30 August 2010

"Ground Zero Mosque"

PZ nails it once again;

Atheists recognize intelligence, curiosity, generosity, charity, kindness, etc., as human traits, and find nothing odd in the fact that people everywhere, no matter what their faith, can express them. Far too many believers, however, ascribe virtues to their particular faith rather than to any universally human properties, which means they rather too easily manage to mentally strip people of other faiths or no faith at all of those virtues.

Nowhere is this more evident than the silly arguments over mosques across the country. If I had my druthers there wouldn't be any mosques or churches or temples or anything of the like; but, I wouldn't make any laws about it - other than keeping the Catholic priests at least a quarter mile away from any school building or playground.

23 August 2010

Too Much Information

Yesterday Leia did a number two in the potty! We're getting closer to being diaper free.

19 August 2010

Shave!

That was my command this morning while kissing Alisa goodbye. Leia immediately echoed the sentiment. I guess there's no choice to it. I'm off to the bathroom to shave off this two-day-old stubble.

18 August 2010

Finding Complete Contentment

...drifting inside my frame.

I followed the dreamer through the purple, hazy clouds.

Or, at least, I wished.

Jochen and Mr. Brown

Two fun stories for the day.

The past Saturday some friends came to visit. One of them is named Jochen and I can never quite pronounce his name correctly. Tonight, Leia started chattering on about Jochen. The sad thing was, she says it just like Jochen and his wife say it - much better than I. The cute part was she was speaking in Japanese at the time: "Jochen wa kakko ii." That translates literally to: "Jochen is cool!"

The second story is around the Dr. Seuss book, _Mr_Brown_Can_Moo,_can_you?_ The girls have always liked this book since it has vibrant onomatopoeia on every page and I read it animatedly. Tonight for the first time both Leia and Alisa tried to imitate the sounds of a bee, a train, thunder, etc. It was quite fun.

13 August 2010

This Has to be a Joke

A Christian Science Monitor opinion piece is up that is just silly. What if Congress wrote laws as simple and clear as scripture? Oh, what a great idea! Simple, easily misconstrued statements that have caused numerous factions dead set on killing each other throughout history should be held up as an example of fine lawmaking.

To think someone was paid to write that junk.

08 August 2010

Short Update

I arrived back from India on Thursday and have been spending time with family ever since. The girls have changed so much while I'm gone. Here's the highlights:

* Leia has used the potty successfully two days in a row. I've taken the tactic of asking them if they want to sit on the potty very first thing in the morning. It seems to be working. She's terribly proud of herself.

* Their pronunciation, particularly Alisa, has become much more easy to understand. Leia talks a blue streak now.

* They're getting big. 2Ts fit well now. They are nearly the tallest in their daycare class.

* They love to dance even more. When I asked this morning, "What music do you want to listen to?", they both answered, "Rock and roll!" I proceeded to put on Black Sabbath and mad hopping about ensued.

* Seeing their faces light up on Thursday afternoon when I picked them up at daycare was precious.

01 August 2010

Delhi Belly

I shouldn't have eaten the mutton at lunch yesterday.

Updated: Maybe it wasn't something I ate. Last night a fever came on and I was bedridden all night - missing a bunch of meetings. This morning I've finally been able to eat again (after having gone about 48 hours without a meal), though I'm still stuck in the hotel room all day.

What I'm Least Looking Forward To

If the Rethugs return to power in Congress this November, what I'm least looking forward to is impeachment proceedings. What's with these fools?

A Parental Truism

One never gets tired of looking at pictures of ones own children. Or, at least until they're teenagers so I'm told. I've spent the last seven hours doing nothing but looking at pictures of my family. I'm terribly homesick, even when looking at pictures of the girls getting in trouble and stealing the car keys.

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