10-4 Good Buddy

In this day and age with so many downers, like the stock market, the housing market, and Richard Simmons, it's nice to know that there are some gainers out there as well. Count Gibby as one of those. At his 1 month doctor visit he weighed in at 10 pounds 4 ounces, surpassing his birthweight by about 2 pounds (8 lbs 3 oz). This little piggy went to market, had his roast beef, and finished it off by eating a chocolate cake bigger than the one Bruce Bogtrotter finished off.


You wouldn't really know it though as he still looks pretty tiny. But this kid has a pretty healthy appetite. Teri couldn't be happier. Gibby's big brother wasn't a good nurser so having a little one who sucks as much as the Miami Dolphins is a blessing in Teri's eyes. It's built a special bond between the two of them - so much so that Gibby's favorite perch is right on Teri's shoulder.


As usual for little kids, Gibby enjoys the little things in life like eating and sleeping. He has even found time to take little naps out on the lawn.


All in all, Gibby is a happy kid. Although we can never quite coax a smile out of him for the camera he did almost indulge us when Teri was singing to him.


We sure love Gibby and we're glad that he is such a sweet little kid. His patience with his big brother is remarkable. Just don't tell him that he'll have to wait for dinner. I tried that once and things didn't end up so well.

Super Tuesday Candidate Primer

Here's my rundown of everyone besides my endorsee, Mitt Romney.

GOP:
John McCain - The "Straight Talk Express" aka "Senor Exporte"
McCain probably should have remembered his nickname before he started campaigning in Florida. Two days before the primary he boldly announced that Mitt Romney was for setting a "timetable" for the withdrawl of troops in Iraq, a position Romney says is a gross distortion of his comment. Regardless, McCain is the same old same old. Despite the breath of fresh air McCain asserts that he is, he is ironocially the only candidate that hasn't plastered the word "change" on his website.

A McCain presidency wouldn't be the end of the world, although it might be the end of America's industrialization. McCain favors imposing voluntary carbon caps, which would set out a finite limit on the amount of carbon pollution the United States produces. The end result is that companies that want to make things, (and as a result release carbon emissions) would now have to trade for the rights to pollute. Of course, setting an arbitrary number of carbon emissions means that as more industry appears the price of being able to release carbon emissions increases. At the end of the day this means that either 1) the price of American goods goes up to compensate for the higher emissions costs, or 2) we have less industry so that we can be competitive in a global economy. In other words, the USA would be voluntarily pricing itself higher than goods from China and India - two nations who are not going to voluntarily impose carbon caps.

Under McCain we can count on at least one export going immediately through the roof - jobs. But I guess if exporting jobs and importing more finished goods counts towards the trade deficit McCain will look like a succees, right?

Ron Paul - Issue candidate who doesn't believe in his own issue.
I read Ron Paul's website. I listened to his speeches. He sounds pretty good right? He is very fiscally conservative and makes a strong case for reducing government and letting the market and people sort their way through things. Too bad he doesn't believe in his own plan.

I was so disappointed when I heard on a radio program that Ron Paul had gotten millions of earmarks passed for his district in Texas. He says that if earmarks are going to happen anyway then you might as well get them for your district. Which is fine - if you want to argue that the present system is inefficient rather than being broken. But Paul things the government is far too big and covers way too much ground. So why not stand up and take a stand? Why not say to the nation, "Earmarks are destroying our ability to rein in our spending"? Well, because that would make it harder to get elected. Ask Jeff Flake. He doesn't request earmarks and he gets criticized for it back at home. Sorry Dr. Paul. If you don't believe in your own plan, why should I?

Mike Huckabee
Huckabee has some good ideas and some bad ideas. The problem is that he has difficulty explaining any of his ideas. I watched Meet the Press a few weeks ago and the host was trying to give Huckabee a tough question on taxes. As it turns out Huckabee cut taxes in some areas and also raised taxes in other areas for a net result that taxes were raised slightly. When Huckabee was asked about raising taxes, he goes into overly defensive mode and starts talking about how the Arkansas Supreme Court mandated that he raise more money for schools so they did that by raising taxes and now Arkansas' schools are performing well. The host then asks "So you did raise taxes then right?" But Huck won't say "Yes. I was mandated to do so and I was a careful steward of those dollars and now we've reached a result that tremendously outperforms what other states do with their money." Instead Huck says, "Hey, I'm not going to apologize for having a Supreme Court make a mandate." So what exactly are you doing Huck?

