BFF Whales

Today out of the blue, our daughter starts talking about how she’s excited about going to Sea World on our 365 day trip around the USA. I thought to myself, “Oh, the innocence…if only she knew about the recent tragedy of the trainer killed at Sea World.”

(Before I continue, I would like to express my sincere condolences to Dawn Brancheau’s family. It is a horrible tragedy, and this blog in no way is intended to diminish that or place any blame whatsoever on her.)

So how could this tragedy happen?  Let me come back to that.

Today, I signed a release form in order to allow our son to go rock climbing at an indoor silo. The release form was 2 pages long, and I had to initial each and every line. I had to agree that if he fell and died or became a paraplegic, even if it was due to negligence on their part, I wouldn’t sue or hold them responsible. All that, in order for my son to attend a friend’s birthday party.  I wondered if the Sea World trainer had to sign a release form.

A release form - to work with KILLER WHALES (technically dolphins).  Are they not called Killer Whales for a reason?  We don’t call them BFF Whales, after all.

Again, I’m not saying Ms. Brancheau did anything wrong, but rather we all did and continue to do so. We have lost our fear of the Killer Whales. We train; we become comfortable; and then one day out of the blue when no one suspects, the Killer Whale acts like the powerful Killer Whale that it is and kills an innocent trainer.

We do this with other things, too.

Take debt.  Little by little we take on more. Then one day it’s pulling us under, and we’re drowning in it - both as individuals and as a nation.

Take adultery and divorce.  Little by little, we text/facebook/email someone of the opposite gender other than our spouse.  Slowly, we get more familiar with the Killer Whale, I mean person, and then one day, we’re having an affair and getting a divorce, but yet we didn’t see it coming??  How can this be?

Maybe we just need to get some healthy fear back in our lives. Some fear to make us think about the consequences of our actions.

Now, if I could just stop worrying about my son while he’s rock climbing…

-The Mom (the practical one)

Literature of the Highly Educated

This was a bigger question for our 12 year old son.  He's an unstoppable reader with usually more than one book going at once (the book he's reading for school and then the book he wants to read).  He loves studying  history and especially battles and the strategies used in war.  In fact, when I have a question of when something took place in history, I ask him because my history education stank.  (It's easier to blame my education than to admit I can't remember.)  So when we asked him what favorite book he wants to be reading on the trip, we pondered what great historical classic it might be..what deep thinking book of life's lessons would he impress the world with in his blog?  Turns out his answer hasn't changed in the last five years:

"My favorite books are the Star Wars books. They have many different authors. They’re all really good though.

My favorite Star Wars series so far is called The Thrawn Trilogy. It's action packed with lots of battles and strategies. It's about how there is a last Grand Admiral of the Empire. He's this brilliant strategist, so Luke and the New Republic have to figure out how to beat him.

The reason why I enjoy these books is because I love all the battles and the adventure. They are very well written, and it feels like you’re actually there.

May the force be with you."

- the son

Baby Llama Drama

When you're traveling, entertainment in the hotel or RV is limited.  We'll be bringing some games and, thanks to Redbox and iTunes, movies are taken care of.  There's also some down time, however, when you just need to curl up with a book.  We all have Kindle for PCs so we may be curling up to a laptop or my iPhone to read, which none of us, frankly, are used to just yet.  So this week, we asked the kids what their favorite books were and why.  Here's the 9 year old daughter:

"My favorite book series is called The Red Rock Mysteries. It is my favorite book series because it's about kids that are twins named Ashley and Bryce, and they are kind of close to my age. I also like it because it has a lot of mysteries and because it's very realistic. Also Ashley and Bryce are Christians just like me, and on the inside of Ashley's locker at school there is a sticker that stands for, "What would Jesus do?"

In the last book I read they were llama-sitting. One night when they were watching the llamas somebody came and stole the llamas. They chased after them, and eventually they saved the llamas. In the end of the book they were given a baby llama, and they named it Rescue.

P.S. Llamas hum when they’re scared. When one of the llamas was humming it sounded like Amazing Grace, so they renamed that llama Amazing Grace."

