It had to happen

Hey, a video!

Not much to say here, I'll let the vid speak for itself.



Rich

110 degrees Fahrenheit

Yesterday, the official high temperature was 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Edison New Jersey.  It got up to 108 in Newark New Jersey ( the closest relatively large city to our home in Edison ) and 104 in New York City ( where I work ).  I never recalled being in weather hotter than 103 degrees before ( It turns out NYC did hit 104 degrees when I was 7, so I guess I had been in weather that hot, and it might have been hotter than 104 when I was hiking down the Grand Canyon in the Summer of 1985 with my Dad and brother ( We had to turn back less than halfway down because my brother ( who was 12 at the time ) started to turn purple from the heat. ) ), so I actually stepped out of my office building for a few minutes when I noticed that the NYC temperature had hit 104.  I also occurred to me that NYC had hit the 40 Celsius mark, which is probably a lot more significant that 100 Fahrenheit in the rest of the world. 


That got me thinking a bit about the relative merits of Fahrenheit and Celsius, and I've decided that when it comes to describing weather here on planet Earth, Fahrenheit is the far superior unit of temperature.


Now, before you pigeon-hole as an "ignorant American who won't accept the metric systems", give me a few moments to explain myself.


I've got nothing against the metric system.  I spent my entire academic career studying science and engineering, and I wouldn't think of using anything other than metric units to do science.  In fact, if I could snap my fingers right now and force the USA accept meters, liters, and grams, I'd do it in an instant ( Also, as long as I had those magical finger snapping powers, I'd also force the English-speaking world outside the USA to spell "liter" and "meter" the way they are pronounced.  I mean really, "metre"?  C'mon UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - you should know better than that. ).  However, when it comes to describing weather, I think the USA may be the only nation that still does things the right way.


Let's face it, unlike meters, liters, and grams ( I just misspelled "grams" as "grahams" for the second time in this post.  I must be getting hungry. ), scientist don't really use Celsius.  No scientist or engineer would ever use Celsius when working with an equation like "PV = nRT" ( unless that scientist really got a kick out of adding 273.15 ).  Kelvin is the temperature scale used for science, not Celsius.  Sure, Celsius units are the same size as Kelvin units, and it's easier to convert from Celsius to Kelvin than from Fahrenheit to Kelvin, but in the end, neither Celsius or Fahrenheit work for science unless you do some conversions.


So, with that in mind, why is Celsius any better than Fahrenheit when it comes to describing weather?  Gee, I guess it's nice that the freezing point of water in Celsius is 0, and the boiling point of water in Celsius is 100.  But guess what ...


I'm not a fuckin' glass of water.


When it comes to describing the weather that any person might experience, 100 degrees Celsius is pretty much irrelevant.  100 degrees Fahrenheit, on the other hand, is pretty damned special, and I like it when special values are nice round numbers like 100.  I also like it when things are scaled from 0 to 100.  I guess that's why the inventor of Celsius used a scale from 0 to 100 to describe the freezing and boiling of water.
However, as I mentioned above, people are not water, and using the freezing and boiling point of water to scale your temperature systems seems rather arbitrary anyway.  Why water? Why not use the freezing and boiling point of iron?  Why not create a scale where the burning point of paper is set at 100 degrees and call those units Bradburys?  Heck, this 0 to 100 thing doesn't even really work for water if you are not at sea level.


On the other hand, when it comes to describing the weather in a good portion of the world, the 0 to 100 scale  in Fahrenheit almost perfectly describes the expected range of temperatures you might experience over your lifetime.  At the latitude I live at ( and lots of major cities in the world are close to that latitude ), the temperature rarely gets above 100 Fahrenheit or below 0 Fahrenheit.  The temperature only goes out of that range about once a decade, and when it does, it barely goes out of that range.  I kinda like living in a 0-100 weather world, and I kinda feel bad for those who live in a world where the weather "ceiling" is only 40 and the weather "floor" is way below zero.

