Thursday Time Machine: Do what you love, but pick something to do.

Today continues the series I decided to call Thursday Time Machine; which I plan to be advice that I would give a younger me if I could travel back in time.

Today's post has a bit of a dual edge to it: Do what you love, but (for the love) pick something to do.

Harvey MacKay is quoted as saying, "Find something you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life."

Drawing a Bigger Circle (or) Loving People Again

Me in the middle, where I usually end up.

The past few years have been pretty hard for me.

I don't say that to garner sympathy or to make excuses; but it may help you to understand where I am coming from when I say I need to start loving people again.

I have always been a "people person." I could always find something to love about nearly anyone and I loved interacting with as many different people from as many different walks of life as possible. But the last few years I have found myself becoming a bit of a Humbug.

I can't really point back to when it all started or one single event that started me down the path. I can't even be sure at what point I stopped loving people.

Who needs television?

A few weeks ago we thought our television was dead for sure.

I had asked Aedyn to help me clean the screen earlier in the day with a rag and some Windex and a few hours later he decided to do a little cleaning on his own. This resulted in the top coming off the Windex bottle and the contents being poured on the television.

I had never poured Windex into a television before, but I figured it was not a good thing.

I turned out to be right.

Lytro, camera of the future?

I have been seeing articles about this new camera for days now, but it was not until the other night that I actually read one of the articles to see what all the buzz was about.

The new camera is from a company called Lytro.

The most amazing thing about this camera is the new technology it uses for taking pictures.

Traditional cameras use lenses that focus the light so that one plane of the viewing field is sharp and in focus. For instance, if you are taking a picture of your friend in a forest you would focus on your friend and everything else closer or further away would be blurry.

Enter the Light Field Camera.

Thursday Time Machine: Learn to be Still

I have decided to devote Thursdays to advice that I would give to a younger me if I could go back in time.

Today my advice: Learn to be Still.

My whole life I have not been real good at being still. Now please understand that being still is COMPLETELY different than being lazy.

I will just tell you right now (and my wife can probably attest to the fact) that though I learned a good work ethic growing up I still have a firm grasp on how to be lazy. But when I say learning to be still I mean something else.

Most of my life has been lived as a vagabond, a rambling man.

I have lived in 9 different states (California, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Florida, and Missouri) and I wasn't even a military kid; we just moved often.

But beyond physically moving to different houses in different parts of the country I have never been really good at being still in my mind.

Wednesday Afternoon Videos

Today I continue Wednesday Afternoon Videos. I will be posting one of the funny or interesting videos I come across as a way to help everyone get through Hump Day.

Check out the drummer in this video. Not sure what to think about it.

Is he just a HUGE ZZ Top fan or is he starting to question his career choice at this moment?

The Media and Manhood: Gran Torino

The other day I was looking for a movie to watch and came across our copy of Gran Torino.

For those who have not seen the movie; see it.

The movie is rated R for language and violence, and the characters are definitely not politically correct by any means; but it is a great movie.

In the movie Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is a recent widower who finds himself living in a world that has changed a great deal while he remained firmly planted in 1950's America. He has a strained relationship (that is putting it mildly) with his two sons and seems to be haunted by the atrocities he witnessed during the Korean War.

As the movie plays out, Walt is surprised to find that he seems to have more in common with the Hmong immigrants who have taken over his neighborhood than he does with his own family. Through the process of a strange event, Walt finds himself acting as a mentor for the young man who lives in the house next-door.

What struck me most about the move, and particularly about the character played by Eastwood was the "realness" of the man.

Who will save us from the bad people? or Why I own a gun.

Jessica Gonzales

Many people are completely unaware of a ruling handed down by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Castle Rock v. Gonzales on June 27, 2005.

For many, following Constitutional law is about as fun as watching paint dry; but I think that the ruling, and its implication for personal safety in the US, do a great deal to challenge the ideas of safety and security in a civilized society.

We have done a great deal in the name of safety and security in our country.

We have come a long way since the days of the Wild West. Right?

We have police departments, dead bolts on our doors, and sophisticated alarm systems to monitor our home and call the police if anything bad happens.

Why organized boycotts don't work: Part II

Last week I posted a blog on organized boycotts and why they don’t really work.

For those of you who missed Part I of this blog I will recap my assertion that for a public, organized boycott to be successful it must have not only widespread participation but also a real reduction in demand for the product or service being offered by the person or company being boycotted.

Last week I took a look at what I call the one day boycott. This week I take a look at a second type of boycott (and my favorite to make fun of)...

The political/philosophical disagreement boycott.

Happy Father's Day: It's the Dad's Life!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

It's the Dad's Life!

When the government keeps you from going green.

I am a huge pack rat. I have such a hard time throwing away something that could be reused.

When I was a younger man I kept all sorts of odds-and-ends stored in boxes.

