Only One Shoe

It seems funny that life’s events are typically reoccurring themes. My son is constantly looking for something that he has lost. Usually it is his Gameboy or the Gameboy game he was playing the day before. I always tell him it will be in the last place he looks. I then proceed to the least likely place in the house for it to be and look down. I wasn’t in the basement yesterday means it’s in the basement. I left it at school means that it is in his bedroom buried under a mound of clothes. Can I check your car means it is shoved under one of the living room chairs. Now I can read these clues, why is it that a 10 year old can only find one shoe?

Right before I put him to bed last night, he tells me, “You are probably going to be angry, but I wore sandals to school today.”

Now it was 75 degrees so sandals were okay but the bigger questions were why would I be mad and why wear sandals? So I asked, “Why did you wear sandals to school today?”

“Because I can only find one of my shoes and it’s in Amanda’s room.” He points into his sister’s room as if I can see anything with all of the clutter on the floor.

“So where is your other shoe?” A simple, but so difficult to answer question.

The standard, “I don’t know” gets uttered in reply.

Since I had more important things to worry about, I let the matter drop. After all, he wouldn’t need them until the morning and anything can happen between now and then. As usual, nothing happened.

I forgot clean about it until the next morning when I called to make sure he was ready for school. “I can still only find one shoe.” he says.

“Did you look?” I ask.

“No, I’ll just wear another pair.”

How was I to know he had another pair of shoes?

So tonight, I’ll ask him where he saw it last and see if I can find it. I do know that it will always be in the last place I look.

Icool

Cobb

Highlander II

The Prize. If you were an immortal, what would be the greatest reward you could get? You have had centuries to sample all of the pleasures, learn all of the knowledge and try all of the new and exciting things that have come about. You can’t be killed or even seriously disfigured. You can’t be involved with a non-mortal on a serious basis because in the end, you will just end up alone. So what do you prize?

After centuries of roaming through life looking for something to fill the void left by the absence of any real relationship, the real prize would be to be mortal. To be able to grow old and know that your time is limited allows you to love. It provides the one ingredient that opens up life to having someone to love.

Very sentimental. But what are we without the relationships we build? Empty shells, no better than a Terminator. If we do not care about the people around us and interact with them, we become mere empty forms. I guess there are hermits that prefer it that way. I can’t imagine that much pain.

Wouldn’t it be better that instead of a limited number of immortals, all vying for the prize, that everyone was immortal? The prize would be to spend eternity with the one’s you love. Gee, that sound like Heaven.

Icool

Cobb

Highlander

My son has started watching a new DVD every night. With nothing on TV, it only makes sense. Last night’s featured flick was one of my favorites, Highlander. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery team up in a movie where “there can be only one.”

If you haven’t seen the movie, it is about immortals who roam the Earth. There seem to be a limited amount of the immortals and their objective is to be the last one alive so they can claim “The Prize.” The only way to kill an immortal is to chop off his head (only guys are the immortals, at least in this movie), so they all carry swords.

The main character (Lambert) is named Connor McCloud, of the clan McCloud and was born in the Scottish highlands in the mid 16th century. At the beginning of the movie, he is stabbed in the chest by the movies bad guy, The Kergen, in a battle between two warring clans. Somehow, he magically recuperates. His clan, being a superstitious lot, claim his miraculous recovery is the work of Lucifer and want to burn him. The clan chief banishes him instead and he is forced to leave the happiness of youth behind.

The next scene he is with a beautiful blond named Heather. They live together as man and wife in an old castle in the Scottish Highlands. There life is filled with love and happiness and it seems to be perfect until Ramirez (Sean Connery) shows up. Ramirez is an immortal and he explains to McCloud that he is immortal and begins his training. You get a lot of beautiful scenery and sword fighting at this stage. When the training is complete, Ramirez tells McCloud to leave Heather. That she will grow old and die and he will remain young. Ramirez tries to spare McCloud the pain of watching the love of his life die of old age and there is nothing he can do about it.

The most touching scene of the movie is Connor and Heather on her death bed. She is old and wrinkled and he is young and vibrant. They pledge eternal love and she asks him to light a candle every year on her birthday. The music (by Queen) playing in the background is “Who wants to live forever?” which poses the central theme of the movie. Who wants to live forever if the ones you love all end up as ashes and dust? What would be the one thing, “The Prize”, for an immortal? Oh my bonnie Heather.