In any case, I guess it all depends on where you live and what you are used to, but for my little corner of the world, Fahrenheit is just right.

Rich

"It used to hurt til Tuesday. Now it hurts til Friday."

Eventually, I will write a "Why I Run ( Part 2 )" followup up to my "Why I Run ( Part 1 )" blog entry, but for now, you can consider this short post to kinda be a "Why I Run ( Part 1.5 )".

Sometime in the late 1980's there was a television commercial for Sports Illustrated which featured aging future-Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Steve Largent.  The commercial shows a worn-down Largent going through a tough practice.  In a voice-over, we hear Largent say ...

"It used to hurt til Tuesday.  Now it hurts til Friday"

While I though this was a pretty cool commercial as a teenager ( Note for non-football fans: The NFL plays its games once a week on Sundays.  Largent was talking about how long it took his body to recover from the pounding he would take in the game each Sunday. ), it resonates even more with me now that I'm far older than Largent was when he shot that ad.

Now, I'm certainly not being hit by 240 pound linebackers and 220 pound safeties each Sunday, but I did have a rather intense run on the treadmill on Sunday, and I find that I'm still a bit sore today.  Thankfully, I'm nowhere near as sore as I was on Monday morning, when I experienced a good deal of pain in the underside of my right heal when I took my first first few steps of the morning ( which basically means I've got a bit of plantar fasciitis in my right foot. ).  Things have gotten a little better each day, and I should be just about recovered for my next intense run on Thursday night.

Still, as much as I'd like to be able to deny it, I'm forced to admit that Father Time is catching up with me.  There are a lot of reason why I run, but the biggest reason why I run these days is probably DENIAL.

If I can run miles at a time far faster than I possibly could as a 21-year-old ( which I can ), I can fool myself into believing that I'm in better shape now at 41 than I was at 21.  However, that's just a big lie I like to tell myself to stave off my fear of the reaper.  Sure, I'm in much better cardio-vascular shape now than I was as an asthma-afflicted younger man, but if my heart and lungs had allowed me to run several miles at a rapid clip back when I was 21, I'm sure I would have woken up the next morning without any muscle pain at all.  Heck, when I first started running on a treadmill at 31, I never felt any pain after a run.  As much as my brain might like to deny it, my muscles don't lie - I'm getting old.

However, I guess that's not the worst thing in the world.  Age has brought me a wonderful wife and two wonderful kids, and I certainly wouldn't trade them for a chance to be 21 again.  I guess we all get old, but even if your whole body is sore, every day you get to spend with your loved ones on this earth is a gift.  I might complain a bit, but I'm certainly appreciate that gift every day.

Rich

4th of July

I miss the good old days.

And by "good old days", I mean the good old days of 4th of July celebrations.  Sure, I guess it's a good thing that most places have cracked down on illegal fireworks.  Sure, it's certainly a good thing that people aren't blowing off their fingers anymore.

... but still ....

I can't help but miss what Independence Days were like back when I was growing up on 96th Place in the Ozone Park neighborhood of New York City.  That scene had to be seen ( and smelt and heard ) to be believed.  Of course, I've never been on an 18th Century battlefield, but I've got to image that those battlefields sounded and smelt a lot like the way 96th Place smelt and sounded every July 4th in the 1970's.

All day long from about 11 AM to 1 AM you'd hear a plethora of illegal fireworks blowing up.  Smoke would hang in the air like a thick fog, and there was a distinct smell of sulfur in the air.  Most people on the block didn't travel on that day, because they were afraid they might come home to find their house burnt down due to an errant firework.  So, because we were all going to be home all day anyway, it didn't make much sense to sit around and gripe about the sound and the smoke.  Instead, we all joined in on the fun.

