Whose fault is it anyway?

A lot has been said over the past few weeks about the crash of some of the U.S.A.'s major financial institutions. Everyone is quick to point a finger to the other guy across the political aisle. Democratic sponsored TV spots are airing that accuse the Bush Administration for this financial mess. Today I was sent an email that contained an article published in the New York Times on Sept. 30, 1999 - more than a month before George W. Bush was elected President for his first term. Normally I don't take much stock in emails sent to me by friends and family who have a demonstrated loyalty to one party or the other. I also am very aware of how easy it is to fake information. This time I decided to visit the NY Times website and search their archives to see if the email was accurate. To the credit of those who sent this to me, it was 100% word-for-word. I'm not going to post the entire text of the article here. I'll let you read it directly from the NY Times site:

NYTimes.com

Thank you, President Clinton.

Bailout...'nuf said

Read my friends post...

Bailout

Bono's my hero. Too bad he's not eligible to run for President.

This is news?

Today's big headlines:

"Clay is Gay: Aiken comes out of the closet"

"Miley takes boyfriend to Pussycat Dolls concert"

"Lindsay Lohan confirms she's dating a woman"

Aren't there more important things going on in the world? Does anyone really need to know what a few popular, although relatively insignificant entertainers are doing in their personal lives?

Sure there have been other headlines about McCain calling for a pause in the campaign to focus on the financial crisis and Obama taking a larger lead in a few states, but I'm growing extremely tired of politics after a two year campaign and the obscene amount of money that's been wasted in the process. Then there's the article about actor Michael Douglas fielding questions about the financial crisis on Wall Street at the UN. Really? I know he was in the movie "Wall Street" - he even won an Oscar for the role -  but does that make him an authority on the crisis happening in the US Financial District? Why would a reporter even ask a stupid question like that? It's bad enough that he was really there to talk about a nuclear test ban treaty, like he's an expert on that subject, too.

In the meantime, the residents of Galveston are being allowed to return home for the first time since Hurricane Ike struck two weeks ago. Sure, it's in the news, but it's not getting as much attention. The CDC is really concerned about this season's flu season. Apparently there are three new strains lurking out there waiting to prey on infants and the elderly. Buried.

Is this a sign of the direction our culture is headed? If the love lives of celebrities can trump real world, life threatening, significant news so easily I'm afraid for what's to come. Do we need to be so sheltered and insulated from what's going on in our world? Wouldn't it be better to know what life changing events are happening around us so we can get our fat butts out of our lazy-boys and give someone a hand?

That's it, isn't it. We've become such isolationists that we really don't want to know what's going on around us. It's "too painful," or it "really doesn't affect me that much." "I'm tired of hearing about other people's problems."

May God have mercy on us all.

I'm a Mac!

With all the publicity surrounding Microsoft's new ad blitz I thought I would weigh in with my 2¢ – Surprise! I'm a Mac! Have been since the late 80's and most likely will be until the day I die.

Over the years I've personally owned a total of 7 Macs of various flavors and configurations. Those are just the ones I've used at home. At work there have been another dozen or so that I've been in charge of at various times...everything from PowerBooks, to Mac Pro's and everything in between.

On top of all that I've got three iPods and an iPhone in the household. Hopefully a second iPhone is coming in the not too distant future.

For the video work I do, Macs make sense. For use at home, they do everything I've ever asked them to do without fuss. I've never had a virus attack my machines. I've never seen the "blue screen of death" or had a complete system failure. They just work. Not to say there haven't been some problems along the way, but nothing like the problems all of my PC friends have had.

I loved Apple's "Get a Mac" ads with Justin Long and John Hodgeman from the beginning. I thought they were clever and entertaining with a nice little pump for Apple while getting in a not-so-subtle dig at Windows. I sat scratching my bald head when I saw the Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. The new "I'm a PC" ads? Talk about imitation being the biggest form of flattery. But honestly, I don't think Microsoft is winning back any of the people who switched to the Mac over the past several years.

Am I biased? Sure. Am I a Mac snob? Absolutely. There may be 12 step programs available for geeks like me, but I ain't going!

twenty-seven

27.

According to Wikipedia, "27 is the natural number following 26 and preceding 28. Twenty-seven is the smallest positive integer requiring four syllables to name in English, though it can be unambiguously defined in just two: "three cubed.""

Twenty-seven is a number that I have some attachment to. I have for the past couple of years. I'm trying not to get too comfortable with 27...I'd like to see it change to 28 in the very near future. Even better would be twenty-nine and then 30.