Icool

Cobb

Cadillac

We met some good friends of ours Lisa, Brian and their son Andrew at McGuire’s Resort up in Cadillac Michigan last weekend. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time. We had not seen our friends for a few months and many things had happened between visits.

Brian is in the Air National Guard and has been away from his family becoming a better trained soldier. His last training was about a month ago to jump school where he received a concussion during training. They have also just moved from the Jackson area to the Grand Rapids area due to job issues. With changing jobs, moving, changing schools, military training, and injuries, they have had quite the time. The stress must be terrific but they handled everything gracefully.

We played nine holes of golf on Saturday and had a great time. I took my own advice, at least most of the time, and kept my head down. I played well for never having seen the course before but it was more the relaxed atmosphere and good company that made the day.

Sometimes it is good just to get away and see things from someone else’s view. You think your life is hectic and things don’t seem to go the way you want. But there is always someone else who is dealing with bigger issues and making it look effortless.

I guess the name of the town is really how the weekend was and how things are going in general. It was a great big relaxing time. Who could ask for anything more?

Icool

Cobb

Five Civilized Tribes

When I was growing up, we would make a yearly trek to Oklahoma. I know, “where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.” My father’s family lives in Oklahoma and we would go for one week every summer to visit my Grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I always associated vacations with driving great distances to someplace where you would always be hot and uncomfortable. Without indoor plumbing and paved roads and where cattle roamed the back 40.

It is always hot as this was rural Oklahoma during the summer. This was the 70’s and central air had not made it there yet so, you just sweated and hoped for the hot breeze to boil away the drops that was running down your face. One summer we drove by the bank in Stillwell, it was 110 degrees at 10:00 PM. Now that’s hot.

Every year, on the drive down, we got the lecture about the 5 civilized tribes that the US government re-settled in Oklahoma. They were the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. Why this topic today, well the place I work supplies the GM assembly plant in Oklahoma City and the carrier GM has selected is named Choctaw. Put two and two together you get the 5 civilized tribes.

Around 1830, all five tribes were forced by our government to leave their homelands which were pretty much, Kentucky, Tennessee, South and North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. They rounded them up and forced them to relocate into Oklahoma where three remain today. The Seminoles have relocated back to Florida and the Chickasaw nation dissolved in the early 20th century.

For more on the history of the Five Civilized Tribes, here is an informational web site:
http://www.shadowwolf.org/five_civilized_tribes.html

Not quite the Rogers and Hammerstein picturesque idea of Oklahoma that comes to mind when you mention the state. I never saw any chicks and ducks and geese or a shiny little surrey with a fringe on the top. What are isinglass curtains anyway?

Icool

Cobb

Delta Dawn

I am an amateur cross word puzzler. I enjoy sitting down and working through the cross word puzzle in the local paper, always in pen, and about 50% successful. I was looking through a list of Greek letters on the internet, as they seem to be a constant on the cross word scene. Low and behold, off to the side of the table of Greek letters was a quote by Rene Descartes. It said, “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” Small world.

This led me to focus on the letter D in the Greek alphabet as it was right next to the quote. The letter D is named Delta in Greek and is represented as a triangle. Delta in the science world is the letter for change. Rene Descartes’ philosophy asks us to “doubt, as far as possible, all things” in the pursuit of truth.

How does one go about doubting something that they have a life long, steadfast belief in? If it is part of the bedrock on which your life is based, how do you develop doubts about it? Can we really change what we truly believe?

All of us have gone through changes in our lives. When I was 1st married, I believed in a woman’s right to choose. I can’t say that I was pro-abortion because it was not something I could have done, but I firmly believed that since it was not my body, it was alright to abort a fetus. My body, my rules. Over the last 15 years, I have listened to both sides of the argument and little by little changed my position. I think that being a parent had a big effect on the changes in my beliefs. Children are something to be treasured, and I know so many people that have gone to a foreign country to adopt children. All of those aborted babies with families begging to adopt them. It is much cheaper than going to China or Romania to adopt a child.

I will forego the discussion on the stigma of children out of wed lock. Some people ignore Jesus’ commandment to love thy neighbor, as thyself and do not realize who their neighbor it. I cannot cast a stone, I am also a sinner. Life is life, and once started becomes my neighbor.

So we can change. Some are little changes and some are profound. We are given each day to “grab them biscuits, and run” and as we watch the sun comes up to sip our coffee and ponder our doubt.

