Kids love to measure things

 

A picture of our regulation issue "door-jamb-with-markings-of-the-kids-heights-over-time".

Nothing too remarkable. Kids (and parents) have been doing it since time immemorial. I'm sure there are caves in France with heretofore unexplained markings that are just this.

Lily just measured Jake the other day and used tape to mark his height.

Well and good.

On the otherside of the doorway you can see this one:



Slayed me.

"Dad ! Wake up !"

A little before 7:00 a.m. (HST) Lily ran in and woke me up.

"Barak Obama's becoming president! Turn on the TV !"

TV went on in time to see the VP swearing in and then stayed on for the good stuff. Kids were late to school. I couldn't stop watching until W was safely out of camera shot. These have been a long 8 years.

I don't feel the same elation like back in 1992 when Bill was elected. Probably because back then it didn't seem like the outgoing prez had completely screwed up, oh, well just about everything like W has done.

Definitely a more sober inauguration.

1-20-09: An end of an error.

Um...well that's strange...

Uncle Bump just pointed out this link to Canadian alt-folk duo...Jacob and Lily

Thanks Mighty Mo

Took Lily and Jake to see the Battleship Missouri with the Brooks'



Uncle Jim tries out the fiddy-cal




Places!



Portrait with 16" guns.



Teak deck!



Looking for likely AA targets. No Zeros today fortunately.



From keel to the top of the tower = 206 ft.
Length: 890 ft.
Crew: 1900



"Galley? This is the Bridge. Two Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches please...."



2 foot thick walls around the bridge.



Insert Cher joke here

Required watching

Then go and download the Planet Money podcast from NPR where they talk with Peter (11/21/08). Scary stuff, eh kids?

Special Guest blogger Uncle Bump with some bad news.

Blitz,

Formerly known as Heineken, and before that BW's Entertainer (I don't know where they get that stuff).

We don't think he ever raced since he was up for adoption at 18months, and we adopted him before his 2nd birthday. Most greyhounds worth their salt will race for 4-5 years or so.

He's showing a bit lot more grey around the muzzle now, but aren't we all? Blitz has been a great companion and friend for the past 7 years, and we'll miss him terribly, but he's got a bad hip that could break anytime, so it's time for him to hang up the collar once and for all. Amputation and chemo just won't buy the kind of time that would make it worthwhile.

I'm sure we'll be in the market soon for another one just like him:

• scared of his own shadow (or at least Chihuahuas and kittens)


• perfect with kids


• quiet as a mouse (we've heard him bark 4 times, and once was straight at the ceiling fan)


• never an indoor accident


• nicest guy you'll ever meet


• no doggie stink or shedding

(if it sounds like I'm selling.... that's because I am)

One saving grace is that the kids aren't really old enough to be too broken up (we think), and now, maybe Amanda has become a 'dog person'.

11/19/1999 - 11/26/2008

Here is a contrast picture.



*******

When we would visit U. Bump, one of the highlights was taking blitz for a walk which inevitably turned into a run, though run is too weak to describe it. A greyhound at full sprint is a beautiful thing to behold.

So send good vibes way this Wednesday to Blitz and Uncle Bump, race in peace.

Supracondylar fracture, humerus

Know what that is?

Well Jake does now.



He learned the hard way what the most common fracture is for kids 3-8.

Nothing fancy. Just fell while playing after school.

A Special Day

The Romans used hepatomancy to divine the future.

Not me.

Livers are not to be used in ritualistic ceremonies to figure out what will or won't happen, or if a given location is appropriate for building. Rather, they should be consumed with some grilled onions. Perhaps some fava beans and a nice chianti.

But I digress.

My favorite method of prediction is to listen to the radio and if a really cool song comes on, it is a blessed omen that should be respected and augurs well for the coming day/hour/week/year/relationship/choice that you just made.

Call it radiomancy, and I am a believer.

Case in point.

