Petra

As a parent, and hopefully, a good teacher, one tries to find information relevant to your own childs learning experience.

Tom and I sit here at least a few minutes every night going over something new. I don't watch TV. It's been a long while since I watched a program regularly. The online world is, well... what you make of it.... to me... simply an amazing place that I wish I could share always... TV... not my favorite place and well.. I often think... "kill your tv" is a good moto. I could be wrong.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, the boy and his class were studying Ancient Egypt... and from that... I found this:

Amazing when you think about it how long it took to carve this. What would cause a man, a society of men, a country to put so much effort into this???



http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/petra/

Shakespeare. Then the day be known....

Act 5 Scene I.

When I was in high school, I read a version of Julius Caesar. I cheated back then, reading cliff notes. I hated it.... The story line was kind of difficult to keep up with and besides, girls were more important then school. I remember reading the last few pages after we were to have finished and finding myself amazed by one scene....it stuck out and, well I memorized it.

When you think about each day that we have, it's really a gift or an opportunity to take advantage of. My kids and their imagination remind me of this every day.... to be someone new... to pretend.. to imagine. You never know when its all going to be over...

Anyway, here's the line that I memorized... as best as I can remember it some twenty years later...


"If man were to know the end of this days business, there it come,
would it suffice him to know that this day will end?
Then the day be known. For if we meet again,
then we will smile.
If we do not, then our parting was well made.".

Nusrat - Qawwali

The following video is of a very famous man of Islam, known as Nusrat. He and the members of his band sing with such intensity. To be honest and not to be crass, but I have a good idea of what they are saying, but frankly, I really don't care what it's meaning is.

Someone convinced me long ago, too much of anything is not good. I believe it's true of booze (and other mind altering alternatives), love, religion, work, or play. I'd say that's true of their message; however, the sound and intensity is amazing.

Somewhere in this life, we all have loss, and most often, more then once. It sucks. When this guy sings, it sounds like the period of your life when you have been stung in the soul worse then anything you ever have known; a greater magnitude of pain, delirium, and loss than you ever thought possible.

I had a friend who lived in Kenya for 25 years. He once said to me of the desert: "it's no place for man, son. It's the worse place you could ever imagine, a place you don't want to be". These singers have spent too much time in it.
Part I takes some time to get moving, so watch the 2nd first:

Memento Mori , by McErlean

My kids, often amaze me at how wonderfully observant they are and how much they remember.
Tonight, my 11 year old son was reading aloud, his evenings reading requirement, Greek Mythology. I still can't believe they teach this in 6th grade. The boy was observant enough to notice the similarities between the Underworld in C.S. Lewis' book, the Silver Chair and Hell as described in his school text. He said, there was a river in the Underworld, just like the Styx and Hades was like the Witch of the Underworld.

I hope I remember these days of seeing their brilliance.

Anyway, the whole subject is a bit macabre... or carpe diem... or Memento Mori like.

It lead me to start searching for a book of poems called Momento Mori, by Richard McErlean.

From page 33,
A SONG FOR MY CHILDREN
by, Richard McErlean

How will you remember me?
What stories will you tell?
What images will stay with you?
What words of mine will make your own?
What walks we took and laughs we shared
will you keep in your heart?

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow.
I still have you here today.

I don't feel like a daddy,
I just feel like me,
like I've always felt
but to you, I know
how important I must be.
So I try to be so many things:
storyteller, teacher, friend,
listener, learner, and
you are so pure and innocent.
I never want to see that go.
But all these things will fly away
and this is true, I know...

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow,
I still have your love today.

This morning I picked you up
and held you in my arms.
I saw us in the mirror
heart to heart and eye to eye.
Like this, we dance,
but this time your feet,
they tapped against my knees.
It won't be long, I thought,
she'll soon be leaving me.

The force of life that sent you here
will be the force that pulls us apart.
There is no goodbye without heartbreak
but no heartbreak without a heart.

Once I'm gone, or once you're gone,
someday we'll go away;
I wish I could hold you forever like this,
like I can today.
Life is what happens between goodbyes,
it's love that brings us back.
I'll worry about that tomorrow,
I still have your love today.

How will I survive all of those goodbyes?
What will you remember, when you turn the page?
I'll worry about it tomorrow.
I still have you here today.

Re-engineering us.

There's a very interesting Gene Therapy Study that started yesterday on HIV. The article in Wired Science is written by Aaron Rowe.

