Shh! -- A poem by Brittany

Shh!

The little babe is sleeping.

Shh!

You don't want to wake it up.

Shh!

If the little one 

should wake

screams

will

fill

the

place.

So

Shh!

Say again?

I was sitting down and this image happened to be on the screen.  Paul looked at me with a very serious look and said something to me.  I asked him to repeat what he said so I could understand.  He said, "Dad, I want this thing for my birthday!" I replied.  "OK, Paul. I'll see what I can do. 

See the full post here.

Erica being her cute self

Erica being her cute self.

Net neutrality...a little more on the subject

The "Net neutrality" fight is important. It is a fundamental issue with how the Internet works. Which side are you on?

The death of Net neutrality: Five quick thoughts | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com

government.zdnet.com

Today, a federal appeals court rejected the FCC's claim that Comcast couldn't 'sculpt' Internet traffic and block the flow of BitTorrent data.

<--------- This post is a follow-up on my Facebook post above --------->

 
Who does the Net neutrality discussion involve? There are only a handful of ISPs in this discussion. The last-mile ISPs (your ISP) are small players out of the realm of this discussion. The ISPs (if you can call them that) in this discussion are the national and trans-national network owners which make up the back-bone of the Internet in the US. Essentially, if you think of the Internet being made up of different sized roads, from a driveway into your house to the 10 lane super highways, the "Net neutrality" debate is a basic battle over who should control the rules of the road and mostly involves discussion about the 10 lane superhighways which connect the different parts of the country together.

In-other-words, if ATT owned the Dallas freeways and Timewarner owned the Ft Worth freeways, should they each be allowed to determine who can
get on the freeway, speed limits, road sign design, and the other rules of the road OR should the FCC be in charge of setting the rules?

The ruling was in favor of the near monopoly network owners. Essentially, the networks can decide who is allowed on the network.

Update

We are nearing the end, of several things.

First, the remodeling. Kyle has been working hard. The ceiling and walls have been textured and painted. All the trim has been installed and painted. Last night Kyle and I filled nail holes and applied caulk to the trim. All that is left is some touch-up painting before the carpet is installed on Friday or Monday, and putting on the door knobs. Yay! It looks great, thanks to Kyle's hard work and attention to all those little details.

Second, the pregnancy. I have finally reached the point that I can stop worrying about the contractions I have been feeling for months and instead look forward to our baby being born.

Now it is time to look forward and try to prepare ourselves for whatever is coming next, too bad we don't know what that is!

Religion and politics

Had an interesting conversation recently on various political subjects with someone.  Our political views were somewhat divergent.  I don't know that we made any huge strides forward, but we communicated our views. 

It greatly concerns me that in large part US politics are becoming a WIN-LOSE proposition. We and our leaders are not able to find common ground with each other. We no longer listen to each other, connect in meaningful ways, and compromise.

Even more so, it saddens me to see so many LDS people who are so politically closed minded that civil discussion is not possible.  What makes this country great is its diversity. What makes the gospel great is the diversity of people who can accept it. How can an LDS person think it impossible for a member to be a member in good-standing if s/he is not a Republican? Where does it say in the baptismal covenant that I have to be affiliated to a certain party to join the church?  Why do we judge our fellow members are not worthy if they do subscribe to our personal political beliefs?  Why are we so narrow minded?

It is with great interest I found this article from the Church. Maybe it is time to rethink politics and religion and who is allowed into our 'club.'

Focus on Josh

Josh was recently featured on his classroom bulletin board. He created a poster board with pictures of his accomplishments and things he likes to do. These pictures were his first picks. He then had to narrow it down to fewer. Can you tell what is important to him from the photos? Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of him with his Legos which he drew on the poster!