Montana

We enjoyed a fabulous trip sans kid to Montana this past weekend. It's been YEARS since we have been away for more than a night or two. Andrew had the chance to participate in a colloquium for a group out there and they invited me to join. We were treated to fabulous dinners and even a tour of a ranch. He had a great time, but I had the best time. ;)

While he was in sessions, I drove to Yellowstone National Park. It was breathtakingly beautiful and it felt like a crime to enjoy it by myself! It was a delightful drive, though and I really enjoyed the alone time. What a treat to see a black wolf (rare even for those who live locally, I guess), bison, elk, longhorn sheep, and so much more. I had never been west before and it quickly became a priority for vacation in the next few years with the kids.

What a welcome trip. We have had such a challenging and confusing year and feel like it will never let up (we welcome your prayers). We were so thankful for the time away in a beautiful area of the country!

This ended up being a full rainbow with a partial double - gorgeous!

The view from where we were staying! 

The Lodge - a boutique inn known for their fly fishing.

Yellowstone River

I loved the texture of these. 

Hot springs - so remarkable and smelled like sulphur (ick!).

Bison crossed the road in front of me.

Beautiful waterfall - close to where the wolf was spotted. It was too far away for me to successfully photograph, but it was awesome to see!

A herd of bison roaming free in the park.

Another waterfall - about a 1/2 mile hike off the road - totally worth it.

On the drive back to the Lodge.

Day & Doctor

My husband is home today - hooray! He needs to work a little but we have a long to-do list and then a fun evening with the kids!

I think I'm going to call the doctor on Monday - Titus still has a nasty occasional residual cough from the colds we all had awhile ago. It's getting better but it's not gone and after getting a second and third opinion last night (and feeling like I need peace of mind), I think it's time to check in with the doctor. No fever, no breathing difficulty and no other symptoms thus I haven't rushed in. We had lots of respiratory stuff with Calvin and this definitely isn't like that was...scary stuff.

I also think he is having a growth spurt! He wants to eat a lot! :)

Nuclear Iran

I just read an article in Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College, entitled “Nuclear Iran?” by Victor Davis Hanson. It was an excellent article, which I would highly recommend to all, but two points especially struck me. First, in response to arguments that we should back off and not worry about Iran getting the bomb (such as “Israel has the bomb, so why not Iran?” or, “Pakistan got the bomb and we’re okay,” or even “Iran has promised to use its reactors for peaceful purposes, so why should we be so upset?”), Hanson makes several excellent arguments, but one stands out:

First, any country that seeks “peaceful” nuclear power at the same time it is completely self-sufficient in energy production is de facto suspect. Iran has enough natural gas to meet its clean electrical generation needs for two centuries. The only rationale for its multi-billion-dollar program of building nuclear reactors—and for its spending billions more to hide and decentralize them—is to obtain weapons.

I can understand why some country totally devoid of any energy resources would want to build nuclear reactors, but it’s illogical that a country brimming with all the energy resources it can use would spend billions of dollars to get another one. The only reason Iran would conceivably want nuclear reactors is for weapons purposes. Second, in his solutions, Hanson makes the following points – which serve both as a warning to Iran and a somewhat unnerving source of hope for the West:

In conclusion, let me offer a more ominous note of warning. Israel is not free from its own passions, and there will be no second Holocaust. It is past time for Iranian leaders to snap out of their pseudo-trances and recognize that some Western countries are not only far more powerful than Iran, but in certain situations and under particular circumstances can be just as driven by memory, history—and, yes, a certain craziness as well.

The same goes for the United States. The Iranians, like bin Laden, imagine an antithetical caricature—which, like all caricatures, has some truth in it—whereby we materialistic Westerners love life too much to die, while the pious Islamic youths they send to kill us with suicide bombs love death too much to live. But what the Iranian theocrats, like the al-Qaedists, never fully fathom is that if the American people conclude that their freedom and existence are at stake, they are capable of conjuring up things far more frightening than anything in the 7th-century brain of Mr. Ahmadinejad. The barbarity of the nightmares at Antietam, Verdun, Dresden and Hiroshima prove that well enough. In short, there are consequences to the rhetoric of Armageddon.

