Ouch!
Mary sent me this post on a third-party's blog, for discussion purposes only. She added this comment on the post:
He [the blogger] doesn't factor in the value that the experience has on the short term tourists, in terms of their education or their future impact. But if it's about the tourist, then, and not what they'll give, then they should change their ideas from the start.
John Barry is a fellow teacher here this year--he's on a furlough year from his ministry in Lesotho (yes, furlough working at RVA; he's from Zimbabwe, so I guess you don't want to be going back there these days. :) Anyway, he's great, as is his family, and he mentioned that he would love to see "short termers" come with an agenda to witness and pray--that, he says, is valuable work that can be reasonably accomplished in a short time.
UPDATE: The third-party who posted the negative comments on "development tourism" somewhat moderated his views, and Mary brought that to our attention in her comment. Here is the blogger's "revisit" to the subject.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sean's Boss Bursts a Bombshell
The WSJ Journal reports this morning on the resignation of Admiral Fallon, the head of the Central Command, which runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and would be involved in a war with Iran. The WSJ article quotes Adm. Fallon's resignation letter in part as follows:
"Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my view [about a war on Iran and the long-term usefulness of the "surge"] and the President's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time . . . "
The WSJ article goes on to report that the precipitating "press report" was an article by Thomas P. M. Barnett in the April issue of Esquire. Mr. Barnett, according to the WSJ, wrote that a premature departure by the Admiral could be a sign "that [quoting Barnett's article] the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way." Read Barnett's article here.
The WSJ writes that "the resignation makes Adm. Fallon one of the few high-ranking military officers to leave active duty amid tensions with the White House since President Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the height of the Korean War."
None of this is good.
UPDATE: On it editorial page yesterday, the WSJ editors seemed not to think it was all bad, either.
"Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my view [about a war on Iran and the long-term usefulness of the "surge"] and the President's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time . . . "
The WSJ article goes on to report that the precipitating "press report" was an article by Thomas P. M. Barnett in the April issue of Esquire. Mr. Barnett, according to the WSJ, wrote that a premature departure by the Admiral could be a sign "that [quoting Barnett's article] the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way." Read Barnett's article here.
The WSJ writes that "the resignation makes Adm. Fallon one of the few high-ranking military officers to leave active duty amid tensions with the White House since President Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the height of the Korean War."
None of this is good.
UPDATE: On it editorial page yesterday, the WSJ editors seemed not to think it was all bad, either.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Church and State and Southern Baptists
The Southern Baptist Church in which I grew up, studied the Bible, memorized scripture and came to Christ venerated the idea of the separation of Church and State. Roger Williams was our most famous non-Biblical, historical figure. Part of our budget went to support Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Not that politicians were absent from our congregation. The most famous of our members (at least locally) was the Hon. Claude Pepper. But perhaps the most respected politician I saw at our church was Brooks Hays, a member of the House of Representatives from Arkansas, who put his political career on the line when he attempted to mediate the controversy between Governer Faubus and President Eisenhower, over the President's threat (finally carried out) to send troops to Little Rock to integrate the public schools. Hays lost re-election because of that reasonable posture, and visited our church soon after that. Later he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
So the Baptists knew politics, no doubt about that. But that's not what you heard from the pulpit. You heard about how Jesus lived, how he treated others, and from whom he came, why he came, was crucified, and rose on the third day, and how that gave all of us the opportunity for a new life. Somehow the clergy trusted the laity to make the connection between the call to model Jesus and how to deal with political and social issues as they arose.
The Presbyterians looked at the matter differently, as I learned in the 70's as Carol and I became active at FPC in Miami Springs. When Anita Bryant led the Christian charge against a proposed county ordinance to make discrimination on account of one's sexual preference as unlawful as discrimination on account of race or gender, our minister at the time not only preached against the ordinance from the pulpit but also organized transportation to the polling places from the church office. (The minister later left our church on account of sexual misconduct himself.) I have never been comfortable with outright politicking from the pulpit. It simply does not belong there. (Sorry Mr. Olansky, Dr. Dobson, etc,)
The WSJ has a fine article today on the IRS investigations into churches that take political positions. The article features Sen. Obama's minister, but the issue is much larger than that particular case. I think the IRS has it right, and I hope the agency continues with its efforts vigorously.
As I read the WSJ article, I thought about Islam's view that politics and religion are, by necessity, conflated, that they are or should be one and the same. How are American Muslims to understand that particular error if the Christians are not scrupulous about the separation of Church and State?
And so I read with astonishment that a group of Southern Baptist "leaders" have signed a declaration on climate change.
Has the Gospel been spread so thoroughly, have the needs of widows and orphans been sufficiently addressed, are the needy no longer with us, have church members reached such maturity that these clergy can spend their time getting involved in a politicized scientific controversy? What in the world happened to the Southern Baptists?
Not that politicians were absent from our congregation. The most famous of our members (at least locally) was the Hon. Claude Pepper. But perhaps the most respected politician I saw at our church was Brooks Hays, a member of the House of Representatives from Arkansas, who put his political career on the line when he attempted to mediate the controversy between Governer Faubus and President Eisenhower, over the President's threat (finally carried out) to send troops to Little Rock to integrate the public schools. Hays lost re-election because of that reasonable posture, and visited our church soon after that. Later he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
So the Baptists knew politics, no doubt about that. But that's not what you heard from the pulpit. You heard about how Jesus lived, how he treated others, and from whom he came, why he came, was crucified, and rose on the third day, and how that gave all of us the opportunity for a new life. Somehow the clergy trusted the laity to make the connection between the call to model Jesus and how to deal with political and social issues as they arose.
The Presbyterians looked at the matter differently, as I learned in the 70's as Carol and I became active at FPC in Miami Springs. When Anita Bryant led the Christian charge against a proposed county ordinance to make discrimination on account of one's sexual preference as unlawful as discrimination on account of race or gender, our minister at the time not only preached against the ordinance from the pulpit but also organized transportation to the polling places from the church office. (The minister later left our church on account of sexual misconduct himself.) I have never been comfortable with outright politicking from the pulpit. It simply does not belong there. (Sorry Mr. Olansky, Dr. Dobson, etc,)
The WSJ has a fine article today on the IRS investigations into churches that take political positions. The article features Sen. Obama's minister, but the issue is much larger than that particular case. I think the IRS has it right, and I hope the agency continues with its efforts vigorously.
As I read the WSJ article, I thought about Islam's view that politics and religion are, by necessity, conflated, that they are or should be one and the same. How are American Muslims to understand that particular error if the Christians are not scrupulous about the separation of Church and State?
And so I read with astonishment that a group of Southern Baptist "leaders" have signed a declaration on climate change.
Has the Gospel been spread so thoroughly, have the needs of widows and orphans been sufficiently addressed, are the needy no longer with us, have church members reached such maturity that these clergy can spend their time getting involved in a politicized scientific controversy? What in the world happened to the Southern Baptists?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Cupcakes, Austin Style
Walter, Morgan, Kellsey, Aidan, Honor, and I had cupcakes today on South Congress (pronounced, "So-Co" if you're hip and so new to Austin that you have no idea how dumb you sound when you say it). The establishment is called "Hey Cupcake!", and the delectables are sold out of a shiny Airstream trailer sitting next to the sidewalk
Note location of restrooms.
Even the napkins are fun!
Guess which one didn't get a cupcake!
At least I was kind enough not to eat mine right in front of her.
Note location of restrooms.
Even the napkins are fun!
Guess which one didn't get a cupcake!
At least I was kind enough not to eat mine right in front of her.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Not as Much Fun at Parties???!!!
Night owls are more creative, more flexible and more caffeinated, studies have found. Morning people are healthier, more conscientious and more emotionally stable. They're not as much fun at parties, but morning people run the world . . .
-Melinda Beck in today's WSJ.
-Melinda Beck in today's WSJ.
Melissa Got Married
We had a fun-filled weekend when Melissa Dewhurst got married in our church, returning to Miami Springs from New York City for the wedding, groom in tow. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at La Carreta. The wedding was at 4:30 PM on Saturday and the dinner followed at the Miami Springs Country Club.
Melissa, Scott Fleming, and Melissa's parents, Jack and Lynn Dewhurst
Jack's brother, Don Dewhurst, was in the balcony of our church, taking pictures.
The Dewhursts economized by using local talent to do the singing.
(We posted on Melissa's engagement party here.)
UPDATE: For more photos of the wedding, go here.
Melissa, Scott Fleming, and Melissa's parents, Jack and Lynn Dewhurst
Jack's brother, Don Dewhurst, was in the balcony of our church, taking pictures.
The Dewhursts economized by using local talent to do the singing.
(We posted on Melissa's engagement party here.)
UPDATE: For more photos of the wedding, go here.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Cable, Uverse, and AppleTV
So, I have recently been going through the process of attempting to save money and rethinking how much money we spend on TV. When we moved here, we set up our house with Internet, Phone (unlimited local and long-distance calls), and cable (digital with a DVR that we rented from Time Warner monthly). It cost us about $150 a month. This is A LOT, but we thought that it would be nice to be able to call anyone anywhere (in this country at least) without any added cost. We liked the internet service as it was usually quite fast, and though we did not really want digital cable with all of its 275 or more channels, we did want the DVR and you have to get digital cable to rent the DVR. We LOVED having the DVR. It was fantastic to watch tv when we wanted to instead of planning a night around when something would be showing. We ended up watching much less TV that way since we weren't surfing for something to watch, but only sat down to watch when we had something already recorded (not to mention that it took less time to watch a show since we could fast-forward through the commercials).
As this next year approached, we began to wonder if we could afford to send both kids to preschool or if it would be too much of a stretch for our budget. So, I began researching ways to save money. Lo and behold, I got something in the mail from AT&T about how you could bundle their phone, internet, and TV services and I would not have to pay for 275+ channels. I could pay for uverse100 which only had 100 channels. I could buy a refurbished Tivo for only $50 with the rebate and could then pay for a lifetime of the product tivo subscription. All this and we would save $480 a year. This seemed substantial to me and worth the loss of unlimited long distance calls (especially since we use our iphones for most long distance calls anyway).
My experience with AT&T has been less than stellar. To begin with, they messed up my order from the very beginning and I had to go through all of their call holding while waiting a second time to go through their verification by a third party process. I think it must have taken me 2 hours just to get the order in. They scheduled me for Feb. 12. That day came and so did the TV and internet guy. Unfortunately, the phone guy did not come. After calling in 4 or 5 times and spending (no joke) about 3 hours of talking with several different representatives and waiting on hold, I finally got it straightened out and had to go through the third party verification process AGAIN. They said they would come the 22nd. About the 18th I get a call saying they cannot come then. Can they come the 27th? No, I have to take my son to preschool. Can they come the 28th? yes. (ARGGGGG!!!!!!!!). Will they remunerate me for the days I have had to pay for service with TIme Warner even though I was no longer using them? (I was told not to cancel with TW until my phone was switched so I wouldn't lose my phone number. HOwever, when the TV and internet guy came, he had to pull out the TW router in order to install the AT&T one, hence the loss of my ability to access my phone line or set my home security alarm.) Yes, they would make a note to the adjuster's office that I was to be reimbursed.
So, on the 12th my tv and internet were working. I decided to try setting up the Tivo. No go. You have to have a working phone line to set up your Tivo. So, I have to wait until the 28th.
On the afternoon of the 27th, the AT&T people show up. They are a day early and I was not expecting them, but I tell them to by all means go ahead and connect the phone. They do.
So, I set up my TIvo. After MANY hours of much internet research and time on the phone with Tivo helpers, I finally get the Tivo to control uverse on my TV. Unfortunately, for some reason my Uverse is no longer working. I disconnect it from the Tivo to see if that is the problem. not the problem. Uverse simply will not work. It will show a program for 10 to 30 seconds and then freeze. No matter what channel you put it on, it is the same.
Macon says he is ready for Apple TV.
I research it. We can get the biggest Apple TV for less than the subscription service we paid to Tivo (which they refunded to us very kindly). We can buy all the episodes to all the shows we watch (which are not that many) for $350 a year (which is less at least $150 less than we would have paid for uverse). So, we make the switch.