Old motors, resistors, capacitors, nuts, bolts, washers, wire string, unique items that I sometimes had no clue as to what it once was; but it all went into my boxes.

This was the reason that when I was 13 years old and my family moved I was required to carry all my own boxes. My dad told me that if I wanted all that junk I had to move it.

I have gotten a little better over the years.

One big help was that when I moved to St. Louis I had a 2001 Chevy Cavalier and could only take what I could fit in the car. That cut down my collection considerably, but it did not change my tendency toward reusing an item rather than discarding it.

Fast forward to the house on Stone Street.

Thursday Time Machine: The power of the budget.

I recently watched a video titled Dear 16-year-old Me, which made me realize that there is a great deal of advice that I wish I could go back in time and tell a 16 year old Jake. In light of that I have decided to devote Thursdays on my blog to the advice that I would give the younger version of me.

This week's piece of advice: The power of the budget.

One of the things I wish I had learned how to do better when I was younger was how to manage money.

The financial situation in my family growing up always seemed to be feast or famine. I did not learn how to set aside the extra in the good times to carry me through the bad times.

It was not until Heather and I started discussing financial matters prior to getting married that I realized how unhealthy my attitude was toward money. And the interesting thing was that I knew all the right things to do with money.

I knew that money was nothing more than a tool to be used. I knew that saving was important. I could spout off all the good advice I had ever heard in regard to money, I had loads of great advice from my grandfather on how to handle money, but my own financial habits were horrible.

Wednesday Afternoon Videos

Today I continue Wednesday Afternoon Videos. I will be posting one of the funny or interesting videos I come across as a way to help everyone get through Hump Day.

This week I have posted a video of a guy doing a cover of I Am Yours by Jason Mraz. And did I mention he sings all the instrument parts?

Enjoy!

Why organized boycotts don't work: Part I

The Wikipedia entry defines a boycott as “an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.” And if the boycott is simply a means of personal expression I believe the boycott works.

There are some products that I just don’t use or companies that I just won’t do business with simply because it is important to me not to support them with my wallet. I believe this to be a success not because I have force a change in the policy of the person or organization but because I have eliminated them from my sphere. But public, organized boycotts are different.

A public, organized boycott seeks to force change onto a person or business by the use of economic forces, specifically the use of reduced demand. But for such an action to be successful the boycott must have two components: 1) widespread adoption 2) actual reduction of demand for the product or service offered by the offending person or business.

In this first post I will take a look at one type of public, organized boycott and explain why I don’t think it works. First up…

The One Day Boycott

Why Americans are fat, and why fad diets and new guidelines won't help.

I recently saw that the United States Department of Agriculture, with the help of First Lady Michelle Obama, released a new dietary guide to replace the time honored Food Pyramid.

Behold the new: My Plate.

I find it very interesting that Federal Government once again has totally missed the issue here.

If fancy diagrams and information could cure the nation's obesity we would already be there.

Red Light Cameras: Law Enforcement Tool or Unconstitutional Intrusion?

I may be taking a risk by venturing into such a topic with my blog; but I figure I tackled the subject of intellectual property rights so this should be right up my alley.

I catch a lot of flack for my views. I am often the oddball in my generation, a social throwback to a time when there was more respect for authority and a desire to do right. Or, perhaps this time never even existed and I am just that much stranger.

For me, the debate over red-light cameras is a simple one: You do the crime, you pay the fine.

I will also be honest in saying that when I hear someone start talking about how these cameras are unconstitutional I have a hard time not hearing, "I just want to keep getting away with breaking the rules and will use any lame argument to do so."

Wednesday Afternoon Videos

Today starts a new series I am going to try out. I will be posting one of the funny or interesting videos I come across as a way to help everyone get through Hump Day.

This week I have posted a cool video of a 3D projection on a building. It starts off slow, but trust me when I say you will be amazed.

Enjoy!

Neither snow nor rain nor heat... but if we see a dog all bets are off!

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

While the United States Postal Service does not have an official motto nor creed, this is the phrase inscribed on the James Farley Post Office building in New York City.

While I realize that these words do not in any way form some postal carrier's oath nor a legally binding agreement, they do form what most people have considered to be the standard by which we should measure the men and women who carry the mail for the United States Postal Service.

These words have also formed the basis many jokes about the USPS over the past few decades and the central part of a humorous story I will tell.

We deserve better. We should demand better.

Rep. Anthony Weiner

Today marked another in a long list of US politicians that have been recently caught in an embarrassing sexual scandal.

At this point I am not interested in discussing the politics of all of this because, honestly, it happens on both sides of the aisle; Republicans and Democrats alike.

Mark Sanford. Elliot Spitzer. John Ensign. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chris Lee. Larry Craig. Mark Foley. John Edwards. David Vitter. Anthony Weiner. And many more.

