Jonny on the Spot

Couldn't Be

2012-01-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

So another Iranian physicist was assassinated today. As a civilian, this act clearly has to be classified as terrorism. I don’t see how you could possibly argue otherwise; it’s a targeted act of violence by a political group intended to intimidate others.

Clearly, there’s only two nations with the motivation and means to pull off such an operation: the U.S. & Israel. Either possibility is disconcerting.

America hates terrorism. It obviously wouldn’t engage in a terrorist act against a civilian in a nation not at war with America. After all, such an act would undermine its moral high ground in its war on terror. If it justified the ability to kill whomever it wished in the world, while insisting that the reverse was utterly heinous, that would imply all other nations of the world are just America’s vassals. We're not that narcissistic.

America wouldn’t engage in such an act for pragmatic purposes either. After all, such an egregious act of violence would push even the most moderate, secular, pro-Western, anti-mullah Iranians to support nuclear armament. Persecution breeds solidarity as we Americans are keenly aware, and the bomb is the surest means of Iran deterring such future acts of aggression.

America wouldn’t give Israel tacit approval of such an action or give such an action public approval after the fact. After all, America is Israel’s greatest friend, and friends don’t just unconditionally approve of any action their friend might take. A friend would be seriously concerned about immoral, violent, and dangerous actions in his/her friend. A friend would confront them and have a serious discussion to help them. To give approval or stay silent would ultimately do the friend a disservice.

Not to mention, wouldn't approving such an action constitute "material support of a terrorist group"? America would definitely never break its own laws.

B.E.A-utiful!

2011-12-05T20:26:00.001-08:00

I found this on Pinterest today and it reminded me of all the beautiful people I have in my life. Here's to all you beautiful people I know!!

There's an App for That!

2011-11-29T20:19:00.001-08:00

So I just found out there an Blogger App for the iPhone!! You might just see a few more pictures and short blogs from this Dent now...

Thanks for the Reminder!

2011-11-20T17:23:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a fair amount of "thinking" about lots of things lately. I saw this on Pintrest (yep, there is more that just cool crafts and yummy food on there) and felt like it was good reminder. So if you are like me and inherited the worrying gene from your Nana (or from anyone else for that matter) this one is for you.

Teenage Tuesday

2011-11-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

Since its almost 3am and I can't sleep I decided I needed to write down the thoughts just running through my head.... maybe that will help. In all truth LOTS of things have been running through my head, with little time to document so let's begin.

Working with teenagers is sheer joy to me. Yes, its not all roses and there are hard moments in my line of work. Like yesterday, I had to sit with a student for several hours and jump through some red tape to make a report because she disclosed suicidal ideations to me in group. And sometimes like today, I am IN AWE (and not the good kind) of the things they know and will share with me (like the concept of what a grena de is ... proceed with caution to the link, it IS urban dictionary afterall...) But even in the hard and trying times, I can feel the warmth from the strong ray of light shinning from the hope that is our future in the these kids.

Because there IS hope.

Picture shout out to the talented Candina!

There is hope in the fact that after those hours I spent with that young girl, we ended our conversation with a plan and the words, " I feel better now." Was it fixed. Not completely. But there was hope.

There is hope in the moment that I witnessed my middle school guys engaged in an activity where they use chairs to construct images of power and time and time again they have AMAZING insights. I was in awe (the good kind, this time) of one guy today who arranged his 4 chairs with 3 stacked on top of each other and one standing by the stack. I asked him what it was and it hold me it was a father holding his baby. He told me that the dad had power over the son because it was his job to take care of him, to provide and protect him and to use his power wisely....to use his power to love his son. To me, there is hope in that young man's awareness.

There is hope in the eyes of those kids who say silly things, but stop and realize that their words and actions matter. In that moment of pondering and self-awareness, I see the hope.

Maybe I am just an odd duck and have just arrived quickly at Erickson's life stage of "Generativity vs. Stagnation" earlier than intended, but really I think it is more than that. I think that, even though this work I do is not blatantly spiritual, God is in it. I can't always see it or understand it, but deep down I know, there is work being done. And that gives me hope to deal with another day.

"My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 23: 15-18

"Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." - James 1:16-17

So Jonny's Alway's Gotta be Topical....

2011-09-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

I need not remind you that it’s the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It has garnered a huge amount of attention over the past week with ceremonies across America and special programs running one after another on television. Leaving aside the chicken or the egg question of whether the media drives the priority of public attention or vice versa, the public consciousness of America is clearly and heavily focused on this event.

Of course, I completely understand the sentiment driving this attention. It was a horrific tragedy, and any event in which nearly 3,000 people die is worth remembering and the lives lost worth commemorating. The inclination we all have as Americans to identify with the deceased and bereaved in New York even if we are not personally acquainted with them is perfectly natural. We mourn those with which we share a group affiliation more keenly than those with whom we have none. But I doubt many would argue that our grief is inherently more important, or our lives inherently more valuable than those of others.

I am always drawn to view such events in a historical context being the nerd I am, and as such, I am always drawn to the fact that the attacks on 9/11 were not an isolated event which originated and terminated in a vacuum. If one is capable of separating the all-too-often erroneously entangled notions of justification and causation, it is very clear that there were many events in the chain preceding and following the attacks in New York all caught up in the same web. It may be uncomfortable to consider or even unpopular to mention, but tens of thousands of other human lives have been lost in the wake of 9/11, and I cannot help but to publicly declare that the loss of those lives is no less tragic, no matter the difference in circumstances.

I was struck by this photo of a grieving family in Iraq:
(copyright Kate Brooks)

Looking at it, I am clearly reminded of my own feelings of anguish at the untimely loss of my own father. If we focus solely on ourselves and our group, we invite the dangerous temptation to dismiss and dehumanize those outside our range, or even in time grow to hate them. God created us all however, and commanded that we love each other, even those outside of our group. I am reminded of the words of Christ:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.”

So on 9/11, I urge us to not spend all our attention on watching replays of the violence, or have our focus go no further than the emotional stimulus of the carnage. Had my own father met his end through foul play rather than a car accident, I think those around me would be justifiably concerned about me if I watched the tape of his murder several times on the anniversary of his death. With this in mind, my plea to all of us observing this anniversary is to expand the scope of our vision. Let us invite context into our narrative, let us reflect on the circumstances and consequences of this chain of events, and let us attempt to empathize with those who are as bereaved as we are on the other side of the world.

Kabodie Headband! Kabodie Headband!

2011-08-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

I don't approve of his actions, but I do appreciate his methods....

Out of the Mouth of Babes

2011-06-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

Amid the mountains of curriculum writing and the side-helpings of sports, there has been little time for much else for this Dent. Oh and don't forget the LOTS of sleepy tired moments. Today though, my co-workers and I told some family-children stories. I of course had to share the recent gem that was the rating-of-the-baboons by our very own AG. I enjoyed a much needed laugh with this and the other stories that were shared, what can I say, I love kiddos!! If we were to have the same discussion just a day later I would have to share what I witnessed at the Racetrack just a bit ago.

Picture it, as you walk into your local gas station you can help but see and hear the Dad with his two children, both under the age of 8, at the movie kisok. The dad is trying to make his selections while his daughter, in her swimsuit.... at 9pm.... swings from side to side and his son, clearly upset yells "YOU CAN'T GET ANYMORE MOVIES! YOU CAN'T GET ANY MORE MOVIES!!" The dad calmly asks "what?" (How he could not hear him not sure, but hey) The little boy answers "YOU CAN'T GET ANYMORE MOVIES!!"

"why not?"

"BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO!"

"so..."

"YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO AND WE CANT GET ANY MORE!!"

"why not?"

"BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAVE TWO AND NOW WE CAN'T GET ANYMORE!!"

"Who told you that?"

(long pause) "I don't know...we can get more?"

"Yes, we can get as many as we want"

...And all was right with the world again for this little guy. The dad never missed a beat and stayed so calm. So, hears to you little-gas-station-man. I hope you enjoy as many movies as you possible can!

And While I'm At it....

2011-05-31T21:11:00.001-07:00

I LOVE THIS, so if you haven't seen this either... You. Are. Welcome!

I Can't Get This Out of My Head

2011-05-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Enjoy/Re-enjoy!

Being Silly and in Love

2011-05-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

There are lots of reasons why I love Jonny Dent.... I'm telling you LOTS. Here is just one of the many reasons why....

I love his silliness. I love his smile. And I love how all it takes is a few spare minutes, a iPhone camera and his company to give me a warm heart, tears of joys running down my face and sweet memories. I. am. blessed!!

I Heart Spring!!

2011-04-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that the Dents love them some fall: relief from the southern blistering temps and of course, college football's long-waited arrival are a few things we long for every fall. As awesome as these wonderful things are, I have to admit that spring is a very, very close second for this Dent. Yes, with spring comes yucky sinus problems, but come on! Bluebirds and robins. Sweet families playing in the front yard together. End-of-the-day bike rides on your favorite neighborhood trail...

Pretty pink and blue sunsets...

And the smell of fresh honeysuckles and the memory that smell evokes of afternoon drives home from school with my dad, with the window down and stopping on the side of the road to pick those sweet flowers to my hearts delight. What's not to love? Hope you are able to soak up some of the beauty of this spring!

Spring is the Period
Express from God.
Among the other seasons
Himself abide,

But during March and April
None stir abroad
Without a cordial interview
With God.

"Spring is the Period" by Emily Dickinson

The Makings of an Axis I: 300.01

2011-03-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't speak DSM-IV TR, 300.01 is the clinical diagnosis code for Panic Disorder without Agoraphobia. Often the symptoms of this disorder come on rapidly and without an identifiable stressor. Even though it may feel like it, I guess I don't quite fit the criteria because my stressor is VERY identifiable... I sit for my state licensing exam on April 19th!!! Today at work I went to schedule something for later in April and I realized just how close I am to my test date and I started to freak out a bit. I got all kinds of worried and I felt like Jessie on the classic episode of Saved By The Bell....

I realize I need to spend A LOT more time with my new best friend (Thank you Mr. Rosenthal!!) Ultimately, I realize that it's kinda scary to think that everything I have been working for over the past couple of years all comes down to this. I do feel a little peace knowing that I on the right path, but I recognize that I am a first born-achiever and I don't have a good track record with standardized test (seriously, do NOT ask me about taking the ACT) Thank God that our potential children have at least half a chance of getting their father's standardized test taking skills! So, really all of this is to ask one little favor: if you think about me over the next 20 or so days, I would love a thought or prayer offered on my behalf.

Thanks for listening to my venting.... now I have to get back to my purple friend (and my DC...let's just be honest I'm gonna need several of these over the next 20 days :)

A Sewing We Will Go

2011-01-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Self Discovery #1492 : I like sewing.... A Lot! I've dibbled here and there, but when I got my Kindle for graduation, I looked on Etsy and saw some really cute covers and thought I can so do that. So I tried. Since then I've have very much enjoyed my creative expression (read: sewing binge).

Since I made myself like 4 different cases, I figured my Kindle had a large enough wardrobe but Jonny's... well his Kindle needed some clothes. So he got a case.

Then, I found some cute fabric to help our living room feel more cozy. I made two valances and a matching pillow, complete WITH a zipper. This is a pretty big accomplishment for me seeing as how its the first zipper I've ever done. Never-mind, that it killed not one but TWO of my needles on my machine. I still won that battle! I have one more pillow to make but I'm letting my last needle live a bit longer before its inevitably made to walk the plank as well.

This is my latest project: A wrist pincushion.

One month in to 2011 and I have 5 projects finished. I don't know why I have spent so much of my free time using this means of expression. Maybe it is really relaxing to come home and create something, especially on days when I have a student come share a difficult situation with me after a presentation. Regardless, I am enjoying myself. Now off to go finish my college t-shirt quilt that I started almost 3 years ago... I have a strange feeling it will actually get finished this time :)

WOW!

2011-01-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP to you all :) It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!!! So Fun and Enough Said!!

