Category: reflections

Shawn Groves :: If my children grow up to be average Americans…

Shawn Groves writes:

“If my children grow up to be average Americans I’ll have failed them as a parent.”

he continues:

If they spend four hours a day watching other people live on a television screen. If they’re bored.

If they go to school to get a job so their kids can go to school so they can get a job so their kids can go to school…If they’re without purpose.

If they take more than they give and want more than they have. If they’re greedy.

If everyone in their prayers looks like them. If they’re unaware.

I’ve failed.

Read the rest…

Related ::
Compassion International
Sponsor a child
SSL :: using kids as buzz marketers

Quote/idea/challenge for the day

“We tend… whenever we’re in an argument… I will argue the strongest part of my argument and I will direct it against the weakest part of your argument. You will in turn take the strongest part of your argument and attack the weakest part of my argument. And what I really want to do is to enter into dialogs where I can talk about the weakest part of my argument and you can talk about the weakest part of your argument and I can accept and celebrate the strongest part of yours and vice-versa.”

Dr. Peter Rollins
Interviewed on The Nick and Josh Podcast

Using kids as buzz marketers

Corporate Babysitter shares a portion of a BBC documentary, “The Search for Cool” that shows “cool kids” as young as six being targeted to market toys and gadgets to their friends – specifically the Nintendo DS.

A few telling quotes:

“The street teams consist of ‘cool kids’.. who will represent the brands in a very vocal way to their friends.”

“Obviously children are the best way to promote something.”

“Schools have let them do assemblies on the products… PowerPoints… anything we can get away with.”

“It’s a feeling of belonging… like an elite community.”

Watch the video. Does this drive anyone else batty? I know folks use bloggers and podcasters this way…. maybe its a double standard, but using six year old kids to market products to their friends leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

HT to Corporate Babysitter.

I’ve been tagged > My personal Top 10 Movies (for today)

Looks like Brandi decided to “return the favor” after I’ve tagged her with several Memes in the past.

So I better share “My Personal Top 10 Movies” (for today)

The rules of the “game” are simple:
1. list your top ten favorite films (in no particular order).
2. if you’re tagged, you’ve got to post and tag 3-5 other people.
3. give a tag back (some link love) to the one who tagged you in your post
4. give a hat tip (HT) to Dan

HT to Dan – whoever you are – wherever you are. Sorry I don’t have a link to your personal site.

BTW – I’ve been sitting on this list since last week (sorry Brandi) I got 7 movies picked right off the bat but picking a final 3 has been really tough.

My list…

  • Saving Private Ryan ::
    James Ryan: [addressing Capt. Miller’s grave] My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.
    Ryan’s Wife: James?….
    [looking at headstone]
    Ryan’s Wife: Captain John H Miller.
    Old James Ryan: Tell me I have led a good life.
    Ryan’s Wife: What?
    Old James Ryan: Tell me I’m a good man.
    Ryan’s Wife: You are.
  • We Were Soldiers ::
    “We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young.”

    “Our Father in Heaven, before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you each in his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory. And so, we bow before your infinite wisdom. We offer our prayers as best we can. I pray you watch over the young Jack Geoghegan. That I lead into battle. You use me as your instrument in this awful hell of war to watch over them. Especially if they’re men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. Amen.”

  • Dumb & Dumber ::
    ooh so many lines to quote. We have no problem watching this movie in Spanish or any other language because it’s so quotable.
  • Gladiator ::
    “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
  • The Patriot ::
    Dan Scott: I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t like the idea of giving muskets to slaves.
    Major Jean Villeneuve: [to Dan] Your sense of freedom is as pale as your skin.”
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ::
    “Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?”
  • Amazing Grace ::
    “When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon – men of violence. Rarely do they think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles. Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, a man who’s achieved the very summit of earthly ambition. And yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war. William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head on his pillow and remember: the slave trade is no more.”
  • Happy Gilmore ::
    Like Dumb and Dumber – another hard movie to pick one or two quotes from.
  • Tommy Boy ::
    Ranks right alongside Dumb & Dumber and Happy Gilmore as some of the quintessential movies during high school.
    “I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life, but that… was… AWESOME!”
  • That Thing You Do ::
    Mr. White: Next, this “Oneders”, with the O-N-E, it doesn’t work. It’s confusing. From now on, you boys’ll just be… simply The Wonders.
    Lenny: As in, I wonder what happened to the O’Needers?

Wrap-up

As I look over the list, it’s interesting to see several war/violence related movies. For some reason the idea of fighting for something greater than yourself really speaks to me. The idea of fighting for someone else, such as a family member, or country really speaks to me – yet I find myself more and more turning to pacifist ways. I wonder if these movies would speak to me the same way they did the first time I watched them – or even 1 or 2 years ago.

Tag :: you’re it

I tag Thomas, Chris, Chad, Laurie & Smiley

Red Oak Water Supply and other news

So… what’s been going on at Casa de Blundell as of late?

Well as previously posted, Laurie gave us a bit of a scare earlier this week after doing a nice double-tuck roll off of an examination table at the doctor’s office. She landed on her head and ended up with a mild-concussion as well as a super sprained neck. She’s been suffering ever since but Thursday we took a drive to Garland to see her Primary Care Physician (PCP). Her PCP was able to prescribe some muscle relaxers and anti-inflamation pills. They’re not a “cure all” but they seem to be helping – and at least are helping her get some sleep at night.

