Year / 2008

by Greg

Polygamists and Government

I wanted to comment on the incident that took place recently in Texas, where authorities stormed a private ranch and took everyone by force, separating kids from their families, and all sorts of very not-American things. It just made me sick when I heard about it.

I am not a polygamist. But I am a “libertarian”. Not by political affiliation, by principle. We here in America (according to the Declaration of Independence) feel that all are created equal and should inherently be free. Especially freedom of religion. Now, that can make you do some kooky things. And you should have the freedom to do kooky things. You can’t force other people to, and there are weird lines there when religion is involved, but in general, I’m against the government deciding what’s too kooky.

For the second time this week I am linking to a column by Bob Lonsberry, local radio talk show personality. He’s abrasive and a bit crazy sometimes, but sometimes can be poignant and present very valid points. He wrote what I wanted to (with much more information that I had) regarding the state seizing not only the ranch and the people, but their children and “relieving” the parents of their parental rights. All of them. As a group. Before proving any sort of guilt.

Yikes.

We’re pretty kooky in our own right. We Campbells. We don’t do things like most people. In most ways, I think that makes us stand out in a good way. But what if the government were to catch wind of our crazy thinkings? You mean, they don’t really do school (like we do) with their kids… they just learn from every day as it unfolds?? or… Well, this won’t happen yet, but, You mean they are Christians, but they don’t attend any church services of any kind??? There are many more ways we’re “different”… and we are raising a family of people to be “different”. Where is it OK for the government (local, state, federal) to decide that our “different” has crossed some line and now our children are unsafe?

I might be drawing conclusions that are too extreme, but really… it’s scary. What happened in Texas should not have happened in America, and I think we will continue toward this style of governing until all of our liberties are taken away. That’s quite pessimistic, coming from my mouth… but unfortunately it’s not just our politicians, it seems decades of cultural thought has already moved us far down that path of trusting “experts” and “institutions” more than individuals.

Quite sad.

So, for now, we Campbells will keep being kooky, and loving everyone God places in our path. (Including each other!) 🙂

related links
ABC News

by Greg

[Things That Are Weird] Phone Walkers

I tend to walk around and do stuff while I’m on the phone. Sometimes it’s even just aimless walking, but usually I am just multi-tasking. Do you? I was meeting with a new client yesterday, and he did the same thing. He just took off and started pacing his house as soon as he answered the phone. He was a pretty good phone walker!

The cutest though is Kirsten and Julia. Whenever they chat with their grandparents, they are usually hold the phone to their ear and walking around our entire first floor. Julia usually just starts walking in a very tight little circle! So cute!!

But… since this is a Things That Are Weird…

Why DO we feel the need to start walkin’ when we’re chattin’ on the phone?

by Greg

I’m A People Person

There’s no denying it now. I am officially and completely a people person.

This past weekend we kept our friends’ three girls while they made a super-packed-full trip to their new home in the Washington, DC area. They dropped them off Thursday morning, and we had them until Sunday night. At first glance that seemed like a pretty long time, but I knew it would go really fast. And it did.

The best part was not the four days of two adults and eight kids though. The best part came on Sunday afternoon.

My sister and her husband and their four kids were on their way to their new home in the Buffalo, NY area, and were planning to stop by and visit. So, now we had twelve kids (ages 9 down to 1 month) and only four adults. But we didn’t stop there! Later in the afternoon, our friend Laura and her son came to visit bringing the total up to 5 adults and 13 kids! All in our little yellow house!!!

And I could not have been happier. 🙂

I looked around at one point at the four families represented in my living room and just smiled. I couldn’t help it. That is what I want my house to be. The place where people hang out. Come, visit, hang, for no reason … just to be together. It was wunderbar.

Later that night, our friends came back to retrieve their kids and ended up sticking around to sample the good food from the day (cinnamon rolls and chicken wings and skyline chili, etc) and taking in an episode of the Knight Rider. It was a great ending to a fun day and a great weekend.

But then…

On Monday, Jen’s parents came over with our nephew to spend a couple fun days with our kids and Jen (while I was here working). They were gone most of yesterday, and are gone again today now doing some fun things around our area. I’m glad for the kids. They are having a blast. But it’s really quiet here.

I have officially discovered that I am a “people person”. Fellow people people seem to need “down times”, but I can’t get enough. I miss those little girls we had here for the long weekend. A lot. I certainly miss my family right now. And last night, the two boys spent the night with Grandma, Grandpa & their cousin… and it just wasn’t right. The house felt empty, though we still had the three girls here with us.

I am definitely a people person.

