I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season, and for those of you so inclined, I hope today was as blessed and merry a Christmas as ours was.

For the first time, we hosted the festivities at our house, celebrating with my wife's family and breaking out the good china and family-heirloom silver. The food was perfect: my turkey and gravy were just right and my wife made some incredible chocolate-chocolate chip mini-Bundt cakes with hot fudge sauce and raspberries for dessert. (For big occasions, I'm the chef; she's the baker). The kids behaved well, and we played games most of the afternoon.

Best surprise present? My wife proving to me that she reads this blog. (She got me Lileks' Interior Desecrations and the complete Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series on DVD).

Feliz Navidad, y'all.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 142 words, total size 1 kb.

My wife and I went to a "Holiday" dinner with a group of my clients tonight, leaving the kids at home with a babysitter.

When I got home, I found that my second son had left something for me on the kitchen table:

In case you can't see it clearly, the note reads: "Try to fix. Don't throw away." I got a big smile out of this, since it reflects such a simple, childlike faith that I can fix anything. Too bad that's not the case...

Posted by: JohnL at 11:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 90 words, total size 1 kb.

Like Michele (and unlike Reactionary Scrooge Robert), I like adding some color to my Christmas light displays:

I finally settled on this format last year, when I measured the lengths of the sidewalk borders, went to the local Elliott's Hardware store, and cut a custom length of C-9 socket cord. I then got a few boxes of red, green, and white C-9 bulbs, some sturdy metal stakes, and a few hours of labor later, my sidewalks were done. This year, it took about 2 hours to do everything -- the Yaupon trees are strung with basic small mixed lights (white and red or red and green) and I have everything run to switched outlets, so I can turn them on or off with the flick of a switch in the house.

I like Rob, so I think I'll get him a really nice Christmas present this year. What do you think about this? Maybe this, too?

Posted by: JohnL at 09:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 162 words, total size 1 kb.

I hope all of you have had a happy, peaceful, and relaxing Thanksgiving Holiday. Last year, I posted a list of things for which I am thankful. I don't think I would change much of anything on it this year.

I have posted George Washington's original Thanksgiving proclamation from October 14, 1789 in the extended entry:
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 06:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 521 words, total size 3 kb.

Rob the Llamabutcher's account of reading to his llama-ettes got me to thinking about the books I've read aloud to my sons (I still read short little picture stories to my 5-year old daughter).

I love reading to my kids, but some authors are almost impossible to read aloud. J.K. Rowling springs immediately to mind, as she runs on with florid and wordy sentences always ending with a clause beginning with an "ing" word, piling on the clauses one after another, stopping for nothing, droning on and on and on. (Her stories are fun and the boys and I like them, but she really needs an editor with a spine).

Throughout 2003, I read the complete Lord of the Rings out loud to my oldest son. Tolkien knew how to craft beautiful language that was both fun to read out loud and to hear myself reading. It gave me a whole new perspective on the power of his stories and his language.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 166 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday was the thirteenth anniversary of my marriage to my lovely wife. Hence, the lack of blogging last night.

We go out to dinner a fair amount, but almost never see first-run movies, so we went to see The Bourne Supremacy. Two thumbs way up.

We both read all of Ludlum's Bourne books about 15 years ago, and recently checked out The Bourne Identity on video.

We have been pleasantly surprised by both movies. Matt Damon fits our mental image of Jason Bourne, and even though we have forgotten all of the finer plot details (from which I understand the movies depart in some key ways) the overall characters and settings fit our memories of the books.

Now, where is that Amazon wish list. . . ?

Posted by: JohnL at 09:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

This should be the final entry. I hope you've enjoyed the pictures. All (except for the one of me in front of the P-3 were taken with our new Sony Cybershot P-100 5.1 megapixel digital camera. Easy to use, nice optics for its size, ergonomic, and small. Highly recommended.

Despite some minor complaints from the kids, we were able to haul them on several hikes this time, including one at high altitude. Here's the view at lunchtime, close to timberline:

And here's the view at 11,900 feet above mean -- highest point on the trail:

What's funny is that some people don't really grok this. They prefer the beach, or, [shudder] the plains. James Lileks thinks mountains are too obvious. Funny, I grew up in a city on the plain and have seen clouds like mountain ranges, but I have never experienced in Texas anything close to the awe I feel in the Rockies. (More pics in the extended entry). . . more...