We hooked up the Apple TV in less than 15 minutes. We had no problems doing it once we told the TV the right source to look for. We immediately rented "3:10 to Yuma" and watched it that night after putting the kids to bed. Good movie.
The only show I cannot get that I want to watch is "Smallville". It is beyond me why they will sell you episodes of now canceled "Veronica Mars" but will not sell you episodes of currently running "Smallville". Ah, well, I can live without the show. All of our other favorites are available via itunes.
So, my conclusion is that dropping cable and picking up Apple TV is a FABULOUS and very EASY way to go! We still watch TV when we want to and do not have to plan our lives around when something crops up on TV. We don't even have to fast forward through commercials because there aren't any! woo-hoo!
I think the only thing I will miss is being able to click over to the weather channel. But then, I do have www.weather.com.
As this next year approached, we began to wonder if we could afford to send both kids to preschool or if it would be too much of a stretch for our budget. So, I began researching ways to save money. Lo and behold, I got something in the mail from AT&T about how you could bundle their phone, internet, and TV services and I would not have to pay for 275+ channels. I could pay for uverse100 which only had 100 channels. I could buy a refurbished Tivo for only $50 with the rebate and could then pay for a lifetime of the product tivo subscription. All this and we would save $480 a year. This seemed substantial to me and worth the loss of unlimited long distance calls (especially since we use our iphones for most long distance calls anyway).
My experience with AT&T has been less than stellar. To begin with, they messed up my order from the very beginning and I had to go through all of their call holding while waiting a second time to go through their verification by a third party process. I think it must have taken me 2 hours just to get the order in. They scheduled me for Feb. 12. That day came and so did the TV and internet guy. Unfortunately, the phone guy did not come. After calling in 4 or 5 times and spending (no joke) about 3 hours of talking with several different representatives and waiting on hold, I finally got it straightened out and had to go through the third party verification process AGAIN. They said they would come the 22nd. About the 18th I get a call saying they cannot come then. Can they come the 27th? No, I have to take my son to preschool. Can they come the 28th? yes. (ARGGGGG!!!!!!!!). Will they remunerate me for the days I have had to pay for service with TIme Warner even though I was no longer using them? (I was told not to cancel with TW until my phone was switched so I wouldn't lose my phone number. HOwever, when the TV and internet guy came, he had to pull out the TW router in order to install the AT&T one, hence the loss of my ability to access my phone line or set my home security alarm.) Yes, they would make a note to the adjuster's office that I was to be reimbursed.
So, on the 12th my tv and internet were working. I decided to try setting up the Tivo. No go. You have to have a working phone line to set up your Tivo. So, I have to wait until the 28th.
On the afternoon of the 27th, the AT&T people show up. They are a day early and I was not expecting them, but I tell them to by all means go ahead and connect the phone. They do.
So, I set up my TIvo. After MANY hours of much internet research and time on the phone with Tivo helpers, I finally get the Tivo to control uverse on my TV. Unfortunately, for some reason my Uverse is no longer working. I disconnect it from the Tivo to see if that is the problem. not the problem. Uverse simply will not work. It will show a program for 10 to 30 seconds and then freeze. No matter what channel you put it on, it is the same.
Macon says he is ready for Apple TV.
I research it. We can get the biggest Apple TV for less than the subscription service we paid to Tivo (which they refunded to us very kindly). We can buy all the episodes to all the shows we watch (which are not that many) for $350 a year (which is less at least $150 less than we would have paid for uverse). So, we make the switch.
We hooked up the Apple TV in less than 15 minutes. We had no problems doing it once we told the TV the right source to look for. We immediately rented "3:10 to Yuma" and watched it that night after putting the kids to bed. Good movie.
The only show I cannot get that I want to watch is "Smallville". It is beyond me why they will sell you episodes of now canceled "Veronica Mars" but will not sell you episodes of currently running "Smallville". Ah, well, I can live without the show. All of our other favorites are available via itunes.
So, my conclusion is that dropping cable and picking up Apple TV is a FABULOUS and very EASY way to go! We still watch TV when we want to and do not have to plan our lives around when something crops up on TV. We don't even have to fast forward through commercials because there aren't any! woo-hoo!
I think the only thing I will miss is being able to click over to the weather channel. But then, I do have www.weather.com.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
The State of the Union, Viewed on a Saturday Morning
Mary and I have been exchanging emails about a US General who is an RVA grad and a friend and supporter of Obama. She told me that this general was against the war in Iraq and that he thinks that Obama's position has been right-on from the beginning. Here is a copy of my email back to her, for whatever it's worth:
I remember arguing with Austin Carr about going into Iraq before we started that war. He was absolutely for it, and I was not sure at all. But I thought Bush was a good man (and still do) and competent. I don't now think he is competent. By "competent", I don't mean that he is stupid. I simply think that he was not competent to be President, that is, to make those big decisions, to know when to rely on advisers and when not to. I don't know that anyone is competent to be President. Senator Smathers said that Reagan "had a good gut", and told me that before Reagan was President, but was then running for the Republican nomination the second time. Reagan didn't seem to make such bad decisions, although he did make some big mistakes.
I fault Bush with not controlling the Republican Congress, with going along with the "it's our turn" mentality with regard to pork barrel spending, with thinking that we could make tax cuts and still maintain or increase spending. I fault him with not going to the mat on Social Security and Medicare. Frankly, I think he lacked the strength of his convictions, tried to please to many people. In trying to avoid making enemies, I think he made even more than he would have made otherwise. I think that the best he can hope for from history is a verdict that he was "average".
This is not saying that Obama has "the gut" or will be competent. In the first place, there is a serious question of whether the federal government is beyond being governed, regardless of who is President. And in the second, his apparent political philosophy is that big government is capable of being fixed and of being the main solution and maybe is the only solution. I think he is wrong there. In fact, I think those are dangerous ideas. I also think that there will be the same sort of "it's our turn" approach to the people who have been out of power for the last 8 years (or past 200 years, if you consider the expressed grievances of people of color) and that he won't be any stronger than Bush on this issue.
But what troubles me are not Obama, Hillary, McCain, Bush. What troubles me are what is happening in the local public schools, what I see in the media: the decline in American creativity, the moral anarchy, the heedless accumulation of debt, the dissolution of families, the terrible health and eating habits, and the inwardly, selfishly focused and Gnostic tendencies of American Christianity.Other than that, I'm fine.
I remember arguing with Austin Carr about going into Iraq before we started that war. He was absolutely for it, and I was not sure at all. But I thought Bush was a good man (and still do) and competent. I don't now think he is competent. By "competent", I don't mean that he is stupid. I simply think that he was not competent to be President, that is, to make those big decisions, to know when to rely on advisers and when not to. I don't know that anyone is competent to be President. Senator Smathers said that Reagan "had a good gut", and told me that before Reagan was President, but was then running for the Republican nomination the second time. Reagan didn't seem to make such bad decisions, although he did make some big mistakes.
I fault Bush with not controlling the Republican Congress, with going along with the "it's our turn" mentality with regard to pork barrel spending, with thinking that we could make tax cuts and still maintain or increase spending. I fault him with not going to the mat on Social Security and Medicare. Frankly, I think he lacked the strength of his convictions, tried to please to many people. In trying to avoid making enemies, I think he made even more than he would have made otherwise. I think that the best he can hope for from history is a verdict that he was "average".
This is not saying that Obama has "the gut" or will be competent. In the first place, there is a serious question of whether the federal government is beyond being governed, regardless of who is President. And in the second, his apparent political philosophy is that big government is capable of being fixed and of being the main solution and maybe is the only solution. I think he is wrong there. In fact, I think those are dangerous ideas. I also think that there will be the same sort of "it's our turn" approach to the people who have been out of power for the last 8 years (or past 200 years, if you consider the expressed grievances of people of color) and that he won't be any stronger than Bush on this issue.
But what troubles me are not Obama, Hillary, McCain, Bush. What troubles me are what is happening in the local public schools, what I see in the media: the decline in American creativity, the moral anarchy, the heedless accumulation of debt, the dissolution of families, the terrible health and eating habits, and the inwardly, selfishly focused and Gnostic tendencies of American Christianity.Other than that, I'm fine.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Straight Key Century Club
I'm getting closer and closer to putting K4JSU back on the air. My friend Joe, WA4ONV, told me about the relatively new Straight Key Century Club. We are definitely talking "retro" here. But when all the lights go off, the satellites get shot down, the hard drives fried, there will still be CW, "continuous wave", to keep us all in touch.
I know that's a great relief to all of you.
I know that's a great relief to all of you.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
No Sympathy in this Quarter for Microsoft
Yesterday, the WSJ had a front page article on the icy reception that the European Union's anti-trust chief, Neelie Kroes, is giving to Microsoft's announcement that it is sharing a good bit of its code on the internet.
I have no brief for the EU and its unelected bureacracy generally, but in this case I have no sympathy for Microsoft. (Does anyone, really?) I have to deal with its clunky, complicated, and crash-prone (at least 3 times a day) software each business day. In addition to being difficult to use directly, it does not play well with other software, especially the core contact software we use, TimeMatters. It's really junk, really, really junk.
Go to it, Mrs. Kroes.
I have no brief for the EU and its unelected bureacracy generally, but in this case I have no sympathy for Microsoft. (Does anyone, really?) I have to deal with its clunky, complicated, and crash-prone (at least 3 times a day) software each business day. In addition to being difficult to use directly, it does not play well with other software, especially the core contact software we use, TimeMatters. It's really junk, really, really junk.
Go to it, Mrs. Kroes.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Recent Moments in Honor's Life
Here she is pretending to be "Doctor Honor". She is so copying exactly what her big brother does with the stethoscope. Maybe she'll grow up to be like Aunt Mary!
In these two pics she is dressed up in her party dress because she's hanging out at her little friend Paisley's first birthday party!
And here is a photo of her precious little shoes before she gets them all scuffed up. They look so "there's no place like home", don't you think?
And lastlty you see a picture that really captures her spirit. What a feisty and fun young lady she is!
Wow, Obama's Good!
Look at the exchange of letters between Obama and McCain about a bipartisan effort for election finance reform. Does this not sound a bit like the old nasty McCain and the smooth, unflappable, articulate Obama? The Repubs really have a fight on their hands!
Oh, Marvin, Give Us a Break!
World Magazine has gone to twice monthly issues instead of weekly issues, as of January 1. The idea is to cut down on postage costs while delivering a larger magazine. I think the editorial quality may have an increased as well, if for no other reason than that the editors must range a little further into the World to get their content and some diversity is added. As a reader of the magazine, I see it as a good change.
But Marvin Olasky, the Editor in Chief and a Huckabee supporter, is still Marvin Olasky. In reviewing Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, he questions, among other things, how
broadly [the author] defines evangelicals . . . it's not clear if and how many of his leaders put Christ above kudos. For example, his Bush-related list includes Karen Hughes, an elder in the decidedly unevangelical Presbyterian Church USA.
Mrs. Hughes is a member of Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin.
But Marvin Olasky, the Editor in Chief and a Huckabee supporter, is still Marvin Olasky. In reviewing Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, he questions, among other things, how
broadly [the author] defines evangelicals . . . it's not clear if and how many of his leaders put Christ above kudos. For example, his Bush-related list includes Karen Hughes, an elder in the decidedly unevangelical Presbyterian Church USA.
Mrs. Hughes is a member of Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
"Clay Jars Bearing Christ"
Carol and I were in Austin last weekend and we attended the Sunday Morning 9:30AM service at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church with Walter and Morgan (Macon's family was recuperating at home).
Peter Haas, an associate minister whom we met last year at the PGF meeting in Houston, delivered the sermon. It was very, very good. The church posts recordings of its ministers' sermons, and this one is up. Peter does a fine job of explicating the scripture in question, 2 Corin. 4: 7 - 12, and then he follows on with readings from entries in his journal that he made during a week of his ministry several years ago. Those readings moved me powerfully.
Yesterday at our Men's Breakfast downtown, Austin asked me to outline Peter's sermon, and we had a lively discussion of the scripture.
Peter Haas, an associate minister whom we met last year at the PGF meeting in Houston, delivered the sermon. It was very, very good. The church posts recordings of its ministers' sermons, and this one is up. Peter does a fine job of explicating the scripture in question, 2 Corin. 4: 7 - 12, and then he follows on with readings from entries in his journal that he made during a week of his ministry several years ago. Those readings moved me powerfully.