I guess my issue with Huckabee is that I always feel like he's trying to be as slippery as the other Presidential candidate from Hope, Arkansas once was. And he's totally unelectable.

Democrats:
Hillary Clinton
This is a troublesome one. It's just way too easy to poke fun at her PAINFUL speaking style. I really can't decide whether she speaks like William Shatner or Robocrook. It's slow, monotone, and overly deliberate. Everytime I hear her I think of the worst church talks I've ever heard and then think...wow she could hold her own with these guys. But even though having to listen to her speak in the future would be cause alone for me not to vote for her that seems like an awfully silly reason to not vote for someone.

So what is it about Hillary that makes me say, "No thanks?" It's all about the money for me. She wants to stengthen the middle class, decrease the cost of healthcare, decrease the cost of college, bail people out for their poor decisions on mortgages, reward kids with $5,000 just for being born, and probably give the world a puppy. And she wants to do all of this on my dime. Look, there's nothing wrong with trying to help people who are less fortuante, but how many things are essentials that people could use to survive and how many things are wants that people usually have to sacrifice for? There needs to be a limit on some of this stuff or else we're going to end up with a country of rationed out surgeries, ineffective workers, and ingrates that take without ever trying to give back.

Barack Obama

Obama is an interesintg candidate. He is a good speaker. He seems to carry himself well. Lots of people say they are inspired by him. But I'm just not sold yet. I guess my problem is the same one that a Phoenix radio host has with him - what are people inspired to do?

As soon as I get the link to his 1 minute commentary I'll post it, but a quick summary of Joe Crummey's Obama opinion is that the word inspiration sure means a lot less than it used to. It used to be that when someone was inspired by a leader they looked to see what they could do. JFK's famous line comes to mind. "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." If you read his speech it really is inspiring. It makes me want to go out and do something for someone.

So what does Obama inspire people to do? I'm not sure he inspires people to do anything other than vote and, if you make too much money, pay a lot of taxes. Obama's key initiatives in commercials are universal health care, making sure that anyone who has a job makes enough money to "not be poor," and expanding various and sundry programs and government entitlements. So at the end of the day the only thing that I can be inspired to do after reading his website is to wait around for the government to come in and take care of me.

Obama is engaging and he promises a lot of things that I'm sure many people feel they need. I have no doubt that he genuinely feels that these are things the government should provide. I just disagree.

Breaking News: Tad Endorses Romney for President

Yes, that's right. It's the announcement you've all been waiting for after we heard that Dwight K. Shrute was endorsing his cousin Mose for President. I am endorsing Mitt Romney. And yeah, it matters about as much as the Governator endorsing John McCain. But hey, faithful readers of this blog (like Teri) might be swayed by my likeminded views on politics.

Mitt Romney has sound strategies for addressing the shortcomings of our nation. His economic stimulus plan doesn't amount to writing checks and hoping for the best. It actually would provide businesses with an incentive to stay in business and continue to purchase the assets they need to modernize and be competitive. The end result is that more people stay working to produce the things that the end user will buy. But it's not just the economic intuition that gets my vote.

I like the fact that Romney has been in situations where he has made difficult decisions about a company's vitality. Sure he has laid some people off, but who doesn't think that there are plenty of government funded entities that could stand some layoffs (besides HRC and Obama)? We need someone who can take a hard look at our fiscal position and pare things down. (For a rundown of why Ron Paul isn't my guy on this issue, see the forthcoming Super Tuesday candidate primer.)

Romney, like virtually everyone in this Presidential race, could be fairly labeled a political opportunist. It's true that Romney's position on abortion has changed. He cites it as a mistake, but it would probably more accurately be described as a calculated mistake. You can't win the Governor's race in Massachussets as a staunch pro-life candidate. And yet, I'm ok with that. The fact is that every candidate is going to say or do something that may not be a consistent position during the timeframe of their lives. I don't have a problem with changing views until it becomes clear that the candidate truly has no position and will change as the wind does, ala "I voted for the war before I voted against the war."