-the daughter

Curling with "Shirley"

I am now an official 2010 Transplant Games athlete.  This is big for me.  I haven't competed in an athletic event since before many of you were born.  Unless otherwise assigned by the team captain, I am a Team Illinois bowler.

My main concern right now is not the competition, but how my teammates will feel when I have to rent shoes and find a bowling ball on the racks.  They won't know that one of my best games came with a scratched up alley ball with the name "Shirley" etched above the finger holes.  Shirley had perfect sized finger holes.

Unfortunately bowling was the only sport available with which I had any semblance of skill.  I really wish they had curling.

Anyone else unable to take their eyes of this strange sport in the Olympics?   It's like bowling, with crazy people holding brooms.  I'm transfixed.  It's like watching a car crashing in slow motion without anything really ever happening.  I can't turn away.

The best part about curling from what I can see, is if the person throwing the giant hockey puck with a handle messes up, the broom dudes can fix it.  That would be incredible in bowling - a guy halfway down the lane who can kick the ball in the right direction if you're going to miss the pocket.  Or maybe we could combine the two sports, and your opponent could throw a giant hockey puck with a handle down the lane first that you'd have to avoid with your bowling ball.  That's a sport!

I do seriously think I could curl, though...as long as I had good broom dudes.

Then again, I would probably be just as embarrassed looking for a scratched up, giant hockey puck with a handle on the racks with "Shirley" etched in it.

-the dad

365 Day Trip Preparation: Chapter 3 – To Ebay or Not to Ebay…

That is the question…

We’ll be storing all our possessions while we’re on the trip, so we’re trying to pare down…in a major way. Since we live in Illinois and garage sale season is a couple months off, we’ve begun dabbling with Ebay. Honestly, though, I haven’t been thrilled with it. I’m wondering, does it take a genius to figure this out? What am I doing wrong, and why am I not loving it like other people???

First of all, there’s the mailing issue. Just figuring out which box to use and maintaining a nice variety of boxes is a hassle in itself! Then you have to figure out shipping before you even list it.

After spending time creating the listing and uploading pictures, you answer email questions and monitor it. Then, once it sells, you need to box it up and run to the post office – before 5 when they close. The money goes straight to PayPal, minus EBay’s commission, and you never really get that cold hard cash in the hand feeling.

All that wouldn’t be bad, except 3 out of 6 experiences have had complications! One person backed out completely saying the credit card she used was bad, and we had to relist the item. At a 50% ratio, I’m a little leery to continue this venture.

I’ve found it’s much easier to list stuff in the classifieds in the local paper. I can get a 3 line ad for free if the item is $500 or under. The buyer calls, and I just set a time and place to meet. Easy as pie! Really? Who came up with that phrase? Since when is baking a pie easy? But that’s a whole another question…

-The Mom (the practical one)

Marital Counseling on Facebook

Yes it's come to this.  An "issue" has broken out in our marriage.  Counseling is too expensive.  Arm wrestling isn't fair.  The mom believes I somehow cheat in rock, paper scissors...so

We're allowing social networking to solve our marital spat.

As you read on the Feb 10th blog entry, I enjoy bragging about my wife being a genius and a cheerleader.  However, she insists the dance routines she did during halftime do not make her a cheerleader.  I believe, based on her outfit and the entertaining nature of her performance, she is by default a cheerleader.

Help us decide on facebook here...  facebook.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com

The loser has agreed to abide by the will of Facebook.

-the dad

The Best Part of Homeschooling...Lunch!

We, of course, also asked the boy of his opinion of being homeschooled.  He's had the opportunity to attend "regular" school before we started homeschooling so has a bit more of a basis for his opinion.  He is also very much like his dad in that many of his choices are based on food (which is why we need your help here to tell us where to eat across the country).  I still remember dreading Tuesdays in grade school.  Tuesday was Turkey Tetrazzini day - cold, stale noodles with that gristle on the meat you can't chew - disgusting...  We used to stick the noodles under the table to see how long they would be there.  Anyway here's what he had to say about homeschooling...  

