Greetings to an old friend. . . .

 Yeah it’s been a while hasn’t it.  There have been so many of these home improvement projects that I have been one tired man.  The two biggest projects were the replacement of my roof, which included way, WAY too much carpentry to fix the things that they did wrong at some point in the past and second was the installation of central heat and air.  Whew, that was relatively easy since I hired a professional to do it, but still a trial in its own way.

            The main reason I’m posting today, right now, is that I just found out that an old friend from my childhood has been sighted around this blog.  I can’t even express how excited I was to hear from her.  Unfortunately, I have no contact information for her.  So Dar, please e-mail me at nakx@cox.net.  I’d really appreciate it.

Current events and parenting. . .

Oops. . . guess I missed a few posts in the past few weeks.  I’ve been adjusting to the return of the rest of my family.  With Onia and Indigo home, the pace of things has picked up.  And boy, are there things to pick up now.  Onia is in full toddler mode and that means pulling out and interesting toy every few minutes, sometimes sooner.

            Indigo did what she wanted to do and picked up a part-time job.  We’ve always said that we didn’t want our kids raised by day care and through some scheduling changes; we’ve been able to keep that want a reality.  So now, I work all night and come home to watch Onia for a few hours before the two of us get some sleep.  While I’m doing the childcare, Indigo is doing her work from home.  When Onia wakes up from her morning nap, Indigo stops working and starts raising the little one until the evening, when I get up.  Together we all have dinner, usually at the dinner table, and then its fun time till bath time.  After the bath, it’s story time and finally bedtime.  In the evening, with the little one asleep, Indigo will sometimes get a little more work done, or we’ll unwind together in front of the boob tube.  It’s become quite the regular schedule and there’s something peaceful about that routine.

            Aside from the domestic adjustments, things have been slow, although there’s nothing like a toddler to keep your mind from deep introspective thoughts.  Running around behind my little girl is an endless monologue of, “No don’t eat that,” or “No don’t wander too far,” or “No, we pet the cats gently,” or “No please don’t shake, pinch, or bite the cat.”  I know there are people who say you shouldn’t say “No,” to your child.  That it imbues a negative aspect that will linger through their lives.  I feel that a “No” by itself, is in fact negative.  However, I always follow it up with, “You can do this,” or “This is how you should do this,” or “let’s wander over here away from the road.”  You get my meaning.  I consider it more of living in balance.  There are things you do not do.  There are ways of behaving that a person should not behave.  The teaching part comes from taking that extra step.  First the no and then; you CAN do this, do it like this, or try doing this instead.  Parenting isn’t all about restrictions it’s about guiding.  The hard part is remembering that guiding isn’t leading.  I let Onia lead, I’m just the safety rails that keep her from falling off the cliff.

            So what do you think about this revolutionary parenting concept (Said with tongue-in-cheek)?  Really, what are your parenting ideas?

Nekked Thoughts on a Saturday Afternoon . . .

   Well today, I was doing yard work (cleaning up from the ravages of winter and all that) while I found myself pondering a few things that have been in the news the past few weeks.  Before I go on however, congratulations Sapphire2 on snow skiing!  From all I’ve been told, (since it’s something I’ve never done before either) it’s hard to learn but once you get the basics down, it’s a (excuse the pun) a “downhill ride.”  Okay, sorry for the bad jokes.  Back to what I was saying however, there have been some interesting things in the news that, when you’re removing and moving brush around the yard that one can think about.

   The first thing I was thinking about is a talk show host asking; what’s the solution to the illegal immigration problem?  There are many millions of illegal immigrants and as the host would like to make you aware of, they’re taking jobs that could be done by Americans!  Yikes!  When did that happen?  I can tell you, I know. . . well I don’t know anyone, but I’m sure they are out there, tons of Americans who are wondering what happen to all their agricultural jobs.  Planting, weeding, and harvesting are such high paying jobs that everyone should be clamoring for them right?  Seriously, the biggest impact to Americans is in jobs involving construction.  These are hard jobs and traditionally well paying ones and there are, by this talk show’s latest research, around 10 million illegal immigrants working in construction.  So who’s to blame for this?  You could point the finger at Contractors who are hiring illegal immigrants and charging homebuyers the cost of hiring legal workers and then pocketing the profit.  But they’re not doing that, they’re splitting the difference, undercutting those contractors who hire legal workers and forcing them to either copy these illegal employment practices or go out of business.  Which isn’t an option is it?  These good contractors have families to support and going out of business isn’t going to keep a roof over their heads, or put food on the table.  An interesting dilemma isn’t it.

