Croc Crazy and Slippers

Bill Maher created a new term tonight on his show on HBO with his new rule to not wear plastic shoes. He recounts how a year ago only young children and mental patients wore shoes that you could hose down to clean.

I agree with him that people are getting too casual. In the Atlanta airport on Thursday, I saw a man getting on my flight wearing a polo shirt, shorts, ankle-length black socks, and Crocs. Which fashion faux paus was he committing? The black socks were probably worse. Please help. Sandals are not a fashion accessory and do not necessarily work with every outfit - particularly long pants. Maybe I have just turned too old-school.

I like my own Crocs. They are comfortable and easy to wear around the house. But, I am not firmly convinced about wearing them outside of our house. I have issues about thinking how old I am I guess. I do not wear slippers around the house no matter how cold it is because it reminds me of old people shuffling around.

Watching Dean

Pray for the people of Jamaica. I think that the Cayman Islands has a bit more money to weather the storm, but I think that Jamaica will be walloped if this forecast path from the NHC stays correct. This path hasn't changed much for Jamaica and Yucatan in the past 24 hours.

When you watch Dean, you know that the energy of the storm will have to go somewhere. Dean keeps pulling up the warmth of the water and with no shear to slow it down, it has to grow. You don't want it to hit your house, but you worry for the places and people where it may be going. For instance, I would like a catastrophic storm like Dean has become to hit an error with the ability to prepare and opportunity to recover. Bermuda is a good place. They have money, the building codes, and the government structure to handle a hurricane with minimal loss of life.

That thought leads me to a larger question. We Americans love Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic for vacation when we go to the areas with money. Should we take more responsibility to share our wealth (not just our tourism dollars) to improve the lives of people in the islands around us? We supposedly went into Iraq to remove a dictator that was not good to his people. What about these island countries with a barely functioning government? Our church and others in the Presbytery support a Haiti mission with St. Joseph's home for boys. Rather than grass roots, should our government which has spent $450 billion and counting, help out with a few billion?

Our Auburn Room

We painted most of the downstairs rooms last summer. This summer we didn't do quite as much after getting the carpet replaced with pecan hickory hardwood. Our son came up with the idea of painting the loft. What colors would be better than Auburn Orange and Blue? I saw the Home Depot commercials about team colors and it is as easy as advertised to get the Glidden paint in your team's approved colors. And, it looks great! Check out our slide show uploaded to Picasa. My wife did most of the work. J did a lot of the painting from 4 feet and below. J kept everyone on schedule.

My toof is gone

J's 2nd front tooth came out yesterday. Hopefully, he can stop gnawing on food from the side. He almost seems to be teething; chewing on his shirt all of the time. The new big teeth are starting to appear. He never learned to whistle very well. He will now have a shot with some adult front teeth. And, school starts in less than 2 weeks. J goes to 2nd grade and C starts preschool 4-K. How fast they grow up...

Cost of War banner

I was checking out Old Blue Bus blog from Blogs of Note and I noticed this on the side of the blog. I think that this number is important for us to remember. Besides the lives, this war is costing us (and Iraqis and others) a lot of money that could be spent on schools, roads, or housing. Instead, we pay for security over there.

Found Thriller on YouTube

I do not normally look around YouTube, but I came across this link reading Reuters Technology channel on my BlackBerry. Pretty good stuff. It is amazing how much stuff people store and post now, and what information we can find in a few clicks on the Web. Enjoy!

Church Billboard

I saw a billboard in front of a small church the other day. The sign read:

Aim for Heaven. Enjoy Earth Enroute.

I think that is a good quote to live by. As we decide how much we should enjoy earth, we need to think about things to enjoy. For instance, getting on a plane to Hawaii has a large carbon footprint, but shouldn't everyone get a chance to see the wonders of the islands if they can. I think that things are created for us to enjoy in all parts of the world. Otherwise, why do they exist?