Scene: Colorado Springs, 1988.
Early Summer, 12:01 a.m.

Tom, Mike, Derek, Henry, Dave and I cannot move into our rental property until the first day of the lease. We figure that since the day begins at midnight, that would be a great time to start moving our stuff in.

Loading Tom's Toyota Land Cruiser to the gills, we begin transferring our collective crap from around campus to our new headquarters. As we drive over, KILO plays a song that bodes well:

Boogie With Stu.

Not just a Zeppelin song, but one from Physical Graffiti. Not a popular song (Kashmir *shudder* or Houses of the Holy) or a riff based rocker (Trampled Underfoot).

But a weird, rarely played (at least on the radio) tune that made us realize that the gods smiled upon our efforts that night. This became the house of houses. A place so rocking that we actually had a party with one band playing per floor....an actual orangutan (stuffed)....black light attic....The stuff dreams are made on.

Had another epochal radiomancy moment yesterday.

We had a family get together at to Ala Moana Beach Park. Kim and the kids were driving down in the BGV and I was in the Toyota. Kim had a function to go to afterward, hence the separate cars.

So I'm alone and listening to KTUH good and loud. The show was Vinyl Revoultion, so only stuff on LP's complete with wonderfully loFi scratches and pops.

Just as I'm pulling into a busy AlaMo on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the DJ announces that it's time to play some Iggy and the Stooges - Search and Destroy.

Radiomancy says: All signs point to ROCK!



Usually I don't need a full tilt radiomancy omen to score a sweet parking spot. I have karma for that, and this was no exception. The super secret spot was mine.

No, my radiomancy predicted good time was forthcoming.

I had brought down a regular long board and a blue foam "surfboard" that the kids can paddle about on. If a grown-up tries to paddle it, it slowly sinks, but in the hands of a stoked elementary school kid, it's a great way to start learning to surf.

Typically the kids will muck about in 2-3' of water and I'll push then into shore. At AlaMo it's flat and easy for them to stand up, even if they are perfectly still - a trick I certainly can't replicate.

Anyway, yesterday I played with the kids for a while then told Kim:

Me: Tag team. You're on kids duty. I'm gonna go surf for a little bit.

Kim: OK. Have fun.

Lily: I wanna go!

Me: No way. You're too big for me to put on this board....Take the blue one out.

Lily: OK!

This marked the first time that Lily has gotten up the courage to paddle out on her own the 250 or so yards to the real surf spots outside of AlaMo. We've played in shorebreaks, but this was the real thing.

She got tired after 100 yards or so and I took off my leash and towed her the rest of the way out. So much easier that a 50# weight on the front of my board.

Got out to Tennis Courts and just hung out for a while. We talked about how the last time we were out (when I let her surf on the same board as me) we saw a baby turtle.

Finally she'd had enough.

Lily: Let's go catch a wave already.

Me: Alright. I'm gonna paddle us both and when I say one-two-three-GO you have to let go of my leash and just hang on...stand up if you want. And if you wipe out, just grab onto your board. It'll float.

Waves comes. Maybe 3-4' face. One armed paddle..one-two-three..LET GO!

And off she goes.

I watch the wake in the back of the wave....still on it...still on it....STILL ON IT!

She never did stand up and her ride came to an abrupt halt when the wave jacked a little and she did her first pearl. But that was magic. Fifty yards just Lily and a wave.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddyyyyy!"

By then I'm already almost to her...the board is upside down and she's clinging on with a white knuckle grip. I've got the biggest smile on my face....

Me: "ALIRGHT! You did it. You rode a wave all by yourself!"

Lily: "Let's go back to the beach"

Me: "Of course. That was awesome! Man too bad we didn't see that turtle again...."

Turtle takes his cue.

Pops up to check us out, and the outing is complete.

Online today?

Just a little?

Well, I'm gonna be adding stuff to the blog all through the day to serve as a sort of election day Unicorn Chaser (page down a little for the definition).

