Warren's Room

Movies

Warren with a rolypoly.

Warren goes to the garden to get rolypolys pretty regularly.

Warren singing.

Warren's version of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Goin Down"

Floodgates are open now

I saw this chart on CNN expressing unemployment figures for the year.

The jump from 5% to 6.1% is a 22% increase in unemployment over a period of 8 months. That is a significant jump and is certainly not good news.

But the chart, like many in the news, expresses the change in an unecessarily dramatic way. Upon first glance, this is what the chart communicates to me.

"The unemployment rate started in January at close to nothing and dipped down to zero before shooting up to 100% at a truly shocking angle that seems to indicate an inexorable rise beyond 100%."

I think my version of the chart, though certainly less dramatic, is a little more honest.

In fact, perhaps it is just to my eyes, but I actually find my chart a bit more ominous. All that space below the line really hits home as showing all the people out of work.

2008 United States Presidential Election

I have so often struggled to keep this blog from being a blog. Though it looks and feels like a blog it really serves other purposes. First and foremost, it is an easily navigable, easily reachable, dependable, date-indexed collection of pictures of Warren for his extended family--including those in Japan--to view. Second, it is an events log for Warren to read when he grows up.

Although the first goal is not necessarily served by an editorial from dear old dad, the second might be. So here goes.

Warren,

2008 is interesting politically. It contains an election that follows an 8-year presidential administration that has been universally lambasted for everything from economic troubles (research mortgage crisis, subprime lending, crude oil prices, the US dollar, etc) to war crimes (research Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, War on Terror, Patriot Act) to an executive-in-chief with too much swagger and unilateralism, a liar with inappropriate oil interests. The list goes on and on. Chances are not likely you will see a president so actively disliked by so many in your lifetime. Nor will you likely see so many people so fed up with this country, so many of them so predisposed to think negatively of the US and its people and its conduct. Many US citizens are very unhappy. Hot button items for voters in the current election include:

The war in Iraq
The war on terror and homeland security in general
Solvency of Social Security and budget deficit in general
Nationwide health coverage
Oil dependency and alternative energy sources

And to perhaps a lesser degree....

Education
Negative perception of the US worldwide
Oil and commodity prices, inflation, dollar
Immigration
Environmentalism

Some of these things, by the way, are tough to take on for the chief executive... like education and national health coverage. You start stepping on state's rights and constitutional powers, etc. The No Child Left Behind act is an example. The legislators must say to themselves "well, what can we do? States educate their citizens. I suppose we can, oh I don't know, put up some minimum requirements, create some running benchmarks, make some suggestions. OK, sounds good." So the whole act gets a bad rep as being all bite but no real help. Teachers now have to teach to a test and the like. But what else could the federal government really do without commandeering budgets or creating national teacher schools or something even more tyrannical? It's like when I tell you to clean your room, Warren. I am not going to tell you where to start or what implements to use or that you can't hire the kid next door to do it. You wouldn't like it if I did. But dammit, when I come back in an hour, it had better be clean. Or you will see both parents pass One Child Swatted on the Behind legislation.

Your dad is no Bush fan, Warren. (Also please note: YOUR UNCLE PHIL IS NO BUSH FAN.) I voted for Bush in 2000 and did not vote for Bush in 2004. In fact, 2004 is the first time your father did not vote for the winner since he first voted for Clinton in 1992.

Well, Bush is on his way out, of course. Term limits and all that.

McCain is the seasoned (read: "rather aged Washington insider") 2008 Republican candidate. He has chosen Sarah Palin, a very young, very female, very small-town, very small-state, very salt-of-the-earth runningmate. Obama is the fresh (read: "rather young first-term senator") 2008 Democratic candidate. He has chosen Joe Biden, a salt-of-the-earth, experienced, lifelong politician. In a lot of ways, Warren, the 2008 election feels like a pro-wrestling match where half the fun was the announcement of the wrestlers and seeing their costumes and countenance as they take the stage.

It didn't take long for it to get ugly. I winced when I heard Joe Biden called Joe 'Plugs' Biden by a conservative talkshow host. People are dredging up and even making up all sorts of embarrassing Sarah Palin stuff. In spite of what anyone may magnanimously say--and both candidates have--nothing is 'off limits' in 2008.

And like professional wrestling, people favor the flair of the move more than its impact. The "somersault corkscrew leg drop" would be just as effective as a simple "leg drop". And candidacy flair has brought to the forefront issues that probably shouldn't be at the forefront right now, like abortion and gun control. I respect differing opinions--and enjoy banter about such issues as much as anyone--but people who really think gay marriage and teaching creationism should be top voting issues for the executive branch are not people I agree with.

I feel like Obama has been pushed into this wrestling ring perhaps a little early by his party and his popularity. But the timing.... you HAVE to play the timing. I have this feeling that in an alternate universe, your father would have enthusiastically pulled the lever for an Obama 2012 candidacy. McCain feels like the guy who finally got his turn--a guy blindsided into candidacy not so much by the support of his base as their shoulder-shrugging nod. Interestingly, there may have been a time your father would have pulled the McCain lever enthusiastically, but it has passed.

