Christmas Greetings

Daniel, Michal, Zion and I go over to the Hogue's for dinner most Tuesday nights. Daniel loves playing with all the new toys and reading new books. His favorite book at their house is "Bum Pum Pum" (or, the Little Drummer Boy). This has now become his favorite song to sing. In fact, he often sings it over me when I try to sing any other song.

Daniel Peregrine - Little Drummer



More Photo Booth fun at the bcBlog

The Good, The Bad, and The Mustache

Here's a movie Nathan Alberson and I made over Thanksgiving Break. Hope you enjoy my mustache.

Christmas Gift Exchange

Up until a few years ago, when (almost) everyone would be home for Christmas, we had a gift exchange plan that worked well for our family. Names were exchanged the day after Thanksgiving, and each person bought a gift for one other brother or sister. But, the "exchange" did not work well when family members were excluded by distance or other Christmas plans. We (meaning I) decided that only those who would be present for Christmas should participate primarily so that the younger ones, especially, would have the joy of giving and receiving their gifts in person. Now that new families are sprouting and the youngest children at home are growing up, I think we need a new Christmas gift exchange plan.

A friend told me that in her family there is a rotation plan. Each individual (or family) buys for one other individual (or family) each year--that remains the same as our plan. But the schedule is set in advance; there is no secrecy. Peter and Jess, for example, would buy a gift for Matt and Emily the first year, Ben and Michal the second year, Jon the third year, and on around the family until they had bought a gift for each other brother and sister (or family). This plan would allow everyone to participate without a burden on anyone. It also opens up a greater possibility of hand-made gifts that might take longer than a month to complete. Every family member could add creative touches to the gift.

Since we have already exchanged names for this Christmas, I am proposing that we begin the new plan with Christmas 2009. The list would be published at the beginning of January. So....please consider this proposal and respond with any queries, addenda, suggested modifications, or a simple thumbs up or down. Thanks.

Dunvegan

Do you ever get the feeling that you are being watched, and then you turn around and you are being watched by some creepy seven foot tall homeless guy with no teeth? He then looks away and you go on picking garbage out of the dumpster behind the supermarket.

Well, as Matt has pointed out before... Google is watching you! Quick, run to the window and wave!

Jude's Monkey Blog

Just a couple months ago Jude and I decided to set up his own blog so that he can post stuff he's interested in. So far he has come up with two movies. He wrote down the ideas, talked with his sisters Ashley and Aravis, and had them star in his short films. You can follow this link to see what he's posted... http://judesmonkeyblog.blogspot.com/ I reccomend watching the film "Soccer" first, and then "Frisbee" considering that you should almost always watch movies in the order they were filmed.

Do You Gmail?

I know some of you are on the Gmail, some are not. When I started up my gmail today I noticed it looked a little different. The colors were a little bolder, it looked cleaner. So I snooped around and found that the Google team had added 'Themes' to their mail program allowing users to 're skin' their email account. It's these simple little things that I love about the Inter-web-net-tubes. Now I just spend 10 minutes looking through all the themes to find the one that's right for me... which one is right for you (gmailers)?

If you're not already on gmail and still use something else (Yahoo? Come on Dave!) you should switch... it'll be like giving yourself an early Christmas present.

Enjoy.

YouTube Contest

Well... not really.


YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A 'Good' Video

Happy Brithday Pop

In The Next Four Years

I am not one to make predictions or talk at length about politics. Here, however, are some things that I am looking forward to over the next four years:

1. Finally getting a gun --- Not knowing how long we will have this right (or even the right to talk about it) I will get a gun to protect my family and my rights.

2. Move to Texas --- I am really hoping that in the next week or so Texas announces it's succession from The Union. I really don't want a war here, but it would be nice to have an oil-rich country to move to.



3. Purchase a hybrid, hover-car --- this really has nothing to do with the election or moving to Texas, I just think we're well overdue for hover-cars and I think it would be really sweet.

So what are you looking forward to (if anything)?

Here Comes The Sun, Doot Doo Doo Doo...

And now for something...

...completely different.

This from the deep tomes of the inter-tube-web:

Alles Neu - Peter Fox



I apologize if this guy uses profanity in his music, but it's in German. In German, everything sounds like profanity.

A Vote for Capitalism

Driving Elisabeth to the Benners' this morning, we passed the Catonsville Middle School. Cars lined the street for several blocks, and the line of people stretched far down the sidewalk. I decided to wait until mid-morning before going to the polls, thinking the lines would have diminished. At 10:00 am, cars were stretched up and down the street in front of Westowne Elementary, and the line of people there looked just as long as the line I had seen earlier. It moved quickly, however, and it was only about a half-hour from the time I got on line until I had voted.
One entreprenurial fifth grade class had stategically placed a large table of sweets for sale as a fund raiser for their Philadelphia field trip and even had students pacing up and down the waiting line selling drinks and snacks. Does anyone else think it's odd that Capri Sun sells for $0.50 while water sells for $1.00?
I don't remember the voter turn-out being so high in any other presidential election in which I participated. Are the others finding the same results where you're voting?

Jumping Jon

Consistently (and this has nothing to do with the Guest post below) Japanese culture baffles me. Don't ask how, but I stumbled upon a Japanese McDonald's site today that allows you to upload a picture of yourself (or your brother Jon) and turn it into a Fast Food themed avatar --- in this case, a hash brown. Mmmm, could anything make you want to eat at a Big Mac more than seeing Jon's face with a red-dot-nose dancing around to Japanese children singing a Zelda song? I submit it could not!

You can sign up here, they'll email you your password.

Clarification

I kind of hope that it's obvious who you all are going to vote for here in a few days. Maybe I'm wrong, and I don't really know any of you, but as a Crum I'm pretty confident... Anyways, I've been seeing Obama's campaign posters on television, and I realized I could maybe help clear up what he really meant to say:

Remember to vote early and vote often.

