U.S. not winning war in Iraq, Bush says

Somewhere along the line this argument was co-opted and altered. As far as I see it, there is no war in Iraq. We haven't been fighting for a long time. We're too shackled by the rules of engagement and flighty public opinion.

Jungle Gym Mania

I don't often get holidays where we stay home. And I can't tell you when was the last time we stayed home and didn't have a "project". This past Thanksgiving vacation we painted. That in and of itself doesn't sound too bad. But, we did almost the whole main level and then the stairway down into the basement. In total it was something around 1700 square feet of wall space and required the rental of 3 sections of scaffolding (15 feet high). We all had fun on the first couple of days. We are almost done now. But, our interest is waning.

The kids loved climbing on the platform. Even Laney screwed up the courage to climb up. Lenore however, got the heebies jeebies once she got to the top, thereby exempting herself from the first part of the painting. I should have claimed severe Heebie Jeebie Syndrome on the lower part so as to prevent the continual need for my services.

I did manage to fit in 130 miles of cycling so far during the painting project. So I can't complain too much.

We've decided that the reason you don't see adult sized people playing on playground Jungle Gyms is that the equipment is too small. Playing on a Jungle Gym is actually quite fun and good exercise.

Easy Bake Thanksgiving

Just a couple of weeks ago for some reason, Laney became interested in the EasyBake oven. We weren't even sure we still had it. Lenore searched around and dug it out. Jensen helped Laney clean it up and it has seen vigorous use ever since. Laney has mostly just made sugar cookies from some refrigerator dough she was given as a gift some time ago. But, she also made a cake using a recipe in one of her story books. And the cake was quite good.

Once on my mission when we switched apartments in Cremona, it took awhile to get our gas stove hooked up. So, for a while we had to be a little creative with our cooking. We managed to roast hot dogs in the water heater and even baked a cake on an overturned iron.

And All My Nightly Dreams

I awoke Yesterday morning with a strange dream. During the course of the dream we had been in different places and we kept having to fight off menacing snakes. Finally, at the end of the dream, we got into a home (our home?) and barely locked the door in time. Then a huge snake (silly Anaconda movie huge) stuck his head in under the door somehow. I had a very large battle axe (too bad it wasn't a bowstaff) and kept chopping at its head. Only problem is the snake of course wouldn't let me get to the side of him to try to chop off his head.

When I mentioned it to Lenore she said that she had a dream very recently where she was fighting off large menacing snakes as well.

About two weeks ago I dreamed that the Rodriguezes brought me some meatloaf. I really like meatloaf. Last night they didn't just bring me one piece. They brought me a whole lot of pieces, and brought it to me at work!

Shaken, not Stirred

We went to see the new James Bond last Saturday night with Michelle and Steve Young.

We also ran into Ann and Ken Murdock at the theater.

Our impressions:

Lenore said it was violent. (She still liked it.) I wasn't too put off by the "violence." There was a lot of hand to hand fighting and rough fighting and the torture scene I guess was squeam inducing. But, it didn't really bother me much. Or, I didn't see it as excessive or very much so, or gratuitous. It didn't jolt me out of the fantasy like "Passion of the Christ."

So much for the violence. Otherwise, I think it is probably better than any other Bond movie. I like Daniel Craig a lot, especially as he is portrayed as a young, cocky, still with a few rough edges, newly trained and promoted "00." I found him very charming and attractive and his muscular physique made his strength and toughness very believable.

The first chase scene borrows a lot from "Russian Street Climbing" and is very engaging and entertaining. Lenore said it seemed like they were super heroes without the powers.

I enjoyed the updated use of technology and the ability of MI6 to communicate with and track Bond anywhere. This was especially apparent and useful to the story and its emotions during the medical emergency/defibrillator scene.

As I said, the torture scene was a little squeam inducing, especially for guys. But, Bond's reaction to Le Chiffre, helped to lessen that squeamishness and added a very interesting twist to it. I thought, "He's going to take it, defy him, mock him and die like a real man." This was a very good bit of acting by Daniel Craig and it made his new character. The new young Bond is unbreakable, undeterred, unbelievably strong and resilient and resourceful, yet believable. This portrayal and approach made him less of a caricature.

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!

Last Sunday one of the local TV stations was doing a "Heroes" marathon. We had seen previews for this show. But, missed the first episode. Later, I regretted missing it because Orson Scott Card gave it high marks. Ailsa and I got hooked watching it on Sunday and thanks to the wonder of "YouTube.com" we were able to find most of the episodes that we had missed. We now wait with bated breath for our next installment. We especially like Masi Oka as Hiro (get it?). But, I think that's the point.

Andwyrden

Ailsa is working on a four part story (4 novelettes) with a playing card motiff (probably won't be a big hit among the most conservative factions of LDS culture.) She is a little more than half way through. The first part is available here.

We think we may plan to self publish this work. I have done a lot of editing on the first one. She is wrapping up work on the second one for me to start on. It has been fun to do.

Let Them Eat Bread

Lenore and I have a sort of ongoing struggle about main dishes and desserts. She subscribes to the Hyacinth Bucket school of entertaining: lots of watercress sandwiches and dainty fruit desserts.

I would rather have meat (preferably beef or ham or pork ribs. If the lowly chicken is to be served it needs the KFC treatment, no low-fat skinless, boneless all white meat presentation.) and for dessert, chocolate needs to be front and center at least 90% of the time. The Smiths typically opt for a Blueberry Buckle or Apple Tart.

But, I will reveal a small problem with their tastes. Say you have a chocolate pie and a blueberry pie available for dessert. The masses will fight over the chocolate pie and the fruit pie will be neglected. Lenore cites this as reason not to buy chocolate. Go figure.

Sunrise, Sunset

I'm in the cycling season wind-down funk. The shortening daylight makes it ever harder to fit a ride in either in the morning or after work. At this time of year I actually do better in the evening. I rode last Saturday at the normal morning time because Grandma and Grandpa were in town. I felt like lead and only managed slightly under 19 MPH average. I've often wondered if the change in seasons and temperatures affects me more than it affects other people. I think it contributes to the fact that I'm faster in June, July, August and even into September, and then start slowing after that, even if I'm still riding fairly often.

I think there is a facet of Meteorology that I would find fascinating, that having to do with the shifting daylight patterns and seasons throughout the year. I started riding regularly on 19 April this year. On that day the sunrise was at 6:43am. The temperatures were still quite cool. The earliest sunrise was around 15 June. And, 21 August found the sun rising at about the same time in the morning as it was on 19 April. But, the early morning temperatures in August were lots nicer than April because of the lingering radiant heat from summer.

With the nicer conditions in the evening now, I could still be riding after work on some days. I may need to get a light though because it gets dark rather early.

Some totals so far from this year's riding:
From 28 June through 5 August in 16 solo rides, I averaged 20.08 MPH over 442.54 miles.
I climbed about 51,000 feet of altitude (which is really nothing because I avoid hills religiously.)
I burned about 133,000 calories riding. That's 886 Twinkies or 83 pounds worth.
Even with a very marked slow down in the colder months, I will probably easily finish the year having ridden every third day on average.

All I Want for Christmas......

Laney lost one of her front teeth some time ago. The other one has been bothering her the last couple of days. She has been nursing it and we had to break out the "Numzit" type cream that we bought in Italy. (I didn't remember buying this. I'm guessing it was in Cremona.) Last night when Lenore put her to bed it was really loose. In the morning it was gone. Thankfully, we found it in her bed. Not that it would be any big deal if she swallowed it in her sleep. It would probably freak her out though.