Asher's Song

As promised:

(to the tune of "The Foolish Man Built His House Upon the Sand")

The rich man built his house out of bricks
The rich man built his house out of bricks
The rich man built his house out of bricks
And the wolf came and ate it up

The good man built his house out of cactuses
The good man built his house out of cactuses
The good man built his house out of cactuses
And there was no wolf there

And then there was actually a wolf
And it chomped the brick house up
And it said "Ow ow ow ow!"
[ed note: Asher confirms the ow's are because the wolf tried to eat the cactus house]

----
I like this song because it manages to combine Asher's obsession with animals chomping things, his fondness for big bad wolf stories (3 little pigs and red riding hood), and his penchant for combining and changing various stories and songs.

We're having...

an alien! See?



That was at the 13-week ultrasound at the end of March, when they were measuring the nuchal translucency to screen for several genetic defects. Definitely alien-like, but apparently a normal alien, since the screening was fine.

At the same scan, we also got to see what appeared to be some attempt at thumb-sucking (or waving, or, most likely, random hand movement):



Then, this past Monday, we had the usual mid-pregnancy ultrasound. We saw cool tiny feet, and baby practicing sucking (tongue movement and so forth), and the heart beating, and the bladder and stomach and the grand tour of major organs, but the only pictures that were printed out were lots of shots of the head in profile. Here ya go:




In the next two you can see the heart and stomach -- the dark spots, since they're full of liquid:





And another nondescript profile:



And finally, in this one you can see part of the hand in front of the face -- baby was waving his or her hands around a lot.



And... there you go. It really was amazing watching my baby move around inside me; the pictures don't do it justice. They also had a 3-D thing that stitched together lots of cross-sections to make a somewhat-recognizable 3-D picture, but they didn't print any of those out.

Everything looked normal; baby was measuring the size for a due date of 10/12, which is definitely within normal since my estimated due date is 10/10. So... yay! Stay tuned in the next little bit for an absolutely AWESOME song that Asher sang for us the other night.

Big D**m Rebirth

"Mal: You wanna run this ship?!
Jayne: Yes!
Mal: Well... you can't!"
-Serenity (the Big D**m Movie), Joss Whedon

Sharon and I were talking about the demise of our TV watching a couple of nights ago.  All the shows we care about are probably cancelled: Chuck, Terminator: TSCC, Dollhouse. We were thinking (as does everybody who likes the kind of TV we seem to) why do our shows always get picked up to try out then cancelled after a season or two? Why is it that nobody watches the shows we like?

Then, of course, it occurs to me: with Chuck and T:TSCC being cancelled, we have two Firefly alums coming free. With the likely cancellation of Castle, we have a third. With the cancellation of Dollhouse, we have the creator coming free.

Obviously the following will never happen. It doesn't make sense from a number of perspectives, but from my one limited perspective, it's brilliant.

Here's why I think FOX should announce a second season for Firefly at the upfronts: DVD sales.

* Return: Firefly is consistently in the top 100 sales of TV DVDs years after its cancellation. It was frequently in the top of lists of "shows that should be on Blu-Ray" for months before it's recent release on Blu-Ray. The cult following of the show was considered sufficient to consider risking money on a movie venture not that long ago. FOX, I think, still owns the TV rights, and could easily bring Firefly or a Firefly-based spin-off to market fairly quickly.

* Cost: The cast is actually available. Nobody's become such a big star they couldn't come back and work for cheap. Whedon has worked for FOX on shoestring budgets before. Firefly isn't really that expensive a show, and while recreating some of the sets (particularly Serenity) would take some doing, the potential to recoup that in fan auctions at the end of the run is enormous.

Don't misunderstand me: I don't think a second season of Firefly is commercially viable for FOX as a long-running network show. But it seems to me a no-brainer to put money into production of what seems to be a guaranteed DVD hit with a possibility of taking off again rather than throwing money after a new show that has the same uncertainty but without the loyal fanbase of Firefly to pick it up in DVD land.

If FOX is worried about fan reaction (which, obviously they aren't) if the series is cancelled again, they could announce up front a limited run or mini-series (like BSG did on SciFi). Even if that's a total bust in ratings, which I would doubt, the DVD sales would be tremendous, and on the tiny chance that it catches, signing the cast to a season or half-season would be an easy pickup.

Joss loves Firefly. I really think he'd rather do a Firefly mini-series than another 6 episodes of Dollhouse (which, if FOX picks up, will be cancelled quickly next year.)

Obviously none of this can or will happen. But it just makes so much sense!

