Thanks Blago A HSD Rewind

From time to time, I like to check my statistics to see what if any of my previous posts are getting the most hits.  This month, the most looked up of all my posts (by over 100 looks) was a post I wrote about former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich back in June 2011 shortly after he http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/11/10/blagojevich-to-start-working-in-prison-library/
was found guilty on several counts.  I wrote this post as an epilogue of sorts to all the teaching and parenting material Blago's missteps had given me. 

I am reprinting it here, as an HSD rewind. 


It was a Tuesday, that's all I remember for sure. That's the day the kids had their enrichment course. (It's a co-op, but they don't call it a co-op. They call it enrichment courses.) Puppy and I played in a kid's area while Bunny took an art class and then Spider Droid took a chess class. I was driving to enrichment classes, (that's how I knew it was a Tuesday) when I heard on the radio that our state's governor Rod Blagojevich had been arrested on federal corruption charges. The most egregious of which was trying to sell the then President-elect Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a photo by captainleadbottom on Flickr.

It was there in the car on the way to enrichment classes, that our 2 1/2 year civics lessons began. Theses include lessons in filling vacant seats, abuse of power, impeachment, trials, hung juries and retrials. Then today as I went to run errands with the bigs, I turned on the radio and they announced a verdict had been reached in the Blago retrial and would be announced in the early afternoon. As quickly as that, our civics classroom started all over again.

Here are a few educational and pseudo educational moments from the last 30 months of Blagomania:

• When Spider Droid first heard about the Blagojevich arrest he assumed that the governor had been framed since a governor would never do anything wrong. What I wanted to say to him was "live in Illinois much?" But I went the AWANA route and reminded him of his memory verse, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

• Many of Blagojevich's public appearances gave us quite a lot to discuss. I tried to find a video of him quoting Rudyard Kipling shortly after his initial arrest. The only one I could find was merged with Simpson's clips. So instead here is the beginning of an interview he did with Dave Letterman shortly after the impeachment.

(The video did not come up when I cut and past my original post. Click here if you are interested in seeing the video.)

• The kids' impression of him was aided by the media. At one point between the arrest and the impeachment, the kids got to calling him "Governor Deadmeat" because he had been referred to that way in a local paper.
• We even did a Lego workshop about him. . .

Just kidding! Here's the real credit: rod blagojevich, a photo by robayre on Flickr.

Blagojevich's downfall seemed to be that he felt that his years of service to the public entitle him to some sort of payback. During the past 2.5 years, even in his trial, he talked about all the great things he did for the state of Illinois. His defense seems to be (a) This is what politics is(everybody's doing it)and (b) I deserve something out of this. I am sure that in his mind, which must be an amazing place to visit, he did nothing wrong.

Interestingly enough, these are my kids' two biggest excuses for not admitting when they were wrong. "They started it"and "But I wanted it." Blagojevich serves as a warning to my kids and hopefully everyone who tries to cover up their misdeeds with excuses.

So thanks Blago, for all the civics lessons. I guess we'll just have to wait until your sentencing date to learn more.

Meanwhile back in 2013 . . .

After Blago was sentencedin late 2011, I did glean a few more lessons from his transgressions.  That post can be found by clicking here.  I had not heard anything about him since his incarceration until I saw this article http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/11/10/blagojevich-to-start-working-in-prison-library/from November 2012 in preparation for this post.

Six Word Stattler Day

 AS IN MUPPETS

Unlike them, I love the Muppets

For more Six Word Saturday Click here. 

Leave a comment  on this post for a chance to win a set of state quarters. Click here for more details. 



Muppets Statler y Waldorf, a photo by hablandodelasunto3 on Flickr.

Missouri Relief Project

Joplin Tornado 5, a photo by DMangus on Flickr.

Spider Droid and I have an opportunity next week to do a work project near Joplin, Missouri where a massive tornado decimated the city on May 22nd of this year.

I will be posting again before I leave with a little more info what he and I will be doing.

I am not the handiest guy with a hammer and that is putting it mildly. While we don't know exactly what we will be doing this is a work and constructrion trip, something that is definitely out of my comfort zone.

Yet when we heard of the trip we felt compelled that we should help any way we can.

This leads me to my 2 questions for the day.

1) How do you react to tragedy like a flood, tsunami, earthquake, act of terrorism etc.?

2) Have you ever felt compelled, called, motivated to do something out of your comfort zone? Did you do it? How did it go?

For more questions head back to Self Sagacity.

Thank you Blago, for the home school civics lessons.

It was a Tuesday, that's all I remember for sure. That's the day the kids had their enrichment course. (It's a co-op, but they don't call it a co-op. They call it enrichment courses.) Puppy and I played in a kid's area while Bunny took an art class and then Spider Droid took a chess class. I was driving to enrichment classes, (that's how I knew it was a Tuesday) when I heard on the radio that our state's governor Rod Blagojevich had been arrested on federal corruption charges. The most egregious of which was trying to sell the then President-elect Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a photo by captainleadbottom on Flickr.

