Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize just became a toy prize from a vending machine.  No longer does it hold the distinguished honor it used to be.  The committee to award this has relegated it's status to that of a political tool to be used to encourage certain political viewpoints.  I'm embarrassed for the committee as they have just made themselves irrelevant to world events and have, in one moment, decreased the stature of this award to that of toy prize at a carnival fair.  What's even worse is that all those who were awarded this prize before have just been slapped with the realization that the award that was supposed to recognize their great achievements has now been cheapened to the likes of a popularity contest.  It's a sad day for Alfred Nobel.  Five people just made a mockery of his legacy.

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who:

“	during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

 What part of "shall have done" not proposed to do, hoped to do, wished to do, do they not understand?

The award was given just because of who he is, not what he's done.  It's just sad.

Maggie the Wonder Dog

To say Maggie is our dog just doesn't do her justice.  She's more than that.  She's one of the best pets I've ever had.  We got her as a companion for my other dog Chiquita.  I thought Chiquita had taught Maggie how to go sit by the door if she needed to go out but now I realize that it was probably more Maggie learning on her own by watching Chiquita.  She's one smart dog.  Lately though, she's developed a rather strange habit.  In contrast to Chiquita who would down her food in 4 gulps as soon as you placed it in front of her, Maggie will leave her food well over several hours until she's hungry.  Now she's even gone so far as to wait until we are eating before she will eat.  We'll feed her and she'll leave it alone until someone sits down at the kitchen table to eat.  It's like she's developed manners.  She's part Beagle so sometimes her desire to run overrides her obedience and she'll bolt out the garage or front door if we're not careful.  But I also learned years ago that she comes back too.  After 15-20 minutes she'll start wandering back around the house and all we have to do is invite her back inside.  One time at our old house she escaped out of the back yard.  I search the entire yard for where she was getting out of but couldn't find anywhere she could fit through.  So I waited and watched her one day.  She had found a fence picket that wasn't nailed down on the bottom and would push it open until she was out.  The picket would then snap back into place thus she had a secret escape door!  I have no idea how she found that picket.  The neighborhood kids love her.  She's kind and gentle around them. 

She doesn't try and grab food and is happy to have her belly rubbed.  She barks when someone is at the front door but she's not a barker.  If she wants to be petted she'll gently place a paw up on your leg as you sit on the couch.  If you say down though she'll take it back down.  She's not stubborn which is unusual for a Beagle except when you want her to go outside and she doesn't want to.  Then she'll slowly crawl across the room to you as if she's in trouble.  I think she thinks being put outside is punishment.  She loves to chase (and catch) birds.  I've seen her catch 2 birds from mid-air.  Once she found a rabbit in our yard.  I was standing on the back porch and here she comes around the corner of the house with a rabbit in her mouth, plopped it down right at my feet and just walked away like it was something she'd done many times before.  I was pretty proud of her (even though I was a little sad for the rabbit).  She loves to play and will fetch when she's feeling playful.  We can leave her inside for several hours without worrying about having "surprises" when we get back.  She's been on 14 hour car rides and loves to go on trips.  All in all we couldn't have asked for a better dog family member.   She turned 11 yrs old this year.  I try not to think of a dogs life span because I know that when it's her time it'll be one of the hardest day I'll ever have to deal with.  Hopefully she'll live longer than normal.  She's in great shape at 11 yrs old.  even the vet has mentioned her excellent shape.  I can only hope we get to enjoy her love and affection for many years to come. 

Study Habits

We home school.  Well, part time that is.  We send the kids to school 2 days a week and home school the other 2 days.  Our oldest child Connor, is in 3rd grade and, of course, extremely smart.  He gets that from his Mother.  What amazes me though are his study habits.  The school sends home his homework every day for us to do the following day at home.  That provides a continuity throughout the year.  Being 8 years old he is a boy growing up with video games and other technical distractions that abound in our lives.  What surprises me isn't that he likes to play the Wii, or his Nintendo, or even the iPod, it's that he likes to do his home school work usually on his own.  He already has started to develop the study habits of a boy much older.  He likes to figure out the problems and when he needs help he will come to us and ask.  He takes breaks, gets snacks, and all in all makes our job that much easier.  Now I'm not saying he is on his own.  We are constantly monitoring his progress and making sure he is meeting the requirements set forth by his teacher.  We will even sit and watch him do his work once in a while, but usually he prefers to study on his own when possible.  Could it be his independence is beginning to exert itself?  Maturity a little beyond his years?  Perhaps.  Either way, I am very proud that he has the discipline to accomplish all he does on a daily basis.  I'm not sure if this is something shared by many other boys his age.  No matter, all I know is that I couldn't be more proud of his level of self control for being only 8 years old.   I can only hope he is able to keep this discipline throughout his years as it will serve him well as he gets older.  I wish I had been as disciplined when I was his age.