Are we finally at point where we may begin genetically modify who are to lengthen and strengthen our very existence?

How soon will it be that patterns in our genetic makeup are identified that help prevent breast cancer, heart disease, and other deadly diseases?

Life always finds a way to live, so I am sure when we get to this point, life is going to do what it wants to and we must live with those consequences.

we are all bugs.... tiny little bugs...

Satellite image of Inauguration Day!

We are all bugs... tiny little bugs, waiting to get squashed or burned by some giant fat kid with a giant magnifying glass and a need for vengence...
PopularScience.com

The Fixed.

When I was 19, a girlfriend convinced me to read ( more or less made me read) "A Pilgrim at Tinkers Creek", by Annie Dillard. I remember not really wanting to, but found that I really couldn't put it down, once I started. Chapter 4, "The Fixed" is just crazy.

It can be found on Google Books here:
The Fixed


Dillard is so damn descriptive. On pages 59 and 60, she goes in to detail about the mating ritual of praying mantis'. It's just brutal. To paraphrase, the male has a chemical in the lower part of his body that says,"this lovely maiden is yours", but this chemical in his brain says, don't go near her, she'll eat you alive. We (all men) think with our members.... no matter what we are. He goes to mount her and she bites off his head... the damn thing is, he keeps going, like nothing is wrong.

Read it. This is one of a few that I am mesmerized by every time I re-read it.

Seizueres in children

Ever been faced with a situation that just made you freeze? Today, my son came running up to me, with a very distressed look on his face. He said a little boy was down on the ground and he needed help. He was on his way to get the nurse. I told him to go get her, and I ran to see what I could do. He had some type of seizure. The boy had just fallen right in front of my son with little or no indication that it was about to happen.

He convulsed a bit, eyes in the back of his head, minor muscle spasms were apparent through his body. His left hand and wrist curved tightly inward towards his body, and a liquid discharged from his mouth. I had the other kids who were around, give him some room and called 911. The nurse arrived in just a under a minute after I did. She brought with her a pillow. She laid it under his head and checked his pulse; she reassured some of the kids who were around and asked that they go to lunch. Then, she basically softly touched the him on his arm, knowing that he would come out of it okay. The boy was such a sweet little man and there was nothing I could do to make it stop. It was a real sense of helplessness. A few teachers and a parent were also there at about the same time. I think we all realized there wasn't much we could do. The emergency squad arrived about 8 minutes after I called. I ran to the front doors and brought the Paramedics to where the nurse and the boy was.

When we arrived, the convulsions had stopped, the boy was unconscious, and very pale. I had to get back to what I was doing (keeping an eye on the kids), but it really had an impact on me the rest of the day and night.

Later, there were some other children around and few of the girls were crying. They started asking questions about what happened and more importantly if he was going to be alright. I reassured them as best as I could, but realized how little I knew about the subject or even what one should do in a situation like this.

I spent some time tonight researching it and found some pretty decent information about what do to when it happens here: http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/emergencies/seizure.html

A child who's having a seizure should be placed on the ground or floor in a safe area. Remove any nearby objects. Loosen any clothing around the head or neck. Do not try to wedge the child's mouth open or place an object between the teeth, and do not attempt to restrain movements. Once the seizure seems to have ended, roll your child onto his or her side.

Call emergency medical services immediately if your child:

* has difficulty breathing
* turns bluish in color
* has sustained a head injury
* seems ill
* has a known heart condition
* has never had a seizure before
* might have ingested any poisons, medications, etc.

If your child has previously had seizures, call emergency services if the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or if the seizure is different or unusual.

If your child is breathing normally and the seizure lasts just a few minutes, you can wait until it has subsided, then call your doctor.

Following the seizure, your child will probably fall into a deep sleep (this is called the postictal period). This is normal, and you should not try to wake your child. Do not attempt to give food or drink until your child is awake and alert.

Nikeplus

The Chronicles of Narnia and reading with your child...

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
-Albert Einstein.

My son Tom and I have read "The Chronicles of Narnia" series (by C.S. Lewis) at the same time and sometimes together. I found that this was the easiest way to be able to test him on the material that he read and help prepare him for the computerized tests that he was required to take in school, after reading each book.

Read the series. Even as an adult, I amazed at Lewis' ability to marry so many great concepts of imagination, parallels of Christianity, physics, good and evil, etc. across the 7 books.