I think the thing that bothers me the most is all the lying.

Let us all take a step back for a minute. Even if we strip away the discussion of Judeo-Christian morality and monogamy we are still left with questions for these men.

These politicians put up a persona, a facade that is intended to make them electable by the majority of their constituents. They fudge a little here and there to make their family look happy and well adjusted, yet we find that in many cases the life we see is really little more than a cardboard prop; a thin veneer that hides the truth about these men and women we choose to lead us.

How can we really trust someone when nearly everything we know about them is a lie? How can we trust anything they tell us when everything they have told us about themselves is, at best, a well spun half-truth?

And what happens when the deeds of the past threaten to surface?

In the latest scandal to surface there were six women who each had enough to individually blackmail Rep. Weiner.

How do we know that they hadn't already?

How are we supposed to be sure that parts of the massive amount of debt the federal government has racked up was not a sole result of governance of the people?

It is one thing to debate the merit of Keynesian economics verses free market capitalism, but something entirely different and sad to consider the possibility of using tax money to cover up a scandal.

There really is no way to know what extra funding, what road project, what hidden earmark was written into a bill in order to pay a blackmail ransom.

These are not the kinds of things we should have to be wondering about those we choose to govern us.

They should have honesty.

They should have integrity.

They should have character.

But instead we elect whomever can hold on the longest in the centrifuge we call our election process.

Who ever can dig up the most dirt on the other guy while keeping his mess a secret? Yep, that is the candidate that will win.

But shouldn't we have more?

We deserve better, and we should demand better.

When a child gets sick.

The past few days my son, Aedyn, has been a little under the weather.

It really has not been much more than a fever and a lot of sleeping, but he is sick.

When Aedyn gets sick he mostly wants to just snuggle up on the couch next to Mama or Papa and watch movies all day. And since it is likely just a cold bug there is nothing much that Heather and I can do to help him aside from administering ibuprofen and juice and occasionally changing out a DVD.

One thing that made Saturday hard for me was that I had an exceptionally long day at work. I left the house for Pizza Gallery at 10:00 AM and did not get home until 11:00 PM, and while I was gone there was absolutely nothing I could do to help my son feel better.

I am very blessed to have very healthy children.

The other night, as I rolled silverware at the end of my shift, I was talking with another co-worker who has two girls of her own. We both agreed that while we were pleased that our respective kids are well behaved, what we are especially thankful for is that they are healthy.

I remember the feeling I would get when Heather was pregnant with each of my sons. The thought would drift into my mind of what would I do if the baby was born and something was wrong. Or worse, what if there is something wrong and there is nothing at all I can do about it?

There are few things in this world that bother me more that when my children are suffering and there is nothing I can do to fix the problem. When my kid is sick I want something I can fix, something I can battle and defeat to end the suffering of my child.

Last year the news came out that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor responsible for linking autism to vaccinations, had falsified the results of his study in order to support his claim that the vaccines were responsible for the increased frequency of autism cases in young children.

In light of the news it is easy to ask how so many were duped by this liar, but even though I always doubted Dr. Wakefield's research I can understand why so many believed him.

Modern medicine has not definitively discovered what causes or even how to predict what child might develop autism. Parents of children with autism often feel helpless; impotent to help their child. Then Dr. Wakefield came along and gave parents something to fight, some cause to take up so that they could feel like they were doing SOMETHING to help their child.

But is that the best way?

The past few days my son has been sick. Since it was likely a bacteria or virus that caused his sickness I could go on a crusade to eliminate all pathogens from our house; just disinfect the whole darn thing. And while that would serve a purpose, what my son really needed was from his Papa was the little stuff.

He needed me to pick up ibuprofen on my way home. He needed me to put juice in his cup so he could stay hydrated. He needed me to curl up on the couch and watch Return of the Jedi for the third time today.

Interestingly enough, there is evidence that this kind of attention may be the answer even for something like autism.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that we should not, as parents, demand justice when children are wronged or put in harm's way. I just wonder what is really important for us to do when our child gets sick.

"Two thumbs up... for Rock'n'Roll!"

Ever have one of those days where you just aren't sure you are going to make it through? Well, tuck this video away for one of those days.

I don't know about you, but after his little pep talk I am sure I CAN learn to ride a bike... or conquer whatever obstacle it is that happens to stand in front of me.

If you just keep practicing and believe in yourself I know you can do it!

One. Grey. Hair.

Today, as I was getting ready for work; I looked at the hair brush in my medicine cabinet and noticed something.

One. Grey. Hair.

Now, mind you, this is not the first grey hair I have found from my head. My wife was even gracious enough to point out that I have several on my head right now.

I think what surprised me the most was my reaction to this pigment-challenged hair.

I have always told myself that I will be one of those men who age gracefully and with dignity. No hair dye for this guy!