Random Musings from News Headlines

My thoughts of the latest news cycle headlines...

Obama goes to Copenhagen to lobby for the 2016 Olympics.
   Republicans need to pass on arguing this action.  Going to lobby to bring the Olympics to Chicago is not a big deal.  I say good luck to him.  He's trying to get a major event to happen in the USA instead of another country.  Why wouldn't we support that.  Do I think he would do this if it was Austin Texas?  No I don't.  But let's take a pass on making something outta nothing here.

Polanski fights extradition from Switzerland to the US.
  Get his ass!  He pleaded guilty because he knew he would get a bigger conviction if he went to trial.  Then he flew the country to avoid jail time.  He did the crime and has been living a life of luxury overseas for 31 years.  He drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in 1977.  Maybe the hollywood types think he should be spared the jail time since it's been so long, but that just shows how shallow and idiotic they are.  Just because a large amount of time has passed does not mean you get a free pass out of jail. 

Iran found to have secret Nuclear Facility for enriching uranium.
  So another example of how much trust you can place in the leadership of Iran.  My sympathies to the people of Iran who from what I read are just about as fed up with their leadership as the rest of the world should be.  Maybe Russia and China will wipe the egg off their faces and wide up to the fact that you can not trust a blithering maniacal mad man like Ahmadinejad.  If he isn't reined in he could be the start of WW III.

I wonder if our parents had the same worries about what type of world they would leave us when we were kids?  Or is this something that is indicative of the current state of affairs?

Hugs, hugs and more hugs..

Lately my son Connor has been a daddy's boy. He loves to hang with me. I of course love this. He's a good boy and easy to hang with. But the shift I work has been hard lately. I used to work mornings so I was gone before he even got out of bed and I was home all night. Now on days he goes to school I either have to drive him and his sister to school or I don't get to see him and Sara all day. Lately, when he's home (We home school 2 days a week and he attends school 2 days) and I have to leave for work, he'll hug me 4-6 times before I get out of the door. He'll hug me when I grab my stuff and head to the door. Another one when I get to the door. Yet more when the door is open, another when I step outside and sometimes he'll even walk me to the car for 1-2 more hugs. It's not the kind of "cling to you" hug, it's a "I'll miss you hug and I want to hug you more so I'm with you longer" type of hug. It sure makes me feel good for all the affection yet another part wishes I was staying home because I know it's been hard on him. Eventually he'll grow out of this, but I won't mind if he takes his time. These are the things Mommies and Daddies love to have from their kids. Hugs, hugs and more hugs.

Left Brain Right Brain

So I get home late last night from the Plano Balloon Festival. We get the kids into bed, kisses goodnight, pack my lunch for work Sunday, and get some clothes ready. Since I have to wake up at 3:30am I want to have to do as little as possible to get ready for work so I can sleep until the very last minute before I have to get out of bed. I fall into bed a solid 10:30pm after I set the alarm for 3:30am. Then my left brain starts kicking in.... Dang! All of a sudden I don't feel sleepy. I feel like writing a book. Where did this come from?? I never really thought about writing a book! My left brain starts planning the opening of a book that I should someday write in my spare time. I contemplate getting up to write down my thoughts (who knows it could be a best seller) but decide against it, as doing so would only encourage that side of my brain to continue to act against my well-being. So there I lay, awake. It really wasn't too bad of a start for a new story. So why I ask myself?? Why is it that when I'm ready for sleep, needing sleep, wanting sleep, my left brain sees this as an opportunity to wrest control from my right brain and take my mind for a cruise? Maybe it's because my right brain is starting to wind down and reliquishes some control knowing sleep and my unconsciousness will engage autopilot for the night. Who knows. All I know is that I could have been a writer, had I only been able to stay in that zone of slight-slumber. Dang, no wonder I always wanted to fall asleep in creative writing class in school! If only I had, I would have had a better grade.