Icool

Cobb

X, Y, Z

One of the many pleasures of having kids is helping with their homework. I truly enjoy helping them with their math homework. It is amazing how much you remember from that long ago and what is more wonderful is that you realize how much you struggled at that age and how simple it is now. It all makes sense now, but I have the greater perspective on life and my homework is no longer being graded.

Last year I had a serious bout with Cartesian coordinates or for those of you who have been out of school for a while, graphing. Taking those pairs of numbers and making the designs in two dimensions or getting the equation for a line and plotting on the graph paper. I really enjoy the wonder of my children as the light goes on and they start putting the lines on the paper. It makes me realize how much of the math I actually use in my day to day routine. Now I don’t sit in my office and make graphs for fun but I recognize that I use parts of the long forgotten math to make my life easier. Remember those fun story problems? Well if you budget to pay your bills, you have the never ending story problem.

I really wanted to talk about the origin of Cartesian coordinates. They were introduced in 1637 by the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, hence the name. Descartes is primarily remembered as a philosopher but he was also a physicist and a mathematician. His philosophical direction was that the only thing we could be certain of was doubting. This led him to write the famous phrase “Cogito ergo sum” (I know Latin again), which translates to “I think, therefore I am.”

Well now that I am older and actually understand how to do all of those homework assignments, I can say I think, therefore I understand.

Icool

Cobb

Changing The Wall

When we purchased our house, the one thing I knew we would have to change was the kitchen. The wallpaper was a hideous floral design that reminded me of pictures of ladies’ hats from early in the 20th century. It was quaint but horribly dated. That was November of 2003.

Well, after looking at many options, we have finally taken the plunge and started redecorating the kitchen. Of course, the first thing you have to do is figure out what to do. That was pretty much what we did for almost two years. We have had several design concepts, some of which we retained and some we loved but could not use. We finally settled on the new walls and a new floor. The floor was kind of an addition. Our tile (we have those nice linoleum squares), was coming up. The top layer of the tile was coming apart from the bottom of the tile making sharp little edges. So, enter a new tile.

My lovely wife has an innate sense of matching color. I have come to trust her eye when it comes to matching paint, wallpaper(s), border and flooring. It never fails to astound me when I see the final product because I would have never put them together. What you get is an eye pleasing contrast that accentuates what is already there.

We started stripping the wallpaper and the fun began. We sprayed the wallpaper removal solution on the wall and waited. The wallpaper separated into two layers as it was coming off. The bottom was dry and firmly attached to the wall. The top layer acted like a barrier and created a mess of wet paper and a slippery floor. Phase two was using a wallpaper knife to peel off the top layer. It came off relatively easy except for the consumption of time and trash bags. Phase three, spray the walls and use a wallpaper knife to scrape off the inside lining. See the outcome of phase one. Wet, slimy, and slippery.

There are about 2 more hours of spraying and scrapping and then the fun begins. It will be spackle, sanding and them the reapplication of the paint, wallpaper and border. Hopefully it will be done before the kids graduate from school. My son is 10. My head hurts trying to do the math.

Icool

Cobb

Obsidian, Through The Lava Flow

Part of why I started my site was a quest for knowledge. I did a bit of research on pumice and it lead to several other areas of interest. One of them was other bi-products of volcanic activity. One that I have been mulling about in my mind is obsidian. I have read quite a few books in which obsidian is used as a cutting tool or used in some kind of ritual. It appears to be a multi-purpose tool.

Obsidian is made by volcanic lava coming in contact with water. As the lava pours into the body of water, it cools quickly. This rapid cooling produces a rock with a glassy texture. The iron and magnesium content of lava determines the color, which ranges from dark green to black.

Obsidian is often confused with smoky quartz. They have similar properties because of the similar chemistry but obsidian lacks crystalline structure. Have you heard of quartz crystals? The piezoelectric (the generation of stress in such crystals subjected to an applied voltage) and optical properties present in quartz are absent in obsidian.

The hardness of obsidian is between 5 – 5.5. By comparison, talc has a hardness of 1, quartz has a hardness of 7, and a diamond has a hardness of 10. Although quartz and obsidian are basically the same chemical composition, SiO2 (silicon dioxide), obsidian’s lack of crystal structure allows it to be shaped into the cutting tools or decorative objects used by primitive cultures. Its translucent nature gives it a glass like appearance that makes it prized for decoration and ceremonial purposes. It was extensively traded by primitive cultures and can be found in archeological excavations very distant from any known source.

