Category — Family

A colleague posted about needing a new TV, and another colleague jokingly asked “What’s that!?”.

Being the geek that I am, I show him how it was defined in my house.

function TV($WifeLocation) {
   switch ($WifeLocation) {
     case "Here":
       KidsLocation = "Reading a Book";
       TVContent = NULL;
       MeLocation = "With Kids";
       break;
     case "Out":
       if KidsLocation != "With Mom" {
         KidsLocation = "TV";
         TVContent = "Disney Movie";
         MeLocation = "Computer"; }
       else {
         MeLocation = "TV";
         $MovieList = ("Ninjas", "Jedi", "Cylons",
                     "KungFu", "Vulcans", "Poker");
         MoviePick = rand (0,5);
         TVContent = $MovieList[MoviePick];
       }
       break;
   }
}

Of course, I’m joking… Except for the part about Vulcans. I NEVER joke about Vulcans.

There is great need for a sarcasm font.

I travel a lot and every time I see a solider in uniform, I want to say “Thank You”.

Some times I do. Other times I balk – either because the interaction is too quick or I’m too much in my head planning, getting ready, etc, etc, etc. Honestly, I really don’t know why I don’t speak up every time – they certainly deserve that… The Gratitude Campaign makes this REALLY easy to do. Its a simple hand gesture that quickly and silently conveys the thanks that you feel in your heart but can’t always get off your lips. Tell them how you feel, its the least we can do!

Watch the quick movie below for a full explanation.

God Bless the men and women in uniform!

Wow.  Proof! :^)

The amazing Danny Gans

It was with an unexpectedly deep sadness that I read about the passing of one of Las Vegas’ most influential and talented entertainers – Danny Gans.

After several attempts to see his show, my wife and I caught Danny’s show just this past February.  It was truly amazing…  He was a master showman.  What impressed me the most was not his singing or impressions (which were truly phenomenal in their own right) but, rather it was that he was truly interested in giving the best show he could to every single audience.  He worked us continually – changing on the spot to what we responded to best.  He jumped around decades in his music trying to find what would resonate most for us, and it worked…

His show was great – REALLY great.

I was very touched during his tribute song to his family and his stories of all the support they gave him during the tough years of travel prior to hitting it big in Vegas.  I actually had seen him nearly 15 years prior in Worcester, MA at the old Colosseum.  He was funny then too, but I didn’t fully appreciate who he was at the time.  It wasn’t until many years later, seeing his picture on big board at the Mirage, that I put 2 and 2 together.

I was also very touched that he was so transparent with his faith.  From his direct testimony during the show to doing little things like pointing to the sky while singing lyrics like “Who can make the sun shine?” during Bojangles, there was no question that this man loved his God.

It is inevitable when something like this happens to start to wonder – how can God let this happen?  Why would He take a man that truly loves Him and leave behind a family that will forever be changed by the passing of a loving husband and committed father?

This is where our faith comes in…  We either believe Romans 8:28, or we don’t.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

It is hard in the face of such tragedy to remain faithful, but it is to for our betterment that we do so.  Rather than questioning God and his motives, we would do better to examine what would we have done without our faith during these tough times?  Faith in God and in Christ isn’t a free ride.  It isn’t all bubblegum, pink stars and dancing ponys.  But, if you remain committed to your relationship with Him you are guaranteed that whatever happens, God will eventually work it for your good.  In His time.  It likely won’t be evident until much later, but it will be evident.  Don’t think that means – EASY.  Many times in life, the RIGHT thing and the BEST thing isn’t easy at all.

I’ve used the analogy that our lives are like a fine tapestry in the process of being woven.  We see the tapestry from the back and typically have an ugly view of a myriad of knots and threads making up a nearly incomprehensible intersection of color and texture.  Yet, every once in a while God treats us to a view of the front, where a beautiful picture is being woven through our faith and obedience to the Weaver.  We just don’t have the full picture, and we either trust God in His ways, or we don’t.  I’m not saying that we can’t be sad or scared or upset – that is a very natural response.  Fortunately though, we don’t have to be.  We have also been promised the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding and that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  I think that is my favorite verse of all time.  It means that we can face inexplicable hardship and still somehow through the Love of Christ, be at Peace.

I pray that Danny’s family can place their trust in God and can somehow find that Peace during what will likely be one of the toughest time of their lives.

For Danny, I pray that he hears the words that all Christians want to hear upon meeting their maker – “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Some of the measures for this Special Election sound sort of smart, until you look a bit deeper and realize that it is simply politics as usual.

I oppose all of the measures for this special election.  I’ve outlined a basic reason for each one below.  If you want more info, simply leave a comment, and I’d be glad to elaborate if appropriate.  In general, across most of the measures, these are simply a way for the legislature to get our approval on the smoke and mirrors approach they have taken to balance the CA budget.  In a series of Obamaesque style masterpieces, many of these measures simply put off the day of reckoning that is due us based on our State’s horrible penchant for spending too much money.

