June 2005 Archives

The Supreme Courte recently passed two rulings on the constitutionality of the display of the Ten Commandments in public places. One ruling stated that the display of the Ten Commandments monolith on Capitol grounds here in Austin is OK but that the framed 10 Cs displayed in Kentucky is not OK. As expected, the rulings were celebrated and bemoaned by both sides of the separation-of-church-and-state debate. And more than a few people expressed dismay about the ambivalence expressed by the Supremes.

Even though I'm a strong proponent of the Establishment clause, I actually agree with the court on both issues. The 10 Cs in Kentucky where obviously meant to be a religious display. Obviously, the 10 Cs in Austin were intended that way too, but I think they are a historic reflection of the time in which they were errected -- during the '50s when fear of godless commies was ruling the land.

Another weekend sans family, another trip to the movies. Figuring that I'd never get to see it with Jennifer and since I wanted to have the "DLP Theater Experience" I went and saw Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (yeah, that whole thing is the title) with Dale at the Galaxy Highland 10. That was a couple of hours I'll never get back again...

While I thought I had managed my expectations (after the two other prequels), I still expected something better. The dialog wasn't actually any worse than what I expected but the story line was disjointed, Anakin's and Padme's relationship completely uninspiring and Anakin's move to the Dark Side just not very epic - he still came across as a spoiled kid acting out becouse his mommy wouldn't buy him the Jadi Master Badge in the checkout lane at the grocery store.

I had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. Kind of surreal to actually celebrate the holiday from the recipient's point of view (not that I ever really celebrated it for my dad, since they don't do that in the old country).

We trecked up to Ft. Worth on Friday and spend a couple of days at Jennifer's dad's. Nice and relaxing with no chores to do. I even got to see Batman with Danny, Jason and Jfer's dad. The movie was pretty good, but as villains go, the Scarecrow was very lame with zero personality.

We ventured into the Lucio pool a couple of times, and Magda is really starting to enjoy her Baby Spring Float. We also had a wonderful Father's Day Brunch (well, technically it was more like linner) with great home-made tortillas, courtesy of Meredith.

Both trips to and from Ft. Worth actually worked out well. Magda slept at least half the time and behaved well the rest of it. Although we did have to make a stop or two along the way.

I'd been scoffing at the anti-vaccination zealots in the '90s, but the Deadly Immunity article in Salon indicates that they actually had a valid concern. I figured their "vaccines cause autism" mantra was just another cry of wolf, since it seemed that everything caused autism from all the claims that were being made.

Maybe I hadn't been reading those vaccinations-are-bad stories carefully, but I though the claim was that the vaccines themselves were harmful. It turns out that it's the preservative thimerosal (which contains the neuro-toxin ethylmercury) used in the vaccines that is supposed to be the culprit.

I sure am glad that thimerosal is no longer being used in single-dose vaccines here in the US -- as a "precaution" since it presents "no danger" according to all those pharmaca-funded studies. I assume that the vaccines my generation got also contained thimerosal, but we didn't get as many shots as kids do these days.

Seems like my blogging has been reduced to the occasional update on the girl -- is that what happens when you become a parent? It's not just stopping to go out to the movies?!?

Anyhoo, after being prodded, I've finally posted some more pictures from the last two months. As is plainly obvious, the girl is continuing to flurish. She now weighs in at 19 lbs and she's probably above the 75th percentile in weight for her age.

She's still mostly just sitting around, although she's got a pretty good reach. We practive that by putting a toy far ahead of her and she way leans forward to retrieve it. Occasionally she has to pull herself towards it and one or twice she actually toppled over, which doesn't make her all that happy.

But she's doing better on her belly, sometimes turns back on her back (on either side) or rotates around.

She's still a big clapper and loves to handle and gum anything she can reach. Her eating is getting more consistent and she loves apple sauce and is seriously addicted to yoghurt.