cell phones are ruining American values...

In order to get from our neighborhood to the freeway (or interstate as it's called in these parts), I cut through a little trailer park neighborhood. Some of the properties are in pretty bad shape, but there are some people there who seem to take pride in how their property looks (mostly doublewides that have been turned into permanent homes with nice landscaping).

Anyway, there is an older couple who rock in large, white rocking chairs on the front porch most days. I see them almost daily either on my way to or from work and without fail, I get a friendly smile and a wave from the kind, old man. I am always sure to wave back so that he might not think I'm one of those Damn Yankees that's moved to the area and is creating a ton of traffic through his neighborhood. And honestly, it makes me feel good when I get a chance to wave to him. It reminds me of how simple life should be compared to how complicated I can make it. How often do I take time to rock and enjoy a nice morning while greeting passersby?

At any rate, the other day on my way to work, I waved to the gentleman, and I got no response! What?!? How could this be? I mean, he was looking straight at me with no smile? Was I driving too fast or something? Then I saw it. He had was talking on his cell phone! Sheesh. I thought we had reached a new low when I overheard a guy talking on the phone while sitting in a public restroom stall, but this is the worst! The heart of American values has been ripped out and thrown on the floor by cell phones!

our little artists...

Megan and Patrick gave us a great gift! They had tickets to Carowinds that they couldn't use (something about roller coasters being bad for babies in utero). So Megan came over this afternoon to watch our kids so Sarah and I could have a fun date at the park! We had a blast running around the park hitting all the roller coasters (we haven't been to an amusement park in about 5 or 6 years)!

I called Megan at some point in the evening to see how things were going and I got the "well, things are going okay..." response meaning not good. Evidently, the girls went upstairs to play (which they play by themselves fantastically upstairs) while Megan was cooking dinner. Well, Kyla has recently discovered that the top of my dresser is easily accessible with the help of a chair or stool. And evidently, Sarah had found some lipstick earlier in the day and placed it on my dresser...and you can guess the rest.

They ran into our bathroom with the lipstick and proceeded to smear it all over their faces and hands and then wipe their hands all over the cabinets, door, towel, and WALLS! Megan said she was in shock when she discovered it and did a great job cleaning the cabinets with our weak, hippie, no-chemical cleaners! It's crazy because they've never come close to doing something like that before, but I guess there's a first time for everything!

Here are some pictures of the door and wall (which I was able to get the door totally clean and the wall at least doesn't look like it's covered with bloody handprints). Good times.

the great "debate"

Sarah and I had a chance to sit down and watch Rick Warren's interview with the candidates Saturday night. We caught all but the first few minutes of Obama's interview. Overall, I must say I was a little disappointed at the overall event.

First of all, I will say that Warren had some very creative questions. I liked several of them like "who are three people you will turn to for advice" (or something like that). I was also excited to hear him bring exposure to adoption and a few other issues. However, because of the "friendly" format, I don't think Warren followed up on some very key opportunities. For example, on the abortion issue, Obama skirted the question of when a baby has human rights. In all fairness, he certainly was on hostile grounds when it comes to that question, and because he represents the Democratic party, he has to walk a very fine line. However, his answer was a little wimpy. Had the format not been so "civil," I think Warren could have really dug into the key issue that keeps so many evangelicals from voting for him.

Another disappointment was Warren's gleeful acceptance of McCain's one word answers! He simply accepted McCain's answer that human rights begin at conception (with which I agree), but he did not ask what McCain's plan was to lower the abortion rate or make abortion illegal. I'm glad he'spro-life, but what is he planning to do about it?

I was also disappointed by McCain's answer about how his faith affects his every day life. Of course, I am not trying to down his military service or the time he spent as a POW. In fact, I was duly impressed by hearing his stories about living in captivity and gained much respect for him. However, he didn't really say anything about faith today. He quickly jumped back (as he did many times in the interview) to stories of life as a POW.

I was also quite surprised to hear that Obama and McCain both gave practically the same answer to the gay marriage questions. They both believe that marriage is for a man and woman, but that they would be ok with civil unions (McCain said something like legal agreements) to provide basic rights. The only difference is that McCain said he might consider a federal law banning it only if the federal government took the power to choose away from the states (which will probably never happen). I'm really interested to hear how the Religious Right is handling that one.

Overall, it seemed that many of the questions were written directly for McCain to be able to answer bluntly so the crowd could cheer. I'm also a little disappointed that Warren assured us that McCain had been in a "cone of silence" when all along, he had been at his hotel when the event started and didn't make it to the church until halfway through Obama's interview. I'm not conspiring that he cheated, but I doubt that Warren was clueless to the fact that McCain wasn't locked away in silence when he announced he had been in the "cone of silence" the entire time.

