My Daughter's Hero

For a year or 2 now, I've been my oldest daughters hero. It's been kind of fun to watch, but it's also given me pause to think before I do stuff.

My parents were good people, but the one thing I never saw them doing was stepping outside the box and trying to better themselves. My dad was devoted to providing for our family and my mom was devoted to being a stay-at-home mom. I think they did themselves a huge disservice by doing that, and I sometimes wonder if they did us kids a disservice as well. My girls are already asking when they can do a triathlon with me. My oldest wants to know if she can try and do an ironman with me when she turns 18.... I've said sure, but this means I'm going to have to do at least 1 before then, and then keep myself fit enough that I can still do one when I'm 44. Not a bad motivator at all, and I think she has the drive that she could probably pull it off.

I got to thinking about this topic yesterday... The same daughter had her birthday party. We had a friend of mine run the party. My friend is in the process of starting up a kids fitness center, and parties are part of what they do. It went really well, and the kids loved it, but that wasn't what got me thinking about hero's... My friend always carries water with her in a Nalgene bottle... So as she's walking around setting up the games and cones and all that, the bottle goes around as well. My daughter was stuck to her like glue from the minute she walked in the door, and then all of a sudden, 10 minutes into it, she dashed into the house and vanished for a couple of minutes. She emerged with one of my water bottles and has been carrying it around ever since. I thought it was pretty cute!

I think hero worship is a good thing in moderation. If we can identify a hero and are able to take from that person habits and traits which make us better. I think the danger comes in becoming obsessed with that person and following everything they do, regardless of whether it's good or not.

I have some hero's too. I think they would likely be embarrassed to be mentioned here, so I won't, at least not now. I'm sure they're generally just normal people, but they have also done extraordinary things in their lives. To all my hero's past, present and future, Thanks! To those whom my kids do and will worship, thank-you as well, and know that there is a good chance you have someone, somewhere that looks to you as an example and wants to be like you.

GeoCaching!!!

I've been trying to find something for the Mrs and I to do together. Having kids seriously affects your ability to relate to one another and you lose a lot of your identity. I got the tri bug last year and have gotten a little of my identity back, which I think has helped me be a better father as well - Plus I now have at least 1 tri-junkie for a daughter.

So we've been trying to find something for my wife to get into, and were hoping it was something we could do together. A few months ago, someone told her about GeoCaching. She got really excited - so did I.

Last night the GPS arrived... The UPS guy who delivered it, awakened me from the nap I was having following 2nd grade field trip to the zoo - but that's another topic.

Following dinner last night, we headed out with 3 caches loaded into the unit. The unit is remarkably accurate...

Cache # 1 was found by the wife at the top of a spruce tree.

Cache # 2 was found by the wife in a metal bracket.

We then decided to try one more before calling it a night...

Cache # 3 was one we tried to find with friends a few weeks back, without success. Knowing now what we were looking for, we returned. It took a few minutes, but I located it in a small spruce tree, right near the bottom.

So last nights results were:

3/3 caches found and a great time had by all, in spite of the weather. I think I know what we'll be doing this weekend!

Marathons, Gay Marriage and Peace...

It's been a busy week around the Koda household over the past few days... Peace continues between the wife and I... I am no longer a bastard, but may have to do something about some of the circumstances leading up to the problem last week. Another reason on my list of why organized religion is a monster that should be destroyed.

Saturday saw the day of the Ogden Marathon. I have been registered for this since October last year, and pretty nervous about it lately due to some injuries. It could not have gone better. For those of you that are interested there is a race report here and hopefully some pictures will get added to it later in the week.

There has also been a fair amount of debate on another blog I read about various issues, including the topic of Gay Marriage in California. If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know that I'm pro gay marriage for a number of reasons, my own preference for the gentler sex, notwithstanding... And if you aren't a regular reader, now you know! I've been chiming in occasionally, generally just trying to offer my take on the situation as opposed to trying to argue or beat anyone down. I was beat down on one issue, and realized something in the process...

The problem with people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other political commentators from both sides, is a lack of original thought. All their content is geared towards why the other side is something to be feared. The person who beat me down didn't have anything to offer on his own, he just liked to point out everywhere I could possibly have made a mistake. I'm not above apologizing when I'm wrong, but unfortunately he then smelt blood in the water. I'll spare you the rest of the story though...

