Family

It's that time of week again. Not that I've been consistent about it at all....Sans has been sick all weekend. We won't go into any nasty details. Mugwump is his usual happy-go-lucky self, and Sixpence is full of smiles and mischief, like always. Here are some pics of some of the things we've been up to lately.

I took the boys on a hike (OK, maybe we've been on a few in the last couple weeks - I can't resist!) and we had a great time. This was before they started using themselves as bulldozers on the dusty trail.
OK, so it's not the best picture, but I couldn't resist putting one in of both boys dressed up.

Last week we learned about construction, so we used gumdrops, marshmallows, and toothpicks to build things. Mugwump built a bridge, a tower, and here he is working on a house. He learned that gumdrops make the best structures because they're not as flimsy as the marshmallows. Sixpence just ate lots of marshmallows.

Can you tell he's having a good time? I am so grateful (thinking of Sans' last post) for my happy, healthy kids who (most of the time) get along with each other. They're awesome!

- TV Free

Gratitude

OK, I was on a role moving toward how bikes were going to take over the world and leave automobile drivers in a crumpled heap, begging for mercy, but I decided to go in a different direction. I was over at No Impact Man and he had a wonderful blog about gratitude and I want to copy it. Normally I don't like it when people sort of copy blogs, but his entry made me take a step back and think of what I'm grateful for. It's a rough semester and at times I think I would be grateful for a lot more if I didn't spend 17 hours a day at school staring at this stupid computer. So I'm going to take an opportunity every week to make a short list of things that I'm thankful for. And frankly, this is completely different than No Impact Man's blog because I"m not grateful for his wife, daughter or dog, although I'm sure they're wonderful.

My wife who is supportive even after she spends the entire day with no help with the kids.

The time that I get to spend with my boys when I get home from school. It's not a lot, but I'm REALLY grateful for those moments.

Venus. It's super bright right now on the Eastern horizon every morning on my way to school. It reminds me of the eternities and my place in this world.

The owl that buzzes my head every time I forget to look for him on my way in to school.

The rabbit that runs across the road when I ring my bell.

An idea for a dissertation topic that is both realistic and something that I'm excited to do.

An endless list of things I'm thankful for. I could go on forever, but I'm not going to... I have to save some for next week.

What are you thankful for? I know that not many people read this blog, but I want all of the lurkers to post at least one thing you are thankful for. You can do it anonymously, but one of the greatest things I'm thankful for is positive people in the world. Even when life is hard, there is a lot to be thankful for. Share it.

The fall of a king

My last post involved a video of water buffaloes versus lions and the intent was to demonstrate that just because the lion has always been "king" doesn't mean that it always wins (if you haven't watched it, you should, it's a good one). There is power in working together toward a good cause. Here is another youtube clip. While NYC might be considered "wildlife" this is a clip cyclists taking over the city. It's called critical mass.

I do want to make it clear that I understand what critical mass has come to be (a sort of anarchist party revolving around smoking pot and getting drunk), and I don't support that. I support the principle. In fact, it took a little searching to find a video on youtube that didn't include cyclists being rude and destructive. That's unfortunate.

The idea that if enough people are bound together for a good cause (less cars, more bikes), they can disrupt the norm and lead toward change. For an even better example of the power of numbers, visit Vertigo, he had a great post today of a video from Amsterdam.

Some day I'll figure out how to embed video. I did it once before, but whenever I try now, it seems that youtube won't let me. Oh well.

Power in numbers

Busted. I got caught wasting time on You Tube. So the result is a great video about the power of numbers. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself or your kids. To watch the video, click here.

Half-empty optimism

I went to a talk over the weekend on transportation. Blah, blah, blah. It wasn't interesting. The speaker said one thing that caught my attention. She said that parking lots can be found half empty.

That got me to thinking. I have always liked being a "glass half full" type of guy. Why? Because I like to be seen as optimistic and I like to think that I really do want to see the brighter side of things. But wait, isn't it better if a parking lot is empty? That means people didn't drive there, and that would be good.

This opened a huge can of worms. Have I been tricked all this time? (I think I have). Is this whole "glass half full" bit all about more being better? I think it is.

I always see the metaphorical "glass" as being full of water. Water is good and people don't drink enough, so more water is better. But what if that "glass" is half full of kool-aid? Really there shouldn't be any kool-aid in there at all, that stuff will kill you. So in that case, wouldn't it be optimistic to think of the glass as half empty?

So here it is, I now see the glass as half empty and I'm optimistic about it. I think the glass is full of stuff and I don't think that having more of it is going to be better in any way. In fact, I want less. I want to rely less on the stuff in the glass so that we can live in a sustainable world. I am also optimistic that we, as a society, can think outside of the box and make change toward being better. Minus is the new Plus.

A good use for money

For the second time this week, I left to go home, only to find that my bike had a flat tire. Tuesday was a puncture, yesterday I had a little hole in the tire which caused the inner-tube to pop. Because of the size of the hole in the tire, a new inner-tube would not have fixed the problem (the tube sort of leaks out of the hole and pops). I needed to fix it, but I didn't have a spare tire with me, only tubes. I had heard of using dollar bills before, but I had never actually seen it done. So I pulled out my wallet and grabbed a one dollar bill and put it inside the tire, over the hole. I then put in a new tube and it worked like a charm. In fact, i didn't have a chance to change the tire last night, so I'm still riding on it.