I found myself really having a hard time listening to McCain's gruff style. Style is about 99th out of 100 on the list of issues that matter to me, but I just find him quite awkward. I'm sure he's a brilliant man, but he comes across so robotic. I'm also unimpressed by the Maverick persona he's trying to sell. To me, we've had a maverick in the White House for 8 years. I think I'm ready for something different. McCain seems to be content bringing up the war, offshore drilling and national security (which is important), but he seems to avoid what seems to matter most to Americans, the economy.

Anyway, it was nice to hear the candidates without the arguing. However, there is no doubt that they are both career politicians seizing every opportunity to hop on the stump and give a passionate plea! These next few weeks should be interesting as we head into the National Conventions and the VPs are announced. Thanks for reading, I know it was a little random. It's been a while since I posted about politics, mostly because I went back to work on Monday. A new school year is upon us!

vacation!

Have I mentioned that I love Craigslist??? Probably only a thousand times. I recently posted my photography services on the bartering section trying to see if I can maybe get some work done on the house or a vacation or free dentist appointment or something.

A few days ago, I got a reply! I spoke with the woman last night and we bartered a portrait shoot/large print and CD for a week long vacation at her beach house in the Outer Banks!!! She said we could go on the website and pick any week available! How awesome is that?

new photos...

I posted a few of these pictures on the blog on my photography website, but I thought I'd post a few here too. I took these shots a few weeks ago and I'm excited about how they turned out!

turning down business...

By the title of this post, you might think that my photography business took off over night and that I am now traveling all over the place for photo shoots and simply don't have time to take all of the requests for my services. I wish that were true, but I'm not quite there yet.

I got a request to meet a client at a nearby downtown area for a portrait shoot. We chatted on the phone and I requested that she email a picture to me so that I could just get a quick idea of style, personality, etc before the shoot. We set up a time and place to meet and all seemed well...until I got her picture. She appeared quite young in the picture and I recalled her saying she mostly wanted to have pictures of herself to send to friends and post on myspace. So I did a quick search on myspace and found out she is only 14!! Yikes!

I quickly wrote her back and let her know that if she was under 18, I needed a parent present for the shoot and to sign the contract! She called me back and said that she actually turned 18 today. How ironic...so I had to write her back and say thanks, but no thanks and I told her I would not do the shoot. That is not a road down which I am willing to travel!

my first employee...

I got a phone call yesterday from a guy interested in working for my photography business! Of course, he had no idea that Sarah and I are all that make up my business, but it was pretty cool talking to him for a while. He wanted to know if I needed someone to help run my studio...hmmmm...studio...yeah, I would love to have one of those!

Anyway, he sent me his info and I told him that if business picked up and I needed some extra help, I'd give him a call. On a side note, I did have a successful day of connecting with some wedding and event planners in the area. I sent out a bunch of emails this morning with my website and a little info and I got several positive responses! I also added a corporate section to my website to see if I can attract any business clients...not my favorite area of work, but you never know what can happen! We'll see. Anyway, I go back to work at school on Monday so I'm trying to get as much together before then because things get pretty crazy once the school year begins!

a great birthday...

I turned 29 yesterday and I have to say it was a fantastic birthday...much better than last year! Last year's birthday was a little rough. We had spent the week at the beach with my family (that part was great), but on my actual birthday, we embarked on a nightmarish 8 hour drive home. Avery screamed about 75% of the way home, Kyla was cranky from listening to her sister, it was about 110 degrees outside, and we were all stressed out. The best part of the trip was a stop at Chili's for dinner and a $3 Margarita.

That is why I had to chuckle yesterday when Sarah told me our fantastic neighbors, Stacie and Matt, were giving us a gift card to Chili's for my birthda! We made the connection about last year and decided to make Chili's a birthday tradition!

So anyway, Sarah let me sleep in yesterday and I awoke to a breakfast of fruit-filled crepes! What a great way to start the day! We enjoyed the beautiful morning with a stroll through the neighborhood and I returned for a cup of coffee.

After spending the late morning and afternoon working on some photography, we hopped in the car and drove just across the state line to a small goat farm. What birthday is complete without goats??? Actually, we sometimes get Avery's goat milk from the farm because it's cheaper and healthier (in case you're wondering, our daughter is allergic to cow dairy). Plus, the owners of the farm love kids and our girls come alive when they see all the goats, chickens, cats, and dogs.