We have spent hours and hours discussing things such as the time continuum, Einsteins theory, as it relates the book. The thing is, I really have not talked to him much about what the theory says. Instead, asking him many guided questions about how the children in the books, leave our world, spend many years in Narnia, helping Aslan, then going back to our world as if no time has passed at all.

The following article is a great kind of "Summation" of it.


I am so proud of the boy.

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all!!!

EE Cummings

I have always liked poetry. Some of the abstract stuff, I just don't get, no matter how cool some people think it is. When you think of Robert Frost's "Whose woods these are I think I know, his house is in the village though", you think about those times when you are alone and maybe even feeling alone inside. You can imagine yourself (maybe you have been there) in a woods in the winter, all alone. You can totally relate to the situation the writer is in.

When I was young, I discovered ee cummings. His use of punctuation and use of only upper case or only lower case letters is what caught my eye. After I really started to get to know his work, I admired him because he is just plain and simple a lover, totally into the woman he's with. He wrote about how he felt in bed with his love (this one is my favorite i like my body when it is with your ), or how she (who ever she was at the time) got inside his head and how he discovered himself through being with her. In the "i love you much(most beautiful darling) ", you can tell she got in his head and he was just out there looking at the world around him, thinking about it and describing it in terms of how he felt, now that he knew she was in it.
I think many of us go through that... he just expresses himself exceptionally better then the rest of us:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddg87c5z_4fcrnkwd9&hl=en

Running....

In August of 2007, my dad told me that he had started to walk (exercise walk). He told me about how great he felt. His cholesterol was pretty bad prior to this, and it just made sense to him. My dad smoked for years, so to hear him say this was quite amazing. You know how when you are a kid and you don't listen to a single thing your parents say? And then, when you get older, you listen and actually hear? (crap I must be getting old). Not sure what it is, but I heard and felt what he was saying and soon after decided to get my fat ass off the couch and start running. It was Labor Day weekend,2007. My first run was a 3 miler along Lakeshore Blvd. in Euclid. It hurt and at the same time, felt good.

You know how people tell you they used to be runners, but their knees or back or something gave? I figured if I was going to pursue this, I better figure out what works and what not to do. I looked up running on line. There is a ton of information out there about it. Half of it, I am not sure I believe. However, my son Tommy's friend's mom, Kathy Gulla and my co-worker/friend Cheryl Link were the ones who pretty much coached me and frankly, gave me some really good advice. They talke about things like the importance of good shoes, stretching, how to run, where to look on the net and in magazines for information, etc., how to increase your runs so as not to hurt oneself, and how to increase speed. Those two gals gave me a wealth of knowledge in the first year.

In September of 2007, I started to run 5 days a week. For the first three months or so, it was about 3 - 3.5 per day. My pace was about a 9 minute mile. Kathy told me several times, that I could do the Columbus Half Marathon with no problem. There wasn't a lot of time to train, so I put my heart into it and ran my ass off until it hurt... but felt really good.

By October 2007, I was running an 8:15 mile on short runs and closer to 8:45 on longer ones.

A little bit about where we live:
Columbus, Ohio is a great place to live and raise a family (not much to see as far as visiting goes, though). It's flat as it comes and there are a HUGE number of runners here. I am not sure how it came to be, but Columbus has many bike paths, but there is one in particular that is just amazing. It runs along the Olentangy River from Delaware County to some place well south of the city for miles and miles. The river is a bit more then a stones throw from our house so it's easy to take advantage of it ( about 200 hundred yards behind us).

One other thing about Columbus. In the third week of October every year, there is the Columbus Marathon. If you have never run a marathon or even a half, then I would HIGHLY advise running Columbus. The Columbus Marathon is Great. It's very flat, but more importantly, there are THOUSANDS of volunteers manning water stations just about ever mile. There are 50 some bands lining the streets (keeping you motivated). The Army National Guard flew over head in 2007 with three Huey's. There are so many people cheering you on. There are volunteers who will actually take your bags (and stuff) from the starting line to the finish line, so you can pick it up after you are done running.

