Back from Chicago...

I just got back from a work conference/meeting of all of the marketing people across the country. The good news: there is new management and they are reorganizing our entire department with a new plan. The bad news: All of our jobs go up on Monster.com and Career Builder tomorrow. We all get to re-apply for our jobs complete with resumes and interviews and everything. Let's just say that the level of anxiety at the conference was a bit high. Especially for those of us with part time positions.

Everything will work out. Always does. And if not, I'll start practicing my very best "You want fries with that?"

Sigh.

You've got Mail

A bird decided to make a nest in our mailbox. Normal people would just relocate the nest to one of the hundreds of thousands of trees in the neighborhood. But normal people do not have a seven year old daughter who feels that destroying any habitat is an evil act.

So....it was a new mailbox for us.





And a deluxe habitat for our friend the chickadee. He greets us each morning as we go out to wait for the bus.

Letter to the Decider

Hey Mr. President:

I was reading "Geeky Mom's" blog today:
http://geekymom.blogspot.com/2007/05/destruction-of-human-life.html

and it occurred to me that you and I, we have something in common.

We both value human life.

We disagree a bit on the definition of life. Me, I think life begins about 7-8 weeks after conception. Don't ask me how I came up with that random designation. I just did. To me, things like birth control or the morning-after pill or stem-cell research...those don't harm life. And you: you think life begins at conception. Me, I think death row criminals are a "life." You think they should be executed.

But I'm wondering. Can we compromise a bit here?

Can we agree that ALL life is precious? That the lives of civilian Iraqi children are precious? That the lives killed in this poorly executed, destructive war are precious? That war should only be used as a last-resort, "absolutely-nothing-else-has-worked" kind of diplomatic tool?

Maybe we could both soften our political views in order to embrace life of all kinds? Maybe you could admit that hundreds of thousands of innocent victims have died because of a mistaken war. Maybe my side could realize that at *some* point, an embryo has a soul and and a heartbeat and we should do everything possible to make sure that it has every chance to have a full life.

I think we need a new political party. We'll get the pro-lifers from the right and the peace movement from the left. We'll stop arguing about marginal issues like parental consent and surges and the exact length of the waiting period for gun purchases.

We'll march for peace. We'll oppose the death penalty. And we'll work to find ways to make abortions rare and unnecessary.

I'll compromise if you will.

Evening Stroll

The other night, Daughter D. announced that she would like the family to take an "evening stroll" after dinner.

"A what?" I asked. ('Evening Stroll' not being in my daily vocabulary.)

"An evening stroll," she replied. "That's when the whole family goes out after dinner and takes a walk around the neighborhood."

And so we did. And we did it the next night, and again the night after that.

3 nights later, and it's my favorite part of the day. She's got some good ideas, that daughter D.

The highlight of tonight's stroll was son D. pretending to be a GPS device. Using the same exact voice on his Dad's Garmin Nuvi, he instructed us at each corner to "turn left in 200 feet onto xyz road." When we got back home he announced, "Arriving at destination."

I'd like to think that there is a slight chance our children won't grow up to be techie geeks. But looking at who their parents are, that is unlikely.

Crazy Legs

15,000people...and one of them is me....

Once a year, for about 43 minutes, I become fanatically interested in the local university and its sports. That is when I run the annual Crazy Legs Race.

Normally, I could care less about the local sports scene. Living in a college town, that makes me a bit of an oddball. Madison is many other things than the university, but let's face it...to most people here, life revolves around the Badgers.

But, for Crazy Legs, I become one of them. The people who think seeing "Bucky Badger" akin to running into a celebrity. The people who make their doorbell play the Wisconsin Fight song. The people who live and die by how the Badgers did during the latest (football/hockey/basketball) game.

It's a race to support UW athletics. It's not a big race - it's only 5 miles. But they pull out all the stops: the band, the athletes, the cheerleaders, and yes - Bucky Badger himself - all make an appearance.

It's fun. I went to a small-ish liberal arts university outside of Boston. I *think* we had sports, but I never actually saw any of them. So, this is all new to me. Even after 10 years of living here, the fixation on college sports still seems a bit strange.

Stranger yet, is the fact that my 4 year old son can recognize/name many of the Badger football/basketball players. He is going to think I'm *so* uncool in about 10 years.

They are teaching them a bit too well...

I attempted to turn on the TV last night to watch the local cable access channel's live broadcast of the school board meeting.

Daughter D. was livid. "IT IS NATIONAL TURN OFF YOUR TV WEEK, MOTHER!" she shouted.

Now, this is a child who watches no TV during the week. Nothing, zippo, nada. We don't turn it on when the kids are awake during the week. They get a few shows or a movie on the weekend, but there's just no need during the week.

I tried to explain to her that:
a) Watching a school board meetings is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Excruciatingly boring TV just doesn't count. Local cable access doesn't count.

b) "Turn Off Your TV Week" is designed for people who watch 1-2 hours of TV a *day*...not those who watch 1-2 hours/week.

c) I needed to know what the school board decided for our PTA meeting, so I really did have to watch it. They have not yet started live-blogging the school board meetings.

She wasn't buying it. So I just recorded the meeting and watched it after she went to bed. What are they teaching those kids in that school?

I'm all for turning off the TV. But for a whole week? I don't really get it. Isn't it better to just dole it out in small doses and practice moderation? I really don't think that a few hours of TV a week is going to harm my kids. But I guess we won't get any this week. D. has spoken. (And let's face it, she's the one who runs the place...)

Perfect weekend

It was one of those perfect Madison weekends. The kind that makes you feel like you'd live through 7 months of winter to experience a weekend like this one. Oh, wait, I did live through seven months of winter before getting to experience a weekend like this one. Funny how that works...

It was glorious. We went to the first Farmers Market of the year and listened to every street musician and visited almost every booth. There's not much actual *food* at the first market of the year, it's more of an experience.

Daughter D. and I both got new bikes, and went on some fun family bike rides.


The kids started swimming lessons this weekend, and our eldest even signed up for the neighborhood swim team.

I took a panda and a leopard to the zoo.


I also got to ride on the carousel with the panda/leopard pair.


Son D. had his second soccer game. Even though they don't keep score, he keeps score all by himself and knows EXACTLY how many goals the other team made. He has calculated that his team has lost their first two games, but he doesn't seem too upset about it.

I managed to sneak in a 10 mile run, and I think I'm all set for next month's half marathon.

And finally, After 12 years of marriage, we finally bought our first set of grown-up furniture. (Instead of the usual hand-me-down or "Ikea-assemble-it-yourself" variety of stuff we've had in the past)


Life is good. Winter is gone and spring is here!