The fact is that most politicians tailor their message to a particular crowd. When these tailored messages get spread out nationwide via the internet sometimes a tightly woven statement to a particular group gets presented as a "one size fits all" political theory. I don't mind more detailed discussions of what can be done for a particular area or industry just so long as a candidate is not for raising taxes in one state and then decides to abolish the IRS in another. Those people who can't stand tailoring neeed to vote for a candidate like my personal favorite Michael P. Shaw who is running to represent two key constituencies - "the hood" and "the God of Israel." Sure he's only on the ballot in Arizona, but if you're going to be that picky you might as well make your vote count.

The fact of the matter is that in this imperfect field of Republicans, we need to pick the best candidate available. We need someone who believes that a strong economy is good for America. We need someone who believes that America should be secure. We need someone who will ask the pampered citizens of our country to join together to make America great, rather than waiting for "the government" to go out and do it for us. I believe that this person is Mitt Romney and that's why I will be voting for him on Tuesday, February 5.

Dear Hillary Clinton,

Dear HRC,

In my effort to become a more educated voter I was surfing through your website looking at the issues that you feel are the most compelling in today's USA. One of the topics you addressed was the sagging economy and specifically, the subprime loan blowup. I see that your plan is to 1) ask for a 90 day moritorium on foreclosures, 2) freeze adjustable rates for at least 5 years and 3) get regular status reports on giving people mortgages that work for them so that we can have "real accountability." I think your plan is great - as long as I get a piece of the action.

See the thing is that my wife and I bought a new home in mid-2007. Well actually we put money down on the home around Thanksgiving 2006 and then moved in last year. When we made the decision to buy the home we knew that home prices were on the decline and that the economy may have trouble brewing, but we tried to accurately evaluate our risk and decided that we would still go forward. We liked our home and, most importantly, we felt like our home was one that we could afford and live in for a substantial period of time.

When it came time to get a loan, which as it turns out was only a month or so before the subprime loan crisis arose out of the shadows, we thought that getting an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) would probably be irresponsible. It just seemed too risky. So although ARM rates were significantly lower than our 30 year fixed rate mortgage, we thought we would be doing the smart, responsible thing. But know I realize that I was being dumb.

Had I known at the time we bought our house that I could buy a home that was much larger AND more costly AND sign up for a teaser mortgage rate on an ARM with the knowledge that the teaser rate would last for 7-10 years, even though it's only supposed to just a short period of time, I would have done that. I am pretty dumb to think that I should take a little bit of personal responsibility myself when I know darn well that I can overreach and my government will pick me up. My favorite part of your plan is point 3 where it says that my mortgage company has to give you an update on how well its doing to get me in a mortgage that fits my needs or else it is going to get in trouble for not being accountable.

Hillary, I realize I am not endorsing you for President yet, but I just hope that you'll keep my plight in mind. I'm getting the shaft here. Will you please let me go out and get a teaser rate mortgage? Can it please last for 7-10 years? I really need to blow more money I don't have on things I don't need, but I just don't want to have to take responsibility for my own decisions. Can't the government do that for me?

Sincerely yours,

Tad Davis
Concerned Citizen and Voter

Predictions 2008: A Year of Change

2008 is shaping up to be a year of change. Yeah, I know that phrase sounds like all I do is listen to Mitt Romney, or Barack Obama (see quote at top), or Hillary Clinton. Curiously, John McCain doesn't have anything about change on his website, otherwise I might have listened to him too.

I suppose our changes probably won't be as epic as these Presidential candidates' grandstanding, but they just might be more substantive. So just for kicks we're rolling out our predictions for 2008. I suppose it may be cheating to be predicting the course of the year when we have the head start of 27 days of 2008 down already. After all, who could have ever forseen that more people would vote for "Nobody" than Dennis Kucinich in the Michigan presidential primary election? And yet the campaign continues. Has anyone told that guy that you get more than a participant ribbon at the end of this thing? (What's that? Oh, I guess he finally quit.)

