Christmas lights...

I put up the Christmas lights on the house before the rain started coming down this weekend. John decorated the inside with lights. I mean he really decorated! I don't think we need to turn on any regular lamps there are so many Christmas lights strung all over the place! I have fond memories of the house being decorated each year growing up. Remember those big hot bulbs that you would put on outside evergreen trees? They were so hot that they would burn your fingerprint right off your finger if you touched them! Today, they are mostly LED bulbs now and they barely get hot at all.

New McCartney video

Paul McCartney's new video release. "Sing The Changes" sounds a bit like one of those relaxation, trance tunes. It's from his new album/CD by The Fireman called Electric Arguements.

Urbane Planning - definitions

My latest cartoon which takes a shot at my profession and the terminology that we are surrounded by... Click on image to enlarge (if you dare).

JFK Assassination - 45 years later

Hard to believe that it has been 45 years since President Kennedy was assassinated. Nov. 22, 1963 is nearly a century ago and still we are left trying to piece together the events of that day. I remember doing a book report in junior high or maybe my freshman year of high school on the subject. I had always heard rumors of a conspiracy but when I read David Lifton's "Best Evidence" I was sure. It was the first detailed book I read on the subject. All the others were tiptoeing around the issue but basically stating that Oswald was the lone nut assassin. Further readings and study confirmed my initial belief of a plot, frame, and cover-up but I had to sift and sort through bogus conspiracy claims and just go with the hard evidence. If it ain't backed up with fact, I felt I had to treat it as theory until proven otherwise.. I'm beginning to wonder if the truth will ever fully be exposed now that nearly a half-century has passed. I only hope we never have to deal with this again.

Katie Grace plays basketball

Katie Grace signed up for Upward basketball this Fall and while she has had a lot of fun, she is also quite overwhelmed by all the rules and fast-paced action. She has, however, managed to make 3 baskets (including the 1 she made in the other team's basket). We were tempted to pull her out for the final 3 or 4 games but decided not to because she seems to have fun even if she doesn't always know what's going on. Her coach also encouraged us to let her play it out. I agree. Once she made the commitment I felt she should complete it. Besides, all the other girls on her team are at least a year-and-a-half older than her. That's why they know what they are doing. She'll catch on. Probably by the start of next season. We hope, anyway! For now, she will help the Cardinals with one more game to go.

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Fall leaves

The kids had a lot of fun with the leaves we raked into a pile out front. John (also known as "Crazylegs") showed Katie Grace how to get a running start and dive into the pile. The trees all around were brilliant in color until the past couple of days when the cold and wind really set in. Snowy now. Fall is visually over for the year. I hate to see the leaves leave...

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FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK: January 1971

Way back in January of 1971 I was about to turn 2 years old and I was an only child... And I would continue to be but only for a short while longer. Mary was still a month away from being born you see. This photo is of me and Mom that January. My oh my how the time flies. I can still recall a few blips of memories from that age but not many. Thankfully we have a ton of photos to help us relive times gone by. Hairstyles change as do the clothes but that's the fun of looking at some of those photos! Looking at this photo, I realize that I have no idea that I am going to be a big brother soon with a little sister who I would grow up with. Pretty cool, eh?

Christmas music

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I've already got Christmas music playing on the computer at work. Nothing helps get me into the holiday spirit than some well selected Christmas tunes. Here's a sampling of what I am listening to this year:

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A Charlie Brown Christmas

-an all-time favorite here.

Love, Peace, & Joy

-a collection of some great semi-alternative tunes.

John Denver & The Muppets

- I had this lp as a kid.

Michael W. Smith

- One of the best ever Christmas albums.

"Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney

- a simple, infectuous, and Beatlesque single.

1986 Glen Este Feaste Rehearsal

- recordings from our high school chorus my senior year.

The media

Now that the election is over it is our job to keep an eye on the media. Unfortunately, most of the media is open about who they root for. This is unhealthy because the role of the media used to be as a watchdog. I only have to cite the Nixon presidency to show the importance of this. Woodward & Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal to the mainstream citizen. Today however it seems as if the media has become an extension of the cause or candidate it endorses. Fact is, it shouldn't be endorsing anything or anybody. Commentators are different in the sense that they are not reporting; only commentating. Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken come to mind here. But when you have networks openly rooting for one person or heaping disdain on the one they disagree with, then you have a problem. C-Span is probably the most unbiased news organization out there. We hear a lot about how FoxNews is so far right but that is only because they are being compared to the remainder of the networks who are so far left. Name the other networks' conservative commentators for me and you'll win a prize. Point is, we live in a time where we have to take up the original role of the media and become watchdogs to not only the government, but also the media itself. And that's news to me.

Flashback of the week: John's baseball cards

John has played baseball competitively for 4 seasons now and has matured quite a lot as a pitcher and a hitter. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the baseball cards I made for him each year. Just in time for the off-season.

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Indian Summer

With all this lovely weather so late in the Fall we have decided, as often as we can, to take advantage of it. One day last week we hit a school playground in Independence, KY. Everyone is a kid at heart no matter the age when they get near a playground. As for the weather; enjoy Indian Summer while you can because just around the corner is lurking the gloomy, drizzly weather we all come to expect to arrive in November.

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President Barak Hussein Obama

Well, the elections are finally over!!! It was quite the boring election compared to the last 2 when drama was not in short supply (as well as sleep waiting for the final verdict). While I don't subscribe to most of President-elect Obama's policies or social stances, that will not affect my support and respect of the Office he will be holding. I urge all people who voted for McCain (or any of the other Presidential candidates) to be civil. He is going to be OUR president. If you were offended by the hate-blogging explosion we saw during the last 8 years, then I expect you to refrain from partaking similar behavior the next 4 years. Otherwise, you come out looking like a hypocrite. Besides, all that name-calling and hateful behavior made grown-ups look like immature children. Technology has made it so easy to lob verbal grenades and hide behind fake names. Don't stoop to the level of the hate-Bush crowd. Stick to the issues and see if we all can work to right this ship.

Our favorite place

When John was just a tiny tot around 3-years old up to the time he was about 10 I used to take him to this little municipal park in Crescent Springs, KY off the Buttermilk Pike exit. We would go there because two rail lines went right by it and we could watch trains go by. He was so much into trains at the time. There is also a pedestrian bridge that allows you to watch the trains from above! The other day we thought we'd take advantage of the beautiful weather and hop down for a return visit with Katie Grace and Melinda too. We had a blast. Even put a few coins on the tracks. The weather has been so wonderful lately that we feel compelled to get out and enjoy it while we can before Fall turns into the bitterness of Winter.
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NOW critical of Palin???

How ironic is this: The National Organization of Women was recently asked if they were proud of Sarah Palin rising to the level of Vice-Presidential candidate and they refused to answer. Instead, they proceed to lob childish, hate-filled insults aimed at her, President Bush, and Senator McCain. So I guess they are not proud of Gov. Palin's accomplishments because she is a Conservative? OK. So much for 'tolerance'. I'm just wondering when they will change the name of their organization to the National Organization of Liberal Women (NOLW)? I'm also guessing that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) would refuse to endorse a black Conservative Presidential Candidate. You may as well call that group the Nation Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People (NAALCP). And don't get me started on the American Civil Liberties Union (or should I say Liberal American Civil Liberties Union?)... Politics as usual. Partisan politics that is.