These kids are really good, especially considering their age.  I had to post this in honor of my die hard Steelers fan in-laws and hubby of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTflRQzCZg

A question of perspective:   

Obama/Biden  vs McCain/Palin

What if things were switched around?  Would the country's collective point of view be different?  Could racism be a factor?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review, while Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Cindy McCain had graduated from Harvard, while Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?  (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

 What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list.  If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International  Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College – 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land, not to mention our standing in the world.

Over the weekend, we set up two aquarium tanks with milkweed plants and monarch butterfly caterpillars.  Matt took one to school for his classroom and we have one in the family room for the whole family to enjoy. I think that Matt and I have enjoyed watching these caterpillars more than the kids have.  Yesterday, one of the caterpillars went into it's typical "J" position from the underside of one of the leaves.  We've been watching for it to metamorphose into a chrysalis.

I popped home for lunch and took a peek at Mr. J to find him still hanging in the same spot but undulating - it almost looked like his body was going through peristalsis.  I took 10 minutes to eat my sandwich only to then find him halfway to a chrysalis.  I stayed home much longer than the allotted hour to watch the whole process.  Here's a time series of shots that I took (the scale is off and I had to deal with flash reflections off the glass) and it is so amazing to see how quickly the whole process took:



I imagine that it probably hurts immensely to go through such an amazing body transformation in such a short period of time.

I work with the birder interviewed at the end of this piece:

http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?mid=846854704

He is truly a nut!  He once drove all the way to Nova Scotia and back in a weekend to get a glimpse of a bird.  He went through Labor Day weekend with only about 6 hours asleep because he was in some birding competition.  You can't doubt his dedication.

Just finished watching it tonight and all I can say is, "Holy Crap!".  

I did a friends cut today.  I doubt that anyone will take offense.  If you never commented or never responded to comments I made in your journal, I figured you probably wouldn't care.

I've added a couple of journals recently that are essentially a picture of the day sort of thing.  I think it's a great idea to help motivate you to take more pictures.  Since we have this nice camera, trying to do this myself might help me learn more about our camera and help me to take better pictures.  I may not completely faithful but I'll try my best.  So, if I'm successful, I'll have 365 pics a year from now that I might not have otherwise taken.

Here's a shot of one of my zinnias in the big planter out in front of our house:

test