For this brief moment, I don't care about your political views. I don't even care about my own. This is a rare picture that speaks volumes about our country.
We live in a nation where power is handed over from one person/party to the next based on the will of the people. This even happens at the highest level of our government. It can be traced back to our very first President before there even was a such thing as a President of the United States.
On December 12, 1783 after leading our new country to victory in the Revolutionary War, General George Washington respectfully retired and went back to work on his estate. Our French allies could not believe what had happened and it left an indelible mark on human history. Of course, later on George Washington became our first President in 1789 and then retired that position after two terms in office.
What we may take for granted was considered truly remarkable when it first happened and there are still places in the world today where power is not willingly forfeited.
Pray for your country. Pray for your President*
*or your Prime Minister (for my one Canadian reader)
I've become a bit of a Facebook junkie in recent months. It's a great way to stay in touch with friends and family and to reconnect with old friends. Like anything else, it can also be abused. Furthermore, when something gets really popular (as Facebook has) it takes on a life of it's own. This morning I read the following story from my local newspaper:
I'm a married man and all of my kids have been breastfed. I believe that it's the ideal way for a baby to be fed. I know that a lot of you who read this blog (some of you that I worship with on Sundays) are big breast-feeding supporters (Hold on, I just typed "big breast" on my blog for the very first time--I'm sure that I'll get some new visitors with words like that posted here. I should also point out that by "big breast-feeding supporters" I'm using the word "big" to describe overwhelming approval for breast-feeding and not the actual size of the...oh, never mind.).
Facebook allows you to post pictures and they do a good job of policing it from nudity. Lately, they've stepped up the policing to include pictures of breastfeeding (hence the above mentioned article). I've seen my wife nurse our babies and it's a beautiful thing. But I have no need to see other mom's nurse their kids and I'm quite certain that many (if not most) of those mothers don't want me to watch them breastfeed their children. That doesn't mean that a mom cannot nurse in public. The mother does nothing wrong when she feeds her baby anywhere. I just have no plans to stare at it and I wouldn't want anyone staring at my wife when she was breastfeeding (well, any man).
There certainly is a time and a place for breastfeeding online (like the La Leche League) , but it's probably NOT on a mass-appeal site like Facebook. On top of that, Facebook is a private company. They can make their own rules about what they put on thier site.
I found this quote to be the most interesting from the story:
A member for almost four years, Farley has nearly 400 friends on Facebook, a network she'd be hard-pressed to replicate if she moved to a smaller site with more lenient photo policies. She uses Facebook more than e-mail to stay in touch with far-flung high school and college friends. She especially likes to check out pictures of their babies and share photos of hers. But with a 9-month-old, "it's almost hard to get a picture of me not nursing," she said. (emphasis added by me)
If you've accumulated 400 friends on Facebook, you have time to snap a few pictures. I've had three nine-month old children in my lifetime. Two of my sisters-in-law have had twins and, thus, two nine-month olds in the house at the same time while nursing. We've all been able to produce many, many, many, many, many pictures of our babies without their mother's breasts exposed. In fact, I can assure you that we do not have ANY pictures of our children with their mother's breasts exposed (not that I know of, anyway). It wasn't hard or "almost hard" at all.
I'm not one to make myself out the be the victim of big business sticking it to the little guy, but I believe that one company does, indeed, do this regularly to customers because they can get away with it.
Quite some time ago I asked that my long distance service on my AT&T land line be turned off as I had no use for it. I make long distance calls on my cell phone. Now, it's my fault for not noticing, but they conveniently put it back on some time ago (thanks, AT&T!). So, I called them earlier in the month to have them take it off again. It's a little over $5.00 a month, but every penny counts when you're a single income family. They agreed to turn it off and credit my account for the times that I was charged (per my request--they didn't volunteer to give any of my money back to me). I knew that they wouldn't go all the way back to when they originally stuck it to me, but I was hopeful for at least something.
When I looked at my AT&T bill this month I noticed that they did take the long distance off of my bill. However, they only gave me a credit of $5.00 from the past year or so of being charged and then THEY CHARGED ME $9.15 IN FEES FOR HAVING MY LONG DISTANCE CHANGED/REMOVED!!!!!!!! (thanks, AT&T!) I got on the phone with them today and was able to get it somewhat resolved. The bottom line was that I got $50 credit--big whoop, but at least it's something. The lesson to be learned is that you have to go through every line of every bill and I have not been too good about that in the past. The other lesson to be learned is that big companies will take advantage of people if they can get away with it.
