A Labor (Day) of Love

Kids Love Superman
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

We met the Bunkers in Paducah, KY, for Labor Day this year. We visited the Paducah waterfront, went across the border to Metropolis, IL, to see the giant Superman statue and visit the old fort, spent time in a freezing cold pool, played video games, and last but not least, went to the Paducah Labor Day parade. Lots of fun for the weekend and good memories for us all.

And we scored five pounds (literally!) of candy at the parade!

And Claire Marches On...

Claire Stands in her Crib
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

In addition to a full crawl, Claire is pulling herself up now. She is rapidly progressing when it comes to mobility. Emily was that way - she walked at 11 months. Claire turned 9 months yesterday, so it could be "no time at all" before she's toddling.

(And boy is she cute!)

Claire Crawls

Claire Crawls
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

It's official - Claire crawls. She's still in the super-grumpy stage (kids get grumpy when they are in the process of learning things) but she can now coordinate her arms and legs to move around. It seems like slow motion when she does it, but I'm sure that will last all of three days before she'll be racing around the house. Time for us to put those gates back up!

LBDelicious

A friend's girlfriend is a very good cook, and also a communications major, which leads to an excellent blog about cooking and eating. If you are partial to either one, give her blog a skim.

A fairly taxing debate - Orlando Sentinel
Another FairTax rally. Some debate on how many people showed up, but it was still in the thousands.

I'm sad that the first person they talked to didn't get it. Yes, his income tax would go down, but he makes it sound like he wouldn't be paying taxes. Government can't exist without money; taxation is a "necessary evil".

One point they bring up is that the "real tax rate would end up being higher" than stated in the current bill. However, that would only occur

if Congress voted to increase the tax

. Well, or if they changed it before the bill in its present form was enacted. Either way, future changes require Congress to increase the tax rate, which would become a very public obstacle to them increasing their spending.

This story also points out that the FairTax rewards saving rather than spending. This means that people who take care of themselves (via saving for the future) will be taxed a "little less" than those who don't. Those who live beyond their means are the ones that are really screwed (they were screwed to begin with; this just speeds them to their coming crisis).

Transition still worries me, though. People need to understand the ramifications of the FairTax before it goes into affect lest mayhem ensue. And we can't have mayhem, now can we?

YouTube - Thanks Comcast

Clark Howard pointed out that YouTube has become a place for people to post videos/audios of their customer "no-service" experiences. This one is a Comcast technician who fell asleep while on hold. There's another one of AOL bullying someone who is attempting to cancel their account. If you have a bad story - publicize it!

Beach 2006 001

Emily and Alex in Sand
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

We went to the beach last week and had lots of fun. See a slideshow
at Flickr

BonairePhotos - Junk Shrine
From a friend of mine:

I saw your blog entry about plastics in the ocean.

I’ve seen that exact problem when I was in Bonaire. On the western side of the island, the windward side, we saw a bunch of plastic stuff blown onto the shore.
This was made from the junk.

Found on the internet...

Going from the McMansion to the McMausoleum

Baby boomers on the downhill slide are thinking about the afterlife. And they are coming to the conclusion that it should be supersized. There is a growing market for ostentatious, very, very expensive mausoleums. “Nobody wants a cookie-cutter burial anymore,” said a funeral association rep. Claims one cemetery owner,“The mausoleum says, ‘I’m really significant in this world.’” (Or was.)

PBS - The Voyage of the Odyssey - Sailing on a Sea of Plastic

I never knew there was a location in the ocean where stuff gets trapped. It makes sense; when you have motion in multiple directions there are often high points and low points (signal interference patterns are a good example). But that we could accumulate so much plastic garbage in one place is, well, embarrassing. We really should be ashamed of ourselves.

Emily and her Glasses

Emily and her Glasses
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

Emily went for an eye exam this morning and lo and behold, she has the same problem Alex has, only not as severe. Amanda took her to the mall and they picked out some very nice glasses. Emily says she's excited - she knows she looks good in them!

