Google is not infallible. Who knew? My first frustration occurred the other day when my friend Coleman sent me a gmail instant message. I had wanted to message him, but there was a message under his profile in red letters informing me that he was unavailable. There was even a little "do not enter" sign next to his name. Come to find out, no matter what he tried he could not get the red letters to go away, thus leaving him shunned by the entire gmail community.

Unlike other things we adore in our lives, we decided that not only would we cease to trust the red lettered passages that google sends out, but we would also stop referring to google as g-sus.

My other frustration is with the previously praised google reader. I'm bummed that it doesn't work as well as digg, but I might have found a back door method to cumbersomely merging the two services. Until I get off my lazy booty to do so, however, I present you three links.

• This cnn.com article from yesterday about MLK's legacy is great and pretty concise.
  
• Selena Roberts hits the nail on the head with this commentary piece about religious institutions who have delusions of Division I football glory. Funny, insightful and convicting.
• Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary last week. Not that he needs me to congratulate him. He won a Pulitzer, for crying out loud. If you have not headed my recommendation of him in the past though, perhaps you will listen to voices that have broader scope and more power than mine.
  

Happy reading.

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88,0000 lies. That's approxamately how many each of us will tell in our lifetime according to this story. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

Stacy and I have told way more lies since becoming parents. Unfortunately, our propogation of untruths may be leading our daughter to an inaccurate view of proper sleeping habits.

It all started during the Christmas break. We spent a few days with my in-laws, who just so happen to have a horse. Said horse is named "Chica" and Elli is obsessed with that thing. Always asking to go outside to see the horse, straining to find a window through which she can perhaps catch a glimpse of the horse, never relenting in her quest for the horse.

There comes a point when you just can't go see the horse anymore. Like when it is 20 degrees outside and there is a raging blizzard. Or when you have already been out to see the horse a couple of times. Both happened in my experience.

After being worn down by requests, we started lying. Constant bombardment of requests for the equine will cause one to fudge on their moral sensibilities.

"Chica! Chica! Horse! Chica!"
"Elli, we can't go see Chica. She's taking a nap."
"Chica nap?"
"Yep. Chica's asleep."

Amazingly, our rationale went unquestioned. I think it has partly to do with the fact that Elli has very little concept that people will typically reserve their sleeping for nighttime. Stacy will come home from a 30-hour shift and understandably go to sleep for a few hours in the middle of the day. When Elli asks for mommy, I rightly tell her that mommy is taking a nap. Case closed.

The problem is that now Elli assumes that if she cannot see someone, they must be taking a nap.

I couldn't figure out why she was wandering our house saying "Chica nap" for the longest time, until she asked for her papa one day. "No, papa's at home. We can't see him right now."

"Papa nap."

Great. The propogation of lies has spawned a warped world view.

The moral of the story is: don't lie to your kids. Unless they wake up at 5am like ours did this morning. Then, when they ask to watch Elmo, you can tell them that Elmo is taking a nap. At least that's what we did.

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There are two things I anticipate getting better at this year.

1. Writing

2. Humility

A couple of weeks ago I found out that I was accepted to be one of 10 Midwest Voices for the Kansas City Star. I get to write 5 op/ed pieces that will appear in the paper, and I also get to blog on the Star's Midwest Voices blog.

I've been reading the newspaper for as long as I can remember. Mostly the sports section and comics at first, but I'm not at the point where I read just about every page each morning. Thus, it's a thrill for me to be able to contribute to something that I enjoy so much.

What I have learned so far is that I have seriously got to get my stuff together. My first hard article does not drop until a week from Saturday, but I have tested the waters out on the blog.

Yesterday's post on the recent incident where a reporter joked that Tiger Woods should be lynched was not met with resounding support. I was called "Ms. Dashiell", "Al Sharpton" and "vindictive". I was also accused of "damaged reporting" and "stirring the pot with dubious research".

Not bad for a rookie.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not all that torn up about it. More than anything, I'm frustrated with myself because I thought there were times where my writing could have been more clear and where I could have emphasized my main points better. It is a good learning experience, and I hope that I can continue to get better.

All that to say, if the blogging on this site is a little less frequent throughout 2008, it's because I'm writing other places. Check out the Voices blog. Perhaps I'll make you angry in the process.

