Spudlets

- Yeesh, I’m still getting over the sad-pathetic display of football from last night.  It looked like the bowl season started early with the Inept Bowl, as both the Bears and Redskins squandered opportunities.  After Grossman was hurt, I had a hunch Griese would be too rusty to do much of anything.  When you add the poor offensive line play, it’s no wonder the Bears could not score enough to win.

- I just caught it this morning, the preview for the next Narnia movie, Prince Caspian.  I’m too lazy to dig up a link, though it should not be too difficult to find.  From what little I saw, it looks like they movie makers go to the kids meeting the Prince much earlier in the movie than in the book.  It was nice to see Aslan on the screen again.

- I also saw a preview of Speed Racer.  Hmmm, I’m not sure how well a 60’s cartoon will translate to a modern-day live action film.  They do have John (Flintstones) Goodman in it, though.

- We’re still wrestling with misbehavior from the two youngest, while the oldest has his moments as well.  Kristal doesn’t look forward to picking up the youngest from daycare, as she inevitably has to hear about the reasons the girl “earned” a red mark on her report.  It’s a little more difficult with the middle boy, as he “mysteriously” clams up if you try to get him to describe what happened during the day.

- We did get good news last week that the birth mom’s appeal will be heard this month, and if things work out for us the paperwork from the state court will be ready in a few months.  From there it will take several more months until the adoption can be finalized.  They (social workers) would not commit to a range of time, but it looks like maybe September.  I asked if a fruit basket would help move the paperwork along, and they said it wouldn’t hurt.  They followed up by giving names of stores for gift certificates.  I think they were joking about the last part.  Maybe.

- It’s going to be slightly more chaotic at work the next few weeks, as more network equipment arrives and the new company’s equipment is brought on-line.  They keep talking about us “being available” the week between Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s still not clear what will be needed (for now).  Right now feels like the calm before the storm.  I’m reminded of a corollary to the Chinese “blessing”:  may you have an interesting job.

I’m coming out of the closet and admitting to being a fan of “The Next Great American Band” show.  I have been watching it from the beginning and it’s fairly entertaining, moreso than the dancing show that just concluded (thank God).  My favorite band is the Clark Brothers - just awesome talent.  I talked to someone in the band at my church, and he had actually played backstage with them at a bluegrass festival and said they are the real deal. 

I would like to see Trey Bien, Dot Dot Dot and Light of Doom voted out, with Six Wire and the Clark Brothers duking it out for the championship (Denver and his orchestra are nice but shouldn’t even be on at this point).  Unfortunately, the headbangin’ longhaired schoolkids will be around until the end.  They’re an OK kid garage band, but nobody on the show seems to want to face the backlash of pointing out they are mediocre musicians who just play crunch chords and learned their stage moves from old heavy-metal videos.

My 9 year old loves them and jumps up and down every time they are announced to go on-stage.  Both his mom and I groan, and then he looks at us and can’t understand why we don’t like them.  Like “American Idol”, it’s up to the public to vote and I see a repeat of teenie-boppers with their cellphones calling in votes for the Doom-ers. Trey Bien is in a similar situation of kids/peers voting for them even though they are also not very talented.  It is supposed to be a talent contest but it ends up being a popularity contest, thus a band like Franklin Bridge has a premature exit.  So it goes …

-  Is it really almost December?  We already got our first Christmas card … yikes!  It looks like Christmas money will be spent on oldest boy as he has a few “pits” in his teeth that need to be filled.  Even after insurance we’re still on the hook for about $200.  Mmmph.

-  With our new HDTV, we usually find ourselves in front of the screen for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night starting at 7 pm.  We rarely watched those shows before with our old TV.  The picture from the HD broadcast is amazing.  There’s not that much other stuff broadcast in HD (or any network show for that mater) that I want to see.  I’m playing DVD’s through an upconverter, and while they’re nice to watch it’s not as good as an HD broadcast.  Maybe next spring we’ll decide if we want to spend the money on BluRay or HD-DVD.

-  Over the Thanksgiving break I did get to watch a few football games in HD, and it is sweet.  You see more of the field (and play) and everything is in sharp detail.  I got my early Christmas gift of watching (in HD) the bestest team in the whole world, the Chicago Bears, last Sunday in their thrilling victory over the Broncos at Soldier Field.  Now I better understand why some folks spend hundreds of dollars on the high-def NFL Gameday package.  Someday …

-  It’s our 21st wedding anniversary tomorrow, and even though that makes it drinking legal the strongest beverage we will have is caffeinated iced tea (we usually drink the decaf at home).  While Kristal would like to go to a fancy restaurant, she has agreed to go to a place where we can keep it under $25 for us two.  We are blessed with a friend who has agreed to take care of all three of our angelic savages while we go out.  Now I just have to find a $2 anniversary card somewhere that expresses my true feelings.  Or I can just write it out over a plain card.  That’s me - Mr. Romance.