Welcome to the Family

2010-12-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today our little Dent family grew from three to four as we decided to adopt a one year old yellow lab.

Here's the story: Wednesday I got two calls from both my aunt and uncle, neither knowing the other had called at the time, asking if we might want a dog. Earlier that day, my uncle had gone to Cafe Brazil which was located next to Petland and decided to go in. There he found a very sweet, very large, one year old lab puppy who had been in and out of not one, not two, but THREE homes. This sounds like a red flag, but each of the previous owners knew little about labs and had either not enough space or some sort of other condition that made keeping the dog too difficult. He has all his shots and is fixed and only cost $30. They were also throwing in some free, at-home-training just to make sure he didn't have to leave yet another home. So, with peaked interest we loaded up the car with Reilly and went to meet Max. Reilly was a little skittish (and in other news the sky is blue... this dog is frequently afraid of his own shadow) and Max was bigger than I expected, so we took the night to think... as well as the next day.... and all day Friday. I decided to go visit him after work again on Thursday and slowly I began to realize I had, without knowing how, become attached to the guy. Jonny and I discussed and discussed and then discussed some more. I didn't want to take him just because we felt sorry for him. Ultimately we decided to go get him tonight after dinner. As my uncle said, this addition to our family was probably thought out much longer and harder than some children who have entered this world, but when he and Reilly met I could tell they were instant brothers.

Here's to no buyers remorse, doggie brothers and a new lab friend!

How big of a stick is too big?

2010-11-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not a university professor, or any sort of acknowledged expert in the area of foreign affairs or defense spending, but I still would gladly have added my signature to the open letter below that the real experts recently sent to Obama's deficit commission:

"Dear Co-chairman Bowles and Co-chairman Simpson:

We are writing to you as experts in national security and defense economics to convey our views on the national security implications of the Commission's work and especially the need for achieving responsible reductions in military spending. In this regard, we appreciate the initiative you have taken in your 10 November 2010 draft proposal to the Commission. It begins a necessary process of serious reflection, debate, and action.

The vitality of our economy is the cornerstone of our nation's strength. We share the Commission's desire to bring our financial house into order. Doing so is not merely a question of economics. Reducing the national debt is also a national security imperative.

To date, the Obama administration has exempted the Defense Department from any budget reductions. This is short-sighted: It makes it more difficult to accomplish the task of restoring our economic strength, which is the underpinning of our military power.

As the rest of the nation labors to reduce its debt burden, the current plan is to boost the base DOD budget by 10 percent in real terms over the next decade. This would come on top of the nearly 52 percent real increase in base military spending since 1998. (When war costs are included the increase has been much greater: 95 percent.)

We appreciate Secretary Gates' efforts to reform the Pentagon's business and acquisition practices. However, even if his reforms fulfill their promise, the current plan does not translate them into budgetary savings that contribute to solving our deficit problem. Their explicit aim is to free funds for other uses inside the Pentagon. This is not good enough.

Granting defense a special dispensation puts at risk the entire deficit reduction effort. Defense spending today constitutes over 55 percent of discretionary spending and 23 percent of the federal budget. An exemption for defense not only undermines the broader call for fiscal responsibility, but also makes overall budget restraint much harder as a practical economic and political matter.

We need not put our economic power at risk in this way. Today the United States possesses a wide margin of global military superiority. The defense budget can bear significant reduction without compromising our essential security.

We recognize that larger military adversaries may rise to face us in the future. But the best hedge against this possibility is vigilance and a vibrant economy supporting a military able to adapt to new challenges as they emerge.

We can achieve greater defense economy today in several ways, all of which we urge you to consider seriously. We need to be more realistic in the goals we set for our armed forces and more selective in our choices regarding their use abroad. We should focus our military on core security goals and on those current and emerging threats that most directly affect us.

We also need to be more judicious in our choice of security instruments when dealing with international challenges. Our armed forces are a uniquely expensive asset and for some tasks no other instrument will do. For many challenges, however, the military is not the most cost-effective choice. We can achieve greater efficiency today without diminishing our security by better discriminating between vital, desirable, and unnecessary military missions and capabilities.

There is a variety of specific options that would produce savings, some of which we describe below. The important point, however, is a firm commitment to seek savings through a reassessment of our defense strategy, our global posture, and our means of producing and managing military power.

Since the end of the Cold War, we have required our military to prepare for and conduct more types of missions in more places around the world. The Pentagon's task list now includes not only preventive war, regime change, and nation building, but also vague efforts to "shape the strategic environment" and stem the emergence of threats. It is time to prune some of these missions and restore an emphasis on defense and deterrence.

U.S. combat power dramatically exceeds that of any plausible combination of conventional adversaries. To cite just one example, Secretary Gates has observed that the U.S. Navy is today as capable as the next 13 navies combined, most of which are operated by our allies. We can safely save by trimming our current margin of superiority.

America's permanent peacetime military presence abroad is largely a legacy of the Cold War. It can be reduced without undermining the essential security of the United States or its allies.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have revealed the limits of military power. Avoiding these types of operation globally would allow us to roll back the recent increase in the size of our Army and Marine Corps.

The Pentagon's acquisition process has repeatedly failed, routinely delivering weapons and equipment late, over cost, and less capable than promised. Some of the most expensive systems correspond to threats that are least prominent today and unlikely to regain prominence soon. In these cases, savings can be safely realized by cancelling, delaying, or reducing procurement or by seeking less costly alternatives.

Recent efforts to reform Defense Department financial management and acquisition practices must be strengthened. And we must impose budget discipline to trim service redundancies and streamline command, support systems, and infrastructure.

Change along these lines is bound to be controversial. Budget reductions are never easy - no less for defense than in any area of government. However, fiscal realities call on us to strike a new balance between investing in military power and attending to the fundamentals of national strength on which our true power rests. We can achieve safe savings in defense if we are willing to rethink how we produce military power and how, why, and where we put it to use.

Sincerely,

Gordon Adams, American University
Robert Art, Brandeis University
Deborah Avant, UC Irvine
Andrew Bacevich, Boston University
Richard Betts, Columbia University
Linda Bilmes, Kennedy School, Harvard University
Steven Clemons, New America Foundation
Joshua Cohen, Stanford University and Boston Review
Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives
Owen R. Cote Jr., Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael Desch, University of Notre Dame
Matthew Evangelista, Cornell University
Benjamin H. Friedman, Cato Institute
Lt. Gen. (USA, Ret.) Robert G. Gard, Jr., Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
David Gold, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School
William Hartung, Arms and Security Initiative, New America Foundation
David Hendrickson, Colorado College
Michael Intriligator, UCLA and Milken Institute
Robert Jervis, Columbia University
Sean Kay, Ohio Wesleyan University
Elizabeth Kier, University of Washington
Charles Knight, Project on Defense Alternatives
Lawrence Korb, Center for American Progress
Peter Krogh, Georgetown University
Walter LaFeber, Cornell University
Richard Ned Lebow, Dartmouth College
Col. (USA, Ret.) Douglas Macgregor
Scott McConnell, The American Conservative
John Mearsheimer, University of Chicago
Steven Metz, national security analyst and writer
Janne Nolan, American Security Project
Robert Paarlberg, Wellesley College and Harvard University
Paul Pillar, Georgetown University
Barry Posen, Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christopher Preble, Cato Institute"

Details Details

2010-11-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

You may have notice, via facebook, that a minor change has occurred for the Dent's last night.

I GOT A BIG GIRL JOB!!! WOO HOO!!!

So for all you inquiring minds out there who want to know the details here they are:

Where? The Turning Point You can click HERE check out the website, but it is a local non-profit, rape crisis center that offers counseling, legal advocacy and prevention education to Collin County.

When do you start? My first day will begin at 9:00 am on Monday, November 29th.

What will you be doing? My official title is Primary Prevention Coordinator. I will responsible for organizing and providing prevention-education to the community. This will include presentations, leading groups, working with volunteers, collecting and organizing data/research and a whole bunch of other things. Basically, I'm gonna get paid to build relationships and talk with/help people! AWESOME!

Any perks? Of course getting paid. There are benefits (I'm still waiting for the paperwork for all the details on this) I'm also pretty excited that I get PTO for holidays and the week between Christmas and New Years, as well as two additional weeks throughout the year.

All in all I am pretty excited about it. I feel really affirmed not only because of what I will be getting to do but also how it happened. It was very serendipitous. One day I have never heard of the Turning Point, the next day I am volunteering, and now I WORK there. I found a job that will pay me to help people and be helpful with my additional pursuit to obtain my counseling license. Very happy indeed!!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas....

2010-11-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

....All around the Dent home. Despite my LOVE for all things Christmas, I am normally VERY adamant that no Christmas music or decoration make an appearance until the day after Thanksgiving. Not a day earlier or later. But this year, I felt... different. I was ready to embrace the Christmas spirit. I needed it. So on Friday, I decided it was time and the Dent home went from this :

No Christmas AND messy. BOO!!! To ....

I love Christmas! I love the family time, the memories, the reverence, the music, the beauty, the joy, the peace on earth and good will towards men that seems to fill everyone's spirit, even if it is just for one month a year. I love Christmas so much for so many reasons, but most of all because of this last picture because that is what it is all about. I can't help but think the love and peace and hope experienced each December represents a small fraction of what it will be like when there is no more suffering. I am thankful, every year for this little bit of what I feel is "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". So, can you blame me for wanting to celebrate early?

Who's Next?

2010-11-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

So normally, if I get my political undies in a wad over something I read, I give a little synopsis of whatever I read, maybe because I expect the American attention span is all of 30 seconds long these days. This time, I'm not doing it. Click the link and read it. I'm personally asking you a favor, please. Click this and read the whole thing.

Being an advocate for civil liberties isn't very popular. If you're really enthusiastic about the fourth amendment, most people don't really understand why. Why should we care about the unchecked growth of executive power? What a boring topic. Tell me about the latest celebrity hook-up instead.

My line of reasoning when I have to explain why I do care is that its a slippery slope. First, the executive branch goes after "them" over "there". And we don't care. They're not Americans anyway. Then they go after the guy "over there" who may be American, but he's probably a terrorist. And we don't care. He doesn't love his country like us anyway. Then they go after the guy who tried to tell the truth about all the things the executive had to do to continue his fight with "them, over there." And we don't care. He's probably endangering troops anyway. And then they go after the guys who tries to help the guy who tries to tell the truth about what the executive had to do to continue to fight "them over there." Is it starting to sound like the old lady who swallowed a fly yet? Who's next? Your humble blogger perhaps?

Maybe you think wikileaks is an abomination. Maybe you think Bradley Manning is a monster. That's fine by me. I feel the same way about the KKK. But if someone wants to support the KKK, verbally or financially, we'd all agree they have a constitutional right to do so without having their property confiscated and their persons detained and interrogated by Federal armed officers without charges or warrants or the right to a lawyer.

Maybe the Orwellian nightmare where absolutely no dissenting opinion to Federal power is tolerated won't be seen in our lifetime, but I'm not sure sure about our children. They may very well grow up in a country where they can't speak their mind without fear of political intimidation and violence.

When I was a kid, I never really understood why Jesus kept saying in the gospel of Matthew, "let those who have ears hear!" Why did he keep saying that? It seemed so simplistic it was almost meaningless. And now I feel like I know EXACTLY what he meant. Take your head out of the sand, look around you, and use the brain God gave you. Some $&*%^ is going down and if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!

It's Officially Official

2010-11-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

A large, white envelope appeared in my mailbox today.....

It's truly official. I am a Master (that's way more fun than saying I have my Masters) I'm not sure what I will be handed when I walk across the graduation stage on Dec. 18th, but hey, I got the goods :) Now if I can just get a job.......which, SPOILER ALERT: I have a phone interview on Monday afternoon so everyone keep your fingers crossed. If all goes well I will post more details later!! Woo Hoo for becoming a big kid...sorta!