1. Now it's two down!


2. Halloween at Ma‘ema‘e

Finally!

Lily's got one down...19 to go...

She's the last of all her friends to lose that first tooth and I think she was starting to get a little worried.

One of Kim and my jokes about having kids was that they might get lucky and get only the best of each of us:

• tall


• lean


• perfect 20/20 vision


• easily managed hair


• straight teeth

Or their opposites.

Now, I'm no dentist, but I think with Lily we can safely say five out of five ain't happening.

Public radio reviews....

...the new AC/DC album?

Even the Washington Post!

Apparently the demographic has changed. Time was when you could only count on jazz, indy rock, classical....

Of course the radio story makes the case that surges in AC/DC's popularity in Great Britain are related to tough economic times (see post below). Whatever. You know you just wanted to review an actual rock album instead of the newest world beat mix.

Required listening

Listened to both of these. Now, I THINK that I have a little bit better grasp of the most dramatic shock to the American economic system since before my parents were born:

The Big Pool of Money

Another Frightening Show About the Economy

Religious listeners of This American Life have already heard them. Great explanations and if that fires you up, subscribe to the
Planet Money podcast and blog from NPR and you'll soon be fretting over the LIBOR and TED spread like me.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, our current fiscal freakout will seem like so much yesterdays news 20 years from now.

I remember very distinctly freaking out back in 1987 with Brother Codpiece thinking that "This is it - a new Great Depression...."

So if you are wigging about the bailout package or the credit freeze, just do what we did back in college: get stoned, listen to the Nuge, and sit out on the roof of the dorm watching the sunset. It'll all sort itself out.

I think Warren Buffet does the same thing.

I got a nickname!

I'm not a White House reporter, frat boy, fighter pilot, or boxer, so I've never been the kind of person that would spontaneously get a nickname.

I mean a REAL nickname.

Not one based on your own name (sorry UofAPilot, "Brevans" doesn't rise to the level).

Not one that you chose yourself as you're nom de Rock (so to Brother Codpiece, "Brother Loud" doesn't count either).

One that people assign to you based on your behavior and/or appearance. One that you sometimes really hate because it's based on your behavior and/or appearance. I can't imagine that Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove is too enamored of his nick, but serves him right.

Anyway, a few years ago I realized that Kim's hula practice every Thursday night left me with a night of solo dad work. Being a selfish bastard, I told her that I'd like a night off too to go surfing. If that was ok honey. And fortunately it was.

So began Wednesday night Boy's Night Out. For the first few months it meant going surfing and not having to be around to pick up kids and do the whole bedtime routine.

Then I finally convinced Iamnotasurfer to try to become one and he joined me. At that point Boy's night out morphed into surf/drink beer/see whatever quality movie was out.

That continued for a little more than a year until Iamnotasurfer decided to move to SF and become an architect/luthier/cold water surfer/ad guru. Whatever.

Well, I've stuck it out without a surf partners and kept up the drink beer part. I'll drink alone, but hell if I'm going up to the ticket booth and only buying one ticket. That's messed up.

So I was out a few Wednesdays ago at Straight Out's (that's 37's to you Surf3's) and one of the regulars (who in my interior monologue I have given the nickname "Tiny" because he's probably about 260 lbs) looks over and asks me:

"You surf yesterday?" << apply proper pidgin inflection

Me: No. I only surf on Wednesdays. Why was it good?

Tiny: Ho brah. Was unreal.

The next week I'm out again and Tiny sees me.

"HEY, WEDNESDAY !"

Check that one off the life list.

I try...

I really try not to inject politics into the LilyandJacoblog but this just cracks me up.

Somebody grabbed some frames of last nights debate, capturing some of John McCain's bizarre facial movements.



This being the web, people have taken the video and run with it. I love the internets.

Window display

Every time we open a new exhibit, we install a window display at the Border's at Ward Center. Since everybody but me is working 100% on the reopening of Hawaiian Hall next summer, the job has fallen to me.



