All the kids that are still at home finally finished the move up to Metlakatla. So I had them all together today for Father's Day. I wish the other three could be here too (along with Cara), but I'll take what I can get. We even had a relatively quiet morning, as Trevor and Xander and I enjoyed a quiet morning.
This was a nice break from the turmoil that had been happening since Rachel, Kenny and Xander came in on Thursday. Moving is always a chaotic event, and I know I'm usually traumatized. When I moved to Holyoke in 4th Grade (1970), I ended up in the hospital with an ulcer. So I know how poorly children can handle massive change like this. Having said that, Trevor, Amylynn, Kenny and Xander set a record even for them. In the first 48 hours here, Xander broke my beard trimmer and wrote in permanent marker all over Rikki's computer, Kenny broke the mini-blinds in his bedroom (snapped the main bar attached to the window right in two), Amylynn broke Rikki's sandals after she had been told multiple times to not wear or play with the sandals, and then tried to use scotch tape to fix it, then put scotch tape of the shopping list, all without ever telling us that she actually did it. Trevor lucked out - he knocked my model sailing ship made of whale baleen off the top of the entertainment center, but it didn't break. Ahh, children - Love them, Not-So-Love them, can't live with them, can't live without them. Happy Father's day, and Thank You God for my children.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Politics
An excellent letter which conveys my sentiments exactly (click on the title to go to the letter).
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Xander Strikes Again, Part 2
We went to the Temple today and had Amylynn and Kenneth sealed to us. That was a very good, spiritual event for us.
After the sealing, we went to IHOP for brunch. Kenneth went to the rest room and Xander followed him. Kenney came out, and Xander came out later chewing something, then spitting it out. Cara smelled it and realized that it didn't smell like gum, but some cleaning product. Cara's mom said that I had better check it out, so I asked him where he got it and followed him into the men's room. When I got in, Xander said, "There, Dad" and pointed to ... wait for it... the deodorant block in the men's urinal! I came out just smiling and shaking my head and told the family. Of course, all the women (Cara, Rachel, Cara's mom Betty, my mom Joan and sister Kathy) all did varying gagging noices. When we told Daniel and Michael, they both burst out laughing. It's a guy thing.
After the sealing, we went to IHOP for brunch. Kenneth went to the rest room and Xander followed him. Kenney came out, and Xander came out later chewing something, then spitting it out. Cara smelled it and realized that it didn't smell like gum, but some cleaning product. Cara's mom said that I had better check it out, so I asked him where he got it and followed him into the men's room. When I got in, Xander said, "There, Dad" and pointed to ... wait for it... the deodorant block in the men's urinal! I came out just smiling and shaking my head and told the family. Of course, all the women (Cara, Rachel, Cara's mom Betty, my mom Joan and sister Kathy) all did varying gagging noices. When we told Daniel and Michael, they both burst out laughing. It's a guy thing.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
More Political Rantings
I just emailed every U.S. Republican Senator asking them to vote against confirming Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice. The letter follows:
I am requesting you to veto the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court for the following reasons:
1. She is racist and sexist. I am sure you are familiar with her quote from 2001, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life," I find this comment EXTREMELY offensive. If I had said the same about her, I would be called racist and sexist. That is exactly what she is, and such viewpoints have NO position on the highest court in the land.
2. She has questionable judicial ability. The fact that 60% of her opinions reviewed by the Supreme Court have been overturned by said Court is in and of itself concerning. The reasoning for overturning these cases are fairly simple: she doesn't apply the rule of law to her decisions, she uses her "empathy" to decide what the law should be. Witness the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. This ties back to reason 1, that she is racist. She also stated that the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." That is supposed to be the job of the Executive and Legislative branches, NOT the Judicial branch. Do you really want her doing YOUR job?
3. We SHOULD be examining her judicial record and NOT her Hispanic background. May I remind you that in 2002, Eric Estrada was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Not ONCE did we hear about his Hispanic background. Instead, we heard about his rulings and ideology. Now, those same Democrats expect us to follow "rules" completely opposite to those they followed seven years ago. The ONLY time Democrats care about race is when it furthers their agenda. As an additional example, let's look at the background of a current Justice, Clarence Thomas. The fact that he is black and came from poor, segregated circumstances was not important to our "dear" President Obama - "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas."