The Taterbed took a giant leap into the digital world. I went last week and got me a big ol’ high-def TV: Toshiba 50″ DLP. The HHGregg store was having a grand opening sale, and I saved $100 from the regular “sale” price they’re advertising now. Yes, it’s “only” 720p and not 1080i, but with my old eyes I can’t really tell much of a difference.

For now we’re going with the antenna feed. Even though they are running specials, both the cable and satellite would run about $50/month, so we’re holding off on choosing one of those for now. After first setting it up I hooked up the regular cable to it and it was OK but nothing great. When I hooked up the antenna and then tuned in “Jeopardy!” coming it at full HD … wow! Unfortunately I’m far enough away from the big city of Greensboro where the reception can be spotty sometimes, especially for PBS.

Watching the football games on HD is great. I’m looking forward to seeing the Bears in HD, someday, even if they are stinking up the joint this season. We did get a DVD-upconverter too. I did not get an HDMI cable at HHGregg. I don’t want to spend too much on it, $20 at most, but for now all that’s available starts around $35 and goes up. Maybe there’ll be a sale on Friday …

I don’t have much experience with HDTV, so I’m not too sure on how much better the picture will be with the special cable. I’m also considering the component cables, but if I’m going to spend money I might as well spend it on what is supposed to be the best connector. I’m just hoping for some bang for the buck.

Kristal calls it a “monster”. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to buy a toy. We don’t watch much TV, particularly network/cable shows. I’m set for the days off coming up during the holiday season, so now it’s a question of what movies to watch. I may go for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, or perhaps “Lonesome Dove”. It’ll probably be the former, as the latter was a made-for-TV production so the picture quality will not be all that great.

[I could go on about "Yes, I'm still alive", but that gets old after awhile.  Will this blog survive?  I hope so, though lately I've been getting my writing/composition practice at other places.  Perhaps I'll get around to some TUG as I had promised many moons ago.]

- Last week we (piedmont NC) finally got some much needed rain, over three inches.  While it’s too late to worry about cutting grass, hopefully the moisture will give the grass root system a fighting chance to survive the winter.  Unfortunately it also helps crabgrass.  What I have not seen for a long time is mushrooms in the yard.  I did a double-take when they first came up.

- While I usually have a rant at this time of the year for the stupid DST, it’s getting to the point of tilting at windmills.  I still don’t understand how the rest of the population seems to be like sheep and go along with it.  Considering Congress is the source of these monkey-shines … well, nuff said.

- My favorite sports team, the Chicago Bears, has taken it on the chin this season, though they have not done too much to move their chin out of the way.  In spite of the Superbowl appearance last year, there were a few areas of concern going into this season on offense (QB, RB and O-line).  Considering the poor play on offense combined with the injuries on defense and it does not look like the Bears will be returning to the playoffs.  Can’t win ‘em all.

- The 3 y.o. girl got to go to bed over an hour early last night.  While she had a good day at school, she challenged Mom twice afterwards.  Each time Mom would ask her to stop doing something.  She would stop at first, then go back to it as if to test a boundary.  After that point Mom told her to go to her room, and then she went into her act:  flop on the floor and yell “I don’t want to go to my room!”
Well, yeah, that’s understandable, but that’s not behaving.  In spite of her misbehavior, she can be very loving.  Out of the three kids she’s the only one to show any interest/excitement when I get home.  I’ll never get tired of hearing a happy shout of “Daddy!”, followed by a hug.  Everyone has the basic need of knowing someone is happy to see you (yes, Lady Spud also greets me warmly every day).

Awhile back I got this “bright” idea to go to the mountains around leaf-fall time for a quick weekend getaway with the family. I chose last weekend hoping to hit the colors but it turned out to be a week or two early. The weather was very nice, in the low 70’s and sunny. I chose a motel that had an indoor pool so the kids would have something to do.

The problem came when we were in the motel room between pool and going-out times. It became quickly evident that things would be magnified in the small confines of a two-bed one bath room. With one TV the youngsters got a chance to see stuff on cable like Spongebob, but their attention span is too short, particularly the oldest boy and little girl(LG), to stay quiet for long.