Of course, we have to disassemble the old one and take all the stuff back to the museum. That's when Lily and Jake get to share space with things like whale vertebrae.

Fun at the Park

Had gymnastics on the brain after watching the Olympics. Tried out our moves up at Na Pueo Park

Dad tried doing a handstand with assistance. Not enough.

Ok. Back to business

Enough with musings on judicial systems, democracy, anniversaries of important speeches...this is a blog to share pictures of my cute kids.

PURPLE CHEETAHS! and coach Brad...yep. Much fun.

Jake takes a water break during his first game.

The soccer siblings

Lily about to put the hurt on a piñata...such a change from way back in her PETP (People for the Ethical Treatment of Piñatas) days.

Lonesome Cowboy Jake

Playing with Zachary Myers

A family in balance

Jedi in training: Jacob the padawan.

"In a world..."

..where the guy who says 'in a world' for movie previews dies, it makes the news.

Aloha Don:



and because who can resist:

Upon further reflection....

Here it is, the anniversary of the 'I Have a Dream' speech, and the day in 2008 that Barak Obama accepts the Democratic party's nomination for president. So I was thinking about it....forget Harding from that previous post....the first democratically elected president of the US was selected a mere 40 years ago and, irony of ironies, it was Richard Milhouse Nixon.

American Judical Exceptionalism - Like Miles in a Metric World?

Catchy lede huh?

Earlier this year I got selected for jury duty.

Unlike a lot of people I was psyched to get chosen and hear a case.

After a couple delays that pushed back jury selection I got down to the district court there were forms to fill out and orientations to listen to.

Eventually we made it into the courtroom and heard mini-openings from the prosecution and defense.

Murder case! Cool this is gonna be interesting.

Well, not really. Seems there was a drunken brawl and somebody got stabbed and died. The first person who was accused and acquitted was now accusing somebody else. Oh. And there was no physical evidence to tie the new accused to the crime. He was there, but so were 20 other drunk guys at 2:00 a.m.

So, eyewitness testimony from a drunken acquitted witness. oh-kay. This was gonna be a hard sell for the prosecutor.

So jury selection began and people got into the jury box and answered questions. Some were peremptorily challenged by either side. Of course people also tried to get out of service for a variety of reasons. Care of children or elderly relatives, small business owners, relatives of police, people who had friends or family murdered (there was one...shudder).

I got called up and like a good American I tried to shirk my duty. We had just made plans for Spring Break days before the summons, including plane tickets and reservations. This proved good enough to get me a deferment. Just a deferment till the next round....and I honestly do want to be on a jury (though I'm glad I didn't waste my time on that one - he got acquitted too of course) but when they asked "Any reason that you can't serve?" I said "Well, was planning a trip..."

But the take away message for me form the whole thing was something that the judge kept repeating to prospective jurors over and over.

He would tell us all about our civic duty and how citizens in a democracy should step up. About how the judicial system in the US is a model for other nations and how a trial by jury is a cornerstone of that system.

Then he said (not verbatim): "You know, not many countries around the world use the jury trial. It's part of our common law heritage from English law. If this were a trial in most other places in the world, the accused wouldn't have the opportunity to have a jury trial - he'd be judged by a panel of judges...."

This made me think.

So like the English/Imperial system of measurement (which all right thinking people loathe), the American use of jury trials puts us in the minority of world judicial systems.



(NOTE: Don't go by size of course....number of countries is the key here)

Here's a map to simplify things. Blue are civil law (ie. trial by judges), salmon are common law areas (jury trials). Interestingly India abolished jury trials since they are too easily swayed by the media.

So actually, our judicial system is NOT a beacon to other countries. If anything, countries are moving the opposite way....And when you look at rock stupid jury verdicts like Rodney King and O.J.'s, it makes you thing that we actually might have something to learn from the rest of the world here.