Life

/ hsoi

(let’s try this reblog thing…)
We’ve homeschooled our kids their entire lives. When she talks about:

“I didn’t realize the pressure we were under until we were set free of the educational “mess” of which they were part: The prepackaged curriculum, the one-size-fits-all model, the bullying and the negative socialization. Homeschooling allowed us to discover and experience pure, superior learning and a customized learning environment.”

I know what she means. And she’s right when she says “we, as parents, must exert a powerful influence in determining the quality of life we want for our children.” It shouldn’t be left up to the whims of some budget crisis, or politics, or really, what some else wants to indoctrinate into our children’s heads. We don’t shelter our children — we know they have to enter the real world someday and we want to ensure they are best prepared for it, not just to survive, but to excel. It requires a lot of sacrifice of our time, our money, our quality of life in some ways… but in so many others, it leads to a far greater increase in quality that it’s well worth it.

Ain’t it funny how that money rots your brain?

/ hsoi

First I read James Whittaker’s posting on why he left Google. In short?

The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.

That’s sad. I remember when every geek wanted to work at Google because there was such a passion to innovate. The 20% time to develop projects. We saw so many neat things that came from Google Labs, and sure some were failures but that’s how it goes. It seemed like a great place to work. Now? Not so much. If this is what the Google culture is like, it’s the first sign of a failing company. A giant that has lost its way and now will only struggle to maintain its relevance.

The following day, Greg Smith publishes a similar missive in the New York Times about why he’s leaving Goldman Sachs.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

Again, a case of losing sight of doing good things in the world, putting people first, caring about the customer… all in the name of money.

I have no problems with money. I really like it, and would love to have more of it. But money cannot be the goal, for this is what it does.

Two quotes come to mind:

Virtue does not come from money, but rather from virtue comes money, and all other things good to man.

– Socrates

and

Ain’t it funny how that money rots your brain?

– Corrosion of Conformity, “Señor Limpio”

Something to think about.

Don’t be like them

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

As Daughter progresses in her drumming, she gets exposed to more bands, more dummers.

And more opportunities to talk to her about drug and alcohol abuse.

John Bonham? Don’t be like him.

Steven Adler? Don’t be like him (still alive, but still…).

Jeff Porcaro? Don’t be like him.

John Panozzo? Don’t be like him.

Keith Moon? Don’t be like him.

Jimmy Sullivan? Don’t be like him.

Stuart Cable? Don’t be like him.

Sure, play drums like these guys — especially Bonham — but that’s where you should stop emulating them.

She gets it. I hope she will never forget it.

One is the loneliest number…

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The ducklings?

There’s only one left. 😦

Happened over the weekend. Kids have gotten a better fix on the predator and Oldest says it’s a falcon.

I was just outside watching Momma and baby wandering around the yard looking for breakfast bugs, and we saw the predator take off from a nearby tree when we came too close. Couldn’t get a good fix on it against the trees and morning fog, but you could tell it wasn’t a vulture or other non-predatory large birds that live around here.

I suspect little one isn’t going to make it… but gee… I’m rootin’ for him. 🙂

The falcon is pretty persistent, but here Momma can keep tight reigns on the little one and keep him under wing and under cover, which she’s been doing most of the weekend. Little one wanders here and there, so there are windows of opportunity.

We’ll see what course nature takes.

Good-bye, Leslie

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

It’s being reported (and apparently confirmed) that Austin’s weirdest icon, Leslie Cochran, has died.

I didn’t know Leslie at all, but saw him more than enough times in town and he always brought a smile to my face.

In fact, Leslie was the first bit of Austin I saw when I moved here.

Moving to Austin, driving into town with a carload of stuff. Passing an Albertson’s grocery store up in north Austin, and there was some ugly dude wearing a bikini and standing on the sidewalk protesting Albertson’s.

I think Wife’s grandfather was taken aback. 🙂

And thus, we were introduced to the weirdness that was Austin.

So long, Leslie. Thank you for all the smiles and weirdness. You will be missed.

And then there were 11

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

Those ducklings that hatched a few days ago?

We’re down by 3. Only 11 left.

This morning as I left the house to walk to the gym, I saw why.

There’s some sort of predator bird.

I crossed the street, and it flew out of the nearby tree right in front of me. It was too dark, too suddenly there then too suddenly gone to get a good look at it, but I could tell enough that it was a falcon or a hawk or something of that ilk. I looked a little further and saw Momma duck and her babies all huddled in a neighbor’s lawn, Mother’s head up high in sentinel mode ever watchful.

I know the kids are going to be on the watch for this, to identify the predator bird and see if it’s the same one from before. If so, I wonder where it nests.