Changes to SSL

While staying home with her this week I’ve made several online changes to SSL. As you may notice, its now SSL 3.1 (beta) – in addition to some new layout changes (hence the new “version”). I’m still debating a couple more possible changes but for now I’m mostly happy with the change. A few things you may notice and/or want to take note of:

  • No left hand sidebar.
  • Wider right hand sidebar.
  • The family & friend links that were on the left hand sidebar have now been combined with the rest of the links on the link page. You can visit the link page by clicking “links” on the very top bar of the page.
  • New prominent search function. I’ve bumped the search feature up to the very top so you can quickly and easily search the site via Google.
  • New follow me on the web. I’ve created a new list on the right hand side (along with new icons) to help you easily track all the various/random sites I post content to on the web.
  • New ad layouts. With the wider right hand sidebar I’ve changed up the layout on some of the advertising on the site. Of course the goal is to attract you to click links, buy things from Amazon.com through this site and help us in the “Pay Off the Debt Campaign.“
  • New archives page. I’ve removed the long categories list as well as archives list from the sidebar and moved it to a new archives page, which can be accessed on the top of the page. This should also help remove some clutter on the site and making browsing the archives a bit easier.

I think that’s all the major changes. Let me know what you think.

New podcast posted

The latest version of the Something Beautiful Podcast is live. This week I interviewed Jamie Moffett, a filmmaker who’s currently working on “The Ordinary Radicals” movie. I had a fun time interviewing Jamie and getting to know more about him. You can download the Mp3 of the podcast from the site, or simply click the play button within the show notes and listen to the podcast that way.

Red Oak Water Supply

Finally…
[rant]
What’s the deal with the Red Oak Water Supply? I’ve never had much of a problem with public water supplies. But after nearly 9 months of living in Red Oak, we’ve still been unable to get used to the horrible taste of the water and apparently the super soft water is ruining countless shirts, pants and more when doing laundry.

We’ve tried using a Britta filter and it makes no difference whatsoever in the taste of the water. So, we’re “forced” to buy gallons of “bottled” water from the store… in addition to paying what seems like an extra high price for poor quality city water.

The taste is one thing, but it also appears that the soft water continues to make the colors run in our laundry. We try and do a good job of separating lights from darks but the other day another one of Laurie’s shirts was ruined with splotches of red across the front of her white t-shirt. There were no other dark colors in that load of laundry that I could tell – in fact the only thing I could deduct was that the red rings around the collar and sleeves of the shirt actually bled on to the white areas of the shirt.

Granted, I’ve found no solid “proof” that soft water makes colors run – but neither of us have ever had this kind of problem with our laundry until moving to Red Oak. I did however find this:

With the exception of a few higher tech systems, most water softeners require electricity and an avid supply of softener salt. Depending on the amount of soft water you use, your salt needs may differ. I have known families to go through more than a bag a month, and others go several months on the same bag.

In addition to the “hard” costs of having soft water (no pun intended), there are also some undesirable side-effects that may occur, including corrosion of water pipes. There has also been undocumented “speculation” as to the health risks associated with drinking water treated with high levels of iodized salt. (The easy solution is to make sure softened water is not being supplied to drinking faucets or fridge water dispensers.)

You may also not be a fan of the “slippery” feeling that soft water can leave on your skin. The only solution to this is to simply use far less soap, or switch to a synthetic option.

It also seems odd to me that the City of Red Oak chose to add additional supply to the water system by connecting to the City of Dallas (10-20 miles to the north) rather than connecting to the City of Waxahachie water supply which is building a brand new water treatment plant 2 miles south of the Red Oak city limits – and is adding more supply by tapping into Tarrant County Water Supply.

I look forward to getting “normal” Dallas water. But I’m not looking forward to hearing constant warnings about conserving water every summer as the Dallas water supply diminishes (not that I’m against conserving – its just that suddenly Red Oak becomes a very very little fish in a huge pond that’s already having huge water shortages) and I’m not looking forward to the “wonderful” taste Dallas water gets each fall when the “lakes turn” (something Waxahachie combats by keeping the water moving year round in Waxahachie Lake – their primary water source).

Finally, yesterday morning we woke up with maybe half of our normal water pressure throughout the house. And being a holiday there was no one at City Hall to answer any questions – but worse than that – there was no news item on the city’s website (I’ll save a rant about the annoying flash on that website for later), no recording telling folks what was going on on the water dept. phone line. No indication of anything – other than we had no water pressure and we just had to wait and hope it fixed itself before we called a plumber to have a look.
[/rant]

Well that’s about it. Now if I can just figure out why the tree in our backyard isn’t looking too healthy and why Presley’s paws are so red and why she keeps licking them….

Related ::
Vertigo :: Laurie’s recap of her fall
The Casa de Blundell Amazon.com store
Something Beautiful Podcast
Jamie Moffett
The Ordinary Radicals
Save Dallas Water
What is lake turning?
Red Oak Texas website

Going-ons

Well we’re home resting today. Laurie gave us a bit of a scare yesterday after she passed out at the doctor’s office and fell, hitting her head in the process.

We spent most of yesterday in the ER at Baylor Dallas. We started out waiting and waiting, had an MRI, waited, waited and waited. Then she had a CT scan, a few X-rays and then another CT scan. We finally got some clear results nearly 12 hours after she was admitted.

The MRI showed a possible micro fracture in her t-spine, so that’s what led to the additional CT scans and X-Rays. The additional tests didn’t seem to back that idea up so they finally released her and told her to take it easy the next couple days and see a doctor for a followup. I’m guessing its more of a neck and upper back sprain than anything else.

So today she’s resting/napping and I’m at home with her to help out however and whenever I can. Here’s to hoping the pain goes away soon and/or the pain pills start kicking in better… at least she’s no longer wearing that C-Collar they had her in all day yesterday.

In the meantime…

Stranger in a Strange Land is getting a massage today.

You may see some funny things if you visit the site throughout the day. We hope to be back refreshed and better than ever by the end of the day. Thanks for your patience.