Classy Halloween

It isn’t an oxymoron to have classy Halloween. Indeed, one can classy almost anything including life style. But “Classy Halloween” in here is sadly just a play on word. Classy means “In Class” or “With Class”, to be surrounded by 4 walls, 20-30 students and teacher who is trying desperately to make the topics interesting enough to make me forget that I am missing great time with my daughters.

Miss ‘M’ wants to be a Cat but as far as I know she does not have the costume. Beside she has a strap throat so she will have to have limited participation. Miss ‘I’ wants to be ‘the same every Halloween’, as criticized by Miss M often, … yes, you guessed it … Princess. And she does have the many costumes for that purpose. In any case, after the candies start floating, none of this will matter and the sugar rush will keep them awake long after I roll home at last in the shadows of the bright moon.

But don’t let me paint myself as a victim here. In addition to being school which is my choice, I do have to say that the Halloween for me just feels OK but it seems to miss something … the next day.

Being from 100% catholic country, The All Saint Days is uniquely absent in the place where I live in USA. My wife tells me in France some people also practice this day and so do some people in USA. But from what I see, it is far from what I remember from Poland … cemeteries full of candles, the smell of burning candles and whatever else kids put in them after dark …

One of these days I take my kids to Poland on November 1st so they can see it … if it is still going to be there, that is.

Just in ... one of the students came into class ... she is an angle and has hallo above her head. The teacher also put a hat on her head. Not sure what she is supposed to be but it fits her well ...

When in Rom, do as Romans.
Still, I miss the smell of the candles ...

Did God have choice? Updated

What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.

Polska Wersja http://gaworskipolak.blogspot.com/2008/02/czy-bog-mial-wybor.html
Had She? If she did, it means she is independent of the fruit of her creation. If it didn't, she can not be omni powerful, by definition.

Such as simple question, but what a depth. If you answer yes, it means that She has absolute control, which means she could have stopped Holocaust and Tsunami, but she chose not to. If she did not have a choice, then she isn't omni powerful, one is wasting the time to pray for "safety, prosperity, health" etc.

Good luck with answering the dilemma above, and you waste your time looking for any discussion about the answer to this dilemma in any church on this one of billion of trillions of rocks that She created. All you end up at the end is "God knows better" ... or something really stupid like "Collective Punishment" of God ... as some ultra right Christians would claim ... "God sent Tsunami because those people turn away from God" ...

Go figure, apparently God is such a monster that instead of flipping his thumb and making all the people who turned from him drop dead, he just choses to kill all ... and he can't find a better way but do an earthquake ...to accomplish her 'objectives'. But oh well, that is kind of his "historic" approach right, after all he also destroyed Sonoma the same way ... Does anyone actually believe there were no 1 or 2 years old babies in Sonoma? How can a baby be a "sinner"?!!!!!

PS. You may have noticed I always refer to God as She. It is not a feminist approach or anything like that. I am just tired of "Old Birded Man sitting on the cloud" ... Why does God have to be a Man?!

So see you can get closer to God by reading quote from Einstein, then from going to church every Sunday ...

"This man's God does not have to communicate with him through intercessors, ministers, or saints, or angels, but rather, through the quietness of his own mind, the beauties of his garden, the refreshing rain, the wispering breeses through the trees, the warm touch off a loved one's hand, the innocence of the questioning look of a child. This man's God is all Nature of which he is truly a part. To talk with Him, then, is to talk with himself, and be aware that God's presence is constant. To him, this is what is known as 'prayer.'"

Vacation at last. Europe here we come!

A few more days and we are going on our 2 weeks long vacation. We cannot wait. The weather may not be as good as it could be but at least the lack of air conditioning in Europe will not bother us this time. That’s for sure.

I am excited. I am going to see my mother and she will see again her granddaughters. Love is in the air. Some say because it is not “amour” or “libe dich” then it can’t possibly be as good as "love", but oh well … that’s their problem.

So in a few days we are leaving Lexington and fly to Chicago. From there to Frankfort, Germany. Final fly will end in Warsaw where we spend a day and a half with our Polish friend Carolina. Then something that should be really exciting for the kids – 4 hours real electric train ride from Warsaw to Ostrów where their grandmother and her husband will pick us up and drive (30 minutes) to Ostrzeszow.

After week in Poland, we will fly to Lille, France and spend another week there visiting us friends. We will also visit our friends in Paris, France.

It should be fun. The picture, although not us literally of course, it really does show how tired we are and despite all the effort that it will take to go on such a trip with 5 and 3.5 years old, it should be fun nevertheless.

The only bad news is that dollar lost 40% value since 6 months ago so we are going to have to watch our wallets ....

Voting

If I was still in Poland, I would have voted over this past weekend. (And it is too dam far to Chicago) Liberal party won yesterday over “assertive foreign policy and traditional Catholic values” and “skeptical approach to the European Union”.

“Civic Platform says it will repair Poland's strained ties with Germany and other EU neighbors. It also wants strong ties with the US but Mr Tusk has vowed to withdraw 900 Polish troops from the US-led coalition force in Iraq.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7054912.stm)

Liberal opposition to “it is my way or the highway” (sounds kind of familiar to some other little cowboy’s speeches from the past?) won and turnout was the highest recorded in Poland since communism fell in 1989.

That reminds me of my old days in Poland. That’s when I voted first and last time. I remember how annoyed my corporal was (don’t remember his name) when he had to assist “kot” (cat – that’s how they called young soldiers during basic training), the only solider who expressed willingness and desire to go and vote. I voted for Lech Walesa of course at that time. (Want to get to know how the L. Walesa happened? Watch "Strike")

Here is the only picture I have where you can see his left shoulder. Wonder what he is doing today? He wasn’t a bad person. He did what was expected from him during basic training but deep down he was good, he treated us well although I probably would have not said that a few times when I had to clean the bathroom for the 5th time at 2 a.m., and often with a toothbrush … you know, the typical basic training things.

So good luck Poland. You need the money from Germany and France, and uncle George ... well, even the conservatives do not like him anymore (and don't ask the Turks ....) so don't expect much from here. Smart move going against those who do not like Europe. And good lesson I guess that as a young new member, perhaps a bit more conciliatory tone during EU debates would be ... smarter ... and also appropriate and tactful?

Just a thought? Treat your neighbors well, live and let live?

Be Green or Die

Here is what I do to try to be green (or to save energy which means the same thing these days)

• recycle as much as I can, as provided by the city
  
• made a compost pile
  
• put plastic foil all over all windows during winter
  
• insulated duck tapes underneath the house and in the attic with a "zipped blanket" over the entrance to the attic
  
• gradually switching to cars with better MPG ... 50% there (34 MPG and 20 MPG)
  
• do not use plastic bags in groceries - takes some thousands of years for them to degrade in the land fields and some barrels of oil plus 4 litters of Arab blood per million of them produced ... (my wife was instrumental in this switch)
  
• I "smartly" use wood fireplace. It can help your heating bill ... (weekends and turn off your normal heat; install blower with fireplace as specified by manufacturer of the fireplace insert)
  
• put down the thermostat to max 67 in the winter, 64 when we go to sleep
  
• in the summer we shut windows covers to block the sun from heating up the inside
  
• in the winter, I or my wife turns the thermostat 10 degrees lower before last one goes to work in the morning ... after I come back it will take around 15 minutes to get it back to comfortable levels ...
• around 80% of our lights use energy efficient light bob
  

My heating bill in the winter was 40% lower in comparison to the previous year (based on consumption shown on the bill, not price which went up slightly, 5-15%)

It is the ECONOMY stupid!

Sincerely,
Shamick Gaworski