Unfortunately, LG has a bad habit of screaming whenever things are not going her way. We have been working with her on this since day two. Asking her to be quiet and stop screaming has not been helpful. Temporarily covering her mouth does not help either, as the screaming must out. She is also at that magical age where when she knows what she wants, announces it and then refuses to to have (or do) anything else. She is way above average for stubborness.

Well, enough crabbin … we survived and they did have fun in the pool. I was blessed to find a K-Mart that had some pool stuff in the clearance rack, since LG needed swimmies(inflatable floats for the arms) for the pool with the shallowest part about 3 1/2 ft. Not only was it stuff I needed but it was marked way down. Thank you Lord!

The kids were fairly well behaved for all of the time in the van, which is another thing to be thankful for. I should back up and mention we went to SciWorks in Winston-Salem on Friday morning. It is a good museum for the under 12 crowd, and the older kids and adults will find stuff too. We were blessed again by getting a homeschooler discount. Ordinarily it would have been $37, but they brought it down to $20. LENISE: It’s probably best to wait until the youngsters are about 3.

On Saturday morning we drove down Grayson Pkwy. from Wytheville, VA to Stone Mtn. State Park in NC. It’s a nice drive through the mountains, and you get to see plenty of Christmas tree farms. We also saw some pumpkins in the field picked and ready for pick-up. The park has good facilities and the hiking trails are well laid-out. We went on a 2 mile roundtrip hike to the Middle Falls. It took longer than I had planned to get to the park, and by the time we got back from the hike it was close to 12:30, so we had to leave for lunch. I’d like to go back and check out the homestead and baptist church.

The closest town was Elkin, and I was fortunate to find a McD’s with a humungous play area. Even after all of the hiking, the kids were ready to run around and play. Have at it. We had planned on going near Taylorsville to a PYO apple farm, but again it was getting late and we (parents) were tired, so instead we stopped at the Farmer’s Market outside of Greensboro and picked up a bag of apples. We also did not get the mountain cider I was thirsting for, so maybe next time for that too.

What will not be happening for a long time is any extended trip with these loud young’uns. We have talked about going to Chicago this summer, since we did not go last summer, but I don’t know if we can handle the stress (13 hrs one-way). When we’re at home and in familiar environments, the misbehavior is somewhat taken for granted and we have our “time-out” areas. When we’re out of the “comfort zone”, it seems like we cannot get to the point where some semblance of control can be achieved.

I wonder sometimes if we’re too sensitive, that that is what most families with kids go through. It’s difficult to say when you’re in the thick of it, and want to be the good parent in control but find yourself out of it. We’ll just keep chipping away at it one day at a time.

- Woo hoo! I made the top letter of reader responses to an article in the OpinionJournal. There were only three printed, but still! Be sure to read the article on progress in Iraq before reading the erudite responses.

- It’s a grey Thursday for me, both literally and figuratively. The first I don’t mind, as we got about a quarter inch of rain last night and should get more (we desperately need) today and tomorrow. Otherwise, the Bears are 1-3 heading into the kingdum of Fav-ruh Sunday night, the Cubs lost the first game of their series, and I had what could be a “career” setback. I can’t detail much about the latter, just to say it’s a great disappointment.

- Ah, but who wants to hear complaining?! The three youngsters seem to be regressing with regard to behavior, so that entails more disciplinary actions (which is no fun). Perhaps our expectations increase as time goes on, but we seem to have problems with back-talking and lying. Well, we are getting a reprieve, as a friend of ours has offered to take the kids off of our hands from Friday night until Sat. afternoon. What to do, what to do …
[Don't worry - Lady Spud has a list ready with all kinds of options for the free time, and none of it involve chores around the house, per our friend's instruction.]

It was an interesting juxtaposition of war “things” on Monday. In New York Mad-man-jihad, Iran’s President, spoke at Columbia Univ., and I believe is scheduled to address (again) the UN in a few days. Last night PBS began showing the highly anticipated documentary on World War II by Ken Burns.

I’m still greatly angered that he was not only asked to speak at a school in the US but that he was even allowed access into the country. If Pres. Bush is serious about Iran as a member of the Axis of Evil, if we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Iran is supplying arms to the terrorists in Iraq who use it to kill American servicemen, then Mad-man-jihad should either be denied entrance or he should be held as a prisoner of war. You can send him to Gitmo and let him enjoy the fine accomodations the Marines provide there.

[UPDATE: Now writing on Thursday I see how Bollinger tried to tear into the Iranian President, though it didn't seem to affect him. I still don't think he should have been invited in the first place.]