It seemed like every Dad on the block ( including mine ) got his hands on every kind of illegal firework imaginable.  They would set them off all day in the street as the kids watched, and there's really nothing that makes a young boy happier than watching stuff blow up.  I still remember the year my dad got his hands on some blockbusters (a blockbuster is a quarter stick of dynamite ).  He lit one and placed it under a 3-foot tall steel garbage can, and I swear that the garbage can must have launched about 20 feet into the air.  As stupid as this may sound, I still consider that moment to be one of the highlights of my childhood.

Now, my parents were wise enough to keep fireworks out of my hands, but plenty of  parents on the block were more than willing to let their kids join in on the "fun".  I don't remember any kids handling the big stuff, but kids can still do a lot of damage with fire-crackers and bottle rockets.  Especially those kids who thought it was fun to throw lit firecrackers.  Especially those kids who thought it was a blast ( pun intended ) to shoot bottle rockets horizontally along the ground.  I was never unlucky enough to be hit by one of these low-flying missiles, but I distinctly remember a few whizzing right past my feet ( The same kids who though it was fun to launch those things horizontally thought it was hilarious to aim them at people. ).

As crazy as all that was, I think it all pales in comparison to the insanity of what people did with roman candles.  A roman candle is basically a small mortar you can hold in your hand.  Now, it's not really a good ideal to hold a lit firework with enough explosive power to launch 10 fireballs into the air, but people certainly did.  My Dad used to hold a roman candle up in the air like he was the Statue of Liberty.  I still remember those green and red fiireballs launching out of that roman candle in his hand.

Certainly not wise ....

Certainly not safe ...

... but it was freakin' cool!

Yeah, not wise, not safe, but COOL!

Happy July 4th folks!  I have no choice but to live the safe and secure life of a suburban Dad these days, but if you have an opportunity to, please blow something up for me today!

Rich

A different kind of happiness

And so it begins ...

We finally broke down and got our kids a Wii on Monday.  They've played with it all night for the past three nights.  We'll still not sure if we've made the right decisions.

( Note I wrote most of this post on June 15th ( a few days after Peter's birthday on June 12th), so "Monday" in the paragraph above refers to June 13th.   However, I've been too busy to work on this post since then, so this entry is being posted about 2 weeks after that. )

Considering all the time I spent playing video games as a kid, I'm probably the last person who should claim to have the moral authority to forbid his kids from playing videos games.  I barely have a leg to stand on with the "playing video games will lead to bad grades" argument.  After all, I did fine in school despite all the video games.  However, I also happened to be blessed ( cursed? ) with a natural self-discipline which led me to do things like rip up pictures I drew for kindergarten homework when I thought I hadn't done a good enough job.

My kids don't quite have the same level of focus on their schoolwork.  Sure, Michael is blessed with a brain that has made school really easy for him, and Peter has a natural curiosity that will serve him very well  ( He asks questions that his older brother would never think to ask. ).  However, they both get distracted very easily, and they still have a lot of trouble doing their homework unless you sit with them and make sure they stay at the table.

So, I'm worried that this Wii will be a big distraction, but ...

1) Summer vacation is about to start ( June 15 was the last day of school before vacation ).

2) I've rationalized that we can use the Wii as a motivating tool ( "You've can't play with the Wii until you finish your homework"; "You can't play with the Wii until you practice Piano ( they start lessons this week )"; "You can't play with the Wii until you read for a while"; etc. )

3) It was Peter's birthday, and Peter asked for the Wii in the sweetest way.

