For My Friend Scottius Maximus

Ruh-roh. Do you think this will affect the Cardinals playoff chances?

Pony Powered

So in the world of My Little Pony, the city of Manehatten still has horse-drawn carriages. Well, technically horse-drawn taxicabs. So is it more or less exploitative of ponies to ride in horse-drawn carriages than it is of humans to do so?

As Seen About Town

There is another car in this area with the license plate Tardis 1, so apparently there are a lot of Doctor Who fans in this area. Also, don't forget the house that had the Tardis land on its front porch.

 

This young lady was standing outside the house of a classmate of the Musician's, late in the afternoon. There are way too many deer in this area, but too many people don't want the deer culled, for various stupid reasons. Some idiots have actually suggested driving slower, so when the cars hit the deer the damage is not as bad. O.o  Deer being hit by autos is not the only problem, however. They are eating too much of the local foliage, and there at least two almost albino bucks wandering around within a few miles of each other, which to me indicates there may be too much inbreeding.

Knock knock. Who's there? Doctor.

This house has the freakin' Tardis! On the freakin' front porch! I want one.

Waiting for the Lightning

Seems Jamie Foxx recently called Obama his "lord and savior." No, really, Yeah. He did. I wouldn't stand too close to him, in case the lighting bolt from above shows up.

If you ever read Ace of Spades, you are well familiar with the Let It Burn concept. The idea that this country is too far in debt and has too large of a lazy, self-centered populace that likes to be ignorant and plans on staying that way, means the country is at some point going to collapse. So, let's get the party started now. If you believe at some point this house of cards is all going to come down, then why delay the pain? And part of Letting It Burn is destroying the entertainment and media industries. If you were paying attention, you may have noticed that during the run-up to the election, an enormous majority of celebrities may not have been calling our current president their lord and savior, but they are certainly behind him, and quite happy to demonize anyone who isn't. If you're a reader who knows me from Martin Loopers, you probably don't watch much television already, and may not have cable. I'm trying to persuade Mr. BTEG to at least cancel our Sirius satellite radio subscription, if not our cable. I want us to avoid as many movies as possible, especially the ones where the more vocal Obama supporters are stars. Tell me why any of the liars, tramps, sluts and thieves in Hollywood deserve my family's money. Let them feel the economic depression/recession just like the rest of us.

Thinking Straight

About the concentration thing. I've been having a seriously hard time lately finishing sentences (for those who know me well, it's always been a problem; it's just gotten worse.) I find it hard to write things like blog posts when there is other noise from a television show or video game going in the room. I can't always think of a word that I want to use to say something. There may be health issues at play here, but I'm hoping that things will also improve when the girls go back to school. I enjoy having them at home; I enjoy spending time with them, but even with limited television viewing and video game playing, there is still a lot more noise when they are here. I'm starting to miss having my weekdays at home all to myself. Fortunately, school starts soon. We'll see how things go after that.

Maryville, Missouri

I wanted to blog about our trip to Missouri in a series of posts in order of when we did what, but I'm still not interested in writing about our first interesting stop on the trip, which was Antique Archaeology, home of the American Pickers show, seen on the History channel. So for now, I'm going to skip straight to our destination, Maryville, Missouri.

Unfortunately, Maryville, Missouri was... boring. I was hoping to find some yarn stores or some fabric/quilting stores, but there weren't any. There was the Mozingo Lake Park and Golf Course, but I don't fish or play golf, and it was too hot to do any walking. We had the additional misfortune of hitting Maryville right when the big heat wave swept the Midwest.

Actually, Maryville is in rather sad shape. It has three large employers: an enormous Kawasaki engine plant, Northwest Missouri State University, and a jail. However, there were many empty storefronts in the city square, and there were two burnt-down restaurants and a vacant lot where it looked like something had been torn down. The one restaurant seemed to be in the process of rebuilding, but the other one was just there. No indication that it was going to be rebuilt and reopened anytime soon. It's sad that even with employment in the area, it has still felt the effects of the recession.

One interesting thing about the prison compound, there was an enormous church inside the fence, and one of the other buildings looked like it could have been a school building at some point. Mr. BTEG and I wondered if it could have been a regular church and school before becoming part of a prison.

At least the main part of our trip was successful. The Dancer and the Musician got lots of Law and Gospel, learned a lot about the faith, made new friends and got to hang out with old friends they hadn't seen since last year. Is it silly to say that seeing so many kids greeting each other after a long time apart, seemed almost like a foretaste of heaven?

