Those crazy kids!

While I was checking my e-mail and Mera was busy cooking dinner, the boys decided they wanted to be Army men:

And Abbey decided she wanted to be a mermaid:

Yes, that was done with Sharpies. And, yes, they have school in the morning.

6 Weeks T.V. Free

No offense to anyone who has struggled with any substance abuse problems, but I feel like a reformed alcoholic who is enjoying my new life but constantly afraid that I will relapse and start drinking again.

It was 6 weeks yesterday that we cancelled our satellite television service. I got a lot of work done. I completed my second revision on my Comprehensive Examination and I have submitted it to me C.E. Committee for review. I feel really good about this one and I think we'll be wrapping that up soon.

I've begun working on my IRB submission. For those of you who don't know, that stands for Institutional Review Board. They essentially approve, mandate, and oversee the research I'll be doing for my dissertation to ensure it is moral, ethical, and doesn't violate any human rights. It is a tedious process to get the procedures and protocols approved; it will take a while.

Despite this, it has been an interesting transition to life without television. Even getting a lot of things done, there are still downtimes that I had nothing to do. My old self would have turned on the TV; my new self has decided that reading a book is better than turning on the TV.

Granted, I have watched a lot of DVDs in the past 6 weeks. But, in the last couple of weeks I've only seen a few movies. So, I have even tapered off with that. But, I have read three books that I really enjoyed:

Push: A Novel by Sapphire. This was an eye-opening book that exposed me to a different reality. I appreciate things in my life and childhood that I previously took from granted. Though this book is small and I read it all in about a day, I must warn you that this is not an easy read. It has very mature topics and issues in it; this would not be appropriate for young adults or adults who are on the sensitive side. This book will make you cry, get nauseous, and upset. This book has also been made into a movie, Precious, which opened is select theatres yesterday. There has been a lot of Oscar buzz about it.

Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser. This is the second book I have read by Schlosser and I have enjoyed both a lot. He is a non-fiction writer who opens your eyes to hidden problems in our society. Reefer Madness is essentially three long-essays on, three different topics, compiled into one book. He discusses the marijuana laws in our country, the birth of modern pornography and obscenity laws, and migrant workers. I am looking forward to his upcoming book on the prison system.

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber. This is the well-known book published in the 1970s that also was made into a movie starring Sally Field. It is very interesting. Sybil had many different selves that through the course of her therapy, were eventually integrated into one being. Sybil was forced to endure unimaginable terror at the hands of her mother; she developed the other personalities to help her cope through the torture.

Next, I'm going to read Rediscovering God in America by Newt Gingrich.

Our new toilets...

This is exciting stuff people! We are getting our toilets replaced, for free, by our local water company to High Efficiency Dual Flush toilet.

That's right, one button for number 1 and another for number 2. According to their material, this will save a family of 5 almost 6,000 gallons of water per year. I'm happy to do my part to save the earth, even when I'm taking care of business.

Watch...

Update on Life Without TV

Oh my goodness. What am I going to do? I don't have any television to watch!!!

I have my ups and downs. There are days when I am very glad that we don't have any TV anymore...days when at the end of the day, I look back and am pleased with all that I have accomplished that day.

Then there are days when the TV is calling my name.

"Tom. Tom. Where have you been?"

It is mostly in the evenings, after the kids are in bed and I just want to relax a little bit. I really miss the TV then. It is just instinctual to sit down and turn the TV on.

But, then again, that is missing the whole point of cancelling our satellite service. The whole idea was to use the opportunities when I would have watched the boobtube to get work done that I need to get done. I just need to keep telling myself that.

"Tom. Tom. Where have you been?"

"I'm busy, getting my work done. You've been a great friend these past 31 years, but sometimes a friendship simply comes to an end. Good bye."

Life without Television

How was the season premier of The Amazing Race? Who has lost the most weight on The Biggest Loser? What about Survivor...is Russell still playing his mind games?

Seriously, I don't miss TV all that much. I don't really care about the shows that I'm missing. What I do miss though...the background noise. I've always done my work with the TV on. School work, reports for work, you name it and the TV was always going in the background. I'm trying to transition to having music playing, especially since it doesn't require the same mental attention that the TV does and it doesn't interrupt getting work done.

It is a completely different lifestyle. The craziest part is that Mera and the kids don't really even notice a difference. I can't think of a single show on TV that the kids watch and Mera has just been too busy...she even missed the whole last season of The Amazing Race...her favorite show...because she just didn't have time to worry about it.

I'm all alone in my plight!

My dad is crazy!

I love harassing my dad. He makes it so much fun! Most of you reading this blog know my dad, but for those of you who don't, I really can't give you an accurate description of his personality...it is just one of those things you have to experience for yourself.

Long story longer, my brother put his family on a family cell phone plan with my parents that has unlimited text messaging. I have only sent one or two texts to my mom previously, which she responded to. I'm not a huge texter; I use it when I don't have time to get into a full conversation or I'm in a meeting or something and I can't make a phone call.

My dad doesn't understand that. He has about 23.5 spare hours a day since he doesn't really do anything. In all honesty, he probably watches about 10 hours of TV a day. So he doesn't understand that other people are busy and use technology to manage their schedules.

Back to the texting. My parents were coming up to visit last weekend and my grandpa was maybe coming with them. I sent my mom a text asking her if grandpa was coming or not. Now, even though she has sent me texts before (and she even admitted to thinking it was fun), I received no response. When they got to my house, I asked "Why didn't you respond to my text?"