So far the Iranian leader has posed as someone 90 percent crazy and ten percent sane, hoping that in response we would fear his overt madness, grant concessions, and delicately appeal to his small reservoir of reason. But he should understand that if his Western enemies appear 90 percent of the time as children of the Enlightenment, they are still suffused with vestigial traces of the emotional and unpredictable. And military history shows that the irrational ten percent of the Western mind is a lot scarier in the end than anything Islamic fanaticism has to offer.

I had never thought about it before, but the West has definitely exhibited that “certain craziness” before. I think that Hanson is correct that it is still there (though I’m sure some might disagree), but I hope there is no reason for that craziness to appear!

Of Smashed Cockroaches (really only one)

I was working intently at my desk yesterday when a coworker came in, a little breathless. “Would you do something for me?” she asked. “Sure,” I said. It turns out a huge cockroach had invaded our offices and startled her! Now, I haven’t seen many cockroaches, but this was by far the largest I have ever seen. She was not exaggerating when she gestured with her fingers how big it was – at least one and a half to two inches long!

My first stomp missed, and the ‘roach took off moving faster than I could imagine. My second stomp was well aimed, however (I used a little Kentucky windage, which proved helpful) and SPLAT! What a mess. It stuck to the bottom of my shoe, and guts went everywhere. Yuck!

After cleaning up, I walked back to my office, thinking – well, that’s my good deed for the day. I wonder how I should bill my time for that?!

Virginia Tech Horror

I stumbled across the sickening news late mid-morning – a gunman had gone on a shooting spree on the Virginia Tech campus, killing multiple people. Tonight it is being reported that at least thirty-three are dead.

As noted above, there is much that is beautiful and intriguing in our world. But the events of today remind us that there is much evil, too. My heart goes out to the families of all the victims. I am very thankful for the reports that the churches and some of the college ministries on campus are actively reaching out to the hurting, physically and emotionally.

This is one of those times that it is hard to know what to say to those who question where God is in all of this. It is hard evening knowing how to pray. How good it is that we can pray through the Spirit, who helps us in our weakness, and who Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

On the Almost Runaway

This morning I was home with the boys. It was a delight, as (almost) always :)

For the first time, Calvin tried to “run away.” He packed many of his Duplo blocks into a grocery bag and trudged toward the front door. Upon reaching the entryway, he turned and looked at me, smiled, and waved. Then he reached for the door.

Unfortunately for Calvin’s plans (but happily for me), his little adventure stopped there. He couldn’t reach the door knob. So he paced the area, waving to me occasionally, and kept trying to reach door. He never could. It was as if he expected the door to swing open any minute so he could walk out.

Patrick joined his brother in the reaching part, as this photo shows, but he wasn’t much help. Either Patrick planned on traveling light or was only helping Calvin leave, for he didn’t go through any of the preparations Calvin did.

On the Chicago Coyote

Growing up, I was very frightened of coyotes and wolves. We could hear the howl of coyotes on our family farm when I was little and when we visited my grandparents’ farm. My most vivid, terrifying nightmare as a child was of a coyote jumping up onto a ledge and looking in a large picture window of our house!

Despite all that, I don’t remember ever seeing one up close, despite living on a farm for the first five years of my life and periodic visits thereafter. Ironically, Chicago residents and visitors today had a storefront (or closer) view when a year-old male coyote strolled into a Quiznos and settled in the drinks cooler. (Yes, in the cooler!) He remained in that spot, watching and being watched, for almost an hour until animal control dragged him out.

Contrary to my childhood impression, the video clip on our evening news of this coyote portrayed him as cute, friendly, and almost harmless. While I’m sure caution was appropriate, the degree of force used to subdue and remove him appeared to be unnecessary. But I guess they're taking good care of him, and have named him Adrian.

I understand that coyote sightings and encounters in Chicago are not all that uncommon (see stories above and this report from several years ago), although Quiznos visits such as this one are more unusual.

Dyson giveaway

I just came across a blog offering a Dyson giveaway. I thought I'd sign up, perhaps win, and surprise Alaina with it. But part of the deal is that you have to link to their blog and to Dyson, so Alaina, now you know! :{ To everyone else, I’m sorry to make you read this. Oh wait, I guess you don’t have to. And whatever you do, don’t sign up yourself! :)

Larger Pictures

This post could be entitled “Blogging Woes II.” I have been trying to figure out why when we post pictures, sometimes you can click on the photo and see it larger (in a new window) and why sometimes you cannot.

