A Sense of Accomplishment

This post might have been better if published before Christmas, but then some family members might have had their surprise spoiled. If you continue reading, you'll have to bear with the Christmas retrospective. You've been warned.

There seems to be a progression in gift giving that goes on through childhood. Initially very young children are included by default in family gift giving. Then they start to give gifts, usually priceless artwork that they've created themselves. At some later point "store bought" gifts creep in, eventually eclipsing all personal creations, even including greeting cards. A rather accelerated timeline, but essentially accurate for many families.

For individuals that have a particular skill that they develop and practice, acquired either through or after childhood, personally created gifts can take on a whole new meaning. Such is the case with our youngest son this Christmas. We've done a number of wood working projects in the last few years. We started out small, with projects of limited size and scope - and the tools they required. Some have required no more than a saw and a drill, others quite a few more. Some were rough carpentry and others finished table pieces. Needless to say, as with any new experience, some mistakes were made - even necessary for learning opportunities.

Sizing of the project, particulary the duration required for completion has also an important element of our journey. One that was created from raw lumber turned out to be too large in scope and the interest was lost. One purchased partially assembled (!) as a mostly stain and finish project that turned out to be not enough action and interest was lost. So this Christmas was a restart of sorts for a start to finish project.

Going down the list family members that, it was decided that a lap desk was the perfect gift for several. We have several around the house (all purchased), with one in particular that everyone chooses first. It was selected as the model for our project. As simple as it was, it was the perfect scope to get in a little of everything in a wood working project. Pilot measurements, cut patterns, wood selection, saw selection, sanding methods, stain preferences, finishing treatments - we got in a little of each. Manual tools, power tools, rags, brushes were all used and understood for their proper purpose. Differences in grain and hardness of various woods such as ash, pine, alder and red oak were learned (we choose the latter). Design and budget choices were even considered when a fancier, slightly more expensive molding was selected for the book rest. There probably isn't anything we didn't touch at some level.

Interest was held throughout the project, four or five separate work sessions I believe. Each stage had new challenges, opportunities and visible progress. And a growing sense of accomplishment. Here's one of the light stained final products with the young woodworker and the recipient. That was another selection point, who got natural oak and who got the Provincial stain. In the end, as you can see, everyone was happy with the result.



So don't infer any deep statements here about commercialism of Christmas or the value of gifts from this post, neither are intended. This is a simple reflection on the observed pride of accomplishment achieved by creation. And a little fatherly bragging. I'm proud of our son for what he accomplished and to have been a part of helping him achieve it.

We're looking forward to many more projects together!

Airline Security

President Obama held a press conference earlier this evening to assign responsibilities for security failures such as the failed Christmas Day airline bombing. His top counter terrorism aide John Brennan took the blame for that event and promises were made to more effectively link intelligence reports together. The President also acknowledged "the buck stops with me". All good measures for as far as they go and I sincerely hope they do move our nation into a better position to thwart terror plots that would attempt to rob us of our freedom. However, no specifics where given on elements of effective physical security.

What airport security measures are really effective? We've spent literally billions of dollars effectively only avoiding repeat incidents. Restricted container sizes, removing shoes and now staying seated in the last hour of flight are all examples. How effective are these things in really making us safer? How much of this is just "security theater", as Bruce Schneier might say, designed to make us only feel safer?

Without debating if absolute security is possible (I don't think it is), why not focus on something that worked? Have Jasper Schuringa, who subdued the terrorist during the detonation attempt, assist in updating the flight cards that are shown at the beginning of every flight. In addition to seat belt usage and exit locations, passengers could be instructed on what to do if someone intentionally sets fire to their crotch.

Personal responsibility. Even when it costs something personally. What a concept. Something that the 289 persons aboard Northwest Flight 253 certainly can appreciate. Possibly something Washington should consider as effective - in many areas.

National Debt Made Easy

I had a conversation with a friend last night who is way ahead of me in his tax planning. He has already reviewed the 2009 instructions and called me to let me know of some additional deductions and credits he thought my family might be eligible for this year. He was right on one and I'll have to do some reading to determine at least one other. I appreciated the call even if it did give me a vague sense of being "behind". I have to keep reminding myself that he has an earned doctorate in statistics and therefore might be more interested in numbers, financially based or not.

He called while I was reviewing our family budget (on GNUCash) from 2009. Just doing some basic things like cleaning up the backlog of entries from the end of the year when I took a couple of weeks off, insuring all the relevant entries are tagged for tax status and looking at cash flows to adjust some budget accounts for 2010. Standard stuff.

In the midst of all the year-in-review type activity though, its natural (necessary even) to determine if you're better or worse off, monetarily speaking, at the end of the year than at the start. The next natural progression of thought is for the new year, for your family and the country as a whole. As I followed that progression a number of thoughts came to mind on socialism, constitutionality and debt. Which reminded me of an article by the Heritage Foundation that I read before my vacation and intended to write about them. So yes, everything up to this point has been an introduction while getting to the real point.

No matter how much planning you do in providing for your family and keeping out of debt, the government apparently has other ideas.

The Heritage Foundation article on The Debt Limit discusses the raising of the national debt limit (slipped in for an initial vote on Christmas Eve, after the Heritage article was written). In a short one page article, they state what that really means for the country and individuals in clear terms. They then present four brief suggestions on how to take real action against the debt.

It's not the most in depth or comprehensive article on national debt, but one that makes it easy to have a real understanding on some key points. Which is exactly the goal. It can provide some new thinking and discussion points even for those who normally turn away from financial discussions, preferring the easier path of trusting career politicians.

So as you set your personal budget for 2010, just remember that you're not the only one spending the money you've earned or creating debt that you'll have to repay.

Merry Christmas

Luke 2 contains the Biblical narrative of the birth of Christ which is most commonly read at Christmas. At some point this Christmas, Christians would do well to re-read this passage and meditate on its meaning. A full exegesis of those fifty two verses would be too long for a blog post, however we can begin to examine one verse in particular, in this short space.

Luke 2:14 (ESV) - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

This verse is about the vertical relationship between God and man. Not the horizontal relationship between men as it is often misquoted as "peace on earth, goodwill towards men".

The angels are declaring the birth of a Savior, born so God can reconcile men to himself. The peace is among those that God is pleased with. Those that have been reconciled to Him through their acceptance of His Son as Lord and Savior in their lives.

By all means, have peace among your fellow men. However, please insure that you are among those with whom God is pleased. If you have not asked Christ into your life as Lord and Savior, please consider doing so this Christmas. It will be a gift you accept with eternal significance.

Merry Christmas!

This Wasn't On The List

There are a lot of things to get done at Christmas. Most of them are self imposed. Tasks such as helping my wife decorate the house for Christmas, buying gifts for immediate family and serving in Christmas ministry opportunities are all typical examples. To make sure they all get done, putting things in a list works well at our house.

Earlier today I completed the purchase of something that wasn't on any of those lists, prior to the start of this week. The purchase involved a new (rebuilt actually) one of these:


For those that may not recognize it, this is a Honda transmission. Not exactly what most people think of first in terms of giving and receiving at Christmas time, but there it is. In our case, it was exactly what we needed after our van started having major problems shifting out of second gear.

Since we bought the van, all our service has been done at Metro Honda in Union county. They've always seemed a cut above the typical dealer service experience, but until now we've not needed anything other than routine maintenance. This was a lot bigger. Long story short, they earned our trust and gave us great service. We'll definitely continue going there, hopefully for a lot smaller items, in the future.

There's probably a larger set of thoughts here on trust, planning, control and flexibility but those will be an exercise left to the reader. Right now, I'm just happy to have the van back and be able to get back to things on the original list!

Not While Driving

I stumbled across a product that I didn't even know existed earlier this evening - a "car desk". The concept seems valid for people who work out of their vehicles. However the implementation as shown below is what got me thinking:

In a society where companies are sued for serving hot drinks, it just seems like a matter of time before someone tries to drive with their car desk still in place. Now in fairness, the company marketing the product does provide the following warning on it's web site: For safety reasons, never use this product while driving. What business model makes the risk generated by this product viable? Not one I'd choose to operate.

The standard disclaimer definitely applies here: I have no association with this company or its products.

How Much Is Enough?

The EPA has declared carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Carbon dioxide?!!! Before examining the politics and science behind this, lets set some perspective through a simple question: Is this a good or a bad thing? Seriously. Some may state that it is really a complex question, with too many factors to consider.

One test I like to apply in situations where a simple question isn't so easy to answer, is to "test it at the extreme". Often there is clarity in extrapolating the action in question to a larger scale. So for example, if carbon dioxide is a pollutant, pollutants are bad and we want to eliminate all of them - what happens if we eliminate all the carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring substance on the Earth. It is required for all plant life. If it is completely eliminated, all plants die. If all plants die, no more oxygen is produced and we die. Sounds like a bad thing to me.

Not so fast you say? Its not that simple? Just reduce it by some amount? To all those questions, I would respond - how much is enough?

This is not a science question. This is a political question that will claim science as its justification. We will now be faced with the question of who do we trust to set that amount? The answer will drive governmental fines, penalties and fees (taxes). Fairness and justice will be tossed around as ideals not to be opposed, upon fear of character assassination. The funds collected will be redistributed to those "in need".

The basis of the original question has now changed from CO2 to dollars.

Domestically, the EPA bureaucrats, government funded scientists and elected politicians will now attempt to create new regulations to transfer funds from the private sector to the government. On the global level, the Copenhagen Climate conference is attempting to function as a world government and transfer wealth, using a similar rationale.

It might again be a good time to ask - how much is enough?