• Vacation vs School.

    Unfortunately, our trip conflicts with school. After a prolonged battle concerning whether it was wise to have Beth out of school for so long, we’re going anyway. I’ll just say that I lost. It’s not because I don’t want to go. I’m dying to go. I’m just worried about the precedent this sets. I want Beth to know that school is our top priority. So what do we do two months into her first year of school? We pull her out of school for almost a week for a trip to New England. I feel like a terrible father.

  • Beth’s progress in school.

    I am happy to report that Beth seems to be doing quite well. We haven’t had an “angry gram” in two weeks. Beth has had nothing but good things to say about school since she started. She has even gotten homework, which she has jumped into with enthusiasm and diligence (the lone exception being when we tried to get her to finish up an assignment at the Olive Garden, just before our meal was served – I have no idea what we were thinking). I haven’t spoken to her teacher since our last ominous but chance meeting, but I’m glad to take what I can get.

  • Are you ready for a war?

    The other day someone asked me what I thought about a possible armed conflict with Iraq. Like my coworker, I don’t really know what to think. What bothers me is, why is this suddenly so important now? As I understand it, the arguments being used for going to war have been valid for five or six years. You might say it’s different now with a new administration. In other words, it was important five years ago, but the last president was a “dove.” But if that’s so, why wasn’t it an issue in the campaign or a priority immediately after the new president took office? You could say that things changed after last September, but I haven’t heard the administration make a case for tying the two together. So if there is no real tie between the two, and there are no new reasons for doing it, I ask you again: why now? Give me a reason, any good reason and I’ll feel better about it. No one I’ve heard who has some knowledge of the situation, other than spokespersons for the current administration, seem to feel that it is critical that we invade now. So why now?