Anonymous

Recently I (an anonymous user here on the Crum Family's Blog) saw a list of currently acceptable 'politically correct' terms for everyday use. I say 'currently' accepted because this list seems to change every week or so adding a new term to the list of 'non-correct' terms or rendering one of the previously accepted modified terms now unacceptable.

Here's how it works. Christopher Columbus landed on a continent he believed to be Asia, thus he referred to the native people as 'Indians' (persons from India), though, he would have been better off calling them Chinese since there are more Chinamen on the Asian continent than Indians. Since then we (white people) have called the natives to this land 'Indians'. This is wrong. We should only call people what they want to be called.

So, wanting to know the truth behind this, I searched for 'Politically Correct Terms' and came up with this list:

Mentally Challenged instead of Retarded / Retard
Little person instead of Midget
Jewish Person instead of Jew
Native American instead of Indian
Inuit instead of Eskimo
Homeless Person instead of Bum

There is also the word niggardly" which means stingy or cheap. Although it is not considered offensive by definition, it sounds way to close to the racial slur for blacks. You should probably avoid using it.

Chink is another word th[a]t means a crack or chip. It is also a slur for a Chinese person. I'd avoid using it.

What? Jewish person instead of Jew? I didn't know Jew was derogatory! And we can't use words because they sound like a word that is offensive? What in the world! What about words and gestures that sound like/look like offensive gestures in other cultures? Aren't we supposed to be culturally sensitive? This is just ridiculous... we're going to politically-correct ourselves into slavery.

Well, I hope this video helps stem the tide: Enjoy!

victoria, continued

The General Council convened this morning. Since I am not a delegate or an alternate I have no obligation to attend any of the meetings. So, this morning I window shopped my way up to Roberta's Hats, the shop I was interested in visiting. I tried on a myriad of hats of all sorts, mostly to find one to purchase, but some for fun. Unfortunately, there was a store policy against photography, otherwise you would be seeing me in a rather elegant tri-cornered captain's hat--which really was stunning and quite becoming. I bought a more sedate blue wool winter hat which may appear later in the blog. I made reservations in a nearby town, Oak Bay, for tea this afternoon at the White Heather Tea Room. It was lovely, even though I was by myself. I went prepared with a book, so I wasn't really alone after all. One of the hotel staff drove me to Oak Bay, but I walked home (3-4 miles) by a scenic route through a residential area. The pictures here are of the gardens in the Government House, the residence of the Governor General, which was on my way. I was told this is where members of the royal family stay when they are in Victoria.

416 Walnut Ave.

I have a tendency to be nostalgic on here and want to take a few seconds of your time to inform you of a new (to me) feature on Google Maps… Street View. I did not research the technology behind this feature, but basically my guess is that a vehicle of some kind drives around cities, primarily in the U.S., with a panoramic camera attached, and records still images as it goes. This has led to the following discovery, our old house on Mare Island. It has the address wrong, but it has been almost 20 years since we lived there. As I took a virtual tour of the island I stopped by several memorable locales - St. Peter’s, the park with the gazebo and bunkers, the field where we played soccer, and the golf course. I found other houses, in Creve Coeur and Valrico, but this feature has its limits and houses in Landisville, Camp Pendleton, and Catonsville did not make the cut. I Hope this opens a new realm of searches and brings back many good memories.

victoria, part 3

Our walking tour today began in the Beacon Hill Park which is a center of controversy regarding the rights of the the homeless to use public space for camping. The park is large and beautiful, with many small lakes. We didn't see the tent city; I believe for now the tents may not go up until 9 pm and must be down by 6 or 7 am. At the far side of the park is a wide bay with mountains to be seen in the distance. The shore is pebbled with large round stones and littered with driftwood and seaweed. Coming back into Victoria we pass the government building. I don't think the pictures are in order, but I'm sure you can match them with their descriptions.

Victoria, part 2

These are pictures from Victoria, BC, including a view of the Reformed Episcopal Church of Our Lord, which we can see from our hotel room window. We are close to the Inner Harbour, but that view is blocked by other hotels. The other two pictures were taken in Victoria's Chinatown.

Victoria, part 1

Unaware that our (apparently mistaken--see Peter's post) scientific philosophy could land us in Victoria, BC, with just a few well-directed hops, Pop and I slapped down some cold cash for airplane tickets to get us here yesterday. We boarded planes in Baltimore, Chicago, Portland, and Seattle and spent time in each of those airports, too. Now we are on a beautiful island off the western coast of Canada.
I have done very little world traveling, so it still surprises me to find my romanicized views of other cities shattered by traffic, shopping malls, McDonald's golden arches, and all of the other mundane symbols of my usual suburban economic life. I expected Victoria to look Elizabethan (not even Victorian), with quaint shops and thatched roofs. I didn't expect 20-story hotels that block the views of the harbor and mountains.
One thing I especially enjoyed yesterday was flying over the Rockies. You get one view of the grandeur from the ground, another from high in the air. The mountains appear almost as wide from that bird's-eye perspective as they seem when traveling by car. The land seems smooth and desert-like as you fly across the plains. Then, suddenly, it folds up in front of your eyes, like crumpled suede, dusted with evergreens and snow. Although there was some cloud cover, for the most part the view was clear and awesome. I was amazed at how few roads there are, and conseqently, how much unvisited land there must be.
We are enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning. We got up before 6 after a good night's rest. We had breakfast Pop bought last night--bread, cheese, and pears plus tea. Now he's at the "gym" and a little later we'll walk to church. This afternoon we'll explore the Inner Harbor area which is just a short walk downhill. I've got Sayers and Woodhouse and Tey to read, so I'm set for a relaxing week.