[Tangent… Last night when we just had the three girls, I thought to myself, “This seems way too easy!” I felt like it was “parenting-lite”. I guess the hardest part of parenting these days is not the feeding and cleaning that we mostly do for the three girls (ages four and down) but the relational and life-training that we are doing with the boys (and probably Kirstie, too). So without that “challenge”… I felt like we had the night off! 🙂 Tangent over…]

So, I am incredibly grateful to God for the big family he has placed me in, and look forward to it growing if that’s what He’s got in mind. I’m super blessed to be part of a great extended family, too (my mom & dad, sister & fam, my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even all my in-laws).

Guess that’s probably why I’m a people person. 🙂

by Greg

What Ever Happened To Steve?

SteveWe have kids. Lots of ’em. And they all like Blue’s Clues. As do we. We even don’t mind Joe, who replaced the un-replaceable Steve a couple years back now. Steve is definitely the best.

Well, not really sure why, but this morning I decided to Google “what happened to blues clues steve”. Turned out to be quite a funny/interesting webventure.

Turns out that Steve just decided after episode 100 of Blue’s Clues, that it just wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He’s a musician at heart, apparently, and decided to pursue that. He released an indie record in 2002 I think? And is currently working on a new one (though the dates on his website seem to be pretty old… so not sure about that.)

I just found it fascinating to see “Steve” rockin’ out in a music video (his own song) on a Steve Burns fan site.

Steve

Life moves on I guess. Good for Steve. Funny story from his “Press” page on his website:

One Spring afternoon in 1999, Steve Burns was on his way to a date. He was driving through New Jersey, fighting jitters, primping in the rearview, when something on the side of the road caught his eye; a mailbox with blue cartoon paw prints on it and a message that read YOU JUST FIGURED OUT JONATHAN’S BIRTHDAY! While most rock singers would have shrugged off such fleeting details, Burns recognized them as symbols revered by millions of Americans – Americans under four feet tall and on a first name basis with Steve Burns.

“It was obviously a Blue’s Clues party,” says Burns, who was, in fact, the host of Blue’s Clues, one of the most popular children’s programs in television history. He glanced at the toys and props left in his car after a recent charity performance. The khaki pants. The iconic green-and-olive striped rugby shirt.

“I gotta do it,” he said.

He met his date, changed clothes, and drove back to the party. “We just showed up with the toys and knocked on the door,” says Burns, a slight 30-year-old sipping a latte in and airy Brooklyn cafe. “I was like ‘Hey!’ ” His narrow face and big, dark eyes bloom into the fully dilated character beloved worldwide. ” ‘Who’s Jonathan?’ The kids were, like, ‘Cool! Steve’s here!’ ” So Burns loped around, clowned with the youngsters, dispensed toys, and refused cash from the bewildered dad. It was a magic little moment – a kindhearted breach in the space-time continuum – and we sit silent for a second, contemplating it.

It would be strange being a rockstar to 3-year-olds everywhere… 🙂

For you Steve fans out there… here are some pertinent links I stumbled across today:
www.steveswebpage.com
www.steveburnsrocks.us
Steve Burns – Wikipedia
Steve Burns (Band) MySpace Page

by Greg

NHL "Parity"

Minnesota Wild - NHL Playoffs
Every sport tries to say they have it. Parity is the word that means you have achieved ultimate sporting success. There is true competition amongst the teams in your league. But really… so far as I can tell… only the NHL has achieved such a thing.

Proof is in the series between the Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche. First, they are the 4 and 5 seeds in the Western conference. That means they were the closest to each other in points. They are a great matchup on paper. But then, you have the actual games. Each of the three games so far has ended 3-2… in overtime. Including last night’s game. Minnesota has a 2-1 series edge, but I fully expect a 3-2 OT win for Colorado the next time they play. This series is great!

So far there is only one series that is a potential sweep. (Well, two, but only one that might actually end up a sweep.) The Pittsburgh Penguins seem to have Ottawa’s number. This is interesting in that Ottawa ousted the Penguins last year fairly easily (4 or 5 games) and this year were tearing up the Eastern Conference for quite some time. They have faltered at the end here, but still have some fantastic players who can score anytime they want to. (As evidenced by a late season 6-3 win over the Sabres – a game in which the Sabres held a 3-2 late third period lead!!)

Some other great first round matchups include the Caps and Flyers, Flames and Sharks, Rangers and Devils, Bruins and Canadiens… well, really.. ALL of them! The defending champs (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) are down 2-0 in their series, but I wouldn’t expect that to continue… that should end up a great series as well.