This all reminded me of one of my favorite video clips from The Colbert Report. I don't know if it's legal for me to post this or not, but I'll take a chance (I found it on YouTube). If you're my age, you probably remember that back in the day, AT&T was everything when it came to telephone service. They had taken over all of the other telephone related companies to have their own monopoly. Thankfully (please note my sarcasm here), the Federal Government stepped in and broke up the monopoly. AT&T was split into several different companies. This is also the time when companies like MCI and Sprint came along offering long distance alternatives. That's what was supposed to happen--companies competing against one another to get your business instead of one company having everything and thus the power to charge you whatever they want. So, you can understand the irony when you watch the following video...
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I rarely do Memes. In fact, I honestly don't know what "Meme" stands for. However, I'm home from work today and enjoying my freedom to do nothing. So, I'm copying the one that Judy, Mical and Kara did. Here goes...
In your entire life, have you ever ........... gone on a blind date? You betcha. Miss Sniz was a blind date. In fact, I was the stand-in guy for the date because the original couldn't make it that day. That means that my wife married a substitute blind date. I guess that I just make a good impression on folks.
skipped school? ... Sure. One time I got an honor student to blow off class with me and we played basketball.
watched someone die ? ... Nope.
been to Canada? ... Nope.
been to Mexico? ... No, but a few years ago I was in San Diego and we took the train down the the border. We we going to cross but my wife was chicken. So, we stared at Mexico from California.
been to Florida? ... Many, many times. My parents live their half the year and I end up there on business from time to time.
had your booze taken away by the cops? ... Um...yeah. But let's just make sure that we all understand that that was back in 1987 and I was 17 and stupid. I'll comment on it more later (see below).
lettered in high school sport? ... No! All I would have had to do is go out for wrestling (since I was small in high school) and I could have had my letter my freshman year. I DID letter in band! I was a lover, not a fighter.
cried yourself to sleep? ... I have a "man-card" and I'll play it now. Sorry, never have done it.
played cops and robbers? ... Yes.
played dolls? ... Nope, just with stuffed animals--which is totally different, right?
sung Karaoke? ... Yes. In fact, I did it a few months ago at a wedding. I sang the theme from The Love Boat.
done something you said you wouldn't? ... Way too many times. Unfortunately, even those who are saved by the grace of God still have to deal with their own flesh. What a bummer.
cheated on an exam? ... Ugh...yes, back in high school I probably did a few times in a situation where everyone else was doing it (which always makes it right!). It was wrong. I was never much of a cheater even though I didn't know any better at the time. I was a pretty good student.
made prank phone calls? ... It was a passion of mine as a kid.
laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose? ... Sure...mostly milk for some reason.
caught a snowflake on your tongue? ... Probably, but mom was not big on us letting the snow get in our mouths for fear of the crud that might be in the precipitation.
danced in the rain? ... No. I only sing in the rain.
written a letter to Santa Clause? ... Just a few weeks ago and I didn't get ANYTHING that I asked for. Jerk!
watched the sunrise with someone you care about? ... No, but many sunsets.
been kissed under the mistletoe? ... Yes.
been arrested? ... Yes--and it all goes back to the question I answered earlier about getting something taken away. As much as I hated this event in my life, it was the event that woke me up. God used it to make me sensitive to the gospel. Thankfully, I was only 17 and it's not on my record.
blown bubbles? ... Yes, but it doesn't ask about what kind of bubbles. How about snot bubbles? Anyone?
gone ice-skating? ... Yes. Plus, I think I'm going tomorrow.
been skinny dipping outdoors? ... NO WAY!!! (not even indoors--but I'm not a "never-nude" like Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development).
had a nickname? ... "Rah-JOE" is the one I remember the most as it was given to me by the father of a good friend back when I was in elementary school. Sometimes it was "Rah-JOE Rah-JOE!" These days, many call me "Rog." I actually prefer to be called "Rog."
been to Africa? ... No.
eaten cookies for dinner? ... Yes.
been on TV? ... Yes.
been in a car accident? ... Yes, but nothing all that serious.
NOTE: I have no idea where this Meme came from, but I have to think that at this particular juncture, another meme has taken over. Instead of questions about things that I've done, I'm now just answering general questions. Is there a Meme Police that I can call about this? Or, maybe just a Meme Hotline?