   This talk show host was asking for a solution.  Enforcing our current immigration policy, extra funding to border police and even the incredibly stupid, “build a great wall” were offered.  (The great wall idea is one that drives me the most insane.  After all, we can ask China how well their wall did, can’t we.)  The last option offered was just to make them legal.  This would force the employers to pay taxes for them; they’d have to pay regular income tax and all that too.  As citizens, they could also demand the minimum wage at the least and expect to get it, right?  Well maybe, I can think of a few Americans I know that work “under the table” and if it’s an option between hiring Mr. Legal, and Mr. We-Don’t-Need-No-Stinking-Records, who do you think Mr. Bad Contractor is going to hire?  Besides, the biggest problem is the Billions of dollars that they send back to South America to their families.  That money isn’t spent here on American companies, no taxes are collected on it, and it’s just a currency hemorrhage.

   Here’s my solution.  Let’s invite Mexico to become our next state.  Of course, they could decline, but it would solve a lot of problems.  First, as a State, they’d be required to follow Federal Employment guidelines.  Mexico’s biggest problem is with corruption.  A major push with FBI investigators would take years, and possibly decades, but in the end clean a lot of that up.  Using the US Dollar instead of the Peso would probably pay hell with economic models for quite a while, however, from the sound of things, they’re using a lot of US dollars as it is.  Back in history, the Republic of Texas was eventually invited into the USA, and I think inviting Mexico to do the same would help the people of Mexico and the people of the US a lot.  Besides, it never hurt to ask does it?

   Well that’s something for you all to mull around.  Do you have a solution?  Any experiences with illegal immigration you want to mention.  Let’s hear from you all.

Thanks.  Nakx

On a Saturday Afternoon . . .

   Well it's now 2007 and I think I can count on 1 hand all the entries I posted in 2006 on one hand.  I could go into a massive selfpity party here and explain how, my life is busy, my mind hasn't been working right, my heart hasn't been in writing, or several other exotic and common place excuses.  The fact is I haven't written and that's it.   The truth is now, I am coming back to update at least once a week.  (I hope you all throw a stone email at my head if I start slacking.)  Am am planning on making some changes (some of which perhaps you've noticed) and mostly attempting to discipline myself in some life changing ways.  Though the stories were fun, and I'm not saying that there won't be anymore, they were a bit of escapism on my part.  It's a release to remember the "good ole'days."  Unfortunately, that's lately been getting in the way of getting organized, getting things done, and moving beyond the one and only goal I've had these last few years (getting out of debt to get out of Arkansas, for the curious).

   So, today I did something I've never done before but let me give you a little background first.  I like listening to Talk Radio.  When I started doing that, it provoked great conversations with the woman who is now wife and mother of my only child.  Here in Arkansas, it's been limiting since the only Talk Radio is either Jesus Freaks, or Farm Livestock or Equipment Auctions.  Now I'm not saying there isn't a place for all that.  I'm also not saying that there isn't any NPR (National Public Radio), but how much of those things and Classical Music can one take?  (Rhetorical question, please don't answer that.)  So, after we got high speed internet, one of the things I did was find out that the my favorite Talk Radio Station, KGO out of the San Francisco Bay Area streams it's show's live.  Well, since I'm home alone and the weather outside could freeze a penguin's pecker to his feet, (okay that maybe a slight bit of hyperbole but you get my meaning) I started listening to KGO.  They were talking about a fertility clinic in San Antonio Texas that are creating embryos that people can select from.  This isn't much different from normal clinics except they are pre-making them.  It's become something of a bank for parents shopping for a child with better genetic material than they posses.  They were talking about the implications of this.  The clinic is marketing the embryos of men with Phd's and women who are 'beautiful' with college degrees (apparently, Phd's for women aren't required since they have to be "beautiful" first.)

   I know, I know, pretty disgusting on several levels.  Going back to doing something I've never done before, well I called the radio station to speak my mind.  It isn't important what I said, I did something I've never done before and it was liberating? fun? motivational? I don't know.  Sure, my wife and I have discussed issues brought up on the air and vented too about the idiot's that call in with their opinion . . . and I became one of them!  Wow, that's an eye opener.  Anyways, it was pretty cool.  I mentioned an Science Fiction author, Elizabeth Moon, and used the phrase, "Designer Children".  It was awesome, I infected the show!  The phrase designer embryo's and designer children was used by the next few callers! Wow, fun fun fun.

   Alright, here's this week's challenge.  What do you think about the idea of an embryo bank?  Storing "ideal" genetic combinations for consumers.  Because ultimately, that clinic is in the business to make money.  What about the evolutionary ramifications, selecting genetic materials means discarding others, wouldn't that created a limited genetic pool, reducing the chances of variation that leads to adapative mutations?  How about the concept that "improved" children can be made by shopping through a catalog?  Is that so different than searching for an ideal partner?  What do you think?

Thanks,

Nakx

PS:  If you can do something you haven't done before.  (Just please make it legal.)