Yesterday at our Men's Breakfast downtown, Austin asked me to outline Peter's sermon, and we had a lively discussion of the scripture.
Harbinger
The House of Representatives refused to extend the Foreign Espionage Act, provoking a letter from the Attorney General stating that the country "is now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats" because lawmakers failed to act.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Democrats denounced the letter, saying the administration is "further politicizing the debate" even as it refuses to allow the extension of existing authority while the House and Senate work out differences on a complex new bill.
The Senate had passed the Bill in question, 68 to 29. McCain voted for that Bill. Obama and Clinton did not vote. (Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson voted for it.)
The main issue seems to be whether to confer retroactive immunity from lawsuits on telephone companies who cooperate with the government. The Senate version confers that immunity.
A day or two before the Senate vote, Senators Dodd and Feingold presented an amendment to strip the Bill of the retroactive immunity provision. That amendment was defeated, but Obama voted for it. Clinton did not vote.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Democrats denounced the letter, saying the administration is "further politicizing the debate" even as it refuses to allow the extension of existing authority while the House and Senate work out differences on a complex new bill.
The Senate had passed the Bill in question, 68 to 29. McCain voted for that Bill. Obama and Clinton did not vote. (Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson voted for it.)
The main issue seems to be whether to confer retroactive immunity from lawsuits on telephone companies who cooperate with the government. The Senate version confers that immunity.
A day or two before the Senate vote, Senators Dodd and Feingold presented an amendment to strip the Bill of the retroactive immunity provision. That amendment was defeated, but Obama voted for it. Clinton did not vote.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Francis Collins at Stanford
Frances Collins, the director of the Human Genome Project, spoke at an InterVarsity sponsored event at Stanford recently.
“As we study the DNA of our organisms, we are looking at the language of God,” Dr. Collins said. You may care to read the whole thing.
Regarding Collins' religious views, this is from the Wiki bio, to which I link in the first link above:
In Collins' book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (published in July 2006), he considers scientific discoveries an "opportunity to worship." In his book Collins examines and subsequently rejects creationism and Intelligent Design. His own belief system is Theistic Evolution (TE) which he prefers to term BioLogos. BioLogos rests on the following premises: (1) The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago, (2) Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life, (3) While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time, (4) Once evolution got under way no special supernatural intervention was required, (5) Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes, (6) But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
We've looked at this before, especially by means of the link to the article by Cardinal Dulles, wherein he writes, in part:
Catholics who are expert in the biological sciences take several different positions on evolution. As I have indicated, one group, while explaining evolution in terms of random mutations and survival of the fittest, accepts the Darwinist account as accurate on the scientific level but rejects Darwinism as a philosophical system. This first group holds that God, eternally foreseeing all the products of evolution, uses the natural process of evolution to work out his creative plan. Following Fred Hoyle, some members of this group speak of the “anthropic principle,” meaning that the universe was “fine-tuned” from the first moment of creation to allow the emergence of human life.
A recent example of this point of view may be found in Francis S. Collins’ 2006 book, The Language of God. Collins, a world-renowned expert on genetics and microbiology, was reared without any religious belief and became a Christian after finishing his education in chemistry, biology, and medicine. His professional knowledge in these fields convinced him that the beauty and symmetry of human genes and genomes strongly testifies in favor of a wise and loving Creator. But God, he believes, does not need to intervene in the process of bodily evolution. Collins holds for a theory of theistic evolutionism that he designates as the BioLogos position.
Although Collins is not a Catholic, he approvingly refers to the views of John Paul II on evolution in the 1996 message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He builds on the work of the Anglican priest Arthur Peacock, who has written a book with the title Evolution: The Disguised Friend of Faith. He quotes with satisfaction the words of President Bill Clinton, who declared at a White House celebration of the Human Genome Project in June 2000: “Today we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, and the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift.”
Theistic evolutionism, like classical Darwinism, refrains from asserting any divine intervention in the process of evolution. It concedes that the emergence of living bodies, including the human, can be accounted for on the empirical level by random mutations and survival of the fittest.
But theistic evolutionism rejects the atheistic conclusions of Dawkins and his cohorts. The physical sciences, it maintains, are not the sole acceptable source of truth and certitude. Science has a real though limited competence. It can tell us a great deal about the processes that can be observed or controlled by the senses and by instruments, but it has no way of answering deeper questions involving reality as a whole. Far from being able to replace religion, it cannot begin to tell us what brought the world into existence, nor why the world exists, nor what our ultimate destiny is, nor how we should act in order to be the kind of persons we ought to be.
“As we study the DNA of our organisms, we are looking at the language of God,” Dr. Collins said. You may care to read the whole thing.
Regarding Collins' religious views, this is from the Wiki bio, to which I link in the first link above:
In Collins' book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (published in July 2006), he considers scientific discoveries an "opportunity to worship." In his book Collins examines and subsequently rejects creationism and Intelligent Design. His own belief system is Theistic Evolution (TE) which he prefers to term BioLogos. BioLogos rests on the following premises: (1) The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago, (2) Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life, (3) While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time, (4) Once evolution got under way no special supernatural intervention was required, (5) Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes, (6) But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
We've looked at this before, especially by means of the link to the article by Cardinal Dulles, wherein he writes, in part:
Catholics who are expert in the biological sciences take several different positions on evolution. As I have indicated, one group, while explaining evolution in terms of random mutations and survival of the fittest, accepts the Darwinist account as accurate on the scientific level but rejects Darwinism as a philosophical system. This first group holds that God, eternally foreseeing all the products of evolution, uses the natural process of evolution to work out his creative plan. Following Fred Hoyle, some members of this group speak of the “anthropic principle,” meaning that the universe was “fine-tuned” from the first moment of creation to allow the emergence of human life.
A recent example of this point of view may be found in Francis S. Collins’ 2006 book, The Language of God. Collins, a world-renowned expert on genetics and microbiology, was reared without any religious belief and became a Christian after finishing his education in chemistry, biology, and medicine. His professional knowledge in these fields convinced him that the beauty and symmetry of human genes and genomes strongly testifies in favor of a wise and loving Creator. But God, he believes, does not need to intervene in the process of bodily evolution. Collins holds for a theory of theistic evolutionism that he designates as the BioLogos position.
Although Collins is not a Catholic, he approvingly refers to the views of John Paul II on evolution in the 1996 message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He builds on the work of the Anglican priest Arthur Peacock, who has written a book with the title Evolution: The Disguised Friend of Faith. He quotes with satisfaction the words of President Bill Clinton, who declared at a White House celebration of the Human Genome Project in June 2000: “Today we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, and the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift.”
Theistic evolutionism, like classical Darwinism, refrains from asserting any divine intervention in the process of evolution. It concedes that the emergence of living bodies, including the human, can be accounted for on the empirical level by random mutations and survival of the fittest.
But theistic evolutionism rejects the atheistic conclusions of Dawkins and his cohorts. The physical sciences, it maintains, are not the sole acceptable source of truth and certitude. Science has a real though limited competence. It can tell us a great deal about the processes that can be observed or controlled by the senses and by instruments, but it has no way of answering deeper questions involving reality as a whole. Far from being able to replace religion, it cannot begin to tell us what brought the world into existence, nor why the world exists, nor what our ultimate destiny is, nor how we should act in order to be the kind of persons we ought to be.
Monday, February 18, 2008
So long, and thanks for all the help!
Mom and Dad just left Austin for the M-I-A-Yo. We were sad to see them go, as they were so very helpful with Honor. Especially since I've been sick for what seems like months between allergies and colds.
So, thanks very much Mom and Dad!
We're so grateful for our folks: first Kellsey's mom helped with week 1, and my folks for week 2.
(And now, Dana will be arriving to help us make it through week three post Appendectomy.)
So, thanks very much Mom and Dad!
We're so grateful for our folks: first Kellsey's mom helped with week 1, and my folks for week 2.
(And now, Dana will be arriving to help us make it through week three post Appendectomy.)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
New Camera
Remember when our old one was stolen? Bought a new Canon EOS Rebel off Ebay. Tried it out today. As Sean notes, I like shiny and new (to me) things!
Valentines Leftovers (from Dad to Mom)
Pulp Science Fiction
Hey! Uncle!
Hey!!!! UNCLE!
Look at me!
Kells did all the research and winning at Ebay. Naturally!
Valentines Leftovers (from Dad to Mom)
Pulp Science Fiction
Hey! Uncle!
Hey!!!! UNCLE!
Look at me!
Kells did all the research and winning at Ebay. Naturally!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Really, Really Outrageous
Our Saudi "friends" attempt a number on the Brits. Thanks for the link, Glenn Reynolds. (And I hope Glenn is right.)
In Austin this Weekend
Carol and I are in Austin this weekend. In a way, we stepped out of our own whirlwind into two others! Right now I'm at Macon and Kellsey's house, all by myself. Macon is at work, Aidan is at pre-school, and Kellsey and Carol took Honor to a scheduled doctor's visit. In a few minutes, Walter will pick me up for lunch, and Morgan's mother, Mickie will be there! That will be fun. We just need the Sewells and Mike and Mary and it would be perfect. But it is still very, very good!
Macon picked me up at the airport yesterday and then we drove to meet Kellsey, Aidan, Honor, and Carol at a restaurant named "Fred's". Very, very Austin. Kind of run-down, but not really run-down. Not a bit of glitz. None. The waitresses wore black t-shirts that had messages on the back, such as, for example. "Fred Happens". (Fred must be a character.) It has an indoor restaurant, that looked a little like the outside of Shorties at home, but we ate outdoors under some oak trees and on picnic tables. The area had a big playground thing for the little kids, and there were a lot of them there with their moms and some dads, who were eating lunch too. It made my heart sing to see so many little children. It was a beautiful day, in the low 70s.
Aidan and Honor have grown, of course, since we saw them last. Aidan is three and seems very, very articulate for such a little one. Macon and Kellsey talk to him almost as if he were an adult, and that I think shows. They are pretty firm with him, and he is having growing pains. I admire them for the way they help him discipline himself, but it still breaks my heart to see him unhappy and their having to help him behave propertly. That's the grandparent in me, of course. I am proud of the way they deal with their children, and of course proud of them.
Walter and Morgan came to Macon and Kellsey's house for supper with us last night. They are waiting for the next shoe to fall on their adoption proceedings. Who else but the US government is standing in the way here, courtesy of our immigration "service". Really, really, the people who think the federal government has the answers should get a life. The same view that the "the Federal Government Saves", showing us how by building a nation top down in Iraq, is the same view that states that the main immigration solution is to keep people out, even if they are orphans from Ethiopia heading for middle-class couples in Austin. What puzzles me is how the Democrats, so critical of our involvement in Iraq and with the immigration mess, can turn around and promise that the Federal Government will solve the health care problem, the public education problem, and whatever else ails this country. We know who "saves" and it is not the government, Federal, State, Local.
See, I get time to rant.
Signing off for now.
Macon picked me up at the airport yesterday and then we drove to meet Kellsey, Aidan, Honor, and Carol at a restaurant named "Fred's". Very, very Austin. Kind of run-down, but not really run-down. Not a bit of glitz. None. The waitresses wore black t-shirts that had messages on the back, such as, for example. "Fred Happens". (Fred must be a character.) It has an indoor restaurant, that looked a little like the outside of Shorties at home, but we ate outdoors under some oak trees and on picnic tables. The area had a big playground thing for the little kids, and there were a lot of them there with their moms and some dads, who were eating lunch too. It made my heart sing to see so many little children. It was a beautiful day, in the low 70s.
Aidan and Honor have grown, of course, since we saw them last. Aidan is three and seems very, very articulate for such a little one. Macon and Kellsey talk to him almost as if he were an adult, and that I think shows. They are pretty firm with him, and he is having growing pains. I admire them for the way they help him discipline himself, but it still breaks my heart to see him unhappy and their having to help him behave propertly. That's the grandparent in me, of course. I am proud of the way they deal with their children, and of course proud of them.
