"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

San Pedro Garza Garcia

Month: July 2014

Treppenwitz

Somehow, a couple of weeks back, I got a link to the Treppenwitz blog. I am not sure who first sent me the link–I think it might have been Kelly–but now I check it everyday. It is written by a guy roughly my age (maybe a little younger, I am giving my self the benefit of a doubt) who immigrated with his family to Israel from the United States and writes about his family’s life and life in Israel. Recent events make the blog interesting, but this is the post about when his daughter, at age 18, enlisted in the army is the thing that really got me hooked. The picture of the girl in the blog post standing between her parents really hit me with the reality of their situation.

Reading his blog makes me realize we are really not so different from each other. The guy, David Bogner, is there because he wants to be there. He rightly loves his family and his country and wants to have a good life for them. He does not have to be there, but remains and is willing to do what is necessary to keep his family safe and serve his country. I respect what he is doing a lot and love that he writes about it. Do not let me or my family complain about our lot in life–we have it easy and need to appreciate and support those who want that for their own families.

Betty Blonde #143 – 02/02/2009
Betty Blonde #143
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What is wrong with our culture today: Charles Cooke nails it

I have run into some interesting articles and blog sites over the last couple of weeks that I thought were worth a blog post or two. The first is titled Smarter than Thou by Charles C. W. Cooke over at National Review. It is about the true nature of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s pseudo-intellectualism and the role it plays in today’s über-hipster culture. This is one of my pet peeves–liberals who want who want to make arguments on the “progressive” issues of the day masquerade as “nerds” in the hope that people will think they are smart and/or have the background to opine on what they represent as scientific truths.  Cooke’s article is absolutely brilliant.  Here is just a taste of what he has to say on the subject of nerds, but you should read the whole article.

In this manner has a word with a formerly useful meaning been turned into a transparent humblebrag: Look at me, I’m smart. Or, more important, perhaps, Look at me and let me tell you who I am not, which is southern, politically conservative, culturally traditional, religious in some sense, patriotic, driven by principle rather than the pivot tables of Microsoft Excel, and in any way attached to the past. “Nerd” has become a calling a card — a means of conveying membership of one group and denying affiliation with another. The movement’s king, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has formal scientific training, certainly, as do the handful of others who have become celebrated by the crowd. He is a smart man who has done some important work in popularizing science. But this is not why he is useful. Instead, he is useful because he can be deployed as a cudgel and an emblem in political argument — pointed to as the sort of person who wouldn’t vote for Ted Cruz.

“Ignorance,” a popular Tyson meme holds, “is a virus. Once it starts spreading, it can only be cured by reason. For the sake of humanity, we must be that cure.” This rather unspecific message is a call to arms, aimed at those who believe wholeheartedly they are included in the elect “we.” Thus do we see unexceptional liberal-arts students lecturing other people about things they don’t understand themselves and terming the dissenters “flat-earthers.” Thus do we see people who have never in their lives read a single academic paper clinging to the mantle of “science” as might Albert Einstein. Thus do we see residents of Brooklyn who are unable to tell you at what temperature water boils rolling their eyes at Bjørn Lomborg or Roger Pielke Jr. because he disagrees with Harry Reid on climate change. Really, the only thing in these people’s lives that is peer-reviewed are their opinions. Don’t have a Reddit account? Believe in God? Skeptical about the threat of overpopulation? Who are you, Sarah Palin?

Betty Blonde #142 – 01/30/2009
Betty Blonde #142
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Christian’s apartment in Tempe

Christian's apartment close to ASU in Tempe
Christian is moved into his apartment at Arizona State University. He loves it and is making new friends.

Betty Blonde #141 – 01/29/2009
Betty Blonde #141
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Kelly’s apartment in Seattle

Kelly's apartment in Seattle
Kelly is now settled into her apartment in Seattle.  She loves it and is making new friends.

Betty Blonde #140 – 01/28/2009
Betty Blonde #140
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Lorena and Vanesa

Lorena and Vanesa in Seattle 2014When Lorena and I first got married, we moved to Boynton Beach, Florida. We lived there for about three years. Another recently married couple moved there from Puerto Rico about the same time as us. The wife’s name was Vanesa. Her husband and I both worked as engineers Motorola, just down the street from the apartments where we lived. One day, Vanesa’s husband came over to our apartment and told me he noticed that I had gotten driving lessons for Lorena to help her get her drivers license here in the states. He wanted to do the same for Vanesa, so the two of them started taking driving lessons together. They have been fast friends ever since.