Anyway, here are my 2008 predictions:

I will keep up my goal to post at least 5 times a month. This is always kind of difficult for me because I try to make each blog post count. I could just slap down any old thing like, "Look at this Hannah Montana couch Kleenex box cover I found on eBay." but I expect a little more of myself. Plus, if I don't end up writing here I feel a drain in creative energy. But I am supremely confident that I can do this because I have a secret weapon...monkeys.

Yes, that's right. We purchased a thousand monkeys and a thousand typewriters and soon we will have both the great American novel and killer blog posts. The first monkey is done now. He writes, "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times." You stupid monkey.

I will resume taking second place in fantasy baseball. For years I have played fantasy baseball in a variety of forms. Sometimes I've played in a rotisserre league, sometimes a points league, and sometimes a head-to-head league. Most of the time I get the same result - second place. I have more second place finishes than the Buffalo Bills. But last year broke my streak. I took first. I joined some general Yahoo fantasy league with a bunch of people I didn't know and I ended up winning. In the other league I played in I finished fourth - despite destroying everyone in the regular season. I can't say I'm really happy to go back to taking second, but hopefully my prediction will go wrong (in a good way.)

We will take on Dave Ramsey's advice. To those of you wondering who Dave Ramsey is, he's a fairly ordinary guy who has fairly common sense financial advice which when followed yields extraodrinary results. His advice boils down to this - put yourself in a good financial position. I highly recommend his book The Total Money Makeover. Even if you're doing well financially it's nice to just read some good common sense advice on the subject.

Sports Predictions:

Super Bowl: New England Patriots

World Series: Detriot Tigers

NBA Championship (not that anyone cares): Phoenix Suns

NHL Stanley Cup: Stanley Steemers (They've got the name on their side)

NCAA Men's Basketball: Witchita State Shockers

McKay will be talking like he kissed the Blarney Stone. McKay is already determined to try and talk, he just hasn't figured out too many words. But what he has figured out he does with great success. He knows his little brother's name is "Dibby," or "Giddy," or "Diddy." He knows "Daddy" and "Mommy." And he also knows a lot about animals. McKay's already trying to share that knowledge with his little brother by reading him the animal book and making all the sounds.



2008 will be good. Why? I don't know - call it a hunch. All I know is that Teri and I are excited to start another year of being together with our cute little boys. What could be better?

In Loving Memory...Crabman

(I really wrote this post in September but I didn't know how to complete it with a video. Now, obviously, I do. So despite the somewhat dated pictures the content should still be reasonably informative.)

If there is a time of day that you know McKay looks forward to, it would have to be bath time. Eating is great. Sleeping can be good or bad. But bath time is always a winner.

When McKay first was able to play in the bath tub somewhat independently we bought him a few bath toys. As it turned out, McKay thought they were all cool, but took an especially strong liking to the small crab. He carried that crab everywhere - not just to the tub. Crabman, as we affectionately dubbed him, went with us to church, on trips, and basically anywhere that McKay went.



Teri and I always knew that if McKay got upset, Crabman's even keeled temperament could always cheer Baby K up. I suppose it probably had more to do with the fact that Crabman was made out of a rubbery plastic which made him perfect for massaging K's achy gums, but then again I wouldn't discount the crab's personality either.



In the end, I think Teri and I started liking Crabman just as much as McKay. I definitely noticed a soft spot in my heart for the little guy, perhaps more out of the fond memories that he brought back to mind than anything else, but I did have fun playing with him too. After his several month infatuation with our crustacean friend, McKay moved on to bigger, better, shinier, blinkier, and noisier things.


(Does this video not show up for you? Click here to watch it.)

Crabman still entertained at bath time, but it was as if his prominent role in our lives had been reduced to a non-speaking cameo on Baywatch. (Interestingly enough, one of my mission companions was the brother of Kelly Packard - a Baywatch lifeguard).

It seemed that Crabman's sparkling personality lacked spark. His sense of pizazz was missing some of its piz - or maybe its azz. Crabman was starting to go the way of all those toys you hear about in Toy Story, once loved and now forgotten.

Despite McKay's fickleness for rubberized friends, I still thought Crabman was cool. And so it was sad one day when I discovered in the middle of McKay's bath that it appeared some of McKay's toys were starting to get moldy on the inside. It was that day that we lost Mr. Turtle and sadly Crabman.