What is your Mother's name? ... "Mom." She also goes by "Mary."
favorite drink? ... Peach iced-tea or hot tea. It can be unsweetened or sweetened as long as you can taste the peach. I also love blood-orange hot tea...and good coffee.
favorite alcohol? ... I'm not a big drinker. but I do enjoy a quality beverage. I love tasty beers. Currently my favorite is called Xingu and it's imported from Brazil. It's incredible. But Sam Adams is my drink of choice.
birthplace? ... Ft. Wayne, Indiana (yawn)
favorite vacation spot? ... Lake Michigan, Salt Lake City and San Diego.
favorite salad dressing? ... Ranch
favorite pie? ... Raspberry!
favorite number? ... 17 (I really don't have one, but that one has significance for many reasons)
favorite movie? ...Fletch. I don't need to watch it anymore because I have it memorized.
We were supposed to travel to Ft. Wayne today for a family Christmas, but our middle child had a bit of a hurling experience last night, so the three of us stayed home while our other two made the trip with other family members. It seems like there's always a fun sickness that strikes our family right around Christmas time.
Anyway, they blew up the RCA Dome today (which used to be known as the Hoosier Dome when it was first built. Here's the video...
We have issues with batteries in our house of two adults and three children. I used to think that it was all of the kids (who seem to need batteries for everything) but I'm now convinced that it's just one--the teenager. He has an insatiable appetite for batteries. When he wants batteries he will do whatever it takes to get them. That's what led to this extreme measure...
Yep! I put all of our batteries into a locked box. Only Miss Sniz and I know the combination. It works great for the girls because now they are forced to ask mom or dad when they need batteries. Plus, I always know what we have on hand. However, the system doesn't work when your teenage son steals batteries from other devices in the house. It's incredibly frustrating when you hit a button on the remote only to discover that it doesn't have one or all of the batteries. Nine times out of ten they can be found in an Xbox controller. It drives me crazy!
But as annoying as it is, it's usually just a TV controller or something similar. It's the principle of the thing that really bothers me, but I've never felt comfortable getting all upset when it's just a remote control. Does that make sense? Well, it all changed yesterday...
I was driving home from work in the snow and freezing rain. The roads were treacherous. It was late. It was dark. I was in the car for hours and incredibly on edge (that's about two ticks beyond "annoyed") but I was dealing with things ok. I had a call on my cell phone and then it started beeping. The battery was running out. No worries. I have a charger in my car that I use all the time. I went to look for it and couldn't find it in the usual place. I must have moved it. Maybe it was in the trunk. Hmmmm.
I made it home with my phone beeping about every other minute. This is both annoying and ironic since the noise grates on your nerves while wasting precious battery at the same time. Thankfully, I didn't get into an accident or have problems with my car in the bitter cold, snow, freezing rain, dark, etc. But I still didn't know what had happened to my charger.
This morning as I was having coffee, the missing cell phone charger entered my mind again. Maybe I just managed to accidentally throw it away or something. That's when I remembered seeing another charger in the back of our minivan the other day. I'm not sure why I recalled this, but I remember at the time thinking something like, "Huh, I didn't realize that Will had a portable charger for his phone, too. I'll have to remember that in case I need to borrow it from him some time."
You see, his cell phone uses the same chargers (wall charger and home charger) as my phone and as Miss Sniz's phone. That's very handy. However, his phone has not had available minutes on it since he first purchased it in the spring. He's not willing to pay for more time to use the phone to make calls, but he likes carrying it around and playing games on it. I decided to go out to look at the charger before heading out to work this morning. If you haven't figured it out already, it was MY CHARGER!!!! If I would have been stuck in the cold, snow, ice, dark, crud, etc. last night without any juice in my cell phone and no charger, it would have been because my fifteen year old hijacked my charger from my car so he could play games in the back of the van!!!
I live in the Indianapolis area. I'm married with three kids and work in marketing. I love IndyCar racing, the Colts, the Reds and the Hoosiers. I raise yaks in my back yard. I breed them to make purses for Scandinavian roller skating professionals and I use their hoofs to make soup. I like soup.
I do my best to check out the blogs and web sites that I link to from my blog. However, I cannot take responsibility for what lies beyond the pages of Big Doofus Blog. If you don't like something on the Internet, please send a note to Al.Gore@internet_inventor.gov.
We live in a nation where power is handed over from one person/party to the next based on the will of the people. This even happens at the highest level of our government. It can be traced back to our very first President before there even was a such thing as a President of the United States.
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