For example, the cool house on the rock photo post last night cannot be enlarged. But the “nail house” ones, and the “dishwasher photos” (scroll down) can be enlarged. Click them each and see for yourself.

I loaded them exactly the same way. It’s not a size issue - there is no significant difference there. I just cannot figure it out, and it really bugs me, especially because the house on the rock has details you can’t see in this small view.

Can anyone out there explain this and help me out? I would be very grateful.

Another Cool View

I’ll try to get off this theme, but after last night, my mind must just be tending this way. Unlike the lonely view and the heart-stoppingly-scary view, this is a view I could get used to in what appears to be a very cool house. As long as you don’t sleep walk or have young children. Oops – I guess I’m disqualified on both grounds! (I also hope they don’t have strong earthquakes or heavy downpour-induced-mudslides wherever this is!)

On My Mind

Our minds are incredible things. Organs, I guess. Not muscles, definitely: if one’s mind were a muscle, it would either snap from exhaustion or explode our skull from growth due to constant exercise.

I have been thinking about the way our minds work the last day or two, and most recently as I thought back over my day a few minutes ago. As I prepared for work and did a few things in the kitchen this morning, I was thinking about billing hours at work and wondering how many I’d get in during the day . . . driving to work, I laughed as I recalled the guy I’d seen the last two evenings on my way home, sitting on the handle-bars of his bicycle, backwards – and riding no hands – how did he do that? I considered the water in Eagle Creek Reservoir – sometimes it looks so muddy, but I believe we get our drinking water from it (not directly, but still…). All the while, stanzas from Psalm 43 are flowing through my head, which makes me think about the Psalm meditation I had this last Lord’s Day evening (I wasn’t happy with it), but what a beautiful day it is!

Once at work, a few of these things were still mulling around in my mind, plus immediately many new facts, questions, and strategies flooded that already busy ‘thing.’ A few samples: Where should I look and what search terms should I use to find that perfect “smoking gun” document to help us win a multi-million dollar case? What caselaw do I need to find to defeat this pending motion? What a clever ad on this webpage; I wonder who thought of that?! Which projects should I tackle first? How should I sort through and narrow down these 1700 documents to find the most helpful ones for my case? Should I go out to eat with the other associates or work through my lunch? When we design our dream house, how can I fit more usable space and fun little retreats/nooks into it? What should I say to Alaina when she calls and the boys are upset in the background? What in the world is a concrete slump test? If I have time to read tonight, which book will I delve into first? And finally, am I going to make it home in time for dinner?

And so it goes. My mind, I mean, and yours too. What an incredible gift God gave us! And how fun to explore the rabbit trails it takes us on!

Skywalk

Talk about a room with a view! This will give a whole new perspective to visiting the Grand Canyon!

The Nail House

In light of the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision Kelo v. City of New London, property rights and the government’s ability to take one’s land have been much in the news here. A similar fight is also ongoing in China: Yang Wu and Wu Ping are refusing to leave their home, despite the fact that it is now standing isolated and alone in the midst of a huge, deep excavation. The house has become known as the "nail house," in part because of its stature and in part due to the resiliency of its owners.

In September 2004, agreements were reached with the owners of the 280 surrounding homes. Yang Wu and Wu Ping, however, have held out for more. Despite being ordered to evacuate their home by March 22, they have refused. On March 21, Yang Wu, who is a local Kungfu champion, returned to his home through a rather unique and ingenious method: he built an instant staircases with his nunchakus!

As of yesterday, apparently, the house still stood. China, however, has banned any further discussion of the popular issue. I’ve always dreamed of a house with a view, but this might be a bit much!

Of Intrigue

It occurs to me that there are two very different uses of the word intrigue (in its noun form). More common, it seems to me, is the “the use of underhand machinations or deceitful stratagems.” Actually, now that I look it up, this is the correct noun form. But what we meant when we used intrigue in the subtitle of this blog was a noun-ified version of the verb: “that which arouses the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities” (id., paraphrased). And in particular for us, I believe, we meant the little things in life which arouse our interest.

That having been said, here is something that fascinated me this morning – the pattern of cups, bowls, glasses, and lids in our dishwasher! I’ll post two shots – one showing the overall perspective, and another which focuses on the repeating geometric pattern. Enjoy :)

Go Jayhawks!