Talking Cats - Google Video

"Oh Long Johnson, Oh Don Piano". See it now!

Alex and the White Belt

Tae Kwon Do 6-1-06 (49)
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

Alex broke the board and got his white belt! This was his third lesson in Tae Kwon Do and they had him take the test to get his belt. We didn't even know it was time for that, so we weren't all that prepared - Amanda wasn't even there! But given the number of belts on the wall, I'm sure she'll have plenty of chances to see him break things with various parts of his body.

BTW, the young man holding the board is Daymon Mayham, Alex's instructor for the day. He's the son of a friend and coworker, Scott Mayham. He's been doing this since he was Alex's age, and now he's a third degree black belt who has won championships - something to which Alex can aspire!

Emily's last day of school was on Wednesday, concluding with a "Character Traits" ceremony where the teacher recognized their best qualities. Emily was recognized for Excellence, as she always wants to do her best. Emily was sad to leave school, but she knows she'll be seeing her friends again soon. But she sure will miss her teachers... 

Claire's Baptism 2006 003

Claire's Baptism
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

Our beautiful baby girl was baptized on Sunday. She was perfect during the ceremony- not a whine or a whimper. Emily and Alex were good, too. Emily did a very small wave at one of her friends, and at one part of the ceremony, Alex got curious about what was in the baptismal font.

You can see other photos at Flickr.

Steves Digicams - Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH - User Review

We just got this camera yesterday. I'll post pictures from it soon.

Are We There Yet? - AutoWeek

Oh No!

The Prius gas mileage has been beaten - by a German!

Claire & her tongue

Claire & her tongue
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

Don't you love it when children discover new things?

Discovery Channel :: Vegetables Fight Global Warming
Eat your veggies and save the world.

Hangers

Bales of plastic hangers to be recycled. Something I saw back in February but forgot about.

Go figure.

AA Again

(That's American Adventures)

E&A rode Crazy Bus (not pictured) five times- in a row! The girl running the ride thought they were cute- how each time they told her (again) that they had just ridden the bus. The thing is, they were just about the only people riding it, so they were hard to miss!

Angels Over Atlanta

The Blue Angels are visiting Atlanta this weekend. We parked at the Walmart diagonally across from Dobbins Air Reserve base, and it was a great location. We might not have seen every move, but they flew RIGHT OVER US multiple times. It was great- and loud!

Homestar Runner
Have I mentioned this before? Some really goofy videos about some very odd characters. Don't forget to stop in and see Strong Bad answer user emails.

Free Comic Book Day 2006
Check the website for a store near you that is giving away comics from a list of 28 special editions. The comics range from Archie to Star Wars to Donald Duck and beyond to the "not so recognizable" names.

FairTax on Wikipedia
It's crazy but true - I never even thought of checking Wikipedia for information on the Fair Tax Act!

MMFA Artworks

In Montgomery

We're in AL today visiting Amanda's mom, who's not feeling well. I've taken the kids (well, E&A) to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, where they have a section just for kids. It has numerous "interactive exhibits", some computers, and an area with books, pillows, and a puppet theater. The kids are enjoying it, but I believe Alex was hoping for something more on the scale of the Georgia Aquarium. Too bad for him. :-)

BOOK TV.ORG
More Fair Tax Discussion, this time on Book TV. Neal Boortz debates Michael Graetz. It's long (1-1/2 hours) but if you have the time and want to hear both sides of the argument, this is a great way to get educated.

American Chronicle: The 'Fair Tax'
Congressman Linder makes a mistake in referring to the tax as 23% (it is only 23% when viewed "tax-inclusive"; the sales tax amount is 30%), but overall a good article.

