Finding his voice

Last night James found his voice and boy did he use it. I could get into much greater detail on this but first I am just too exhausted to do so and for those of you who are parents, you really don't need much of an explanation.

11 days and a few more names

I missed a couple of our son's nicknames in the list I posted yesterday. So here a a few more of the cute nicknames he has so far:

• Bubba
• Bub
• Bubs

Note the theme with this set. All his mother, this time. More to come as they continue to surface.

Ethnic Skin

Have you seen the commercials for the Al Roker NBC special on America's Ethnic Skin? Being as etymologically inquisitive as I am, I wanted to see how they intended to make use of the word "Ethnic" with respect the this so called "Ethnic Skin." Two quotes on articles related to the show shed some light on the direct they might be taking.

"By the year 2050, one-half of the American people will have ethnic skin."

"Melanin-rich skin has unique attributes and special concerns that are best addressed under the medical advice of a dermatologist who is well-experienced in treating ethnic skin,"

Once again white people, you have no ethnicity!

10 days old

Life with a 10 day old son is just about the most exciting adventure one could hope for. There are of course the diapers and midnight feedings which one would naturally expected (though how hard it is to get myself awake in the morning is something I had to experience to truly understand). What I did not anticipate was the volume of nicknames that seem to flow quite naturally from both mom and dad. Here is a sampling of the names the wife and I have been using to comfort and engage our boy.

• Jamesy
  
• Bug-A-Boo
• Bugs
• Snuggle Bug
• Snugs
• Sugar Baby
• Shugs
• Monkey
• Squirt
  

More to come I am sure.

Captain Jackson

For those of you who saw the American Idol Finale last night, this photo might look somewhat familiar. Sadly I was unable to locate a good photo of Randy in his Bob Keeshan look-a-like jacket.

Better to Live and Root Out West

Why is better to live in and root for the West? Just take a look at these scores and I think the answer will be quite clear.

1. Tue, May 6 – Bos 76, Cle 72

• 1. Sun, May 4 – LAL 109, Uta 98

2. Thu, May 8 – Bos 89, Cle 73

• 2. Wed, May 7 – LAL 120, Uta 110

3. Sat, May 10 – Cle 108, Bos 84

• 3. Fri, May 9 – Uta 104, LAL 99

4. Mon, May 12 – Cle 88, Bos 77

• 4. Sun, May 11 – Uta 123, LAL 115 (OT)

5. Wed, May 14 – Bos 96, Cle 89

• 5. Wed, May 14 – LAL 111, Uta 104

6. Fri, May 16 – Cle 74, Bos 69

• 6. Fri, May 16 – LAL 108, Uta 105

7. Sun, May 18 – Bos 97, Cle 92

Now I know that there are those who argue that the East just plays better defense, but no amount of quality defense can excuse a play off game with a winner having 74 points.

Tolerance Worldwide

I was catching up on Modern Reformation magazine a couple weeks ago when I ran across the following quote from a Hinud leader in India on the topic of anti-Christian violence in India.

“Swami Lakshmananda Sarawati, Hindu leader of Orissa, was unapologetic about leading the anti-conversion efforts. Speaking of human rights groups’ regular warnings about anti-Christian violence in India, he said, ‘Christians in India must understand, and understand fast, that they cannot be protected by the US State Department writing its annual vituperative anti-Hindu reports on religious freedom and human rights. Christians can be protected only by the good will of the majority of Hindu in whose midst they have to live. Christians have to earn the good will of the Hindus instead of demanding special protection and special rights.” (March/April 2008, p. 6).

So as much as there are concerns with how intolerant Christians can be for desiring to convert people to Christ, at least we no longer beat them or kill them when they slam the door in our face. What gets me is that it is considered special rights to not have your head bashed in for not offering the proper veneration of Krishna. In our postmodern America Christianity is the only religion without special rights. It is considered an outrageous intolerance to even mention that someone's religion might be wrong. However just like letting Yankee and Red Sox fans know that the world does not revolve around their silly rivalry, it is even more accurate and dare I say indisputable to claim truth when one sees it in Christ. Our culture asks that I tolerate by neighbors and their religious choices, but what I would like to remind them is that in order for me to tolerate something or someone, I must first disagree with them. I cannot tolerate what I think is correct or true. So I support tolerance, I just pray that our neighbors around the world would practice a bit of what is preached by them to us.