It was there in the car on the way to enrichment classes, that our 2 1/2 year civics lessons began. Theses include lessons in filling vacant seats, abuse of power, impeachment, trials, hung juries and retrials. Then today as I went to run errands with the bigs, I turned on the radio and they announced a verdict had been reached in the Blago retrial and would be announced in the early afternoon. As quickly as that, our civics classroom started all over again.

Here are a few educational and pseudo educational moments from the last 30 months of Blagomania:

• When Spider Droid first heard about the Blagojevich arrest he assumed that the governor had been framed since a governor would never do anything wrong. What I wanted to say to him was "live in Illinois much?" But I went the AWANA route and reminded him of his memory verse, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."










• Many of Blagojevich's public appearances gave us quite a lot to discuss. I tried to find a video of him quoting Rudyard Kipling shortly after his initial arrest. The only one I could find was merged with Simpson's clips. So instead here is the beginning of an interview he did with Dave Letterman shortly after the impeachment.

• The kids' impression of him was aided by the media. At one point between the arrest and the impeachment, the kids got to calling him "Governor Deadmeat" because he had been referred to that way in a local paper.






• We even did a Lego workshop about him. . .

Just kidding! Here's the real credit.

rod blagojevich, a photo by robayre on Flickr.

Blagojevich's downfall seemed to be that he felt that his years of service to the public entitle him to some sort of payback. During the past 2.5 years, even in his trial, he talked about all the great things he did for the state of Illinois. His defense seems to be (a) This is what politics is(everybody's doing it)and (b) I deserve something out of this. I am sure that in his mind, which must be an amazing place to visit, he did nothing wrong.








Interestingly enough, these are my kids' two biggest excuses for not admitting when they were wrong. "They started it"and "But I wanted it." Blagoevich serves as a warning to my kids and hopefully everyone who tries to cover up their misdeeds with excuses.








So thanks Blago, for all the civics lessons. I guess we'll just have to wait until your sentencing date to learn more.






Thanks to As for my House for hosting this weeks carnival of homeschooling and puting in this post. To go visit the carnival click here.

Friday Fragments: Levis, Bunnyisms and Give-a-ways

My clock say Thursday evening but it really must be Half Past Kissing Time, The time of the week for Friday Fragments!


Fragment 1: In October I mentioned how one of my favorite musicians Allen Levi only updates his blog about once a month. In fact, His last post was only written at the excoriation (his word, not mine) and cajoling of faithful readers. The post was a masterpiece. His prose is almost as good as his lyrics. (By the way, IMHO, His music and lyrics are so powerful I would just rename the Grammys to the Levis.) His post about 2 sets of fathers and daughters just oozes poignancy.

Yet with as good as his blog is, he only updates it kicking and screaming, which leaves his readership wanting. Allen, must blog more. So, I have decided to do something about it. I have written a song: Since I can't carry many tunes with or without buckets don't expect any viral videos any time soon. (Some people have said that my singing may cause a virus.) Be that as it may here are the lyrics to my song.

Blog Allen Blog

He likes to sing
He likes to play
He doesn't like to blog
But that's OK

He likes his dog
And he likes his town
He doesn't like to blog
So word gets around

But he's really good at blogging
Eloquent, sincere, and charming
So the fact he doesn't like it
Can be quite disarming

Blog Allen Blog
We think you're quite a guy
Blog Allen Blog,
we need a regular dose of Levi

He hooks us in August with a song a day
And before we're saturated he just goes away
He can go a month or more without a single post
When he does it's great
But then the blog goes comatose

Blog Allen Blog
Come and press some words together
Blog Allen Blog
Your posts keep us on our tether

He's a poet
He's a critic
He can be a clown

The cyber space
is a better place
When he's around

Blog Allen Blog
I'm an Allen Levi geek
How about posting twice a fortnight
Which boils down to once a week



It can be a poem
It can be a song
It can be a recipe
A video of planting a tree
A thought on a sermon
A song about Ethel Merman
A tip about killing vermin

Blog Allen Blog



To hear some good music (Allen's) click here to go to his website.

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Fragment 2: As you know Levi's come in pairs. So I think it's time to give an update of my favorite current t.v. show (Chuck) starring my second favorite Levi (Zachary)

Zachary Levi Autograph
Originally uploaded by TravelShorts

Last year I was very clear in my opinion that Chuck was humming along in season 3 with brilliant episode after brilliant episode. Season 4, in no means a disappointment, has not been as consistently good as season 3. Instead of building from episode to episode, it reminds me of a title of another Chuck's (Swindoll) Book: Three steps forward. Two Steps back.



Despite it's unevenness (one mediocre episode of Chuck is worth a handful of CSI, NCIS, or the rest of the alphabet soup that's out there.), I still love Chuck and hope it staves off cancellation for yet another year.