With regards to "tax-inclusive" vs. "tax-exclusive": if the amount is considered as part of a whole, we say it is "inclusive". For instance, if you make $10,000 and pay the government $2,300, you have a 23% "tax-inclusive" rate (since the 2,300 is 23% of the "whole" 10,000). If you thought of it as $7,700 take home + $2,300 tax, then the $2,300 is ~30% (2300/7700) from a "tax-exclusive" point of view. You can see how this translates to sales tax- the latter would be the price ($7,700) + 30% sales tax ($2,300).

BTW, "$10K" was used in the example so I didn't have to pick up a calculator. There is also the matter of the prebate, which lowers the effective taxable base, but you should investigate that at the Fair Tax website.

Understand now?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Who Wouldn't Be Happy?

And the Fun Begins

This year I purchased season passes to American Adventures. After all, we live about three miles from the place- and I had never even been there! So far we've only been to the Foam Factory, but I imagine that we will easily get our money's worth.

Where Is Everybody...Really?
Good summary of some answers to the question of "are there intelligent species outside our own planet?"

Claire is Almost 4 Months Old

Hai!

Today is the birthday party of Jack, one of Alex's friends. Jack takes Karate, so his birthday party is at the dojo. Alex is having a great time! He got to play with some Karate equipment at Jack's house and loved it. He's already asked to start taking lessons, which he probably will in the Fall.

Emily's "Other" Birthday

"Granddad and Nana" came to bring Emily (not pictured) her birthday presents, to play with the kids, and to take us all out to lunch. And a good time was had by all...

Alex's Field Trip

Alex's class went to Fernbank today to visit the planetarium. The show was "The Friendly Stars" and was _definitely_ aimed at small children. It was a great experience for us all (I was the only person in the group who had visited a planetarium before!)

Love is amazing. It causes us to act in the strangest ways, to feel the most wonderful sensations, to experience life's greatest moments. And yet we have such a hard time capturing it.

Wikipedia defines it as "acting intentionally, in sympathetic response to others (including God), to promote overall well-being". The Greeks couldn't put their finger on it; they have five words for love. And of course English has but one word, but we love to put adjectives in front of it to describe how it feels - "endless love", "brotherly love", "tainted love", "forbidden love", "unrequited love".

One thing is certain - I may not know how to describe the feeling, but I know it when I see it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Emily Knows Walt!

Today was Emily's day to present her "Famous American" project (she's the one standing up front). She chose Walt Disney, who as we know created Cantelope- er, I mean, the Disney company. We found lots of great stuff about him on the Net. My favorite website was www.disneydreamer.com because it had lots of info the Disney Co. omitted.

Green Cars Today Weblog
NewDream.org is a great resource for finding out how we can reduce our ill effects on the environment. They can get a bit extreme at times; use your intelligence to filter out what you don't want. In the end, they have a lot of good information buried in there.

Oh, and they now have a "Green Cars Today" weblog promoting the use of hybrids and alternative fuels.

In case there was any question as to how cute my kids are... 

Gymnastics Class

Emily and Alex have so much fun at Gymnastics. And because they are so cute, the owner couldn't resist putting pictures of their classes on the website. Alex is right up front; Emily is in a black leotard in back.

The Fairtax Calculator
Calculate how much tax you'd pay under the Fair Tax rather than the current income tax system. And this doesn't calculate the time you'd save from not having to fill out forms!

Fair Tax Benefits All Americans

... and it does.

Support Our Troops

We were very fortunate to have Specialist Brett Barton with us at church Wednesday night. He told the kids of FW Friends about some of the things heLs seen over in Iraq. He's only here for two weeks before going back, so we will keep him in our prayers (along with all the others in harm's way).

FAQ about the Fair Tax Plan

Many people still don't know the details of the fair tax plan. This is widely supported by all types of people, from economists to business owners to physicians to... well, lots of people. Most of the fear about it comes from not understanding it, as well as from misinformation spread by politicians that don't like the idea of losing their grip on the current "evil" tax code.

Read the FAQ, talk to your friends about it, then write your congressman.

Visiting

We're in TN today visiting my mom. She took Emily and Alex to the Children's Museum for the afternoon. Then, Bev stopped by, and now Becky, Sam, and Dakota are here. Gotta love family!