The War documentary on PBS was excellent. Even my 9 y.o. enjoyed part of it, particularly the combat parts. He wasn’t very interested in the talking sequences during the internment camp sequences. I felt my heart swelling with pride listening to the stories of everyday folks making a difference, whether they were in the military or back in their communities. I also felt a little shame, in that I (and many other people) are not sacrificing for the current war effort, that we don’t at least pray as we ought for the people that are putting it on the line in the Middle East.

After watching Thursday’s show, I can’t imagine there were many viewers who had dry eyes after the Normandy (Omaha Beach) invasion and how the nation as a whole reacted. Like the battle of Troy for the Greeks, this battle will be recounted thousands of years from now. Today in Iraq there are no beaches or fortified positions to storm. Going from city block to city block, rooting out the terrorists, is like going from hedgerow to hedgerow. Military victory today will be calculated much more differently than WWII.

Getting back to prayer, President Roosevelt gave a stirring prayer on the night following D-Day, and part of it was replayed in the documentary. It’s a little lengthy, but it’s worth reading and can be applied (for the most part) to the current situation in the Middle East.

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment — let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944

Facing the Giants has been out awhile, and friends at church have raved about how wonderful it was. I’ve avoided it based on the gushing as well as some poor reviews from movie websites I frequent. Kristal borrowed a copy from the library, so the price was right - only two hours of my life. I can better understand the criticism of it now.

It’s basically a Christian propaganda film. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Could it have been edgier, without the big happy ending, and made more “artistically”? Yeah, maybe, but it is what it is. While it was for the most part entertaining, it helped to drive home some points that most of us need to consider: what is our purpose, and are we giving it all we’ve got?

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW: I would have liked some things to not go quite the coach’s way, as he seemed to get it all (new vehicle, money, championship, baby) and it veered close to a prosperity gospel. We also got very little character development/interactions with the students, besides the kicker and his dad. I suppose with the time limitation they decided to focus on the coach and what he went through.

A powerful element of the movie was the coach’s decision to gut it out after it looked like he was going to be let go. He turned to the Lord, sought His will and changed his approach to the team. It took time for the blessings to flow, and it was touching when the students started their own revival. The son repenting and reconciling to his father was also great. END SPOILERS

A difficult part of the movie for Kristal and me was the infertility thread. Having gone through it ourselves it’s very heart-wrenching. I’d just as soon not revisit it. I thank God for the youngsters He has blessed us with by adoption. Infertility for Christian couples is very difficult to accept, as you feel like you’re being cursed. Enough on that for now.

Finally, one aspect of the movie greatly convicted me. An older man gives some prophetic encouragement to the coach, and he was shown him praying at the school walking down each hallway every day, and had done that for years. While I may not have access like that to a school, I can certainly pray over my house. Should I have a daily prayer walk and pray over each office at my job? Should I pray over each work station out in production? This head knowledge needs to be converted to foot action.

Christians will find much to enjoy about Facing the Giants. I’m not sure how well this could be used as an evangelical tool, but nothing is impossible with God. Those who don’t like Christians “getting in their face” will hate this film, particularly the happy ending. As far as the ladies not liking the football content, my wife Kristal (who is not a real big football fan) LOVED this movie and wants to buy it now. I enjoyed it, and if you go into it without expectations of seeing a monumental work of art, you should enjoy it too.

- No Britney news in almost a week … oh, she just leaves us twisting in the wind! Actually, for some strange reason I followed the MTV appearance and aftermath fairly closely. There was a part of me that wanted to be a father for her. Even at her ripe old age (24?) she is in sore need of a father to guide her, to be a strength for her as well as set her aright. Her choice in “accountability partners” has been poor. Some say this will end in suicide. I don’t know how things will work out, but now there are two innocent children involved. If they’re taken away from her then I fear the worst.

- Our middle son just turned 5 on Saturday, erego we go to Charles E. Cheese’s place. The cuisine, the activities, the gracious guests … wow! Actually, the kids did pretty good there, although this may be the last time we try to get away with just one large pizza to feed 5. I’m glad for the security system they have at the door. Once our 3 y.o. girl got a cup of tokens in her had she was gone. Although it makes your heart leap out of your chest just contemplating losing her, I suppose it’s as good a place as any to give her a little freedom.

- By a fluke we are getting the VH1 Classic channel, and they showed Pink Floyd’s The Wall Saturday night. There’s 2 hours I’ll never get back. I can vaguely remember trying to watch it some other times and falling asleep. I made a mighty effort to stay awake to midnight and did, but now I’d wish I had taken the extra sleeptime. It falls along the lines of “Oh woe is me, it’s so tough being a rock star, I have problems too ya know” crap, like Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page”, or the Moody Blues “I’m Just A Singer in a Rock-n-Roll Band”. Waah.