***********************************************************************************

Fragment 3: I don't dabble in to too many Bunnyisms here at HSD. My 5 year old puppy tends to get all the good lines. Bunny had a doozy this week. I was reluctant to mention it, since it doesn't really put me in a good light. The fact is that I am very inconsistent in the way I structure the household and discipline the children. This past week I was much more consistent much to the chagrin of a certain 11 year old.



After handling some preteen rebellion, she came up to me and said " I liked you much better before Mom taught you how to parent." Well it is not her earthly Mom teaching me to parent but our Heavenly Father. I just need His grace to get better and better at it.



************************************************************************************



Fragment 4: A few weeks ago, I started giving away an mp3 of an on line home school conference. So far, I have had only 1 entry. So it looks like I know who is going to win. Sure you may not home school yourself. But you may know someone who does. You could be a big hero in someones life to win such a useful prize for them. I have decided to lengthen the contest 1 more week until March 7th. Click here to see complete rules and to enter by leaving a comment.

That is all my Fragments for now. Other's are just a click away.

Six Word Saturday: Obvious to us edition!

I usually don't go ripped from the headlines here at HSD. But with all the rantings and ravings of one Charles Sheen. I thought my six words should be about what Amy and I and much of the Internet underground get that CBS and their viewership (It is the most popular show currently) don't get:

Two and a Half Men
Originally uploaded by dvdsetcollection_big_bang

Very Simply, the show's not funny!!!!!!!!!

I have watched it on many occasions and have not thought about the possibility of laughing on one occasion. All 3 of the principals have been funny before and( if Sheen can keep off the stuff) can all be funny again. A few years ago the Internet was all abuzz with how dumb a show "What About Jim" was. What about Jim was certainly no Mad About You. But Two and a Half Men isn't even Patridge Family level!

It is too bad that it had take substance abuse to for the network of All in The Family,Dick Van Dyke, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, etc ... to put two and a half men in the tank.

P.S. lest' you think that I think that there is no good comedy in prime time any more check out Hulu for the latest episode of Community. Community isn't even a show I watch every week. But this episode about a school election is a laugh riot from beginning to end.

For more Six Words click here.

Sledding

Sled Ride at Grandma's 1
Originally uploaded by Liz & Wally

Went sledding today. Not nearly as cute as the kid pictured here. But still a lot of fun.

Lions and Podcasts and Robotics. Oh My!

White Lion
Originally uploaded by Cyberslayer

Friday Fragment time. I am finally teaching my blog class at our co-op this semester. For the student's first assignment I had them look at some home schooled students blogs. While doing that Bunny girl came across a post about a white lion. I decided to start today's fragment fest with a pic of White Lion cubs.

***********************************************************************************

The following video is on my desk top. This means my kids like to watch it over and over and over and over and over and over again. (It is short.)

***********************************************************************************
Speaking of videos, the Office starts new episodes tonight. They have also put out a new bunch of webisodes called The Podcast. I thought I would share it here as blogging is a plot point.

The Office - Ep 101: The Podcast: Gabe's Podcast - Video - NBC.com

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Robotics update: Spider Droid's team did quite well at the State Playoffs this past weekend. His team finished 19th of 63 teams in the performance category. The other 3 categories are scored by judges and the results were not made public. While they did not win any awards they all had a rewarding time. The team will compete in the Spring in a 4H robotics competition.

That is all the fragments I have for today. Head over to half past kissing time for more Friday Fragments.

Alice predicts Paul Konerko's next team.

Paul Konerko
Originally uploaded by chicagogrl95

We have this thing in our house called doing an Alice. It's based on a Brady Bunch reference. There was a big football game and Greg's team won. The family came home told Alice they won and she pulled out a big cake said Congratulations. Mrs. Brady then asked Alice what she would have done if they lost she proceeded to take a second cake out of the fridge that said better luck next year.

Sometime today or tomorrow it will be announced if Paul Konerko will be the White Sox next year or if he will be going to another team to finish off a stellar career.

When he makes his decision, I will make an announcement at Crazy Uncle Dave's. Until then, let me go ahead and do an Alice ...

Congratulations on your new deal Pauly Longball (a nickname I gave him). Looking forward to having you back. Rings in 11!


Go way down to see the other cake.
















































Pauly! We will miss you. Good luck with your new team. Thanks for all you did for the team. Thanks especially for taking a home town discount in 'o5 instead of heading to the Angels for the cash.

Not Much. what's a woodchuck with you?

On the way home from Awana today, my son asked me why a woodchuck is called a woodchuck. I told him, I did not know but would find out.

And the thing is I did . . .




groundhog day! Originally uploaded by NapaneeGal


I originally thought that woodchuck was just an informal version of Wood Charles. It turns out, a woodchuck is just another name for a groundhog. It comes from the Indian name for groundhogs and other similar animals, wujak. The name evolved into woodchuck. I don't believe the animal evolved, but I can believe the name did.

I also found out that woodchuck isn't the only alternate name for groundhog. There is also Land Beaver and Whistle Pig. It reminds me of that old tongue twister (I just made up):

How many names would a ground hog have if a ground hog could ground names?

Keith Time: Memories From the Funeral Part I