Mon - February 19, 2007

How not to...


Talk To Your Kids. (What NOT to praise your kids for).

Great* article for parents and teachers.

*(For the benefit of new readers, a "great" article is any article that confirms my biases. In this case, at least, I think you'll agree- my biases were sound).

Posted at 10:04 AM    

Fri - September 8, 2006

For richer, for poorer... mostly for richer.


A bad reason to get married, but a good reason to reconsider ending a marriage...
"If you really want to increase your wealth, get married and stay married,"

Posted at 09:30 AM    

Sun - August 27, 2006

Parenting advice: What to do if your baby won't go to sleep...


... walk quietly into the room. Place the baby on his side, right on the edge of the bed. Eventually he will drop off.

you're welcome!

Posted at 09:30 PM    

Tue - June 27, 2006

The Greatest Dance


This is very moving (no pun intended). Click on the pic...

Posted at 11:21 PM    

Mon - April 24, 2006

Mother's Day is just around the corner...


... and here's a nice essay by my good friend Bonnie...
Mom was a "whummer." Every waking moment, if she wasn’t talking, she was "whumming" — an odd cross between a hum and a whistle. It wasn’t a loud sound but airy and barely under her breath.
One day, Dad and I finally aked, "What is that tune?" She just said, "I really don’t know." We were astonished that we had heard the same basic melody for years, yet she could not come close to "naming that tune."
As soothing and comforting as a cricket-filled summer night, the tune of the "whum" seemed oddly familiar, yet somehow unknown. As a child, I knew that all was right with the world when Mom began her peculiar serenade.

Posted at 11:59 AM    

Tue - April 11, 2006

the joys of marriage...


It's very comforting to know that once you get married, no matter what may come along, you'll always have someone at your side to blame it on.

Posted at 11:26 AM    

Sat - April 8, 2006

empty nest...


We just found out our youngest has been accepted for a two year term as a dorm assistant at a school for missionary kids in Germany (leaving in July). She'll be in a large house with the two dorm parents and 13 kids. We'll be in an empty house consisting of two kid-less parents. Is that an oxymoron? It sure feels like one! Yes, we know it's time for her to move on. But it's still hard. This is the first time I've ever really wished we had had a fourth child!

Posted at 05:47 PM    

Tue - March 21, 2006

Mom's new home...


... is in heaven with her Lord. But her earthly remains reside here- Fort Rosecrans- a beautiful spot for her family to come and remember her.


Posted at 01:31 PM    

Mon - March 20, 2006

John Wooden


Bruce e-mailed this to me, I don't know the source, but it's a great read:

On the 21st of the month, the best man I know will do what he always does on the 21st of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to his best girl. He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't wait to see her again.

Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the ribbon again. The stack will be 180 letters high then, because the 21st will be 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years, died.

In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on his pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between---with just the old bedspread they shared to keep him warm.

There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, the last in 1975.  Nobody has ever come within six of him.

He won 88 straight games between January 30, 1971, and January 17, 1974. Nobody has come within 42 since.

So, sometimes, when the Basketball Madness gets to be too much -- too many players trying to make Sports Center, too few players trying to make assists, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long enough to become men -- I like to go see Coach Wooden.

I visit him in his little condo in Encino, 20 minutes northwest of Los Angeles, and hear him say things like "Gracious sakes alive!" and tell stories about teaching "Lewis" the hook shot. Lewis Alcindor, that is...who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

There has never been another coach like Wooden, quiet as an April snow and square as a game of checkers; loyal to one woman, one school, one way; walking around campus in his sensible shoes and Jimmy Stewart morals.

He'd spend a half hour the first day of practice teaching his men how to put on a sock. "Wrinkles can lead to blisters," he'd warn. These huge players would sneak looks at one another and roll their eyes. Eventually, they'd do it right. "Good," he'd say. "And now for the other foot."

Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knows the whereabouts of 172. Of course, it's not hard when most of them call, checking on his health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that they can write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who will roll their eyes.

"Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say. "Never lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud and confident."

If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity and you're done for the day. Treat your opponent with respect.

He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs. "There's no need," he'd say.

No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. "What about the fellows who wore that number before? Didn't they contribute to the team?" he'd say.

No long hair, no facial hair.  "They take too long to dry, and you could catch cold leaving the gym," he'd say. That one drove his players bonkers. One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard. "It's my right," he insisted.  Wooden asked if he believed that strongly. Walton said he did. "That's good, Bill," Coach said. "I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them, I really do. We're going to miss you." Walton shaved it right then and there. Now Walton calls once a week to tell Coach he loves him.

It's always too soon when you have to leave the condo and go back out into the real world, where the rules are so much grayer and the teams so much worse.

As Wooden shows you to the door, you take one last look around. The framed report cards of his great-grandkids, the boxes of jellybeans peeking out from under the favorite wooden chair, the dozens of pictures of Nellie.

He's almost 90 now. You think a little more hunched over than last time. Steps a little smaller. You hope it's not the last time you see him. He smiles. "I'm not afraid to die," he says. "Death is my only chance to be with her again."

Problem is...  we still need him here.

Posted at 04:04 PM    

Tue - December 13, 2005

Too much self-esteem?


So claims this article , and I don't doubt that it's true.

"Virtually every teacher from preschool to college that I interview sees a change in today's kids," said Doherty. "Psychologists who work with kids see it too. There is a widespread if not unanimous opinion that this generation of children does feel more entitled than any previous generation in history."

Doherty allows that "you could go all the way back and quote Aristotle" about how this generation of kids is harder to control than the last. "What's different is this generation of kids believes adults don't have the right to tell kids what to do," explained Doherty.

The article sees this as an ominous development, and it is, but I also see a bit of a silver lining. It sorta looks like home-schooled kids are about to take over the world while their peers sit around and play video games. A big problem remains: too many of them and not enough of us.

Posted at 09:31 AM    

Thu - December 1, 2005

Absolutely, positively, totally freaking clueless...


Here's what happens when nerds grow up and get jobs...

SINGAPORE (Nov. 28) - Singapore scientists looking for ways to transmit the sense of touch over the Internet have devised a vibration jacket for chickens and are thinking about electronic children's pyjamas for cyberspace hugs. A wireless jacket for chickens or other pets can be controlled with a computer and gives the animal the feeling of being touched by its owner, researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) told Monday's edition of The Straits Times.

The next step would be to use the same concept to transmit hugs over the Internet, it said. "These days, parents go on a lot of business trips, but with children, hugging and touching are very important," the paper quoted NTU Associate Professor Adrian David Cheok as saying. NTU is thinking of a pyjama suit for children, which would use the Internet to adjust changes in pressure and temperature to simulate the feeling of being hugged. Parents wearing a similar suit could be "hugged" back by their children, the paper said.

Posted at 11:42 PM    

Wed - November 16, 2005

Attention mommy-bloggers!


Be sure and give a listen to my song of the week- "The One Who Knows" (top of the page). (Keep a kleenex handy).

Posted at 09:14 PM    

Jon Carroll's startling revelation: more powerful than wives!

best find of the day: the list that saved my marriage

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