Darn tootin' I got the blues.

Sometimes you gotta write, sometimes you gotta draw. This is acrylic on paper, with some ink, crayons, and paint program. I especially like how the ear to your right protrudes a bit more than the other. Like he's listening for something. A blues riff maybe.

Budding photographer? or: Six year old hijacks camera, pictures to follow!

My six year old got control of the digital camera yesterday. After my wife realized this and took it from him, she discovered some amazing pictures on our camera. Here are a few, in the order they were taken:


Arch enemies, or mere Pez dispensers?



Hey, you Marvel scum! This is a DC shoot.



I'm Batman. I work alone!






This side, that side, forward, and back. Yep, got a shot of it all.

Way to go, buckaroo.

Way to set up a sequel!

A day late and a dollar short, as usual, I finally got around to renting National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets.

It was a good movie. Not great, but worth the few bucks that I paid to rent it. Usually when you see a movie that is part of a franchise or series, there is some kind of hint that a sequel is coming. Either unfinished business, as is the case with a series (LOTR, for example), or some tiny plot thread that isn't quite resolved.

Now, for all the implausibilities and logical inconsistencies, National Treasure 2 excelled in this one regard: they billy-club you right over the head with the promise of a sequel.

The POTUS, after telling Gates the location of the Book of Secrets, asks him to 'have a look at page 47'. And then we're never allowed to see what's on it, even though Gates does look at it.

This almost ensures that someone who agonizes over unresolved plot details (me!), will want to, no make that 'will be irresistibly compelled to' see the next movie.

Good job.

First lines

One thing I always look at when I pick up a book is the first line. No duh, you might say. How else are you going to read it, from the middle? Well, most folks do peruse the back cover copy, and the inside flap if there is one. I don't just read the first line, I study it. Does it have a hook? Is there a hint of things to come? And, of course, is the writing any good?

Here are some great first lines:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Call me Ishmael.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

It was a pleasure to burn.

You better not never tell nobody but God.

I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one.

Those are great lines. Here are a few from some of my own short stories and a few novels I have in progress:


Uri Baeck suffered a rare form of Ediatic memory; complete, vivid, and--as verified by countless scientists--utterly reliable.

Crouched beside a scorched heap of oak limbs, Jason Aves emptied his mother's urn into her favorite cookie tin.

Zack kept everything that mattered locked away, controlled and contained.

Though he'd fought the bloodlust for weeks, Xal craved exuberant life, pristine blood.

So what about you, faithful one or two readers, any favorites?

Beware the Joker Robot!

Some six-year-olds draw dogs, trucks, trees, etc. Mine draws what he calls a "Joker Robot".

I'm thinking seriously about sending this thing to take care of the recent Borg invasion.

Great gifts!

I got this two CD set for Father's Day:




I got these for my birthday:



Thanks to my wonderful wife for the CDs. Thanks to Big Philly D for the book. All three gifts rock!

Supernatural?

"Some see miracles as an implausible suspension of the laws of the physical universe. As signs, though, they serve just the opposite function. Death, decay, entropy, and destruction are the true suspensions of God's laws; miracles are the early glimpses of restoration. In the words of Jürgen Moltmann, 'Jesus' healings are not supernatural miracles in a natural world. They are the only truly 'natural' things in a world that is unnatural, demonized and wounded.'"

- Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (1995)

If I got nothing but the above out of the book I just read, then it was worth it. Of course I got more, but I've never thought of miracles in quite that way before. It is indeed revelatory.

I gotta go to work now. Peace.

Well durn.

I had posted a lead in to some of the more sporadic posts that have been showing up, but accidentally deleted it. I had a lot of double posts and troubleshooting posts up, due to some problem with blogspot I was trying to resolve, and in the process of cleaning up I deleted the intro post to all of this.

Durn.

Knowing myself as I do, I don't foresee me going to the trouble trying to remember all I'd typed. I'll simply say this: I'll be giving a little more self-revelatory info in the future. Not anything earth shattering ('cause there aint a whole lot), but more than you've seen so far. Mostly the weird stuff.

You have been warned.

Scottish star trek

I find this hilarious

The first of things you don't know about Crotalus

In an alternate universe I woulda been Ronnie Van Zant. Or something like that. I really dig Lynyrd Skynyrd. There is no way to overrate this band. Before Jesus got ahold of me, and actually a bit afterwards to tell the truth, I wanted to be a rock star.

True story: Once in Scotland, a local bar band was doing "Call me the breeze" and doing a terrible job of it. So I did what any self-respectable southern man woulda done and got on stage, confiscated the mike, and finished out the song for them. Afterwards I addressed the crowd thusly, "And if you don't like that, you can kiss my a..."

Not my finest moment, but the one in which I was, however briefly, Ronnie Van Zant.

John Petrucci - Glasgow Kiss - G3 2005

With thanks to Cullen for turning me on to this guy's music. Electric guitar meets Celtic melody...how can you not dig it?

The line must be drawn here!

"They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far and no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!"

These words were uttered by none other than Jean-Luc Picard himself, in reference to that vile threat that call themselves 'Borg'. And now they have tread upon my own backyard. Imagine my revulsion, my rising fury, when I chanced upon their latest victim--still alive and kicking in my kid's wading pool.



He told me his name was 'Locroakus' and that resistance was futile. Though my heart was filled with pity, I dealt with him swiftly and humanely. Of course, I fried the legs. You don't let that go to waste. And I'm trying to reverse engineer the borg implants, to find a weakness I can exploit.