On the way back from the farm, we stopped at Chili's and had a great dinner. We quickly headed home, though, because it was getting close to bedtime and I had plans to go bowling with the guys from our Lifegroup. Upon arriving home, I checked the mail and got a good laugh from my Dad's Obama birthday card. On the cover beside a cartoon picture of Obama, it reads "Can you have a great birthday? Yes you can!" On the inside, "Did I get you a present? No I didn't!" Nice choice Dad!

So I grabbed my socks and my camera and headed with Patrick to the lanes. It had been a while since I bowled, but I was quite proud of my 136 on the first round. I got a little tired on the second round and only bowled a 101. We finished up and it was still quite early, so we headed over to a nearby bar, The Beantown Tavern, for a beer and nachos. Much to our surprise it was Karaoke night!

I had always secretly dreamed of rocking it out on some Karaoke, but I had never had the chance outside of the high school parties at a friend's house where we would use her dad's laser disc karaoke setup to scream "Welcome to the Jungle" in order to impress the ladies. So with a little coercion from the guys, I hit the stage. The only problem? I froze when it came time to pick a song. The only one that popped in my mind was Georgia Satellite's "Keep Your Hands to Yourself!" It's one of my favorites and I must say I did a rather fine job. But then again, I think everyone thinks they sound good while singing karaoke.

A little while later, an older guy who had tried his best to sing a few songs came over to wish me a happy birthday (the DJ made mention of that fact before I sang). This guy cracked me up because he looked extremely similar to Hank on King of the Hill, but with a big cowboy hat! He shook my hand and asked me how old I was. When I replied, "29," he turned away, rolled his eyes as to say, "you good-fer-nuthin whipper snapper," and then he flicked me off with a smile! I lost it and said to Patrick, "now my birthday is complete. Crepes, goats, fajitas, a margarita, bowling, karaoke, and now I've gotten the finger from an old cowboy!" Here are a few pictures from the day:

happy birthday...now back to work (paradoxes of life)

Now that it is past midnight, I guess I am officially 29 years old. Sheesh. Thirty minus 1. In some ways, it feels old. Other ways, young. For instance, when I realize that my sixth grade students this year were born at about the same time I was graduating from high school, I feel old. But when I talk to my neighbor who has sons my age, I feel young. When I realize that I've lived for nearly a third of a century, old. When I talk to the 105-year-old lady and her 80-year-old daughter at the nursing home where we visit with our small group, young. When I get a haircut and see more gray hair than brown, old. Life's pretty cool that way. We get to walk through life with people from all stages of life; those ahead and those behind, sharing our experiences and trying to teach and learn all at the same time.

At any rate, one week from today, I head back to work. I always get bittersweet feelings around this time of year. I enjoy my job, so I look forward to starting a new year. In fact, that's the best part of teaching. I get a fresh start every year to fix mistakes and capitalize on improvements I made in the previous year. I've got some great ideas to make life easier this year and I'm looking forward to giving them a shot. However, I must say that I enjoy not having to handle the drama of sixth-grade life during the summer. But I've been feeling a sense that this year will be different. I've been feeling like I really need to focus on extending extra gobs of grace to my students and coworkers this year. I also hope to get a stronger start since I'm not the new guy at my school this year and I have a pretty good lay of the land.

But having said that, this year I'll be teaching all math. And if you know me well, you know how crazy that is. I majored in journalism and I love writing (thus the blog). Math for me growing up was not too hard, I just didn't like it. I co-taught last year with a great teacher and thankfully got a crash course in teaching math. And doubly thankfully, I'm coteaching with her for two classes again this year so I can copy all of her good ideas. Triply thankfully, we're talking sixth grade, special education math, and not algebra 2 or trig. It should be fun (in some kind of weird, ironic, surreal kind of way).

mixed feelings about the Olympics...

Sarah and I got to watch some of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last night. What an amazing show! I could hardly believe the scope of the performances and the coordination of the thousands of dancers. I'm always blown away when I watch the parade of nations as well. It's crazy to see representatives from countries across the world, some at war with one another, and some countries whose names I've never heard! There was one country represented (whose name I can't recall) whose population is only about 71,000 people. There were over 91,000 people attending the ceremonies!

However, as I watched, I kept getting mixed feelings and I found myself having a difficult time enjoying the show. The Olympics is supposed to be an inspiring time. It's supposed to be a time of unification of the world. Yet, China has done a lot of things in the recent past and it continues to do things that the NBC commentators are not going to cover during the Olympic broadcasts.

