Cancellation Notice

Dear ESPN the Magazine:


I write to you today to cancel my subscription to your magazine. I have been a faithful subscriber for a number of years, but it seems that the advertisements within the pages of your product have deteriorated to the point that I must, in good conscience, opt out of renewing for another year.

ESPN the Magazine has always been such a blessing to a sports fan such as myself, as the writing is top-notch and the inside-looks at the lives of the various athletes has helped to give them another dimension to your readers. I read each installment nearly cover-to-cover, even dwelling on the articles concerning athletes or sports for which I have very little interest.

The incredible prices that you offer to subscribers have always been a huge selling point for me also. Paying approximately 50 cents per issue is an astonishing bargain, and I was always quick to renew, so as not to miss a single issue.

Unfortunately, I can no longer ignore the reality that the advertisements in your product are getting sleazier and sleazier. In every issue, I have found at least one ad (usually from Skyy Blue vodka) that depicts a scantily-clad woman or women in a suggestive pose. Just quickly skimming through the most recent issue (June 18, 2007), I find a Skyy Blue ad with a busty blonde in a wet, white, see-through dress on river raft (p. 11), and a Tag body spray ad with three young women in their underwear jumping on a bed, engaged in a pillow fight (p. 53).

I have tried to ignore these ads for the past few years, reassuring myself that the excellent content of the magazine made up for the poor lack in judgment of the editors by including these ads. Yet I could not ignore this debacle any longer after viewing p. 105 in the June 4, 2007 issue. In case you do not have this issue in front of you, let me describe it for you: a curvy-woman is suited up in one of the skimpiest, orange bikinis known to man, while holding a drill. Here are some interesting things to consider: 1) The woman’s head is completely cut off. Apparently, she is nothing but a “hot body” to the viewer, not even a complete person. 2) This advertisement is by Skechers, which, to the best of my knowledge, sells shoes!!! The only shoes in the whole ad are not even on the poor girl’s feet, but in mid-air, strategically placed so as not to cover up any of her sexual goodies, God forbid.

As a father of two (ages 3 and 1), it is my duty to protect my children from this sexual hedonism that pervades our current culture. In ads such as this, women are seen as less than people, put here on our planet purely for the enjoyment of men. Men are discouraged from showing any sense of sexual self-restraint, but to follow these primitive urges in whatever form they find convenient. Mankind has been instilled with more dignity than this; we deserve better.

I very much look forward to the day that these despicable advertisements are purged from your magazine, so that I may once again take advantage of the excellent writing and phenomenal discounts that you can offer. Until then, I would ask you to take my name off your subscriber list.



Sincerely,


Heath Morber
1603 W. Church St.
Champaign, IL 61821

Good ideas

It's very interesting to live in an age where change is happening so rapidly. I remember the fall semester of 2000 when I walked across campus on the first day of class and noticed that nearly everyone had a cell phone to their ear. The previous year, almost no one did. It seemed like nearly an overnight sensation. iPods seem to be the new thing; I think I had heard that CD sales will drop dramatically very soon as more people turn towards iPod technology for their listening interests.

I think this technological age has many drawbacks (cell phones being one), but I have come across some things recently that I really like, though few of these have much to do with cutting-edge technology.

To preface the following list, let me say that if I ever opened a business, I'd like to think that I would do my very best to make money by having very low prices, and turning a profit by selling many items, as opposed to having a huge mark-up and selling fewer things. Not wanting to discuss the economic side of this in great detail, let me turn to my list:

--Pizza Stores

Our family loves pizza, and we eat it often. Unfortunately, ordering out can get very expensive, as a large pizza with no coupon can run about 15 bucks. Two stores doing something different:

1) Papa Murphy's--They have a few huge selling points; they are very generous with coupons (at least one accompanies each order, not to mention many through the mail), they cut down their price drastically by letting you pick it up and cooking it yourself, and they use fresh ingredients and the pizzas are delicious! So we can order a family-size pizza (significantly larger than a "large") for 8 bucks! And as it is superior to something like a Pizza Hut pizza, it's a great value all around. Not to mention we usually have leftovers!

2) Little Caesar's--This company use to be a run-of-the-mill pizza place, trying to compete with the big boys about 15 years ago, if I remember correctly. They seemed to fade away at one point, but they have come back with a vengeance with their new gimmick: Hot-n-Ready large pizzas for only five bucks! You can drop by their shop at any time, walk in, and walk out about 30 seconds later with 2 large pizzas that cost less than 11 dollars. Now it's not the best pizza, but it's easily worth the money. They don't turn a large profit with each sale, but it adds up when they probably sell about 30+ pizzas an hour, if not more.


--Video rentals

We're movie lovers as well, but new releases at Blockbuster's for nearly five bucks is a huge turn-off. Far over-priced for a family with a meager income such as ourselves. Enter the following:

1) Family Video--FV has new releases for less than three bucks, all other titles for a dollar and get this, FREE KID'S MOVIES!!! The other day, I let Molly and Cavan get a movie in addition to the family movie I purchased. Three movies: one dollar. Can't beat that.

2) Netflix--Though we've never tried it, I'm sure we would have if it were around 3 years ago when we didn't have any kids. Netflix is a subscription service with movies arriving in the mail. For something like 20 bucks a month, you request all the movies you want to see, and they mail them to you, three at a time. They also give you a mailer to send the DVD's back when you're finished. No late fees either! If you love movies, you could easily knock off 20+ movies a month, which comes out to a dollar or less per movie! Not to mention that you never have to leave your home to do all of it. Maybe when all our children are out of the house . . .


--Choral Music

This is a much more specialized field, but let me quickly brief you on how this process usually happens. When I find a piece of music that I want my choir to sing, I must order the requisite number of copies (let's say 25) from a publisher for about 2 bucks a pop, give or take 30 cents. This comes out to 50 bucks for a piece I may sing once a year. It's gets expensive, no doubt, especially since publishers keep jacking up their prices. No wonder so many conductors buy one copy and then photocopy the other 24, an unethical practice that I don't condone. But one small publisher had a great idea . . .

--St. James Music Press

This publisher sells you a collection of pieces ("anthems") for about 50 bucks, and then gives you permission to copy them freely. With usually 30 or more anthems in each collection, you have much to choose from; if you only use two pieces, you've already come out ahead financially. I foresee many other larger publishers following suit in the near future . . .


One trend that I'm not extremely excited about: the extinction of print materials (newspapers, periodicals, etc.) in the foreseeable future due to the popularity of the Internet. With more and more getting their news from the Internet, fewer and fewer are reading items such as the New York Times. Well, I guess I'm not too sad about this trend, except for the news that my favorite magazine, Crisis, will be ending its run in print form and moving to an on-line publication. I just hate reading full-length articles on the 'Net . . . oh well, think of the trees that won't be whacked down in the future!

Night-time Prayers

When the family is all in bed, we say prayers. The usual format is this:

1. Sign of the Cross

2. General Prayer ("Dear Jesus, I love you, please help me each day to be kind, to be gentle, and quick to obey"--directed more towards kiddies, but useful for adults as well : )

3. Individual petitions ("Bless mommy, daddy, etc. and we pray for the X family whose house just burned down . . . ")

4. Hail Mary

5. Sign of the Cross


The whole thing might take two minutes. Up until recently, Cavan couldn't really add petitions, and we intentionally kept things brief to maintain his attention and because we're usually exhausted.

Now with a verbal Cavan and the presence of 11-year old Molly, things have expanded somewhat. Same format as above, but now a typical prayer session goes like this:

1. Sign of the Cross

2. General Prayer

3. Intercessions

Heath: "Lord, we give you thanks for a beautiful day, and for all the good things that you give to us. We ask that you bless Molly tomorrow at swim camp, and we pray for an end to abortion in our country."

Shannon: "We pray for our friends and family who are preparing to have babies, and for those moms who are struggling with the adjustment to motherhood."

Oh yeah, but in between Shan and I, we give Molly and Cavan a turn:

Shannon: "Cav, would you like to pray for anyone?"

Cavan: "Mine friends. Awezandu (Alexander), eye ("and") Domihit (Dominic), eye Jooh (Jude), Mashoo (Matthew) eye Sawuh (Sarah), eye . . . (long pause) . . . mine friends; Awezandu, eye Domihik . . . Mommy, eye Daddy, eye Mowwy, eye Baby, eye . . . (long pause) . . . Jooh, Samooul (Samuel) eye . . . Paw-paw, Dahmaw Debby (Grandma Debby), eye Bah (Paul), Dot (Scott) . . . (long pause) . . . uhhhhh . . . who ehs ("who else")?

This continues on for a while, until Molly starts and Cavan says, "No wait, I do it", stating that he's not quite finished. He then repeats the same names (interspersed with long pauses, of courses) and then finally says, "Um, do ahead."

Then it's time for our pre-teen to go:

Molly: "Um, for everyone I know, and for everyone that knows them, and for their families, and the families of their families, um, and for my friends, and their friends, and for their families, and for everyone that their families know, and so on and so on. (And all kinds of variations on this tactic) And for Grandpa Neil, Grandma Colleen, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Meagan, Aunt Marie, Blackie (her dog), Dusty (her cat), and for my friends, Randy, Carly, etc. . . . and I pray that I can go home on the 24th for Dusty's birthday and get to stay for a whole week. OK, Shannon your turn."

(Please note that I've given you the abbreviated version of the above.)

So we've basically tripled our usual time since our two prayer-warriors joined the mix. Six minutes doesn't seem like much, but with Cavan's long pauses and Molly's endless litanies of people she knows and the cats that they own, it can be hard to maintain a prayerful disposition. Nonetheless, we feel it's very important to pray together as a family, and start to model good prayer habits for the children. And it's really helping our growth in the virtue of patience!

