I see great things in baseball

Right now Kaddi's life consists of two activities. Providing a source of food for Luke and driving Meg and Jake all over Oahu for their baseball practices and games. I'm a little worried that her demanding schedule might be leading to over-exhaustion.

When Suzi was visiting us she forgot to bring a bottle of lotion, so she asked to borrow some. Kaddi provided an extra large bottle of Dove. As Suzi rubbed it onto her hands and arms she noticed that it didn't absorb like her regular lotion at home. So she looked at the bottle and discovered it was Dove hair conditioner. Could that be a sign someone is mentally fatigued?

On the bright side, Kaddi's arm hair has never been more manageable.

Saturday we were down in Mililani for Jake's game. The weather was cooperative.

For several innings Jake was stationed at the hot corner. Of course, in this league where kids don't really hit the ball that much, they call it the lukewarm corner.

The confident batsman.

The conscientious base runner.

Due to the intensity of the Hawaiian sun an umbrella is an essential item, even when its not raining.











In fairness, Kaddi is not the only one whose decision-making can be called into question. A few weeks ago I had to drive down to Kaneohe to get some diapers. Kaddi sent me off with instructions to get 'Huggies or Pampers - the brand name doesn't really matter.' I thought: if the brand doesn't really matter then I'll buy Safeway diapers for 9.99 instead of Huggies for 23.00.

My shoddy attempt at frugality backfired. Kaddi wouldn't put Safeway diapers on the baby, and in fact they're still sitting in our room. Instead of saving thirteen dollars, I wasted ten.

Happy Birthday, George

Many of you know me as a talented complainer. It has been a past-time that has brought meaning into my life. I can even complain about Hawaii. I complain about our apartment. I complain about coin-operated laundry. I complain about not having a car. I complain about the nearest store being an hour away.

And then comes a day when there's nothing to complain about. What's a guy to do?

Monday was just such a day. It was warm, but not hot. There was a breeze, but it wasn't windy. We packed up the chitlins and headed off to the beach Since we had Luke with us we decided to stay close to home and enjoy Hukilau.

It was a day not soon to be forgotten. Many other families were there enjoying the surf, but it was not crowded. We sat on our towels staring at the blue water as we listened to the waves. And the children played. And Luke slept.

And somewhere in the recesses of my memory rested blurred images of winter in another place and time. Bone-chilling walks home from the bus stop. Wiping condensation off the windshield with frozen hands as we returned from a friends house late at night. Trying to warm my ears after arriving at class. But those memories are worn and sun-bleached

In a few months they'll be gone.





"I think we're going to need a smaller strap"



"So, when you set your VCR to record, the television doesn't have to be on the channel you're recording..."








"No, I don't think that hat makes you look like girl"

Ich bin ein Swapper

Last weekend Kaddi's sister Suzi came out to visit us here in Laie. It was a whirlwind trip, and since it rained most of the time we didn't even get to go to the beach. No matter. It was just as much fun to stay in our apartment and watch The Mummy Returns. Again.

The highlight of the trip was to be Oahu's famous swamp meet. Every weekend they set up a huge outdoor market at Aloha stadium where you can buy as second-hand merchandise to you heart's content. As we drove down to Honolulu, all packed into the Saturn, we dreamed of the fabulous bargains we might find on stuff we wouldn't really use. I was planning to get a baseball hat with flames streaking down both sides.

Imagine our disappointment when we arrived at the stadium to find our beloved swap meet displaced by the NFL's Pro Bowl. I tried to console the family and explain that this was a good thing. Instead of wading through crowds of human roaches digging through each other's garbage, we could spend the afternoon watching the best of the National Football League sleepwalk their way through a game whose ultimate objective was not to get injured. Alas, there were no takers. Our group opted instead to spend the day at the Ala Moana Mall.

After a couple hours of browsing through the ABC stores, we decided it might be exciting to find the bail bonds location owned and operated by Dog the Bounty Hunter. But, since we didn't know where that was, and since we didn't even know where we were, that ultimate prize proved elusive. Our day has started out with such promise, and yet we had failed to realize our most important objectives.

Was it worth missing church? That is for history to decide.

I don't know what you're talking about

I'm watching Mike Huckabee on CNN right now explaining how he's not dropping out of the race because the country needs a choice.

The country made its choice, Mike. And it wasn't you.

Anyway...

Today I had to send out an email to one of my classes. I have a section with only seven students in it, and none of them seem particularly excited about history. For last Thursday's discussion I had only two students show up on time and neither of them had looked at the assigned readings. So, I sent out an email to the class list explaining my expectations, and how their grades reflect participation and attendance.

A few minutes later I received an email response from one of the students which said:

"You sent this to the wrong student. I have no idea what you're talking about."

So I doubled checked my class list, and yes - in fact - this person was in my class. They hadn't attended class all semester. So I responded explaining that they were still listed on the class roster, and they might want to think about dropping the class.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at my door. A panicky student sat down and explained that she'd been attending another section of 202 for over a month now and handing in assignments to another instructor. Now she realized that she was actually registered in my class. We're six weeks into the semester now. It's too late for her to drop my class, and even if she could there'd be no way she could catch up with all the assignments.

*sigh*

I should be glad of another death

This week I read Chinua Achebe's No Longer At Ease in preparation for the weekly discussion portion of my History 202 course. Although its not as well regarded as Things Fall Apart, another of Achebe's books, I found it to be a very interesting read. I highly recommend it to those of you looking for an example of good post-colonial literature.

No Longer at Ease relates the experiences of Obi, a young man who returns to his native Nigerian after spending four years at university in England. He arrives in Lagos with dreams of lifting his homeland out of bonds of colonialism, but becomes increasingly disillusioned as his idealism is frustrated by both traditional and modern barriers. At its core, the book is a tale of alienation. Obi struggles to reconcile the demands of family and acquaintances with his new position and status in the government ministry. He becomes aware that his experience abroad, along with his Christian upbringing, has made him a stranger in his own country. He loves and hates Nigeria as he loves and hates himself.

Achebe is both insightful and impartial in his discussion of how racism immobilizes and embitters a society. Obi experiences racism while in England and again from his white superiors in the government ministry. But on arrival in his home village, his relatives express their joy that he has not married a white woman. Most tragically, Obi is to distraught to learn that his family and community reject his fiance Clara because of her disreputable tribal origins. By attempting to defy these social conventions he brings disaster on himself and Clara.

Within this narrative Achebe explores the unintended effects of educating young Africans in the western model. He asks "What is the purpose and result of this education?" Obi's supervisor, Mr. Green, denounces the practice of educating Africans, claiming they only use their diplomas to grab all they can for themselves and their kin. Obi himself believes knowledge is a power to be utilized in modernizing his country, but he feels overwhelmed and inadequate at the impossibility of his task. In the end, he is slowly crushed between traditional expectations and modern limitations.

"My friends...I don't like you"

Given John McCain's recent victory in Florida it appears likely that he will eventually be the Republican nominee for President. This has set off a firestorm of debate and controversy over the man and his Senate record. Radio talk show hots, tv anchors, newspaper columnists and everyone else are now busy explaining why McCain will ruin the party and most likely the country if he manages to win the election. Some party faithful are even conflicted over whether to not vote or even (gasp!) vote for a Democract if McCain is victorious in Minneapolis. I find this entire conversation so silly and pointless that I naturally wanted to plunge right in.

For the most part, I don't have a problem with McCain in terms of policy. Anyone who tries to define the term 'conservative' so narrowly that it doesn't include John McCain is doing the Republican party no favors. The fact that he disagrees with Republicans on certain issues (although they are BIG issues) almost makes him more appealing as a candidate, not less. After all, don't we want our congressmen to think for themselves, instead of just towing the party line? I also think that McCain-Kennedy was a good piece of legislation. Immigration law in the U.S. is such a disaster that any improvement should be supported by all Americans.

The failure of McCain-Kennedy helps explain why McCain would not make a good President. Although he styles himself as a modern Henry Clay (the Great Compromiser) the bill failed because he wouldn't compromise on what became the most important issue to so many Americans - building a border fence. And the reason he wouldn't compromise is that he cares more about 'reaching across the aisle' and impressing his friends on the left than he does about the base of his own party. He now claims that he's the best qualified to lead on the issue of immigration because he 'comes from a border state.'

Well, Senator - if you're so qualified, why didn't you listen to the people in your own state when they said they wanted a fence?

Far from being someone who will bring Democrat and Republican together, McCain can be counted on to alienate both. I've watched very carefully as he's crossed the country giving various states his special dose of 'straight talk'. This involves finding an issue that's important to those states and griding it under his heel. In Iowa he says, 'Screw your ethanol subsidies.' In Florida he says, 'Screw your diaster insurance.' In Michigan he says, 'Screw your manufacturing jobs.' And in Arizona he says 'The border fence is a stupid idea, I know better than you.'

I'm not suggesting McCain needs to pander to these states (the way Romney clearly did in Michigan) but isn't there room for discussion? You think Bush and Cheney have been arrogant? Just wait until you see the McCain administation. He adopts hardline stances and then is alarmingly vindictive towards those who criticize or question him.

That vindictiveness was first apparent in 2000 when he lost South Carolina BIG and then accused the Bush campaign of dirty tactics, a charge that has never been proven. This time around, after playing the victim of Romney's attack ads for several months, he did one better with his 'timetables' distortion only two days before the Florida election. That was real hard-ball politics. McCain cloaks himself in the robes of an altar boy only to disguise how he's going to stick a shiv in your ribs.

McCain also demostrates an alarming need of approval by the media and the left. Right now he's busy using the memory of Ronald Reagan to tout his conservative credentials. But the moment he's got the nomination look for him to begin distancing himself from the right and saying 'Hey, don't associate me with that gaggle of gay-bashers, polluters, and abortion clinic bombers. I'm a maverick, I'm my own man.' I'm convinced his position on Global Warming and ANWAR represent his desire to be included in that 'enlightened' group of environmentalists. He may end up as a President hated by both Democracts and Republicans.

Finally, McCain demonstrates all the self-absorbed, self-righteous, tendencies of the baby boomer generation (although certainly he represents the best of that generation). He now uses his status as a first-rate war hero to treat others with disdain. He acts as though because he was a POW, he is above criticism, that the Presidency is owed to him. Bob Dole and George Bush both served in WWII, but I don't remember them talking about their veteran status HALF as much as John McCain. He was contemptuous of Bush in 2000 for 'serving' in the National Guard. He's now contemptous of Romney because Mitt comes from an privileged family and went to Harvard. In the debates he has this ascerbic manner of winking and chuckling to himself as he talks down to you. If you didn't spend time in a Vietnamese prison camp, you don't rate.

But it looks like he'll win the nomination. Giuliani has dropped out to prevent splitting the moderate vote with McCain. Huckabee, who seems to be running for Vice President, will stay in to split the conservative vote with Romney for Super Tuesday. McCain will lose in November, and I don't know if that's a bad thing. The strength of democracy is balance, and I think it might be time for the political pendulum to swing the other way for a few years.