I was also proud of the tube I put in. It wasn't a new tube, I went through all of my new tubes on Tuesday when I ended up staying up late fixing inner-tubes because they all had holes in them (there were 5 that I fixed that night). During my inner-tube repair marathon on Tuesday, i ran out of patches. Of course the patch kits come with plenty of vulcanizing solution (some people call it glue, but really it isn't), but not enough patches. So I cut up an old inner-tube and used those for patches. You see, that is the beauty of vulcanizing solution, it isn't glue, it actually melts the rubber on the inner-tube and allows it to dry and chemically bond to the patch. If I use an inner-tube as a patch, then, theoretically, it should work. As I already said, I'm still riding on last night's repair job, so using an old piece of inner-tube works great for patching punctures.

Now I'm going to try to stop getting flats, I think that would work far better.

Preschool

I wrote the most incredible post yesterday... and then Google ate it. Come on, I expect that from Microsoft, but Google? Anyway, I'm going to try again. This one will likely be shorter because I'm lacking on time.

I saw this picture over at no impact man and thought it was quite fitting. So I've been watching my kids and thinking of their interactions. The one thing that brings me the most happiness and pride in my life is to see them sharing and interacting. Really, it happens sometimes. Seeing the Mugwump (older child) take Six-pence (younger child) a toy or water bottle and just give it to him. You ask why he did that and he responds, "because it looked like he wanted it." Those are the moments when it is great to be a parent. Sure, I live in a home where the kids spend plenty of time fighting over toys, water bottles are access to a kitchen chair, and those are the moments that bring me the greatest headaches.

So sharing, that principle that most emphasized in preschool is really what brings me the greatest happiness. Looking beyond my kids, those moments when someone stops to offer me a hand with a flat tire or invites me to share a meal with them. Those are the moments that mean the most to me. Yet what happens after preschool? Kids don't need supplies in preschool, everything is provided and everything is shared (that's how I remember it anyway, and I went to A LOT of preschool). Kindergarten, on the other hand, you have to have your OWN supplies and we have our OWN desk and we start in with ownership. By high school, you have your OWN locker to store your OWN stuff and your OWN parking spot to park your OWN car. Why do we move away from sharing? (To be fair, I had to share a locker in high school, but I did have my own parking spot).

So what could we share now? How about a lawn mower and garden tools, or even tools in general. How many times have you gone for a walk around the block and noticed everyone using a hammer at the same time? Couldn't the block all share one or two hammers? Why do we each have our own? Lawn Mowers are a little different story because everyone mows their lawn on Saturday morning. Couldn't we sort of stagger that and share a lawnmower? I'm impressed on our block, the neighbor kids mow several lawns in the neighborhood so they can save up money. I think it's great, that way the neighbor kids have one lawnmower and they mow many lawns. Realistically, we could just share the one lawnmower. Could we also share a car? I know that my family could, if we found the right family to share with, but it would take a little planning.

So why don't we share anymore? I'll give it to you in one word... Inconvenience. I'll give you another word that comes to mind... Greed. Right, we need to have our own lawnmower, otherwise we couldn't mow the lawn on Saturday morning when we normally do. We might have to wait to mow the lawn or actually communicate with others in organizing when we will mow the lawn. That would be completely unacceptable (I'm not sure why, but it seems to be). Imagine if we shared all garden tools amongst a small group. That group would be forced to communicate with one another. We could build bonds among our neighbors. Sure, when Dave up the street decides to use the pruning sheers to cut wire, the group gets upset because he has ruined the sheers. But you know what, that doesn't have to be the end of a relationship. We don't have to hate Dave because he broke the sheers, the sheers are replaceable and we can teach him about wire cutters. That's another thing I like seeing my kids doing, solving problems, why don't adults do that any more? I'll give you another word to think about... Pride.

So I want to talk about that picture. Let's look at the big picture (not the picture at the top of the page, but the metaphorical picture). There are things that we are forced to share. The air, the land, water and public space are all great examples. If we don't share nicely it leads to problems. It leads to bigger problems than we expect. For example, I don't like it when passing motorists use the air I'm breathing to exhaust their cars. That makes for air that is hard to breathe. I know, I'm the only one inconvenienced by that... I'm sure the driver of the car didn't mind at all (that's why all cars should be exhausted into the driver's compartment). Let's look at the bigger picture. Did you know that car exhaust is closely linked to cardiovascular disease deaths and asthma? Do you know any children with asthma? Do you have any loved ones who have died of a heart attack? Do you know that your driving contributed to that? If we continue to "progress" by increasing streets and increasing driving, we may see that picture at the top of the page.

Sorry that turned into doom and gloom, I have a different perspective. Get out and enjoy nature. Do your best to share it with others. One of the best way of doing that is sharing resources. Sure it may be less convenient if you don't have your own, but consider it an opportunity to get to know someone better.