"I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING. Where else can you stay in your pajamas all school year? It's also a great excuse to get a laptop, that not only can be used for school purposes but also for playing purposes.

Some other great reasons are that I can wake up at nine thirty in the morning. Also, during lunch I can listen to Adventure in Odyssey on my laptop. Speaking of lunch, another advantage is the food. Yup, no mystery meat for me. I'm eating a hot grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and hot chocolate for dessert.

There are probably thousands more reasons to love homeschooling that I just can't think of right now. This is Dr. D signing off."

-the son

Car-schooling

365 days on the road means you're suddenly a homeschool (or carschool) teacher.  We decided to try it out well before the trip so we would know if it was even feasible for us to teach our kids.  It's feasible (and we're far from geniuses...well technically, the mom did test out as a genius when she was applying to be an airline pilot...long story.  Now that I mention it, I married a genius and a cheerleader which is fun for me to brag about at parties...but I digress)  We are also in the excellent position of living in a great school district where the kids have played on sports teams and are able to take classes.

Anyway, this week we asked the kids what they thought about being homeschooled:  

"My favorite thing about home schooling is I get to spend time with my mom and dad.  I can also finish school early and play with my other home schooling friends.  We also get to have lunch whenever we want. We wouldn't have laptops if we didn't home school. Our laptops were bought just for school, but we are allowed to do other stuff on them such as write blogs and play games. Sorry I can't write any more it would break my streak of short blogs."

- the daughter

Be a Hero! Volume II

Registering to be an Organ Donor changes lives you will never know about. Here's another installment of the difference a 21 year old girl named Annie made when she decided to become an organ donor:

"I'm glad my dad had a kidney/pancreas transplant because he might not be alive today. He might be very sick and just lie in bed all day, or he couldn't play much. This could be very bad because of the fact that my dad is a great dad.

He plays games with me. We hang out a lot. Almost every Saturday night we stay up late, and he watches a movie with me. I can't go five minutes without laughing at one of his jokes when I'm around him. Sometimes he will even wrestle with me (he always wins). That, my viewers, is why I love my dad. This is DD signing off."

-the son
Register here: donateLife.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com

Housekeeping II

The blog has been updated to the new feed.  You've got the right RSS/Atom feed if you're reading this.  Blah blah blah.  Technology should be invisible.

Thanks for sticking with us!

www.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com 

Housekeeping

While Google was purchasing the entire world...except China (apparently it's not for sale), one of their acquisitions was Blogger.  As a result of that merger, they are discontinuing FTP service blah blah blah technology blah blah blah...so we'll need to move the blog.

This only affects the hundreds of you out there subscribing to the blog through RSS/Atom.

This will be the last post from the old feed.  Within 15 minutes, I'll have the new blog feed available at blog.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com or you can go to www.BestPlacesIntheUSA.com and click the blogger icon.

Then I'll post a new blog entry called Housekeeping II so you'll know you're on the new feed.

Thanks for your patience!

An Open Letter to Apple

Dear Mr. Jobs:

First I'm a big fan.  Now, I'm not one of those people with the Apple logo on my office door, nor do I believe that Mac's are the best thing for everyone, but I love what you have done with the Apple brand.  I am also a transplant recipient so we share a giant scar on our chests to impress the ladies.  In addition, I have gotten in trouble playing with my iPhone during a date with my wife so please understand I love Apple technology.

I am, however, concerned you are heading in the wrong direction with the iPad.  (Since we are both on Prednisone, I must warn you that a potential side effect is hearing voices...don't listen to them!)

I know there is pressure to stay in competition with the Kindle - I promise you it is not the way of the future.  While it IS very important that you get in on distribution and becoming a provider of media, the awkwardly sized Kindle or iPad is not the answer.  Frankly, I read my news AND KINDLE BOOKS on my iPhone.

As a business traveler and someone soon to be on the road for 365 days in a row, I want to help.

First, the most important technology lesson I have ever learned came from the movie City Slickers.  It's very simple - "One Thing."