When I started running, I was, 5'9 and almost 200 lbs. (50% of the 200lbs was Great Lakes Brewing Company Beer). While I was running, (on a summer weekend, I easily pass 1000 people on the path) people would run up along side of you and just start talking to you. They would talk about how many races they have been in or how they started running, or the running club they are in. At first, it was kind of weird. I felt like I was being indoctrinated into some kind of cult, but nobody but me was egging me on to join. Getting your fat ass off the couch, feeling good about yourself, really thinking about your life, enjoying the outside, etc. was what pushed me. By the way, one other thing to mention, I love beer. Even after I became a runner, I refused to stop drinking beer (if you want to give me a gift, give me a jug of Barley's Brewing Company Pale Ale or Great Lakes Brewing Companies Burning River). Remember: 1. Everything in moderation, and 2. Beer is good.

While running here in Columbus, there were folks (total strangers) on the bike path who were very encouraging. You want to stop to rest, but they were like "Keep going, just a little bit longer", "Keep up the good work"... so you just continued to run...sucking up the pain and going..maybe just another mile before you rest.
In the third week of October 2007, only 12 weeks after I started to run daily, I ran the half marathon (13.1 miles). I remember thinking about all the people that encouraged me to just keep going, especially all those I encountered on the bike path. The half was awfully difficult; by mile 12, my legs were hurting so bad, but I pushed on.
By the end of the race, I was tearful because I could not believe I did it.

I never noticed runners before I became one. Now that I am one, well, it's extremely difficult not to notice them. There is an indian/asian fellow who lives a few streets away. I noticed that he was pretty heavy when he first started to run and furthermore, was running at a snails pace. But it's amazing to see the same guy a year later, because he has definitely took off a minute per mile since then and he is about 3/4 the size.
Also, there is a tall gal who runs with a doberman pincher past my house almost daily. When I first noticed her running, she was probably running a 14 minute mile and was pear shaped. She was overweight and was working hard at it. I have no idea who she is or where she lives in our area but I know one thing, it's amazing to watch her transformation'; she isn't skinny, but she definitely lost an enormous amount of weight and today probably does a 10 minute mile.

I guess my point in this blog entry is that if you are a runner, a walker, a bicyclist then when you are out on the road doing your thing and see others doing the same, then say hello, even it's a simple wave. It's a good way to encourage others to keep moving forward.
If you are thinking about running, then do it, and don't give up. Get a really GOOD pair of shoes from a running store (where someone will actually fit you with a special shoe). Go to places like www.mapmyrun.com to get distances of your run. If you have kids and no time, then make it while they are sleeping or at school. Running is a great feeling and one that I hope many will experience.

happy running:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6Crvc-dE9rklBbYokdJGHXCkxoXwmxNkUq0iMQzfbPn17aCTjIX-19XRtPIYWHP4AzKoBhHFPU-0tWWCv4HjlL48IRUOCLZhcAzJT8xQzYdOJoRnp1ww1RlUzlJskmn4UEPmePoxq50/s1600-h/papamarathon.jpg

Chuck Kozak

MATISYAHU

My friends Scott Roth and his dad Paul have an extensive collection of music. Back in the Spring of 2006, he was listening to this CD that had a Hasidic Jewish guy on the cover. I asked him what it was he was listening to. He told me Jewish Reggae...Matisyahu. I giggled a bit and borrowed the CD. I was immediately hooked... Great Stuff.

Since then I have bought the albums Youth and Live At Stubs:

This is Matisyahu - King Without a Crown (Live @ Stubbs) on YouTube:

Bill Nye, the Science Guy Rocks

There aren't enough people on the planet, like Bill Nye... this guy mixes science and humor for all of those young teen minded people.

The Offspring

I like many varieties of music. For the last few years though, my favorite band has been The Offspring.

They are kind of punk, with the beat of death metal, but with the flavor of Weird Al. In general, they are just a really fun band. Arlene and I have seen them in concert here in Columbus and they are absolutely great Live.
Their music is great for running too... always a motivator when I can't get my fat ass moving down the trail.

Here's their website:
the offspring

And here's one song that I think is relatively representative of some of their work...kind of reminds me of how some people really are:

Coffee

Greeeaat Opinion Art Blog on Coffee from the New York Times

Image Illusions

8 Illusions...

Dear Future Me...

here's the story:
two fellas started this site so that you could write yourself a letter to be delivered at a later date. we've all had to do them in high school and college. it's sorta cool to receive a letter from yourself about where you thought you'd be a year (two years? more?) later. FutureMe.org is based on the principle that memories are less accurate than emails. we strive for accuracy.

Well, afterwards, the fellas were approached about compiling the best for a book... and so it was:

Read some of those here:

Or read it on www.amazon.com

just read...