Walter and Morgan came to Macon and Kellsey's house for supper with us last night. They are waiting for the next shoe to fall on their adoption proceedings. Who else but the US government is standing in the way here, courtesy of our immigration "service". Really, really, the people who think the federal government has the answers should get a life. The same view that the "the Federal Government Saves", showing us how by building a nation top down in Iraq, is the same view that states that the main immigration solution is to keep people out, even if they are orphans from Ethiopia heading for middle-class couples in Austin. What puzzles me is how the Democrats, so critical of our involvement in Iraq and with the immigration mess, can turn around and promise that the Federal Government will solve the health care problem, the public education problem, and whatever else ails this country. We know who "saves" and it is not the government, Federal, State, Local.
See, I get time to rant.
Signing off for now.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Secretary of Defense Gates Speaks
Why isn't this man running for President? Thanks, Thomas P. M. Barnett. I think if I were recruiting for the kind of foreign service people the need for which Secretary Gates describes so convincingly, I would turn to the "dynasty families" (second, third, soon fourth generation missionaries), large and small, that I got a glimpse of as a result of my exposure to Africa Inland Mission through Mary's work.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
"Daddy, is this an adventure?!?"
More from the Stocks' newsletter:
* Kids Home * We had a great time with the kids over Christmas and early January, despite the unrest. They have a great attitude and took things in stride. At one point, Jodie, after we had hustled into the house to escape the chasing mob, asked, "Daddy, is this an adventure?!?"
By the way, these are the same Stocks that I mentioned last year in connection with the murder of missionaries in Kenya. Mary refers to the extended Stock family as a "dynasty family", of which there are several such families that extend out from Kenya.
* Kids Home * We had a great time with the kids over Christmas and early January, despite the unrest. They have a great attitude and took things in stride. At one point, Jodie, after we had hustled into the house to escape the chasing mob, asked, "Daddy, is this an adventure?!?"
By the way, these are the same Stocks that I mentioned last year in connection with the murder of missionaries in Kenya. Mary refers to the extended Stock family as a "dynasty family", of which there are several such families that extend out from Kenya.
Report from Pakistan
Paul and Pat Stock are missionaries in Pakistan and friends of the Lahmeyers. Van forwards us the Stocks' newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the latest:
Dr. Reginald freed Last month we wrote to our prayer partners who are on email with an urgent request for prayer for Dr. Reginald, a Pakistani Christian doctor friend, who was kidnapped by the Taliban on December 8th along with his Muslim driver. He is a skilled surgeon and the Director of the Christian Hospital in Bannu, an area where the Taliban have a stronghold. They were driven blindfolded for about 8 hours into the mountains bordering on Afghanistan. For 25 days they were kept in a windowless room and given poor food and dirty water. In spite of this neither of them became ill. Frequently Dr. Reginald was pressured to become a Muslim. Finally he asked, "Where in the Koran does it say to force people to convert to Islam?"
After that they changed their tactics and demanded that he write all donors to his hospital and ask for over a million dollars ransom. Under pressure he wrote the letter but assured them the money would not be sent. The letter was sent to Taliban headquarters. They recognized him as the doctor who had treated their wounded at various times. They wrote back telling his captors to release him. They delayed in obeying hoping to get ransom money. Amazingly, on Jan. 2nd the Taliban returned all personal effects they had taken from them and drove them back to the hospital gate, without receiving any ransom. Dr. Reginald said those 25 days with God were priceless. He had time to repent and to enjoy God's forgiveness and loving presence. He also had time to fully present the gospel to his Muslim driver who was greatly upset at what was being done to them in the name of Islam. Pray that the driver will come to saving faith. Pray their Taliban captors will start to doubt their own faith in the face of the strength and forgiveness they saw in Reginald. Pray for Dr. Reginald and his wife Dr. Rebecca as they give their testimony about this experience with others, and plan to continue their service at Banu Hospital.
Dr. Reginald freed Last month we wrote to our prayer partners who are on email with an urgent request for prayer for Dr. Reginald, a Pakistani Christian doctor friend, who was kidnapped by the Taliban on December 8th along with his Muslim driver. He is a skilled surgeon and the Director of the Christian Hospital in Bannu, an area where the Taliban have a stronghold. They were driven blindfolded for about 8 hours into the mountains bordering on Afghanistan. For 25 days they were kept in a windowless room and given poor food and dirty water. In spite of this neither of them became ill. Frequently Dr. Reginald was pressured to become a Muslim. Finally he asked, "Where in the Koran does it say to force people to convert to Islam?"
After that they changed their tactics and demanded that he write all donors to his hospital and ask for over a million dollars ransom. Under pressure he wrote the letter but assured them the money would not be sent. The letter was sent to Taliban headquarters. They recognized him as the doctor who had treated their wounded at various times. They wrote back telling his captors to release him. They delayed in obeying hoping to get ransom money. Amazingly, on Jan. 2nd the Taliban returned all personal effects they had taken from them and drove them back to the hospital gate, without receiving any ransom. Dr. Reginald said those 25 days with God were priceless. He had time to repent and to enjoy God's forgiveness and loving presence. He also had time to fully present the gospel to his Muslim driver who was greatly upset at what was being done to them in the name of Islam. Pray that the driver will come to saving faith. Pray their Taliban captors will start to doubt their own faith in the face of the strength and forgiveness they saw in Reginald. Pray for Dr. Reginald and his wife Dr. Rebecca as they give their testimony about this experience with others, and plan to continue their service at Banu Hospital.
Hello on Saturday morning!
Mary has three new posts up. What a treat! She had trouble sleeping Saturday night (where would she get that?), but that's our gain.
The last of the three posts describes her conversation with a seller at the Maasi market. It shows how she and the seller became people to each other, stepping out of the role of seller and buyer (which are fierce roles at that market, Mary no less than the Kenyan, I can tell you), over to that of person and person, and then back to buyer and seller but buyer and seller transformed. It reminds me of a story from my working for Jack Hunter, a fine lawyer from Raleigh, during the summer between my first and second years of law school.
Jack, a litigator who practiced "solo" (not really solo - he had a great legal secretary), had a case representing some black people who were injured when their car, traveling in rural Eastern NC, had a wreck when two mules ran across the highway in front of them. Letting one's mules loose was against the law, and my job was to drive to the tobacco growing area where this happened and find some witnesses. Jack said to get up early and see if I could find people going out into the fields, especially farmers, who might have seen or heard something.
He gave this advice: "Don't walk up to someone, introduce yourself as working for me in Raleigh, and start asking your questions. Greet the person in a friendly way, talk about the weather, talk about the crops, talk about the tractor, tell them your name, and begin to get into the question of the accident only after all of that."
OK. So here I am. I pull off the road in my car, when I see a farmer sitting on a tractor out in a field. I have on a coat and tie, wingtips, the uniform, you know. And I walk out between the tobacco rows, and as I approach the farmer (he has seen me, by this time), I say something like "Hello, beautiful day. Has it been this way all week? . . . . This tobacco looks really healthy (!) . . . Have you started picking any of the leaves yet? . . . Etc." He joins in the conversation. He in his overalls sitting on his tractor, I in my city clothes, both talking like we were just standing there waiting for a bus. Then, finally, I ask him if he heard about the accident. "Yessir, you mean that car full of n******s than ran into those mules?" "Yes, sir," I said, "it's too bad, because of couple of those folks were hurt and have been in the hospital." And then we spoke in earnest. (His use of the N word was not unfriendly. This was a different world in 1969, at least in that place.)
What I was trying to find out is if he knew that the mules belonged to Farmer X, which he did, and whether he had ever seen them running loose before. The second question was important, because there was no absolute liability standard for an owner whose livestock causes an accident. There needed to be some proof that the owner did not do a good job of keeping his property fenced, and evidence that people had seen these mules running loose before was admissible on the subject of the owner's negligence.
Anyway, the farmer was forthcoming, courteous, and helpful. But as he had to prepare his fields to receive the tobacco seed to have any hope of a good crop, I had to show him a human being behind the suit, a human being who recognized another human being who happened to be sitting on a tractor, wearing bib-overalls.
This "cutting to the chase" idea, so popular with people who measure out hours and minutes as if they are precious gold (see the second of Mary's new posts) is really not so effective and efficient, whether one is Nairobi, in eastern North Carolina, or, for that matter, in Miami.
The last of the three posts describes her conversation with a seller at the Maasi market. It shows how she and the seller became people to each other, stepping out of the role of seller and buyer (which are fierce roles at that market, Mary no less than the Kenyan, I can tell you), over to that of person and person, and then back to buyer and seller but buyer and seller transformed. It reminds me of a story from my working for Jack Hunter, a fine lawyer from Raleigh, during the summer between my first and second years of law school.
Jack, a litigator who practiced "solo" (not really solo - he had a great legal secretary), had a case representing some black people who were injured when their car, traveling in rural Eastern NC, had a wreck when two mules ran across the highway in front of them. Letting one's mules loose was against the law, and my job was to drive to the tobacco growing area where this happened and find some witnesses. Jack said to get up early and see if I could find people going out into the fields, especially farmers, who might have seen or heard something.
He gave this advice: "Don't walk up to someone, introduce yourself as working for me in Raleigh, and start asking your questions. Greet the person in a friendly way, talk about the weather, talk about the crops, talk about the tractor, tell them your name, and begin to get into the question of the accident only after all of that."
OK. So here I am. I pull off the road in my car, when I see a farmer sitting on a tractor out in a field. I have on a coat and tie, wingtips, the uniform, you know. And I walk out between the tobacco rows, and as I approach the farmer (he has seen me, by this time), I say something like "Hello, beautiful day. Has it been this way all week? . . . . This tobacco looks really healthy (!) . . . Have you started picking any of the leaves yet? . . . Etc." He joins in the conversation. He in his overalls sitting on his tractor, I in my city clothes, both talking like we were just standing there waiting for a bus. Then, finally, I ask him if he heard about the accident. "Yessir, you mean that car full of n******s than ran into those mules?" "Yes, sir," I said, "it's too bad, because of couple of those folks were hurt and have been in the hospital." And then we spoke in earnest. (His use of the N word was not unfriendly. This was a different world in 1969, at least in that place.)
What I was trying to find out is if he knew that the mules belonged to Farmer X, which he did, and whether he had ever seen them running loose before. The second question was important, because there was no absolute liability standard for an owner whose livestock causes an accident. There needed to be some proof that the owner did not do a good job of keeping his property fenced, and evidence that people had seen these mules running loose before was admissible on the subject of the owner's negligence.
Anyway, the farmer was forthcoming, courteous, and helpful. But as he had to prepare his fields to receive the tobacco seed to have any hope of a good crop, I had to show him a human being behind the suit, a human being who recognized another human being who happened to be sitting on a tractor, wearing bib-overalls.
This "cutting to the chase" idea, so popular with people who measure out hours and minutes as if they are precious gold (see the second of Mary's new posts) is really not so effective and efficient, whether one is Nairobi, in eastern North Carolina, or, for that matter, in Miami.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Mini-Cars: Being Smart About It
The WSJ is now free in substantial part. Tuesday's issue had an article on mini-cars either already on or soon to hit the market. These cars are/will be great on gas. But they will also be a little pricey, if one is looking for some style. Finally, there is this:
The factor that is perhaps most likely to keep potential buyers away from mini cars is the worry that they won't hold up in a crash, particularly if they collide with a larger vehicle. A spokesman with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says the death rate for mini cars is 106 fatalities per million registered vehicles, more than double the 41 fatalities per million for very large models like the Lincoln Town Car.
Makers of small cars say the cars are designed to be as safe as possible in collisions. Smart's [Smart fortwo pictured above] marketing tackles the crashworthiness question directly. Smart dealerships even have the fortwo's frame on display without body panels to show the "safety cell" where passengers sit and energy-absorbing bumpers called "crash boxes." [Also above. I know it's confusing with actually two pictures above, but the crash box is in the picture without the driver.] The Smart hasn't been crash-tested yet, but the Insurance Institute plans to do so in the next month or two.
The Insurance Institute says cars in this category aren't good choices for drivers concerned mainly about safety. There are several fuel-efficient larger cars that offer far better occupant protection with only a small decrease in fuel efficiency.
"All cars have gotten safer, but you can't get away from the laws of physics," says Adrian Lund, president of the institute. "There's just less car there to protect you."
It seems to me that if you are making an economic analysis, where you would, of course, include price and gasoline costs over the useful life of the car, you must also assign a cost factor to the mortality and injury risk that you assume when you buy a car.