That is the beauty of a little knowledge. You never know where you are going to end up.

Icool

Cobb

What Are We Thinking?

When I was growing up, we had four local television stations and lived close enough to Detroit to be blessed with the possibility of fuzzy but available options. Of course we were pretty much limited to the three networks and PBS. That was pretty much it in the way of viewing entertainment. This was before VCR’s and DVD’s. If you wanted to see a movie, you either saw it when it was released or waited until it premiered on Sunday night in a big network promotion. When it was Monster Week in Detroit, I would go to a friend’s house that had the BIG antenna and watch the Godzilla movies on channel 50. It was an independent station. Every Saturday, I would try to watch Sir Graves Ghastly on channel 2 out of Detroit. Some days it would be clear as a bell and others looked like an Arctic blizzard. Whether it was the Mummy, Dracula or Frankenstein, I was glued to the set on Saturday afternoons. What may amaze this generation is the only thing we paid for was the television and the electricity. There was no cost to watch the TV, other than the time and being forced to watch commercials.

Well, we still pay for all of the above items, but we are now paying to watch the television. We are actually paying, to sit and watch commercials. I think that is the major reason I do not watch very much television. I have been caught in the trap of paying for the privilege to watch what passes for entertainment. I cannot believe the garbage they attempt to project into my living room. They are now trying to get us to pay for radio. I am really at a loss for why anyone would pay to listen to the radio. Why don’t we charge each people on a per breath basis?

Now I have figured that (and I’m being generous for mathematical simplification) our TV is on for 4 hours per day. Most of the time there is no one watching it. We are paying $60 per month for cable. If you figure 30 days per month, you get $0.50 per hour of viewing pleasure.

Since we have almost every available channel and there is still nothing on most of the time, (you can ask anybody), just get rid of the cable and go back to the basic, network programming. You can pick them up with an antenna and it does not cost you anything. Well, nothing that you wouldn’t have paid back when TV was free. Am I going to listen to myself? No. Why you ask? Well, my daughters (and their father) watch Gilmore Girls on UPN and it is not one of the “new” local stations. It can be found on the fuzzy stations out of Detroit. Maybe I can find my old friend and my daughters and I watch it on the big antenna.

Icool

Cobb

Putting for Jelly

I got it into my head that I wanted to make jelly. My mother-in-law had grape laden vines that were just going to waste and I love to experiment in the kitchen with things you don’t normally do. For many Americans, that would be simply making a meal from scratch. I on the other hand thought, “How hard can it be to make jelly?” Well, let me tell you.

I learned to cook early in life by watching my hero, Julia Childs, who patiently taught me how to cook. I would watch her religiously on PBS as she so joyously created each dish for her viewers to ogle. I would then try to recreate what she did, sometimes with partial success and others with dismal failure. That taught me to always follow the recipe. Until you mastered how things happen, do not vary from the list of ingredients, temperatures, or times. Well, just like remembering to keep my head down during my golf swing, it is a lesson I still need to learn.

I went to my mother-in-law’s on Saturday and picked probably ¾ of a bushel of grapes. We used shears to trim the grapes off of the vines and put them in plastic bags. They were full of spiders, bugs and leaves but did they smell good. Once I got them home, I took them to the back yard (I did not need the bugs in the house) and started pulling the grapes from the vine. I did enough to do one batch of jelly and took them into the house for processing.

Now the recipe is real easy. Squash the grapes and bring to a boil. Strain the grapes to get the juice out. Pour in sugar, bring to a boil, and add pectin. Boil hard for 1 minute and remove from heat. Scoop off the foam. Pour promptly into clear jars and cover with paraffin wax. There are measured quantities of each that needs to be followed and I did that exactly the way the recipe called out. I achieved seven 12 ounce jars of grape jelly for my efforts. The true measure was that it tasted good.

All smug from my first success, I tried a bigger batch the next day. I did not measure the juice or the sugar in exact quantities, after all, I was now a pro. I cooked everything for the right amount of time and added the pectin. What I got was 18 jars of very sweet grape juice sealed with paraffin wax. My mother-in-law came to the rescue and told me to pour it back into the pan and re-cook it. The next evening, I did exactly that. I calculated that I needed to add more sugar, and did, and added another packet of pectin. Once again I sealed the liquid in paraffin.

