Hooray For Saturday!

August 29th, 2005

Three years ago today Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, the state I am from and will always consider home.

The events that followed the storm were inexcusable, cannot be forgotten, and must not happen again.  I will always feel the people of New Orleans were treated unjustly by the government based on class status and race.

I sat in a hospital worrying about our new son, as I watched the events unfold like a nightmare.  My favorite city in the whole world, the best city in the world, New Orleans was under water and nothing was being done about it for days.  The people of New Orleans, working class people, deserved better.

Now as another storm bears down towards my home state, I can only hope that the people of Southern Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast can get to safety and that in the aftermath of it, services are in place to help all of those in need. 

I think that Americans are often complacent.  I hope people pay attention to the Gulf Coast this hurricane season to make sure things are getting done and people are cared for.

If you get the chance go visit south Louisiana, make a trip of it, business and pleasure.  From a business standpoint, see all of the things that still, three years later, need to be done and from a pleasure standpoint, enjoy some of the world's best music, people, scenery and food.

Three Year Check Up

The Little Man went in this morning to see the Doctor for his three year check up.

He's grown four inches taller in the past year and he's put on some pounds.  He's running in the 45 percentile range for his age, without considering he's three months behind.

It's funny, this was the first time they didn't measure around his head.  I asked if they needed to and the nurse just looked at me and said, "Oh, don't worry about that, he looks good.", which I'm sure in laymen's terms translates to, watermelon noggin.

All seems well with the boy and the Doc seemed excited about his counting, shapes, colors, and letter recognition.  Perhaps I need a raise!

August 27, 2008

On this night Democrats make American history.

I am very, very proud of this moment.

This Just In...

Even before last night...I have a crush on Michelle Obama.

Kindergarten: The New School

Our daughter started kindergarten last week.  She seems to like it and has fallen into the routine very quickly.  The first day of school was weird, in it didn't go anything like I expected it to.

The school she is attending is your typical overcrowded public school, complete with portables, mobile home classrooms, or what we used to call T buildings, but that is another story in on it's own.  The first day we were told that parents could walk their children to their classroom, but after that please get with the program as it is spelled out in the literature that was mailed out to all students. 

The first day we parked the car, so me and The Little Man could escort Doodlebug to her new class.  We walked through the halls, which I was thinking had to look a mile long to her, and came upon her classroom.  As we entered the class of first day chaos, she immediately found her name on a table.  Then we found the cubby with her name on it and put away her backpack.  She sat down at her table, looked up at me, said she liked her class and she would see me later, when I picked her up.

That was it.  No tears, no freaking out, no need for an extra hug and a kiss.  It was just, cool...see you later.  I was so amazed that I actually didn't want to leave.  I mean I still had to hand over the bag of tissues, paper towels, bottle of hand sanitizer, and the other few standard issue kindergarten supplies to the teacher, so I couldn't just walk out.  Maybe during this time she would need another hug?  Nope.  She was fine.

All of the above took only seconds to do, it was so quick.  So as I was stalling, asking her dumb questions, as were the other parents, The Little Man all of a sudden got sad and started to whimper.  What!  This guy, that could care less if we were leaving her to go home and play some train by ourselves.  This guy, that didn't like sharing Play-Doh and all the tools that come with it with his silly sister.  The guy, that always wants a big comfy chair to himself when she tries to come sit with him. 

The kid that lately wanted nothing to do with her during the day at home was sobbing, "I don't want to leave her here.  We can't leave her at school."  All of a sudden three of Doodlebug's classmates, that were showing their best poker face for it to be OK for mommy to drop them off, bust in to tears.  I quickly gave the daughter a pat on the head, grabbed the boy up, and headed for the hills.  He proceeded to cry the entire way home.

Just when you think you know your kids, you think you know how each one is going to act in certain situations, they throw you that knuckle curve that leaves you standing there with nothing.  Crazy.

The first week of classes went fine for her, it's things that are happening now that we are in the loop with the school that have me wondering.  To be continued.

A Week Being Grandkids

My mother traveled up, from Louisiana, to stay with us for a week.

It was a whirlwind week of entertainment and catching up with Grandma that went by too fast.  She was able to help us celebrate The Little Man's birthday with the in-laws and enjoy all the activities we have been taking part in over the summer such as; swimming lessons, gymnastics, playing outside, going to the Cincinnati Museum Center and random daily stuff.

It had been a while since she was last up here and our daughter informed me that I should invite her up more often, seeing that "Grandma is a much better story reader than you are dad."  Nice.  I learned another thing about myself, via my mom, while she was here.  She said the kids told her, "We like daddy better when he wears a blue shirt, instead of a white one."  OK, whatever?

The wife and I were also able to take advantage of some alone time while Grandma was here entertaining the children.  We drove down to Lexington and enjoyed a nice meal at The Lady's new favorite place, Malone's.  My apologies to all animal lovers out there, but I had a fillet mignon about the size of a K2 football and it was delicious.