Covers

"no reason to get excited
the thief he kindly spoke
there are many here among us
who feel that life is but a joke
but you and I, we've been through that
and this is not our fate
so let us not talk falsely now
the hour is getting late"
-Bob Dylan, "All Along the Watchtower"

(Before you go reading the rest of the post, follow the above link to a live concert performance of the "All Along the Watchtower" cover by Bt4 and Bear McCreary - it is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard.)

It's my birthday today; I've now been in mortal flesh for 33 years (well, somewhere between that and 33 years and 9 months, depending on whether you believe life begins at conception.) I'm thinking today about music and collaboration. I've always been so scared of what people will think of my talent (or, more often, lack thereof) that I haven't been willing to engage in a lot of musical collaboration. It's sad, because the older I get the more I realize that the most fun I have playing music is playing music with others, and frankly that you get so much better when you're willing to push yourself and play with others.

This extends to songwriting and composing, too. I'm not a great composer (I'll leave that moniker to those who actually have the chops, like my friend Michael LaCroix) but I know enough about music to realize that most great works involve taking something somebody else started with, but for some reason, they didn't see something in it you see. That's certainly true of the song "All Along the Watchtower", one of the most covered songs in commercial music, with not only iconic versions like Hendrix and the one I linked above from the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack, but even U2 and the Dave Matthews Band, and I think I like every version. Many of my favorite songs are covers, and I'm not alone. A great cover manages to inspire even the original artist. From the Wikipedia entry of "All Along the Watchtower":

Dylan has described his reaction to hearing Hendrix's version: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."

So, why mention all this today, on my birthday? I've been thinking a lot this year about my life: for a long time I've wanted to create - most of my hobbies are attempts to create things in one form or another. Not everybody is that way, but many are - I don't claim this as unique - and for a long time I've known that this creative instinct in us is one of the ways we are made imago Dei.

Where I have been frustrated is that it seems even my very very best creations are really rip-offs of others: I can't claim anything very original. What is starting to bring me peace about this is the realization that this is one of the ways in which we must be different from God, and, I think, one of the reasons He is excited about us as a creation. He doesn't have to borrow or copy - He is (to abuse an old philosophical concept) First Songwriter. The rest of us are just covers.

At the same time, what a wonderful opportunity. Rather than being merely carbon copies of the original Adam and Eve, God makes us different people by the pressure of perspective. This causes us to create the same things over and over, but differently each time, in beautiful and powerful ways.

One image that is powerful in my Christian walk is the image of re-creation, and while it's not etymologically accurate, the relation of that image to the word recreation isn't lost on me. What is new to me is how that doesn't just speak to God's regeneration of me, but my own regeneration of other things, doing the kind (though not the scope) of the work He takes such pleasure in.

How beautiful to be imago Dei.

Reading Assignment

Paul Wilmott's Op-Ed in yesterday's New York Times should be required reading for everyone who believes that complete self-interest always produces the best expected value.

Not All Government is Bad

"there's a man going around taking names
and he decides who to free and who to blame
everybody won't be treated all the same...
whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still
whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still
whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still
listen to the words long written down when the man comes around"
-Johnny Cash, "The Man Comes Around"

There's an interesting piece in the New York Times from over the weekend written by Michael Lewis (author of Liar's Poker which I'm told is an excellent book by some people at Jump) and David Einhorn about the financial situation we find ourselves in here at the beginning of 2009. Go ahead and go read it; it's seven pages, so I'll wait.

(time passes...)

I'm not certain exactly how to fit this information into my world view. The point of the first half of the piece is basically that greed, while obviously necessary to the calamity we find ourselves in, isn't really the problem; we have set up a system where all of the incentives (even for the non-greedy) back short-term gains at the expense of long-term self-interest. It gives reasoned argument that Madoff's Ponzi scheme shouldn't have been a surprise, and in fact parallels the incentives that led to the creation of that scheme to the complete lunacy of the ratings issued by the credit agencies.

It's actually the second half of the article that makes for interesting reading, however, and illuminates the problem I have with the binding of the Evangelical Christian community to the Republican party. Let me explain.

The solutions outlined in the article are:

1. Stop making big regulatory decisions with long-term consequences based on their short-term effect on stock prices.
2. End the official status of the rating agencies.
3. Regulate credit-default swaps.
4. Impose new capital requirements on banks.
5. Close the revolving door between the S.E.C. and Wall Street.
6. But keep the door open the other way.

I'm not going to take the space and bore you with an analysis of each of the above, but 3 and 4 require either restructuring current government regulation or adding new government regulation. Just a few paragraphs before these solutions, the authors talk about how Sweden handled a similar crisis a few years ago that involved actually demanding the government take something in return for the money it flooded the market with. The notion that many markets connect regulate themselves well because they do not correctly evaluate long-term self-interest flies in the face of small government philosophy.