I'm sure many of you know more about this than I do, but I have heard so many unjust things that China has done to make themselves look better for the games. For instance, they went around to several poor areas in Beijing, kicked people out of their homes and tore down unsightly houses. In a news story I saw a few weeks ago, some of these homes housed several generations of families that did not have enough money to find new housing. They did not know where to turn. The government has banned many groups of people including the mentally ill to avoid any disruptions.

Of course, there also are the human rights violations in Tibet. I also just read that China recently revoked a US athlete's visa because he is outspoken on China's involvement in the genocide in Sudan. Evidently, a recent study showed China has been supplying 90 percent of the weapons to the Khartoum in Sudan. I had no idea!

I know the Chinese people have little to do with this and we can enjoy the games and the celebration of the Chinese culture. I mean, the Chinese make up about 1/5 of the world's population! But I feel like I'm finally getting an understanding of the Chinese government and why so many people are upset about the Games being hosted there this year. I also find myself torn on President Bush attending the opening ceremonies. Sure, I think it is noble of him to go in support of our athletes. I think that is extremely important. But I also think his absence would have made a notable impact on foreign relations that might have transcended sports. It's tough to say what the right decision was, but he went and we can't change that.

So I don't really have any conclusions about this whole topic, other than the fact that I have mixed feelings. Hopefully, the Games will provide lots of good drama and inspiration. But, hopefully, they'll also shed some light on some unfortunate circumstances in our world that need to be changed.

funny post...

I came across this posting in the free section of Craigslist this morning and had to share. I love what people post up for free. If any of you out-of-towners are interested in this stuff, let me know and I'll grab it for you and put it in the mail!

boyfriend left these behind...want anything?

He ran off and left these things behind. I saw her picture on his IM identification, and she's not that pretty, so I'm guessing she had nicer furniture and lived closer to where he works.

I threw away the toothbrush and the rest of the Head and Shoulders, but the Axe Bodywash is nearly full, and the Polo cologne is half full. You can also have the shaver, though it is fairly used.I could clean it up a bit for you.

The Wrangler carpenter jeans are in good condition, waist 29/length 30.He tied a string to two belt loops to hold them up, but I can cut that off. The long sleeve maroon stripe shirt is a medium, short sleeve blue Hawaiian shirt a large, both in decent shape. The socks and briefs look fairly new, but could use a run through the washer. Cut off shorts a bit ragged, but wearable around the yard.
I want nothing more to do with his stuff, but it seemed a shame to just throw it all out.
There is also a deck of cards, I think the Jack of Spades is missing.

the f bomb...

Friday night after Sarah had gotten home from the Philippines, I was outside at the grill putting the finishing touches on a good 'ol American cheeseburger dinner when the sliding glass door flew open. I looked up to see a horrified Sarah standing with a guilty Kyla. Sarah said, "Peter! We need to talk about something very serious. Kyla tell your daddy what you just said."

I looked at Kyla and asked her what she said. She looked up at me and replied, "when I get frustrated, I just said the word f*!#." Woah!!! Where in the world did that come from? I haven't said that word in about twelve years and I don't think my wife has ever said it in her entire life! We never watch movies with the kids other than Veggie Tales and the like. Last time I checked, Bob the Tomato has a pretty clean mouth. Talk about being blindsided! We had some serious conversation and tried to impart the seriousness of the offense to a confused four-year-old.

I mean, she used to get close to that word when she would sing "Where is funkin?" because she couldn't pronounce "th." But this is way different! She kind of let is slip again last night as she was saying some gibberish words being silly. Hopefully, she'll forget about the whole thing and we won't have to deal with it again...but who knows? We haven't figured out where she heard it and I'm guessing we probably never will. I guess as she enters preschool this fall, we'll be hitting even more of that kind of stuff.

phunny speld wurds...

Being a special ed teacher and a journalism major in college, I have to say I really enjoy seeing misspellings in funny places. I have to laugh sometimes when students misspell words in their writing. For example, a student last year wrote an entire paper about how he "licked" a girl. It disturbed me at first until I realized he meant "liked." I really enjoyed Los Angeles where so many businesses were run by immigrants and they tried their hardest to advertise their services in their new language. Those provided some of the best entertainment. I have to say, however, that I am not a perfect speller either. Just a month ago when I launched my new photography website, I sent the link out to some friends for their opinions. A good friend who majored in English wrote back and said, "Pete - I like the site, but what is a potrait?" Unfortunately, photoshop doesn't have spell check that I know of and on my main graphic, I had misspelled portrait. It happens. But here's a good rule of thumb: when you're going to a protest, you should get a few people to check out your sign before you start yelling:

And if you're painting on a permanent surface such as a road, you might want to double-check yourself: