#SummerHat13

I've been conducting a video contest to determine my Official Hat of Summer for the last three years.
I present candidate hats to choose from and ask you the public to vote on which hat you like the most. Whichever hat gets the most votes will be the only hat I wear outside for the entire summer upcoming.



I would love it if you vote.
Leave a comment here or in the comment section of the video itself, if you want to travel over to my actual YouTube channel.

Laid Back? Nope!

It's tough to learn things about yourself.

Earlier tonight I took Grace to her second softball game of the season. Unfortunately, Grace wasn't playing because her right arm is still healing from a procedure we had to undergo LAST Friday night. But hopefully she'll be able to play after the weekend of healing is finished.

Anyway, the game is nearing the end; its the bottom of the fifth inning; Grace's team is down by four. If they get the league maximum of five runs scored (since they are the home team for this game), they can win because it is already 8:15 and games aren't supposed to go past 8:30. And anyway, the clouds are moving in and the predicted rain is approaching.

Unfortunately, the Lions don't score. So I thought Grace would go home disappointed. But the umpire decides to let the final and sixth inning begin--even though the other team (the Cobras) already have the lead and the weather and the overall time limit and whatnot.

I get frustrated because it seems like it would only guarantee that Grace's Lion teammates will end up losing by a higher margin and they won't even get a chance to bat in the bottom of the sixth. And this is heightened by the fact that the other team is slow taking the field for defense when the Lions DO miraculously get their chance to bat in the bottom half of the sixth (and really final) inning. The Cobra defensive players get out on the field, but the pitcher just stands there while the coaches get the catchers gear on their team catcher.

Now, why isn't one of the three team coaches for the Cobra's not filling in for the catcher while the girl is getting her pads strapped on? And why must we wait for the pitcher to warm up when the catcher is finally ready, when something could have been done with an adult in the interim? And don't forget about the coming darkness, the time limit, the rain clouds, and did I just feel some rain drops? And why are we playing this sixth inning anyway?

I'm not chill enough to be involved in this. I can only be a (not entirely) silent spectator.

And yes, the Lions did lose. (But I think they'll improve when Grace can get on the field to help them.)

BEDA 21: Hands. Writing. Work

Credit: www.edwardbouches.com

My fingers are dry, rough, and peeling. But they didn't get this way because I swing a hammer all day or clean up fence rows. I didn't construct a swing set in the backyard this weekend or rebuild the engine in the van.

My best guess? Friday afternoon I spent a few hours collating text book tearsheets, sorting and stacking 11 x 17 pages of paper, pulling off paper tags, moving bunches, shuffling the paper from here to there on my desk, to a copier to make some scanned PDF files, then back to my desk to do it again.

Believe it or not, rubbing the page edges on my finger tips must have abraded the sin more dramatically than you might otherwise assume. So, maybe office work is more manly than is otherwise supposed?

(Nah, I don't really believe that either.)

***

I've also been catching up on my Fresh Air podcasts the last few days and thoroughly enjoyed her interview with David Sedaris on Thursday. I really enjoy Sedaris' writing. I bought the audio book of his previous volume, and like to hear Sedaris' distinct voice reading the stories that he wrote. His new collection--Lets Talk About Diabetes with Owls--is partially based on some of his private journals that he has been keeping since the 1970s.

Thinking about the daily commitment to observation, note-taking, writing, and collecting for that many years is impressive. And it certainly has paid off for Sedaris. Listening to him talk about writing, though, is frustrating. I imagine what that life might be like . . . left to your own devices and thoughts, writing every day, making a living off of that writing, being successful. It sounds great, but the work is much harder than you might suppose. It involves unspoken talent and skill that doesn't just come from finding the time to write all the time.

And to add insult to injury, in a separate book review, Terri Gross introduced the author by saying that "he entered into his public writing rather late . . ." (at the age of 44!). That immediately made me depressed. I may never be more than a sometimes blogger, I guess.

BEDA 20: Fun with Acronyms (via MentalFloss)

It's much easier to do this daily blogging thing if you completely and totally lean on the hard work and slick production values of others. So, in that spirit, please enjoy this MentalFloss video that has lots of fun information about acronyms and initialisms. (Though . . . I'm still a bit stunned that John didn't provide TARDIS as an example. I guess it's too obvious?)

Though, I would love it if you provide in comments any acronyms or initialisms that YOU expected to see and didn't.

Excelsior!

BEDA 19: Man of Steel Trailers x 2 . . . UPDATED

The new Superman movie is coming out in June. And even though I didn't hate the Bryan Singer offering Superman Returns, there is no denying that Man of Steel looks pretty impressive.

The newest trailer was released just recently, in case you haven't seen it.


(via Warner Bros. YouTube channel)

You may have seen that. But you might not have seen a reimagining of the same trailer using only images from Superman: The Animated Series.


(via YouTuber Jawiin)

Enjoy.

***
April 25 @ 8:14 pm
While perusing the internet tonight, I found a completely different version of the Superman origin story.

Kal-El of the Wild (via The Good Stuff--which is a good new channel on YouTube,created by the excellent Wheezy Waiter.)

BEDA 18: Spoiler Alert

Credit: www.hayleystorm.net

What do you want me to write about today?

I didn't really do much, looking back on the day as it was. I went to work as I normally do and I read emails, I tried to advance forward on the current project while successfully ignoring tasks on two others. I followed orders and frustrated others. I got frustrated myself. (I suppose I should be more of an active agent in things rather than serving as other people's mouthpiece--but that would probably require that a.) I was emotionally engaged in some of the things that I have to do and b.) I wasn't slipping more and more into a doldrum-ic state (who's about THAT for coining a phrase? anyone?)

(And isn't THAT entire last sentence a sorry admission of things?)

I left work early so that I could take Sarah to her orthodontist appointment. And then I spent the rest of the late afternoon with her and Hannah, fixing dinner, playing a bit with the kids in the backyard and then counting the hours until Lynda and I can relax a bit on our own before falling asleep and doing it all again tomorrow.

So . . . what do you want me to write about today?

If you clever, you can see what I don't write about between the lines of the poor words and phrases that I can squeeze out. And sometimes there is nothing interesting hiding there at all. Sometimes I am just sitting and typing and letting my fingers transcribe the jumble of words that are forming in my head with very little in the way of filter and only pausing to fix a typo resulting from my fumbling fingers. And the I pause to let my fingers and my arms rest and I'm left with the question rattling around in my brain.

What do you want me to write about today?

The inspiration for the title above was in the chance that I might be inspired to write something about last night's Game of Thrones episode or last night's Mad Men episode. But I don't have much energy (or any notes) to try and lay out all of the events that occurred. And besides--as the title suggests--you might not have seen them yet--or at all. And if you had, you've most likely turned to other professional recappers to lay out all of the themes and call backs* and subtext. I very likely could never approach that level of detail and thematic consistency, what with my not taking notes and all.

So . . . what do I write about today?

I'm officially out of ideas for now. My fingers are still and my mind is done spinning.


*Be honest. Raise your hand if you knew that when Don eavesdropped on Peggy's ketchup pitch, he (and you) recognized that the phrasing she used ("switch the conversation") was stolen directly from her master's mouth?**

**Also, be honest again . . . did you realize until this moment that I intentionally used the phrase master's mouth to simultaneously refer to Peggy's apprenticeship with Don and to hint to the famous RCA Victor ad campaign?

BEDA 17: Sharon Woods

We took the kids on a ramble in the Sharon Woods metro park this afternoon after church.

They devised a scavenger hunt of things to find. We split into teams and spent a while in the trails.

There are lots of old, impressive looking trees in the backwoods trails of the metro parks. Too bad this old boy wasn't able to leaf out anymore. But he's still standing.

Then we came home and I mowed the back yard, bought some mulch, did the grocery shopping, and now I'm home and we're about to have dinner.

My legs are tired and I am tired.

BEDA 16: Honest Trailers, Harry Potter edition

Sarah showed me this Honest Trailer today on the YouTubes.
If you haven't heard of Honest Trailers, well, you'll get the idea once you see the trailer.

(There is a slight bit of suggestive language--but only just a little. If that sort of thing offends you, you've been warned. But it really isn't that bad.)

BEDA 15: Hearts and Minds

We all know that there has been lots of terrible news this week. Some of it seems intentionally terrible (the Boston Marathon bombings and last night's/today's suspect mayhem) and some of it (the West, Texas fertilizer plant) seemed--at least to me--at first terrible and then just accidental and terribly regrettable.

Weeks like this remind us that the world is dangerous, unpredictable, full of anger, and frightening. But we are also buoyed by the heroic actions of helpers, volunteers, people who love life and want to resist evil and anger and sadness. We celebrate the helpers and the survivors and try to keep going forward to a positive place.

Credit: .forbes.com/johnkotter/

But when the public statements begin to wane and the daily grind of making choices return to the fore, the dirty business of devising solutions must begin. And I fear how those days will go because I am weary of the posturing and empty statements that cover asses but achieve nothing. Many nights when I get ready to go to bed, I have spent the previous ten minutes ranting to Lynda about how politicians are a.) unwilling to make choices, even if those choices might be unfavorable or b.) are absolutely convinced that they choices they choose NOT to make are done so to forestall the potential of (as yet) unforeseen consequences. I get angry that we don't have legislators willing to lead, but are instead willing to delay.

And, in the end, even if laws are passed . . . problems do not go away.

These are the thoughts that I had last night as I was going to sleep:

a.) the modern civil rights movement "began" around 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation. But segregation didn't disappear overnight. Continued fights about implementation and completing were still going in the 1970s.

b.) significant mass public protests regarding civil rights were kick-started with the successful Montgomery bus boycott of 1954-1955. Immediate changes began occurring in Montgomery that year. And yet, interstate bus segregation was still begin fought by the Freedom Riders in the mid 1960s.

c.) Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many other leaders and activists were publicly speaking and protesting for civil rights starting in the late 1950s. And yet major, significant national legislation didn't occur until 1965. And the Voting Rights Act wasn't passed until two years after that--following its own series of targeted marches, protests, and much negotiation.

All of this doesn't even acknowledge that much of this was (technically) legally unnecessary if only people had been willing to acknowledge the finality of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments which were passed a century in the past.

The law is important, symbolic, and entirely NECESSARY. I am not diminishing the vital use of laws. But laws are only a necessary step to final success. People must accept the law and learn to live by it and see through it and feel the equality of those words within their hearts. We MUST have laws, because that is how a society is governed and that is how a government speaks to its people and tells them what is necessary and minimally required for cooperative living. But we know that laws are not the final solution to the problem.

Time, education, reality, acceptance, love, and forgiveness are the mechanisms that make laws breathe and that make society real and lasting and secure.

We want our social problems solved immediately because we think we can control everything through science and technology and effort and commitment. But true, meaningful change comes slowly. It must be earned, understood, internalized, and most of all accepted.

This is not what we want to hear during times of crisis and disagreement. But I believe it is true. And that slow change must come by hard, consistent, thoughtful, committed, careful work. The people who want that change must actually do something and stand for it and speak of it in effective ways that make the rightness of it clear. It cannot be shouted. It must be spoken. It cannot be demanded. It must be lovingly requested. And it cannot be gifted. It must be worked for and won . . . won because those who oppose it are persuaded that it is right and just and necessary and GOOD.

This takes time.

It is time well spent.

BEDA 14: Martins Films

Yesterday afternoon, while I was baring my soul, the girls were out back making a movie. They asked if they could download the iMovies app for the iPad and Grace said she would pay for it out of her allowance. So I said yes. And the three of them went out there and made The Princess of Pink. (The story idea was Hannah's but I think Sarah and Grace handled most of the scene creation.)

They were so pleased with that effort that they quickly came inside and started a new movie, while I gave Hannah a bath.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is The 10-Year Old Spy.

(This blogging every day thing is pretty easy if my kid's handle the content creation.)