So what's the significance of 27 to me? It happens to be the number of countries I've had the privilege to be able to visit.

Before you get too excited there's something you need to understand. I didn't visit all these countries on vacation. I wasn't relaxing on sun soaked beaches, sipping tropical drinks with a miniature umbrella poking me in the eye. The vast majority of the places I've visited are not vacation destinations for most people. They are countries like Rwanda where the entire society is working hard to recover from the murder of nearly 1,000,000 people during three horrifying months in 1994. A country where the majority of the population lives in horrible poverty, working harder than we in the United States will ever work for the equivalent of $2 or $3 a day...if they're fortunate. A country where I met a little boy who has become a big part of my life. Karangirwa Roger Mila, born in May of 1994...right in the middle of the genocide. He is the oldest child in a family of 5. His father is a subsistence farmer. His mother does odd sewing jobs when she can to make a little extra money to help support Roger and his two siblings. 

Roger is a good boy. He helps his mother around the house when he isn't in the field with his father. His parents have big dreams for him. They want to see him grow up and be able to live a better life than what they have...not scratching and digging for food or wearing tattered clothes and living in a shanty that barely keeps the rain out during monsoon season.

Want to know the best part? Roger has a chance to make his parents dreams come true. You see, Roger lives in a village that has a church that believes in him and is helping pay for his school fees and uniform. The church is home to a Compassion project. They make sure he gets nutritious meals and provides medicine if he gets sick. They help tutor him and give him the opportunity to learn a trade that will help lift him out of the poverty that engulfs his life. Best of all, they introduced Roger to Jesus and now Roger knows he isn't ever alone. There's always someone watching over him and his family.

I am so privileged not just to have met Roger but to be a part of his life. I am Roger's sponsor. Since 2002 I have been sending $32 a month to Compassion so that the church in Roger's village can provide all those things I described. I've seen this young boy grow up. I've watched his expression change in the pictures I receive from one of despair to a smiling, joyful young man who has hope for his future. I have visited him at his project, and sat with him and his family in their home. I have held him in my arms and cried with him when I had to leave. I pray for him, send him letters and birthday gifts. I love this little boy as if he was part of my family...and in reality, he is part of my family. I know God has great things in store for this young man.

So that's one story from many miles of travel. I have others to tell. Someday I'll introduce you to Julio in Colombia. But not today. 

27. Shooting for 28...and beyond.

the beginning

Here we go...my first doodle. 

I've been reading people's blogs for a little while...see the list at the right of this page for the people I read the most...and thought it might be time to give it a go myself. I enjoy reading what others are thinking about, what excites them, saddens them, makes them angry, what they believe. On occasion, I get to talk face to face with some of the people I read. OK, maybe it's an email or phone conversation for those that don't live close but I'm fortunate to have more than just a blog relationship with many of them. Someday I hope to be able to cross paths with those who I haven't truly met in person yet. The one thing that all the bloggers on my list have in common is that they are a smart, witty, interesting and well spoken group. They have good things to say and say them eloquently, whether I agree with them or not. It's my hope that I'll be able to join in and live up to their high standards. 

So, what do I have to contribute to the world? I guess we'll find out as we go. I'll try to share things that I feel passionately about: poverty, family & friends, work. I'm sure I'll dive off into things that aren't as significant: movies, music, sports, Apple stuff, cars. I'll probably get up on my soap box every now and then and I hope the people who read my doodles will feel free to disagree with me...I want this to be a place where people can agree to disagree as long as we don't get nasty with each other. Those of you who know me are aware that I can be opinionated...I also hope that I've been able to demonstrate that I will listen to reason. This might be where the first argument starts.

I'd like to use this blogging thing to "expand my horizons" or "spread my wings." (What other cheap clichés can I throw into this?) I've been doing my job - film/video production - for quite a long time. Recently I've started to have doubts about what I'm doing and the contribution I'm actually making to the non-profit where I work. A good friend told me I need to find a hobby or two. This might be one of the outlets for that. I'e also started picking up my camera more frequently. It's a Canon SLR, not a video camera. Using a video camera feels too much like work so I don't even own one. My wife, Lisa and I spent some time in the mountains last week and I took some pictures as we hiked around Breckenridge. Here's one of them. I'll post more and ask for your critique since I'm just getting into the whole photography thing again.

I'll wrap it up for now. Hopefully this will start coming more naturally. I used to write a lot so maybe it'll be like riding a bike and come back to me. I don't know how frequently I'll post. It'll depend on how inspired I get and how much doodling I do in my brain.