Say Hello To My Little Friend

2010-09-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I started the Couch 2 5K program back in July. I got pretty far, and then hit a brick wall....HARD, so I took a break. During the break, I realized, dare I say it, I actually enjoyed running. I'm excited about training and eventually running in my first race. I decided to start again and this time get serious, because I can do this! We all know that getting serious means buying gadgets, I mean come on, no one can run with just their person and the road... Sure, I have my Timex watch that hooks up to my iPhone so I can control my music from my watch, and yes, I have my armband, running shorts, knee brace for those sore days and the ever so important Nike-best-sports-bra-I've-ever-owned support (overshare?). However, it has come to my attention that I had not bought a new pair of running shoes in quite some time..... like senior of high school.... which was 2002...... almost ten years ago (I know a little piece of the runner inside of you just died Candace, sorry) I've been reading up and I have come to appreciate how important your feet are to running so I might as well protect them and invest in a good, new pair of running shoes. After receiving a brief, preliminary foot exam last weekend, today Jonny and I went to Run On! - the local running chain that has all your running needs.... seriously, these people know their stuff. One of the staff members meet with us, asked us questions about our running history and current habits. Then she watched us walk, run and sized us and explained every last detail I could possibly think to ask her about. She brought out several shoes and then watched us walk and run all over again. In the end, I bought the Brooks Glycerin 8... which means nothing...other than I now run on little clouds and my feet love me! And I love my new shoes! I never knew shoes could feel so good. I took them out tonight for my re-introduction to the running world (aka our neighborhood) and I am very pleased with my purchase, and maybe, just maybe I ran a little farther and faster than normal tonight thanks to these puppies. So say hello to my little friends...

Did I mention that Jonny got new shoes too? :)

Doing the Happy Dance

2010-08-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am SO doing the happy dance today because at 5:00pm I finished my 100th direct hour with clients!!! All I can say is:

WOO HOO!!!!

So let, me break down my counseling jargon for everyone so you can properly celebrate with me. I'm in the last leg of my Masters program: my Practicum, which is basically our version of clinicals. To graduate, I have to have 200 hours of indirect hours, these are the easy hours to get because they include the paperwork, research, attending training, meetings, supervision and just about anything related to seeing clients without the actual seeing part. I finished this part several weeks ago. The hard part, the part that takes forever for some people is obtaining the 100 direct hours required, which includes the face-to-face time with clients... nothing else! Despite the ridiculous amount of no-shows and cancellations that happened the last few weeks, I have finally arrived! I've completed the requirements of Practicum and can officially apply for graduation. Now the somewhat sad news is that I'm not totally responsibility free. I'm contracted with my off-site placement through the rest of the term, so I'll keep seeing clients until October 15th, but the good news is, other than keeping my skills fresh and getting extra training, every hour I get after my 100 transfers to the next leg of training... the part where I will have to pay for my supervision of my 3,000 hours. So here's to getting the free extra hours so I don't have to pay for them in the future. Here's to knowing I will graduate in October and being one step closer to a big-girl job (this is were Jonny shouts "Amen!!") and here's to the next phase of life! Now its time to study for my licensing exam.....

The Good, The Sad and The Grad School Experience: A Dent Family Update

2010-08-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ok so I’ve fallen off the wagon for a while, but I have a good excuse: Grad School! But more on that in a bit. The truth is there were several events which I wanted to blog about but never got the time. In order to remedy this, I figured I would offer some highlights to catch you all up to the events that I would have blogged about. Here it goes:

THE GOOD

1. Beach Trip: For the week of July 24 - 31^st we enjoyed the company of eight of our closest friends, rented a beach house and traveled to Tybee Island in Georgia. Savannah was just about 20-30 minutes away so we made a few day trips, but mostly we enjoyed waking whenever we wanted, catching up with our friends and spending plenty of time enjoying the ocean and the sand. It was the vacation Jonny and I both needed desperately!

2. Multiple Weekends in Shreveport: We may have moved our stuff to live with us in Dallas, but are hearts are still in Shreveport. I think it took moving away for us to really value our hometown. With trips to Shreveport for Mudbug Madness, Father’s Day, birthdays, meeting Baby Asher, the Chaney/Montgomery wedding, KK’s baby shower, singing at Grace and fantasy football, we have spend A LOT of time back in the Port City and have loved EVERY minute of it. We have yet to establish our Dallas friends and church family so, sometimes it’s a challenge, not having a local outlet to share our lives with others. That’s one of the many reasons it is so good for both of our hearts and spirits to be home surrounded by friends and family.

3. Bachlorette Party: Speaking of friend and trips to Shreveport, our friends Michael and Lesley will be getting married in Shreveport in October. We all know what weddings mean… lots of parties. On August 20-22nd I got to spend the weekend with the bride-to-be and other friends in Dallas enjoying some girl time. Word to wise, if you are in the area and are jonesing for a sweet treat, hit up Sprinkles, a cup-cakery.... SO. STINKING. GOOD!

4. One Year Anniversary: This probably should have been first on the good list because it is my favorite of all. On July 18^th Jonny and I celebrated one wonderful year of marriage. We were lucky to be able to attend the Chaney/Montgomery wedding the Saturday before our anniversary and as we watch them profess their love for each other before God and everyone, it was a nice reminder of our own union and vows to each other and how God has blessed us so much since then. Many couples struggle in their first year, and while every moment wasn't rainbows and jellybeans, Jonny is SO good for me and being married to him is even better. I am so in love with that man and I look forward to a lifetime of years together.

THE SAD

Not to be a Debbie-Downer, but we have a very tragic and some what traumatic event strike the Dent household with the death of sweet Tucker about a month ago. I don’t really want to rehash all the details, but let me tell you, it is not an easy thing to watch a dear friend loose his strength and then to find him gone from this world, once you return home. Jonny and I have shed many tears over this loss and our hearts still hurt to realize our sweet old friend is gone. Even with the sweet supportive, gestures we received from family and friends, one thing I know for sure is grief sucks and I don’t think I want it to be one of my counseling specialties AT ALL.

THE GRAD SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

I began my Practicum experience the week of April 12^th, saw my very first client ever April 20^th and have been rocking and rolling ever since then. It has been a challenging and fulfilling experiences for sure. I began in our clinic at school in Plano and am currently at my off-site placement which is located in Uptown - about a 30-40 minute commute. I have a steady caseload of about 8-9 clients a week, each for one hour sessions, plus whatever Intake Interviews I am schedule, plus all the lovely paperwork that goes along with seeing people. Graduation is in sight and the date on my diploma will be October 15,2010 Lord willing! Some days I don’t know if I am doing any good and I really doubt my skill level, but even in the midst of the doubt, I know I am exactly where I am suppose to be, helping hurting people. I’ll get some awesome moments, when a client has a breakthrough and they are able to have a victory with self-awareness or new behaviors and its so rewarding. I think one of my favorite moments thus far was when a client said in session “You know, I’ve been thinking about something you said last week all week”. There was a moment of utter fear, wondering what I could have said and if I really even said what he heard, and then he told me “You said relationships are important aspect of life” and I sighed my sigh of relief and sat back and enjoyed the processing going on in this client’s life. It feels good to know that my God-given desire to be with people and to encourage them, is being developed and used. So in the middle of the good, the sad, and the grad school experience I am constantly reminded that I am so blessed and I would not change this busy time for anything in the world!

Credit Where Credit is Due

2010-05-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

To those of you still residing in Louisiana, I believe Kudos are in order for LA Senator David Vitter. His personal failings notwithstanding, he did the right thing Tuesday when he introduced an amendment to the finance reform bill that mirrored Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve System. It's not often I can say "did the right thing" and "senator" in the same sentence, so when it happens, I feel we should publicize it.

Paul's bill failed obviously because he doesn't "play the game" as it were. Any idea coming from his camp must be nuts of course. Likewise, Vitter's amendment failed, but a watered-down version did pass that would audit just the emergency lending the Fed did since December 2008. Its obviously better than nothing, but we deserve better.

Let me take a moment to dismiss notions that I'm simply a Paul parrot or a conspiracy theorist. I like Paul, but I don't line up with him 100%. I'm not sold on the notion the Fed should be abolished entirely or other big issues for Paul like total free-trade. Likewise, I'm not pro-Fed audits because I subscribe to some massive bankers-controlling-the-world conspiracy notion either. But what I do know is a tons (literally) of our money gets funneled through this institution and no one is allowed to see its books. Obama loved to talk about "transparency" and "accountability" in government during his campaign, so where are those buzzwords now? Nowhere to be found. We expect the Fed and Wall Street to be the main opponents of this legislation, but it's abhorent the White House is an equally vocal critic. This is one of the clearest instances yet Mr. Obama does not practice what he preaches, and I'm afraid it shows where his true priorities are. Forget the socialist label, between this issue and his healthcare bill, he's far more of a corporatist than a socialist.

At my job, every task I do ends up somewhere on the audit log that Coke eventually sees. We're doling out their money on a daily basis and we're therefore responsible for providing the information about where it went, when, how much, and to whom. Likewise, the American Public is the Fed's client, and we should be screaming to know what the hell it's doing, not sitting back idly while the wall of federal secrecy is drawn deeper and deeper.

So I urge you send an e-mail or give a call to Mr. Vitter's office letting him know that you appreciate his bold stand for us. If we don't make our appreciation known when they do something right, they'll be less likely to do it next time. (Needless to say Landrieu voted against it, but both TX senators voted for it.)

Is Europe Ashamed of its Heritage?

2010-05-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Amber and I went to see one of those obscure foreign artsy films you can only see if it just so happens into a theater in your city this past weekend. The one in question was entitled, “The Secret of Kells,” an Oscar-nominated animated film about the famous illuminated manuscript the Book of Kells set in pre-medieval Ireland. So, an indie film about history and religion? If that’s not straight up Jonny and Amber’s collective wheelhouse, I don’t know what is. Needless to say we mostly enjoyed the film. It had a very unique artistic style, which was obviously the impetus for the movie in the first place. The entire animation was deliberately made as flat and void of perspective as possible in order to be a modern reflection of the Medieval artistic style.

The story is set in the ancient Kells. Like most other Northern European communities of the time, it’s a simple agricultural community centered around an abbey. The populace and especially their leader the abbot fear the likely impending raid of Norse and are attempting to build fortifications to defend themselves. The abbot’s boy nephew is the protagonist who struggles between obeying his uncle’s commands and his passion to help the newly arrived illuminator complete his already famous manuscript. It’s the struggle between the different priorities of the abbot and his friend the famous illuminator that drives the plot.

While the film is certainly very imaginative and has a good bit of mystery and fantastical elements to it, it’s overall setting fares quite well as a historical snapshot. The producers clearly intended to make a historically accurate depiction of the cultural climate of the period. And I can say this with confidence in all respects save one.

Much is made by the characters and by the film itself about the worth of the book and illuminating in general. It’s a supreme work which can “turn darkness into light” and is “a vision of heaven here on Earth.” It’s high praise to be sure and rightly so. Yet despite the fact that the vast majority of characters are monks and it’s all set in an abbey, there’s not a single Christian reference in the entirety of their discourse. Two hours of monks talking in a European abbey in Ireland about a religious work and not a single reference to Christ? What gives? This book is the gospel after all, but you may not even know that after watching the film.

Now, I understand where the postmodern European filmmaker is coming from. He or she is not looking to make a “religious” film. Its point is not to be evangelical or proselytize, and I can fully appreciate that. But it seems the filmmakers swung the pendulum as far as they possibly could in the opposite direction, much to the film’s detriment. The monks were calligraphy enthusiasts to be sure, but only in part. To a much greater degree, they were Christ enthusiasts. The gospels were the whole reason for the endeavor to begin with. It’s almost as if the filmmakers projected Renaissance-like humanism onto these monks in 800 A.D. Ireland in a bastion of Catholic piety. The film holds their veneration of the human artistic creation higher than its original inspiration, which no one can honestly argue was the case. Thus we have a clear case of an imposed historical omission in the film, yet another example of what I call a “cultural anachronism” in contemporary popular culture where we impose our cultural values and zeitgeist onto previous historical periods in our literature.