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New Year's is not that big of a deal to me. At least not like it is for some folks. I don't enjoy staying up late and watching Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest hold their celebrations. I'd rather get a good night sleep and feel ready to go in the morning when the soccer matches come on, followed by the arduous task of watching as many bowl games as possible. That's how we roll.

I typically will not make New Year's resolutions, either. I have a five year plan. I have another multi-year plan that I am dedicating myself to. Otherwise, I find it far more efficient to constantly evaluate, tweak and change a little bit at a time throughout the year.

On October 30, 2007 my friend KHook posted a YouTube video on facebook. It was a clip from Def Poetry Slam (a fabulous show, by the way), where Taylor Mali decries the endangerment of the difinitive statement. Hilarious.

While I do not struggle with making definitive statements, the video did get me to thinking about words I overuse. I came to realize that I said "actually" far too often. It was unintentional, but the result was a certain pretentiousness to everything I said. As though my statements were unexpected, revolutionary, new or otherwise brilliant. Things that the people I talk to could never have possibly considered before.

Be it resolved that I shall attempt to remove the word "actually" from my speech until a point in time where I am not running it into the ground.

I feel like such a better person now.

Here's the video. And if you are not offended by slightly R-rated humor, you should go to www.youtube.com and search for "Taylor Mali Proofreading". You won't be sorry. Not that anyone who writes or reads this blog would enjoy slightly R-rated humor. No. Of course not.

Six minutes and twenty five seconds of comedic genius from the Colbert Report last night. The question is, how many days will it be before Giuliani releases an attack ad on Huckabee quoting statements that were very funny and clearly made in jest? I'll put the over/under at 2 days.

Google Reader is certainly a double-edged sword. It is a great application for keeping track of blogs and news sites that I enjoy reading, but it's almost too efficient. There is a lot of good and/or entertaining stuff out there, and it's impossible to read it all. I try to throw a couple of interesting finds into the "Interesting Reads" box to the right, but there are three blogs I would like to specifically call out today as they have really pushed me to think hard about some issues recently.

• Jesus Creed is kept up by Scot McKnight, who is a professor at North Park University. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to keep a couple of really good threads up in the air at any given time. Right now there is a thread on the Kingdom of God as well as one on God's Competitors that are both excellent. Each entry is brief, but he throws down some questions at the end of each post for the general public to think about and respond to.

• Kruse Kronicle is authored by a fellow Kansas Citian and Christ-follower, and focuses on faith and economics. There are plenty of posts that point in the direction of magazine and journal articles, and there are also a lot of original takes. A word to the wise: it's deep. As a person who is trying to sort out why free market philosophies make me uncomfortable, it is helpful because it helps me understand better the paradigm. However, I have no intention of getting into any debates with the author. The dude knows his stuff and would argue me under the table in no time flat.
  

• What's Race Got to do With It? This is a fantastic site authored by a white woman who is now living in the predominately black neighborhood that I work in. She doesn't post all that often, but when she does post it is deep and raw. Really raw. In fact, a lot of white people who have not lived in the 'hood will probably disagree with her, but I think that her actions should compell one to graciously listen to her opinions and not light up her blog with negative blasts if you don't agree.

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It took forever, but I finally got to use my new smoker on Saturday. I had intended to use it on January 1, but we barely fought our way out of single-digit temps that day and Stacy had a long call shift. Getting to know my new friend under extreme weather conditions while acting as the sole caretaker of my child did not seem like a recipe for my best meat smoking performance.

In hindsight, it was a sheer act of genius.

I was rewarded for my patience with a 55 degree day as well as the opportunity to host some friends for our initial effort. The ease with which the new member of our family was able to hold an ideal temperature was great. It looked absolutely beautiful sitting outside that afternoon, and it produced my best rib effort to date. We have a keeper, folks.

Oh, and I have officially named the smoker "Vader". Stacy wanted me to name it "R2" because R2-D2 is her favorite Star Wars character, but I would have none of it. First of all, the new smoker is Black. R2 is white and blue. Secondly, R2 is going to intimidate nobody when we start entering official contests. You gotta have a little swagger to your sauce, if you know what I'm sayin'.