Economics

As a man with a family and a mortgage, I must say I'm a little more interested in political issues. One area that intrigues me is the area of economics, especially with the debate over Social Security and universal health care.

I found a well-articulated post on one of the blogs that I read; it's lengthy, but a good, common-sense read. Any commenters want to give an opposing viewpoint?

http://darwincatholic.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-on-catholic-social-teaching-and.html

Some DC Highlights

Heath briefly posted on our DC trip and subsequent weeks. While I have lots to write as well, I did want to quickly share some highlights from our trip before the days got too far away from me.

Positive Highlights:

1. Visiting the Vietnam Wall--I am sad to say that I did not get to ask my dad before his passing if there were any names he wanted me to see/photograph. Just being there was very eerie...it was a bright, beautiful, sunny (and HOT!) day, amidst this great monument to soooo many men and women who lost their lives in war. It was tough, beautiful, sad and very moving. I so would have loved to have seen it with my father as he was a Vietnam Vet himself.
2. Swimming at the hotel pool--I think this was actually the kids' favorite part of being there! So easy to please when you are young and on vacation, right?
3. Air and Space Museum--Cavan REALLY enjoyed seeing all the airplanes and rockets. While he didn't necessarily understand the physics of the hands-on demonstrations and play stations, he loved spinning wheels, steering model planes and watching change in air direction all the same.
4. Washington DC Zoo--The kids got a big kick out of seeing all the animals, especially all the ones that Cavan was already familiar with. My one wish is that the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas were more out in the open where we could get a better glimpse.
5. Great Falls Park--a much smaller version of Niagra, but gorgeous nonetheless. There were kayakers going down some of the falls which was neat to see. Cavan was excited to watch them go, while Kellyn just wanted to be down and walking around! We picnic'd afterwards in the park's grass area. Probably a 20 minute drive outside of DC, but worth it if you are ever out East.
6. Arlington Cemetery and Robert E. Lee's House--His house sits atop Arlington Cemetery, where you have an INCREDIBLE view of the city. Sadly, the house was just kind of taken over by Union soldiers during the war never to be returned. Big, beautiful old house that's under some renovation. It's amazing how those white headstones just go on and on and on....Also another eerie and reverent place to be. Changing of the guards by the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was also cool.
7. Attending mass where Heath and his group chanted all the Mass parts and songs--wonderful to hear and beautiful to see women in veils for Mass! Of course, this type of traditional Mass is not realistic for weekly attendance for us as the kids were pretty unmanageable. However, refreshing to experience anyway!

Negative Highlights: (Not to be a downer, but here were the things I would rather NOT remember!)

1. Kellyn's SHRIEKING throughout the entire 15-minute Metro ride into the city. I don't even remember where we were headed that day, but MY, was this a humbling experience!!! She did not want to nurse, she did not want down, she did not want to be held...she just wanted OFF of that Metro! I honestly could not look any other passenger in the eye during the trip. Needless to say, I will never be judging any parent with a screaming, unhappy baby again. All I wanted to do was crawl in a hole and hide.
2. Getting scooted out of the hotel shuttle by people who arrived *after* us. Normally, not such a huge deal, but with 2 antsy children, you want to get to where you are going quickly. I also found it interesting that all the people left behind to wait for another shuttle included the very first person who was waiting in line, three elderly ladies and us with the two small children. Speaks volumes about common courtesy and our culture today...
3. The car rides there and back. With 2 kids under the age of three, need I say more???

As a whole, the trip was terrific! In the future though, we'll be planning trips much closer to home. ;)

Back in town

Just returned from a relaxing few days at my folks' house. Caught up with some reading and some quiet time with my wife after a very hectic few weeks. Grandparents make wonderful baby-sitters!

The Choir Alumni weekend went tremendously well! I thought I was going to lose my mind during the week leading up to it, but all the hard work truly paid off. We had almost 100 participants (over 100 when counting family members) and a wonderful time was had by all. We'll have a great CD to show for it (hopefully ready to go sometime in December) and even greater memories! I'm already being pressured to do another one in the near future. Not for at least five years I've been saying! : )

The family drama continues, unfortunately. Much happened up north while we were gone and most other options for this situation are becoming bleaker and bleaker. Shannon and Molly are heading to the courthouse tomorrow so we can gain temporary guardianship; we'll see if it becomes permanent in the weeks to come . . .

This whole situation has been and will continue to be a real test of Christian virtue. It's been real easy to "talk the talk" when life has been pretty peachy as of late. Now that the rubber is hitting the road, we're slowly finding out the true meaning of things such as self-sacrifice, patience, and charity. I guess this could be a positive venture in that respect; I just wish it didn't have to be so hard . . .