All this makes me wonder about Europe today. Why did these filmmakers go out of their way to excise every possible reference to Christ? If you’re agnostic or even militantly atheist, this is still your cultural and historical legacy as a Northern European. Why would you seek to hide or change it? As my title asks, is Europe ashamed of its heritage? I’m sure the barbarities and transgressions by European theocracies throughout the ages loom large in their minds, but do these cause Christianity as a whole to be as great a shame to them as say, slavery is to us as American Southerners? To make such a conclusion seems as near-sighted to me as those who make snap judgments of Islam today. Had the story been told from the opposite point of view of the Norse, would they have excised all references to Woden, Freyja, or Thor? Surely not.

I think this illustrates an important point, that rightly or not, people will judge a God by its follower’s actions, even hundreds of years later. Consider this an exhortation then to you fellow professed Christians to live your life in a manner to convince others of the goodness of your God. Argument, polarization, and confrontationalism will not avail us in this endeavor. Love, kindness, and charity will.

Just Because You're Paranoid......

2010-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

No surprises here, but I don't easy fall into a ready-made political designation. Oftentimes, my views seem completely foreign to "mainstream" folks or at least the level of my concern baffles them. I've given a lot of thought to why that is recently. How can I explain to folks why its important to be concerned about the growth of executive power (no matter what party may currently occupy it)and the protection of constitutional freedoms? Well I saw a story that might help me.

Perusing Digg.com I happened upon this headline: "Confirmed: Obama Authorizes Assassination of U.S. Citizen" You can read the story at the link if you're so inclined.

I balked at this headline. Even for me, this had to be sheer sensationalism. No way was the headline to be taken literally. Wrong.

To give you the cliffnotes version of the article, there's a suspected terrorist who is a U.S. citizen. Obama officials have confirmed the administration wants to put the hit on this guy. No arrest, no indictment, no trial, no firefight necessary. Just put a slug in his head while he sleeps if you can.

Now, if you want to argue the administration can do whatever they want with anybody that's not an American citizen, I wouldn't fault you. I personally believe the good guys should act like good guys, but constitutionally speaking, I can see how you can argue that. But this guy's an American citizen.

Think about that for a second. You know what the next step is right? I don't even have to say it do I? We had domestic terrorists first after all didn't we? Once this precedent is set, it will be used again, and it will be expanded. You can't put a genie like this back in the bottle easily. It doesn't matter what location and period of history you look at, you'll see this same pattern. History repeats because human nature is immutable.

So how did we get here? By not being vigilant, that's how. Take off the partisan glasses for a second. Even if you're a die-hard republican and are jubilant at having this new weapon to level at your hated Obama, we didn't get to this point just yesterday. Obama ran as the anti-bush: no more war, no more civil liberty incursions, no more executive unaccountability. Read some of his pre-campaign stuff, and I think its pretty hard to say he didn't mean it at the time. Likewise, Bush ran on a platform of a non-interventionist foreign policy initially. Opposite political affiliations, same progression towards executive hegemony.

As disappointed as I am, I'm not surprised, nor would I expect these guys to act otherwise. I've said it before, but it bears repeating, it is utterly FOOLISH to expect any individual, group, or entity to act in any way other than its own perceived self-interest. Such is the case with the past 10 presidents. However much they might believe in checks and balances before-hand, their agenda immediately becomes the expansion of the power of their new position. This will include the use of this new-found tool on those they see as threats.

As Gandalf said, "I would use this ring from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine." It is the grand nature of the position itself driving us down this well-tread path. Few of us have the capability to resist its seductions for long. Folks like Cincinnatus, Washington, and Eisenhower who were willing to advise against their own power are exceedingly rare.

So that's why we need to care about this stuff. Do you want your children to grow up in a nation where they can be marked for death by the executive on a blind accusation? So quit believing the lie that we only have 2 choices, a guy with a D or an R before their name. Because I don't see a whole lot of difference. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Doing what is right is more important than being on the winning campaign's team. Even if all elections were 100% rigged, the right thing to do is vote for the person you believe is right. If we don't vote and act in a way to restrict the power of the executive, we're willingly submitting ourselves and our progeny to tyranny. And shame be upon us if that's what continues.

In Washington, Carts Pull Horses

2010-03-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

I happened upon an article about America’s total debt burden on CCN’s website. And I found the following portion of it intriguing:

“Everybody loves tax breaks. And there's more than a trillion dollars of them to love.

That's the amount of money the Treasury foregoes in annual revenue as a result of the many breaks in the tax code. And that effectively increases the government's need to borrow.

But that trillion-plus isn't really up for consideration during annual budget discussions. "Tax expenditures are basically hidden," Burman said.

No one advocates abolishing tax breaks altogether. But Burman and others believe tax breaks should be treated as discretionary spending. The idea is to bring them into the open so lawmakers can make a conscious decision annually about what they spend on tax breaks and recognize the costs associated with that decision.”

The rest of the article I was on board with. But this portion stuck out like a sore thumb. Sadly, I think it’s rather indicative of the mindset of a great deal of policy-peddlers.

What particularly do I find so distressing? Well, at the risk of sounding a bit like a woman, it’s not what you said but it’s how you said it. It’s trying to call tax breaks discretionary spending. Since when does not taxing more = spending? It’s like me complaining my employer for my personal debt. “Well, it’s not my fault I have all this debt. I just have to spend this amount of money per month, and if my employer doesn’t pay me that much, it forces me pay for things on credit.” They have it completely backwards. If I give Uncle Sam a dollar, he better be damn grateful for it. Have you ever considered living within your means? If I’m running a little short, I eat Cheerios for dinner a few nights a week or I start taking the train to work. I certainly don’t complain to my boss’ face he’s not paying me enough to meet my predetermined lifestyle which I refuse to even consider amending.

Take a look at this line again:

“That's the amount of money the Treasury foregoes in annual revenue.”

Oh! How noble of Uncle to kindly "forgoe" what he's rightfully due from me. Every cent comes from him. He is my provider and I owe him everything. It is only by his good graces that I'm not required to give him more.

So the Feds are short by how much about a year you say CNN? About a trillion? Well, what a coincidence! That’s just about how much the upkeep of Uncle Sam’s overseas military adventures cost! May I humbly suggest you cut back the number of countries in which you have military installations from ~130 to maybe 5 or so strategic ones?

Legalized Bribery?

2010-02-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Allow me to immediately put you to sleep with just three words. Are you ready? Here goes:

Campaign Finance Reform

Still reading? It just sounds like drudgery doesn't it? I automatically have the image of a stuffy McCain ranting like a senile old man no one is paying attention to. And I daresay the rest of America feels the same way since it frequently ranks the issue near the bottom in every poll of their political priorities. Its not as flashy as say, abortion or war, or as close to home as the economy or taxes. but I think if folks stopped to think about it, they might feel a little differently.

Congress and the rest of the federal government consistently get abysmal approval ratings. I can't remember the last time it was even close to 50%. but why is this constantly the case? The way the system is supposed to work, the Senator would like to stay in office (clearly the safest assumption of the whole process). Therefore, he should legislate in a way pleasing to his constituency. This second assumption is the problem.

What does it really take to stay in office? We all know the answer, cold hard cash. You need a great PR firm. You need good lawyers, campaign workers, buttons, flyers, TV spots, photo-ops, etc. No matter what your platform, voting record, or credentials are, you cannot hope to win a major election without a sizeable warchest. And if you have all these things, the formula for staying in office has pretty well perfected. The fact is we as potential voters never have the time or inclination to stay as informed as we should, and consequently, its easy for the incumbent Senator to squeeze the neccessary votes out with a well-made fear-mongering ad once every few years. In Rome, it was bread and circuses, today its McDonalds and TV.

So where does all the money come from? Well, from people, both as individuals and in groups, whether they're political parties, grass-roots organizations, political action committees, lobbying groups, or even the big bad multinational corporation. Fact of the matter is, most individuals would rather spend their hard-earned money on something with a little more tangible personal effects than give it to a politician. Heck, I refuse to even pay 99 cents for an iPhone app. And the big politicians know this. They don't even really bother targeting the constituency for funds. Instead they go for the biog potential donors only at giant $1000 per plate dinners. (Although one guy I'm known to be fond of has had success with the micro finance fund-drives, hint: his name rhymes with Con Schmall.) Consequently, your senator doesn't really give a damn what you think. He knows its more important for him to maintain his relationship with his big donors to stay in office than his relationship with Joe A. Voter.

Ultimately, this leads to the elected official's vote being for sale to the highest bidder. And your current big donor will often hint your relationship is toast if you vote yea or nay on bill X or Y. I've heard several folks inside and outside our country call this a system of legalized bribery. All of this is allegedly OK since its all out in the open and all your campaign fund sources are public knowledge. The supreme court recently took up this question, and in a 5-4 decision, concluded the system was OK as is. Clarence Thomas reasoned that people have the 2nd amendment right to give money to campaigns regardless of whether they do so as a single individual or in the form of a giant corporation. And I can't really disagree with that. Corporations are made of people after all. Nor do I blame a corporation for donating to a candidate that will serve its interests. One of my big personal rules is that it is foolish to expect any entity to act in any way other than its perceived self-interest afterall.

But we still have a problem. If this is a democracy, my political voice is supposed to be as equally influential as the next guy's, even if he's the CEO of Exxon. But this is clearly not the case. Sure, there's public funding, but its meager, and to even qualify, you have to have a certain amount of, you guessed it, money. The situation remains that those with the most resources remain the most politically influential. This surely is what the founding fathers were trying to avoid. But in their defense, I really don't think they foresaw the arrival of the mass media. Our goal then should be to cut the ties between money and political influence, a difficult task certainly, but equally worthwhile.

As a modest proposal, why don't we eliminate campaign spending outright? No signs, no buttons, no rallies, no PR and advertising people. Each candidates viability is determined by a set number of signatures on publicly available petitions, digital and hard copy. Each candidate is given equal video exposure in TV spots on public television only in the form of video shot by a public video crew who just puts a camera in front of the candidate for 30 seconds. Uniform websites with the candidates info are viewable on a publicly run internet domain. I'm sure there are a thousand problems with this proposal already, but Americans have begun to realize the system is broken. And unless we start thinking along these lines, we'll continue to head down the well-beaten path from democracy to oligarchy.

It doesn't show signs of stopping...

2010-02-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

... at least not for today anyway. Jonny left for work this morning at 6:30am and even then there was a solid white covering laying peacefully over the ground. When I woke up a few hours later, the snowflakes were just as large as when Jonny left and this is what I saw:

Since then, IT HAS NOT STOPPED. Sure, some batches have been heavier than others, but there has been a steady pouring of snow over our little yard here in Allen, Texas. We probably have about two inches right now. Although we don't have any corn for popping, I have built a fire that is so delightful. And with my stats class cancelled for tonight and Jonny's office closing early, the Dent's will have no place to go... so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Call me a bluestocking....

2010-02-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

... or a nerd, or an egghead if you must, but I have to admit: I LOVE WORDS. Shocking news, I'm sure, being the verbal person that I am. I am very much a lover of English, books and grammar (spelling not so much :) People who, oh-so-effortlessly, work in word origins into casual conversation or act as a walking thesaurus continually amaze me while simultaneously evoking a slight sense of jealous within me; because, while I like all these things, I'm just not the master of words that I wish I was. I'm not sure where this infatuation began... I am sure part of it could be traced back to my Nana. We are the grammar freaks of the family and we share an eerily similar affinity for books and conversation (just ask Jonny).

