The move ...

is underway with the help of a bunch of wonderful people. We're loaded up and about to pull out with our first load to the new house. Thanks so much to all who've shown up!

I don't like multi-tasking

My wife says I need to blog more so here's a quick one in between what seems like 1 million things going on right now. (Apologies to Jackie for not posting on her blog. Please forgive me!)
I'm not sure what sadistic person came up with the notion of multi-tasking, but I noticed something recently when I tried to find books about how humans are supposed to do this - I don't recall finding a single one about how people multi-task - it was all about multi-tasking programs!
Well, it's off to the store with my wife so she doesn't lift anything heavy.
Prayers will be greatly appreciated in this massively stressful time of transition. Later!

It's a good day

Several people know that the due date of our expected child is Sept. 11.
Some have reacted that it's a terrible day to have a baby born on that date.
The likelihood the baby will come into this world then is remote.
But I beg to differ that it's a bad day for a good thing to happen.
We forget that all kinds of good things happened that day.
For a day, we forgot that we were black, white, Hispanic, etc.
For a day, we forgot that individuals weren't more important than people.
For a day, we forgot we were a divided nation.
For a day, we had dozens and dozens of heroes, many of whom aren't here with us today.
Too bad we've collectively forgotten what we forgot that day.
I've made a little disc - don't worry RIAA, it's not for sale - of songs and tracks (all paid for) relevant to the events of 9/11 and/or its aftermath - just to remind me that no matter how bad my day at work was, I've never had a day like that.
If the baby is born that day, I have a name in mind. Grandma doesn't like it but it will get strong consideration if she's born on 9/11. We'll just leave it at that for now, and that for all the bad that happened on that day nearly four years ago - it's a good day.

What I'm missing

This is a quick note before my wife (and baby) and I go out to eat.
Blogging seems to create a really interesting mish-mash electronic community of people we know in person and are learning about through posts.
My wife, YankeeAmanda, is having a lot of fun at this and I hope to join this crowd a bit more, though I try to keep relatively anonymous so I don't let my opinions get mixed up with my other work.
Most of the people involved in this hodge-podge would probably tell me just to get over myself and have fun.
Hopefully that's what I'll do!

Views on the War

In general, I'm in support of our nation's global pursuit of terrorists.
As a Christian, I'm conflicted about my visceral desire to see faceless cowards meet an untimely death at the hands of shadow warriors, exterminating the threat before it even surfaces - before they slice off the heads of innocent civilians, denotate improvised explosive devices with a cell phone from a mile away and snuff out life in random yet calculated efforts to disrupt Western civilization.
Scripture encourages us to pray for our enemies and see them come to know the Lord. Do these enemies pose a threat so great as to ride our anger to its ultimate conclusion? Or do we merely sit around and wait for the next high-profile target to fall victim to the deluded?
Somewhere in between lies the right answer.
In the mean time, I'll pray.
I'll also pray that somehow our military leaders use the knowledge gleaned from the tactics of the mujahadeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets to protect our men and women.
Somehow I've gotten the impression that our military leaders have said that they don't know how to combat IED attacks because we've never had experience with them.
Maybe they haven't said it, but it's how they're acting.
Maybe they didn't tell us everything they were doing, but the mujahadeen - whom we supported as I understand - used tactics very similar to those being employed by the "insurgents" in Iraq. Remember that bin Laden supposedly was among the mujahadeen at some point along the way.
Here's an example I saw on television:
The mujahadeen would get explosives, implant them on or near the road bed, then recreate tank track impressions over the explosive-laden area. Then, BOOM! (I saw this on a recent Military Channel show the name of which I never caught.)
So let's use the knowledge - whether we taught them how to do it or not - to save lives and get us back to the job at hand, securing Iraq enough to turn it over to the Iraqis.
I have a friend who's being deployed soon and I want to see her come home in one piece and alive. I don't think it's too much to ask that we do everything we can to keep our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends alive as they go about their duties.

Baby Eve ... sort of

As we inch closer to the time my wife might deliver, we're trying to get more done.
I don't know if either of us really know what to expect. But I want this child to know without question that I love her and want the best for her.
We're buying furniture that will serve several purposes and work well for her, hopefully for a long time to come.
You can see nursery pictures on my wife's blog.