So, Today I'm Thinking...

...very few things take you from 0 to 100 on the adrenaline scale as quickly as tornado sirens at 1:30AM.
...the book I recently finished was based on a fantastic concept: It described the nuances of Dutch culture to outsiders through the vehicle of their famous soccer players. For example, it discussed the Dutch soccer system of total football was learned throughout their players' childhoods as they studied total city planning (like Amsterdam) or spatial awareness (through famous painters). It would be like explaining American culture to outsiders using baseball players, like how Jackie Robinson spearheaded race relations, or Babe Ruth as the example of capitalism's reward of larger-than-life, or Tony Gwynn as an example of the protestant work ethic. Fascinating read, even if I didn't know all the players.
...that my column on the left of finished books will slow considerably with the summer reads of the 880-page Democracy in America by de Tocqueville and Father's Day gift of Bugelosi's Reclaiming History: The Assasination of President John F. Kennedy. It's 1,512 pages of annotated goodness, weighs over 7 lbs., and has a CD in the back for all the "end notes and source notes."
...Tracy has a friend getting married this weekend and one of the table decorations is a bottle of wine from a local winery in Grapevine, of which Kid1 will be painting each label. I think that's a cool idea.
...this rain we've been getting has made this one of the most pleasant Texas summers I can remember. And, it doesn't take too much these days to put off mowing the lawn for one more day.
...people in our community go on the coolest vacations.
...we thought the neighbor's house sold yesterday, which would NOT be good for our planned protest of our government appraisal as it would've only been on the market for half a week, but it turns out the wind blew over the sign.
...I'm having a blast teaching my Sunday School class for grownups.
...I've got to get back in the gym.
...there was a provocative article in the Dallas Morning News today by Jonah Golberg that suggested radical educational alternative to public schools. The idea is that since the government makes very few things work as well as supply and demand does, why not re-vamp the system. The article was short on specifics, so I'd like to see a book containing his thoughts, but I like the initial way his thoughts were headed.
...Vacation Bible School must be quite the big business as far as curriculum sales to churches. It seems like every church has a themed week like "Splashwater Falls" or "Jungle Adventure" with professionally done promotional materials like signs for the front of your church and movie-theater style cardboard cut-outs. I can tell you this: I've already learned stuff from the cool set-up at our church for this week...like a manger was likely made out of stone and what a page from a Bible printed in the 1600's looked like.
...that it hit me that Kid2 will be leaving this Friday morning to dance with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet for 5 weeks. I'm really going to miss her...even though I know she'll be having the time of her life.
...another part of my Father's Day gift is the gift of being left alone for the afternoon. Apparently, that's what other dads wanted, too, because my wife said the movie theatre was abnormally packed yesterday afternoon even though there weren't any new releases of note.
...that I'd really like to start a writer's collective for local high schoolers for the web. I think it'd be kind of cool.
...my wife has to visit the Genius Bar at the Apple Store this afternoon with G4 problems. I'm tempted to go just because the Apple store is so hip & with-it.
...that it's about to start raining again and I've got reading to do, so I need to get on with my day.