That being said, I stumbled upon a my new favorite talk-radio show : A Way With Words. Boy, does the word nerd in me have a field day with this one! I found it a few weeks back, when I went to pick up the Hill boys from school and I was listening to 90.1, the local public radio station. It was around 1:45pm and the voices on the radio began discussing the meaning of some common idiom and I was hooked! Needless to say, I was uber sad when the show came to an end a short fifteen minutes later. But today as I was leaving my lunch date with Jonny I was reunited with my word friends Martha and Grant, the hosts of the show. I was on my way to the grocery store and parked my car around 1:30pm and I didn't get out of my car until 2:00pm when the show ended.

So, if you happen to share my fondness for words, I encourage you the check out the website linked above. They have a list of past episodes that you can listen to and get your nerd, I mean word fix for the day :)

* and just in case you were wondering, here is the definition of a bluestocking from dictionary.com : "a woman with considerable scholarly, literary, or intellectual ability or interest." Enjoy :)

WE'RE BBBBAAAACCCCKKKK!!!

2010-01-26T19:03:00.000-08:00

So, you may have noticed a small, shall we say, absence from the Dent's in the blogging world. It's not our fault really.... I mean life was EXTREMELY crazy there for a while with all the wedding stuff and moving, then the holidays. However recently, I have thought about the blog and how I need to get back in the habit of posting something every once and a while. So here it is.

Today is Jonny's birthday. This is one of my most favorite days of the year. In part because I love birthdays. I love the celebration and the love. I love hearing from family and doing special things for that special someone. I love remembering that the wonderful gift of life was given to the birthday boy or girl for a special reason. But really, I love today because, 27 years ago it gave me Jonny. On his birthday, I will undoubtedly think about sweet Mrs. Cammie as a pregnant mom, carrying my future husband, unbeknown to us all. I think about his family and that environment that loved and cared for little-kid-Jonny to help shape him into the man he would become. I will also think of the years we spent not knowing each other and I am baffled by that fact, but then I ambrought back to the moment and I am glad that now that I will never have to experience that again. I love this day because it's the day that God brought him here to be love.

This year we celebrated first with a lunch date; I picked Jonny up from work and went to Corner Bakery (he picked that on his own!). Then I went and got his present and made him his favorite: Blueberry Pound Cake. For dinner we met at Fogo de Chao and we ate more meat than I care to admit :) My favorite part was when we got home. Since I was pretty sure Jonny knew what we was getting as his present, I had prepared a scavenger hunt for him to find it so there would be a little mystery. So here are the highlights:

When we came home, Jonny found his birthday card taped to the door. Inside of the birthday card was an envelope which read:

"Roses are red, Violets are blue,
but OH NO! Your birthday present is hiding from you!
So look for the clues and you are sure to find
A gift from me that is truly divine."

After following the clues which lead him from the sub-woofer, to the bookcase (specifically to one of his favorite books The Catcher in the Rye), to the bed, and finally to the drink fridge Jonny found his gift.....

So Happy Birthday my love! And may we be blessed with many, many more to come.

The Rest of the Story

2009-05-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while since Jonny or I have updated this thing. You'll have to forgives us since we have been somewhat busy this year. "Busy with what?" you may ask. Well let me show you:

So there you have it. From January 1st until May 2nd, besides wedding plans, this is what we have been up to.... "and now you know the rest of the story."

Honeymooning

2009-02-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

So, we admitted our inability to plan our own honeymoon trip and went to a travel agent, and we got some options, so vote for your favorite. (Reasoning is appreciated as well.)

In no particular order:

- Several combinations of London, Edinburgh, & Dublin
- Several combinations of Venice, Florence, & Rome
- Munich, Salzburg, & Vienna
- Paris & Normandy
- Grand Tour of Germany (Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Black Forest)
- New York & DC

(From Amber:) Vote early and vote often.

Green Old Guys

2009-02-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Its tax season! I'll pause while you audibly and enthusiastically rejoice in that statement................................all done? Good.

So perhaps you have seen then H&R block or some other tax company's ads. You know, the ones where the portraits of the dead presidents come of the bills and start talking even though they still look all creepily green? Well I saw it not too long ago and I was struck when one of them said to the John Everyman in the commercial, "You know what you need? A big tax refund!"

How ludicrous!

So it got me thinking about how an actual transcript of my interaction with a newly resurrected albeit hideously green Washington, Lincoln, and Jackson would go down. Enjoy.

Me: Oh hey dead founding fathers! What's up?

Washington: What's up? My dear sir, whatever does that mean?

Me: Oh sorry, speech has a way of changing over the years. How do you do?

Lincoln: Other than our alarming skin color, quite well thank you.

Jackson: What are you doing sonny?

Me: Oh this? I'm just getting together my invoices, receipts, W-2s, 1099s, and other various deductible bills together so I can go get my taxes done.

Washington: Taxes? What kind of taxes may I ask? You look too young to be engaged in enough business to be paying taxes.

Me: Oh yeah, there's a personal federal income tax now. It was the sixteenth amendment.

(Collective gasp by the green guys)

Jackson: Hogswallop! The first fruits of what a man earns certainly doesn't belong to the federal government!

Me: Well I appreciate and heartily agree with your sentiment Old Hickory, but if I don't get this done they'll haul me off to jail. There's a whole federal agency I have to please if I don't want any trouble.

Lincoln: That's absurd. Shouldn't they have to prove your guilt rather than vice versa?

Me: Once again, you're preaching to the choir Abe, but its hard taking constitutional criticisms from Mr.-only-president-to-suspend-habeus-corpus.

Washington: Well surely its not too high a percentage right? Only a small fraction surely?

Me: Well, all told, it'll probably be about 40% of everything I took in this year since I'm self-employed.

All Three: WHAT!!! (Jackson swoons....ya know, no one swoons now, but he's old enough it still works.)

Washington: Are you the richest man in America or something son?

Me: No sir, far from it, my net worth is still depressingly far into the red.

Jackson: Well what in the world is going on? What will Congress spend all this money on pray tell?

Me: Actually, all the personal income tax together basically pays the interest on our national debt.

All Three: (Groaning in anguish)

Jackson: Balderdash!

Me: Yeah, its true. But you have to borrow a whole heap of money to maintain military bases in over a hundred nations across the world and basically subsidize the defense of all of Europe through NATO.

Washington: By Jove, I believe I'm going to be ill. What on earth is this NATO?

Me: Oh, well I know your schitck was to avoid foreign entanglements, but the world's a lot smaller now. You can fly to China in less than a day. So a generation ago, all of Western Europe and America had to form a military alliance against the Soviet Union as it was threating to overtake all its neighbors.........

Washington: ......well I suppose thats not too terrible.....

Me:...........but theres not a Soviet Union anymore.

Lincoln: Oh my stars and garters! Surely your jest!

Me: I wish I was, but instead, not only is there still a NATO, but a new nation wants to join it every week. But it gets better still. You are all green because your faces are printed on Treasury Notes that we use as money although you all hated "bills of credit" as you referred to them. And none of it is backed up by any precious metal reserves. Not only is there a central federal bank now, but its in the process of nationalizing other private banks and appropriating federal funds for other failing private institutions. And if the federal bank gets your collar hot, there's also an International Monetary Fund, a World Trade Organization, an upcoming international summit on international economic cooperation, to say nothing of the United Nations itself.

Washington: (staring with his eyes wide and jaw open) I thought we founded a free country that would be different from the central-power-heavy nations of Europe?

Me: Oh yeah, and the President can almost issue his own legislation through executive orders, enforce only what laws he wants to through signing statements, and decide to go to war without congressional approval. And if you take issue against any of this stuff, you're immediately dismissed as a radical idealouge in any political disscussion.

Washington: But I was trying to found a whole country of personal-liberty-loving idealouges! (George collapses into a chair rubbing his forehead)

(Pause)

Lincoln: You know George rebelled for far less than this, right?

More Than 25 Things

2009-01-27T23:03:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know if you've noticed this, but Facebook is COVERED with this chain-letter-type-"Notes"-challenge. In case you have missed it here is the scoop: friend 1 writes out a list of 25 random things about his or herself and tags 25 of their friends in the note. Then friends 2-26 are encouraged to repeat the process, and of course, you must tag the person who tagged you. Although I seldom engage in these sorts of things, I decided to jump on the ban wagon and participate. So I came up with my 25 facts late on Sunday night/Monday morning but since then I have thought of some other facts that should have made the first list, so here the are:

1. I want to learn how to play the cello. I came this close to buying one at a pawn shop a couple of summers ago as motivation but decided I would wait for a better time.

2. I think it would be cool to one day own a classic car. Either some 1950's car or like Model-T type will do.

3. When Jonny and I can't make a decision, we play rock/paper/scissors and let the game decide for us.

4. I have a GINORMOUS sweet tooth.

5. I am very interested in "birth order" type analysis.

6. I collect Postcards. Anytime a friend of mine is going on a trip I ask them to send me a postcard. It started because my Nana always sends each of us 7 grandkids postcards from her and my Papa's travels in their motor-home. One year she gave me a book with some old postcards from my Great Nanny and I just kept it up since then. I don't really like to just buy them for myself; I don't feel like that counts. Someone has to send it to me.

7. Althought I don't read it often, I really enjoy poetry. My favorite part is exploring all the different meanings and learning something different with each readthrough.

8. It sometimes scares me how similar I am to my Nana and Jonny is to my Papa. Seriously, it can be freaky. When we are at their house, Jonny and Papa often end up sitting the same! I don't know how that happened, but if we are lucky enough to share 51 years of marriage like they have, then I think it will be just fine.

9. When I clean, I like to make stacks. It helps me organize and prioritize. Sometimes making the stacks is as far as get though.

10. I recently started a vinyl record collection.

11. I enjoy candles but I rarely burn them or buy them and I am not sure why.

12. I realize I have developed a deep sense of loyalty to Spiderman. Thanks Jonny!

13. I like to collect witty and random T-shirts. Most of mine come from threadless.

14. I REALLY, REALLY enjoy looking at family photos and hearing family stories. I always want to learn more about who the people in family are as indivdiuals and not just who they are in thier familial role. I feel the photos and the stories help convey their personality to me.

15. I think its funny to watch Tucker and Reilly dream :)

I would love to hear some of your random facts too so consider yourself tagged once you are done reading this post! :)

Random Ramblings

2009-01-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know how many of you know this about me, but... I'm a random person. I can't tell you how many times Jonny and I are riding along in the car together and then, out of nowhere, I make a comment or ask a question, and Jonny just looks at me, with a very Jonny-esque look, which is always the same look, and states, "WHERE did THAT come from?" Believe me there is always a chain of thoughts, each one connected to the other, but often this chain occurs too rapidly to make it out in conversation, thus, when I arrive to the end statement and my mouth has caught up with my thoughts it comes, from seemingly no where. It normally happens like this: "thought x" is formed, creating a reaction which yields "thought y" which then triggers "thought z" and then "statement a" arrives in converstation. Sometimes, I will have "thoughts x-z" a think, "hmm. I'm gonna tell Jonny about this" so I'll call him or go into the next room where he is and I get the same aforementioned reaction.

So, I had one of these moments the last night, while I was in the bathroom at the Circle K in Ruston as Jonny and I were heading back from Jay and Katie Garcia's wedding reception. You know this one is gonna be good from the intro right? So here is the chain:

"Thought X" :
I am washing my hands in the very dirty, very typical public, gas station bathroom when I see the following sign:

which then triggered....

"Thought Y":
So the sign says that their "policy" is to keep the restroom clean, but this restroom is obviously NOT clean. The sign also says to notify and associate if the restroom is "unstatisfactory" so....

"Thought Z":
I wonder if anyone has ever notified the associate on duty about this. If so, what was that exchange like?? I wonder....

"Statement A":
"Hey Jonny, I was just in this REALLY nasty bathroom and I think I'm going to blog about it! I took pictures too!"

I am sure you can figure out what was next. And now you are caught up to real time. As I pondered this moment further I decided that this would make the perfect first segment of a possible reoccuring post at "Jonny on the Spot" entitled: Random Ramblings. After all, you know what they say, "If you can't say something that make sense, come sit next to me."