So if you have Versus (a cable TV network) they are showing two games every night, and they have some great coverage between periods and after the games. NBC is carrying games on weekends. I think.

And, if you live in Canada… you’re set. 🙂

NHL Playoffs are here, and it is the #1 sports spectacle in all of pro sports! Enjoy it while it lasts!

by Greg

2008 NFL Schedules Announced April 15th

New NFL LogoThe NFL has announced that the 2008 schedule will be released today at 2pm. The NFL Network will be doing a special show coinciding with the release. It’s a fun time of year when you get to see how the next season will unfold. Bills fans are hoping for a prime time game or two. I know I am going to look for the game against Cleveland and circle it on my calendar! That will likely be the “Buffalo Bills Review Game of the Year” where we all attend and invite any listeners to join us before and after the game for some Buffalo Bills fun!

For more details, see this page at ESPN.com.

Go Bills!

by Greg

Thoughts on Barack Obama

I don’t tend to wax political here… mostly because, while fascinated, I think it just gets pretty silly pretty quickly. It’s been an interesting presidential race, though, with two democratic candidates firing shots at each other, and the republican candidate not seeming to have much (real) support from his party. Don’t forget the perpetual third-party candidate, Ralph Nader. He’s in the mix, too. Sorta.

Well, while Hillary is making up stories about dodging bullets, Barack Obama is both drawing praise and criticism for his views on race in America.

I said before what I think about “race”. It should be a non-issue. We are all one race, we just have a few different features, and many different cultures. But we’re all human. End of story. But with various comments from Obama about his “typical white person” grandma, and recently about how “bitter” people cling to religion and guns, as well as the racial comments by the preacher from his church… race is clearly an issue with senator Obama.

I read an opinion piece recently from a local radio talkshow guy because the title caught my attention. “Barack Is Not A Unifier“. I read it, and I don’t think the writer is a supporter of Obama, but the article didn’t come across as a slam, more just a “wake up and smell the coffee” about this guy. It is strange how he is seen as a unifier when he has been quite extreme in his voting record, and the stuff I hear from him only unifies the people who think the same as he does.

I’m not supporting any particular presidential candidate here, nor trying to tear down any in particular. But I do think the national media (or maybe just his own campaign folk) have done a good job of painting Barack Obama in a very rosy light. I definitely shy away from labels, but if you had to pigeonhole me, you’d probably call me a Libertarian. I think that might be 180 degrees opposite of what Obama thinks regarding goverment and it’s role in society.

Will be an interesting year. If the rockstar wins the election, Obama will be our next president. (And I will be very thankful for checks and balances at that point.) I still think Hillary cheated somehow when she won the elections up here in NY. I have never met one Hillary supporter up here in our area. (Though I have seen a few bumper stickers…) 🙂 So… don’t count her out. And McCain… has been strangely silent. He’ll win if the other two divide the voters enough, or even just make them mad enough to “vote for the other guy”.

So, that’s all the politicalness from GregsHead for now. Maybe more in November…

by Greg

Apple Myth Debunking (By Another Writer)

Apple LogoI posted recently some thoughts on the ongoing myth that Apple computers are more expensive (comparing “apples to apples”) than their Windows-running counterparts. It’s pretty amazing that such thinking is still widespread. I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, and say they just haven’t actually seen the real numbers for themselves…

Today came across another article debunking several myths about Apple/Mac OS. Here’s one snippet of what he said:

While users do pay some premium for both the Apple brand and the innovation that goes into Apple’s often brilliant hardware design, the premium is not out of line with that users already pay for name brand systems from vendors such as Sony, HP or Lenovo. In many cases, comparable Apple systems are priced similarly or in some cases are even cheaper than their competition.

If you’re interested, you can read the full article by Michael Gartenberg at his blog. It’s relatively short. And, if you really still think PCs running windows are cheaper… just read the article. 🙂

(Also, it’s not just the price myth, he also takes on the software myth as well as the proprietary myth. Sheesh. Why so many myths??) 🙂

by Greg

Apple’s Market Share

It’s been quiet here at GregsHead because it’s NOT been quiet in Greg’s office or Greg’s home! I even tried to post something like Steve did yesterday, but didn’t have time to finish it! Ha! 🙂

But wanted to post a link to this article about the Apple market share myth(s). Pretty interesting stuff. Was chatting with a fellow Mac user about it and he sent me this link.

From what I have seen (from my decidedly Mac-skewed vantage point) the world is much more than the fabled 2% Mac market share. And, as the article says, we are some of the coolest tech/computer users out there. 🙂

It’s not too late to “go Mac“…

🙂