It's All Relative

I'm getting so tired of the idea that I must somehow be able to "relate" to people who are running for office. Especially since, who could I probably be able to relate to best? Bipolar people! Let's run somebody who's mentally ill for president -- that's a GREAT idea!

I also like pets. We've always had cats as they fit our lifestyle better. Hmmmm. The last president to have a cat as a pet was Clinton. And the cat got dumped on someone else as soon as they left the White House. So, scratch that.

I'm a mom, but I don't want to see a president wearing mom jeans ever again!

I'm terrible at sports, but I would like to have a president who doesn't totally embarrass himself throwing out a first pitch. On the other hand, I really don't care what the president's ESPN basketball picks are.

Which reminds me, I also do not want to see any more presidents or first ladies on any reality shows, awards shows or sports shows. You know what's reality? Unemployment, high gas prices, massive inflation.

Up and Running

Finally have my netbook back, although Mr. BTEG still needs to get my email client running. Getting used to all the different fonts. Do different fonts in software, from the ones that you're already used to, bother anyone else? I'm not liking the font I'm seeing while I type this; I like it the least of everything I've seen so far. It's very much like a plain old electric typewriter font. Boring.

Mr. BTEG pointed out to me, and I had meant to say, that the title of my last post was very Dr. Who-ish. While I was referring to the idea of "Don't blink or you'll miss it," in regards to how quickly days and weeks can slip by; still, a little Dr. Who reference is always fun. :)

Life's Little Oddities

For a desperately needed mental lift for the Evil Genius, three members of the Evil Genius family went to our nearest Winking Lizard restaurant. As we were seated, surrounded by large televisions, I was irked that the baseball game on was between the evil Red Sox and the even eviller Yankees. So we get the game on our TV turned to the Indians. Heaven. So there I am watching the game, eating a delicious Angus burger, jamming to a cool song (it was Pulling Mussels by Squeeze if you must know) and I realize my husband and the Dancer are not really into the game (or the music.) Not only that, but I start watching a preseason football game on another television involving the Evil Team that my husband roots for, and he's not interested in that either. I love Mr. Evil Genius more than anyone else, but not only am I the biggest sports fan in the house, but the man of the house isn't really all that big on sports. Heh.

Oh, and my family really hates it when I jump up and down screaming while one of the Browns runs into the endzone. Yelling and sticking my hands up in the air when an Indians player goes yard is slightly more tolerated.

I Want My MTV

I was just about to start my eighth grade year when MTV debuted. It was the coolest thing ever! I hadn't remembered the MTV logo flashing on the moon flag, but I found that so awesome back then. Now so much of it looks so cheesy! The open shirt on Mark Goodman! Oooh, edgy!

Sirius Radio already features four of the original MTV VJs as the hosts of the 80's on 8 channel. They did a tribute show today, playing the songs in order as the videos appeared on TV. They also had guests in like Pat Benatar. The reactions of the VJs ranged from "Good times, good times" to "I can't believe we played this dreck." After hearing Nina Blackwood back then versus Nina today, I also think she's smoked about two packs a day since then. Here then, is the first ten minutes of MTV.

She's Got Personality

It is fascinating to me to see, now that my two girls are approaching maturity, how much of their characters they have retained even from babyhood. I won't give too many details, to protect the innocent (grin), but here's a few examples.

The Musician has always been extremely laid back. I like to think my good parenting helped with this, but she was an extremely easy baby to care for. The only times I ever remember her getting upset as a baby was making her do something that she didn't want to do. By this I mainly mean things like when I held her down while a dentist corrected her frenulum (she was tongue tied like her mommy.) Let her hang out and play with her toys, and she was fine. She also decided around the age of two, that she was not a girly-girl, and she still isn't.

The Dancer, on the other hand, has always been rather active. That's why I started her in gymnastics in the first place, to positively channel her energy. You might remember that her first nickname on my blog was Wild Child, and she has always deserved it. When she got a little older, she chose ballet for herself, and now she is taking three dance classes per week and assisting with another dance class, and loves it. She spends a lot of her time bouncing and dancing around the house.

I also love seeing bits of myself and Mr. BTEG in some of the things they do, things that seem more inherent to their natures rather than learned. I tried, for example, not to let my picky eating create bad food attitudes for the girls, and fortunately neither of them learned food dislikes from me. Sometimes I wonder if the nurture part of the whole nature/nurture balance consists mainly of teaching them polite manners and things like respect for others. Other than that, they really seem to have chosen their own courses. Of course, Mr. BTEG and I decided before they were born that we wanted to give them free reign, up to a certain point, to develop and express themselves. I know that sadly a child's personal growth can be messed up by such things as an overly strict or overly lenient parent.