2009: A Year of Pictures

2009-01-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

So today is the first of day of 2009.... like you needed me to tell you that. What you did need me to tell you was what I decided 2009 was going to mean for me. I am not one who makes New Years Resolutions, but this year I guess I jumped on the Resolution band wagon, sorta. So here is how it started, I am a gadget person. Thanks to Tom, Jonny and I have discovered woot.com which is this website that sells one item a day for a crazy deal. Recently, I "wooted" and purchased a digital frame. As I was deciding which pictures I wanted to see cycling in-and-out, day-to-day, I realized most of pictures were old, and of the dogs :) Like many times before when I review my photo collection, I realized I would enjoy it if I took more pictures. So that thought has been buzzing around my head for a while now. That's Part One of this story.

Now for Part 2: Jonny, Billy and I were in Best Buy on the 30th and I was once again bitten by the gadget bug. I decided it was time to buy a new digital camera (and it really was time, when I pulled out my old camera I found that I was the owner of a 3.2 megapixel dinasour!) I surveyed the camera section and then decided I would do some internet research. Today, I walked out of Best Buy the proud owner of a 8 megapixel Cannon PowerShot SD110 IS. So far, I love this little camera, which also takes video (plus!)

So the moral of this two-part story: I'm taking the phrase "looking fine in 2009" to a photojournalistic level and I am going to make a strong effort to document this year's memories through photography. If I don't start off too strong, at least I know I will have a chance in July to stick to my photographic guns! So here's to many great memories that can be captured on film in 2009!

A Christmas of Firsts

2008-12-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again to all. I guess I am going to spend a large portion of my Christmas break updating Jonny's blog :) With only three days til Christmas, I began thinking about how this Christmas season has differed from previous ones, and I realized that so far, this Christmas has been a Christmas of firsts.

First First: A Christmas of Engagement

As all of you are well aware, this is my first Christmas as one-half of a to-be-wedded-whole. While this is mostly a joyous occasion, it has raised some questions that, until now I did not have to worry about. Like, where do we go for the traditional candle-light Christmas Eve service? Do we eat pizza or gumbo? Is it made of wood or aluminum? (who can tell me where that line is from :) While Jonny and I have mostly decided how we will split time between our two wonderful families, this is the last time we will get to split up on Christmas Eve, thus making this holiday a first true glance at how we may celebrate Christmases to come.

Second First: Eggnog

I am all about Christmas-time-only foods. For me, this usually includes making sausage balls, red and green M&M cookies and Chex Mix for Jonny. This Christmas I made the aforementioned standards, but this year I wanted more. I decided this would be the year of Eggnog. Every year I see it in the grocery store and I wonder to myself, "What's all the fuss about?" So this year I decided, I'm jumping in the eggnog pool head first and tried some. Verdict: I LOVE THIS STUFF. I must have drank like 12 glasses already. So far I have only tried the right-out-of-the-carton stuff, with a little Blue Bell mixed in, but I have a homemade recipe that is FAB! and will be making it as another standard for next year.

Third First: Christmas Bread

Some what keeping in line with "Second First", and succumbing to the surrounding influence in other places al la internet land, I decided I would try my hand at making my first batch of Christmas bread. That is a labor of love kids. I started at 7pm and just finished at like midnight-thirty. I made three loafs: One for Jonny, one for work, and one for the Monette's. You can see how it turned out. I think for my first attempt it is pretty darn pretty... I'll let you know how it taste when I meet Jonny in the morning for work and sample it for breakfast.

All in all, I'll deem these Christmas firsts a success!

(Notice Tucker staring intently at that platter ever-ready should disaster happen. - Jonny)

The Dents are Alive With the Sound of Music

2008-12-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hello to all our blogging friends out there. This post is being brought to you by the other half of Jonny on the Spot. I thought I would update Jonny's blog and share about our weekend... although most of you who read this were there and know about it .

Wow. What a weekend. It was great to have our friends and family gather together to celebrate our coming union. Everything was wonderful. If yesterday and today serve as any clues about whats to come, I think I will be humming "Five dogs, no fleas" and "Communication is the key" til AT LEAST the end of the week. That toast was truly a Dent-doing. As I have thought about it, I am reminded of one of the first trips I made to the farm. It was for a Thanksgiving dinner. After our food had settled, we all gathered in the living room, hymnals were passed around, Karl played the keyboard and everyone took turns calling out their request, singing solos while the rest joined in, in four part harmony. I remember taking it all in and thinking "I better get ready for all the musical moments that are about to unfold in my life." As I think back to that Thanksgiving, I am always reminded of how much the Dent family loves one another. It was such a sweet moment and I realized that, for the Dent clan, singing and music, is one of their many love languages. I can think of other countless moments where this has been the case. I am always in awe of those moments when the kiddos are all together and somehow Jonny finds a gituar and Anna Grace and Cavett end up dancing to the singing and playing of "Grandma's Feather Bed" or some other Dent standard. There is such joy and love in those moments and they are so precious to me. As the sisters toasted to us and our lives together, I will always remember it, not only as a clever way to wish us well, but also as a very appropriate expression of Dent love. I look forward to many more moments in song, and who knows... if Jonny and I strick it rich, maybe we can give those "Two loving grandmas" and "Four super aunts" those "Tweleve happy children".

Christmas Music

2008-12-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

So, as soon as thanksgiving is over, it's all Christmas music all the time with Amber. In the car, at the house, and everywhere else. That's fine and all. Music is one of things people most enjoy about Christmas. But some artists think any piece of audible garbage put down on a Christmas album gets a free pass. They could not be more wrong. They could try, but they would fail.

So here are my top ten most HATED Christmas songs.

#10- "Feed the World" by Band-Aid, The song is awful, the artists are too full of themsleves, and the group name is a pun so lame its worry of a country song

#9- "Happy Christmas/War is Over" by Celine Dion, Lennon's original was passable but having this French Canadian wail it out as if it were "All By Myself" is misplaced at best and sonic assault at worst.

#8- "Christmas Shoes" by Newsong, when I was first told about this song I thought it was a joke. I see it as a slap in the face to all evangelicals. Just because I like Jesus doesn't mean I have no artistic standards.

#7- "Santa Baby" by Madonna, this song is only like three lines long then repeated over and over in the same whiny voice. Is that tone supposed to seductive? Cause its not. Why would I enjoy that anyway? Oooooh yeah, get the jolly fat old guy all hot and bothered! That's the stuff! Or am I supposed to find her blatant gold-digging humorous?

#6 "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey, take the title of the song, paraphrase it a couple of different ways, and you've probably got all the lyrics already. I hear this one the most on the satelite too. I think she thinks if you add jingle bells to the track a pop song its magically transformed into a Holiday standard. It must be a Christmas miracle!!

#5 "Ave Maria" by Harry Conick Jr., this one is a shame cause Harry otherwise makes a great X-mas CD. He's a complete miscast for a song like this. A crooner sings Ave Maria? Really? It reminds me of the Robert Goule skits on SNL. If I wanna hear it butchered I can go to any Catholic wedding. Guarunteed the bride's got at least 3 cousins all fighting over who gets the dubious honor.

#4 "Favorite Things" by Rogers & Hammerstein, this one's a nod to Amber. It's a good song don't get us wrong. But it is not a Christmas song at all. You'll notice its the middle of the summer in the musical when they sing it.

#3 "Sing Noel" by Some Children's composer, doesn't popular airplay but its still horrendous. And the fact that the CCC does it every year on regional TV is ten miles past embarrassing.

#2 "My Grown Up Christmas Wish" by anyone, I know what you're thinking. "Oh, but its on that Amy Grant CD!" Big whoop. A chick wishes for world-peace at X-mas. And folks in hell want ice cream. Asking for it like a gift under the tree completely misses the mark if you want to bark up that tree anyway. You want the world to be better? Well you can't change human nature, but you can change your own actions. If you want a REALLY bad version though, check out Kelly Clarkson's errrr.....attempt at it.

#1 "Where are You Christmas" by Faith Hill, no explanation neccessary. Its so bad I can't even attempt to mock it.

1 month update

2008-09-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

So, its been about a month since I proposed to Amber. You can read about all the wedding planning progress on the wedding website Amber does. But for me, this mostly means we've been exercising and eating better (I hesitate to use the word "diet" as it connotes something transient) for a month now. All the health-nut crowd will tell you, "Oh, you'll feel so much better!" and, "You'll have so much more energy!"

Well I call shenanigans on this propaganda. Having done this for a month, I feel awful. Stuff aches all the time. Its harder to get out of bed in the morning. I'm always hungry and always tired. I felt a lot better when I was willingly and blissfully unhealthy. Good news is Amber and I are both down 12 pounds, which while it sounds good is still a depressingly low percentage for me.

Taking Your Lumps

2008-09-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

As a ravid college football fan, I'm often confronted with skeptical types who believe enthusiasm of that level to be an obvious misplacement of priorities. After reflection, I think such emotional investment in something is neither inherently good or bad. Rather, its one's reactions that determine the dividends of the investment.

For another year, I'll be deep in enemy territory trying to take the talk of LSU fans in stride, especially of the next two days: tomorrow at church, and Monday at work. In addition, I have to eat an LSU-branded piece of meat at Jared's at some point soon. And even though I've wore all my stuff and flown my flags high, I still have to wear orange and blue the next two days and congratualte every football fan who brings the topic up on a great game.

I think I disagree with the dismissive response to such a devastating loss. "Oh, it's just a game." Well, it surely is a game, but it would be obvious self-deception to pretend my emotional investment didn't make it something larger. One can't just sweep that emotion under the rug. And taking my lumps sucks.... big time. I don't like doing it. But life is a great long run of stuff you don't want to do.

In judging whether my investment is misplaced, we have to ask whether the ultimate effect on me is beneficial or or determintal. And I am fairly convinced that we as humans can ALWAYS benefit from a humbling experience. I don't know how 8-year-old Jonny would have taken it. The Braves' annual choking in the postseason reeked enough havock on me back then even without a sea of rival fans around me. But now I know exactly how this will play out for me. And perhaps I have this practice in misplaced priorities to thank for that certainty.

Crazy Khrushchev

2008-09-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

At the height of the cold war, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev had a famous incident wherein he took off his shoe and banging on the table shouted, "Your children will grow up in communism!" Surely, this must have felt like a moment of triumph for the powers-that-were in the U.S. at the time. If this was their opponent's most eloquent argument, the West would certainly prevail. Well, it's been about a generation since, why don't we check in on old Niki's prognostications.

So what separated us greedy capitalists from the dirty commies? If this were Family Feud, I'd try to convince you all take make our final guess "free markets." But how free are they? Two government-chartered lending institutions who hold a vast majority of the U.S.'s mortgages have found themselves in deed poo. Bailouts are always tricky things. How does anyone learn from bad decisions if the government now provides a safety net? Where's the incentive for wise decision making then? But these two jokers didn't just get a bailout. Oh no. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum here got straight-up taken over by the Feds. That sounds like a fact you here on NPR and barely give it a second thought, but let that soak in for a second. Uncle Sam (or Big Brother Samuel as Tom and I call him) now owns something like 70% of the homes in America technically. (And Bill Clinton said the era of big government was over.) But the fun hasn't stopped there. Now congress is talking about establishing some department to take on even more of these private companies' bad mortgages.

I propose Niki was not a raving fool. I think he understood something most American are blind to, being this: government's primary behavior is always to sustain and expand itself. And whatever new role or power it undertakes, it never relinquishes. Even a country founded as purly on the principle of self-governance as America needs but a few hundred years of crises before the masses clamor for the federal government to assume greater and greater roles. This is how liberty dies, not with a dramatic, punctuated, and obvious conflict, but through the unintended consequences of well-meaning knee-jerk reactions.

I fear we may be only years away from a law stating mortgages may only be handed out by the federal government. (For our protection of course.) And then, I feel a certain Mr. Khrushchev's sour countenance will change to victorious grin in his grave.

