Category: Insaneness

Is it legal to take pictures in Union Station?  Who knows.  Check out this news report and a recent story for a scoop:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/

 This is an update to this story on my being harassed while taking tourist pictures in Union Station and this article on a Photographer’s Bill of Rights.

[Update 05-18-2009 08:59:38] The NYPD has recently issued an Operations Order to members of the force.  More information can be found here.

For the most part, the differences between the US and Serbia aren’t that bad: we can turn on the tap and get drinkable water, we can go to a (sort of) large grocery store, there are (mostly) all of the convienences we have in the states, but there are differences.

Here is one…when you go to the grocery store, all four wheels on the cart swivel. Here are some pictures:

I tried to take a video, but I couldn’t bring myself to swing the cart around in the middle of the isle with people looking on. Perhaps later…who knows.

Now where do I put this?

Seriously, Cyndi did an awesome job getting things unpacked and put away. She is awesome!

I was reading some stuff on the internet (finally got access again today) and came across this article on Snoopes for the Devil’s Swiming Pool. Interesting! Here is another picture. More info on the pool can be found about 2/3 of the way down the Wikipedia page on Victoria Falls.

Yesterday when we went to DC, one of the places we visited was Union Station. I’d never been so I took some pictures. Well, shortly after that, I had some cop come up and hassle me for taking pictures. He said something about needing permission from the building owner. Well, this morning, I google for photographer’s rights and find tons of things. Just like I 1/2 way expected yesterday, I was well within my rights to take pictures there. I’ll remember this for next time.

Here are the pictures I took:

Here are some links to some sites you may find helpful:
The Photogrpaher’s Rights (pdf and written by an attorney)
USA Today Article about Photographer’s Rights
A Follow up to that same article

And, as I was writing this, I remembered this post I had written some time ago about this very thing (arg! Why didn’t I remember it at the time?!)

[Update 06-02-2008  22:55:51] A news crew was harassed while talking to the guy who makes the policies for Union Station.  Link here.

[Update 05-18-2009 08:59:38] The NYPD has recently issued an Operations Order to members of the force.  More information can be found here.

Friday wa shot day, again. One of the things that happened was a TB test. We have to have it read this morning, and that got me to thinking…is this a test I want to pass, or fail.

One could say that a pass means I don’t have TB, but if the test indicates the exposure to TB, wouldn’t a pass mean I had been exposed?
On the other hand, a fail could be good (meaning I haven’t been exposed to TB so the test is negative), but since when is it ever good to fail anything?

Here is a shot of my forearm for all to see:

I saw this on Men’s Health today and thought it was interesting. Most of these things contain over 1,000 calories. That is just nuts. Not that I eat all healthy…if I want to indulge on cheese fries on a free day, that shouldn’t hurt things too much….just don’t make a steady diet of it.

In reverse order, the 20 worst foods in America are:

20. Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal (Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s (5 pieces) with creamy ranch sauce)

19. Worst Drink (Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie (30 fl oz))

18. Worst Supermarket Meal (Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie))

17. Worst “Healthy” Burger (Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger)

16. Worst Mexican Entree (Chipotle Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito)

15. Worst Kids’ Meal (Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese)

14. Worst Sandwich (Quizno’s Chicken Carbonara (large))

13. Worst Salad (On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef)

12. Worst Burger (Carl’s Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger)

11. Worst Steak (Lonestar 20 oz T-bone)

10. Worst Breakfast (Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes)

9. Worst Dessert (Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream)

8. Worst Chinese Entree (P.F. Chang’s Pork Lo Mein)

7. Worst Chicken Entree (Chili’s Honey Chipotle Crispers with Chipotle Sauce)

6. Worst Fish Entree (On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Rice and Beans)

5. Worst Pizza (Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza)

4. Worst Pasta (Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce)

3. Worst Nachos (On the Border Stacked Border Nachos)

2. Worst Starter (Chili’s Awesome Blossom)

1. The Worst Food in America ( Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing)

Cyndi, Lydia, and I are preparing to move to relocate to transition to do something different and start living in another country. When we started this process last October, I would have said that it was no big deal: Cyndi and I have moved 5 times in 9 years of marriage and prior to that, I moved another 12 times either growing up or on my own (provided I counted correctly). No big deal…we pack up, sell tons of stuff, keep some stuff, and store our furniture.

Only it doesn’t work that easy. This has been the toughest move of my life, but it isn’t really a move. In a normal move, you sell some stuff, throw away some junk, and take the rest with you. However, in this move, we sold about 1/2 our stuff at a yard sale (thanks to all who took our junk). We planned on storing our big furniture while we are gone (bed, couch, etc…). But what to take and what to keep? The process has been easy sometimes but grueling at others. Insane is probably the best word to use (that is why I put it in the insaneness category).

We are trying to only take the 6 bags the airline allows us to check for free. That has been very rough…looking at things and trying to figure out what we really need, what we would like to have, and what we can leave behind. All of this not really knowing what to expect once we get there too. What can we buy there? What can’t we get? What to buy? What to leave behind? What do we really need?

Through all of this, Lydia has been a trooper. She has played contently in her walker while we packed boxes. She even played with some paper in a box (pictures to come). More recently, we moved in with my parents and she has been content to play with them (or have they been extatic to play with her??). God has certainly blessed us with a wonderful daughter.

Please pray for us through this time of transition. Pray that we would take what we need to take and leave what we don’t need. Pray that God would give us wisdom to know what we need to take and what we don’t (and that we would listen to Him).

If you want to keep up with us as we go, we’ll be doing an e-mail newsletter tri-monthly at least montly. If you want to subscribe, visit www.pray4serbs.org and register for an account. Once you regsiter and login, you will be able to subscribe to our e-mail newsletter (newsletters are listed in the nav bar on the left. Click Newsletters/Updates then check our newsletter in the upper right-hand portion of the page). We will also be keeping this website up to date with happenings in our personal lives while we are gone. Some of the items will make it into our newsletter while some won’t.

Which is better…whole life or term life?  I know which is better (term) but recently, I heard some discussion about whole life and how it was so great.  Below are some links from Dave Ramsey (an awesome financial guy) talking about why whole life is a dumb move:

The truth about life insurance
Losing Money with whole life insurance
Whole life insurance good? 

How young should kids get computers?  Do computers belong in the crib ?

It doesn’t take much imagination to see that much of the blame lies with permissive and indulgent parents. Consider this section drawn from the paper’s report:

Yunice Kotake, of San Bruno, Calif., recently purchased a Fisher-Price Knows Your Name Dora Cell Phone for her twin year-old daughters. But a few days later, she returned the play phone to a local Toys “R” Us, after she found that the girls seemed to prefer their parents’ actual phones.

“They know what a real cell phone is, and they don’t want a fake one,” Ms. Kotake said.

This passage is troubling at so many levels. Ms. Kotake has twin year-old girls who are not satisfied with “play” cell phones. The real phones are so much a part of their lives that “they don’t want a fake one.”

I think this is certainly a parenting problem. Of course a 7 year old doesn’t need a real laptop. What for? Of course kids know the difference between a “real” one and a “fake” one. Already, a 9 months, Lydia loves to play with the remote control. At times, this is annoying, so her Grandma Maxson bought her a play remote one time. Does she like to play with it the same way? Nope. Lydia knows we use one and that is the one she wants.