The Beauty of God's Creation

Even in destruction God is able to paint the sky with beauty as can be seen in this photo of a Chilean volcano eruption. Here is part of the story taken from National Geographic:

"After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaitén volcano (pictured on May 3) is erupting with lava, ash—and lightning (full story).

Since the volcano awoke on May 2, it has continued erupting intermittently, blanketing the area in ash and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee.

The mingling of lightning and ash seen above may be a "dirty thunderstorm."

The little-understood storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms. (More: "Volcanic Lightning Sparked by 'Dirty Thunderstorms,' Study Finds" [February, 2, 2007].) "

Out with the Pink and In with the Blue

James was quite the surprising little fellow. Not only was he nearly born in the car on the way to the hospital, but the fact that James was James and not Kate (our name of choice had he actually been the girl we thought him to be) has also thrown us into a bit of a fluster of activity. The sea of pink dresses have been sorted through, in the hope that we will be able to return some of them. Meanwhile a new wave of blue clothing has been washing ashore since we first called our friends to let them know all about James' surprising plumbing. It started in the hospital, with bags after bags being brought by aunts, and grandmas, and friends, and co-workers. Since then the clothes have not stopped coming (well really they have, I mean they are not literally currently pouring in our windows, but there remain more offers for more gift and loaner clothes).

And then there have been the visitors. On Wednesday night, with James just a day old, he played host to a dozen friends and family members at one time. That was quite the full hospital room. Let's hear it for the family friendly orientation of Hoag that allowed us the joy of all that love, care, and support.

All three of us have been home since Thursday and have been working on getting some sort of routine down. Since tomorrow is his 1 week birthday, any sort of regular activity is good.

Work on the house is nearing completion, with really only the flooring to go, which is being held up by a later delivery of Pergo from Home Depot.

Gas News

With the ever increasing cost of gas, I, along with millions of others I am sure, are glued to news reports trying to understand just what it is that causes gas prices to fluctuate (read "go up"). You hear things about shortages, worker strikes in Central America, damaged pipelines, and calls to reduce consumption. As I have listened I have begun to wonder if there really is a straight story on why prices are the way they are. There was a time when I thought I understood and could rely upon the basic principle of supply and demand to regulate prices. However increasingly I hear news reports where production is up, consumption is down, and the prices continue to go up. Additionally I hear complaints that while consumers pay record prices at the pumps, "big oil" is reaping record profits. OK so if you accept that, then what do you do with news reports that there are refineries who have reduced their capacity due to their being unable to maintain the level of profit desired.

So to recap: We have oil prices that go up when consumption is up and when it is down and we have both record profits and reduced profit in on the part of the oil companies. Boy that cleared things up. Happy driving!

The Home Stretch

The past month plus has been far too busy, thus it has been a while since my last post. So to bring you up to speed, we are in the final week heading to Andrea's due date. Next Thursday is the day, though we are currently thinking that our little girl will be arriving a bit late rather than early or even on time (whatever that means when it comes to babies). Her room is finished and ready for her, but it remains the only room in the house in such a state. Yesterday work started up again on the kitchen and living room. Cabinets are going in and flooring is getting done. There are a couple of snags, which by now we just expect, and so that final work should not be done until the week after the baby's due date. We will be moving back home tomorrow. Leaving behind the Residence Inn, which lost its charm about a month ago. The house should be ready enough to put the frig back in tomorrow (or so we hope) which will make things sort of livable for the time being. This has been a challenging adventure. I think that when all is said and done things will end up better than when this all started, but the process to get there much like the physical upheaval of a woman's body during pregnancy and childbirth is not the simplest of things to get through. Doing both at the same time would not be something that I would suggest anyone volunteer for. We look forward to showing off our little girl and introducing her to all our friends in the coming weeks.