Jonny's Thoughts on the Campaigns

2008-08-29T13:57:00.002-07:00

Holy Schnikees! Did y'all see McCain's VP pick?

But before I discuss his pick, let's see where Jonny's coming from. I saw some footage on the Daily Show of McCain at the motorcycle rally a while back and listening to him stumble through his speech I turned to Tom and said, "Sweet Christmas! John McCain is GOING to lose this election." And I still think that was a reasonable conclusion. McCain really can't sell himself. Why?

McCain Cons:
- He's Ooooooooooooold, like, don't touch him without gloves on cause your body oil could cause him to spontaneously decompose, old. Old doesn't sell. Our culture unfortunately worships at the altar of youth. Were it not for other circumstances, he really would be Bob Dole #2.

- He's running for the same party as the incredibly unpopular Bush

- "100 more years in Iraq"

- Most important, he can't energize the conservative base because of his unorthodox positions for a Rebuplican on some issues like immigration and campaign finance. But at the same time, his war stance prevents him from gaining the moderate vote which he might otherwise attract.

So, what's an old geezer to do? Well, whoever is running McCain's campaign is a freaking genius. He or she has realized the only way for McCain to win is to run the most negative campaign in history (no value judgments intended with that statement.) Playing up the Right's fear of Obama is the only and most effective way for McCain to energize them.

Now enter Gov. Palin (a name I kinda like cause it sounds like paladin and makes me think of Warcraft. That thought is gonna stick in your head too, you're welcome.) This pick does a couple of things.

1. Conventional wisdom says your VP pick shows where you think you're weak. So, Obama picking Biden is a defacto admission of a lack of experience they would say. So how does that work on McCain? He picked a young chick. Whats he gonna do? Deny he's old? Or a dude?

2. McCain's been trying to woo the bitter Hillary crowd. A chick VP may feel like a shallow attempt by some of them to lure them, but it will work on some others. Its like asking some one if they want a hot dog. "I don't know, I don't know if I want a hot dog." "Well, what if I put some chili on it?"

3. While a black Pres. is still better than a chick VP for progress-for-progress'-sakers, the addition of a disenfranchised candidate on the ticket does usurp some of Obama's mantra and sexiness.

4. Palin being an ATV saleslady and otherwise an outdoors-woman and a pro-lifer helps excites a few more far right votes, but not many.

So, with all that said, I still think I'd bet on Obama to win if I had to bet on somebody. But I just wanted to give some dap to the savy folks running Old Man River's campaign.

As for me, there's a chance Ron Paul will actually make it on the LA ballot, which would make me a happy happy Panda.

BTW

2008-08-29T13:57:00.001-07:00

I'm getting married.

R.I.P.

2008-08-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

On a sad note, DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore has passed away from complications after an ATV accident. So, I encourage you to dust off your old "Under the Table and Dreaming" and "Crash" CDs and savor the dulcet tones of Mr. Moore. His solo on #41 was always one of my favorites. God Bless.

The Best Jokes Aren't Planned

2008-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

So Amber had to pick a book to read from a short list for her weekend seminar class. The dialog between her and I went a little something like this:

Amber: "I'd kinda like to read 'Counseling Poor Families' but it's really expensive."

Me: "Wow........"

Amber: "What?"

Me: "Well......that's like......terribly ironic."

Amber: (laughs for like 3 minutes)

A Trip in Numbers

2008-08-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

So, what the heck has little Jonny been up to these days?! I'll tell you numerically.

-3500, miles driven (Shreveport to Tampa to Nashville to Chicago to Shreveport)

-3, days on the beach

-6, Major Musical Awards for acts seen (3 Tonys for Wicked, 3 Grammys by the Bluegrass group at the Station Inn in Nashville)

-35,000, the rumored dollar amount of Neags' wedding budget

- 25, minutes on the subway from the hotel to downtown Chicago

-17, number of times the weird Chicago people dinged on their glasses at the recption (which evidently means the bride and groom have to kiss, not that someone has an anouncement)

-3, new brands of beer tried

-21 to 1, the score when Amber and Danny attempted to play native Chicagoans in a game of "Bags" (a bewilderingly popular game of throwing bean bags into wooden holes)

-217, the total pages of college football preview magazines read while on the beach

-350, the approximate dollar amount spent on gas round trip

-1, number of "War Eagle"s received at the Art Institute of Chicago when I wore an AU shirt

-94, the story of the observatory at the Hancock Tower

-1, number of ice chests accidentally left in the bed of Craigo's wife's truck in Nashville

-3, number of hours it took for us to realize there was a soccer game at soldier field next to the natural history museum and that's why we were getting run over by Latinos

-25, number of miles we took as a detour just to get some chicken biscuits Monday morning in Memphis

Rain

2008-05-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

So, if you were in Shreveport this week, you might have noticed it rained. A lot. So, I had resolved to give Tucker a bath the night it started to flood and figured, "well, I'm gonna get nasty wet washing Tucker and he needs walking too........" So I put on a swimsuit and a T-shirt and Tucker and I took our walk as if it was a normal day. At the corner of Greenway and Stratford, it was deep enough for Tucker to dog-paddle. As I haven't played in the rain since I was a kid, it was quite enjoyable. I recommend it if you don't mind passing drivers looking at you funny.

Project Marvel

2008-04-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

So, as you all know I had a lot of stages in childhood of different interests. Funny thing is, a lot of them kinda stuck and I still indulge in them every now and then albeit not with the same tenacity. (Paul may have put away childish things, I just renamed mine.)

Anywho, a good example of this is comics. As a kid, in the back of your mind was always the thought, "Man, It'd be super-sweet if I had a copy every every marvel comic." Well, that was of course an idle daydream as it's a almost certain impossibility. It'd take you a lifetime to hunt down all those back-issues in those weird shops populated by the strangest individuals known to man. But as in so many other cases, Mr. Internet has come to the rescue, and thus I've been working on what I've dubbed "Project Marvel" for the last 6 months or so. (I think if the internet had to assume a anthropomorphic form, it'd be the guy in the dark alley wearing a trench coat who whispers at you slyly, "Hey, wanna buy a watch?") So far, I've got everything from 1961-1980. God bless technology. Tom argues that they publish things faster than I can read them, so I can never read everything, and he's probably right. But it's nice to know I could.

Title

2008-04-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

Its your time. Its my time. Its ten thoughts time.

#10 Train A leaves St. Louis headed east at 6:30PM traveling 70 mph. Train B leaves D.C. headed west at 4:00PM traveling 65 mph. When do the trains meet? Why was that always the example of a hard standardized test question? I'm not chomping at the bit to answer it, but it's not that hard. Not to mention has anyone ever actually seen this question on an actual test before?

#9 After winning the Presidential Nomination, Lincoln grew a beard because a little girl wrote him a letter saying he should. How cool is that?

#8 Evidently, back in Lincoln's day, neck-beards were in style. More proof I was born in the wrong era. I could grow an excellent one. People would say, "hey man! awesome neck beard!"

#7 I often mention nostalgic things from childhood in these, so I'll do the opposite now. I hated Nickelodeon shows as a kid. Hey Dude, Salute your Shorts, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Pete & Pete, Wild & Crazy Kids, all grade-A pieces of television garbage. The only good thing to come out of Nickelodeon in the last 25 years: David the Gnome! His show was off the chain.

#6 Tom has been rooming it up with me for about four months now, but he still hasn't fully realized what Tucker is capable of. Tucker helped himself to Tom's Taco Bell the other night, and his container Strawberry milk mix yesterday morning. If he thinks its edible (and his standards are quite low I assure you) Tucker WILL eat whatever you leave out.

#5 A slight disclaimer. As wedding season is now upon us, I'll be attending blessed event after blessed event in the next few months. But just so you know, I judge you by the details of you wedding festivities. Was there recorded music at any point? Did someone in your family drink too much? Do you have a picture on display with both of you wearing jeans and a white shirt? Did you smush the cake in each other's face? These are all bad things fyi.

#4 Developmental psychologists have all sorts of methods of delineating the endpoints between their arbitrary stages in life. Allow me to propose my own. Childhood officially ends when you come to the realization that McDonald's is disgusting.

#3 The liberal arts education is a complete fraud. Liberal arts meant in Roman times the abilities belonging to a free person, code for well-to-do. So what's important as a wealthy Roman? Why, rhetoric and poetry and such since you never have to do any real work in your life. Therefore, the the liberal arts education was originally very utilitarian. Now its just esoteric. Don't get me wrong, I like rhetoric and poetry, but those aren't very utilitarian subjects to a middle-class American male.

#2 Mike Hampton is hurt. In related news, dogs bark and water is wet.

#1 One of the things I loved about staying at my Grandparent's as a child was the fact I could eat all the lucky charms I wanted for breakfast (honeynut cheerios was as sweet as it got at my house growing up.) But now that I am perfectly at liberty to gorge myself on lucky charms, I don't really care for them anymore. One of life's little gotcha's.

This Just In....

2008-04-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you out there in blogger-land. Today's post comes from a guest writer, the one and only Ber. I've been thinking about joining this little blogging family myself, but every time I get pumped about it, my professors decide they own my soul. So Jonny, in pure Jonny fashion, pointed out the obvious: I can just post on his blog! Now I get the best of both worlds, both school and internet.

So anywho... Today was one of those days when I was confirmed in one of my life choices. I went to a conference at the Collin County Community College about abuse awareness and prevention in children. Listening to the presentations I couldn't find anything boring which was a victory in and of itself since I had been up since 5:45 am (not the morning person this one!) I just felt like I knew I was one the right track with my career choice. I can't wait to the day that I get to work with families and children who need someone in their corner.

I have also noticed that being a budding psychologist apparently means I am uber aware of those odd research stories on sites like CNN and Yahoo- you know like the ones that make claims like: "This just in! Peanuts make your Hippocampus function better!" Well, tonight I was checking the weather (we are in a severe storm watch) and I saw the follow title: "Mother's Diet Can Help Determine Sex of Child." With my interest peaked, I clicked the link. In a nut shell, moms-to-be who consumed a wide range of nutrients, such as potassium, calcium and vitamins C,E, and B12, in addition to eating more calories had boys. Jonny and I have often discussed how male-heavy this generation of the Dent -clan is, so with this new info, I wanna know what the Sisters ate during their pregnancies. Lets have our own research project! If you wanna that is :)

Signing off for now!
-Ber

Conveyance Book Golf

2008-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

So, I've created a new game at the Red River Parish Courthouse: Conveyance Book Golf. If you have two entries in the same book you need to look at, you decide on a par based on the number of pages between them. (Its arbitrary at this point, so I'll have to come up with a standard formula soon.) You then try to turn directly to the next desired page just by eyeballing it. Its easy enough for me to add an extra column out to the side of my runsheet to keep score. I was +9 today, not a bad showing. I've had one hole-in-one and a handful of double eagles. Maybe I'll introduce it to my fellow abstractors soon.

Even if its not popular

2008-04-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while. My apologies. I assure you this past absence is not indicative of future posting frequency.

Anywho, I read a lot these days and I thought it'd make for passable blog entries to share things I've found engaging, so here goes:

In 1846, a black man named William Freeman was released from prison after serving a sentence for a crime which it was later determined he did not commit. Shortly thereafter, Freeman entered the home of John VanNest, and armed with two knives, killed John, his pregnant wife, and his mother. Upon his capture he openly confessed to the crime and laughed hysterically. As it turns out, Freeman had a deep family history of mental illness. Unconcerned with Freeman's circumstances, the community demanded his death and threatened violence on any attorney who would represent him. When no willing man could be found, Henry Seward volunteered. In the following weeks Seward worked diligently preparing Freeman's defense and urged the jury to have Freeman committed rather than put to death as his actions were, "unexplainable on any principles of sanity." Ultimately, Seward's pleas fell on deaf ears as everyone knew they would. But Seward reflecting on the incident remarked, "In due time, gentlemen of the jury, when I shall have payed the debt of nature, my remains will rest here in your midst, with those of my kindred and my neighbors. It is very possible that they may be unhonored, neglected, and spurned. But perhaps, years hence, when the passion and excitement which now agitate this community shall have passed away, some wandering stranger, some lonely exile, some Indian, some Negro may erect over them a humble stone and thereupon this epitaph, 'He was Faithful.'"
Poetically enough, that phrase can be seen on his headstone today.