Measure 1A: The worst of the bunch, this measure actually approves extending the HUGE state tax increases and new taxes just approved by our legislature for up to an additional two years.  We are already the highest taxed state in America, yet they want us trick us into to ratifying their decision by getting us to vote for these taxes ourselves.  The fact that they cloak it in wording like “Rainy Day Fund” and “Stabilization Fund”  – things that certainly sound fiscally responsible to the lay person – is in my opinion nothing short of reprehensible.  Shame on you people.

Measure 1B: As much as I believe in education and want a good experience for my own children (my oldest is just about to enter kindergarten at a public school), I do not think that forcing tax payers to repay funding that was denied in this past session makes any sense at all.  The situation is horrible and everyone has had to make concessions – our schools are no exception.  There are few things that people care about as much as they care about their children – if our state spending has gotten so out of hand that we have to start sabotaging the future of our kids, maybe it is time that we take a long hard look at what we are doing with the REST of the money.  My feeling is that our children’s future is jeopardized much more by a “borrow and spend” legislature than it is by having a larger class sizes and older text books.  This is a knee-jerk response that is designed to pull at your emotions.  We SHOULD fund our schools – but it should be done in a fiscally responsible way – that is, prioritizing education OVER other things that we already spend money on.  It shouldn’t be done by simply raising taxes.  The “funny” thing is that most teachers would agree that the ultimate success of a student is due largely to parental involvement at home – yet, the net effect of what the Teacher’s Association is asking for here, is for parents to spend more time at work to pay for higher taxes.

Measure 1C: The tag line to this should be: “Because we all know increased gambling is the key to every financial crisis”. This is just more smoke and more mirrors.  The measure makes wild assumptions of future revenues and has real potential negative side effects of making this form of gambling more widely available.  Maybe the lottery system needs modernizing and maybe it doesn’t – but doing it as a band aid to State Budget reform is NOT a smart move.  If indeed the Lottery needs to be modernized, do it first in a socially responsible way and see how it turns out.  If any revenue increases appear, THEN use the money to pay off any existing debt.  This measure simply puts the cart before the horse and again is intended to deceive the public at large with something that “sounds good” but distracts us from the real problem: we spend too damn much money.

Measure 1D: This is a tough one – these politician bastards force us to choose between two classes of children.  Really?  This is the ONLY place you can find the money?  The stuff they warn us will happen if we don’t support Measure 1B is exactly what they are DOING to us here.  Even worse, it takes money out of working programs and places it back in the hands of politicians to dole out to other programs as they see fit.  That’s never a good idea.  Don’t let them justify their overspending by forcing us to choose between two sets of equally deserving children.  Find the money somewhere else!  Yes, some of the programs currently have a surplus – lets not do what Sacramento typically does and plunder the war chest so that next time there is nothing to fall back on.  In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that my daughter received a First 5 scholarship.  I loved the way that it worked – she received it for a time, and once that time was over, she no longer received funding.  It helped us put her into early schooling, but yet had a limit on what it would handle as well.  This makes sound public policy sense in my mind, and is likely the exact reason that this program actually has a surplus – it doesn’t create a chronic dependency on state aid but rather helps people make sound choices for their child’s early development.  If you would like a thoughtful dissension, read The Policy Report commentary on the measure.

Measure 1E: Another tough one, and one that I freely admit I’m not necessarily qualified to determine the value of.  Maybe we should redirect funds from the Mental Health Services Act to the state’s Early and Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program, which would provide mental health services to children for the next two years.  I don’t really know.  What I do know however is that this type of decision shouldn’t be made in the shadow of an unbalanced budget.  Also, while the supporters of 1E say that this is a one time event and that is should never happen again, I think they are being grossly naive about that aspect.  Once a precedent is set, it is all to easy to do again.  And again.  And again, etc.  Spending on mental health services has proven effective in lowering burdens on jails, hospitals, schools and municipalities through lower homelessness.  This seems like a good investment to me.  Yet, voting for this measure will reportedly will stop further tax increases.  This I’m all in favor of – but I’d propose cuts in other areas first, like modernizing welfare.  I’d rather lower funding for people who are of sound mind and body and can do more for themselves than lower help to this group of afflicted individuals.  Again, thoughtful dissension can be found at The Policy Report.

Measure 1F: This one gave me the most pause.  On the surface it seems quite smart – freeze pay raises for the politicians if they can’t balance the budget.  Sounds smart indeed – in fact, it sounds like points that I have made before.  So, why do I oppose this?  First off, I’ll say that I don’t STRONGLY oppose it.  I think that it would do some good, but I am not certain that it wouldn’t do some harm as well.  There are a few reasons why I don’t support this measure – 1) it won’t really “stick it to the politicians” as it has been billed, 2) it will impact other people who are not responsible for actually passing the budget and 3) it doesn’t save much money.  This measure won’t impact the single most important thing that the actual politicians think about: re-election.  Also, it will make the non-law passing jobs harder to fill.  I had to think long and hard about this, but in the end, it was the minuscule amount that it would actually save that finally tipped my hand to vote against it.  Lets have REAL reform, not something that just “feels” like we got the better of Sacramento. Of course, if it passes, I won’t loose more than 5 minutes of sleep either…