Last night I was delighted to be a Kansas Jayhawk fan and wear my KU shirt. I would say I’m proud to be a Kansas fan, but it’s kind of hard to be too proud when you’re blowing out the number 16 seed. Of course – you’re supposed to. No number one seed has ever lost to a 16 seed. (I also enjoyed the PhogBlog’s pre-game reads, which allowed me to know the current players a little. It’s so hard to keep up with the Jayhawks when they’re never on TV here – and when I’m paying attention to another sport during fantasy football season :)

But this game wasn’t even close. (Watch some video highlights under “Related Links” here and photos here – very cool!) I do feel a little bad for Niagara. They must have been excited to make it into the tournament (although I understand they were not real happy about having to play their way in; I believe they thought they should have been in automatically). But coming off the euphoria of beating Florida A&M Tuesday evening and getting to play in the big dance – only to lose by 40 points? I mean, how can you keep playing when it’s like that? Kansas had scored almost double Niagara’s points at half time (52-27). Barring some unimaginable circumstance, there was no way to win at that point.

From a wider perspective, I don’t understand the logic and rationale as to who makes it into the Big Dance. It seems to me that the strongest teams should make it in; we’re trying to crown the best team in the country. I understand it is nice to give some potential Cinderella teams a chance, and that the winners of the smaller conferences deserve a shot. But I don’t understand why we have teams in the Tournament so woeful when a number of the bubble teams such as Kansas State and Syracuse would undoubtedly have played a much tougher game than Niagara.

The Peugeot N Jooy

It was just about a year ago that I wrote about my new dream car. Actually, it was exactly one year ago. I guess February second will be my yearly car blog post :)

As is often the case with such finds, I have no idea how I found this site, and this car. It is not supplanting the Veyron as my ultimate dream car, but I have found myself thinking about it ever since I saw it this afternoon. According to CNet News, Peugeot has a design contest. The winner will get to see his or her design not only created as a full-scale model, built by Peugeot and debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but also integrated into an Xbox 360 video game!

The “N Jooy,” pictured at right, is one of ten finalists in the Peugeot contest. It was designed by Wesley Saikawa of Brazil and was inspired by old Formula 1 cars.

So anyway, it initially appeared to me that the “wheels” are actually spheres. My first thought was that this feature would make it extremely maneuverable – in theory, it could travel in any direction. But as I was driving home, a number of questions arose in my mind, and I can’t figure out how it all works . . .

Well, I just found another page with more pictures (click on “The 10 Winners”), and this one where the designer explains it. I don’t think English is his native tongue, as it doesn’t all quite make sense. But it does explain some of the questions I had. Cool!

A Novel Toilet

Long time readers of this blog will recall that I have previously written about working on toilets. I didn’t have to replace the tank on ours, but if I would have had to, it would have been interesting to have used one like the one pictured. You can read the article, but one can be purchased for $299, it fits most toilets, and the 2.2-gallon aquarium part can be easily removed to clean it. The tank holds two and a half gallons, which is reportedly enough pressure for flushing. Are you interested?

Personally, I think I’d rather have an aquarium on the opposite side of the bathroom – where you could actually see it more. But that wouldn’t be nearly as novel.

Of Novel Bibliographies

It’s been almost a month since I’ve written on this blog. It hasn’t been for lack of ideas. I usually have at least an idea or two per day – usually inspired by something I’ve run across at work and/or while surfing the net. So I send myself a link or a snippet of an idea. Recently I was cleaning out my account and found scores if not hundreds of such emails. Unfortunately most of them never made it to the posting stage. So a specific part of my blogging resolution (yes, I’ve joined Alaina on that one) is to actually implement the idea and post some blogs! :)

So, an immediate application: In a December 5 article in the New York Times entitled “Loved His New Novel, And What a Bibliography,” Julie Bosman describes a new phenomenon in novel writing – adding bibliographies to novels. In The Castle in the Forest, author Norman Mailer includes an alphabetical list of 126 authors upon which he relied for writing his novel. Apparently there is some controversy in the novel world as to whether this is appropriate. After all, novels are neither known for their scholarly attributes nor read and relied upon as such. So why should the novel contain a bibliography?