I think my mom and I will be the first to agree that we can get on the nerves of one another a bit.  However, we didn't freak out on one another nearly as much as we usually do.  I think as the kids get older they are much more entertaining and I leave those three amigos alone, so we don't have time to bicker.  One thing I do miss is the late night conversations we used to have prior to our children being around.  We used to stay up well into the night talking current events, what's going on in Louisiana, what's going on with where we live and so on.  Now the kids take up a lot of that time and people just want to hit the sack when it calms down.  We got to talk a bit, but not the late night sessions anymore.  Not all folks can be like me, up half the night.

It was neat to watch my mom hanging out with the children.  She is the quintessential Grandma.  She lets them slide a lot when I would be giving them a tablespoon of what for.  She instructs me to detour to the ice cream shop when I wouldn't even think of it.  She played Play-Doh for hours during the week when I'm to the point I can't even muster up a Play-Doh pancake anymore.  She sang along to Hit Me With Your Best Shot and suggested, "Ooohh, Welcome To The Jungle' that's a good tune!" while watching us play "Guitar Hero".  She obviously read bedtime stories a lot better than I do.  And she bought them stuff....and more stuff.

Overall, the visit was excellent.  It was a wonderful way to wrap up what is beginning to be the end of summer.

My favorite quote from the visit, "There sure are a lot of Chinese people at the Olympics."  That's my mom....I love her.

Happy Birthday Little Man

So if you told me three years ago that our son, this little guy,

was going to be the crazed daredevil that he is today, I would have never believed you.

I had not gone back and looked at the photos from a few days after his birth since his last birthday.  It's still weird to think that he was born in August, three years ago, but yet he wasn't supposed to show up until after Halloween.  I suppose I will always think that around his birthday, seeing that one can't think about Halloween right now, when it is still so warm out and football season hasn't even started.

The events surrounding his birth seem like they were many years ago and we have had a lot of things go on in our family since then, but it was only three years ago that he was hooked up to all kinds of machines and he would stop breathing to turn purple while holding him in my arms.  Talk about a fat man sweating.  It's one of those weird things that happens to me, my mind seems to have a way of just shielding bad memories, overall in life, to focus on the good ones.  I still don't know if we got lucky, or if he is just a hell of a fighter, but he is turning out to be a regular goof-ball of a little boy.

Happy Birthday Son!

Thunderstruck

Last night I made myself go to bed early.  I was actually sleeping before 2AM.

About 2:15AM, some green, orange and red moved into the area.  It was the biggest thunderstorms I've heard since living here.  It was constant lightning and thunder, loud house shaking thunder, for about an hour and a half.

The daughter was going bananas during the storm, so I went and hung out with her in her room.  We talked about Plum Pudding, not a creamy fruit treat, but a sidekick of Strawberry Shortcake.  Not the summertime desert, Strawberry Shortcake, but the cartoon gal that wears a big hat and has a bunch of sidekicks with desert names.  It was enough conversation to keep her from screaming every time her room lit up and the ground rumbled from the storm.

Now when we get rain or a storm roll through, Doodlebug asks what color it is.  Meaning what color on a weather radar is used to indicate the strength of the rain or storm.  She learned that hanging out with her grandfather, looking at weather.com before driving back to KY from IN one day.

If we get rain today, we hope it's only green.  She only likes the green rain.

Letter To The Editor

Here in northern Kentucky, the three counties across the river from the Cincinnati metro area of Ohio, local governments are in preliminary talks about a smoking ban in public places.  I read about these current events on the front page of the small, local newspaper The Florence Recorder.  I was surprised by a comment in the story, so I wrote a letter to the editor.

My original letter to the editor, that was published, regarding comments from a Florence City Councilman: 

The editor titled it:  Statement Was Offensive

On the front page of your July 10th, 2008 edition of the "Florence Recorder", Florence City Councilman Mel Carroll is quoted as saying,

"We need to allow local property owners to decide what type of business they have, rather than have the social elite, professional do-gooders, and what I sometimes refer to as 'behavior Nazis' decide for us how we are going to live and that is what is happening right now."

Perhaps Mr. Carroll spoke without thinking, by stating his judgment of class, which is offensive in it's own right, amongst citizens that do not wish to breathe second hand smoke, but his comparison of those with that viewpoint, to those of the Nazi Party, is inexcusable and worthy of a public apology. 

Maybe it's a lack of education or perhaps it shows a glimpse into one's rational of thinking, but it is disturbing to have a Councilman compare a person that wishes to breathe clean air, to one from the Nazi Party, that executes unthinkable acts of hatred upon others.

Kevin

The following week, these two letters were published in response to mine:

The first the editor titled: Don't Impose Will

In response to Kevin's letter entitled "statement was offensive", I have to wonder who may be uneducated.  If Kevin was a student of history, he'd know that Nazi Germany initiated and led one of the strongest anti-smoking movements in history.  To insist on a public apology from Mel Carroll for simply using the term "behavior Nazi's" is completely absurd.  People that share Kevin's beliefs may not simply be "behavior Nazi's", but in lock step with beliefs that this great country country has fought against since its inception.

