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.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

God Bless the men and women in uniform!

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!”

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… 

At The Huntington Gardens

The time is finally upon us!!  Don’t miss the start of the awesome Random! Cartoons!  They are set to air tomorrow, December 6th, 2008 at varying times on Nicktoons Network.

Flavio with his voice, Emmy Award winning actor Rob Paulsen. Rob is, without a doubt, one of the best voice actors of our time.

My brother Mike made an AWESOME Random! Cartoon called Flavio, but still no info on when that one will air.

Flavio is an Italian goat who works as a dishwasher in a Pizzaria but aspires to be much more than that. Someday he hopes to be a great inventor like his hero Leonardo DaVinci. No one says it better than Flavio himself, “One-a day, straight to th’ top!”

Anyway, rush over to see the listings and be sure to change the location for your TV provider so you get the right time and channel.  Its set for 1:30 Eastern, 10:30 Pacific according to what I can tell.

First up on Saturday are Solomon FIX; MooBeard the Cow Pirate; Two Witch Sisters followed by Sunday’s airing of The Finster Finster Show; Adventure Time; Mind the Kitty.

Its going to be an awesome show!

I’ll of course annouce it as soon as Flavio is going to air as well!

Nathaniel Joseph, Born Nov 2, 2008

My cute CI Kids.

I love my 2 kids!  Uwimana is from Rwanda and a sweet, sweet girl.  She has struggled in school and hardship at home, but has come a long way from when we first sponsored her.   Helio is a handsome boy from Brazil who loves soccer and art.  He lives with his Grandmother and every letter from him comes with a beautiful picture.

Emily thinks of them as being a sort of brother and sister and sometimes plays with their pictures, making them talk as if they were really with her.  She mentions them often enough to let us know that their lives and struggles have had an effect on her, even at 4.

For a few bucks a month, its a great way to make a personal difference in the lives of people who really need it.

I can’t wait until next year!

Lounging Around...

Contemplation

Have you met Charlie and his not-too-bright-brother?

This one really snuck up on me!  My sister-in-law sent me the link and the first time I watched it I thought, "What? That’s not that funny…"   I watched it again just to make sure.  Then I started to chuckle.  Later that night, I kept saying "OWCH, CHARLIE!" (UK accent intact, of course..) and I was LMAO.

I showed it to H, and she just looked at me like I was sick.  Maybe I am, but at least I’m in good company!    41 million views and counting!  The original post seems to not work in my page here (keeps giving me a no longer available listing) so I put up a squatter version.

I lost my Mom to a stroke so I hope that this helps you.

Perhaps you can save someone you love after learning this?

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters…. S.T.R.

My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) …..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 PM Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don’t die…. they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this…

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke… totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the “3″ steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke .

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another ’sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ’stick’ out his tongue.. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.****

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

****  snopes.com reports that the tounge test may have too much room for interpretation and that sticking with the original 3 tests is best.