It’s Christmas all over again (yeah, again!)

As merchants keep trying to pull the holiday season into Labor Day there is (quite rightly) a debate as to when is the appropriate time to start thinking about Christmas. Since moving to Columbus I’ve come up with a simple series of signs which indicate when to roll out the holly.

1. When Starbuck’s starts selling Egg Nog lattes
2. When Barley’s has a their Christmas keg tapping ceremony
3. When Kroger start stocking the low-fat eggnog

Two of these conditions have been fulfilled. The third, Barley’s ceremony, is this Thursday, November 17th. Usually, they have a local notable perform the ceremonial tapping of the keg. Last year it was Columbus Crew great Frankie Hedjuk. This year it is going to Jeni of Jeni’s Ice Cream fame. I’m hoping they will let me purchase a growler of this years brew.

 

A growler for the growler I always say!

Dented

Having a baby means neither Judy nor I get out much. Really the only time out I’ve had is going to Cbusr meetings and watching the Columbus Crew games with the rest of the supporters group. So, in the vein of “don’t ask what else could happen”, driving home from the Crew game I was hit by a 17 year old who had spun out on I71. Old friends who remember my driving style when I was in my 20s will note the irony that I was hit so hard while driving under the speed limit. In fact, my fuddy-duddy style probably saved me a more lurid accident – I had slowed and was only traveling about 55 MPH when I was hit so was able to control the car and guide it safely to the side of the road.

I’m fine physically but the timing couldn’t be worse. I’m still looking for the job for the household and college funds and Judy is traveling all through the month of November. A new car is not in the budget and I’m not keen on tooling around with my 6 month old in a Mini Cooper. The standard response is “well, be thankful no one was hurt”. Well, no one would have been hurt if nothing had happened, either! My wits are still “rebooting”; verbal savagery will be a concern for the next few day. Be warned!

Words to live by

I was quickly perusing the papers and Facebook this morning and found little news but much commentary. Reminds me of an old saying:

“Opinions are like bellybuttons*: everyone has one but nobody wants to see yours”.

 

 

 

* In my old neighborhood a different portion of the anatomy was substituted.

Political Notebook: Ed Yarnell and the 2012 Presidential Election

It’s getting to be the time where “gasbag gulch”, that dismal place where political pundits gather, starts the play-by-play on the 2012 Presidential election. Last week the “big” story was the Ames (IA) straw poll and the end of Tim Pawlenty’s campaign. This week the airwaves are filled with unoriginal thoughts of Gov. Rick Perry. As one can tell I find the coverage dismal but it does remind me of Ed Yarnell, one time pitching prospect for the New York Yankees.

Ed Yarnell had tore up the minors in 1998 and had a respectable 1999. As a late season call up in 1999 he acquitted himself well in “the show”. The Yankees won their second consecutive world championship and, come January, the talk was who was going to be the new fifth starter in the rotation.  Sports has it’s own “Gasbag Gultch” and the unassailable consensus was that the fifth starter was Ed Yarnell; the only question was how fast and how far he would develop. All through January and February, along with the swirling rumors which follow the Yankees at all times, the talk was Ed Yarnell’s place was all but in stone – Torre all but confirmed it off the record.

But there’s a reason you’ve never heard of Ed Yarnell. He arrived in spring training in 2000 ready to go.  But the first few games he was shelled. Not just pitched poorly but as if he were throwing batting practice. As the spring progressed Torre continued with supporting statements and kept putting him in but, for some reason, the promise of the previous year was unrealized.  Finally, Torre had to recognize reality and the Yankees went north with Ramiro Mendoza in the rotation – a young starter/long reliever already on the roster who would go on to play a key role on five world championship teams (four with the Yankees, one with the Red Sox).

Now don’t get me wrong – it is a very important part of the season. It’s where players get back into shape, work on new pitches and generally prepare themselves for the campaign ahead. But, despite all the coverage it really says little about what will happen once the team “heads north”. Ed Yarnall was what the pundits call a AAAA player – he was too good for the minors but not good enough for the majors. In late 2000 he was traded as part of a three player deal to Colorado for Denny Neagle. He then bounced between majors and minors before finishing his career in Japan. All very respectable but did not turn out to be the top man in the rotation.  At this point in their respective campaigns Sen Harold Stassen, Sen John Glenn and Gov. Mario Cuomo were all slotted to be top men in their presidential race – all went on to have very respectable careers but come the primaries none made the rotation

So, when people ask whether Perry or Romney is up or down I tell them “I don’t follow spring training games”. Ask me in January when the contests start counting.

First “official” outing

Today was our first “official” non-doctor outing with Tommy. Right about the time we moved to Columbus a diner opened not to far from Ohio Nancy’s house: the “Beechwold Diner”. We’ve been regulars ever weekend pretty much since they opened. They have “ooh and ahhed” during Judy’s pregnancy and, appropriately enough, when Judy when into the hospital for her C-section the last stop was at Beechwold for breakfast.
Today we packed up the baby and went over there for a late breakfast. Of course, the baby was the attraction (quite rightly, I might add).

Are you my table?

It was nice to get out of the house. Funnily enough, most of our books (and friends for that matter) make a big deal about how hard it is to go out now that we have a baby. But, both Judy and I had younger siblings so we remember the score and that, plus Judy’s organizational skills, actually mean that going out isn’t as big a deal as it was played up to be. I’m hoping when we are all feeling better we can take Tommy out to enjoy some of the summer events in Columbus (as well as see more of his crazy “Aunt” Nancy).

