I'm Putting the Band Back Together!

Well boys, it's been nearly two years ago that we joined up with our brothers and cousins to cut our inaugural musical patchwork. The album was called "The Short Bus", by the Birchard Boys.

I've listened to most of the songs (excepting mine and a few select others) numerous times and I always smile, laugh and remember how cool and at ease we all became once the beer and tunes started flowing!

What fun, what stories, what craziness. So ... want to do it again?

I was thinking that Marc's next Iowa road trip might become the catalyst to a break away sequel for just the Baldwin Boy contingent of the band. We could book the studio, agree on songs, and create some more memories. I would love it!

What do you think?

The Age of the Self

We now live in an age of idolatry of the Self. We have persuaded ourselves that first and foremost we live to realize our own Selves for our own good. Having made the Self the central concern and value in our lives, we should not be surprised if self-centered behaviors have become more prevalent than altruistic ones. We shouldn't be surprised if civility has suffered. The more we focus on our Selves and our self-gratification, the less moral energy we have available to spend on others and the less attuned we are to others' well-being. We emerged from the upheaval of the 1960s and '70s with a stronger belief in the decency of equality and the goodness of freedom. What many of us are learning or relearning now is the essential role that self-control plays in the lives of democracies. The emphasis on individual rights and entitlements in advanced democracies makes self-control particularly relevant to us. It is in part to prevent the massive intervention of government and the law in our everyday lives that we are expected to develop a civil discipline. As a system of self-regulation, civility assures the survival of self-determination. It is nothing less than the life-blood of democracies.

Choosing Civility by P.M. Forni

Technology Sucks

Marc's post about life without the Internet left me thinking about my view and use of technology these days. First, I'm not as tech savvy as either of my brothers.

Further, I'm quickly approaching the time where I will join forces with my father and declare technological innovation with general discord, suspicion and disregard.

I am racing toward the breaking point where I no longer will want to know what technology can do for me. It already does enough. What I will want it to do for me then is create more independence from screen staring and create more time for the important things in life. No more punching keys like rats collecting food pellets. Now there's a mission for Apple!

I'm afraid that era is gone forever ... when one could be in a public place without technology being visibly present or utilized. Instead, this mythological place will become the folklore of old people in pleats, wide ties and dinner jackets at bingo parties where actual paper sheets and corn are used to determine winners and losers!

All exaggeration and expletives aside some technologies can be good - they are the ones driven to increase and enhance leisure time. Their value proposition is on increasing the "play time" in your life. And these technologies still have a play in my life. If, on the other hand, a new technology increases the convenience of doing work 24/7 from anywhere on the planet then I'll pass! I'll gladly leave that for the next generation of ladder climbing wannabees.

Midlife Crisis?

As the story goes, a doctor once said that "no one on their death bed says they wish they would have spent more time at work". Well, right now I'm feeling that way more than ever.

It seems most people let life lead them, rather than vice versa and I feel I've fallen prey to this a little bit. After all, how many people do you know that can say "I did exactly what I wanted to do". The reality is that most people can't. And there is a stark reality in knowing that generally we aren't afforded that much discretion in our lives. Can't get up one day and say "I'm not going to work, I'm going to spend the day fishing with my kids", or do whatever feels like the right use of the time for the day.

Nope. We have responsibilities, accountabilities, duties, expectations ... blah, blah, blah. Most of these are self inflicted. Self inflicted based on a few key life choices we make. It's an interesting analysis when you think about the four or five decisions that had the most material impact on your life.

Education? Profession? Place to live? Marriage? Kids? That's my four or five. The latter two have undeniably been the best decisions in my life. The first three? Well, these choices were the best for me at the time and place I was in my life. But I'm changing in mindset. In hindsight, maybe I would change them. But suffice to say, I've worked hard to get where I've been ... and been lucky.

Most people would characterize the same four or five choices I've named as being the biggest of their life choices also. Perhaps one or two changes, but generally the same. And it's hard to imagine that if these choices are made consciously that someones life could turn out too much differently than what they wanted.

Funny how "life stages" play such a role in these decisions. Yeah, that's a nice way of saying, getting old.

I'm spending a lot of time these days contemplating my decisions. And the decisions I want to make for the rest of my life. I'm not normally a planner and my thinking of the subject certainly hasn't been refined to what I would consider planning.

But there are a lot of things still on my bucket list to accomplish.

I do feel good about what I've accomplished to date, and the fruits of that effort. But it's a long race and hopefully when it's over I can look back on it with even more satisfaction.

Marc: Life without the Internet

All joking aside I had no idea how much I would hate not having easy access to the internet.

We closed on our home on 27 May and moved in that day. We didn't bother setting up any kind of TV or internet service in advance since we knew all of our stuff would be delivered on the 28th and we would have plenty to do. We finally got our internet installed today (9 June), Verizon FIOS if you care to know who is our provider. That's almost two weeks off the grid.

Man, am I glad to be back on the web! Internet is the new TV for me; I do fine without TV, but not without internet. And not just because of my social networking (fancy name for Facebook). Here's a (not so) short list of reasons that I seriously missed the internet:

1) Weather updates.
2) News. I get all my news from the web including headlines, sports scores, and local news.
3) Access to manuals/tech details on stuff in the house. For example, we wanted to sell the fridge and washer and dryer left here in the house. For ease in listing them, it would have been nice to plug in the model numbers to find the manuals and details.
4) Help/advice in working around the house. For example, I was doing some electrical work and was uncovering some weird stuff in the switch plates and was wishing I could research it.
5) Blog. My brother Brad kept bugging me about keeping up with blogs.
6) Email. Not having access to email is like not having a phone. In addition, I don't keep a hard copy contact book so all of the contact info for my friends is on my yahoo account. Not very handy when you don't have access to it.
7) Purchases/shopping. We hardly buy anything anymore without researching prices online first or actually finding exactly what we need online.
8) When I'm not checking the Facebook ticker I feel totally out of the loop with friends/family. I have a brother that is still doing the Al Baldwin on the idea of Facebook so I still have to call him all the time instead.
9) Skype rocks. We talk to our nephews in California, and all of Jennifer's family for that matter, on Skype video chat.
10) Maps, primarily addresses and directions to places that we want to go, especially since we're living in a neighborhood that's new to us.
11) Lyrics. I hear songs that I like on the radio and find them by remember one line from the song and then searching for it by those lyrics.
12) Podcasts. I like to listen to PTI and ATH in the car since they each only take about 20 minutes that way, and not seeing the video doesn't detract from it at all.
13) Reservations.
14) Fantasy sports. Good thing we're in the off-season right now!

I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I sew this up and post it. I've always mocked the idea of an iPhone, but I often found myself peering over Jennifer's shoulder during the past two weeks as she was checking her email on her phone. Maybe I'm more like Dad than I think I am!

Thank you Al Gore. I love the world wide web!

Farewell to Ken Griffey Jr.

This is not a post about baseball, its a post about one of the best pro athletes of our time. Ken Griffey Jr. announced his retirement from baseball yesterday, and both baseball and sports fans in general will miss him. Not only is he one of the greatest of his generation, he was a good guy in the community, a good guy in the clubhouse, and a good guy in the sport.

When I was growing up, playing 100 baseball games a year, Ken Griffey Jr. was the hottest in baseball. His sweet lefty swing, his flashy glove in the outfield, and his infectious smile made him irresistable as a hero in baseball. The ultimate judge of fan interest for young boys is...baseball cards. I would guess I have as many Ken Griffey Jr. cards as any other player.

See a you tube video highlight here of his career. There hasn't been a prettier swing in baseball, before or since Ken Griffey Jr.