Maybe that would be all the market needed to deal with this question - requiring that on the sticker, there be a cost assigned to the mortality/injury risk, just as we now require some sort of MPG rating.
Beyond that, it may be that heavier cars ought to bear some extra expense burden, maybe in the form of taxes of some sort, in addition to the higher gasoline costs which they already face, to take into consideration the risk those cars present to others. Perhaps their manufacture should simply be limited. I know this sounds like anti-market heresy, but there you are. I'm still a Democrat.
Meanwhile, I'm driving the larger automobiles.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Good Commentary on the Republican Infighting (and some of my own)
From Instapundit. (Thanks, Carol.)
From what I read about McCain's abrasive personality, I think the real key here is that he ticked so many people off during his long political career. George Smathers, the Senator from FL from 1952 to 1970, told me once, "Paul, it really doesn't matter what people do to you, as long as they are nice about it."
I know that sounds a little extreme, but it captures the importance of being nice to people, even when you disagree with them and even if they are not very nice to you. Smathers was a terrific politician and, for the law firm and himself, a great rain-maker. He was also a crafty individual who loved money, power, and adulation, and was able to acquire a measure of each that few people are able to acquire (or care to acquire).
My sense is that McCain never learned that lesson. Maybe his crankiness helped him survive the Hanoi Hilton, but maybe it made it tougher. But certainly the Senate was not the place for being unkind, and now the chickens are coming home to roost, perhaps to the detriment of the country.
From what I read about McCain's abrasive personality, I think the real key here is that he ticked so many people off during his long political career. George Smathers, the Senator from FL from 1952 to 1970, told me once, "Paul, it really doesn't matter what people do to you, as long as they are nice about it."
I know that sounds a little extreme, but it captures the importance of being nice to people, even when you disagree with them and even if they are not very nice to you. Smathers was a terrific politician and, for the law firm and himself, a great rain-maker. He was also a crafty individual who loved money, power, and adulation, and was able to acquire a measure of each that few people are able to acquire (or care to acquire).
My sense is that McCain never learned that lesson. Maybe his crankiness helped him survive the Hanoi Hilton, but maybe it made it tougher. But certainly the Senate was not the place for being unkind, and now the chickens are coming home to roost, perhaps to the detriment of the country.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Connectivity
From the hospital room:
A blessing and a curse in general. The past 36 hours: a blessing.
A blessing and a curse in general. The past 36 hours: a blessing.
Kellsey is now appendix free!
Sunday AM Kells started feeling a bit icky, but being the trooper that she is, she thought she'd just shake it off. So Sunday afternoon she took Aidan for a walk in the stroller, and carried Honor in the bjorn. After that walk, she had a pain in the right side of her abdomen, but thought she'd just pulled a muscle.
Monday, around 4pm, I got the call at work, "Come home. We need to go to the ER." Walter, who was about 5 ft away at the time was willingly shang-hi-ed into following me home to stand watch on the kiddos.
Monday night she went into surgery around midnight and we hope that we'll be able to go home this afternoon.
No picking up anything heavier than 10lbs for 4 weeks, though. Which includes 20lb Honor.
So that's a bummer. But Honor can sleep on the floor: it's carpeted.
MarsEdit Testing
Yes, I realize I've kind of fallen off the map in terms of posting. So I'm experimenting with a blogging program for the Mac called MarsEdit.
Among other things, I can create/edit posts offline, and I can post here, Undependent, a personal blog I'm experimenting with over at VOX, and an internal company blog.
Daring Fireball, one of my super favorite blogs, digs MarsEdit.
And since I can try it out for 30 days with no charge, seems like a good deal to me.
Among other things, I can create/edit posts offline, and I can post here, Undependent, a personal blog I'm experimenting with over at VOX, and an internal company blog.
Daring Fireball, one of my super favorite blogs, digs MarsEdit.
And since I can try it out for 30 days with no charge, seems like a good deal to me.
Monday, February 04, 2008
"Deep Seeded"?
I saw this phrase used in a writing recently. The writer was referring to something deeply felt. I had always thought the phrase was "deep-seated". I am correct, apparently, and the writer is mistaken.
Steve Peifer and the Policeman
I have posted before on Steve Piefer and his ministry in Kenya. Among the things he has done is to have organized a school lunch program for many schools in Kenya. During the recent troubles, getting food to the schools has been a big problem. He reported this to those of us on his email list:
We have been trying hard to get the food to the schools. Margaret, the Kenyan woman who administers the School Lunch program, asked me to go with her to Muchorui, one of the nine schools we have just been able to add to the feeding program; we are up to 34 schools and 15,000 thousand children fed a day. Thank you for what you have done.
She asked me to go with her because, although she is adept at dodging riots and problems, there was one policeman that she couldn’t get past. He was insistent that she couldn’t pass his checkpoint without giving him nine bags of maize.
I’ve had several bad experiences with police in Kenya. Once I was delivering food and they told us they were going to arrest us; they explained that we would need to drive them to the police station, where they would process our paperwork, and then I would drive them back to their checkpoint. Then, I would drive myself back to the jail so they could put me in jail. Another time I picked up a drunken police officer who amused himself by pointing his rifle at the back of my head.
I wasn’t anxious to do this. But sometimes you just need to have a showdown with the worst of yourself and face your fears. I went with her and met the policeman.
Policeman: You must give me nine bags before you are permitted to pass.
Me: Why?
Policeman: Because you have stolen it.
Me: Here is the bill of sale.
Policeman: I will not allow you to pass until you pay me nine bags of maize.
Me: I will do it if you do one thing for me.
Policeman: What is it?
Me: You must go with me to the school and pick out 40 children who will not be fed because of what you have done. You tell me which 40 do not deserve food, and I will give you the bags.
Policeman: I will do it.
At this point, he stopped and said `I cannot make that choice.’
Me: Neither can I.
Policeman: You can go.
So we went and the children were so happy. Prices have increased so much that many of these kids will only eat what is provided at the school.
(Want to help? Here's the link to Steve's website that deals with the food program.)
We have been trying hard to get the food to the schools. Margaret, the Kenyan woman who administers the School Lunch program, asked me to go with her to Muchorui, one of the nine schools we have just been able to add to the feeding program; we are up to 34 schools and 15,000 thousand children fed a day. Thank you for what you have done.
She asked me to go with her because, although she is adept at dodging riots and problems, there was one policeman that she couldn’t get past. He was insistent that she couldn’t pass his checkpoint without giving him nine bags of maize.
I’ve had several bad experiences with police in Kenya. Once I was delivering food and they told us they were going to arrest us; they explained that we would need to drive them to the police station, where they would process our paperwork, and then I would drive them back to their checkpoint. Then, I would drive myself back to the jail so they could put me in jail. Another time I picked up a drunken police officer who amused himself by pointing his rifle at the back of my head.
I wasn’t anxious to do this. But sometimes you just need to have a showdown with the worst of yourself and face your fears. I went with her and met the policeman.
Policeman: You must give me nine bags before you are permitted to pass.
Me: Why?
Policeman: Because you have stolen it.
Me: Here is the bill of sale.
Policeman: I will not allow you to pass until you pay me nine bags of maize.
Me: I will do it if you do one thing for me.
Policeman: What is it?
Me: You must go with me to the school and pick out 40 children who will not be fed because of what you have done. You tell me which 40 do not deserve food, and I will give you the bags.
Policeman: I will do it.
At this point, he stopped and said `I cannot make that choice.’
Me: Neither can I.
Policeman: You can go.
So we went and the children were so happy. Prices have increased so much that many of these kids will only eat what is provided at the school.
(Want to help? Here's the link to Steve's website that deals with the food program.)
Sunday, February 03, 2008
More on Convervatives and McCain
It is understandable to lament the absence of conservative purity, but ahistorical to suggest that any recent Republican president would have met any of the litmus tests now demanded, given the dependency of the middle class on entitlements and its touchy-feely worldview. Victor Davis Hanson
But the other point of view.
MORE: Good article on McCain in the conservative Weekly Standard.
EVEN MORE: Victor Davis Hanson discusses each candidate. Did you know that both McCain and Thompson are cancer survivors? Thompson had/has lymphoma. He has a beautiful wife. I didn't know we had so much in common.
But the other point of view.
MORE: Good article on McCain in the conservative Weekly Standard.
EVEN MORE: Victor Davis Hanson discusses each candidate. Did you know that both McCain and Thompson are cancer survivors? Thompson had/has lymphoma. He has a beautiful wife. I didn't know we had so much in common.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Me too; this time from Kenya!
8 things I'm passionate about:
1. Seeking first the Kingdom of God
2. My family
3. My friends
4. New things and new ideas (I am my father's daughter)
5. Kenya
6. My students
7. Beautiful places
8. Cooking for my family and friends and students (I am my mother's daughter, too)
8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Fall in love and get married
2. Run a marathon
3. Become a doctor
4. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
5. See more of Africa
6. Have more adventures
7. Hang out more with my wonderful family
8. Pray more
8 things I say often:
1. Hi, how are you? or Habari?
2. I'm fine, thank you. or Mzuri.
3. Hodee (this is the kikuyu way to say "Hi, is anyone home? I'm coming in!")
4. Hello my wonderful students.
5. Hey guys, please be quiet.
6. I love coffee.
7. I'm tired.
8. Oh my.
8 [books I've recently read] (I changed this one since I really don't have a TV to watch here):
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. S. Fitzgerald (this one for English class)
2. Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers
3. When the Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin
4. The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom, by Alexander McCall Smith
5. The Kiterunner (can't remember the guy who wrote it--but it's the one you're thinking of)
6. Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
7. Have his Carcase, by Dorothy Sayers (a prequel to #2)
8. Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Songs I could listen to over and over (or the most listened to songs on my itunes) (this would be a good playlist formy funeral, by the way--not that I'm planning on that happening anytime soon, of course--I've still got to do those 8 things listed above :)
1. Love and Peace or Else, U2
2. All These Things I've Done, The Killers
3. Psalm 131, Waterdeep
4. Vivir Sin Aire, Mana
5. Blessed To Be a Witness, Ben Harper and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
6. Into the West, Annie Lenox (LOTR soundtrack)
7. Blessed Be Your Name, Matt Redman
8. At the Moment, Stavesacre
8 Things that attract me to my best friends:
1. They're interested in really getting to know me
2. I'm interested in really getting to know them
3. They're passionate about some or all of the things listed above
4. We can hang out and talk, and especially laugh, for hours, peferctly content
5. There's something a little different about them--it's hard to say exactly what it is; I had a friend who called this "mustard"--something that definitely runs counter to the mainstream or expected
6. Their lives aren't all about themselves
7. They're not too picky
8. I feel completely at ease in their presence
8 Things I have been reminded of this past year:
1. God's faithfulness
2. God's mercy and grace
3. How wonderful my parents are
4. How blessed we are in the US to have a democratic system which really does work quite well
5. I love learning
6. I love new experiences
7. I love helping people
8. I love not always having a schedule or structure in my days
8 People I think should do "8":
See post below.