(As an aside: it is easy to set up straw men on either side of this, and I'm sure many will argue against this using Japan as their example given their extreme interest in the long-term and the subsequent marriage of government to business present in that country. Some of you probably already think that I'm arguing against straw men. "No one is saying all government is bad, Kurtis. You're just talking to hear yourself talk." Really? How many times did I hear Reagan's "Government is not the solution; government is the problem" quote during the election? And it's not new. Phil Graham said "Both the economic crisis and the moral crisis have their roots in the explosion of government" back in 1995!)

The problem I see is that small government conservatives aren't anarchists, but they seem to play that role because they don't seem to know (or care) what that role ought to be. The leadership vacuum left by the Bush administration means that no one is articulating one, and the lack of desire (or ability) to try to fill that vacuum means we don't even have a discussion.

I'm not saying it's stupid to be a Christian and a Republican. I'm saying it's stupid to believe a party is the right party to govern simply because of its stance on a handful of social issues. You are free to pick an auto mechanic who only believes in Quaker State oil so long as he actually knows how to fix your car. Right now I think the Republican party seems completely ill-equipped to actually govern, and nobody is stepping up to prove me wrong.

Lots of good conservative friends of mine (who know I still have conservative roots deep down inside) want to know why I voted for Obama. This, more than anything else is the reason. I want somebody who knows how to govern and believes government has a role. Will I agree with the role he assigns? Probably not completely, but at least I think he understands he has one. You shouldn't hire somebody to do a job they don't believe is necessary or that they disdain because they don't see its purpose.

I think the article's commentary on the Bush Treasury and Fed response to the crisis summarizes this well:

When you shout at people “be confident,” you shouldn’t expect them to be anything but terrified.

Peace on Earth

"it covers us like rain
it washes and it stains"
-Andrew Peterson, "Love Enough"

A Merry Christmas to everyone. Hopefully you won't have a chance to read this until afterwards because you're with family.

As it turns out, I wrote the above on Christmas Eve then never got back to finish it until now. Levi and Noah drove up to Amarillo on Saturday and drove back today (Sunday) so we did get to see them, which was nice.

Also, dad's church let me play drums and piano today for their worship service, which is nice. It shouldn't surprise me, but I really do love playing music. I really do.

I go back to work on Wednesday, but I get Thursday off again, then the long dark tea time of the soul (sorry, Douglas Adams) also known as winter. But for now I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and got to see family.

Joy to the world; the Lord has come.

3 stories

Last night as we were putting Asher to bed, he told us a story about a man whose curtains would not stay up in his window.  Somehow, this morphed into his whole house falling down, "and do you know why? Because the Israelites needed to go in." He's been into the Jericho story lately (specifically the VeggieTales version), so this wasn't all that surprising. So then he talked about how God made the house fall down, so the Israelites could go in... and then, the best part.  "And do you know what? God is a really big guy, so he makes REALLY BIG MESSES."  I guess Jericho was a big mess, especially after they finished burning all the spoils of the city (not that Asher knows that part), but I'd never thought of it that way before...

Tonight at bedtime, Kurtis told him a story about some giraffes in a circus. And then when it was time for a lullaby, Asher told us, "I have a lullaby to sing tonight. It's from the Bible. It's called, "I will stay in the circus for a few days." And he reiterated that it's a lullaby from the Bible. (I think it might be in the Apocrypha, though.)

And finally, an example of how very socially aware Asher is becoming:  At dinner, Asher announced he was done with dessert, and got down. A few minutes later, he came in and asked for a bite of Kurtis's cookie. Kurtis said "I thought you were done with dessert, Asher." Asher pondered this for a minute, and then said, "Um... well... I... um... but... um... I love you very very much!"  His voice was the essence of innocence and sweetness.  Incredible.  Don't know where he learned it. :)  (He got the bite of cookie.)

Anyway, my whole family is here (yay!), so I'll go rejoin them. 

Family Goes to 11

"sages, leave your contemplation
brighter visions beam afar
seek the great desire of nations
you have seen His natal star"
-James Montgomery, "Angels from the Realms of Glory"

Sharon's parents arrive in Grove City tonight (actually, they arrive in Pittsburgh and then we bring them here, which is still technically arriving to them but it always feels funny for the person driving them in to say it) and they're here through part of the 21st. Sharon's sister and brother-in-law arrive on the 16th, so our new house will finally be full. It should be fun.

On the 23rd we bail out of here and head to Amarillo to see my family until the 30th. I don't know exactly what my family's plans are, but I hoping that during that stretch we'll also get to see my brother and his wife and my nephews and nieces.

