Have to not see

The TV embargo is on. The Facebook setting is ignore. It's political season and I've had it with the non-stop insulting of what precious little intelligence I have. I will NOT watch anymore TV news than is strictly necessary to find out if it is going to rain and if the Tigers won. I will NOT "Like" any politician beyond local level. I will NOT subject myself to the half-truth and utter BS that is political campaigning. If you want to spend a bazillion dollars, fine. I will not watch it. I will not follow ads on my computer. I will track down real news in the paper and on the web and make up my own mind. Your ads (and the ads by your allies, superPACs, minions, ideological slobbovians and any other idiot with more money than anyone really needs) will be ignored if possible and directly mocked if not.

Mr Obama and Mr Romney, if you want my vote, stop by the house and I will put coffee on. I will ask direct questions and expect real answers. If I hear BS, I will call it. Your call on whether or not media is in. Tell me why the stuff you want to do will make things better and HOW IT WILL DO IT. SPECIFICALLY. No catchphrases, dog whistles, cheap shots or any of that crap.

I am a young curmudgeon, but I do subscribe to the greatest Saturday morning history teacher, "Schoolhouse Rock",  that voting is to "improve that country, state, county, town and school." So, spend all you want. Keep the advertisers, political think tanks (a useless organization if ever there was one), consultants and advisors busy. Maybe they will spend enough to get things moving again. But it won’t work with me.

Hmmmm...too SOMETHING to cook.

OK, OK, those that know me know my job does usually allow me time to cook (though, sadly, not always the inspiration) something good. I try to time meals so when the kids get home from swimming (or Scouts, Soccer, Cross Country or any of the things kids do). I want everyone, if at all possible, to sit down and have dinner together, or at least at the same time.

And it's not all that hard, even when I was working away from home 60+hours a week. A slow-cooker seems like a must for busy families. Do a little planning. Cook ahead. A real cooked meal that is made on a "quiet" night and put in the fridge for heating up later usually better than shortcut foods. I roasted two chickens sunday just so I could make chicken salad and broth for the week. Two dinners and two lunches in one sunday afternoon.

Welcome to France, 1938.

I've been sitting aside watching the tone of my country's politics become something to be ashamed of.

I have friends snarling at each other on Facebook, charges of utter tyrrany (about something that passed using the democratic process) and the continous non-stop use of "fascist", "socialist", "communist" and "Nazi" being tossed around with all the brains and wisdom of a six year old.

Last year, professional silly person G Beck got everyone all riled up about how partisan things have become and that we didn't have the patriotic spirit of 9/12/01. Well, on that limited point he's right. The rest, well......

Now, I'm not sure if this is the continuation of the post-boomer mentaility of "if I don't get things the way I want them, I'm going to stamp my feet and yell and scream and generally behave badly until you give me what I want", but the level of just plain stupid behavior out there is mind boggling. It is also a very serious threat to anyone who might really want to cause us harm.

This why we are now like France in 1938. The divisions right now parallel the interwar periods in France. We are so wrapped up in yelling, screaming and making sure that our opinions are the only ones that exist, that we are not paying any attention to anything else. And now it seems the party that didn't get its way won't even do its job.


One of my neighbors, who is a little too much in the "this is the end of civilization as we know it" mode, was wailing out loud about how he's not sure what he's going to do, he's going to be told every last detail on how to live his life and all the world is against him and he should just leave and on and on. He was clearly enjoying feeling repressed. He was really enjoying being angry (hey, I was a student activist many moons ago, and it felt cool).

But it's time to grow up.

THIS IS NOT THE ENABLING ACT OF 1933.

THIS IS NOT DICTATORSHIP. You were not ignored, incapacitated or imprisoned. You were out voted after being turned out of office in 2008. See actions previous to that to see why...

THIS IS NOT A MASSIVE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER. It's a set of rules and taxes. Those can be modified, changed and perhaps even eliminated. See note above, and try to fix what you did wrong to make everyone so mad.

It's time to work on what we have, make it better and hold our breath that the next election cycle is actually not a string of attack ads. If you want my vote, TELL ME WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO, NOT JUST WHAT YOU DISLIKE AND WHY THE OTHER GUY IS HITLER.

Wow, I forgot I had this. Better start filling it in tomorrow....

Boy, have I been lazy! Haven't updated in months and it's not like I'm never on the computer.

Well, the older boys and I did a relay triathlon about two weeks ago and they did pretty well. Zach did a good bike leg and Will nearly ran down a couple of adults.

I've added the picture: we're the handsome looking group in the shadow on the right.

RUNNING AT SCHOOL!

It was quite a day at Princeton Elementary on Tuesday.

The running club had invited some runners from the Brooks-Hanson's Olympic Distance Project(who live not far from us) over to talk with the kids about running.

Did they ever! They sent over Bob Busquaert, Luke Humphrey, and Brian Sell! Fresh from winning the USATF Team Relay Championship. They were all very nice and took questions from the kids for about ten minutes.

Sample questions:

How many pair of shoes do you own? (Answer- about 10 at a time- they each average about 25 pair a year.)

Have you ever run so hard you passed out? (yes)

Are there runners bigger than you? (some, but most are smaller)

Do you eat a lot? (Yes, we eat sleep and run)

Then they went behind the school and ran. Nothing fancy, they just joined in the bunch. Bob had quite a crew around him, as he was taking sprint challenges (and he managed to lose every one!), Brian and Luke liked the run on grass and followed the kids to avoid the ruts and holes. I even managed to keep up with them for a brief lap. However, the batteries in may camera did give out, so I was only able to get a couple of snaps.

Afterwards, they came in and answered more questions in the gym. Much to my joy, my kids brought water over for them and told them that they could beat dad in a 5K. Well, they are faster.

The guys all signed autographs for anyone who asked, and had their picture taken with the kids.

It was a great day (80F) to run, and the company made it memorable.

Something utterly pointless and rather morbid. I heard something to the effect that the famous Ms Spears is rocketing up the dead pool ratings.