So here's to you Crabman. Although your rubber soul no longer dwells with us your memory will always linger. Your body probably will probably always linger too, but it will be hanging out with a bunch of other moldy toys in some place that probably doesn't smell too good. As you make your way there we send you off with this haiku.

Googley eyes and
pincers to suck on have made
a friend of McKay.

We love you man!

(P.S. Last week Teri and McKay were at Target when McKay started doing his excited caveman noise. It goes, "oooooh. oooooh." Teri turned and was trying to figure out what he wanted and kept pointing at different things to no avail. McKay didn't want rubber duckies, sippy cups, or commemorative Star Wars action figures, he wanted something else. Finally Teri followed his gaze to a small pack of bath tub animals. McKay had seen his long lost buddy and wanted him back. So now we have Crab Man II. Here's hoping there's less mold this time.)

Best of 2007

Like many people who write things down for other people to read, I feel compelled to offer a Best of 2007 list. But unlike other people's lists, I know from the start that the information I am presenting is totally worthless. Well, I take that back. My best things about 2007 are things that I found interesting, funny, or worth taking note of. Depending on what you think of me, it may or may not be worthless.

Best YouTube Video I Have Not Shared on my Blog in 2007
This one is easy. I've been saving this video for a long time knowing that its day would come. It's odd that it makes the cut here, but it's great.


This clip gets funnier every time you watch. Notice the "I'm awesome" grunt at the beginning and the fact that the first question someone asks is "Are you ok?" to which one of his posse members says, "No, he's not."

Best TV Show to Replace all the Shows Currently on Strike
I'm not a big fan of reruns, unless of course I haven't seen the original run in the first place. Such is the case with ESPN Classic's Cheap Seats, a sports version of Mystery Science Theater. (To see the complete hilarious Mystery Science version of the awful movie Time Chasers just look at the links on YouTube. The movie is divided into 10 parts.)

While I can only vouch for the Cheap Seats episodes that I have seen they are pretty funny. Some of you may remember the commercial for Tom Emanski's Defensive Drills. I wanted to link it here, but despite my diligent efforts I couldn't find it anywhere. As a funny ESPN commentary on the commercial explains, the 1991 commercial features Fred McGriff, a then young and talented baseball player wearing a ridiculous Baseball World hat, who promised that this particular drill video gets results. The commercial is still on TV today although if you watch late night ESPN you already know that.

Cheap Seats took a cheap shot at the commercial after their segment on the Thailand tradition of Elephant soccer. Apparently once a year their is an elephant festival in which one of the games is elephant soccer. Villages compete against each other as they ride elephants and try to get them to kick a giant soccer ball. (Dallas, if you know more please fill me in.) After showing ESPN's coverage of the 0 - 0 tie, Cheap Seats then showed this commercial - a parody of Tom Emanski's baseball drills ad. You have to love Johnny Damon, a career .288 hitter (in baseball), touting the awesome elephant soccer training techniques.


One downside though - I just found out that Cheap Seats actually ended in 2006. So set your Tivo for midnight on ESPN Classic, or whenever it airs, and at least enjoy the reruns. By the way, unlike most network commericial breaks where commercials last 3 minutes or more, Cheap Seats usually only has 2 minute commerical breaks. That's important if you use the 30-second fast forward like I do.

Best Catch Phrase
This one requires a preface. My father-in-law works for Thatcher High School and is one of the replacement bus drivers when a regular driver is out, sick, or otherwise indisposed. It is from this bus driver background that my father-in-law got his new motto.

"Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver."

This phrase narrowly beats out his other new catch phrase. "Never throw a kid out the window of the bus without first attaching a safety rope around their neck."

Best Hard Won Prize
As a frequent reader of the blog you are undoubtedly aware that Jared and I were leading in the Mesa City Winter Tennis League. To further update you, we won the league. Check out my hard won winnings!



I ended up giving my shirt to Teri for a couple reasons. 1) She used to attend Eastern Arizona College the home of the Fighting Gila Monster depicted on the shirt and 2) I don't like cap sleeves.

Recap
2007 was a great year. We saw McKay get bigger and funnier. We moved into our house. We had Gibson come into our family. We are very grateful and hope that 2008 brings even more fun - and less children than the previous 2 years.