Lorena and Vanesa never had any contact with each other after we moved back to Oregon other than on the telephone, but were pretty faithful in staying in touch a couple of times per year. In the meantime, Vanesa’s husband got a job in Seattle so they are considering moving the whole family up their from their current home in Texas.  It just turned out that Vanesa and her kids were visiting Seattle at the same time Lorena was helping Kelly move into her apartment as she gets ready to start school at University of Washington.

The upshot is that they were able to get together for the first time in over 18 years. You can see the both of them are just as cute as ever. The took up right where they left off. Vanesa has an amazing family with very accomplished children. I got to talk to her on the phone for a few minutes and STILL love her beautiful Puerto Rican (in Spanish) accent! We hope to be able to see themall more often now.

Betty Blonde #139 – 01/27/2009
Betty Blonde #139
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Senior year in college

Kelly's and Christian's Senior year at NCSU in front of the Ford Fiesta they drove to school every dayThis picture was taken during the first day of the kid’s Senior year at NCSU. The backdrop for the picture is the little 2013 Ford Fiesta sedan they drove to school every day. This year, we hope they send us a “first day of graduate school” picture so we can continue to keep track. Kelly’s classes start in late September.  Christian’s starts in late August. Both are already at school and already working.

Betty Blonde #138 – 01/26/2009
Betty Blonde #138
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Junior year in college

First day of class at NCSU (Junior year)This is the picture we took on the kids first day of class at NCSU when they entered their Junior year there. The big event of that beginning was that they were required to pass tests on why it was bad to binge drink (a good experience) and attend a Freshman orientation (a fairly negative experience for its heavy handed political correctness and poorly socialized government high school participants).  All-in-all, though it was a joyous occasion and the kids remain loyal NCSU fans to this day.

Betty Blonde #137 – 01/23/2009
Betty Blonde #137
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Sophomore year in college

Kelly and Dad during sophomore year in collegeDuring the first semester of the kids sophomore year at Wake Technical Community College, the whole family started going to the North Carolina State University Hill library to study on Saturdays. The picture of Kelly and I to the left was taken right about when we started going there. The kids would study for their classes, I would work on the GaugeCam project, and Lorena would either go shopping at Cameron Village or read magazines.  The fabulous new Hunt Library was built over on the Centennial Campus half way through their Junior year at NCSU.  We switched to Hunt as soon as it was available to us, but the Hill Library really is quite nice.

Just for posterity, I put up the picture below of Kelly, Christian and their friends from Chula Vista, CA, the Rizos kids.  This was taken just a few weeks before they started their sophomore year at Wake Tech.

Picture of Kelly and Christian just before they started their Sophomore year

Betty Blonde #136 – 01/22/2009
Betty Blonde #136
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Freshman year in college

Kelly and Christian--first day of class their Freshman year of collegeThis is a picture of Kelly and Christian with their new backpacks on their first day of college in August of 2010. I am going to post pictures of them at the start of each year for their for years of college.  Now Kelly and Christian both have apartments in their respective new towns as they start their PhD’s. They have both been able to find good apartments. Kelly is about 30 minutes by bus from her office at University of Washington.  Christian hit the lottery and found an apartment about a block from the light rail that will take him to within a block of his office at Arizona State University.  He should be able to get from his apartment door to his office in about 15 minutes.

They are both in the process of furnishing their apartments and having a great time. I cannot wait to visit both of them in their new digs.

Betty Blonde #135 – 01/21/2009
Betty Blonde #135
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Off to college

Traveling along I-40 with Kelly, taking the kids to collegeThe picture to the left was taken from inside Kelly’s Ford Fiesta as we entered Arizona on our way to take Christian to Arizona State University and Kelly to University of Washington. We had a great time, but the trip was filled with melancholy. This trip really marks the end of the family’s educational journey and the beginning of Kelly’s and Christian’s individual education/vocational paths. They will be at different schools in different towns over 1400 miles from each other and over 2000 miles from our home in North Carolina for the first time ever.

I have told the kids for many years that they will have finished their educational path when they they receive their Bachelors Degree in a hard subject. After that “getting on with life” starts. Our plan was that the kids would be responsible for any further education and start making their own way. If they wanted to go on to graduate school they would take that on themselves. I would probably have helped them as much as possible, but thankfully that both got funded degree programs, so in a very real sense they are going to work as much as they are continuing school. 

I think the reality of the “getting on with life” thing is sinking in with all of us–probably especially with Lorena and I–as the kids work on finding apartments, organizing transportation, and setting up households. They have jobs that (barely) pay them enough to rent an apartment and feed themselves along with all the same kinds of responsibilities and benefits associated with jobs that do not include formal learning as a student as part of their duty.

With all this, Lorena and I still struggle with what to do next.  I have decided to keep writing for awhile.

Betty Blonde #134 – 01/20/2009
Betty Blonde #134
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