Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Joonas


I can't believe it; Joonas is six months old today. I know I sound old, but it seems like just yesterday when he was born :)

He is such a "good" baby. Actually I really hate the term "good baby". Just because a baby cries or fusses a lot, does not make him or her a "bad" baby. Some babies are easy and some are more high-maintenance. Anyway, Joonas belongs to the former group. He laughs and "talks" all the time. He sleeps through the night and has for quite some time.

Today he had his first taste of rice cereal. He didn't quite get the concept of opening of his mouth, poor guy. He seemed to like the cereal once I managed to shove it into his mouth, but the part about open wide was lost on him. Its so funny to think that all of these ordinary really simple things have to be learned. I guess the only time you really appreciate how everything works is when you watch a baby who hasn't mastered the skill, or if you happen to know someone who has been badly injured and had to relearn all these basic skills.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Books


I have come to the conclusion that I have some kind of book hoarder personality disorder. I have spent the last few days trying to clean and clear out some of my overflowing bookshelves and I can barely scrape together one measly little box of books to donate. When I think about it in theory, I have lots of books that I really don't read or need and probably never will. And yet, I just can't bring myself to part with them....
When I am trying to decide whether to donate a book or not, I have several reasons for holding on to books. First, there are the books that I really love, that have had a profound effect on my life. Those I could never part with. Then, there are the books I haven't actually read yet. I feel like I can't get rid of those because what if I want to read them one day. What a waste to have had a book and never read it. Third, are the books that have been given to me as gifts. Most of these books also fall into the "haven't read" category, but they are extra special because someone has thought of me and purchased them. Of course most of these books will probably remain unread since the people who generally buy me books know nothing about what I actually like to read ;) Still, I can't bear to part with them because, like I said, they were gifts. Fourth are my novels from my days of studying English lit. Some of those books I hate. Some I love, and some are neither here nor there. But alas, I can't part with those either; they have some kind of nostalgic mystical hold on me. Today I picked up my Shakespeare plays. I think I have pretty close to all of them since I was required to take a 6 credit Shakespeare course for my degree. I know I will never read them again. But, could I manage to put them into the donation box? Nope. I was, however, after much consideration, able to part with Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I hated that book, all THREE times that I had to study it. I am so NOT a fan of Charles Dickens. Yay, I was able to put it in the donation box. But just to put things in perspective, I have had that book for 18 years, so I guess its about time!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Karl Marx

"Religion is the opiate of the masses". That's what Karl Marx said. And you know what? I agree with him. I cannot be sure what he meant by the comment, but I am pretty sure that our reasoning is quite different, at least I hope so. Let me explain why I think he's right.
First, let me clarify that I am only speaking of the Christian religion, since that is the only one that I can speak to from experience. By "religion" I mean the outward rituals, traditions, behaviours that are associated with a religion. So, for Christians that would mean going to church, tithing, taking communion, helping others etc. Someone who does all the right things outwardly is considered a "good" Christian. I am not necessarily disputing whether they are good Christians or not. However, spirituality is something deeper that is not manifested outwardly in such an obvious manner. And at the end of the day, I think it is spirituality that really matters; what is going on inside, and in your relationships; how you are relating to others and to God. That's where the opiate part comes in.
Merriam-Webster says that an opiate is, "something that induces rest or inaction". So, I think that, unfortunately, there are a lot of Christians whose religion, actually induces rest or inaction. In other words, they do all the right things and think that they are "good". They give their money and their time to the church and they don't even stop to think where their heart is. They think that the outward manifestions of their religion keep them safe and right with God. I think they are wrong and that's why religion serves as an opiate. Its a false security that let's them think that they can live how they please as long as they keep up religious appearances. They don't have to actually love their neighbours, or forgive others, or swallow their pride, or any of those harder things that are required in order to be spiritual. So, they rest contentedly in their bubble of religious behaviour and never aspire to change, or grow, or learn. After all, they have already "made it"; they are "good".
Anyway, that's what I think. So, I agree, begrudgingly, with Karl Marx, the communist atheist.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Yard Work

I hate yard work. A lot. When I was a kid my worst nightmare was when my dad would announce on a Saturday morning that it was going to be a family yard work day. I would beg, I would cry, I would bargain, I would try anything to get out of it, but to no avail. In fact, the only punishment I remember from my youth (for a "crime" I have long since forgotten) was having to clip all the bushes in our front yard. UGH.
Anyway, there are just two things I don't mind doing that sort of involve a yard. One is shoveling snow and the other, which I was doing this afternoon, is powerwashing. I don't know why these two are "fun" but they are. With the snow, perhaps I like it because it hardly ever snows here :) With the powerwashing, I think its the fact that you can see such a difference afterwards. I dunno. Maybe there is some deep psychological reason why these two things appeal to me; who knows. But this afternoon, with the sun shining, I powerwashed to my hearts content.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Aahhh coffee!


I am an addict. I readily admit it. Coffee is my drug of choice.
I realized my sorry addicted state last week when our espresso machine was out of commision for FIVE whole days.
We bought a Saeco espresso machine about three months ago (after returning TWO defective Cuisinart espresso machines). I read the instruction manual which said that once the machine required descaling it would start flashing and shouldn't be used until it was properly descaled. I said to Pentti that we should look into finding/buying/ordering the descaling solution BEFORE the machine flashed. Did he listen? No. So, last Thursday the machine started to flash and I panicked. No coffee? What? I ran to my computer to find out where I could buy the cleaning stuff and managed to order it on-line. The package came in the mail this week, we descaled the machine and now I am able to sit here blogging with a fresh cup of foamy, delicious espresso coffee. Mmmm.
By the way, for those five days, I think I had Starbucks on every one of them. But you know, once you've had really good, foamy, smooth, non-fuel-like espresso, its hard to return to the petrol that is Starbucks coffee :)
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness. ~Sheik Abd-al-Kadir

Thursday, April 10, 2008

My brand new blog

I decided to start my own blog; just for the fun of it. I haven't decided whether I am actually going to share the link with anyone, but since my diary hasn't been written in for ages, why not write a blog. Sort of ironic since I once burned one of my diaries after my brother had read it. Now here I am posting my thoughts on the internet. Hmmm.
So, the first thing to do was to come up with a name. Ugh, that was the hardest part. All the cool titles I could think of were gone. I really wanted to call it Cogito Ergo Doleo, which sort of sums up the essence of ME. First of all, its latin, so the "riffraff" wouldn't even get it. Secondly, it actually means: I think, therefore I am depressed, which I often find to be true. I don't really think that deep thinkers are happy-go-lucky people. Not that I claim to be especially deep of course :) Anyway, the name was taken and so were about ten others that I tried, so I settled on this one, which was available.
The title obviously reflects my love of sleep, which I am sorely lacking these days. I could blame it on my two sons (both under 3) but that wouldn't really be fair. When Joonas was born 5 months ago, I was sleep-deprived because of him. But now, I am staying up reading, surfing the net, chatting on line, doing laundry, watching tv etc until 2am even though Joonas goes to bed at 9:30. So, really its my own fault.