Posted by: JohnL at 10:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 254 words, total size 3 kb.

Our vacation took us from nice-but-not-so-scenic Plano, Texas to Breckenridge, Colorado (elev. 9,600 feet).

Our first day was spent driving to Colorado Springs, where we spent one night. The next day, we visited the US Air Force Academy. (Pictures and more commentary in extended entry).

more...

Posted by: JohnL at 10:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 134 words, total size 1 kb.

Strange to start a vacation photoblog with pictures of food joints, eh?

Well, this vacation was different from previous years in that we decided to take a stand against McDonalds, BurgerKing, and other cheap, artery-clogging food in favor of non-chain, locally-owned, less cheap, artery-clogging food. (Actually, we ate pretty healthy, with most of our meals home-cooked in the huge kitchen of the condo we rented in Breckenridge).

I think we chose pretty well. (See extended entry for pics and critiques).
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 10:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 556 words, total size 5 kb.

My second son (7) attempted a backwards flip/dive at our neighborhood pool when I was almost home from work today. My wife took him to the ER after dropping off our 5-year-old daughter to stay with me (eldest son is at scout camp, thankfully).

This is the son I expect to be the first (if not only) one of my kids to jump out of an airplane someday. He managed to expose his skull lining, but seven staples and a vicious headache later, he is doing fine.

Time for some adult refreshments. . .

Posted by: JohnL at 08:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

Today was a happy Fathers' Day in the Lanius household.

The kids let me sleep in late and read the paper in bed with coffee. I got a couple of nice shirts, a gift card for Best Buy (with a note, "For the New Rush CD"), and, best of all, several lovely homemade cards from the kids.

I played Xbox with the boys for a couple of hours, bathed the dog, and began some repairs on my deck (I like yardwork, unlike some) before we headed over to my sister's for a cookout with my parents and some swimming.

In all, a great day. I've been neglecting the blog recently, but hope to have some quality postings this week to make up for the lack of quantity around here.

On deck this week:

• Reactions to SpaceShipOne's flight


• A review of the June 23 Rush concert in Dallas


• Two words: "Operation Coffeecup" (a tribute to Reagan)

More later.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.

OK, I'm back. That was fairly painless as far as home improvements and contractors go. If you live in the Dallas area and need the name of a great flooring guy, send me an email. Take a gander at the pix in the extended entry (I apologize for the low-light graininess; I'm still working with the 1 megapixel digital camera built into my camcorder, although we hope to be getting a dedicated 3+ megapixel still camera soon). more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 195 words, total size 2 kb.

We're about to embark on some home improvements.

Long story short, we have to completely empty the office (which has the only cable modem outlet in the house) and I will be offline for the next few days. When I return, I'll post some nifty before-and-after pics like Stephen Green.

Bis spaeter, hasta luego, etc.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, life was quite interesting today. In case you missed the second update below, Jake the dog escaped our yard last night. We spent most of the day worrying, wondering why we hadn't picked up the crate so he could sleep indoors, wishing we had already "chipped" him (we're putting in a tracking chip), and otherwise blaming ourselves for normal dog behavior.

The good news came about 3:45 today. A homeowner about 3 miles away had Jake in his back yard. Here's the rascally runaway, looking quite pleased that he has gone from an outside dog to a house dog in less than 24 hours:

My wife just said from the other room (without having read over my shoulder), "Look at him. So far he has gotten nothing but his way. He's not in the backyard!"

But we love him. Funny how it works like that.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.

This is our new dog, a rescued stray we have dubbed "Jake."

By the vet's estimate, he is an 18-month-old Golden Lab/German Shepherd mix.

He's had a hard life and is a little skittish around men, but has the gentle Labrador disposition with the kids and my wife.

He's already worked his way into our lives and you can expect some more stories and pictures about him in the future.

Update: I see that Ted's been doing some dog blogging recently, too. Small world.

Update 2: Sad development -- we didn't have a crate for him yet, so Jake slept in our backyard last night. We had an empty yard this morning -- he dug out under the fence. We've been looking for an hour, but no luck so far. Sad kids, sad dad. Will update later.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 149 words, total size 1 kb.

Looks like Alan Brain is on this earth against the odds.

