The Benefits of Sunshine

Heath and I have regular "educational" moments with our children concerning their health and lifestyle choices that we are making. While we by no means are the model of health, we are working on improving our choices so we can be healthier as a family and provide good models to our children. Hopefully, this will aid them in making overall healthier choices throughout their lives.

Cavan and Kellyn have attended a camp called "Eco-Adventures" this summer, which meets once a week in the mornings. A couple of weeks ago, the topic covered was reptiles and amphibians. The youngsters went out for a hike, looking for frogs and turtles when they stumbled upon one turtle sun-bathing on a big log in the lake. Here is the interaction that took place:

Savannah (camp leader): Why do you think that turtle is out in the sun?
Cavan: He's getting his vitamin D!

Times like those make me smile. ;)

What is our country coming to . . .

. . . when a Congresswoman compares the surgical procedure of an abortion to the surgical procedure of a tonsillectomy?

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I would hope one can see that this is not anywhere near an adequate analogy.

Lord, have mercy on us. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Medical care confusion

"Is there a coherent argument for government-controlled medical care or are slogans and hysteria considered sufficient?"

A fine lead-in to a fine article by my favorite economist, Thomas Sowell.

Link

Obsolescence

Fun article about stuff that our kids will probably never encounter:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8117619.stm

A few of my favorites:

1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.

I still do this. What's DVR?

6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.

Up until a few years ago, Shan and I were still using the TV I got for a birthday present when I was about 11. Sometimes it would lose focus and you had to bump the knob to get the picture back.

17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’

When is this going to go away? I'm even more jaded after the Jon and Kate drama . . .

19. The scream of a modem connecting.

Do you remember that awful, awful noise that modems made? As a nun once said, "it sounds like the moaning of the Damned in Hell!"

30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.

I don't know how many hours of my life were wasted loading, removing, blowing, inserting, loading . . .

37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.

I still remember when my parents took me to an auction (I was about 8 or so) so we could bid on an old, old set of Encyclopedias. They still have them; I think they date from the 50s.

Think about this now; you can go to wikipedia.org and find info on nearly any obscure item you can think of in about 10 seconds . . . and it's always right.

63. Rotary-dial telephones.

Yep, we had one of these when I was a kid.

66. Pay phones.

Heck, these are almost all gone already. Last summer, I was in Chicago at a conference and I searched the whole campus for a payphone so I could call my family. None to be found anywhere. And no, it still didn't make me pine for a cell phone.

77. Relying on the 5-minute sport segment on the nightly news for baseball highlights.

How life-changing was cable and the ubiquity of ESPN? Now, you can watch sports all day and night on multiple channels if you so choose.

86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.

Wow, what a time suck that was. Think of all the time librarians spent putting cards in for the author, title, subject . . . all for one book!

87. Swimming pools with diving boards.

I don't understand this one . . . why would they go away?

97. Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall.

Mortal Kombat, anyone?

The National Debt Clock

Yikes.

The wife and kids are gone . . .

. . . and boy, is it quiet around here! Shan and the little ones are seeing my folks right now and I stayed behind, with weekend Masses and a wedding to tend to.

These trips-without-Dad are always bittersweet for Dad himself. I love that my parents are enjoying my children (and vice versa), that my wife is getting some "time off", that I can do whatever I feel like doing (like watch a complete season of a show on DVD in about 48 hours : ) . . . but I sure miss them by about Day 3. Not there yet, but talk to me on Sunday!