I've been traveling way too much this year already and it's only February. The bad news is that my heavy travel schedule is set to continue for a couple more months before it calms down again. The good news is that I've been reading some great books that have been a lot of fun.First, I have to give props to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This books was a blast to read. It tells the story of Elphaba, the infamous green witch of Oz, and how she came to be so imfamous. I won't spoil the story except to say that you'll want to watch the "Wizard of Oz" all over again … [Read more...]
Favorite Political Blog Comment of the Day
February 22, 2007 by 2 Comments
"Expecting the Bush Administration to get it right this time isn't even really like Lucy pulling the football out from under Charlie Brown. It's more like if Lucy managed to mishandle the ball each time so badly that it ended up embedded in Charlie Brown's colon, and Charlie kept letting her hold the ball."Now that's a visual image I could NOT have come up with by myself.-Kev … [Read more...]
The Problem with Jacuzzi’s…
February 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment
My girls love taking baths in my jacuzzi tub. They'll stay in there for hours if I'd let them. Of course, I don't let them if there's soap in the tub (since that can lead to urinary tract infections in little girls). I also don't let them put in soap when they plan on running the jets in the tub since it can lead to this...After they finished up in the tub, it took me about a half-hour to get the whole area cleaned up. There were suds in every corner! How fun! Cheers,-Kev … [Read more...]
A Child Prodigy…
February 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Check this out. Here's a girl who's only 12 and has sold millions of dollars worth of her art. Akiane Kramarik :http://www.artakiane.com/home.htmHer website: http://www.artakiane.com/akiane_art.htm, including images of paimtings since she was 4 years old.Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiane_KramarikI'm not crazy about her topics of art, a bit too kitch for me. However, her skill is amazing and I think she'll be of great significance later in life.The comedienne Kathleen Madigan says that we all have a hidden genius, it's just that most of us don't ever discover ours. I wonder … [Read more...]
Random Trivia
February 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Random, But Fun Trivia...• Every gallon of gas burned in a car releases enough carbon dioxide to raise the temperature of the Earth 10 -32 degrees Fahrenheit.• The coating of wax on an average apple in a grocery store is equal in volume to one eighteenth of a Crayola crayon.• Every year, seemingly due to New Years' resolutions, sales of cigarettes drop by about 30 percent in January, but then regain half that in February, and are back to normal levels in March.• When first introduced in 1885, Dr Pepper was colored green and billed itself as an alternative to absinthe.• Approximately 1 in 175 … [Read more...]
A Tour of Jaffa
January 31, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Jaffa is a delightful old town on the south side of Tel Aviv. (You could see the lighthouse of Jaffa way off in the distance in the earlier picture taken from my hotel window as the tallest building on the right side of the horizon.) Jaffa was practically a ruin after then war for independence here. So the city of Tel Aviv decided to revive Jaffa by making it an artist's retreat. The artists, sensitive souls that they were, didn't tamper with the old Ottoman architecture and narrow, pre-automobile streets.It had been raining for the past few days here in Israel. So I was really afraid that I'd … [Read more...]
…AWASE…
January 29, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Maybe I'm just getting old, but long trips seem to just be harder on me both physically and emotionally.However, I have to say that notes like this one from my little Anna Lynn fill me with joy. It reads... "I love you. Your awase in my heart!" And the exclamation even has a little heart where the dot goes.SO SWEET!!! … [Read more...]
In Israel
January 28, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Tel Aviv is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It's climate is lovely. Today, it's cool and foggy in the morning (probably 45 degrees Fahrenheit), but a balmy and sunny 71 degrees in the afternoon.The Israelis are working hard to change the rocky and barren terrain into something much greener. Everywhere you go, there are new forests - many of them less than 20 yrs old. The introduction of new trees improves the environment in a variety of ways. For example, each tree stores 30-40 gallons of water in its trunk and branches. That added water is perspired gradually and, thus, … [Read more...]
Spam?!?
January 21, 2007 by Leave a Comment
What is the deal with all of the spam lately? Usually, my spam blocker will catch a couple dozen in a single week with zero spam getting through to my regular work email account. But lately, I've been getting 3-6 spams per week into my regular email account and scores (as in 60-100) spam to my spam filter. It's enough to drive a sane person outta their mind!-Kev … [Read more...]
Does the dad even matter?
January 18, 2007 by 3 Comments
Sometimes I struggle with the question of do I really matter or make a difference in the world...While self-doubt is nothing new under the sun, here are some statistics that I didn't know until recently:• 90% of runaway children are from fatherless homes• 71% of high school dropouts are from fatherless homes• 85% of youth in prison are from fatherless homes• 90% of inmates on death row are from fatherless homesIt seems like most societal ills, from crime to drug use to teen pregnancy, have a correlation with fatherlessness. So the next time I feel like I don’t matter, I'm encouraged to take a … [Read more...]
