pm) was based on the first letter of her last name, with all the people before her supposedly being gone when her group moved in. Not the case, I assure you.

We pulled in and was told by campus police that we were to back into a space, pull everything out of our vehicles and throw it on the grass, then move our vehicles 4-6 blocks away at the field house parking lot. Well, I told Megan just to leave her car and that I would move the van after unloading. I did that, came back and met Kendra's parents (Megan's roommate). Luckily her dad had brought a dollie and helped move all of Megan's stuff upstairs. We waited for an eternity in the building elevator bay, taking our turn to ride up the 5 floors in the cramped car to Megan's floor. We went all the way to the end of the hall where Megan had her room overlooking the same lot we just unloaded in.

The room seemed small. It is probably a couple of feet smaller than the rooms a Adrian. She really would have benefited from a loft, but with the new furniture they were not allowed one. They did stack their beds into bunks and were able to get each of the two drawered dressers under Megan's bunk, freeing up some room. After about an hour of moving furniture around we were able to get the beds made and everything put away.

Their room looks nice. Not a lot of free space, but a decent enough room. They each have really nice desks and armoires to keep their clothes in, and surprisingly had plenty of room for their stuff. They could actually bring a lot more clothes than they did, so that is a good thing. The room looks cute. They still have to decorate a bit, but I'm sure they'll take care of that over the next couple of days.

Megan got to meet a couple of the girls across the hall, one of whom is a scholarship softball player. The dorm was hosting a Popsicle on the Patio event that night, so Megan was looking forward to that. They wanted to give the residence the opportunity to meet the other people from the dorm.

After getting everything put away we took Megan's car over to the stadium so she could park it. It was about a mile away, so I doubt she'll be driving it much. After that we took her to Burger King to get something to eat. She had a terrible headache (from not eating since breakfast combined with the stress she had put herself under all day). Afterwards we took her to Wal-Mart and bought her a few things like a case of pop, some Pop tarts, granola bars, a desk lamp and bulbs, thumb tacks, double back tape (to hang her cute little valance they were hanging over their windows), crackers, and cable for her TV. I learned that Wal-Mart was not the place to be on move in day as there were a million BSU students in there buying stuff for their dorm rooms. Live and learn.

With that we took Megan back to her dorm where she intended on getting a nap before Popsicles on the Patio. I think Angie was going to call her today to find out how she was doing. Megan intended on spending the entire day today wandering the campus trying to figure out where everything was. I told her that she just needed to make sure she asked questions and learned her way around. I know with Kendra there they will figure things out.

It was a little difficult leaving. I wanted to stay with Megan and encourage her to push ahead and not to be scared. I wanted to assure her that she was going to have a great time. Caleb was really weighing on her emotions, it was pretty apparent.

I also wanted to stay because I just love the campus atmosphere. Every little nuance took me back to my days on campus. I loved every second I was in college. I miss that time of my life more than any other time I've been alive. It is such a joy seeing one of my children get to experience it as well.

We left campus at 7:30 and made our way home. Angie got a little teary-eyed on the way home. I didn't feel sad, but happy that Megan was finally take a huge step in her education. I will always contend that college has a lot of scholastic learning to offer, but being away from home provides the greatest learning experience.

Megan will be home over Labor Day weekend and I can't wait. Not because I miss her already (she hasn't really been gone long enough yet for that to happen) but because I can't wait to hear what stories she has already began to accumulate. I will soak up every word and through her transport myself back to my four years. I hope that her's are as adventure filled and wonderful as mine.