Arizona Issue

Okay, let's start with the weird. Sarah Palin should never open her mouth. Not that my level of respect for her can go much lower, but she is an idiot. Not only does she say that this crazy law is not racial profiling. She blames Obama for making it look like it is racial profiling and causing people to say this law is crazy. Really?

Simply Unconstitutional. Federal government mandated to take care of "foreign affairs." Immigration legal or otherwise falls under foreign affairs. States can not usurp that authority for itself.

Also probaly unconsitutional on equal protections ground. If the effect is you treat someone different based on their race it's unconstitional.

Many other problems with this law.

Thanks Arizona for wasting everyone's time with this.

Spanking

One thing I forgot to mention about this weekend. At dinner before the volleygame last Friday, my friend asked if I ever spanked my kid. I said no, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it if a situation justified. I know corporal punnishment has fallen out of favor and studies say it leads to more violent people. But I still think there are times that it's justified. Just as a fight can be justified. Sometimes you just have to stand up for something.

Anyway, my kid decided it would be fun to hang from the curtains in her room. She yanked out the curtain rod, and the anchors in the wall and the screws holding the curtains up. The drywall had huge gaping holes. I was upset. I gave the kid a stern lecture about how hanging on curtains were destructive and dangerous and that she should never do it again. I made her promise not to do it again.

The next day she did it again. And that's when I resorted to 3 solid whacks across the behind. And this time, mommy had to talk to her, because I couldn't trust myself to say the right things. She apologized and promised not to to it again. I haven't put her curtains back up yet, because I don't know if I can trust her.

Some people will read this and probably think I'm a bad person, but I did what I thought was right, and I'll stand by it.

Last Few Days

If it hasn't been obvious, work and writing class have been keeping me from blogging.
However, there are a few things I want to catch up on.

Last Friday, the whole fam and friends went to a Stanford men's volleyball game. First time ever I went to a volley ball event. It was actually pretty exciting. I think rally scoring has done wonders for the game. And I went with a volleyball coach who was telling me the difference between fast jumpers and slow jumpers. Fast jumpers play basketball. Slow jumpers play volleyball.

Little J didn't like her first sporting event. She found it noisy and over stimulating. Almost immediately, she was saying volleyball is no fun. She had more fun running around outside with her three year old friend. He was the king. She was the Princess. And every once in a while when I wasn't watching the game, I was the hungry dragon.

On Saturday, Wifey and I went to our second straight sporting event. The Sharks last home game. For some reason, hockey is always fun. But we did have to miss the last part of the game because one kid was a little sick and with the other one, we've got a regular medicine schedule to keep to. Until she's got it figure out enought to take it herself, this will be our challenge.

Monday was another CP support group meeting. A little bit of useful information, but more just story telling or sharing. At times I've thought we've had it real bad with our experience. Not that there hasn't been great people and support around us, but there has been a lot to go through. But there are some kids who have had it rougher. And hearing about it is just awful.

Novel Class

We're just a couple days into the novel writing class, and I'm finding this thing taking up too much of my brain space. All of a suddenly, all my free time is thinking about developing a character and conflict and all that sort of thing. I guess it some ways that is a good thing, but it is hard. I'm making some progress in my thinking, but lots still left to do.

It's an online class. There are participants from all (even Canada) over with all kinds of writing backgrounds. I'm quickly finding out that most of them take it a lot more serious than I do, and all of them spend a lot more time than I do. We're supposed to post comments and chat but that's not quite what I expected because these people are all serious about craft and there doesn't seem to be much place for my obnoxious sense of humor. These people just don't seem like they would get it.

There are weekly reading and writing assignments as well as getting the first chapter of a novel together. I don't know how I'm going to keep up. Just hoping that the wifey and kids will stay patient with me over the next 3 months.

Why My Kid Can Win Survivor Some Day

Okay, let's get one thing out of the way. It'll have to be Survivor. She's not showing any of the talent that will win American Idol one day.

So as Wifey is crawling out of bed, she climbs in. She turns to Wifey and says, "This is our bed. Mommy go sleep in big girl bed."

I say, "Yeah. This is our bed."

Then I get out and Wifey crawls back in. The kid immediately says, "This is our bed. Daddy go sleep in my big girl bed."

This is exactly the kind of loyalty it takes to win Survivor. This kid can switch alliances in seconds depending on changing facts. She just can't be trusted.