If you have a daughter between the ages of 5 and 10, chances are she has a close relationship with her Webkinz. She probably cuddles it at night and then plays with a virtual version of the same "pet" online.
How can the hamster compete? Will it become a pet of the past? I think so. Why? Because Webkinz animals don't bite. They don't need cages. You don't need to clean out smelly droppings. The biggest drawback for my kids is that there's no digital video game benefits.
So I say to Webkinz, "Bring back the hamster, please." If you can sell my daughter a stuffed animal for $15 with a digital version of it online, then why not do the same thing with hamsters. And not just hamsters. Why not parakeets? Maybe kids should learn responsibility of caring for an actual living animal and be able to play with a virtual version of it online. Maybe Webkinz should give us back our smelly pet poop... or at least create a digital alternative.
"I was walking along with [BOY] and [BOY] and there was a kid making fun of us. He called us names. We started saying stuff back. He said he could beat us up. I said I could beat him up. I didn't want him to hit [BOY] so I got in front. He punched me. And we started fighting."
"What did you do to him?"
"I got him to the ground. I think his glasses were broken. He was crying."
"Are you sure it was self defense?"
"Yup."
"Aster, you're a trained ground fighter. I'm sure you knew you could beat him up. But don't let all that confidence go to your head. It doesn't matter if he started it. I think you could have probably done a little more to avoid a fight."
"But..."
"Listen. You can always fight. But it takes maturity to walk away. You don't need to prove anything. You're not a bully."
"Oh... [PAUSE] Dad, please don't tell Master Lopez about it."
This is my pretty Patricia bringing me lunch in her Ford Focus. If you happen to be next to her on the road and she doesn't notice you, you'll spot her singing loud and shamelessly in that car. David
This is my son (he's had a haircut now) with his two senseis after winning first place at a jiujitsu tournament. He's gotten pretty darn good. We needed to have a little chat about what the difference was between "self-defense" and "showing off". David
This is Kelsea asleep. She goes to bed before anyone tells her to. She wakes up when I finally drag her off her bed. She was very appreciative of the sleeping mask that I gave her so she could sleep anytime she wanted despite whether it was day or night. David
Torie has now made it to the top of all the self-belay routes at the rock wall at my gym. She was very proud. I made it explicitly clear that this doesn't mean she's grown up yet. She may be 8, but to me she's still the baby. David
I tend to get into trouble when I write about religion or politics, yet here I go again writing about both...
You will end up seeing this movie EXPELLED! No Intelligence Allowed, a creationist film featuring Ben Stein. Why? For the same reason I am.
I clicked on one of those "Web clips" that appear at the top of my Gmail today that took me to the "supertrailer" of the movie. My brother-in-law Jon sent me the same link a little later on too. I did find the irony hilarious when I heard that an atheist was expelled from the movie. That got me. I sent Jon the link.
The great controversy
I was drawn into the great controversy about creationists versus Darwinists. I read a bunch of blogs all about how Darwinists were going to end any chance of our finding a true creator. I also read a bunch about how the ultra-religious were going to destroy the world.
Well now I just found out that the EXPELLED! controversy was the most read, most blogged-about story on the Internet today. So I had to write a blog too.
The great conspiracy
Here's my conspiracy theory: They're all in on it. We're all going to end up paying money to see this movie. Maybe we'll even buy books about it. Even the people who decide to attempt to boycott it will end up marketing it. Why? Because there's a guy who's a genius who found a way to shroud it in controversy. Follow the money. We're all going to end up having an opinion, and it's going to end up being the trendy thing to talk about.
Maybe someday I'll be genius enough to come up with some good controversy and make money on it.
Religion in schools = disaster
Let's all believe whatever we want, but let's never fall into the trap of putting religion back into schools. C'mon! How would you handle that without turning a classroom into a war zone? Stick to sound science that can be tested. Do we really want kids discussing how this God or that God or no God or those Gods or those aliens made the world? I mean it's a fun discussion, but nothing good will come out of it being in a school.
I'm proud to say I'm an American who will be watching key match Arsenal versus Chelsea this morning. I would normally like Chelsea to win, but Mourhino's out, so may Arsene Wenger's boys trash Chelsea. I'll be wearing my Chelsea shirt. On the other hand, may John Terry's boys win.
Shakespeare grew up in this shack. His dad was a glover. He made gloves and stuff out of sheep. How does this kid grow up to be a genius? Why am I not a genius? Maybe I should be a glover and my kids will grow up to be geniuses. I walked around in Shakespeare's garden and thought. Nothing came of it. Shakespeare walked up and down a path. Maybe I should do that. What's his secret?
Definitely insomnia. I can sleep on a plane, on a bus, but not in my own darn bed. I've decided to count Cotswold sheep in my head. Did you know that shepherds in the UK never used to eat their sheep? No. The meat was not yummy. They only used them for wool. Now they have new, tastier sheep. But their wool is not good. Most sheep are raised just for meat these days. At least they eat grass all day instead of corn. Did you know that to save money different shepherds in a Cotswold community will each buy a single ram for their ewes? Then they trade the rams. The rams each have a color. When a ewe is seen with that color on its back, then the shepherd knows she's had a wild night. She's separated from the others. All the ewes end up with at least four colors on their backs. Great to know as you count sheep...
Just got back from London. I’m happy to report that the Tower of London is still standing, Buckingham Palace still houses the queen, the Rosetta Stone is still in the British Museum, and the fish and chips are still fried and therefore taste excellent. I also visited Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace) and the Stonehenge.
It was cold and wet. I'm glad to be back in sunny Arizona.