Peter turned 6 on June 12th.  He had a really happy day, but at the end of the day he asked if we could get him the game "Just Dance 2".  "Just Dance 2" is a Wii game, and for the last few months, Peter has been dancing to "Just Dance 2" videos on YouTube.  A few months ago, we was introduced to the game when he spent the evening at a "Parent's night out" event at his day-care center ( Peter was in half-day kindergarten this year ( Because our big prick of a Governor Chris Christie cut public education funding so much ( while giving big tax breaks to rich folks ) that public schools had to lay-off lots of teachers. ( Michael had full day kindergarten last year before a bunch of brain-dead New Jersey swing voters elected a right wing Republican governor in a state that usually elects Democrats ( Christie's approval rating is now polling at under 50% percent, because apparently a lot of the bozos who voted for him are now shocked and dismayed that a right-wing Republican governor is actually implement right-wing Republican policies in the state. ).).  So, because there was no full-day kindergarten, Peter had to go to a day care center  for half the school-day. About 3 times a year, the day care center has a "Parent's Night Out" promotion, when they'll take care of the kids so the parents can actually go out on a date. ).  As you may already know, Peter loves to dance, and from that point on, all he's wanted to do is play "Just Dance 2".  However, I still wasn't sure if we should get the kids a non-educational video game system ( They've had a few educational systems, but they've kinda outgrown those ), and for the last few months he's seemed content enough to dance along to YouTube videos.

However, on the night of his birthday, he asked the following question is a very sweet and gentle way.

"Could I play "Just Dance 2" for real someday?".  When I asked him if he could "play" "Just Dance 2" on YouTube, he got a really sad look on his face, and asked again if he could play it "for real".  He didn't pout, he didn't scream, he didn't make demands of us - he just kinda sat there on the couch in silence looking rather sad.  My wife and I huddled up for a moment, and decided the time has come to get our kids a Wii.

OK, I now what some of you folks are thinking ....

"Man, Peter played you guys like a fiddle.  He must have known you guys couldn't resist his little sad face on his birthday."

I know I'm obviously biased about this, but you've got to believe me that it wasn't like that as all.  I know things will inevitably change when they get older, but right now I don't think my kids have a devious bone in their bodies.  Peter was genuinely sad on what to that point has been a really happy day.  I don't think I'd every seen Peter as happy as he'd been at his Chuck E' Cheese birthday party that day ( see photo below ) , and it filled me with as much joy as I'd ever felt.

( Click to enlarge to see full-screen happiness )

And that brings us to the title of this blog post.  The joy a parent gets from his kid's happiness is truly "a different kind of happiness."

Now, I'm going to try my best not to annoy of you folks out there who don't have kids.  I'm sure you've all gotten sick to your stomach at times when you've heard gushing parents says things like "Until you've had kids, you'll never understand what love is" and "There's nothing like the love a parent feels for a child".  I really  don't want to sound like one of *those* parents who are so full of themselves and the parenting experience, but ...

... there really is something different about the happiness you feel as a parent when your child is happy.  I'm not even going to try to explain it, because words just can't describe it.  It's just different - wonderful and different.

  In addition to that "different" kind of happiness, most parents are lucky enough to also experience feelings of pride on occasion.  I was really proud of Michael recently, but perhaps not for a reason you might have guessed.  Sure, parents always feels some pride when their kids accomplish something great, but the pride I felt can best be understood by reading the paragraphs below from this fine article:

"

Here’s the thing. I want my kids to be successful, sure. But more than anything I want them to be soulful and moral. Yes, I would like to see them prosper, afford nice things, and earn the admiration of their peers. But damn it, if money and status become more important to them than being ethical, altruistic, and giving then I have utterly failed as a parent.

My friend Dennis Prager, the radio host and author, tells a story of a woman who bragged to him that her children were top doctors and lawyers. He asked her, “Are they good people?” “Why of course,” she responded. And then his clincher. “Then why didn’t you tell me that first?”

I am proud when my kids show me a good report card. But I receive real joy when people who have met them tell me how respectful and warm they are.

"

For the first 6 years of his life, Peter slept in the same room as his Mom.  He was too scared too sleep alone, , and he's been sleeping right next to his Mom for years.  Of course, as sweet as it was that Peter wanted to sleep next to his Mommy each night ( it always warmed my heart to see him cuddled up next to her ), we knew this couldn't last forever.  Ruth and I convinced him that he should try sleeping in his own room "like a big boy" when he turned 6 years old. We knew it might be hard for him, but we let him know about a month ahead of time that June 12th would be his first night sleeping in his room by himself.