The next day after it had cooled, I had slightly thicker grape juice but no jelly. This time it went down the sink. It was a costly lesson in sugar, pectin, and time.

So what did I learn? Take you time and always be consistent. Follow the instruction and measure your ingredients. Just like with golf, use a slow back swing and keep you head down stupid. You’ll at least keep it in the fairway.

Icool

Cobb

Temporary Again

Temporary. For some reason, this word keeps swirling around in my head. My first (actually second) post was titled Temporary and now I have a few more thoughts to add.

The first thing I did was go to my dear friend Webster’s for a definition. It was actually a little spartan. There were two ways to use the word, first as an adjective and the other as a noun. The descriptive use of temporary is defined as: lasting for a limited time. It would be like temporary duty or a temporary filling. The noun definition is defined as: one serving for a limited time. It would be like working as a temporary. Dictionary.com defines temporary as: lasting, used, serving or enjoyed for a limited time.

If you wanted, you could work for a temporary agency as a temporary and get both definitions in the same sentence. But that would be silly. If you work for a temporary agency, then you are a temporary. Can you be a permanent employee for a temporary agency? Well enough with the play on words.

Webster’s also gives the origin of the word as Latin, coming from the word temporaries, from tempor, tempus time. The first thing I thought of was tempus fugit. I didn’t remember exactly what that meant. I thought it was time flies. So I looked up fugit and it is defined as flies. I could play on words with this but time is fleeting. Would that be tempus multiyachtae?

It all has to do with tempus or time. I was reminded of one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut books, Sirens of Titan. The heroine, Beatrice Rumsfoord wrote a book of poetry titled Between Timid and Timbuktu. The gist of the title was based on every word between timid and Timbuktu, in a small dictionary, referenced time. Vonnegut has a way of creating an absurd detail that sticks in your mind. Hi Ho.

So temporary is for a limited time. It almost feels to me like an ad for cars or other stereo equipment. Hurry in for this is a limited time offer! The Subaru SUV commercial that uses the song Dust in the Wind provides a great visual effect to go along with the temporary theme. As we watch the Subaru drive by, every other SUV dries up and blows away. The ad vividly tells us, that not only is a Subaru SUV superior to all others, but that everything else is erased by wonderfulness that is a Subaru SUV. All other purchases would be temporary once you visit a Subaru dealer and test drive their car. You might as well be driving a redwood through the termite’s annual Thanksgiving feast. Buy our SUV because it provides something permanent. But buy it now, as this commercial will only run on a temporary basis and in a few years, we will change models, again. You will only have this great styling and performance on this product for a short time. Or should I say tempus midget.

Icool

Cobb

Return of the Pseudo Single Parent

When we last left our bedraggled pseudo single parent, he was dispensing justice in the form of chores. The weekend is now over and the rhythm of the weekly grind has begun. School hours loom up and ominously cloud the shining star that is Friday afternoon. At the end of the Monday, another crisis explodes in the life of pseudo single parent. He informs the boy that his visitation privileges were revoked for the next 36 hours. Yes, he is grounded.

On my way home, my oldest daughter called and asked if she could run up to the local store with a friend. Since there was plenty of time between now and dinner, and because she called and asked permission, I told her no problem. I get home and immediately started dinner. I hear my other daughter cleaning her room with the music pounding through the floor. I figured the boy was in the basement playing videos. He had called before I left work and asked to go to a friend’s. I told him to wait until I got home. Well he didn’t wait. Not only that, the rule is, dinner is at 6:00. He knows he is to be home for dinner and he was not home.

Well, we had finished eating by the time he got home and I told him to help himself. Dinner was on the stove. After he had eaten, I asked where he had been and got the name of the friend. He said he had permission from his oldest sister and that he had called her cell phone but she hadn’t answered. Easy to check and it was confirmed. I found that my oldest daughter had given him permission to go to a friend’s house. I have put her in charge when I’m not home. But since he knows that 6:00 is the magic hour, he got the grounding. I allowed one “but Dad” and asked if he would like to spend the week instead the next day. That brought an end to the whining and started the negotiations. Again, he got in one round and got the same standard question about additional time. Negotiation ended. No quarter given.

I have two more day of pseudo parenting. So far this has been exactly as I imagined. Tomorrow we go to the airport to pick up my lovely wife. Maybe with us both together, pseudo parent will turn into wonder parent. We can join in that glorious phrase, "Wonder parents power, acivate!"