1. Seeking first the Kingdom of God
2. My family
3. My friends
4. New things and new ideas (I am my father's daughter)
5. Kenya
6. My students
7. Beautiful places
8. Cooking for my family and friends and students (I am my mother's daughter, too)
8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Fall in love and get married
2. Run a marathon
3. Become a doctor
4. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
5. See more of Africa
6. Have more adventures
7. Hang out more with my wonderful family
8. Pray more
8 things I say often:
1. Hi, how are you? or Habari?
2. I'm fine, thank you. or Mzuri.
3. Hodee (this is the kikuyu way to say "Hi, is anyone home? I'm coming in!")
4. Hello my wonderful students.
5. Hey guys, please be quiet.
6. I love coffee.
7. I'm tired.
8. Oh my.
8 [books I've recently read] (I changed this one since I really don't have a TV to watch here):
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. S. Fitzgerald (this one for English class)
2. Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers
3. When the Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin
4. The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom, by Alexander McCall Smith
5. The Kiterunner (can't remember the guy who wrote it--but it's the one you're thinking of)
6. Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
7. Have his Carcase, by Dorothy Sayers (a prequel to #2)
8. Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Songs I could listen to over and over (or the most listened to songs on my itunes) (this would be a good playlist formy funeral, by the way--not that I'm planning on that happening anytime soon, of course--I've still got to do those 8 things listed above :)
1. Love and Peace or Else, U2
2. All These Things I've Done, The Killers
3. Psalm 131, Waterdeep
4. Vivir Sin Aire, Mana
5. Blessed To Be a Witness, Ben Harper and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
6. Into the West, Annie Lenox (LOTR soundtrack)
7. Blessed Be Your Name, Matt Redman
8. At the Moment, Stavesacre
8 Things that attract me to my best friends:
1. They're interested in really getting to know me
2. I'm interested in really getting to know them
3. They're passionate about some or all of the things listed above
4. We can hang out and talk, and especially laugh, for hours, peferctly content
5. There's something a little different about them--it's hard to say exactly what it is; I had a friend who called this "mustard"--something that definitely runs counter to the mainstream or expected
6. Their lives aren't all about themselves
7. They're not too picky
8. I feel completely at ease in their presence
8 Things I have been reminded of this past year:
1. God's faithfulness
2. God's mercy and grace
3. How wonderful my parents are
4. How blessed we are in the US to have a democratic system which really does work quite well
5. I love learning
6. I love new experiences
7. I love helping people
8. I love not always having a schedule or structure in my days
8 People I think should do "8":
See post below.
Kellsey Tagged Me
OK. Let's see here:
8 Things I'm Passionate About
1. Carol
2. My family
3. Being a Christian
4. Having time to myself
5. Order
6. New things and new ideas
7. Carol's cooking
8. My friends
8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1. Go camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Spring
2. See a jaw dropping miracle and know that's what I'm seeing
3. Read the Great Books
4. Play golf well enough not to be embarrased
5. Learn to cook
6. Speak Spanish
7. Write something useful or entertaining or both
8. Get my work done
8 Things I say Often
Not sure here what to do. Does this include what one would say to himself and not to others? Or only to others? I will include both. And as there are two Pauls, I am not sure for whom I should be talking, so I will include both here as well.
1. Carol, you are a marvelous cook person!
2. Thank you so much, Lord! Thank you!
3. If I get under my desk, will they be able to find me?
4. Where did I put (a) my keys, (b) the remote, (c) my wallet, (d) my watch (e) etc.
5. Shoot!
6. I'm sorry. That was Bad Paul. I'm Good Paul. I try to keep Bad Paul in the closet but he will get out, especially toward the end of the work week. So, on his behalf, I'm sorry.
7. God help us! (I inherited this from Juanita.)
8. I'm going to bed.
8 TV Shows I Recently Watched
I don't watch much TV. I saw most of the NFL playoff games. I saw a couple episodes of Terminator. I'm watching Walter and Morgan's set of the first two seasons of West Wing. That's it.
Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
Very few, actually, especially on an over and over basis. Very few on Kellsey's list ring a bell at all. I'm just not in the loop. Sad, isn't it? My mind goes to arias and other classical pieces, some songs from the sixties, and a few Crash Dog pieces. But beyond that I strike out here. Sorry.
Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends.
1. They put up with me. This is a great mystery and, actually, a jaw dropping miracle.
2. They have a positive outlook.
3. They ask me about my family. And its OK if they tell me about their's first. But they do ask about my family.
4. They agree with me reasonably and disagree with me reasonably.
5. They take my belief in God and his Son and the Holy Spirit seriously, even if they reject those beliefs totally.
6. They are humble and they are self-confident.
7. If they are younger, they treat me with a certain deference. That doesn't mean that a younger person needs to agree with me, of course.
8. They are not so "other directed" in the Riesman sense. They have ideas that run against the popular culture, not for the sake of running against it but because those ideas are well grounded. Their house is built on the rock.
8 Things I have Learned (or been reminded of) this year.
Already? Its just been a month.
1. Bad Paul and Good Paul are the same, and I am responsible for both of them. Sigh.
2. I have to delegate, but in delegating I cannot disconnect from the task. Delegation is not getting rid of responsibility. It transforms responsibility. Shoot!
3. Reading the Bible every day is just so, so helpful.
4. If you eat too much, you gain weight.
5. I need one day off a week. Period. Let's see what to call it? Sabbath maybe.
6. Carol is so beautiful.
7. I don't deserve these blessings. God is tough, but God is merciful and a font of Grace. I haven't the slightest idea why. He simply defines love. Jaw dropping.
8. I can't keep up with things.
8 People I think should do "8"
1. Those on Kellsey's list
2. Sean
3-8 Guys from Friday morning breakfast. (Let me know if you will do this, and I will add you to the list of folks who can post on this blog.)
Thanks, Kellsey!
8 Things I'm Passionate About
1. Carol
2. My family
3. Being a Christian
4. Having time to myself
5. Order
6. New things and new ideas
7. Carol's cooking
8. My friends
8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1. Go camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Spring
2. See a jaw dropping miracle and know that's what I'm seeing
3. Read the Great Books
4. Play golf well enough not to be embarrased
5. Learn to cook
6. Speak Spanish
7. Write something useful or entertaining or both
8. Get my work done
8 Things I say Often
Not sure here what to do. Does this include what one would say to himself and not to others? Or only to others? I will include both. And as there are two Pauls, I am not sure for whom I should be talking, so I will include both here as well.
1. Carol, you are a marvelous cook person!
2. Thank you so much, Lord! Thank you!
3. If I get under my desk, will they be able to find me?
4. Where did I put (a) my keys, (b) the remote, (c) my wallet, (d) my watch (e) etc.
5. Shoot!
6. I'm sorry. That was Bad Paul. I'm Good Paul. I try to keep Bad Paul in the closet but he will get out, especially toward the end of the work week. So, on his behalf, I'm sorry.
7. God help us! (I inherited this from Juanita.)
8. I'm going to bed.
8 TV Shows I Recently Watched
I don't watch much TV. I saw most of the NFL playoff games. I saw a couple episodes of Terminator. I'm watching Walter and Morgan's set of the first two seasons of West Wing. That's it.
Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
Very few, actually, especially on an over and over basis. Very few on Kellsey's list ring a bell at all. I'm just not in the loop. Sad, isn't it? My mind goes to arias and other classical pieces, some songs from the sixties, and a few Crash Dog pieces. But beyond that I strike out here. Sorry.
Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends.
1. They put up with me. This is a great mystery and, actually, a jaw dropping miracle.
2. They have a positive outlook.
3. They ask me about my family. And its OK if they tell me about their's first. But they do ask about my family.
4. They agree with me reasonably and disagree with me reasonably.
5. They take my belief in God and his Son and the Holy Spirit seriously, even if they reject those beliefs totally.
6. They are humble and they are self-confident.
7. If they are younger, they treat me with a certain deference. That doesn't mean that a younger person needs to agree with me, of course.
8. They are not so "other directed" in the Riesman sense. They have ideas that run against the popular culture, not for the sake of running against it but because those ideas are well grounded. Their house is built on the rock.
8 Things I have Learned (or been reminded of) this year.
Already? Its just been a month.
1. Bad Paul and Good Paul are the same, and I am responsible for both of them. Sigh.
2. I have to delegate, but in delegating I cannot disconnect from the task. Delegation is not getting rid of responsibility. It transforms responsibility. Shoot!
3. Reading the Bible every day is just so, so helpful.
4. If you eat too much, you gain weight.
5. I need one day off a week. Period. Let's see what to call it? Sabbath maybe.
6. Carol is so beautiful.
7. I don't deserve these blessings. God is tough, but God is merciful and a font of Grace. I haven't the slightest idea why. He simply defines love. Jaw dropping.
8. I can't keep up with things.
8 People I think should do "8"
1. Those on Kellsey's list
2. Sean
3-8 Guys from Friday morning breakfast. (Let me know if you will do this, and I will add you to the list of folks who can post on this blog.)
Thanks, Kellsey!
Friday Morning Bible Study Breakfast at Grunberg's
Left to right: Brad, Austin, Paul, Sam and Russ. (Missing Hank, Rick, and Rob.)
Friday Night Under the Lights
Last night Carol and I went to Milander Stadium to watch the girls soccer team from Miami Springs Senior High play Lourdes in the Class 6A Regional Tournament. Last year Springs lost a heartbreaker to Lourdes in the same tournament when Lourdes tied them in the waning minutes of the game and then beat them on penalty kicks. But last night, Springs blasted Lourdes 3-0, two of the scores being made by Abby Carr, my friend Austin's younger daughter.
This is the first time I had seen Abby play, but through Austin, the community newspaper, the Miami Herald and word of mouth from others, I have been following her soccer career for several years. Only a sophomore and actually a year younger than her grade level, she has already achieved recognition county and state-wide as an outstanding soccer player. Last year she was All-Dade, first team - as a freshman. So last night I got a chance to see her.
Amazing. I wish I had the knowledge of soccer to be able to describe what I saw accurately, but I'll do the best I can.
The first thing I noticed about her is her field presence. She doesn't seem to spend any unnecessary energy. From her position as a forward, she seems to know just where to be on the field and moves there quietly and efficiently, watching the play intently. Then quickly she moves to the point where she thinks the ball will travel, and usually gets control of the ball and takes it or sends it where she wants it to go a good part of the time. And she moves with remarkable fluidity and grace, again with evident purpose, intelligently.
Her first score came off a foul committed against her as she was driving toward the goal. Her penalty kick sailed over the heads of the wall and then the goalie: a perfect arc into the net. The second kick was a free kick from the edge of the penalty box. As Abby again drove for a score, the goalie dove for the ball right at the edge of the penalty box, and as the goalie fell, taking Abby down with her, the goalie touched the ball with her hand just outside the box, so it was a hand ball.
It must have seemed to the Lourdes players that what followed would be a penalty kick, but it was a free kick. In other words, the refs would not stop the action until the defense got into position as the refs would do on a penalty kick. Maybe it looked like a penalty to the Lourdes players. But Abby astutely and immediately put the ball right down on the ground and kicked it into the goal. The Lourdes team was scattered all over the field and wasn't ready. Shame on them, but it reflected the sort of smart move that characterizes Abby's play.
That second goal broke the back of the other side - the third point scored by the daughter of the Miami Springs Mayor was very near the end of the game and icing on the cake. Abby had a number of other shots on goal that showed her quickness and phenomenal accuracy.
Carol and I sat with Austin in the stands. The first half of the game, we were on the Lourdes side, because it put us at the end of the field where Abby was playing. Behind us were several men, watching the game and commenting, Lourdes fans. They started talking about Abby's play not long after the game started - she was playing right in front of us there. And their remarks were full of respect and admiration. The three of us heard those remarks of course. What a joy the whole thing must be for Austin.
It was fun to be at Milander Stadium again. This is the field for Hialeah High School, my alma matter (Class of '64), and I saw a bunch of high school games there. This also the home field for Miami Springs Senior High, so we saw many more football games there, as our children moved through that school. (But never soccer games, curiously.) Milander looks much the same, except the field is now some sort of astroturf. Austin said that the ball rolls faster of that surface.
It didn't seem to bother Abby.
This is the first time I had seen Abby play, but through Austin, the community newspaper, the Miami Herald and word of mouth from others, I have been following her soccer career for several years. Only a sophomore and actually a year younger than her grade level, she has already achieved recognition county and state-wide as an outstanding soccer player. Last year she was All-Dade, first team - as a freshman. So last night I got a chance to see her.
Amazing. I wish I had the knowledge of soccer to be able to describe what I saw accurately, but I'll do the best I can.
The first thing I noticed about her is her field presence. She doesn't seem to spend any unnecessary energy. From her position as a forward, she seems to know just where to be on the field and moves there quietly and efficiently, watching the play intently. Then quickly she moves to the point where she thinks the ball will travel, and usually gets control of the ball and takes it or sends it where she wants it to go a good part of the time. And she moves with remarkable fluidity and grace, again with evident purpose, intelligently.
Her first score came off a foul committed against her as she was driving toward the goal. Her penalty kick sailed over the heads of the wall and then the goalie: a perfect arc into the net. The second kick was a free kick from the edge of the penalty box. As Abby again drove for a score, the goalie dove for the ball right at the edge of the penalty box, and as the goalie fell, taking Abby down with her, the goalie touched the ball with her hand just outside the box, so it was a hand ball.
