A Tahoe Thanksgiving

Glenbrook was at its finest-fall colors, crisp air, patches of snow and blue skies. Rena discovered that water is not so scary and that fetch is actually quite a nice game. Keenan discovered that even with blue skies the Lake is VERY, VERY cold in November and taking a kayak out without paddles is not a good idea. The entire family discovered that you can have a GREAT Thanksgiving meal even when you forget the mashed potatoes, peas and warm rolls.

Meet Jackson!

Jay B. Miller - RIP

Brother and Uncle Jay passed on to the other side on September 30, 2009. A fine and gentle man. May he be in peace.

We had the November First Friday with a small but valiant group. Tidbits: Deb and Jerry whipped up a fine, spicy pork roast, fall meal. Jerry and I traded secrets on our twin cameras. David discussed his truly wonderful and fabulous sentence (below). It will be interesting to read his completed thesis. Kevin and Pauline were manifique and shared a fine bottle of French wine and lore from Euro land. Is there any other type of wine? Kate was telling us chilling tales of her work world and dysfunctional types. Kristy whipped up a cranberry tarte that would win an award in La France. Bill laughed a lot out of pure joy of the family around the table. We missed Keenan, Jenny, Hennessy, and Jeff. Jeff, of course is too busy to attend, living in Paris and all. Zut alors!

Hey guys, get it together and post something once in a while! What's up with this Brady bunch. Are we really better than them? Well let's prove it by some n'ing and blogs and stuff.

xxo to all. Dad/Sdad/Pazpo of the future.

My great sentence

Here is the sentence I wrote yesterday which I like. I've added the whole paragraph so you can get the context. It's the last sentence.

"...Moreover, there are several good reasons why we should not overly rely on scientific models as a means to ground the validity of the phenomenon of subtle activism.
First, there is the danger that, if we primarily use the methods and standards of empirical science as a way to explain the nature of subtle activism, we risk reinforcing the pervasive cultural assumption that empiricism is the rightful adjudicator of knowledge claims from all domains of human experience, not just those emerging from the study of the natural world. Let us recall that the phenomenon of subtle activism is most often a spiritual activity -- participants typically meditate and pray, they may encounter beings from subtle worlds (guides, ancestors, angels, etc), hear messages of guidance, sense subtle shifts in collective energy flows, or simply be filled with essential spiritual qualities such as love, peace, or compassion. To burden such subtle phenomena with the demands and standards of empirical science may be the epistemological equivalent of attaching lead weights to the wings of angels as a way to measure how well they fly.

YEAH!! YEAH!! YEAAAAH!! WOOOH! WOOOH! in your FACE!!! (Spikes the ball as in a touchdown)



OK, a little bit of an overreaction, but these are the things we dissertation writers need to do to sustain our enthusiasm over the long haul.

Hennessy and I had a little mother/daughter bonding last week-a 48 hour decorating marathon in San Luis Obispo. Hennessy, her roommate Amanda, Amanda's mom Marise and I hit Home Depot, Joanne's Fabrics and Ross and then painted, sewed, sawed and "remade" the girls' new apartment. At 10:30 Thursday night we invited the guy from upstairs (along with a college buddy Montana) out for a late night (well late for the mothers) pizza and called the flurry of activity a huge success.