Before my mom could even open her mouth, my dad said "We don't text." So, because he has arbitrarily decided that texting is unnecessary (and he knows absolutely nothing about it), my mom has been forbidden from texting. Can anyone say control freak? That sounds like a healthy marriage, huh? My mom can't make decisions for herself...she does what her husbands barks at her to do.

So, in typical Clobes style, I started sending my dad a lot of text messages. Only two or three a day...nothing too crazy.

The kicker though, I wouldn't talk to my dad on the phone. I told him, "I don't cell phone. You need to send me a text." Why are cell phones O.K. to use, but texts are utterly ridiculous?

Just now I got a threatening phone call from my dad telling me to stop sending him texts "or else they'll be ramifications." I asked what those would be exactly, as I live two hours away and am an adult that moved out of my parents house (and cut off financial support) when I was 19. He hung up.

This is particularly funny because my dad taught me this style of harassment. He harassed me endlessly when I was a kid...over everything you could possibly imagine. And now that I get him back, it drives him nuts.

So, the $25,000 question. Do I send him another text?

Big Changes are Coming

There are big changes in store for The Clobes Crew. Most of you know by now that Mera went back to work last month after being home with the kids for almost 8 years. That was already a big change for us.

Well, now I've been offered a Graduate Assistant position within my Ph.D. program. My primary responsibilities would be to co-teach two different undergraduate courses and develop a program evaluation survey for current sudents and alumni of the masters program. This is a HUGE opportunity for me. It will help develop my teaching skills, broaden my expertise, and be an excellent resume-builder. Not to mention I would really enjoy it.

In order to add my new responsibilities into our routine (as well as all of the other stuff we are doing), we are going to have to make some changes. The are two big changes we'll have to make.

First, I'll have to practice a lot more self-discipline. I won't be able to waste time checking Facebook (hence the decision I made to deactivate my account) and I'll have to take advantage of every spare opportunity to get my work done. This shouldn't be too big of a problem; I am generally a pretty self-motivated person.

The other big change. We have cancelled our satellite TV service in order to eliminate that distraction! This was a hard decision, believe me. But, Mera doesn't watch any TV anymore since returning to work; she simply does not have the time. The kids only watch an hour or two a day and at least 80% of that is DVDs. Me? Now that is a different story. I watch about an hour or more in the morning before the kids even wake up. In the afternoon and evening, I easily watch another two hours or more. If I eliminate TV, that gives me an extra three or more hours every day to work on my school work as well as my teaching and other responsibilities.

The only show that I cannot live without is Lost...and this is the final season. Thankfully ABC offers it online and I can catch up then. Besides, I want to get all of the seasons on DVD anyway.

Wish us luck on our big changes and my new position!

Who's that?

Who is that big tall guy?

I'm Back!

Recently I had decided I was going to post a topic entitled "Are Blogs Dead?" I was going to address my family's recent transition to Facebook as a means to keep one another updated and posit that we delete our blogs and embrace the new way in which we have chosen to keep each other up to date.

But then I began to realize how much I missed blogging. As a whole, I am not a creative person. I think very concretely and am easily annoyed and confused by the those who think and talk more abstractly. However, my blog had become a creative outlet of sorts for myself. It provided me a medium to walk family, friends, and strangers through our adoption process. I used it to discuss dilemmas I was facing. During the presidential election, my blog became a tool to display my support for the candidate of my choice.

I also came to a realization that Facebook was taking up too much of my time. Blogs offered the opporutunity to keep up to date on my loved ones and for me to reciprocate. Facebook became a nuisance in which I was kept up to date on people's insignificant daily decisions, irrelevant musings, and even bowel movement status. It wasn't just annoying, it was wasting valuable time. My blog offered me what I was looking for in a creative format without consuming as much time and only wasting a fraction of the amount of time.

I have deactivated my Facebook account. Look to this blog to find important updates.

Star Wars & My Kids

Let's start with the basics. The first Star Wars movie came out before I was even born. Episodes V and VI were released when I was two and five, respectively. My parents weren't into the series very much and as I was too young to have any influence on what movies to go see, so I don't believe I saw them as a kid. Not to mention VCRs weren't really all that common (if around at all) yet, so I didn't see them later either.

So, as an adult, I am generally unfamiliar with the trilogy's and the prequels' plots, storylines, or many of the characters.

However, my children are obsessed with Star Wars. Owen has seen all of the episodes except for III since it is PG-13. Abbey and Ethan have seen parts of the other five, but aren't quite as familiar with them as Owen. All three of them have played Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the Wii quite a bit, especially since summer has started.

Owen has an uncanny ability to relate any aspect of his life to Star Wars. He'll meet someone whose name is similar to one of the characters. Or he'll learn a new move in karate and explain how Luke Skywalker could use that move to fight Darth Vadar (or something like that). And last night, with the fireworks, he could barely contain himself with the comparisons of the flashing lights and how much they looked like various weapons used in the episodes.

Ethan and Owen talk about Star Wars incessantly. I can't stand it. I can't relate to it. I don't know what they are talking about since I haven't watched any of these movies.

I try to show an interest. But it is hard. I would watch the movies with them so that I could relate better, but who has the time to sit down for ten plus hours. I also don't really have much of an interest.

I guess I will just have to wait for them to grow out of this phase. Who knos what is around the next corner.