His grandfather survived four years of active duty as a sniper on the front lines in World War I and lived to tell the tale to a young Mr. Brain.

I don't have a similar tale of wartime courage about either of my grandfathers, but my maternal grandfather, Joseph M. Hill, MD, did manage to save the lives of thousands in World War II thanks to a method he developed of freeze-drying blood plasma. (See pp. 44-45 of this file, and the second paragraph of this one).

I wonder what stories my hypothetical grandchildren will remember about me?

Posted by: JohnL at 11:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 113 words, total size 1 kb.

I know I promised this yesterday. Oh well, so much for using an artificial deadline to motivate my writing. (If you missed the first two posts, here they are: part 1, part 2).

We reported to the Main Hangar Deck at 1700 hours for announcements. The Scouts, as their mandatory service project, had earlier arranged several hundred folding chairs before a raised stage. Unfortunately 7-to-11-year-old kids don't think about putting any space between chairs when lining them up. Sardines in a can would have more elbow room than we did. For those who did not read their Plan of the Day earlier, the Live Aboard program counselors summarized the rest of the evening's schedule and introduced the volunteers who would be leading tours throughout the ship later. After supper, we saw the IMAX movie Straight Up. I saw this movie last summer with my older son when we went to the Aviation Challenge Pilot/Co-pilot weekend program in Huntsville, Alabama. If you haven't seen this movie, you should check it out. I gained a much greater appreciation for the hazards
faced by Coast Guard rescue swimmers and high-tension electric power line maintainence workers. After the movie, we reported back to the Main Hangar Deck for evening colors. A LARGE United States flag (think Patton) hung from the ceiling behind the stage. Different-aged scouts from the various packs and troops presented the flags from each branch of the armed services, including the Coast Guard. We then watched a patriotic slideshow, which included Johnny Cash's Ragged Old Flag and some country version of God Bless the USA.

Now, you have to know me to really appreciate just how deep my loathing for country music runs. Being a multiple-generation native Texan, that makes me a bit of an anomaly. And if you need to know anything else about me, as a libertarian, I am normally pretty skeptical about how patriotism can be manipulated by politicians to gain and consolidate power. So believe me when I say that this show of patriotism put an authentic lump in my throat, against all odds. I thought of the men and women in our armed forces who are in daily danger trying to subdue and reform the barbarians hammering at our gates. In many ways the ceremony summoned emotions similar to my post-9-11 feelings: what would normally seem corny or a little hokey was instead just honest pride and gratitude that I was blessed to have been born here.

After the ceremony, we adjourned to roam the ship. Descending into the engineering section, we heard the first of many ghost stories of the night. Seems the volunteers have seen a few different ghosts (the same ones again and again). They even have a "ghost cam" installed in the ship so that Internet viewers can try to sight them. I didn't see anything (nor did I expect to). But based on my experiences later in the evening, I am sure that the volunteers really have seen ghosts -- or at least hallucinations resulting from suggestability, lack of sleep, and high doses of refined sugar ;-)

After exploring for an hour or so, I got my boys settled in front of Pirates of the Caribbean on a large-screen TV. We then went to the fo'c's'le, a large spookily resonant space for some ghost stories. After scaring the bejeebers out of the kids, we then turned in for the night.

As a footnote, I stood watch as a volunteer fire watchman until 0300 hours, and had an interesting adventure. But I can't divulge the details. Maybe some other time.

After Reveille at 0630, we got ready for breakfast, packed up, and had a closing ceremony. I then made the 8-hour drive back to Plano on 3-and-a-half hours of sleep. Fun.

If you live in Texas and have kids in an organized group, you should definitely look into the Live Aboard program on the Lexington. I have also heard that there are similar programs in other parts of the country on other decommissioned Navy ships. Seek out these opportunities, as they present a truly unique way to teach your kids some history and to have a really memorable experience together.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 712 words, total size 5 kb.

As mentioned last week, I took my two sons down to Corpus Christi to spend the night on the USS Lexington.

As you can read on her official website, the Lex is a WWII-vintage Essex-class aircraft carrier that was converted to carry jets in the 1950s, and then served with great distinction as a training carrier for almost thirty years from 1962 until she was decommissioned in 1991.