As a college student, it's probably not a big deal to carry my phone and then another screen in a backpack, but as a business traveler I want "one thing."  It should take my calls, get my info, order my transplant meds, show me maps and videos, handle my banking, allow me to blog, listen to music, text, email, IM, play games, handle my conference calls with decent speakers, hook into a projector with my presentation...etc...etc...etc.  One thing.

You've almost got it with the iPhone.  You really just need to add a bigger screen and some more computing power (and longer lasting battery) without compromising size.

So here's where to focus - a foldable or rollable screen that acts like the iPhone when folded, then folds/rolls out into a larger screen with an onscreen keyboard for larger computing tasks and bigger video.  When it's folded up, though, it fits nicely in my dorky little phone holster.  One Thing.

You can go thicker to make it happen - but you are confined to make sure it fits in my hand when I'm using it just as a phone.  I so look forward to unrolling/unfolding this puppy at my favorite WiFi spot and getting to work.

It's not easy.  Folding and rolling may not be feasible for current screen technology and you may have to look at creating seamless screen sections that pull from a case for a larger screen.  All I can offer is two words to get you started..."transparent aluminum."

Live long and prosper, Mr. Jobs.

- the dad

Be a Hero - Register as an Organ Donor

The reason we're taking this trip for a year to see all the Best Places In The USA is so, in each state, we can encourage people to register as organ donors.  There are over 105,000 people waiting for transplants right now and about 18 die every day.  You can sign up in your state at:  http://donateLife.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com.

We took a serious moment to ask our daughter why she's glad her dad received a transplant:

"If my daddy didn't have a kidney and pancreas transplant he would probably be dead. I don't know what I would do without him. We wouldn't go to Kalahari anymore and go on all the water slides. We wouldn't be going out to restaurants. Life wouldn't be right without him.

We wouldn't get to hang out together. Nobody would laugh as much. I wouldn't get to play Super Mario Bros with him. I wouldn't get good grades anymore because whenever he says, "It's an A day" I always get good grades. When he doesn't, then I don't get good grades. I would just cry if he wasn't alive because I love him. He's the best daddy in the world!"

- the daughter

[If you need a less serious moment after that one, check out our new commercial at www.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com. Click on the YouTube icon]

365 Day Trip Preparation: Chapter 2 – Going Digital

I’ve been dragging my feet, but we’ve finally done it! With the start of 2010, we’ve gone digital with our paperwork. Since getting mail is going to be sporadic on the trip, we converted to online statements, but that really didn’t solve the problem. We needed to figure out what to do with them since printing and filing them in cabinets, as usual, won’t be an option. (I’ve got enough “necessities” to bring along with all the daughter’s water and dolls! See previous blog.)

Problem solved! We save them as a pdf in a folder on our computer, and by not printing them at all, we really are saving a tree!

Additionally, every receipt (well, at least the important ones that need to be kept), every warranty, every tax document is saved as a pdf, as well. The others deemed unimportant just get verified against the online statement and are shredded and tossed.

At first, I was hesitant about this: All the extra work, wouldn’t it just be a hassle?? But now that I’m getting in the groove of it, it’s really quite simple. It sure beats sorting thru stacks of papers and spending hours filing, only to have some papers inevitably “disappear” just when you need them.  

I had to learn a few things about encryption and offsite backups, but it was well worth ditching the bankers box of paperwork.

Yet another “check” for the trip!  (digital "check", not on paper, of course)

-the mom (the practical one)

Staying Hydrated

You never know what our daughter will say.  Here she describes the necessities of the trip:

"On the trip I have to bring lots of water because we all know we will be doing a lot of walking. Surprisingly I don't need food because we will be going to restaurants. I also need to bring my parents and brother. 

That’s all I NEED but the rest is what I WANT to bring.  I want to bring my DS, American

Girl dolls, Liv dolls, and friends. I want to ride in either an RV or the Toyota Sienna. The back seats in the Toyota Sienna have recliners."

 - the daughter

(Luckily, it looks like she will wake us up before she leaves on the trip!  Still checking if the Sienna was recalled)