An excellent article about this can be found in the Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355478303064587.html
As a final note, there has been considerable debate over the future of the Republican Party. Some moderates feel that unless we move toward the "center", we will no longer exist as a party (see http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1896588,00.html). However, I don't feel I need to remind you that we had a moderate run for president in 2008, and he was defeated soundly. In fact, the only reason he did as well in the election as he did was his selection of Sarah Palin, a true conservative, as his running mate. If the Republican Party cannot survive as a bastion of conservatism, it doesn't deserve to survive. We already have enough moderates and liberals in the government. We need to be the party of conservatism. Voting against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor is a step in this direction. Please vote against her confirmations.
Daniel E. Long, DDS
And, for those who don't know, my first wife was half Puerto Rican and we have four kids, which make them one fourth Puerto Rican. My ex-wife informs me that our kids are probably related to Ms Sotomayor. So I would hope from those facts that you can see that I am not judging her on race, but on political views and performance. Put a conservative Hispanic in her place, one who respects the Constitution, and I would fully support her/him.
I am requesting you to veto the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court for the following reasons:
1. She is racist and sexist. I am sure you are familiar with her quote from 2001, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life," I find this comment EXTREMELY offensive. If I had said the same about her, I would be called racist and sexist. That is exactly what she is, and such viewpoints have NO position on the highest court in the land.
2. She has questionable judicial ability. The fact that 60% of her opinions reviewed by the Supreme Court have been overturned by said Court is in and of itself concerning. The reasoning for overturning these cases are fairly simple: she doesn't apply the rule of law to her decisions, she uses her "empathy" to decide what the law should be. Witness the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. This ties back to reason 1, that she is racist. She also stated that the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." That is supposed to be the job of the Executive and Legislative branches, NOT the Judicial branch. Do you really want her doing YOUR job?
3. We SHOULD be examining her judicial record and NOT her Hispanic background. May I remind you that in 2002, Eric Estrada was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Not ONCE did we hear about his Hispanic background. Instead, we heard about his rulings and ideology. Now, those same Democrats expect us to follow "rules" completely opposite to those they followed seven years ago. The ONLY time Democrats care about race is when it furthers their agenda. As an additional example, let's look at the background of a current Justice, Clarence Thomas. The fact that he is black and came from poor, segregated circumstances was not important to our "dear" President Obama - "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas."
An excellent article about this can be found in the Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355478303064587.html
As a final note, there has been considerable debate over the future of the Republican Party. Some moderates feel that unless we move toward the "center", we will no longer exist as a party (see http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1896588,00.html). However, I don't feel I need to remind you that we had a moderate run for president in 2008, and he was defeated soundly. In fact, the only reason he did as well in the election as he did was his selection of Sarah Palin, a true conservative, as his running mate. If the Republican Party cannot survive as a bastion of conservatism, it doesn't deserve to survive. We already have enough moderates and liberals in the government. We need to be the party of conservatism. Voting against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor is a step in this direction. Please vote against her confirmations.
Daniel E. Long, DDS
And, for those who don't know, my first wife was half Puerto Rican and we have four kids, which make them one fourth Puerto Rican. My ex-wife informs me that our kids are probably related to Ms Sotomayor. So I would hope from those facts that you can see that I am not judging her on race, but on political views and performance. Put a conservative Hispanic in her place, one who respects the Constitution, and I would fully support her/him.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Gordon Ramsay & Hell's Kitchen
Speaking of Hell's Kitchen, one of my newest "Must See TV" programs is anything with Gordon Ramsay - "Hell's Kitchen", "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares", etc. I love this guy. I've heard people comment that they can't stand him because he's so rude, but if you really watch him, you realize that he's a "tough love" type of guy. He doesn't act that way just to be a moron. He does it because he cares and wants everyone to be the best they can. I especially see this in "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares."