The Great Mystery

I'm in trouble with Mrs Koda. Unfortunately I'm not sure exactly why, but I do know that for sure, that asking why will only make the situation worse.

I have some ideas what may have sparked it, but generally the outcome of most of those reasons should be that I should be mad, not her... Perhaps she's upset that I'm choosing not to get upset over what is really trivial in the grand scheme of things...

All that aside, I still don't know, and at the rate at which the communication is going, I may never know.

I've tried to talk about it a couple of times, but it only seems to fuel the flames.

What is a conservative?

I ripped on Glenn Beck a few weeks ago. Today he gave the following definition on his radio show...

To be a conservative is, in my definition, is somebody that believes in the power of the individual, somebody that believes, please let me make my decisions, that I have a right to succeed and not be penalized for it. I have a right to fail and have no one run to me if I don't want them to run to me. A conservative believes I have a right to manage my family, I have a right to discipline my family in the way I see fit, as long as it is not criminal. A conservative believes I have the right to worship God, I have a right to worship the God of my understanding, and I do not have the right to jam my version of God down anybody else's throat or my version of no God down anybody's throat. A conservative believes live and let live. That's what a conservative believes. A conservative believes in the smallest amount of government, the smallest government you can get without anarchy. That's what a conservative believes.

I'm not sure if he actually believes that, or if there is a mainstream political party that sticks to that definition either - There is the libertarian party... But I have to give him credit for an excellent definition.

1 quick step to hypocricy...

I'm not sure I know anyone who isn't a hypocrite in one way or another... I may be one of the worst, but I've noticed that there does seem to be one foolproof way to really make your mark as a hypocrite.

I had an incident a month or 2 back at church, where a specific leader called me on a wee mistake I made. His excuse was that he is "By the book", interestingly enough since that time, numerous incidents involving other things prohibited by "The Book" have occured and have all been ignored. Hmmmmmmm...

Last night on TV, they interviewd Larry Miller. He's the owner of the Utah Jazz, the local NBA Basketball team. They are currently involved in an important playoff series against the LA Lakers. It's been fun to watch, but I couldn't help but laugh as I watched the interview.

The first point raised was that Larry had chosen not too watch the game, due to religious reasons. That's a matter of personal choice, and while I have no problem watching the tube on Sunday, Mr Miller has opted to choose otherwise. Interestingly enough though...

He did listen to the last few minutes of the game on the radio.
He then watched the post game highlights on TV.
He was given all the stats for the game so that he could review them.
He then watched more highlights in the studio and commented on them.

Like I said, the choice is up to the individual, but don't go making statements about how you don't do something because of your religious beliefs and then pretty much do it anyway. I'm not critsizing Mr. Miller, but I did get a laugh out of looking at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I guess when it comes down to it, anytime you make sweeping statements about your life, or make a statement where you claim to be better than someone else, people are going to pay more attention to you, and that's when you really look like a hypocrite.

The Weekend Report...

Twas a good weekend thats for sure. The highlight of which was that a huge regional meeting was planned for Church on Sunday, and the prospect of sitting in a hot room with 4 whiny kids, while some guy drones on about keeping the rules and how God will smite me if I don't just didn't seem appealing to me - Can't think why... Anyway, so we took a break.

Saturday I woke up early and went to watch a buddy of mine do a duathlon. It was out on Antelope Island, and I think I may have gotten bit by something during the race because my head is covered in little itchy bumps. Anyway, he did OK in the race, especially since it was his first time attempting a longer distance. He's posted a full report on his blog, and I think he's even added a link to some photos too.... It's here.

Sunday was spent installing some new light fittings, installing panelling and hanging new blinds. We also started watching The Golden Compass. You may recall the sad saga of my wanting to see this in the theatres, but at least now I have the DVD. I still haven't finished it, but I think they did an amazing job. The story is shortened, and they have eliminated some characters, but I think that was purely out of necessity. I would highly recommend both the book and the movie though, as both are excellent in their own ways.

Monetary Solution...

OK, I swear I'll get something funny on here in the next day or two...

In the meantime, if you're concerned about the ecomony, I tend to like this guys take on it. Now while I think most of my readers lean left, and will likely not agree with this, I think it might still be worth a read.

It's by Frank Stahelli, and it's here