This would be a commendable account of any man, but what makes it more amazing to me is the fact that Seward was a very ambitious politician who was aiming for the presidential nomination. Today's candidates would never risk challenging public sentiment like that. It is therefore a great tragedy to me that we know Seward more singularly for his purchase of Alaska than his faithful pursuit of Right in spite of scorn and derision.

A Little Slice of the Good Life

2008-03-11T20:17:00.001-07:00

Sometimes something small can make your day.

Not too long ago, I made a half-conscious comment to Amber. "If I was loaded, you know what I'd get? A billion wooden coat hangers, that's what. No more of this thin metal junk."

Well, as it turns out, one doesn't have to be loaded to have all wooden coat hangers thanks to everyone's favorite billionaire, Mr. Ikea. 10 hangers = $3. And since Amber lives only a stone's throw away from the Frisco Ikea, she hooked me up. My closet is awesome now. Thanks Wam!

In the words of KC and JoJo, "Crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy."

2008-03-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

So, some of you might have heard about the two girls that were shot to death at UNC and Auburn this past week. You may have also heard that a group is planning on picketing the Auburn student's memorial service in a few days.

If you're scratching your heads allow me to explain. There's a group of crazy folks from Topeka Kansas called Winsboro Baptist Church (although every legit Baptist Convention and association in American agrees they're crazy.) Why are they protesting the mourning of this girl? Get ready for this: you shouldn't have a funeral for her because you should be glad she died, because its God's punishment on America for its growing acceptance of homosexuality. They protest funerals of American soldiers KIA for the same reasons. Their website at godhatesfags.com explains that soldiers are just lazy idiots who couldn't get a job anywhere else anyway.

Now, that's a whole new kinda crazy. These folks are nuttier than a squirrel turd. They make Sonny the Cuckoo Bird look like Dan Rather.

Thankfully, one father of a fallen G.I. successfully sued the crazies for 11 million dollars after they showed up at his son's funeral. The state of Kansas also passed a law banning demonstrations at funerals. Unfortunately, the lady running the "church" now is a lawyer and is challenging the law. Sadly, the case is making its way up to higher courts.

The moral of the story is just say no to crazy.

This One's for Stephen

2008-03-07T16:35:00.001-08:00

Fun Fact of the Day

2008-03-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

I can stick my whole fist in my mouth. Take that world!

Jonny's Ten Thoughts

2008-03-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

So, I realized today that none of the fam has a facebook account, and as such, you've never been able to read Jonny's little column entitled "Ten Thoughts." They're kinda like an Andy Rooney rant, a Letterman top ten list, and Jack Handey quotes all rolled into one. So you lucky devils get to gorge on them all at once. I present the Best of Ten Thoughts:

May 3rd 2007
#2 - I was extremely peeved when I learned about negative numbers. I felt totally betrayed by my teachers. They had told me for years you just couldn't subtract a larger number from a smaller number and when I questioned their authority they offered me no explanation other than you just can't.

#1 - Deja vu's are freaky. But the older I get, I'm not just having deja vu's. Instead I think I'm having deja vu's of deja vu's and even deja vu's of deja vu's of deja vu's. Maybe I'm in a matrix inside a matrix inside a matrix.

May 8th 2007
#10: Capslock is without any hesitation the worst invention in history in my opinion. Who I ask ever has need for this worthless button? By the time I die the ratio of times I accidentally hit capslock to the times I used it on purpose will easily be a million to one. The worst is when you accidentally hit it online and it looks like you're shouting. What if that happened in real life? "Man, Charlie, I'm so sorry abOUT YOUR MOM!!!! HER UNTIMELY DEATH CAME AS A TOTAL SHOCK!!!!!!"

#6: You remember George Jetson's job? He just pushed one button all day. I would kill at that job, seriously. Ask anyone who's ever played a Mario-Party game with me. I could be done with work every day in half an hour. I'd put Cogsworth cogs out of business in one fiscal quarter.

May 22nd 2007
#10 - I hate shows that have an overarching goal to the entire series and then fail to ever achieve said goal. Example: Disney's Gummibears. The Gummibears of the show are but a remnant of a once vast Gummibear civilization which has since migrated to "Newgumberland." Thus, the protagonists are aliens in a now human land seeking to rejoin their kindred in this promised land of Newgumberland. In the course of the series there are a vast array of references to their displacement and longing to be with their own kind, but guess what, they never get to freaking Newgumberland. Oh, they drink juice and bounce around and stuff but they never get a step closer to their precious goal.

July 2nd 2007
10. If there are red ribbons for aids and yellow ribbons for the troops, does an orange ribbon mean you support troops with aids?

8. The "bong hits for Jesus" guy lost his case in the supreme court recently. That's too bad. He should switch to plan B now: contend he just left off an "o". It was supposed to be "bongo hits for Jesus." He was advocating drum circle style praise and worship.

5. So, the universe is constantly expanding. Lots of folks think thats a bummer as it'll make space travel and communication more difficult. I think its a little comforting though. The universe is getting fatter as it gets older just like me. "Its not my fault," I can say, "this is the way the universe works!" I wonder if, like us, the universe still keeps that old pair of quasars thinking, "oh, I can't throw these out, I'll be able to wear these again some day."

3. As the paragon of slothfulness, Garfield does nothing but sleep and eat lasagna. Don't you think he should've picked an easier food to make? Even a frozen Stouffer's lasagna takes like an hour and a half to bake. The real lazy folks in this world could tell him it's all about Mountain Dew and Red Baron pizzas.

Sept 24th 2007
#10 - One of my favorite Disney cartoons was Ducktales, but you know what even bugged me as a kid? Scrooge McDuck's favorite pastime was diving into his gigantic vault of coins. His huge moneybin is the major landmark of the metropolis of Duckberg. Its gotta be 20-30 stories tall, and he dives at least ten feet. Assuming those are metal coins, that's like diving off a two story house onto the pavement.

#8 - You know what reams of paper come packaged in? More paper. Why not just put a rubber band around it then instead. I'm glad that don't do that with other stuff. What if lunch meat came wrapped in more lunch meat?

#7 - I'm not done with Ducktales yet. I'm surprised the show didn't set off an international incident. Seriously, one of the largest corporations in the uber-greedy capitalist U.S. makes a show where the biggest miser of all time.........is a Scot! Did Disney have the gall to air this cartoon in the U.K.? It's like if the Irish made a cartoon about the biggest drunk of all time, Muhammed AbDuck.

#6 - I find myself incredibly prejudiced against the current piece of tape in the tape dispenser. Its been sitting out exposed to the harsh elements of this office for God knows how long. What assurance can I have of its continued adhesive ability? So, I tear it off, discard it and tear off a new one who I know will be sticky.

#5 - No one writes good jingles anymore. When are we gonna have the next "Diesel Driving Academy"-level jingle?

#2 - Is there any bigger fraud than the fine point sharpie? You can never get a sharpie fine enough to equal a pen. By its very nature the sharpie is a big clunky awkward beast. One should never use it for writing unless you're prepared to use a whole sheet of paper for one sentence.

March 4th 2008
#8 - Was there anything cooler in your childhood than the moment they started playing the Ghostbusters theme at the skating rink. Answer: No, there most certainly was not. (Who ya gonna call.......)

5 - I think our modern scientific and technological advances have a lot of unintended negative consequences and I think it's rather fashionable to point those things out these days. But I think they can do a lot of good too. Think about the Phantom of the Opera. If that dude were alive today we could hook him up with some corrective plastic surgery, some group counseling and he'd be good to go. Maybe he had a tumor on his amygdala that made him want to rape young opera singers in his little lair. They could cut that puppy right out. Just saying.

#4 - Where'd they come up with the name Indiana Jones? And what executive thought it was a good title? Sure, we don't question it now cause the movies were good. But say it a couple of times and you'll realize how dumb it sounds. If you had never heard of Indiana Jones, would you be willing to go see a movie entitled "Oklahoma Smith and the Burning Venereal Disease?" (OK, I might go see that, it sounds like a spoof comedy, but you get my drift.)

#3 - You know why I'm sure God exists? Wood. Yeah that's right, wood. It just grows up out of the freaking ground and its really freaking useful. Just looking at my house, there's a billion things that all serve different purposes, and you know what they're made out of, wood. Granted, plastic may have more uses these days, but we had to figure that crap out of a couple thousand years. Did I mention the wood just grows up out of the freaking ground though?!

#1 - You recall that old paradigm of the world being on top of a giant turtle? Why a turtle? Is there any real reason? Why not a more lovable animal like a jack russell terrier or a spider monkey? Could you imagine if the world was on top of a monkey? Maybe there'd be more crazy hijinks in our daily lives if the world was on top of a monkey.

Retroacitve blogging

2008-03-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

So, I realize other folks are not as into football as myself, so I promise this won't be the subject of many of my posts in the future. But I had to include this one because the video needed to be shared.

Amber and I usually try to go to one AU game a year. Usually not a very big game, something like Arkansas or Ole Miss. Well this past year it looked like we weren't going to any game, but Amber wanted to just look at tickets for the Iron Bowl. "Yeah right! Good luck with that!" I thought. But then she proceeded to find student tickets for around 200 on Craigslist. And as it turned out, we'd be in Gulf Shores already for Thanksgiving with Amber's family. So the stars aligned and we went to our first Iron Bowl.

We got into town early, got a good parking spot for only ten bucks, saw all the sights, did all our shopping, ate lunch, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Only thing that wasn't optimal was the fact we had to miss Tiger-Walk since we had to wait in line in front of the stadium with all the kids 3 and 1/2 hours before the game. One fella in front of us in line brought a case of beer and started dishing out free beers when they told us the line would start moving in the stadium in 20 minutes. "FREE BEER!" "Seriously?" "DEAD SERIOUS DUDE, WHO WANTS FREE BEER?" Ah, to have gone to a real college.

The game itself was great. The flyover was the lowest one I'd ever seen. We saw some Bama fans in the student section get kicked out. It was a closely contested defensive struggle the whole way through. At the end, for those of you not as into football, its customary for Auburn folks to taunt the Bama folks with their own cheer "Rammer Jammer" with slightly different words after we win. The video here is of Amber and I joining in. Keep in mind college football cheers can be a little colorful, so don't press play around the young and impressionable or the easily offended.

Blog........sounds like a Dr. Seuss word.

2008-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well, in typical Dent family fashion, something has started with the older siblings and after a few years has now trickled down to yours truly. I don't have any hilarious childhood antics or cute pictures to share, just an old dog. So while my sisters bring you the beautiful, profound, and precious in life, I'll endeavor to give you the strange, the obscure, and the mildly amusing.

So I'll start with said dog. Tucker had a hematoma on his right ear. (You may recall he had one on the left ear about 4-5 years ago.) So I took him to another distant relative of Almer's (he seems to have a lot of those) one Dr. David Davis D.V.M. (I took all I had in me not to ask him why his mother named him David.) So, for the last two weeks Tucker's had a huge bandage on his ear that stuck out like a sore thumb. Amber and I started referring to him as our special-ed dog (no offense to your former profession Mom.) Well today we went and got the bandage taken off. Tucker didn't know how good he had it with the bandage on. It looks like a peice of meat until the hair grows back. He stills has the stitches in. I asked Dr. Davis if Tucker could conceivably scratch them out. Like a good doc, he didn't say it was impossible, just that he'd never seen it done before. I figure if any dog could do it though, old Took would be the one. But here's hoping for a speedy recovery.