Happy Birthday MM

We're at Callaway Gardens celebrating both Christmas and MM's birthday. Amanda's mom (mommy's mommy, or MM) gave us a trip to Callaway for Christmas while the Bunkers were "down South". We were fortunate that it coincided with MM's birthday, so we were able to celebrate it with all her children and grandchildren in attendance. After this we went to the Fanntasy in Lights, which was a fantasy indeed.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is such a paradoxical time of year. On one hand, our hearts open towards complete strangers as we donate large amounts of food, clothing, and toys to make Christmas brighter for those who can't afford even the basic necessities.. On the other hand, our fists clench towards complete strangers as we fight the traffic and crowds to buy yet another present; perhaps even one where we didn't even spend the time to think of ourselves. You know, Christ (the guy we named the holiday after) talked about both sides of that paradox- he encouraged the first and warned against the second.

Tell me- which makes you happier?

The Mt. Paran First Grade classes put on a musical tonight. Emily was fortunate enough to be one of the "Three Little Maids" (of Mikado fame). There were also the Three Billy Goats Gruff (Piper was one), Three Blind Mice (Brooke was one), Three Caballeros, Three Musketeers, Three Men in a Tub, Three Little Pigs, and Three (wait - just two!) Bears. The plotline is that Baby Bear has gone missing and all the characters are trying to find her. It was a very cute musical and all the kids had fun.

Today is my first day back at work, so I finally have a chance to breathe. Being Mr. Mom was no easy feat for a person who sits at a desk all day! Shuttling the kids around, getting people fed (except Claire, of course), and trying to keep the house just across the line from "a shambles" keeps you moving. In fact, I lost four pounds!

Everyone at home is doing great! Claire is coming along nicely. She is so considerate of her parents, even sleeping at night in four hour stretches and rarely fussing between feedings. Emily & Alex love having a baby sister, and Emily is learning how to be a big help - she's even learning how to carry the baby! How's that for being grown up? And Amanda is healing nicely. I am helping out as much as I can to make the transition back to "full-time mom" as painless as possible.

Claire's M.M. (mommy's mommy) stopped by to see Claire today. M.M. just had back surgery, so this was quite a trek for her. But she's doing much better and *loved* seeing her newest grandchild. (And Claire did pretty good, too, despite what the picture shows.)

Claire's first full day in the world is going great. She's met some of her relatives and spent a good amount of time with her brother, sister, daddy, and of course, mommy. She had a little problem with scratching her face up, but we think we've talked her out of any more of that. 

Welcome to the family, Claire! Emily and Alex have already taken to you- like you are their sister or something! Once again God shows that he knows what he is doing! 

SHE'S HERE!

Claire Elizabeth Finch was born at 3:53 PM today!
8 lbs. 1 oz.
19-3/4 in.

Mother and baby are both doing fine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

$100 laptops!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Emily lost her sixth tooth. 

Greeting From Transylvania

It's Halloween weekend! It's also just after Samantha's birthday, so Duff and Beck are throwing a party. They've haunted-up their garage and invited all the neighbors over for a chance to wet their pants.

And there was much rejoicing (yayyyy....)

EagleFest 2005

This was the weekend at Mt. Paran when we celebrate! EagleFest is full of games, food, performances (including Emily and the 1st graders), and seeing friends. Because Amanda is in her eighth month, we were only there for about 2-1/2 hours, but the kids had a blast. Parking is atrocious, though. It gets worse every year...

Alex Without the Patch

Alex's doctor says he can start wearing the patch only half the day now!

Emily does her project

September is Animal Month in Mrs. Nelson's 1st grde class. Emily is finishing up her project on Cheetahs by typing up her fact sheet. It can be slow going but is rewarding in the end- she'll have an easy-to-read assignment containing all of her thoughts, ready to give her first presentation. Oh, did I not mention that? The project ends with an oral report to the class!