Daddy caves

Well, I did it. Took Mimi (23 months) to the Magic Kingdom even though I was pretty committed to not taking children to WDW until they were teenagers (my first trip was at 15 yrs old). So glad that I didn't hold on to that silly commitment.

Best part: while standing by the stroller with Scott, waiting for Krys & Cassia to get our "Adventures of Pooh" fastpass, I realized out of peripheral vision that Mimi was diving out of the stroller head first... then jumping up and down and screaming "PoooohTigg! PoooohTigg!" in a wildly crazed fit. She had spotted - 200 feet away through the crowd - Pooh & Tigger greeting kids. We wondered if it would be worth it to stand in line for 30 minutes so she & Waits could meet them, but as Cassia said, "that's why we came to the Magic Kingdom".

But later in the day, Walt's gig was up. After a 45 minute wait in the hot, hot sun to ride "Dumbo", both Mimi & Waits burst into tears when the ride ended after only 1.75 mintues. They were like, "whatthahell???" Hope that Mimi learns to hope for things that are certain - and not grow weary when paper-thin things disappoint.

I hope I can learn that too.

Firing Order: 1-4-3-2

Ah, the quest for a smooth-running, efficient boxer engine.

Ever since I rebuilt the top end of my engine in 2005, I have been trying to understand how the magic of electrical sparks, fuel/air mixtures, valve adjustments and timing all come together to create this mythical purity in a four stroke engine.

Dealing with these engines are so much fun for me.  There is an engineering component that I have absolutely no training on save for internet board conversations & factory manuals - although I love physics and wish I had studied it more.  But there is a design component that I love because of the artful consistency between this motor and the car that it propells - all very purely related to the science of movement and beauty of well-crafted metals and glass.

The VW engine shares heritage with my 616 4-cylinder Porsche engine - namely the same engineer developed both.  It was fun to run across a whole series of these factory training films - they are both a good overview of the issues and a reminder of what an elementary science class was like in the late 1970s.

...so there I'll be, in that dark, spider-filled garage working by headlamp:  adjusting idle jets, accelerator pumps and distributor timing - checking it all twice - then going around Lakeview on test runs.  On Saturday afternoon it was nearly there - and coming over the 35th street bridge it all started to harmonize around 65 mph...

Dirt

It's that time of year again - we're getting the garden ready and this time it will be 2x the size of last year's garden.  Krys has done most of the work... I tilled but she has mulched, planted and prepared the drip hose network (multi-valve drip line system comes next year).

The prep from 2008 appears to have paid off.  We combined two concepts:  sunflowers and organic weed suffocation.  The sunflowers helped provide soil structure while layers of newspaper and straw over the tiled soil helped to wipe out the pesky weeds.  When I tilled that section this year the soil looked perfect.  By mulching with more newspaper & straw this summer we will not be tilling that section again for several years - just planting cover crop in the fall then removing that in the spring for next year's garden.  As a bonus, the Lesley family who live here for 60 years before us had a large garden in this location for some time.  Not your average Avondale clay anymore.

This morning Mimi helped us sow the rem

aining seeds (okra, corn, beans, sunflowers, and 4 types of winter squash).  She likes to wal

k on top of the rows in her green yard boots.  Hopefully we will all be enjoying some succotash in a couple of months... maybe even a version of Hot+Hot's tomato salad.

Loo Loo Looooo, Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo...

So, I'm a proud papa.  

Background:  I've broken our "no TV" rule for Miriam on three occasions.  First occasion was the NCAA Tournament last year.  Second occasion was to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2 weeks ago (not that she was interested).  Third was tonight:  ABC's season airing of "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown".  

This is the ONLY Christmas "special" I watch.  I suspect I'm not the only person who has drawn the line here.  Not that animated clay Yeti aren't classy, but there's something great about a 40-year-old cartoon that makes fun of commercialized Christmas.

We stopped EVERYTHING at 7pm tonight and plopped down in front of the rabbit ears.  Mimi was mildly interested at first - she thought that crazy dog was funny, and she debuted a new dance to Guaraldi's classic jazzy tunes (some kind of a right-footed stomp she invented just for this occasion).  But during the show she bounced back and forth from brushing her teeth, playing with the camera tripod, playing with waded up post-it-notes, and occasionally sitting in my lap to watch the show.  But when Charlie Brown had his melt down, threw up his hands and said, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?", Mimi walked over and sat in my lap and listened as Linus recited Luke 2.  She didn't move a muscle as Linus spoke.  Then, when he was done, she climbed up and popped over to her little barn, picked up a plastic chicken and went "cluck cluck!"  I teared up.

We'll probably let her watch TV again the when they announce the brackets in March.

Final Thoughts on the Election

Well, election time is upon us, and I have never thought as much about the candidates for President as I have this year.  A year ago I would have thought a McCain/Obama election matchup would have brought us excellent debate on issues from two thoughtful candidates.  What we've endured instead has been a media-frenzied and highly partisan election season.

Part One: Questions linger.  

What does the gospel say that can inform our choice?  How does the gospel speak to the issues that have been driving the debate this year?  Heath care.  The war in Iraq.  A growing gap between rich and poor.  Energy independence.  The economy.  It is very frustrating to hear voices (often on the radio) stating that Christians should only vote for Republicans as if it were possible for a political party to contain all that the gospel speaks to (to the exclusivity of another party).  