Lastly, about the tongue-tied thing. I always thought, because it passed through my maternal grandfather all the way down to my daughter, that it had a strong genetic component. I only know of meeting one other person who was tongue-tied. I find that interesting. I did discover recently that Jeremy Brett, mainly of Sherlock Holmes fame here in the States, also reported himself as tongue-tied, although different sources seem to describe it differently. He was also bipolar and left-handed (they used a "hand double" during scenes where Sherlock was writing although he is shown during one episode boxing left-handed.) I would have loved to meet another tongue-tied, left-handed, bipolar person!

Food for Thought

Just read on Facebook that the Mythbusters are going to be doing a show with President Obama. I love the show, and I am so disappointed in this. Mythbusters should not involve politics. I don't want to know which way Jamie and Adam's politics fall, and I take this news to confirm what I strongly suspected, that they are leftists, perhaps even with socialist leanings. With this administration charging into socialist territory, and the Mythbusters being filmed in a very blue area of California, I suspect the cast of Mythbusters does lean socialist, but I really didn't want to know either way.

The President is also a very divisive figure right now. Even die-hard Democrats are starting to lose enthusiasm, although they often blame it on staff, rather than the top guy. Why make a decision that will make a good bit of your audience unhappy with the show?

As I was thinking over this, I remembered that the cable show Cake Boss did an episode where the bakery made a cake for Governor Chris Christie. I wouldn't ask Buddy to turn down such a offer that would give him publicity in high places, but if we're going to be fair, that shouldn't have shown on television as well, I guess. Am I being partisan when I feel that Buddy was making a very lucrative and high-recognition business transaction, while the Mythbusters are very likely (to me) doing this for the "ooh, we get to do a show with the Lightworker" factor? Buddy's cake reflected a lot of pride in his home state, at least, as well as being for the Governor. As I read on the linked webpage, Mythbusters has already tried this myth *twice*. Why do it again?

Am I overreacting? I doubt the Mythbusters would *do* a show with Governor Christie, or with someone like Sharron Angle or Sean Bielat. I wonder if Buddy would make a cake for anybody.

Dear Nancy Pelosi

I oppose an Islamic worship center, under whatever name, being built in that particular location in New York City. To make it easier when you investigate me, I am eagerly awaiting my big check from Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated any day now. Now get out of this country, you traitorous, Botoxed hag.

Feelin' the Love

Staring at a blank screen is about as bad as staring at a blank sheet of paper. :) There is a lot going on, but not much of it is good. Oddly enough, though, when I think about all the things that are going wrong, I then somehow realize how much good is out there. Lots of prayers and support for friends who are facing illness and other difficulties. Economics forcing us to look at what is really important, both in our family life and in our church life. The ability to reach out to friends online, and have a dozen friends answer back with support within minutes. The ability to be aware easily of what's going on in the world that might effect us. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together." Or as my pastor says, "This is why we keep our eye on the goal, it soothes the pain of the present. St. Paul says: I consider the present sufferings not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us."

Television and Real Life

I am very tired of seeing ads for the new television show on TV Land called "Hot in Cleveland." I suppose we are supposed to favor it since it is ostensibly based on our town. To be honest, I haven't watched it. I don't watch much television in any case. I've just seen one clip, where the hot chicks from out of town are shocked and thrilled when one of their male escorts for the evening remarks something along the lines of, "Just cheese fries? You're a light eater." Not sure if that is a supposed to be a positive or negative towards Cleveland, but there certainly are different approaches to life and eating across the country.

A couple of years ago we hosted some friends and their daughter at our place. They both had lived in California for a number of years, but the wife had lived there far longer. For dinner, we served a roast and vegetables that had been thrown in with the roast. The dinner was enjoyed by all, but the wife commented that in California, they'd have been given something more along the lines of a salad. Ah well. I take C.S. Lewis' attitude that different locales can each appreciate the things they like best, as long as they refrain from attacking others' choices.

What Are We Saving?

One of my daughters' favorite shows is Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman. Ordinarily it is a very good show, incorporating history, science and other topics in an entertaining format. Today, though, it irked me. Half of the show's focus was on saving electricity, which is a good thing in and of itself. However, the reason purported for saving energy was to release less CO2 in the atmosphere, and CO2 was tied to "global warming." Come on. As time goes on how much evidence do we really have that this is occurring? Even many global warming champions have switched to "climate change" as a safer explanation of why we must follow their plan.