For, just like Jean-Luc, I will have my revenge. Yeah, I may let my boys play with toads and frogs until they die from overhandling, but I would never be so cruel as to run neural implants into their brains and turn them into some half-frog, half-machine monstrosity.

Take this as a warning, Borg, ...I'm coming for you!

Eight years and counting!

Eight years ago today I married the love of my life. Sweetheart, I thank God for you. You find a way to bless me every day. I know it hasn't always been an easy road, but it is very, very good. Forgive me for the times when I don't treat you with the love and respect that I should. There are mountains and valleys, battles to fight and victories to claim, and it all means more to have you at my side. I adore you. You are my helpmate, my friend, my beloved beautiful bride.

Martian Child

Go rent this movie. Here's a brief synopsis from the official site (paraphrased):

A recently widowed science fiction writer (John Cusack) adopts a young boy that claims to be from Mars. The new father ignores some sage parenting advice from his sister (Joan Cusack) and gets more than he bargained for when a series of strange occurrences leaves him wondering if the child’s claim may be true. Based on an award-winning short story by sci-fi luminary David Gerrold.

Gerrold is the writer of the classic Star Trek episode "The trouble with tribbles". The short story this movie grew from is based on some experiences with his adopted son.

What really struck me about this movie is how it reminded me in certain places of my own child. Our oldest has an autism diagnosis. He is highly functional, and unless someone told you, you probably would not guess it. He learns a little differently, and at times you have to be creative in how you relate to him. He is certainly imaginative and has a little trouble sometimes understanding the difference between 'real' and 'pretend'.

More than that, though, this movie also reminded me of my own childhood. To a degree I was that little boy in a box. Much more inward than my own son, in fact. I can remember the solitude and difficulty relating to my own peers, and how I would escape into my own imagination and later into books. Had there been more awareness then, I'm pretty sure I would've been diagnosed as being somewhere on the autism spectrum. And probably in a more classical sense than my boy. Educating myself about my son's condition resulted in a lot of 'lightbulb' moments about my own past. A lot of, 'so that's what that was about', kind of things.

There is one very telling scene in the movie, when John Cusack's character is at an event to promote an upcoming book. When he doesn't deliver the expected manuscript to his publisher, giving her something quite different instead, she erupts saying "Why can't you just be what we want you to be?"

I think a lot of people can relate to that. In fact, anyone with a creative bent, or a slightly skewed way of looking at the world will really 'get' this movie, and realize, like I did, that you're not as alone as you think. There's a lot of us 'out of the box' people out there. (Somewhat ironic, I thought, that the 'out of the box' kid, was hiding inside a box.) And even people who are 'normal' (I prefer the more accurate term neurotypical), will find a whole heap of reasons to enjoy this movie.

All my asides aside, this is probably one of the most underrated films out on DVD right now. Do yourself a huge favor and go rent it.

Today

On the way home today the motorcyclist in front of me collided with an automobile. I was riding with a co-worker that I carpool with, and I think he actually saw it better than I did. I was talking to my wife on the cell phone (I know, driving and talking, not the best idea). I promptly got off the phone with her and pulled over. By the time we got out and got over there, a small group had already convened. One was an off duty officer, who directed me to keep the guy talking so he would stay conscious.

I got down on the asphalt next to him and started talking to him and praying for him. I tried, very clumsily, to witness to him. He was an older gentleman that I recognized immediately from work. I'm not sure if he is an employee or a contract worker. There was blood coming out of his nose and a good sized pool of it on the ground by his head. He was able to speak and kept saying "Help me." I pray that he lives. It didn't look good.

Working for a nuclear power plant, I hear a lot about safety. But the most dangerous thing we do every day is transit to work and back home. I tried to call the hospital after church tonight but something was wrong with their computer (??), and the lady could not give me any information. I'm sure I'll hear more about it in our morning briefing.

Please, keep this gentleman in your prayers. I don't know his name, but God does.

UPDATE:
His name is Tom and he is a contract Health Physics Technician. He was flown to Savannah, where they could properly treat his wounds. From what I understand he has a broken femur, broken arm, ribs, lacerated liver, spleen?, colon, broken nose, and they had to pump blood from his lungs. He is going to live, praise God. Continue to pray for a quick healing/recovery.

Peace.

One last hurrah!

We took one last mini-vacation before school starts. North Georgia mountains this time, around Helen. We stayed in a cabin for three nights.

A big "Thank you, darling!" to my beautiful wife for all the work she put into getting us ready and making things go as smoothly as they did. Thanks also to my mother-in-law for coming with us and helping with everything. Thanks to the boys for helping me be a kid again. And most of all, thanks to God for creating such beauty for us to enjoy.


Ready for anything!


How symbiotic relationships get started.


Adventurer in training.

Sign? What sign?

Smile like you mean it!


Now THIS is what it's all about.

I can't even begin to imagine what heaven must be like.

More pictures later...I'm going to bed now.

Madison and Firefox saved my blog

Thanks for the tip, Madison! Now everyone can standby to be subjected to more family pictures in the next few days. Right now I'm off to work!

Technical problems

I'm having problems uploading video and photos. Not that those are essential to posting, but when you generally write about your family and what all of you are doing, it helps to have photos. I've cleared my cache like the Blogspot tech folks said, but that hasn't helped. Anybody else have this problem? Suggestions?