We have a family link to this carrier, as my wife's biological father (a Navy pilot shot down and killed in Vietnam two months before her birth) did his carrier landing training on the Lexington. The Lex accommodates Scout and Y-guide groups in a one-or-two-night "live aboard" program. We did this 2 years ago and had so much fun that we were eager to return when our Cub Scout pack planned another trip this year. (This trip also gave my younger son the chance to experience this as an official Tiger Cub Scout and to get a patch for it).

We checked in at the pier at 1000 hours (military time seems most appropriate here) on Saturday and received our orders: Find your assigned berth (enlisted quarters, three bunks high and spaced only a couple of feet apart), make your bed, get some chow (chili dogs, yum), and explore until 1700 hours. We began after lunch with the flight deck. It's amazing just how big these ships are. Even more amazing when you realize that a modern nuclear carrier like the USS Ronald Reagan is almost a third again as long and about 60 feet wider. My boys liked the F-14 and the Cobra gunship best of the aircraft on the flight deck (I was puzzled by the presence of an army helicopter there).

After touring the bridge and the rest of the conning tower, we walked down to the Texas State Aquarium. I visited it first with my younger son, while my older son continued to tour the ship with one of his buddies (and family). I then deposited the younger son with his friends and their families and got to see the aquarium a second time with my older son, who really appreciated it; he and I have discovered a mutual love for fish through our combined efforts to get his own little 10-gallon aquarium established. We got back to the ship with about 15 minutes to spare, and got ready for the evening schedule:

• 1700 Assembly in Main Hangar Deck


• 1730 Chow (Salisbury Steak, yum)


• 1800 IMAX movie Straight Up (the Lexington has an IMAX auditorium built in an enclosed aircraft elevator bay)


• 1930 Evening Colors (very patriotic flag ceremony)


• 2000 Self-guided Tours (until 2315)


• 2100 Movies on Big Screen TVs


• 2230 Ghost Stories


• 2315 Quarters


• 2330 Tattoo (Lights Out)

More tomorrow. . .

Posted by: JohnL at 10:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 479 words, total size 3 kb.

I'm sorry for the light posting for the last several days. I took Wednesday through Friday off work to spend some time with my kids during their Spring break and to get some yard work done (lots of fun around the Lanius house).

How did I spend my time? Mowing, weeding, laying brick borders, mulching, trimming. Firing up the grill. Enjoying a homemade margarita while cooking up dinner. Watching Caddyshack and The Manchurian Candidate on DVD. Playing Runaway Train (or, perhaps politically incorrectly, "Mexican Train") Dominoes with the entire family.

In short, staying away from the Internet.

Now, with my creative batteries recharged, I will return to my regular posting schedule.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 1 kb.

As alluded to yesterday, I had a big weekend involving the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Lexington hosts a "Live Aboard" program for youth groups (mostly Scouts and Y-guides), through which the kids and their parents get to spend one or two nights on this storied aircraft carrier. I picked up my two boys (a 9-year-old Webelos Scout and a 7-year-old Tiger Cub Scout) from school on Friday at 12:30; they got out early for Spring break. We hit the road about an hour later, leaving my lovely wife and 4-year-old daughter behind in Plano.

First thing to understand: Texas is big. No, scratch that. Texas is BIG. Our enrollment in the one night program meant that I had committed to about 16 hours of driving in exchange for 24 hours on an old warship.

Seems like a fair trade to me!

We arrived in Corpus at 9:30 PM and checked into our hotel, located in the midst of the tenderloin of Corpus Christi: strip clubs, hourly motels, shady characters. We ate a late dinner at the McDonald's in the 'hood. Interesting people-watching. Thugs, a likely hooker, a panhandler or two. Good "diversity" training for the Lanius spawn.

We made it safely to the hotel, where my kids were overjoyed to find "Spongebob" on the TV. They would have been happy just vegetating in front of the tube for the weekend. Forget spending the night on a historic aircraft carrier, let's watch bad animation on Nickelodeon! Just proves how right we are to be one of those archaic families that doesn't subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Well, knowing we would be getting up about 7:00 AM to get breakfast and head for the ship, I decided to terminate Mr. Squarepants at around 11:15 PM. After a relaxing night's sleep and a decent hot breakfast (thanks, Drury Inn!) we set out for the ship. Installment two tomorrow.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 333 words, total size 2 kb.