I'm glad for Christmas; it gives an opportunity for people to go reconnect with family even if they live far away. Obviously not everybody can, so this isn't to make you feel guilty if you can't. I'm just excited about seeing everybody and celebrating together. Neither of our families are perfect (whose are?) but they're fun and it should be a good time.

(If you don't know the title reference, by the way, watch Spinal Tap.)

Asher is, of course, way excited about everybody coming to his house (that Sharon and I live here and, you know, pay the mortgage doesn't seem to bother this notion in the least) and he's going to show them his toys and his TV and his bear and his blanket and his potty and so on. Obviously that part will wear off after everybody has been here for an hour, but then something else will happen that I bet will take the edge off:

Candy.

Everybody eats at Christmas. I used to not realize this, since the food is so spread out over time. At Thanksgiving, you stuff yourself until you feel like you're going to burst, and even though many people do that at Christmas, it's not really the focus of the holiday so you don't think about it as much. Christmas, on the other hand, already has candy from Asher's advent calendar and the cookies Sharon wanted to make and the divinity candy I wanted to make and the Christmas candy we're gonna buy and the additional cookies or pies or cakes we're gonna make while with family. It's a tidal wave of sugar, and Asher surfs it like a pro.

"The wedding guests can't mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."
-Jesus speaking in Matthew 9:15 (ISV)

I'm sure it'll be a hard habit to deal with in January when we go back to normal eating, but right now it's fun, and isn't that what celebrations are about?

For our Christmas thought, a long passage:

"When the Gospel was first preached, Roman laughed at the idea of a God become flesh. Oh, sure, a god might have a little fling with a mortal woman and then disappear to better realms, but no real mixing, please. You know your side of the tracks, the gods know theirs. God become flesh — hilarious!

Instead of laughing, we've done a sleight of hand to turn the celebration of the Incarnation — presto chango — into Christmas. Into the hat we stuff a fleshly God; out pops tinsel, wrapping paper, photos of children with starry eyes. The incarnation? Hocus-pocus backwards — no, this is not my body, not my blood, God's very flesh tucked up my sleeve.

Dig under the stockings, credit card bills, Christmas concert programs. Pull of layers of carols, drifts of snow, a gingerbread house recipe and — oh, my God! What is it? A baby! Not a silent, glow-in-the-dark symbol of benign blessing on farm animals. The merconium, the squalling cries, the desperate need for warm breast, for eyes to search his; God is naked and not ashamed.

The feast of the Incarnation is the time to celebrate God weak, a day to dance to the descending scales of God's throwing off omniscience and omnipotence. We skirt past this powerful little pile of cast-off clothing. Like the magazine reflection of a starving boy's eyes, the bruises of an abused girl on the news — our eyes cannot adjust to this. We do not want this God, whose glory is so dim we strain to see it."
-Mary Ellen Ashcroft, "Dogspell"

Night of Christmas Music

"she sang of things that pleased her soul
she questioned life and made it known
she stored her knowledge deep inside her mind"
-Michelle Tumes, "Life is Beautiful"

Sharon and I are home rushing to get weekend things done because we've spent so much extra time this weekend on stuff for the FCC Night of Christmas Music that was tonight. We played an arrangement of "I Saw Three Ships", and then I played a couple of songs ("Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen") with the two worship leaders of the church. It was a fun time, though as Sharon will tell you I was a basketcase right before and I messed up our piece a little (though it went well in practice, so I really can't complain too much.)

Asher sang in the Children's Choir, and oh dear was that cute. I promise pictures, but the intense look of concentration on his face for most of it is inexpressible. At his young age (3) he was watching the directors face the whole time, making sure he was singing right along with her, singing all the words right and everything. Very cute, if a little disturbing in its intensity. (Then again, I guess I just talked about being a basketcase right before, so I guess he comes by it honestly.)

Now we're set for a visit from Sharon's family followed by a visit to my family, so it'll be a busy last few weeks of the year. Sharon's got exams to give and grade, and I've still got a project to see through, but despite the amount of stuff to finish, there's only a limited number of days until 2009, so I'm sure it'll all get done and next year will start right on schedule.

I'm gonna add another part to my blog postings for the rest of Advent: small quotations or thoughts of other about Christmas. The Incarnation is the most powerful of Christian claims, and it deserves reflection from a number of angles.

"The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension: above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.

For this reason He did not offer the sacrifice on behalf of all immediately He came, for if He had surrendered His body to death and then raised it again at once He would have ceased to be an object of our senses. Instead of that, He stayed in His body and let Himself be seen in it, doing acts and giving signs which showed Him to be not only man, but also God the Word. There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation."
-Athanasius: On the Incarnation (Translation by Sister Penelope Lawson)