Holy Lack Of Posts Batman!

Man oh man...so much to catch up on. I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my last post (okay, I can believe it, I just don't want to).

First off:

Rebekah turned four this month. Oy...

Leslie and I celebrated our ninth anniversary. Wow...

Mary turned eight and was baptized. Sheesh...

Only one month left of my undergraduate career. Woo hoo...

I was planning on making all kinds of posts for the above items, but everything seemed to get busy all at once and, therefore, nothing was done. Figures.

Some other things that happened this month that I never got around to:

Happy Birthday Lori!

Dad and Helen, nice seeing ya'll again.

Had the chance this last week to listen to Jared Diamond give a presentation on campus.

Scuba is getting insanely tough, what with all the breath-holding skills we have to do.

Well, I had tons of stuff on my mind lately, and wanted to get them written down. So in a very real sense, this blog entry is incredibly anti-climatic.

In Defense of the Suit

Today I came across a newspaper article from a few days ago - here it is distilled down to it's essentials:

Of all the clothes available to men, the suit (along with the overcoat) has remained recognisably the same for the longest. Look at photographs of Victorian men, and they are wearing outfits related to the ones you have. Suits may change in fashion and style around the edges, but at heart, when you put one on, you are wearing not just your father’s armour, but your grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s; the defining plumage of hosts of men who were long dead before you were born. You put on a suit and you join history and heritage. Nobody I have heard of has come up with a convincing argument why the suit should have clothed the world’s men for so long, so plainly and conservatively. It must speak to some deep, pan-cultural, omnisocial conformity, some understanding of probity and power.
.
.
.
The suit isn’t a mindless conformity of drudgery and bureaucracy; it is the acceptance of the responsibility and heritage of your gender. And it is because men wear and understand the metaphor of their suits that children can have their allotted time wearing jeans and hoodies.

Okay, as an anthropologist, I have to admit that the first paragraph is a completely Euro-centric and a far-from-accurate view of the fashions of the world. Still, it speaks to the Old World blood in me - and makes me long for a brighter future where Men (notice the capitalization there) dress and act in a more chivalric manner.

Liberty Amendment

I realize that not everyone who reads this lives in the United States of America. I also realize that in the past I have never been that politically active - mostly due to the lack of causes that I can support with no reservations.

That, however, has changed.

The only way to reduce taxes is to reduce the size and scope of government. That is why I support the Liberty Amendment which proposes, under Section 1: "The Government of the United States shall not engage in any business, professional, commercial, financial or industrial enterprise except as specified in the Constitution." Under Section 3, it stipulates: "The activities of the United States Government which violate the intent and purposes of this amendment shall, within a period of three years from the date of the ratification of the amendment, be liquidated and properties and facilities affected shall be sold." As incredible as this may seem, enactment of the Liberty Amendment would cut the cost of government more than half and provide funds with which to pay off the national debt by more than 65 billion dollars! Cutting the size of the government is the only way to cut taxes, and don't let any politician tell you otherwise.

This is something I'm serious about. Educate yourself about it. Write a letter to your Senator and your Representative. Get others involved. This is something worth fighting for.

All's Quiet

Not much to report. Life has been pretty quiet lately.

Some days I do better than others about not spending a lot of time on the computer. Old habits are hard to break.

::shrug:: I guess that is it...

March Madness

Let the madness begin!

March is always a crazy month. There is so much going on: Birthdays, anniversaries, school projects, spring wheat planting in the lower 40...okay, maybe not that last one.

Still having troubles breaking the sleepiness. I know I'm spending way too much time on the computer. I need to stop playing around and find something else to do. I can't imagine I'm setting that great of an example for my kids. After all, they say you spend the most time on what is most important to you. Does playing on the computer rank up there as one of the most important things in my life? Hardly.

Time for a change.

Here's a New Spring Resolution (since I didn't make any New Year's ones...) - No more than 1 hour of computer play per day and no more than 1 hour of TV watching per day. I'll try to spend the rest of the time playing games with my family, reading, writing (with pencil and paper - no computer typing), and generally spending more time outdoors now that it is warming up.

Wish me luck!