Icool

Cobb

Gregorian Chant or Julian Fries

I recently got my 2006 calendar. I always have two calendars on the wall to allow me to see where I’ve been and look where I’m going. The life of a planner. I had always heard of the Julian date or the Gregorian calendar and wondered what the difference was and why there were two names for what appears to be the same thing. Well after a little research here it is.

The Gregorian calendar was proposed by Aloysius Lilius, a Neapolitan doctor and was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, hence the name. Aloysius Lilius wrote Compendium of the New Plan for the Restitution of the Calendar which described the process for the Gregorian calendar. Unfortunately he died in 1576 and his compendium was presented to Pope Gregory by his brother. It was adopted in 1582.

It replaced the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and took affect in one year later. It was chosen after Caesar had consulted with the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes.

Both calendars are designed on the tropical year. It has 365 days divided into 12 months with a leap year added in every four years. The average Julian year was 365.25 days long. This however added too many leap days and caused a gain of one day every 128 years. Julius Caesar is said to have known about the gain of days but was not concerned (probably because who thought in terms of that amount of time). If you do the math, it ends up being 1628 years between the implementation of the Julian Calendar and Gregorian calendar. With one day for every 128 years, it could have been 12.7 days change over that period. If we were still on the Julian system, we would have changed 16 days.

The Gregorian calendar fixes the float issue with some complex mathematical formula based on 400 year cycles and adding days when it was implemented. The implementation of the Gregorian calendar actually caused riots because people though that they were being cheated into giving up 11 days of rent to their land lords.

Now Gregorian chants were named for Pope Gregory I and have nothing to do with the calendar other than share a name. Julian fries are named for the way they are cut and although there is probably some connection to Julius Caesar, I have not been able to ferret it out. Just look for the connections.


Icool


Cobb

Pseudo Single Parent

My lovely wife is at a conference in Baltimore for a few days and I am left as the parent in charge. Now this should be a relatively easy time for me. There are no extra curricular activities that I need to be aware of and no appointments that I have to get them to, so a piece of cake, right? Let’s just say that it takes two parents with a lot of patience to make this work.

My son calls to ask me "Where are you?" as I am driving home from the airport. We have been telling the kids for weeks that their mother was going to a conference and would be leaving for a few days. The oldest daughter was shocked at that news when it was announced Friday night. Them not listening is old hat for me but not listening to this extent is something new. It could be the onset of Jungstimers (silent J), that hits in the early teens and lasts for several years. Sometimes it lasts until the onset of Idotimers in the twenties. Anyway, the boy asks, “When will you be home and can I call a friend to come over?” “No, wait until I get home.” My standard, pat answer to all of his questions. That and just plain no.

Now I get home and tell him he needs to do his chores and assign him a few other things to do. He comes back two minutes later with the phone and say, “Mom wants to talk to you.” I already know that there is a mutiny brewing and that I need to be careful. After discussing her flight and other details of the trip, we talk about the boy’s agenda. It seems that doing his chores is going to interfere with his play time. Imagine that. Well, his play time is going to interfere with chores. It is just a matter of turning the problem over. We agree with the second option and I hand the phone back to “the boy” to hang up. After more whining and complaining, the chores get done. Wow, a whole 15 minutes to complete and he spent 30 minutes trying to get out of them. The wisdom of having done all of this before.

There is more to tell, but next post.

Icool

Cobb

Something Else To Talk About

Our nation has had a horrific tragedy in the destruction of New Orleans and the Gulf coast by Hurricane Katrina. As I have said in a previous post, I do not watch the news, but I am still inundated by the swirling of the blame game going on. America is watching a natural tragedy unfolding into a human tragedy in the center of our nation and trying to find someone to blame because we were unprepared.

We built a city in a bowl surrounded by a lake and tried to hold back the water. Yes, I am sure that it was a beautiful town, rich in history and culture, (I have never visited Louisiana) but now it is a sewage infested lake that happens to be where a city once stood. Mother Nature does not play favorites and has once again shown that even the richest nation in the world is no match for her fury. We have shown that we can't stop earthquakes and tornadoes, what makes us think that a hurricane is any different.

On the human side of the tragedy, people are going to hurt, be killed and suffer. That is why it is a tragedy. People without a means were given the opportunity to leave and buses left with empty seats. Take some personal responsibility if you were given the means and ignored the warnings. For those who had no other choice, how do you prioritize an emergency of that magnitude? Water, water everywhere and not a drop of fuel. How many people were sending different orders that countered orders by someone else who was in charge? Sound confusing, think about it. Local, state and federal all with a different priority.