As I explained to Cara (for those who haven't seen that series), he goes to individual restaurants that are about to close, spends a week with them, and helps them turn things around. I explained that I had actually lived through a similar event when I ran my own dental office.
In 2001, I had my own dental office in Westminster, CO. I was going bankrupt. Cara convinced me to sign up for a year-long practice management course in Scottsdale AZ. That course turned my life around. It taught me how to run a business, and it taught me that I didn't want to be in private practice. During that course, I had my own little "Gordon Ramsay" moment when the program director had a personal meeting with me and said that if I didn't do EVERYTHING that was laid out in the course, I was OUT of the course. Needless to say, I was more than a little shocked at the encounter. However, it had the desired results, and I was able to turn the office around. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
For that reason, I love watching Gordon Ramsay.
As I explained to Cara (for those who haven't seen that series), he goes to individual restaurants that are about to close, spends a week with them, and helps them turn things around. I explained that I had actually lived through a similar event when I ran my own dental office.
In 2001, I had my own dental office in Westminster, CO. I was going bankrupt. Cara convinced me to sign up for a year-long practice management course in Scottsdale AZ. That course turned my life around. It taught me how to run a business, and it taught me that I didn't want to be in private practice. During that course, I had my own little "Gordon Ramsay" moment when the program director had a personal meeting with me and said that if I didn't do EVERYTHING that was laid out in the course, I was OUT of the course. Needless to say, I was more than a little shocked at the encounter. However, it had the desired results, and I was able to turn the office around. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
For that reason, I love watching Gordon Ramsay.
Blogging
I find that the problem I have with blogs is that I feel that I am, for the most part, a boring person. I'm not the fancy five-star restaurant like Wolfgang Puck or Hell's Kitchen. I'm more the corner diner, greasy spoon - always there, but nothing to write home about. My personal journals were always fact filled with little emotion. Here, however, facts tend to be boring unless accompanied by some sort of emotion. I would prefer to write a technical article any day over a personal monologue.
Having said that, I do realize that I need to write more often, especially since this is taking the place of my journal. So what's it like in Metlakatla? I thoroughly enjoy it here, but do little. I wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, play on the computer or watch TV and go to bed. Very monotonous. As much as I like the peace and quiet, I'm excited for the family to finally get up here so I actually have something to do. I think if we can make the other building into an office/TV room ( my "Fortress of Solitude"), I'll be able to have enough peace that I don't get too grumpy.
Last week we had the local Health Fair. It was a good chance for me to get out and meet the people of the town. We had over 500 participants, which was a record for them. I personally did 80 oral screenings. The funnest of those were the little Head Start kids. They're so cute! They all line up like little ducklings and didn't cause any problems.
Having said that, I do realize that I need to write more often, especially since this is taking the place of my journal. So what's it like in Metlakatla? I thoroughly enjoy it here, but do little. I wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, play on the computer or watch TV and go to bed. Very monotonous. As much as I like the peace and quiet, I'm excited for the family to finally get up here so I actually have something to do. I think if we can make the other building into an office/TV room ( my "Fortress of Solitude"), I'll be able to have enough peace that I don't get too grumpy.
Last week we had the local Health Fair. It was a good chance for me to get out and meet the people of the town. We had over 500 participants, which was a record for them. I personally did 80 oral screenings. The funnest of those were the little Head Start kids. They're so cute! They all line up like little ducklings and didn't cause any problems.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Cara's New Life
Cara just came home from the hospital from having her gastric bypass surgery. The surgery went very well. The doctor said it would take from 2 1/2 to 4 hours, and hers took between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. No complications, everything went well. The rest of that first day went as could be expected - She slept most of the day and had some minor pain, but not from the surgical sites. The next day, though, she was back to her old self. She was walking laps around the floor, talking to everyone she saw, both patients and employees. Today, she was tired again, and said that this was how she expected to feel the first day. However, everything is progressing well, and she came home this afternoon. Now she's just resting and getting used to her new diet of clear liquids, and the psychological part of losing the weight.
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