Changes of an Ethical Nature

Some will notice that I have removed a few posting from the blog.  I hesitated before doing so – after all, generally changing a blog ex post facto is considered poor form.  Proper practice is to either add an “update” to the end of the post or strikethrough elements which are either no longer relevant or have been shown to be {ahem} less than truthful.  But, in this case, I had compelling reasons.  I realized (belatedly, alas) that my audience has changed since my blogging heyday.  I have lots of new people checking out this blog as opposed to a few dedicated readers.  These new people (welcome!) know and care little about my background, character or foibles.  When they read postings that presume these shortcuts they will get the wrong impression. That seems both unfair to me, the author, and off-putting to the reader. Hence the changes.

But, I hesitate due to that pesky convention of not deleting blog posts, even given extraordinary situations.  But I realized: I’m a Moral Agent – I can make ethical decisions and, using the tools recently acquired from my Ethics class, I decided to test the idea against the different schools of Meta-ethical judgment.

Meta-ethical School	Main Proponent	May I delete the postings?
Hedonism	Epicurus	Sure! Do what makes you feel good.
Utilitarianism	Mills	Yes, since deleting the old blog posts will benefit the greater number of people
Kantian	Kant	Tough to say. Arbitrarily changing posts would fail the universality test. However, allowing misleading posts to persist would also violate a Categorical Imperative.
External Impostion	Hobbes	Yes, I have the power to change it and resist consequences then I can make the changes
Will to Power	Nietzsche	Yes, my will to do good is compelling this course of action.
Ethical Communism	Marx	Yes, because it is an effort to bring about the workers paradise. (Think about that, Comrade!)
Ethical Egoism	Rand	Yes, because I need to do it to stay true to my self
Existential Ethics	De Beauvoir	Yes, because unlike the deleted posts the replacements will contain my authentic voice
Situational Ethics	Fletcher	Yes, because my love of man compels the change
Reality Ethics	A whole bunch of guys (including most pre-Marx Christian types)	Maybe not, depending,  Why not keep the old posts and ask forgiveness or add rather than take away?

So, from the objective perspective, as a Reality Ethics type it doesn’t look good. Ah, but I will plead my case from subjective perspective. I am accountable and aware of deleting the posts as the task requires some technical knowledge.  What I am thinking is that this step will actually clarify and give a better understanding of the author (me!) and greater context in a way not to flatter but to elucidate.  This is coming from two directions: a desire to be understood and my fetish for precision in language.  The lesson learned is not to be so swift to post something just to post “something” and, more generally, to realize that being in a new environment means discarding many of the personality short cuts I have acquired from living in the same place for nearly my entire life.  Therefore, from the subjective perspective of reality ethics it would indeed be ethical to delete/change the posts.

Finally, if one measures the change by impact or outcome, my site stats say that only one person has visited the pages in question.  So, to that person I say “sorry”.

P.S.            While irrelevant from an ethics standpoint, the fact that one of the best posts on NOT deleting/changing blog posts is now a dead link doesn’t hurt.  Also, the posts I deleted also exist in Flicker: here and here.

Open Mouth….

From a writing perspective I have been most uncharacteristically quiet going on nearly 18 months. There are multiple reasons for this hiatus but the best and most recent excuse is the replacement of my Aortic Heart Valve. I have been on a slow but certain path to recovery as my strength and stamina painstaking return via a regimen of exercise and diet. During this time I’ve been following social media of people world famous in Columbus as well as those from Back East and abroad.

At long last, I felt well enough to contribute to the online discussion. So, did I talk about how grateful I am for every day I have on the earth and how lucky I feel to be married to such a wonderful woman as my wife?

Um, no

OK, did I speak of the holiday season? About how enjoyable the holidays are now that we split them between bucolic, old-school Ohio and New York where we see families and I need to be reminded that I’m not a character in an MGM movie?

Nope

How about an easy one. About our Christmas tree this year is the second best I’ve ever had (after 2008) and how it miraculously went from an askew shrubbery to a wondrous decoration simply by my wife and I decorating it together with ornaments reflecting our lives together (with the help of two golden retrievers).

Sorry

My first post during this renaissance was a full-on, both-barrels screed savaging a nice and well intentioned post on “Late Bloomers”. The sentiment was above reproach: that age should not be seen as an impediment to achievement. To illustrate some noteworthy (some would say notorious) “late bloomers” were cited – this is what prompted my bilious response.

I am neither a follower of the “great man” (or whatever the politically correct term is) theory of history neither am I an adherent to “forces of history“. But when individuals are elevated to a height without regard to their frailty it sets off alarm bells. “Great man” describes not only a historical approach but a political philosophy: a malicious philosophy which has caused great damage here and tragedy abroad. Who knows, perhaps I *was* listening after all in Sunday School when the point being driven home was that there was only one flawless character and even He wasn’t above losing his temper or making a mistake.

But, dust having been blown off the composition section of my brain, I am now ready to start writing again and “save others the trouble”.

Picture of the Day

Christmas in Ohio

Originally uploaded by tlillis4

The start of the season! Our tree decorated (but not yet topped by the star – that’s a later picture), fire in the fireplace and fathful Golden napping at the foot of the carpet. Now that’s my idea of a holiday start.

(And, no, the tree isn’t listing dangerous. What made you think that?!?)

Picture of the Day

I never thought they'd fit that seven-foot Christmas tree into the Mini but they did. This was taken at Columbus-Sawmill Anderson's the day before Thanksgiving. A triumph of hope over experience!

Picture of the Day

The lady of the house basking in the glow of her triumphant dinner and the warmth of her faithful dogs (and guest dog). Hey, wait a minute! Where am I suppose to sleep?!?