About Me

Weekend in Indiana

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:18:18 -0500

This weekend my brother Ammon was in Tennessee doing some work on his house and he had a little extra time so we met him halfway between Clarksville and Chicago, which happened to be Brown County, IN. We stayed in Columbus, home of Cummins diesel engine manufacturers. It was a nice little town that I’d never heard of before. We were able to patronize all our favorite chain businesses during the trip - Chick-fil-A, the Texas Roadhouse, and the Residence Inn. May sound lame, but I liked it!

We went on a 2 mile hike in Brown County State Park. It was humid as can be, but we had a good time. Simon walked halfway - up to the lookout - by himself and rode in our jogging stroller on the way down. It turned out to be quite a workout for Ross because it was steep and narrow in places and he had to keep the stroller from breaking loose, and get help from Ammon lifting it over tree stumps and steps. After the hike we swam in their nice, big, pool, which felt great. For dinner we went to the Texas Roadhouse and all ordered steaks. Ammon asked for his NY strip medium-rare, and it came that way. Ross and I asked for our sirloins medium and medium-rare, respectively, and they both came rare. Like, bloody rare. So we sent them back, but it took them 2 tries to get Ross’s to a medium. They apologized by giving us his meal for free, which was nice because it was definitely not as enjoyable to get his steak after we’d all finished eating. Finally, we visited a cute ice cream parlor after dinner where they had old fashioned soda machines. We tried a Coke from their machine versus a regular fountain drink, and Ammon and I liked the regular one better than the old fashioned one, which didn’t seem fizzy enough.

Simon absolutely loved playing with Ammon. He kept saying “Uncle Ammon...” and wanted to sit by him to eat and hang out in his room at the hotel. I asked if he loved Uncle Ammon and he said “So much!”

On Monday we drove home but first checked out the Cummins museum, which turned out to be just a lobby with about a dozen diesel engines and two race cars. Simon was chagrined. He’s used to Chicago museums and clearly thought the Cummins one sucked, not that I can blame him. Oh well, it wasn’t a huge loss since we only spent about 15 minutes there. Our final stop was at the Not Just Popcorn store in nearby Edinburgh, IN, where they have 250-some-odd flavors of popcorn. We got a personal tour of the popcorn making facility from a very enthusiastic worker and bought several flavors of popcorn: orange, BBQ, caramel, confetti, and chocolate coconut.

So all in all, central Indiana had a lot to offer for a weekend.

Quotes from Simon

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 20:39:52 -0500

In downloading some pictures from our camera I found this one of Simon from a few weeks ago. If you know him, you’ll realize this picture is showing something as rare as hen’s teeth - a daytime nap. I think the last time he took a daytime nap at home he was maybe 12 months. But he was sick with some kind of 24 flu and crashed on the couch here, for a total of 30 minutes.

The picture reminded me of something funny he said that day, which was, “Why I found someone’s germs?”

Which reminded me of other interesting questions he’s asked recently:

“Why don’t we eat dinosaurs?”
“How do stealth bombers let out their bombs?”
“How do airplanes turn?”
“How do rockets turn?” On this one he will NOT believe me that rockets just go straight up, they don’t turn. He gets mad and tells me they DO turn, by turning their noses.
Today he asked about a picture we have of Gray Chapel at Ohio Wesleyan (where Ross went to college) and I said it’s where Daddy went to college, a long time ago. He asked, “How long ago? Before Jesus was born?”

And finally, when he saw me peeling skin off my arm from a sunburn, he asked what I was doing. When I answered peeling skin off my arm, he said “Then will you be able to see your bones?”

Sometimes I can’t believe how precious this boy is!

Happy July 4th!

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 08:09:14 -0500

Happy Independence Day, everyone. I hope you have some good food and fireworks. While you’re sitting at your computer, though, take a listen to these wonderful patriotic pieces. The first is a fugue on the “Star-Spangled Banner” by American composer John Knowles Paine, and the second is a newish piece by American composer Steven Paulus - “Hymn for America,” sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. If the fugue gets a little long for you, skip to the pedal solo at 2:50. Enjoy!