Air Travel insights

I work for an airline. I like my job. Those usually are oxymoronic statements, but they are true. In my position I get to see and help with the daily behind the scene operations of the airline on the day-to-day level. With all the news revolving around how airlines are doing a horrible job I have just one thing to say. Poppycock! Airlines are in one of the hardest industries to operate. It's not due to competition. It's not due to environmental issues. It's not due to product quality. It's due to government interferrence and utter fiscal incompetence.
The airlines have pumped BILLIONS of dollars into the federal coffers under the guise of developing and implementing a new Air Traffic Control system. After all, the current one is from the 1950's! Yes that's right. It's 50 year old technology. Did they even call it "technology" back then? And after all these years and the billions of dollars collected in taxes has anything been done? Nope. The airlines are all investing in new technology that is high tech. We spend millions on top of millions to ensure our flights are safe, efficient and economical. Traveling by air has never been safer or less expensive than it is now. But you'd be surprised what we see everyday. The common Customer checks bags, travels occasionally and has few if any problems along their trip. Then there are the business customers. They are the road warriors. They know how to travel to make the most of their flights. What time to go, what to pack, how the system works. They are the ones who are most understanding when weather stands between you and your destination. They realize that it's not the fault of the employee at the gate or ticket counter that the flight is late or broken or oversold. They are the ones that make life easy. Then there are the customers who travel once every 150 years. They check in a transmission for a 1975 Buick and wonder why they are charged extra since it only weighs 140 lbs. Heck, bubba carried it in from the car. They want meal service on a 45 min flight and expect to get a window seat even if they didn't check in early. They can't understand why the person at the gate didn't hold the flight for them while they stood in line at McDonalds. They pack meats, cheese, bottles of wine, and the medicine they need every 2 hours into their checked bags on a 4 hour flight. Then when the flight is delayed due to weather they don't understand why they can't get their bag that is buried in the aircraft belly under 120 other bags. While it's always a challenge serving even those customers, they are our customers and we'll take them the same as everyone else. We try to help "educate" them as we go hoping that as they travel more they'll come to graduate to frequent traveler or who knows even business customer. But until that happens, can't we at least ask that they wrap up and drain that transmission before they check it in?

Weight of the times

Like many people, weight is an issue that has slowly crept up to me after I turned 35 yrs old. I used to be 140 lbs and had a 29 waist size. My gradual increase to 173 lbs and 34 waist isn't a terrible increase but I would love to get rid of some of these little love handles and reign in the belly I inherited from my dad. I hate working out though. We've had gym memberships on and off as the years pass but to be honest even at the peak of usage it seemed we paid more than they were worth. Over the spring and summer I did pretty well. I was going 1-2 times a week (yeah that's pretty well for me) but now that we've trimmed our budget due to the recession it had to go. I'm not sad. It was a great excuse to stop going. Oh the pain of making myself speed walk for 45 minutes or use the weight machines for another 20 minutes. I will miss the crunch machine though. I got to where I could easily do 50-75 crunches at 50 lbs but honestly I didn't see any 6 pack abs starting to show so no matter what I did it seems my belly was just laughing at me about going through all that. How do I know it was laughing? You could see it jiggle.
Maybe it was my imagination but I swear it's winning this war of attrition with me. Or is it a war of nutrition? Anyway, looks like I'll need to find a better way to get some exercise. It may be better anyway, I like walking around outside and Maggie (dog) likes being taken for walks as well. With the cooler weather heading our way maybe I'll actually have the will to make myself get out and get some exercise. Then again, I wonder what TV shows are on.....

Musings on a Wednesday night..

It's Wednesday night. I'm at work. It's slow. That's not necessarily a bad thing with my position. You see the desk I work at is only busy when there are issues that need to be taken care of and problems to be addressed. If we're slow, the airline is running smooth. We are at 92% on time. That's very good for 10:00pm. I do miss being home in the evenings though with my wife and kids but this shift allows me to have weekends off and that takes precedence over shift times. When I worked mornings the family would snuggle up in Mommy and Daddy's bed and watch TV for the last hour of the day before bedtime. It was always fun to snuggle up and many times the kids would zonk out before that hour was over. As Daddy, I enjoyed my role of carrying them to bed and getting them all tucked in. I miss that. But now I can be home for more family events that happen on the weekend. It's a trade off but one Robin and I have decided is worth it for now. Maybe someday I'll be able to be mornings with weekends but we've got to have several people more senior to me retire before that will be available to me. Anyway, I've got 20 years in and probably won't be up for that shift for another 10 years at least. In the airline business weekends are something of a luxury. As opposed to most other weekday jobs, airlines are 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year operations for many positions. For now, I'm happy with having weekends off.