At this rate, I’m not expecting any of the ducklings to survive. The bird knows an easy (and plentiful) food source is here. We noted being down by one a day ago, and now two more gone. At this rate, maybe a week or two before they’re all gone. Get your “baby duck squee” in while you can. 🙂

It’s OK. It’s life. It’s how things go. Yes I’d like some of them to survive to adulthood, but this is just how life goes. And frankly, we’re all more OK with this than other means of population control. We just don’t like how the HOA and USDA folks come in, trap the ducks, then “relocate” them. Maybe they really are relocating them, but since they never give me details and get evasive when pressed, my only conclusion is they are destroying the ducks. To me, that’s terrible. Yes I understand population management, but to just destroy the ducks is a cruel waste. They taste good, and we’ve got hungry people in this city. Why aren’t we feeding them?

I did manage to finally snap a picture:

Squee!

/ hsoi

We have ducklings. 🙂

The muscovy hen that nested just outside our front door? The eggs finally hatched this past Saturday.

Being as they’re all still new, she hasn’t been out of the nest with them that much, but she’s now starting to bring them out. Looks like 3 eggs didn’t hatch, but 14 did. We’ll see how many survive. The weather isn’t as harsh this year, and what with all the rain and how green everything is, food and water aren’t in short supply like they’ve been in the past. So I reckon we won’t have another “buffet for hawks” like we have in the past.

No pictures yet. Just haven’t been able to take any since she’s only just starting to emerge with the babies.

But oh… they are mighty cute. 🙂

And of course, the children are totally distracted from their studies. Oldest even said “Hey Mom, this is zoology.” Uh huh… way to milk the homeschooling system there, son. How about a 5 page paper? *grin*

 

How could the answer be “no”?

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I read about this CSM quiz on the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

For giggles, I started taking the quiz.

But I haven’t finished it.

I answered question #5:

5. What did the Supreme Court decide in the 2008 case?

That’s the Heller case.

After you answer each question, it of course says if you’re right or wrong and gives a blurb expanding upon the answer. #5’s blurb was this:

The Heller case left open the broader question of whether the constitutional right to possess arms for personal protection extends beyond the home to include a right to carry those arms in public places.

That is correct, the Heller case did leave that open. I read the quiz blurb, clicked forward to the next question, but then hit my browser’s Back button because something about reading that struck me.

If we make it a yes or no question: “can/should people be allowed to possess arms for personal protection outside of the home, a right to carry them in public places… yes or no?” I cannot see how someone could answer “no” to that question. That is, if you understand the realities of life and the world we live in.

I speak with a lot of people on this topic, and so far I’ve yet to encounter someone against the notion of home defense. Home is very personal to us, not just because it’s where we keep all our stuff, but because it’s our little slice of the world, our sanctuary, our refuge. It’s very personal when our homes are violated, and I don’t know of anyone that would deny others the right to protect themselves and their posessions within the grounds of their own home. But then some of those I have spoken with that are fine with protection in the home feel that doesn’t extend outside the home.

And I don’t understand that line of reasoning.

Wife was outside our home when she was sexually assaulted. Are you saying she has no right to defend herself?

When I think about the almost 60 students of Tom Givens that have been involved in personal defense incidents, just about all of them were not in the home. They were in parking lots, parking garages, sidewalks. If the majority of assaults and violent crimes against people are not in the home, how can we say personal protection doesn’t extend outside the home! That’s where most of the incidents occur and thus where you are most likely to be the victim of a violent crime. Why are we denying that to the law-abiding citizenry?

Then you say people could use something like pepper spray, or a taser/stun gun. Before you go recommending such tools, you probably should increase your understanding of those tools, their applications, and their limits. They aren’t what you think. A gun is a lot more effective. It’s like saying we should still use carrier pigeons and pony express to communicate around the world, instead of the Internet. We have better technology, we have more effective technology, and we are happy to use it. So why are we discouraging the use of better, more effective technology when it comes to personal protection?

Remember, I wasn’t always a gun guy. Once I took my fingers out of my ears and started listening to the logic, I changed my stance. Once the ugly realities of the world pressed themselves upon me and I accepted them as unavoidable fact, I changed my stance. I’m willing to be swayed, I’m willing to be persuaded, because the only thing I keep a stake in is finding Truth. If that means I have to abandon everything I know and based my life upon, then so be it. I don’t want to be right, I want to know Truth. So if someone can present me with facts and logic as to why we should be denied the right to preserve and protect our own lives, and to do so with the best technology available, I’m all ears.

Our home may be personal, but it doesn’t get any more personal than your own person. Your home being violated is bad, your body being violated is worse. Society encourages us to protect our homes: alarm systems, big dogs, adequate exterior lighting, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers. Why does society fail at encouraging us to protect ourselves?