Santa and Jesus

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:06:30 -0500

When I was in kindergarten or thereabout I remember asking my dad if Santa and Jesus were related, and he said, no, he didn’t think so. I was disappointed because they both wanted kids to be good, so clearly there must be some connection. I was pretty sure Jesus was more powerful than Santa, so I thought he could help Santa out. You know, if Santa was too busy to watch my every move, he could just check in with Jesus and see how I was doing. Jesus was also a little nicer than Santa so he could put in a good word for me and maybe help me out with presents at Christmas. But if they weren’t related, then I had two independent evaluators, both capable of catching me in the act of pulling my sister’s hair. Bummer.

Simon is interested in where Jesus and Santa live. Heaven and the North Pole is what we’ve told him, which might as well be France and Saturn for all he knows about what either of those places is. He’s asking this question fairly frequently, and I’m a little worried about my credibility here. When he realizes Santa isn’t real, is he going to reach the same conclusion about Jesus? So to eliminate that possibility, I sort of worked into the conversation the fact that Santa is pretend. In his story, he lives in the North Pole, has elves, and makes toys. But he’s really pretend, sort of like Mr. Incredible and Spider Man are pretend. Simon isn’t having this at all. He told me, “No, you are wrong. Santa is really real.” He’s also convinced that the North Pole and heaven are right next door to each other.

Hmm. I guess I don’t have to worry about squashing joyful childhood fantasies about Santa. He’s got them, and they’re staying. I’m not going to make a big deal of convincing him Santa is pretend, it seems too cruel. And I probably shouldn’t be worried about Jesus, because when I figured out the Santa thing it didn’t cast the part about baby Jesus into doubt for me. I was just glad the Christmas presents kept coming.

Day at the Museum

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:33:44 -0500

I took the day off of work today and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. All three of us, like a normal family would do on a weekend. Ross knows the place really well from taking Simon there on so many Fridays, so we were able to go right to all our destinations without even needing a map. First we visited the coal mine, and were reminded how bloody awful coal mining was and is. We told Simon his great great grandfather worked in a coal mine (this is Ross’s side of the family), but he was mainly interested in what you do with coal.

Next we played in the kid’s water area, then saw an IMAX movie about astronauts launching and fixing the Hubble space telescope. It was a great movie, and the pictures from Hubble are incredible. There are about 100 billion galaxies, if I remember right, each one containing billions of stars. It’s too much to comprehend.

After lunch we visited the “Smart Home,” which is a house built of all recycled or sustainable materials, and powered by a wind turbine and solar panels. I left wondering why more things aren’t made from recycled materials. They made everything from countertops and flooring to furniture and bathroom tile out of recycled stuff.

Last, we visited the U-505, a German submarine captured by the U.S. during WWII. Apparently most subs that came under attack were sunk, so it was unusual to capture one. The Navy took the prisoners to a top secret POW camp in Louisiana, and were able to decode German secret codes based the code books they found on the sub, which was a great help to them. Conditions on the sub were horrible. It was 95 degrees, and they had no opportunity to bathe. There was only one toilet for 59 men. What would that be like? Would you just get used to the smell, or would your senses be continually assaulted by it? I hope I never find out. They also didn’t have enough beds for everyone, so they had to sleep in shifts. Ew. The submarine exhibit really brings out the horrors of war. About 70% of the men who served on submarines never came back.

Tonight after dinner we felt like watching a movie and Simon chose Wall-E. I’d remembered it being boring, but this time I just found it vaguely depressing. The planet is a toxic trash dump and all the humans are on a space ship, constantly watching TV, the size of blimps, and fed on some kind of liquid nutrition. Nothing like an optimistic view of the future to put you in a good mood.

I keep thinking about the contrast between the movie about Hubble and visiting the submarine today. From space Earth looks so tranquil and beautiful, and down here there’s so much conflict and cruelty. It reminds me of the part in Moses 7 where it says “And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept.” But this is all getting much more heavy than I intended. We actually had a really nice day. Here are some pictures of it: