Look Out! - Another Soap Box - Islam

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Spent the good part of 2 hours working on digging out a stump this morning. I saw what I thought was a small limb coming out of the ground somewhat near the swingset, so I thought, for safety's sake, I would dig it out real quick. One broken shovel and two bottles of water later, I finally got the top part of the stump chopped off so that the rest of it is about 8 inches below the surface. What a bear. Bad thing was it took all my energy to do it. I'm not a manual labor kind of guy (which I've mentioned, once maybe twice...ok a dozen times), and so it was all I could do to get our yard mowed afterwards. I had intentions of getting mom's yard mowed again...but that is going to have to wait for another day.

After I took a shower, Shena and Kelson went down for naps and Cade and I went out to run errands. It was bout 1:30 by the time we left the house, we didn't get back until about 4:30 - 5:00. So that I don't bore you with the details, we went by Target, Omega Sports (where I bought Cade a baseball glove for his birthday present. He's been bugging for one for the last couple of weeks and I figured it was time to get him a "real" one, instead of the plastic one he has now...the one I bought at Omega was 25% off, and was about $6 cheaper than Dick's price...I had to be smooth when I bought it too, so that he wouldn't see. I sent him to the back of the store to look at the baseballs, then snuck off when he wasn't looking. He almost panicked because he couldn't find me [for those who don't know, Omega sounds like a big store...it's not, so it isn't like I was abandoning my kid in some store where a stranger would pick him up...the cash register is by the front door and I told the cashier to keep an eye out for a kid in a Panther's jersey leaving the store]...anyway, he didn't know I bought the glove), we went to one library, Wal-Mart, back to another library (where they were holding something for me), to Grandma A's, then to Harris Teeter. Cade was a good kid the whole time, which surprised me because he was whining up a storm just before we left the house. I was wondering if I was going to be able to get anything done.

I also spent a good part of the day finishing up transferring the files from the old computer to the new computer. It was as tedious as I thought it would be. I tried to do bits and pieces between different things, but I didn't finish it until tonight. I figure I had about 6 or 7 hours invested in the thing. Pretty frustrating. I hope I don't have to do that again for another 5 years.

I borrowed a DVD from the library called "Islam: Empire of Faith" to watch. I honestly don't know much about the religion, and I was hoping it would shed a little light on it and why it has bred some of the extremists it had (although I figure there are millions of others who are smarter than I am that I trying to figure out the same thing). It was interesting, but didn't help much. Then I found out that it was prodcued in 2000. That completely changed my opinion of it. At first I was really disappointed that it didn't even breach the subject of terrorism. It is really just a summary of the first 1,000 years (which I would have figured out had I read the back of the DVD). Knowledge I gained: a little about the background of Mohammed and the beginning of the religion, the main reason behind the Sunni-Shi'ite split (for you Mormons think of the reasons behind the break off of the "Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"), and a little about the spread of the religion.

Here's what bugged me. It seemed to me that it was slanted strongly towards putting Islam in the best light possible. There didn't seem to be much objectivity to it at all. I know, I know, there are people who say everything they see is to put Christianity or Judaism in the best possible light. But as the show discussed the crusades, the narration made it sound like they were completely and totally unprovoked...the Muslims were just minding their own business and did nothing whatsoever to draw the ire of the CATHOLICS (I'm sure there were many other Christians who were opposed to the murder going on). That doesn't excuse the atrocities that went on, but that was the theme of the program. The Muslims never did anything wrong (except for ONE crazy leader who had lost his mind and burned down the church of the holy sepulcher) and the Christians were the unprovoked aggressors. One thing I didn't know how to feel about was the depiction of the original spread of Islam. According to the program, Islam didn't spread by the sword...well, kind of, they say. Mohammed and his group conquered the Middle East, but they didn't MAKE ANYBODY become Muslim. I remember being taught (in public schools, mind you) that there was a clear understanding by the conquered that they would accept Islam, or else. Like I said before...undecided on what might be the truth there. Probably a little of both. Enough about that. I'm obviously no expert on Islam, but I'm glad that I was able to learn a little more. Just makes me wish that people wouldn't group all of the different Muslim sects into one big pot...because I know I don't like being grouped with all those radical, over the top "Christian" groups (like the various neo-Nazi groups that claim to be Christian). But then again we also don't support or condone the acts of these people, we openly apologize for them and their so-called affiliation with Christianity...and there seems to be a reluctance by mainstream Muslims to condemn the terror attacks that happen on a daily basis in the name of Islam. The end.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
We watched 1/2 of Napoleon Dynamite tonight during dinner. You know the part where they are doing sign language during the song "Some Say Love"? Kelson was trying to copy them. Hilarious. We didn't want him to think we were laughing AT him, so we held it in...but I wanted to bust out.

While I was working on that stump, the boys were playing on the playground. I had a "Cat's in the Cradle" moment when Cade went and got his plastic tools and said he wanted to help me. Kelson was on the swing and yelled to Cade "push me!" Cade, in his most serious voice said, "Not right now, Kelson, I'm helping daddy." Makes me wonder how many times he's heard me say "Not right now, Cade" when he wants me to play with him and I think I'm too busy. I made a point the rest of the morning while we were out there to push them if they asked...I don't think I said once "Not right now, I'm busy." I'm going to have to work on that.

Arellano Update
Talked to mom for a few minutes this evening. She finally checked in. Called to say she was fine and that they were having fun. She said she and Marcos were on their way back to Pocatello from Clearfield, UT. She also said dad called to talk to her. He is getting really excited about coming home.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 1:30 - 8:00 - I guess the late nights I had this week made it hard for me to get to sleep last night.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1/2 bowl of frosted mini-wheats (I ate what was left of them)

Lunch: Taco Bell - bean burrito, no onions, Mt. Dew - that's all I had time for...ate as I Cade and I ran the errands.

Dinner: Applebee's - "Pick Two" - Honey chicken and steak sirloin, steamed vegetables (brocoli, yellow squash, carrots), mashed garlic potatoes, garlic bread, coke - sounds like a lot, huh? Well I didn't eat much the rest of the day, so I was just making up for it. It actually wasn't that good...and I was starving. I'm losing my taste for Applebee's I guess. The steak was decent, but not great, the bread soggy, the chicken was actually kind of gross...texture was weird, the vegetables tasted frozen. I also had a piece of hot applie pie (thanks to the microwave) with a scoop of ice cream on top, with 1/2 glass of milk...that made me forget about the bad dinner.