The gospel condemns our greed, our selfishness, our lack of humility.  It condemns our contempt for those who are not like us.  It condemns even our religiosity.

Summary criticisms of Republican candidate this year are:

• The war in Iraq (arguably unjust)
  
• Horrible track record on the environment (I prefer to say Republicans suck at conservation- ironic for a party claiming to be conservative).
  
• Economic policies have benefited the wealth and hurt the poor.
  
• Candidate associations with President Bush.
  
• Will grow the government with new programs.
  
• Too much experience.
• Voted for the "Wall Street Bailout" (otherwise known as printing lots of monopoly money).
  
• Lack of a detailed plan.
  

Summary criticisms of Democrat candidate this year are:

• Socialism: spreading the wealth to benefit the have-nots (arguably rewarding lazy citizens with something-for-nothing).
  
• Supporting liberal lifestyle choices.
  
• Candidate associations with questionable individuals (ex-terrorists, racist preachers).
  
• Lack of experience.
• Will grow the government with expansive new programs.
  
• Voted for the "Wall Street Bailout" (otherwise known as printing lots of monopoly money).
  
• Lack of a detailed plan.
  

Lesser of two evils anyone?

Part Two.

The theme of the proposals this year are an even further extension of the role of government than we have ever seen before.  What is driving this?  We are not governing ourselves well.  I think that we have basically become a democracy devoid of virtue.

I wrote last week about the issue of abortion and how a candidate's policy on that issue weighs into my decision about how to vote.  I recognize that it is only one issue.  A friend (whose father is a former state representative in Alabama) agreed with my concern of the issue but noted that much of the effect of policy on this issue is impacted at the state level - much like education - and not so much at the federal level.  Yet is the role of the Supreme Court out of balance in regards to state autonomy on such issues?  The next President will select as many as two new Justices.

We have seen what trickle-down economics does.  In theory it works (creating jobs) but it thrives on consumerism and debt and spreads the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom.  If anything will help our country at this point in history, it will be from the bottom-up, and it will take a long time.  Here's what I mean. We must govern ourselves well.  Democracy cannot work if its citizens live apart from virtue.  I'll quote here from Patrick Deneen's blog:  

Montesquieu belived that democracy was a viable regime, but only, and above all, if its central feature was virture.  The inculcation of virture, he argued, was only likely in a small state, one in which self-government was a practical possibility, and in which prospects for material aboundance and luxury were limited.  Large nations, of great wealth and power, were more inclined, and ultimately tempted, to become empires.  Looking at the historical example - Rome being prominent among them - Montesquieu argued that the greatest threat to democracy was always internal, and particularly the imperial temptation.  Without virtue of moderation, thrift, and self-governance, democracy was an ideal whose reality was always in question.

Virtue is hard to find these days.  It isn't in Washington, it isn't on Wall Street, it isn't in our schools and it isn't present in our homes.  It is essential that we work hard, live fairly, put others ahead of ourselves.  If we hoard our money - if we live immorally - if we are lazy - if we do not care for the poor - if we do not take steps to educate ourselves - if we do not raise our children well - then the argument for government intervention will be loudly raised and we won't be able to stop it.  When we rely on the government to do these things for us, we forfeit our freedoms.  And if we don't reel-in our appetites, we certainly can't expect our government to.

I don't believe that our government has grown because of an error of the Presidency (past or future) but in response to who we have become as a nation.  And who we are now unfortunately demands that we have a big government.

 

The Unscalable Wall

The other night I was talking with a couple of friends regarding our feeling that abortion rights was "the issue" that created the biggest obstacle for our votes going to democratic candidates particularly for executive offices. We wondered aloud how many moderate voters (who aren't party affiliates) would likely shift toward democratic candidates who were pro-life en masse - perhaps more than the numbers of pro-choice voters who would shift away from such candidates for the same reason. I find my self in agreement with the positions of many candidates (most often my own Congressman Artur Davis  who has potential to win many of these moderate voters in a run at the Alabama governor's office in the next term), but in reading positions, their positions on abortion policy give me pause.

That same night we also discussed the party line contradictions that exist and within which abortion rights is an element.  One party is pro-life when it comes to abortion, but will never consider elimination of the death penalty.  The other is pro-choice on abortion rights but against allowing choice in primary/secondary education.  These are to me examples of why I may never be able to die on the hill of any particular party (aside from the fact that any party may be in agreement with something clearly taught in scripture while at the same time be opposed to another teaching).

In light of our our current election dillema, consider this article by a Princeton law professor who writes in an attempt to shed light on the scope of Senator Obama's record and positions. Well worth reading...

Can democracy survive without virtue?

Well, I just watched as our Representatives voted in majority for the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008" and with this muddy, pork-filled concoction handed over more power to the Executive Branch, more spending and who knows what else (because you know none of these members actually read all 450 pages).  As the commentators on the news just noted, "we may know in a month or so if this thing worked."

Wha?  

If it didn't work, can we get our freedom back?  Nope.  We dodged this critical self-correction and will take the credit-laden novocaine and continue on our merry way.

Deneen posted this yesterday in wondering where our democracy was headed:  What I Saw in America: Democracy in America.  What do you think?