Personally, especially for historical fiction, I think it’s a great idea. There have been a number of books which I have read (I’m thinking specifically of Bodie Thoene’s Zion Chronicles series) that made me particularly interested in a specific period of history, and I wondered – how much of the story is based on historical fact? If such novels contained bibliographies of works upon which they relied or which inspired the story, it would be much easier for one such as me to learn more about the actual events.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t expect a bibliography for a novel such as Grisham’s The Firm. At the same time, I can see one for his The Testament – especially regarding the Pantanal, the “ecological gem” at the heart of the story.

What do you think? Have you ever wished a novel had a bibliography?

The Paradox of US Military Might

I recently came across a very interesting article entitled “The Paradox of Military Technology” by Max Boot. I still haven’t read it completely through, but Mr. Boot makes some very interesting observations, and it brought back a number of memories from my younger years (I would say from my childhood, but that makes me sound too old!).

Mr. Boot starts out by observing that “we live in the age of American supremacy,” and that the “American military is now the strongest the world has ever known.” This is true in large part because U.S. forces “are undisputed masters of the ‘commons’ (sea, air, and space), which allows them to project power anywhere in the world at short notice.”

The author then goes on to describe in detail the resources, intelligence, equipment, spending, personnel, etc., that contribute to U.S. supremacy. Just a few interesting facts: the United States has twelve air-craft carriers, including nine (with one more in the works) supercarriers capable of carrying 70 aircraft. No one else in the world has even one. A few nations have one smaller carrier, and several have a few helicopter and jump-jet carriers – which are roughly equivalent to the U.S. amphibious assault ships, of which the U.S. also has twelve.

One of the things that gives the U.S. military such an advantage over the rest of the world is its funding: “The U.S. spends around $500 billion a year on its military, almost as much as the rest of the world combined. In fact, the U.S. spends more simply on the research, development, testing, and evaluation of new weapons—$71 billion in 2006—than any other country spends on its entire armed forces.” In addition, Mr. Boot argues, the American all-volunteer force, realistic training, and coordination between the forces set it apart from the rest of the world.

And yet despite this supremacy, there is still a real sense in which Americans feel vulnerable. Hence, the paradox of his title. Technology, Mr. Boot recognizes, “is both the great separator and the great equalizer in military affairs.” September 11 taught Americans that having the largest military in the world can’t protect us from all who would seek to do us ill. He alludes to but doesn’t really develop, as far as I saw, the fact that those who have nothing to lose and who care nothing for their own lives – and who play by no set of rules other than their own – will always be a threat to their enemies.

Mr. Boot has an interesting way of looking at one of the more frightening weapons potentially threatening the United States: “The atomic bomb is more than sixty years old. It belongs to an age of rotary-dial telephones and fin-winged cars. It is a miracle that it has not been used by maniac dictators or political radicals since 1945, but that streak won’t last forever.”

The picture of an atomic bomb going off, and the accompanying mushroom cloud, brings back memories from the early- to mid-80s. I can remember being genuinely afraid of the Soviets and a possible nuclear war. A military chaplain spoke at a gathering and talked about the advantages the Soviets had in Europe, and it left a vivid impression on me – and I was afraid.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of those fears subsided. I think I also grew in my trust and confidence in the protection of our Lord, the Good Shepherd. But the object of our trust to keep us safe from those who would do us harm must be our God, not our military. I am reminded of the Psalms speaking of the vanity of trusting in war horses, in the strength of our arm or the length of our bow, and that no king is saved by gathered armies. Our trust today must be in the Lord, Who is our Protector and, even in times of trouble, the One who is with us in our distress. This is not to say our military is useless or unimportant; God has established those governing over us, and given them a sword – the military – for our protection.

So read the article, or at least the intro and conclusion, scanning the parts in between. Recognize the danger and be thankful for one of the means of protection God has given us. But ultimately, we must place our trust in Him.

Of Probe-trucks

I do not tend to think about Ford Probes being high-capacity vehicles capable of carrying extensive quantities of building materials. Yet when I was at Lowe's yesterday, I saw the most amazing thing – a young man was loading three household doors, complete with frames, into the back of his Probe!

I never would have dreamed that so many doors, let alone one, would fit. Maybe he grew up in some part of the world where they think you can (based on personal experience) haul ten men, three boys, a refrigerator, two dogs, a sheep, and a load of produce in the back of a rusted out, quarter-ton pickup (sorry, no picture available).