The New "Raw" Deal

Where does it end? The stock markets have crashed, the government is out of control, the economy is struggling and people are angry about anything the media feeds them these days. AIG execs got bonuses. So what. They had a contract. A contract that was in effect before they got bailed out, a contract that was to be honored due to Sen. Dodd adding his little amendment to make sure those who scratched his back were taken care of, a contract that was legal and binding no matter how distasteful it was. The important thing was that there was a contract. We are a nation of laws, when Congress determines that those laws should be disregarded due to public outrage we become socialist. Congress has made this economy worse. Barney Frank is an idiot. How does he get re-elected??? He and Chris Dodd are the masterminds of the banking regulations that caused the banks to make sub-prime loans to people who they knew could not afford to pay. If I were one of those people I would be angry that they did opened up this candy store and made it so appealing only to have it all come crashing down years later. Yet to do so would force people to accept part of the blame. That's hard to do. Frank also wants to pass a bill to allow Geithner to change existing contracts to adjust pay in ALL employees of companies that took bailout funds. You can be sure they won't be looking at how much the Congress make. Janet Napolitano doesn't want to enforce the immigration laws. Kathleen Sebelius is another in a long line of President Obama's cabinet choices who owed back taxes. At this rate maybe we'll have a surplus when all his picks pay their back taxes to be a part of his cabinet. Add to this the forced resignation of GM's Chairman and you should be very afraid of where this country is heading. I read a lot of comments after articles and am surprised that Obama got elected based upon all the negative comments I see. Are people coming around? Or did the Republican party just not offer a solid candidate who people felt the need to get out and vote for? I don't know but I'm hoping the midterm elections allow the people to express their disappointment by voting for more change in the form of a lessened Democrat majority or even better, a thumping by electing Republicans back into power. I'd like to see how well Obama would handle that situation...even better, I'd like to see Pelosi's face if that were to happen. One thing I do wonder is, how do the unions in Detroit feel now about their choice of President? First he stands by to allow Senator Levin to be lowered in stature then he takes a hard line on the life blood of the auto industry by choosing who can and can't run GM and then says bankruptcy is a viable option for GM and Chrysler. Add to that the new CAFE standards he'll sign into effect and other hurdles he'll place in front of a struggling auto industry. I bet Ford is happier than anything that they passed on the bailout funds. They are looking like the smartest of the big three and may be the only ones who survive since anytime the government has a hand in a company it seems to always run it into the ground.

Non-Political post

Now that I've got that out of my system I can write about something non-political. After sitting here for the last 45 minutes I began thinking maybe I didn't have anything else to write. I do have a life outside the political musings of a conservative father of two.
We recently had a big screen TV installed. It was our Christmas gift to ourselves. The picture wasn't that great but we also don't subscribe to HD from our cable provider so we didn't think much of it. DVD's rock though! The picture from a DVD is great and the other day a friend of mine brought over his HD antenna that he wasn't using. We hooked it up and WOW! What an difference it made!! We were watching the NFL playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens and I swear I could see the hair on some of the players arms from the sideline camera shots!! We also had surround sound installed and I am really enjoying playing music through the house and listening to talk radio as I do stuff around the house. I'm glad we had it done. The sound quality is really good.

Inauguration Day tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Inauguration day. The era of Bush ends and Obama will be sworn in as the first African American President. Will it be historic. Yes. Will it be a new path for the US? Maybe. Either way the day will start and end as it always does. The sun won't shine any brighter, the temperature won't become any warmer, and the economic crisis won't disappear.
Seems that the more Obama does the more he seems to be gravitating towards a middle ground in the political spectrum. Funny how spectrum rhymes with another word that could be used when referring to politics. I didn't vote for Obama, big surprise there, but I genuinely hope he leads the country in a positive direction. Even if I didn't vote for him, he's still our President. I hope God gives him wisdom and courage to follow a path that keeps our country safe, prosperous and healthy. I noticed that as he became more informed of all the material he gets to see as President Elect he became more centrist in his decisions and appointments. I think that says something about the decisions Bush made while President. It seems that the more he was let in on the Presidential Daily Briefing information he started to change his approach to certain situations. He backed off his raise taxes on the wealthy promise. He backed off his withdraw troops from Iraq promise. I hope he continues to lead from the center rather than the liberal left. If he does he has the opportunity for a second term and quite possibly be able to draw people from both sides of politics. Of course, tomorrow is a new day. It's also the day he takes the reins on this country of ours and I hope he doesn't pull hard to the left once he has the Office of the President given to him.