It must have seemed to the Lourdes players that what followed would be a penalty kick, but it was a free kick. In other words, the refs would not stop the action until the defense got into position as the refs would do on a penalty kick. Maybe it looked like a penalty to the Lourdes players. But Abby astutely and immediately put the ball right down on the ground and kicked it into the goal. The Lourdes team was scattered all over the field and wasn't ready. Shame on them, but it reflected the sort of smart move that characterizes Abby's play.
That second goal broke the back of the other side - the third point scored by the daughter of the Miami Springs Mayor was very near the end of the game and icing on the cake. Abby had a number of other shots on goal that showed her quickness and phenomenal accuracy.
Carol and I sat with Austin in the stands. The first half of the game, we were on the Lourdes side, because it put us at the end of the field where Abby was playing. Behind us were several men, watching the game and commenting, Lourdes fans. They started talking about Abby's play not long after the game started - she was playing right in front of us there. And their remarks were full of respect and admiration. The three of us heard those remarks of course. What a joy the whole thing must be for Austin.
It was fun to be at Milander Stadium again. This is the field for Hialeah High School, my alma matter (Class of '64), and I saw a bunch of high school games there. This also the home field for Miami Springs Senior High, so we saw many more football games there, as our children moved through that school. (But never soccer games, curiously.) Milander looks much the same, except the field is now some sort of astroturf. Austin said that the ball rolls faster of that surface.
It didn't seem to bother Abby.
Friday, February 01, 2008
I've Been Tagged
My friend Katy has tagged me. So, here are my things of 8:
8 Things I am passionate about:
1. The Trinity
2. Scripture
3. My husband and children
4. The rest of my family
5. My friends
6. Rich and full stories
7. Helping soon-to-be-new-moms get ready for their babies
8. Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius 2.0 All-in-One Diapers
8 Things I want to do before I die...
1. See my children grow up
2. get the toddler totes I designed actually made and maybe sold
3. Go to Italy with my husband on a romantic getaway
4. Sleep until I can sleep no more, instead of waking up at 5:15 every morning with my daughter
5. Paint every room in my house a different color
6. Grow into a more disciplined spiritual life
7. Maybe get my counseling license...but I am not really sure that I REALLY want that....we'll have to wait and see
8. I can't think of anything else here....ummmmm, hmmmmm....eat more nutella?
8 Things I say often...
1. Good job!
2. Stop Whining and use your words nicely please
3. I completely understand
4. I love you so
5. I love you even when I am angry or frustrated
6. All ahoo **
7. I'm sorry
8. I forgive you
(Sheesh! Can you tell I am the mother of a 3 year old?)
** this one is because I am on book 15 out of 20 of the Aubrey/Maturin series--by patrick o'bryan--a british naval historical fiction series based in the Napoleonic Era.
8 TV Shows I have recently watched...
1. Stargate Atlantis
2. Flash Gordon
3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Don't know if I'll stick with this one or not)
4. Backyardigans (a Nick Jr. show)
5. Blue's Clues
6. Man, with the writers on strike this is it, although usually I would be watching Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and maybe Private Practice as well
8 Songs I could listen to over and over...
1. Thanksgiving--George Winston on piano
2. A Woman's Work--Kate Bush
3. Homesick--The Kings of Convenience
4. How to Save a Life--the Fray
5. I'll Fly Away--as done by Alison Kraus
6. Resplendent--BIll Mallonee and the Vigilantes of Love
7. Redemption Day--Sheryl Crow
8. Don't Give Up--Peter Gabriel
8 Things that attract me to my best friends...
1. love of Jesus
2. genuineness
3. vulnerability
4. honesty
5. self-awareness
6. laughter
7. healthy boundaries
8. a deep appreciation of the silly things in life
8 Things I have learned (or been reminded of) this past year...
1. Parenting is it's own spiritual discipline
2. God loves me deeply
3. God is patient, so so patient
4. the importance of laughter, especially when you'd rather scream
5. the importance of washing cloth diapers by the second day (and not letting them sit for too long...phew!)
6. how much of a rest it is for my soul to sit down and immerse myself in a good book
7. That I am not enough for anyone else, even for my children (or perhaps especially!)
8. That I am not responsible for how others respond and can only change myself and my reactions
8 People I think should do "8"
1. Macon
2. Paul
3. Carol
4. Mary
5. Walter
6. Scott
7. Lindsay C.
8. Emilie W.
8 Things I am passionate about:
1. The Trinity
2. Scripture
3. My husband and children
4. The rest of my family
5. My friends
6. Rich and full stories
7. Helping soon-to-be-new-moms get ready for their babies
8. Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius 2.0 All-in-One Diapers
8 Things I want to do before I die...
1. See my children grow up
2. get the toddler totes I designed actually made and maybe sold
3. Go to Italy with my husband on a romantic getaway
4. Sleep until I can sleep no more, instead of waking up at 5:15 every morning with my daughter
5. Paint every room in my house a different color
6. Grow into a more disciplined spiritual life
7. Maybe get my counseling license...but I am not really sure that I REALLY want that....we'll have to wait and see
8. I can't think of anything else here....ummmmm, hmmmmm....eat more nutella?
8 Things I say often...
1. Good job!
2. Stop Whining and use your words nicely please
3. I completely understand
4. I love you so
5. I love you even when I am angry or frustrated
6. All ahoo **
7. I'm sorry
8. I forgive you
(Sheesh! Can you tell I am the mother of a 3 year old?)
** this one is because I am on book 15 out of 20 of the Aubrey/Maturin series--by patrick o'bryan--a british naval historical fiction series based in the Napoleonic Era.
8 TV Shows I have recently watched...
1. Stargate Atlantis
2. Flash Gordon
3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Don't know if I'll stick with this one or not)
4. Backyardigans (a Nick Jr. show)
5. Blue's Clues
6. Man, with the writers on strike this is it, although usually I would be watching Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and maybe Private Practice as well
8 Songs I could listen to over and over...
1. Thanksgiving--George Winston on piano
2. A Woman's Work--Kate Bush
3. Homesick--The Kings of Convenience
4. How to Save a Life--the Fray
5. I'll Fly Away--as done by Alison Kraus
6. Resplendent--BIll Mallonee and the Vigilantes of Love
7. Redemption Day--Sheryl Crow
8. Don't Give Up--Peter Gabriel
8 Things that attract me to my best friends...
1. love of Jesus
2. genuineness
3. vulnerability
4. honesty
5. self-awareness
6. laughter
7. healthy boundaries
8. a deep appreciation of the silly things in life
8 Things I have learned (or been reminded of) this past year...
1. Parenting is it's own spiritual discipline
2. God loves me deeply
3. God is patient, so so patient
4. the importance of laughter, especially when you'd rather scream
5. the importance of washing cloth diapers by the second day (and not letting them sit for too long...phew!)
6. how much of a rest it is for my soul to sit down and immerse myself in a good book
7. That I am not enough for anyone else, even for my children (or perhaps especially!)
8. That I am not responsible for how others respond and can only change myself and my reactions
8 People I think should do "8"
1. Macon
2. Paul
3. Carol
4. Mary
5. Walter
6. Scott
7. Lindsay C.
8. Emilie W.
Another Florida Election Scandal!
I had earlier reported that I had changed by mail my registration from Democrat to Republican, so that I could vote in the Florida Republican primary. However, when I arrived to vote on Tuesday, the voter roll there still showed me to be a Democrat and nothing could be done. So I voted as a Democrat.
Intellectually, I was disappointed. But in my heart . . .
Intellectually, I was disappointed. But in my heart . . .
McCain vs. Conservatives
I'm glad to see, finally, that some conservatives in the blogosphere are questioning the doom and gloom attitude of their movement regarding McCain. (See various recent posts and links on Instapundit.)
Having been a voter for 40+ years, I can tell you that the Republican Conservative movement only once had a Presidential candidate who won, and that was Reagan. And during that time, they only had one other Presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater. In fact, start at the end of WWII and you still have to wait until Reagan to get a conservative in the White House. And I would suggest that the people elected him more on the basis of his communication skills and the weakness of the Democratic nominees than on ideology.
What hubris that the conservatives believe that they somehow own the Republican party and that now its been stolen. They never did. They never will. I like this comment to which Glenn Reynolds linked. I think it summed up what the conservative movement needs to do.
Having been a voter for 40+ years, I can tell you that the Republican Conservative movement only once had a Presidential candidate who won, and that was Reagan. And during that time, they only had one other Presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater. In fact, start at the end of WWII and you still have to wait until Reagan to get a conservative in the White House. And I would suggest that the people elected him more on the basis of his communication skills and the weakness of the Democratic nominees than on ideology.
What hubris that the conservatives believe that they somehow own the Republican party and that now its been stolen. They never did. They never will. I like this comment to which Glenn Reynolds linked. I think it summed up what the conservative movement needs to do.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sweet Sweet Smile
While Macon is busy posting about skiing with Aidan, I thought I would throw in a couple of photos of the girl. Even sick, she has a sweet sweet smile!
Aidan On Ice
I'm on vacation. Remember last time?
Today Aidan took his first trip on skis. His Papa (Kellsey's Dad) coached him, and I walked along beside him. (Kells was the photographer.) Aidan did really well, though I have no idea if he'll want to do any more skiing until next year.
No skiing for me anymore. Just the board. I like only having to worry about two edges, instead of four.
Today Aidan took his first trip on skis. His Papa (Kellsey's Dad) coached him, and I walked along beside him. (Kells was the photographer.) Aidan did really well, though I have no idea if he'll want to do any more skiing until next year.
No skiing for me anymore. Just the board. I like only having to worry about two edges, instead of four.
Good-Bye, Sarah Connor
I watched my third and last episode of the Terminator series Monday night. For the same reason I stopped watching Heroes two years ago, I am letting Sarah go. The reason is the graphically obscene way the show deals with human bodies, not in the pornographic sense, but in the sense of gore and mutilation. Even my senses, dulled as they are by the staged violence of the media for 60+ plus years, found what I saw on Monday just too repelling. I reacted the same way that I reacted to the cadavers that were all over Heroes by its second or third episode. (And, for that matter, to the images in Sin City.)
When we consider that our corporeal selves are the image of God, should we voluntarily expose ourselves to such contrived and violated images?
When we consider that our corporeal selves are the image of God, should we voluntarily expose ourselves to such contrived and violated images?
Ah, Miami!
This morning I went by the little food/coffee stand in our lobby. Its refrigerated display includes some little Jello cups, and I decided to get one because my stomach has been giving me a little trouble the last few days and I'm eating carefully.
It was busy and noisy, and when the saleslady got to me I asked for some "Orange Jello". She bent down and brought up a bottled orange drink. "No", I said, "orange Jello", and pointed to a row of little cups at the bottom of the cabinet. "Oh," she said, "Yello. That's Yello." "OK," I smiled, "Yello", and I got it.
It was busy and noisy, and when the saleslady got to me I asked for some "Orange Jello". She bent down and brought up a bottled orange drink. "No", I said, "orange Jello", and pointed to a row of little cups at the bottom of the cabinet. "Oh," she said, "Yello. That's Yello." "OK," I smiled, "Yello", and I got it.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
So, what did you think?
UPDATE: I saw the second episode last Monday night. It was very good too. I think I am getting hooked. Glenn Reynolds likes it. Here is his post on various Terminator editions.
Someone needs to come up with a graphical way to chart the various time jumps, because this is beginning to get complicated and I am getting on in years. Let me see, do we know people who are graphically gifted?
UPDATE: I saw the second episode last Monday night. It was very good too. I think I am getting hooked. Glenn Reynolds likes it. Here is his post on various Terminator editions.
Someone needs to come up with a graphical way to chart the various time jumps, because this is beginning to get complicated and I am getting on in years. Let me see, do we know people who are graphically gifted?
Friday, January 11, 2008
Internet Power
Last night, Carol and I wanted to watch the Republican Presidential candidate debate. We thought it would be on the Fox network channel here in Miami. It was not. Perhaps it was on the Fox cable news channel, but we do not have cable.
So we went to Foxnews.com on the internet, and there it was.
Power to the People!
So we went to Foxnews.com on the internet, and there it was.