But make no mistake, BOTH parties make it sound like the United States will become a cesspool if their party doesn't win. Your father feels about this the same way he feels about the stock market. Profit margin as a percentage should matter a lot to stock price fluctuation. The physical value of assets should matter. And they do. But those measurable things don't seem to matter as much as this strange beast "perception". To me, it is almost as if a victor that looks immediately successful can build on that success to actually be successful. Let's hope whoever wins goes for low-hanging fruit first because momentum is a powerful force both ways: up AND down. A mediocre TV show used to last a season or two. Now it lasts an episode or two.

So, son, your father will be voting Obama in November. I already broke the news to your mother. It really wasn't a hard decision. I want to give the democrats a chance. They seem so earnest AND optimistic this time around. To me Obama has stopped focusing on how to fix what is hopelessly wrong and has started focusing on how to improve something worth keeping. A slight distinction, but one that will help bring more of the country into the fold. And that is important. There is a public perception that Obama will do some good and that may be enough to actually get that ball rolling. Obama is left of center, certainly, but he is no Marxist. I can live with what I have seen of his taxation plans, though I do want to say this: there is more to federal taxation than income tax. People should be aware of the impacts of capital gains taxing and business/corporate taxing too. I am very much a social liberal so I appreciate his position on stem cell research, gun control, abortion, contraception, civil rights for gays, etc. Though of course, as president, he won't be legislating. In fact, I guess if I really liked Obama's legislative stances I would want him to lose and remain right where he is in the senate....

Let's see if moderate democrats can make their wishes come true. Then let's see if what they do is an improvement. I occasionally wish I had the fervor of staunch members of either party but I don't. I wish I could rally so firmly behind one, but I can't!

But I am more closely aligned with the Democratic candidate this time around. Go Obama!

Update

Last weekend we made it out to Gilcrease Orchard (whose website background color is distressingly similar to my own). We ended up with tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and a couple peaches. Warren enjoyed walking up and down the rows searching for veggies and picking a couple peaches. He also made no secret that he was done: "housetime?"

They sell fresh eggs nearby but you gotta get there earlier than we did. Next time we will make sure to be there by 8am. Warren did, however, get a chance to pet a cat, rabbits, a goat, and see turkeys and plenty of chickens at the eggfarm. There were even a few young polish chickens that were adorable.

We recently put away most of Warren's toys. They used to be in a big bin in the living room, but now we keep them in his closet. There are only a few exceptions: his kitchen and all his kitchen toys and a couple other toys that find their way out. I am going to have to stay on top of getting that stuff back in his room at least every weekend.

Although.... I am having more luck these days asking him to do things that resemble work.

"Warren, go take this to mama."
"Warren, go to your room and get the white stool please."

Sometimes he comes back and reports.... "lights off papa." Then I need to go back with him to turn on the lights. Next step: "use the stool to turn on the light buddy"

Most popular YouTube videos in our house at this time: horseshoe crabs, lightning and thunder. Fire extinguishers are a thing of the past.

Tonight I have a date with my wife. I seem to remember the last time we went out being our fifth official date since Warren was born, so this will be our sixth date. In the past we have gone for dinner and/or to see movies or whatnot. This date should be very special though. We are eating at one of our personal favorites--Mesa Grill, We will then roam the MGM and perhaps do a little gaming, and since we both have tomorrow off, we are staying at a junior suite in The Signature. We will sleep late. Perhaps to some ungodly hour like 8:00am. Then maybe Atsuko and I will eat a light and leisurely breakfast. Then Grammie will bring Warren to MGM so we can take him to the pool. Then perhaps we will visit the MGM lions and/or grab a quick lunch. Back in time for his nap and then an early start to a typical evening.

Should be a great time.

Big Boy Bed and More

We introduced Warren to a big boy bed on August 2. We have actually been waiting since May. We ordered it, waited a month, and they delivered the wrong bed. 6 weeks later we got the right one. As blogged previously, here is the bed and captain's drawers we purchased:

So Warren is sleeping in the upper bunk of a set of bunk beds. You can select a low or high setting so we just went for high. It has rails because it will eventually be 5 feet in the air. Here is a picture where you can see most of the bed. It is now 12 days later and after one so-so nap that lasted only an hour, he is back to his old sleeping self.

Action shot. He can jump on this bed but couldn't on the firm mattress of his crib. Here is the plan: when Warren turns 4 we will move the full size lower bunk into his room and take the twin size out. This will give him more drawers and a larger bed. Then, when he turns 5 or 6, we will put the twin back and install the ladder, making the bunkbed complete. Then he can sleep wherever he wants, make a fort, etc.

Warren and Sophie.

Warren and Chris

Typical morning scene.

At Ian's party. This was his second pool party and he was very excited.

John and a now-4-years-old Ian

Hugging the Batman!

Typical morning 3 minutes after awakening