Well, the big night came, and when we took Peter to his room, we found that two of Michael's favorite stuffed animals were in Peter's room.   Michael told us that the stuffed animals had "retired" from his room and that Peter could now have them for his room.  He also told Peter that he could rename the stuffed animals if he'd like.

Michael's done some pretty amazing thing so far when it comes to math and science, but I don't think I was ever as proud of Michael as I was on that night.

They make me proud and they make me happy.  I feel so blessed to be a father.  There's really nothing else like that "different kind of happiness".

Rich

Michael's Mother's Day Essay

The boys had lots of gifts for Mom today, including the following essay Michael wrote in school:

My Mom
by Michael


My Mom's name is Ruth.  She is special because she loves me.  She has pretty eyes.  I like when my Mom tells me jokes.  I think she's the best at reading.  My Mom is super smart!  She even knows how to bake.  I love when my Mom and I read.  I'd like to tell my Mom that I want her to start allowance.


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Oh really, Ralph?

In an article titled "Why Obama Gets Four More Years in White House", Ralph Nader wrote the following:

"Nor does a third party or independent candidacy pose a threat, given the winner-take-all, two-party system."


Oh really, Ralph?


So, you're telling me that it was just my imagination when a certain liberal icon ran for President as a third party candidate in 2000, cost Al Gore Florida, and gave us 8 years of George W. Bush?


So, you're telling me that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were just my imagination?


I guess I was just imagining things when George W. Bush's completely irresponsible tax cuts and his wars created so much government debt that my great grandkids will still be paying it off.


I guess I was just imagining things when the anti-regulation policies of Bush led to the the United States greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression.


I guess I was just imagining things when the huge national debt created by the George W. Bush's policies gave the Republican right-wing the idea to create the anti-debt Tea Party movement ( which has somehow convinced half the nation that the national debt is the fault of the Democrats ).


I guess I was just imagining things when Tea Party endorsed politicians responded to the debt by cutting social programs that liberals spent their lives fighting for ( While refusing the raise taxes or our cut Defense spending, despite that fact that the low taxes and Defense spending led to most of the national debt ) and  stripping public unions of their collective bargaining rights.


I guess I was just imagining imagine things when New Jersey governor ( and Tea Party favorite ) Chris Christie used the anti-debt issue as an excuse to cut public school funding so much ( while giving tax breaks to millionaires ) that my youngest son Peter was denied full-day Kindergarten.


I guess I was just imagining things when George W. Bush added John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court - a pair of relatively young ultra-conservatives who will influence the Court for at least the next 30 years.


I guess I just imagined the Roberts and Alito were part of the majority in  the 5-4 "Citizens United v Federal Election Commission" decision, which gave corporations the power spend as much money as they wanted to influence elections.


I guess I was just imagining the large number of 5-4 pro-business decisions made by the Supreme Court over the last few years ( There was another 5-4 decision of this sort today. ).  I guess was just imagining that these Supreme Courts decisions are destroying all the consumer protections you've fought so hard for over the years.


I guess I was just imagining how the Bush Deficits led to budgets cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, undermining lots of the environmental protections you've spent your career fighting for.


I guess I was just imagining how a certain liberal icon tarnished his legacy so much that the Simpsons made fun of him ( Wish I could find the clip ) by having him attend a meeting of the Springfield Republicans ( When this liberal icon offer a suggestion to help the Republicans, Mr. Burns tell him "Haven't you done enough already?" ).


I guess I was just imagining that a certain liberal icon screwed the country for the next 50 years by running for President as a third party candidate in 2000, and then had the balls to suggest 11 years later that third party candidates have no impact on Presidential elections.


Oh really, Ralph?!?


Rich


P.S. Yes, I'm still a little bit bitter.