Month: April 2008

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Lie Down

I read a study today, from New York Magazine, that says that 98% of children admit to lying to their parents.

What was really sad was that most of them admitted seeing that behavior modeled BY their parents. Of course, it is important to model, for your children, how you want them to live.

Today, I gave my kids permission to scold me if they ever caught me lying. I told them I don’t ever want them to see that behavior in me.

But… back to the study… if 98% of students in the study admit that they lie to their parents, there is another 2% that lies to researchers.

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Just Duet

I did my first piano recital in over 15 years last weekend.

Actually, it was my 8 year old who had to perform a duet. She chose her old-man as her partner.

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Hoover Darn

My wife and I put together a little getaway this past week. One of the national landmarks I have most wanted to visit, for many years, was Hoover Dam. When I consider the sheer magnitude of the project, it just blows me away.

Part of what made this so amazing was the thought that they were able to do it with the technology they had back then.

Just downstream from the Dam, a bridge is being built to help route traffic off the Dam. Building a span over the canyon pales in comparison to the task of rerouting a river, putting a big wall in the canyon and creating a new lake.

The bridge is currently 2 years behind schedule. Hoover Dam was completed 2 years ahead of schedule.

Update:

Here are some photos from the trip:

The Bridge:
hooverbridge.jpg

The Dam:
hooverdam.jpg

Us (Notice how far I need to be from the edge?):
hooverdam-2.jpg

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Animated Personality

It is really hard for my wife and I to get out to the movies. With young children, we have to arrange childcare. Unless it is a big special effects movie, we just wait until it comes out on DVD.

So I was REALLY excited to see that Disney was planning to release 10 new animated films in the next 3 years. Movies that we may be able to see WITH the kids!

They include, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D, The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3, Rapunzel and Cars 2

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White Guy Can’t Wrap

In an effort to be healthy, I have switched my Fast Food habits from the $1 double cheeseburger, to some of the healthier offerings. I started grabbing the Chicken wraps, under the assumption that they were healthier. I was a bit disconcerted to read this:
4. Chicken Wrap
700 calories
35 grams of fat

How wraps got such a good rap is beyond us, since they’re really just oversized tortillas, packing up to 400 calories on their own – that is, before the onslaught of cheese, meat, and dressing it houses! You’d get the same number of calories from 20 strips of  bacon.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/1/6-health-foods-that-arent/

I am guessing, however,that the wraps are STILL healthier than 20 strips of bacon.

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Cell phone torah

I came across this link with “Ten Commandments of Cell Phone Etiquite”.

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/05/26/000526opwireless.html
I took comfort in the fact that I keep those “laws” fairly well.

Particularly the “Thou Shalt Not Wear an Earpiece when Thou Are Not on the Phone”.

I have a bluetooth, but feel quite self concience wearing it outside of my car even when I AM on the phone.

I will, on occasion, wear it around the house when I have downloaded a book from Audible, or am watching some video on my phone. Otherwise, I am pretty quick to throw the headset in my coat pocket when I get out of my car.