Supplies were rushed down to provide assistance to those who refused to heed the warnings that a hurricane was coming and it may fill up the bowl you live in. Then, some of the one's that refused to leave even started shooting at those who arrived to help. Talk about sending Snake Pliskin in to do the next installment in Escape From New Orleans. Kurt Russel for Governor.

One thing is for sure, we never seem to learn from our mistakes. The nostalgia of looking back at the good old days always seems to win out as the open wounds heal to scabs and then scar over. Those who ignore that mistakes of the past... It is so much easier to remember how great things were than remember the pain. When it comes to rebuilding New Orleans, there should be a sign at the state line stating, "If you are coming here to live, bring your own clean fill dirt."

Icool

Cobb

Car Pool

Back when the price of gas was pushing $2.00, (only 7 months ago), four of us from work decided to car pool. We all thought that $2.00 was too much to pay for a gallon of gas and we all took one day a week to drive. Friday, you were on your own. Well, it worked well for several months and then, one of the participants took a job out of state and about the same time another got engaged and moved to a different area. The last two of us kept up the car pool.

With gas pushing $3.00 per gallon, I am now paying per week what I used to pay before I started car pooling. I was so excited that I was saving a little on gas every week but now I am extatic to have not lost any ground.

If you have a chance to car pool, I recommend it. Not only will you reduce the amount you spend on gasoline and maybe get you back to even, but you also put half the miles on your car. For me that is big, as I drive 70 miles round trip. You also get to relax and not concentrate on driving every day. It is nice being driven around (unless you are a control freak).

Now, I am not concerned about conservation or global warming. One is a function of a market driven economy and will adjust when the market demands and one has yet to be proven as more than someone pushing an agenda (another rainy day topic). I do however, like to make sure that I can keep my expenses under control and it helps to have someone other than the radio to talk to on the way home.

Icool

Cobb

Responsibility Cost

Everyone says that being a parent is hard work. I have found that for the most part is has been enjoyable but, every once in a while, there is the awakening slap of the difficulties of being a parent, usually through the eyes of another parent. Fortunately me and my lovely wife, the pain has been brief and infrequent.

I had one of those brief glimpses last night. I arrived home and immediately started making dinner and baking zucchini bread. We had SOS and fried zucchini, so dinner was one that needed to be tended and leaving the stove for more than a moment was next to impossible. I heard the blare of whatever is popular on the radio wafting through the air and made the incorrect assumption that everyone was home and doing there best to avoid their afternoon chores. My second assumption was right but I was soon to discover that my oldest daughter was not at home.

Our doorbell rang and it is usually one of my son’s friends, arriving right before dinner to play. Impeccable timing. This time, it was an adult that I hadn’t met before who introduced herself as the mother of one of my oldest daughter’s friends. She asked if her daughter was at my house because she was late for soccer practice. So I walked up stairs to pound on the door to get their attention. Much to my surprise, the door was open and the room was dark and empty. Well, now I get to tell this nice lady that not only is her daughter not here, but neither is mine. To make matters worse, I do not know where my daughter is.

My middle daughter comes to the rescue. While up stairs, I had asked her if she knew where he sister was and received the short sharp, No. Curiosity got the better of her and she stood behind me at the front door and said that her oldest sister and this ladies daughter were swimming at a friends. Of course, she left out that her mother had given permission until after the concerned mother had left to pick up her daughter. Now I look like a parent who lets his daughter run wild and cavort with whom ever they want. This mother was concerned that her daughter was no where to be found and had only been told that her she was at a friend’s house. Vague but true. I on the other hand had no idea where my daughter was (not the usual situation) but my wife was in the loop. All was right with the world, just the appearance of bad parenting. You know what they say about 1st impressions. I think I made one.

Fortunately (yes again fortunately), I have great kids who normally listen and still communicate with their parents. Kids will be kids and as all reasonable parents remember, they (and everyone else in the world) want to get their way. It is our job to guide them and teach them to be responsible. So, I have a black eye with one of the neighbors, but at least I know where my daughter is.

Icool

Cobb

Monday, Monday Oops Tuesday, Tuesday

I don't want to talk about the Mamas and the Papas. I really don't like the song Monday Monday anyway. Maybe Tuesday Afternoon, which would be more fitting for today. I would rather talk about a classic Jim Carrey film Liar Liar.

My son hooked up the VCR last night and put in Liar Liar. I hadn't seen the movie is quite a while it being on tape instead of DVD. Amazing how we have obsoleted an entire technology in such a short time. Talk about product life cycle. But this is not about the march of consumerism. That is more meaty and a topic for a rainy day.

Liar Liar has held up to the test of time. It shows that Jim Carry can be funny and send a solid message at the same time. For my son, his favorite part is "The Claw. No one can stop the claw." I enjoy the court scene when Fletcher is cross examining the boyfriend. I can still hear that turkey. It also shows how much we can hurt the ones around us by one simple irresponsible action; telling a lie. The movie shows how many different forms this takes. From promising to be somewhere, to complementing someone who obviously needs to be counciled, to lying about a gift or a raise. Even if we think it helps, it eventually creates hurt. When we turn lying into an art form, which Jim Carry's character Fletcher had perfected, it can consume our lives and blind us to what really matters in life. And the truth will set you free.

That is the true message of the movie. We need to be honest not only with others, but with ourselves. Truth is not an option if we are to develop solid foundations in life. Be true to yourself, to your family and above all else, your God. And unlike VCR's, it truth does not go obsolete.

Icool

Cobb

Labor Day: A Day of Thanksgiving

We all look forward to a three day weekend, at least those of us fortunate enough to have it off. This three day weekend is one of the saddest of the year in that it marks the end of summer and the slow march toward snow. It is also the one that I look to the most in that I have a yearly golf outing set up by my oldest friend. We played t-ball together in 2nd grade and his dad, also a wonderful person, was the coach.

It is a time to get together, drink, smoke cigars and play golf. Of course there is always talk about the old times. Every once in a while you hear a story that you havn't heard several times before or you hear what "really" happened. Mostly it is about just being together, again. This group is scattered all over the country and we congregate yearly for this chance to play golf and spin yarns.

Afterwards (today) it is a time to reflect on the true wealth that has been accumulated. After all, the true measure of anyone's wealth is how many friends, (actual people you can count on) you have. What makes it even sweeter is that some of us are fortunate enough to have several groups of friends. For someone who grew up thinking they were unworthy of friends, I have been truely blessed to discover the treasure of friendship.

Icool

Cobb

Visual Affects

As a practice, I do not watch network television or news programs. I get most of the information I need from listening to the radio and internet sites. I learned long ago that most of the things on television are trash and that watching the news does little more than make a good day bad and a bad day worse. If something catches my eye, I will watch it. I have lately started watching the original CSI on one of the cable networks. It is like (I’m showing my age here) Quincy except the science is better and they show they victims in all of their glory.

Having said all of that, I had dinner with some friends last night and arrived at the restaurant a little early. Waiting in the bar for a few minutes was an enlightening experience. I ordered a drink, chatted with the bartender, and watched the news. Now I knew that there was a hurricane that went through New Orleans and I had heard there was damage but what I saw left me stunned. People in boats floating past submerged buildings, the lawlessness of people taking things they will never use or even need, and the logistical nightmare of moving the entire population of a major city somewhere else. Thankfully the sound was low enough that I did not have to listen to the talking heads spilling their audio garbage on top of an already dismal picture. The pictures were speaking; there was no need for any dialogue.

I have heard the blame game already start on who should have done what when. My take on that is let’s start by focusing our efforts on helping those that need our assistance. A relief effort is about providing relief. Pointing fingers and placing blame does nothing to help the victims of this disaster. So much posturing and so little effect.

For the victims, we need to do what we can do to support them and above all, keep them in our prayers.

Icool

Cobb

It started with Pumice

Memories of using Lava soap as a child to get the embedded grease and grime off of my hands reminded me of Lava’s abrasive ingredient, pumice. Pumice is a very porous igneous rock (volcanic in origin.) It has some unusual properties in that it can float on water and at the same time takes your skin off. It is nothing more than lava that has cooled quickly above ground. Once cooled, it is nothing more than a kind of glass. And glass is a mixture of various contaminants and silicon.

I started off in another direction at that point. Since glass is a part of our every day lives, how plentiful is silicon? It makes up 15% of the Earth’s mass, coming in 3rd place behind iron and oxygen. That would make it very common indeed. So common we are naming valleys after it. So common we make chips (not edible) from it. And so useful, we use it to clean up after ourselves after we change the oil.

Icool

Cobb