August 2007 Archives

This year at Gamefest, I heard a friend of mine who has strong libertarian leanings (to put it mildly) make the following statement: "Any time you hear someone say 'there should be a law,' there shouldn't." (I paraphrased somewhat.)

Well, libertarian friend, try this one on for size: There ought to be a law that if someone is going to do this (see picture below) on your property, they have to notify you about it first.

I'm not asking for the right to grant or deny permission to do such a thing. All I'm asking for is the right to be told what is going to happen, when it's going to happen, where it's going to happen, and how long it will be happening. Just a simple little note in the mail or a phone call to say

"Hey, we're going to be digging a hole and setting a utility pole on your property on August 23rd. You may want to keep your kids inside because your back yard won't be fenced in on that day. Oh, and you'll be responsible for cleaning up after our mess. Have a nice day."

That's all I ask. But apparently I don't have that right (at least not in Illinois). Since the pole was placed to fix a problem on my neighbor's property, the power company has no obligation to inform me about the work that is taking place on *my* property. In fact, even if it was something they were doing for me, they don't have to tell me about it unless the work will necessitate cutting power to my house. Nice.

Needless to say, I had some difficulty maintaining civility while speaking to the "customer service representative" I reached when I discovered my new utility pole on Thursday night. So much for private property rights!

/rant

I forgot to mention that Ye Olde Soulfoode recently surpassed 1000 posts. And there was much rejoicing.

Today my pastor preached on fasting again (2nd week in a row). Jamie and I have felt challenged to resume fasting regularly. But enough about that.

According to a statistic he used in the sermon the average American watches 25-30 hours of TV per week (this is from A.C. Nielson). He was suggesting that TV is something we can fast from. I found it funny, and tried to think of something I do that wastes that much time. I probably spend about 7-8 hours per week reading about sports on the internet. That's the closest I can get, but it's pretty bad, too. I suppose when I get rid of all my time-wasting habits I will be entitled to feel good about not watching TV.

In the meantime, even though I have no right to feel good about it, I do anyway. I've been more-or-less TV-free for the last seven years, and for the past 2 years have not possessed a TV set. I'm not ignorant of the world around me and can intelligently (well, knowledgeably, at any rate) discuss pretty much any topic that the general TV-watching public is exposed to. On the other hand, I can't tell you much about what's going on in Br*tn*y Sp*ars' (sorry, but I don't want my blog generating any hits for anyone googling her name) life or which presidential candidate produces the best sound bytes. I will be able to make a well-informed decision when it comes to voting, however.

Anywho, it's not much of a rant but that's what you get right now. Have a nice day!

Playing on the Slip N' Slide at Nana's (Philly)

In Nana's hot tub

Visiting Grandma Stoltzfus

Swimming in CT (the 6yo learned to swim using a paddle board)

Hanging out at Captain Scott's

Visiting formerly-virtual friends in CT -- I loved not being the only
dad who always has a kid on his hip ;)

The 9mo thinks he's hot stuff now that he can pull himself up on
anything

We celebrated the summer birthdays in our family
while at Nana's in Philly

Jamie and the 2 oldest on a ride at Dutch Wonderland

Our 2yo enjoys some of his cousins' toys at my cousin's house

Grandma Stoltzfus with all her great-grandchildren

My cousin Daryl (and me)

Saying "goodbye" to Nana

Early morning at the Sibley castle

Opa getting help with his Rummikub play

Playing in the sprinkler on the front lawn of the castle (with my cousins)

Helping Oma and Opa frost cupcakes (to celebrate summer birthdays
yet again!)

Okay, so here goes. First, a brief chronology:
July 18th -- Jamie drives to Indianapolis with the kids, picks up her mom, and they arrive in Philadelphia (at her Mom's house) on the 19th.
July 20th-24th -- the kids and Jamie hang out with her mom in Philly. Various friends that Jamie knew from growing up visit.
July 24th -- I catch an evening flight to Philly.
July 25th -- we take a morning/lunch trip to Lancaster to visit my paternal grandmother.
July 26th -- we take lovely I-95 across the George Washington Bridge (we took the upper deck) en route to Gales Ferry, Connnecticut to visit relatives on Jamie's side. We stay with one of Jamie's mom's cousins. They have a pool. :)
July 27th -- we swim. We drive to Groton and then to New London (still in CT) to visit some of Jamie's great-uncles and eat really fresh seafood at Captain Scott's Lobster Dock.
July 28th -- we drive back to Philly. Along the way, we stop to visit some friends we had previously known only in virtual reality. It was a great 5 hours.
July 29th -- Elijah and I went to see the Phillies play in Citizen's Bank Park. They won. It was a lot of fun!
July 29th/30th -- I earned my keep helping my mother-in-love trim the trees and shrubs around her yard and clean them up. We filled up 17 yard waste bags.
July 31st -- We took another trip to Lancaster. In the morning, we took the kids to Life Ministries.
August 5th -- we drove from Franklin, PA back to St. Louis. We were all exhausted. It was good to be home.

Vital stats:
2900 miles
$350 worth of gas
8 states (IL, IN, OH, WV, PA, NJ, NY, CT)
License plates from 46 of the 48 contiguous states (WY and AL were the slackers) were identified, along with 2 provinces

How sad.

In case you care, my answer to the article's title is "Without a doubt."

One of the New York Times' op-ed columnist did a piece on the Iowa straw poll today. I think she was trying really hard not to be condescending (like every other Times writer who does an article on anywhere in the Midwest), but it didn't work. On the other hand, she wrote about deep-fried Twinkies as if they were some new innovation. I mean, who hasn't heard of deep-fried Twinkies? Can you believe the ignorance of some people?

And New Yorkers think they're so sophisticated. Ha!

We're back from vacation. I'll get around to posting some pictures soon. Sometime after I download the pictures, and re-size them. Don't hold your breath. :)