I tell myself I will wear my hair as a badge of honor, signifying I have been "there" and done "that" and am now equipped to guide others.

Ernest Hemingway

I believed (and still hope) that I would join the ranks of the well aged men such as Sean Connery, Sam Elliot, or Ernest Hemingway. But instead of feeling distinguished at the sight of that One Grey Hair I felt a little deflated.

Perhaps I figured that by the time I started getting grey hair I would have accomplished something great.

I always joke that with age comes wisdom, but sometimes age just comes alone. Am I afraid that I am getting older but not any better?

Please don't get me wrong. I am not depressed over a grey hair (or, as Heather points out, several hairs). Neither am I fishing for sympathy or words of encouragement. I am simply being honest about how I feel about getting older.

Or maybe I am just making a whole lot of fuss about a whole lot of nothing.

Yeah, so I am getting a few grey hairs. It happens. And so far I have been pretty happy with where my years have taken me.

Married to a wonderful woman. Father of two adorable little boys.

If anything, finding grey hairs on my hair brush should only be a reminder that I need to make the most of each day. Even if I do live a long life, it is easy to let so many days slip by unnoticed.

And besides, it's only one grey hair.

Can I just talk to a person? PLEASE?!?

Today I put in a call to AT&T.

In the end I finally got through to a technician who walked me through a new process and we got everything back up and running like it should. However, that was not before I had more than enough contact with the computerized voice recognition call director.

You know what I mean.

When you call in and a prerecorded voice welcomes you and asks how it can help you.

On my agenda were two tasks: 1) get our DSL back up and running 2) downgrade our service plan and cancel the phone line. The problem was that all the system wanted to do was direct me to someone that would help me pay my bill.

The voice would say, "You have a current balance. Would you like to pay your bill now?"

The first couple times I was cool, but by the fourth time you hear the same recording a little frustration started to seep into my voice.

I realized just how heated I got on the phone a few hours later when my two-year-old picked up my cell phone and started shouting, "No!... No!... NO!" into the mouthpiece.

After spending over an hour on hold I finally remembered that the last time I had problems with the DSL I was given a direct line to tech support that bypassed the rest of the system. Once I called the new number I was greeted by "Zach" who walked me through a hard reset of my modem.

What I question is whether or not automatic answering systems are really a good way to deal with customers.

I understand that automatic systems are a good way to save money. After all, how many people would have to be hired to answer all the phone calls that go in to a big company like AT&T and how much would they have to pay these people just to direct customer calls?

The most frustrating thing about being on the phone with the computer was feeling like I was not being heard; like my problems were somehow considered unimportant to leave me languishing in the wilderness of the answering system.

All I really wanted was to know that SOMEONE, anyone, actually cared that I was having problems with my DSL.

Interestingly enough, I was not even bothered by the fact that I knew "Zach" was probably really Singh or Bijay. I was not upset that my call was being answered by someone half a world away. I was just relieved to not have to talk to that darn computer anymore.

But what are you for?

"They have a cave troll." - LOTR

So, yesterday I had an interesting run-in with a troll.

For those of you not familiar with the modern slang use of the word troll, rest assured that I did not come across a mythological creature from a Tolkien story.

In modern use, a troll is a person who posts provocative and often off-topic statements in online environments such as blog comments, Twitter, etc. with the purpose of eliciting a strong response or otherwise derailing the conversation.

It all started when I tweeted that I thought that though it was very early in the primary season, I was impressed with Herman Cain as a candidate.

Almost immediately I received a reply about how Herman Cain was a poor choice because he does not hate Islam.

Normally I try to stay away from feeding trolls (a euphemism for responding to or acknowledging a troll's statements) but I guess I was feeling a little feisty because I replied.

Makes sense; right?!?

Essentially the whole conversation descended into a great deal of logical fallacies and assumptions being spewed by the troll, but the one thing I never got an answer to was what this person stood FOR.

She talked a lot about how she hates Islam...

And how she has a right to hate Islam...

And she has a right to say that she hates Islam...

And how I was trying to silence her, but she never really articulated a positive direction for her life.

Is it really so strange that I don't feel the need to make decisions based on a religion that I don't even practice?

I don't know about anyone else, but I am so tired of voting for someone because of what they are against or because they press all the right "fear" buttons.

What ever happened to leaders who inspired us to be better and to achieve more? Are we doomed to live in fear of the things we hate? Must we all sink to the lowest common denominator when making decisions?

Can we all just drop the hate-for-the-sake-of-hate and just start leading off with what we are for rather than what we are against?

I don't think such a thing would end conflict, as there are plenty of things a person can be for that have opposites, but at least we would start the conversation on a positive note.

I don't really expect many of the potential political candidates to read my little blog; but if they did I would just like to ask one question:

What are you for?