Two of the kid contestants measured the amount of electricity in watts it took to do certain tasks, such as blowing leaves to using the blender. A high number was greeted with dismay. I wonder how many watts it uses to provide the bright lighting for their filming studio, the cameras, the computer-generated dog, and the televisions kids use to watch the program all across the country. Yes, it's a bit snarky, but seriously! I'm tired of being lectured by television shows and actors when their livelihood is based on using huge amounts of electricity.

Of course, they did give us an alternate method of powering the television: pedal power. Practical to a certain point. They also showed a good option to using the blender: mashing guacamole yourself. Okay. They showed a solar-powered radio and fan, but I think the current drawbacks of solar power were displayed by the fact that the panel needed to run a small table-top type fan was about the size of the Dancer. And when one of the kids stepped in front of the panel, the fan sputtered. We get very few cloudless days here in Ohio.

They also switched to one of those bulbs containing mercury, which in my mind is still controversial. The funniest thing was washing clothes by hand in a metal pail. I know many of my readers like hanging clothes on the line to dry, but how many of us would like washing all of our laundry by hand? Even the Amish wringer washer uses a gas or electric engine. Made in Saudi Arabia! Even if I lived someplace where I would not get stoned by my neighbors for hanging up clothes outside, I would still use the dryer 1)for things like towels that get nasty air-dried and 2)in the winter. Heck, I'd like to see the rich and famous in Beverly Hills have their servants start hanging laundry outside to dry. Or would they get too many people trying to steal the bedsheets of a famous actress? :)

So, yes, there are ways to cut back on electricity. But can't we do it just for the monetary and resource savings, or must we do it to "save the planet"?

A Cinderella Story Is Always Nice

but I love this quote: When will our culture stop judging others by their looks, age and social status and begin to see the beauty, goodness and unique talent in each one of us?

Go here to see an incredibly talented person.

How Should Christian Entertainment Work?

I saw this at NerdMom's, but my post doesn't really have anything to do with her views, so don't attack the messenger. Do you remember Veggie Tales? Mr. BTEG and I found them enjoyable and we let our girls watch them, although they do have detractors, with perhaps good reason. I don't really want to go into that, but into Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer's big new project, called Jellytelly. I know that there are those who advocate Christians moving more into the areas where they are currently poorly represented, such as politics and the entertainment industry. However, watching Phil Vischer's video about what Jellytelly is, I wondered about a few things.

First of all, Vischer asserts that since kids are watching so much television, they should be watching better things than Hannah Montana. I say, first of all, why not encourage kids to watch less television? Second of all, shows like Hannah Montana are not *necessarily* bad. Watching Disney channel shows like these with my daughter, I am realizing that a) I preferred watching preschool shows like Blue's Clues and b) these shows are the food equivalent of a root beer float, sweet and fluffy but without much redeeming nutritional value. However, *if* you watch television with your children, parents can discuss issues with their children like dating, lying, respect to parents, friendship and more. It's not exactly worth watching the shows just to provide the opportunities for discussion, but kids like sweets, and they can be fine in moderation. Now, watching these shows, I can see why parents stick kids in their own rooms with their own televisions. :) However, I really don't believe that's healthy for kids, in more ways than one. I like being aware of what my daughters are watching and listening to, even if they're not my favorite things.

So, if Christians are involved in entertainment, what should it look like? Kids' television entertainment with religious storylines have been around since at least Davey and Goliath. Should shows have an explicit religious story and moral? These may have a place, but even there parents should be careful. Programs like Veggie Tales, that can have Evangelical messages confessional Lutherans may not agree with, may still have to be viewed with parental input. Can Christians also make shows about normal people who happen to be Christians, say, who go to church and pray before meals? Can it be done without the schmaltz of a 7th Heaven? :) Well, I don't know that my gifts run to these areas, so I'll just see what faithful Christians can come up with.

We're in Trouble

Mr. EG used the blender to help the girls make some banana milkshakes the other night. Now we're out of ice cream and the girls want to use the blender and are getting restless. I'm hoping they won't decide to play Will It Blend?.

In other news, the girls are getting over the colds they've had, so we're *not* in trouble there, and I'm glad.

Does watching the Charlie and Lola episode, I Wish I Could Draw Exactly More Like You, with some famous paintings, count as art for the day? lol

On the topic of Charlie and Lola, does anyone think there are not enough suitable shows out there for older kids, like preteen age? Even shows like Hannah Montana, and movies like High School Musical, are not necessarily suitable, and seem like they're aimed at kids more like Wildchild, not at kids almost in their teens like the Scientist. Perhaps the Scientist is already supposed to be watching adult-type fare??? It's a good thing she still enjoys watching stuff supposedly for younger kids. I just won't tell her. :)

This post brought to you by the letters A, D and D.