Regular Life

(Note: Those reading “They Keys Are In It” may now read Part Fifteen. Those who are not, you might as well start now.)
It’s amazing how you find things of interest accidentally on the Internet. When I went to the library to study in college, merely seeing the title on a random book [...]

I think we all know why there are so few successful movies and television shows about well-adjusted families.
They’re kind of boring, from an outsider’s perspective.
Well-adjusted is great for those living it. It’s generally easier on the pocket book, the nerves, and the mental stability of everyone in the house. While a little spontaneity [...]

While Benjamin decides which movie to watch (above)*, I’m second-guessing a parenting decision.
Benjamin received a very cool Star Wars sticker book for his fifth birthday. He came to a page with Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace characters on it and asked, “Do we have the one with these guys in it?”
I happily [...]

(Note: Those reading “The Keys Are In It” may jump into Part Seven. Those who have not started, give it a try.)
At Benjamin’s Fifth Birthday Party (with a Star Wars theme), the boys made up a role-playing game. In the middle Benjamin explains what’s happening and then uses his foot to emphasize [...]

It occurs to me that I often write about things I do, but rarely about passive entertainment. This time, I’ll cover two movies I recently watched.
Both are westerns set on the Texas-Mexico border, and both are set in the present. Unlike most westerns I have seen, these are packed with emotion. The [...]

As some of you know, it’s become a bit of a tradition for me to see a new movie when our family visits my wife’s Tulsa relatives. While I typically take a few of the kids with me, this time I let them see Iron Man (which I already had seen) while their parents [...]

Historically I’ve taken it easy on the United States’ northern cousin, because I didn’t know much about it. I’ve seen numerous comedies making fun of Canada, from the way they talk to their traditions. After I got to know a couple people from “the Great White North,” I realized that those comedies had [...]

I have been fairly easy to entertain all my life.
These days, however, it isn’t so simple. Books still do a pretty good job of earning my thumbs-up, but movies aren’t faring as well. Television, while it has the potential to take the viewer far deeper than a movie can, isn’t doing as well [...]

My grandfather turned his 93-year-old body slowly in the metal folding chair to look my mother straight in the eye. “I’m not sure I approve of your taste in television programs,” he said.
It was strange for the television to be on at all, and what a weird workout it got.
Throughout my youth, I awoke every [...]

Living near a big city, where events previously prohibitively distant are right next door, has allowed my inner geek to bloom. Depending on the circumstances, that could be a good or a bad thing. Out here on the Internet, however, I’m letting it flap in the breeze.
I want to share what I did Tuesday night, [...]