We dare not tread down a slippery slope that slowly gives the government more and more control over our everyday lives.  What's next, a government mandate that we must drink diet drinks, for our own good?  Why can't Kevin find another establishment and not impose his will on the masses.

Phil

The second was titled by the editor:  How Are We Baby Boomers Still Alive?

I've been quiet and listening and enduring the past 15 years.  I just want to someone to explain how we are the largest group (baby boomers) alive today.  Believe or not we were put in cars with smokers, held in the hospital while our mothers smoked and while pregnant she smoked.  I must say they did find nicotine in our hair, we went to groceries, courthouses and everywhere else and the workers were there will all that second-hand smoke and golly gee, we are alive and not being doctored every week for allergies as a lot of our younger citizens seem to be.

My point is (like poor councilman, Mr. Carroll) grow up people.  We will die when our time comes and we can't fight life for ever.  Your children like ours will be fine and if someone says a word like Nazi, grow up.  Lord help us if someone says something to offend us.

You will get your wish and someday, the government will tell you what to do and you won't have to worry about second-hand smoke killing us off.

Keep our freedom as long as we can and let people decide for themselves what is best for them and their property.  I can promise you we will still be alive -even with smoking- to whine about something else in a few years; fast food, colas, fat, helmets, guns, drinking, etc.  See Big Brother, all kinds of bad things that someone needs to take away so I don't get sick.

Debra

The one thing I noticed about both of these letters is that both authors think I am for a smoking ban, when I make no reference to being for or against it in my original letter.  However passionate their responses are, they did not get my point..

So today the paper arrives, as it does every Thursday, and there is another letter published in response to mine.

The letter is titled by the editor:  Regulate Rudeness?

Kevin (July 17 letter) needs to check all his facts before writing about an individual such as Mel Carroll, longtime educator and city councilman.  Carroll is no different than any of the other citizens in this country; he has the right to his opinion.  It is irrelevant what the issue is.

I quit smoking in 1991 because I chose to do so.  I do not enjoy the smell of smoke now, but I'm able to choose which establishments I patronize, and that's as it should be.  If Kevin does not wish to smell smoke, he should not blame Mr. Carroll or any of the current business owners; instead, he should investigate his smoke-free dining/bar options and make his decisions accordingly.

Mr. Carroll has been a staunch supporter of the development of Florence and has been responsible for many progressive changes in our community.  I am not exactly certain how long Kevin has lived in our community, but his comment concerning Mr. Carroll's level of education was incorrect and offensive.  Mr. Carroll does not smoke, but he believes in a business owner's right to choose how he runs his establishment.

I hope Kevin thinks about it before he spouts off again about an individual in our community.  My husband and I do not dine out or go to bars frequently, but when we do, we are disturbed by other people's behavior more than the smoking.  Adults who cannot manage to keep their children behaving or keep their problems  private are offensive to other diners: perhaps we should put a ban on public rudeness ... what do you think?

E. Paulette

Yet another response that got published that did not get my point.  I wrote a response to the two previous letters and it did not get published.  Here it is:

My original letter that was published in your July 17th edition made no reference to me being for or against a smoking ban.

The point I was trying to make is, instead of saying, "We need to allow local property owners to decide what type of business they have, rather than have the social elite, professional do-gooders, and what I refer to as 'behavior Nazis' decide for us how we are going to live and this is what is happening right now.", why couldn't Mr. Carroll just refer to that group of citizens as non-smokers?  By mentioning a class status and referring to a group as "behavior Nazis", I feel the Florence Councilman crossed a line, as if trying to alienate a group of people.  A group, that based on last weeks chatroom question that was published in this very paper, seems to be the majority.

In the responses to my original letter, Debra said that I should "grow up" and Phil asked, "Why can't Kevin find another establishment and not impose his will on the masses?".  When I read or hear ignorant, judgmental statements from others in a public forum, the only will I try to impose on them is to think, before they speak.  Sure, I've heard worse comments from others here in Northern Kentucky and other places I've lived, but if these statements continue to go on without someone questioning them, then will we as a community ever grow up

Kevin

Maybe the editor would have titled that one: Beating A Dead Horse.  I don't feel I need to say this, but for the record, I think an individual business owner should be able to choose if they allow smoking in their establishment.  I have the option of patronizing it or not.

It's true what the media was saying a while back about Kentucky.  Since we moved here, I've heard and read so many derogatory comments about people based on class, race, and so on.  This the same part of the country with a steeple on every corner.

I can't say I'm not guilty of this, because with all the narrow minds and ignorant statements around me for the past two years, I can't help but wonder if the "Hillbilly" stereotype will ever end. 

I guess that makes me hypocrite number one.