Power to the People!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Ultimate Reference of Merit
The December 2007 issue of The New Criterion magazine features a special section on Art. It includes an essay by Marco Grassi, a "private paintings conservator and dealer in New York". The essay, entitled "The Great Collectors" proposes that "one way to understand the history of art is through a history of collecting." Grassi writes, "We can divide the last century into four periods, each exemplifying certain attitudes toward art collecting". He goes on to describe those periods in a very well written and informative way.
Grassi is not happy about the last period, which he describes as "the postmodern". In this period, typified by the Saatchi brothers, the norm is "the exploitation of art for speculative and headline-grabbng self-aggrandizement . . . Museums, rather than being final destinations for lifelong collecting endeavors, have all too often become useful marketing stopovers for lender-entrepreneurs who exercise droit de signeur over the holdings . . . "
Grassi cites the yearly Miami-Basel "kermesse" as an example of the culmination of the postmodern malaise. He writes:
Drawing a line, in this time frame [of the past century], from Frick [the "imperial" phase, 1880-1920] through Kress [partnered with the Continis] and Simon [the "modern"], and ending with Saatchi, one sees all too clearly how these collectors embody the aspirations, myths, an ideals of each period; and how - in an ascending curve - the function of money has played an ever-increasing role. Wealth, of course, has always been important, but now it has become, finally, the only protagonist - the ultimate reference of merit, quality, content, and meaning.
I certainly cannot second guess Grasso on his history, but I can affirm the idea that money seems to have become "the ultimate reference of merit, quality, content, and meaning" in so many endeavors, including the law. But is this new or is this simply God versus mammon, an eternal struggle, although one with which our country seems to be having particular difficulty?
Grassi is not happy about the last period, which he describes as "the postmodern". In this period, typified by the Saatchi brothers, the norm is "the exploitation of art for speculative and headline-grabbng self-aggrandizement . . . Museums, rather than being final destinations for lifelong collecting endeavors, have all too often become useful marketing stopovers for lender-entrepreneurs who exercise droit de signeur over the holdings . . . "
Grassi cites the yearly Miami-Basel "kermesse" as an example of the culmination of the postmodern malaise. He writes:
Drawing a line, in this time frame [of the past century], from Frick [the "imperial" phase, 1880-1920] through Kress [partnered with the Continis] and Simon [the "modern"], and ending with Saatchi, one sees all too clearly how these collectors embody the aspirations, myths, an ideals of each period; and how - in an ascending curve - the function of money has played an ever-increasing role. Wealth, of course, has always been important, but now it has become, finally, the only protagonist - the ultimate reference of merit, quality, content, and meaning.
I certainly cannot second guess Grasso on his history, but I can affirm the idea that money seems to have become "the ultimate reference of merit, quality, content, and meaning" in so many endeavors, including the law. But is this new or is this simply God versus mammon, an eternal struggle, although one with which our country seems to be having particular difficulty?
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Dave McDonald
On a somewhat difficult estate planning matter, I have run into a lawyer I have known for years, Dave McDonald. He is sort of the "general counsel" for a successful businessman who became my estate planning client last year. This has given me an occasion to renew my acquaintance with Dave, who is a terrific trial lawyer.
I found that out during the early 70s, in a jury trial in which I represented Lloyds and he represented the owners of a cargo airplane that crashed in Africa. My client had the "hull" coverage, meaning that the Lloyds syndicate I represented was supposed to pay the owners the value of the airplane that went down. Our defense, as I recall it, was a clause the excluded coverage in the event of a war. The plane may have been shot down by guerrillas.
I knew I was in trouble when all the older trial lawyers at the firm I was with back peddled away from the case. (The trial was only the second or third I had tried on my own.) The case was actually controlled by a lawyer in a law firm in New York City through whom the case came to my firm. He didn't went to settle the case, and insisted we try it, and I did, and the NY lawyer sat next to me during the trial as an observer. A locally well known judge, Judge James W. Kehoe, presided. (His weekend job was as a referee for high school football games. Later, he became a federal judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.) It was before a jury.
When the jury came back with a verdict for Dave's client, several of the jurors came over and shook my hand and told me I had done a good job, which is the only time that ever happened. The court house was close enough to our law office to walk, and we always did. Before I returned from the court house to our law office, Judge Kehoe had called one of the senior partners at the firm to tell him that I had done a good job and that the NY lawyer was a jerk.
Anyway, Dave did a fine job in winning the case for his client. He was always a complete gentleman and was (and is still) a gritty, intelligent advocate. I was glad to run into him again on the current estate planning case.
I found that out during the early 70s, in a jury trial in which I represented Lloyds and he represented the owners of a cargo airplane that crashed in Africa. My client had the "hull" coverage, meaning that the Lloyds syndicate I represented was supposed to pay the owners the value of the airplane that went down. Our defense, as I recall it, was a clause the excluded coverage in the event of a war. The plane may have been shot down by guerrillas.
I knew I was in trouble when all the older trial lawyers at the firm I was with back peddled away from the case. (The trial was only the second or third I had tried on my own.) The case was actually controlled by a lawyer in a law firm in New York City through whom the case came to my firm. He didn't went to settle the case, and insisted we try it, and I did, and the NY lawyer sat next to me during the trial as an observer. A locally well known judge, Judge James W. Kehoe, presided. (His weekend job was as a referee for high school football games. Later, he became a federal judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.) It was before a jury.
When the jury came back with a verdict for Dave's client, several of the jurors came over and shook my hand and told me I had done a good job, which is the only time that ever happened. The court house was close enough to our law office to walk, and we always did. Before I returned from the court house to our law office, Judge Kehoe had called one of the senior partners at the firm to tell him that I had done a good job and that the NY lawyer was a jerk.
Anyway, Dave did a fine job in winning the case for his client. He was always a complete gentleman and was (and is still) a gritty, intelligent advocate. I was glad to run into him again on the current estate planning case.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Sysyphus
Our last 2007 business day at the firm closed with a bang. Putting together the numbers so that my partners and I can decide on a fair way to divide the profits is always a challenge. For the past several years the other partners were content to have me figure all of that out. To have any sort of hope of getting the division just right requires us to collect the data as close to the end of the year as possible. Then we need to analyze it, decide on a division proposal, present it to the other partners and get their approval, and then notify our payroll manager (Paychex) of how it should cut the checks. Our deadline was 2 PM on Monday. Carol called Paychex about 1:55!
But this year, Carol and I started early in putting together a format for allocating revenues and costs in a deliberate manner, using our commercial time and billing system and figuring out how to import its data into Excel spreadsheets we invented ourselves. Carol really worked hard at the task, and I put hours in on the matter. At one point, we engaged our accountants to help us, but we realized that beyond their confirming that our general approach was correct and helping Carol with some adjusting entries (as they do each year anyway), the real work was up to us.
During the year, Carol had collected a number of articles concerning compensation approaches for law firms that I found very helpful. Of course, having been in law firms since 1972, I have had experience with all sorts of approaches. One of the articles showed a sort of history of law firm compensation that exactly reflected my own experiences. When I began practicing, the compensation scheme was basically seniority driven and that lasted well into the 1980s until the firm essentially exploded because the younger partners felt the system unfairly held them back economically. Then we moved into a struggle between the "origination" approach and the "billable hour" approach, with "originations" finally prevailing, at least for awhile. But that contributed to firm instability in a big way. In all of these approaches, firm management sought to capture just the right "formula", a sort of deus ex machina solution. This way, with a formula, one wouldn't need to actually sit down and look at his partners in the eye and say, "This is how much I think you are worth and how much I think I am worth", and then sit back and see if anyone is upset to the point of walking out. But that's really the way it is, finally, whether that the explosion (or not) takes place at the end of the year in fast motion or whether the explosion occurs in slow motion, taking several months thereafter finally to pull the relationships apart.
We worked hard to put together a formula that was mainly based on "production", that is, how many dollars came in the door as a result of one's billable hours. We then worked on attributing dollars to partners that were earned by non-partners. Finally we allocated costs to each partner and came out with a "net revenue" number for each of us.
But we didn't distribute on the basis of net revenue. We took those numbers and added intangibles to it. One intangible was a sense that we should treat each other the same. Another was "originations" - how much recognition should be given to the partner who brought in the client in the first place, regardless of how much he worked on the client's case. And other factors as well. When we finished massaging the numbers, one could ask why we had gone to the trouble of getting to the "net revenue" numbers in the first place. But that number was the platform upon which our gestalt allocations could be made. And everyone had the spreadsheets that got us to the "net revenue" numbers. So there was full disclosure. Finally, when we had our meeting with 2 PM breathing down our necks and reached agreement on the numbers, everyone at least seemed to be happy.
So we got that big stone up to the top at 2 PM December 31.
Of course, it rolled down the mountain yesterday, and I'm beginning to walk down after it this morning. I know a lot of people are making that walk this morning. If it's happiness I feel, it is a strange sort of happiness.
But this year, Carol and I started early in putting together a format for allocating revenues and costs in a deliberate manner, using our commercial time and billing system and figuring out how to import its data into Excel spreadsheets we invented ourselves. Carol really worked hard at the task, and I put hours in on the matter. At one point, we engaged our accountants to help us, but we realized that beyond their confirming that our general approach was correct and helping Carol with some adjusting entries (as they do each year anyway), the real work was up to us.
During the year, Carol had collected a number of articles concerning compensation approaches for law firms that I found very helpful. Of course, having been in law firms since 1972, I have had experience with all sorts of approaches. One of the articles showed a sort of history of law firm compensation that exactly reflected my own experiences. When I began practicing, the compensation scheme was basically seniority driven and that lasted well into the 1980s until the firm essentially exploded because the younger partners felt the system unfairly held them back economically. Then we moved into a struggle between the "origination" approach and the "billable hour" approach, with "originations" finally prevailing, at least for awhile. But that contributed to firm instability in a big way. In all of these approaches, firm management sought to capture just the right "formula", a sort of deus ex machina solution. This way, with a formula, one wouldn't need to actually sit down and look at his partners in the eye and say, "This is how much I think you are worth and how much I think I am worth", and then sit back and see if anyone is upset to the point of walking out. But that's really the way it is, finally, whether that the explosion (or not) takes place at the end of the year in fast motion or whether the explosion occurs in slow motion, taking several months thereafter finally to pull the relationships apart.
We worked hard to put together a formula that was mainly based on "production", that is, how many dollars came in the door as a result of one's billable hours. We then worked on attributing dollars to partners that were earned by non-partners. Finally we allocated costs to each partner and came out with a "net revenue" number for each of us.
But we didn't distribute on the basis of net revenue. We took those numbers and added intangibles to it. One intangible was a sense that we should treat each other the same. Another was "originations" - how much recognition should be given to the partner who brought in the client in the first place, regardless of how much he worked on the client's case. And other factors as well. When we finished massaging the numbers, one could ask why we had gone to the trouble of getting to the "net revenue" numbers in the first place. But that number was the platform upon which our gestalt allocations could be made. And everyone had the spreadsheets that got us to the "net revenue" numbers. So there was full disclosure. Finally, when we had our meeting with 2 PM breathing down our necks and reached agreement on the numbers, everyone at least seemed to be happy.
So we got that big stone up to the top at 2 PM December 31.
Of course, it rolled down the mountain yesterday, and I'm beginning to walk down after it this morning. I know a lot of people are making that walk this morning. If it's happiness I feel, it is a strange sort of happiness.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
But what about world peace?
Anyone want to argue about man's depravity?
Thanks Instapundit.
(On the other hand, we have only his side of the story. But beauty queen? No.)
UPDATE: This is a very sad looking group of people. Note also that the beauty pageant people are not exactly backing up their winner 100%. The beauty pageant's spokesman said:
"While this young woman was indeed named Miss Pima County 2005, we find it important to note that the Miss Pima County scholarship pageant was under different leadership at the time."
Thanks Instapundit.
(On the other hand, we have only his side of the story. But beauty queen? No.)
UPDATE: This is a very sad looking group of people. Note also that the beauty pageant people are not exactly backing up their winner 100%. The beauty pageant's spokesman said:
"While this young woman was indeed named Miss Pima County 2005, we find it important to note that the Miss Pima County scholarship pageant was under different leadership at the time."
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