Most importantly, this leaves room for a natural progression should we ever upgrade in size again. If we get a slightly bigger smoker, it could be aptly named the Tie Fighter. And though it is very unlikely, should we get really serious there is a chance that we could finagle our way into a monster unit that we could christen the Death Star.

I just gave myself the chills.

What would really be amazing is if we could have a whole Star Wars themed setup at contests. How cool would it be if we got a beat up old RV or Van, and painted it to look like an X-wing. We could build some removable wings, and then place a proper R2 on top. I already have a life-sized Han Solo cardboard cutout, and you can very easily find a Chewbacca outfit on ebay. I'm sure that Stacy would have no problem throwing her hair in side-swirls and donning an authentic Princess Leah outfit. And Elli could be an Ewok. That would be so tight.

And not at all dorky.

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Good to see some of the striking late-night talk show writers are finding work to sustain them until the strike is over. At least that's what I assume is the case after watching Mitt Romney take an unmerciful barrage of zingers during the ABC/Facebook debate on Saturday night. I managed to watch 5 of th 6 hours of televised debate this past weekend, and those first two hours on Saturday night were a sight to behold. It was as though all of the other five candidates got together before hand and made a pact to bust his chops at every available opportunity.

I was pretty disappointed that McCain was one of the ringleaders. He and Rudy seemed to get in most of the cheap shots, though Huckabee had his moments in the first half. I thought it was really smart of him to back off in the second half of the debate. It seems as though he realized that the other guys were absolutely killing each other, and that he didn't really need to get his hands dirty. As a result, the others would rip away and eventually the moderator would ask Huckabee what he would though. The Governor would then calmly execute his talking points, and I thought he did a good job.

For his part, Romney showed great resolve. Every time he got jabbed he would just take a deep breath and then reiterate that he was there to talk about the issues. I, on the other hand, would have probably started crying. It was that brutal.

The most memorable point of the night was when Ron Paul started talking about how the US has soiled our good name by occupying other countries and setting up puppet governments. Stacy remarked, "He's telling the truth, but I don't think America is ready to hear that." On cue, all five of the other candidates jumped him at once. I thought a riot was going to break out on stage.

As for the Dems, I didn't see anything that made anyone stand out. You could see a little bit of desperation in Clinton's performance. For good reason too, if the poll numbers hold up. This thing could be over in no time the way Obama is building momentum.

One thing all of the debating made me realize is that I could really use an economics degree. The way things are shaping up now, the Free Trade vs. Socialized Gov't debate could be huge once we get past the primaries. The candidates were really pressed hard about economics and taxes in the portion of the Fox debate that I saw, and I think it is an important discussion considering our mounting debt. Everyone has a lot of grand plans, but we have to find the money to get that done somewhere.

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For the first time in many years, I got to attend a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game last night. Some kind person was nice enough to donate 50 tickets to The Hope Center so that we could attend with a bunch of our kids and their parents, and we gladly accepted the gift.

To add to the silliness of the night, my female counterpart at the Hope Center and I decided to dress up like Superfans. She decked herself out in the most outstanding and hyperbolic display of red, white and blue I have ever seen. She was ready and willing to root her Globetrotters onto victory.

Not to be outdone, I went crazy in a green and gold motif. I felt as though, surely, this would be the night when the Globetrotters would fall. The streak had to die. It had to end. I sported the mullet wig, sweet shades, homemade jersey and metallic gold pants. I was totally hot.

But alas, the Washington Generals let their halftime lead slip away amid a flurry of dunks and chicanery, once again the losers in one of the longest running rivalries in sports history.

Apparently I was a little too boisterous in my support for the Gens, because the kids we were with really rubbed it in when my boys went down in defeat. One girl was particularly merciless.

Girl: Are you going to go home and cry?

Me: I'll try to be tough, but I might just have to cry myself to sleep on my gigantic pillow.

Girl: You're going to cry. You're going to cry and your little baby is going to look at you and say, "You're just like me. You're crying like a little baby. What a baby."

Ouch. I guess that's what I get for being the only person standing, yelling and screaming every time the Generals hit a three or took the lead.

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I'm so excited for tomorrow. Excited and a little worked up. It's that feeling I get when I'm about to go to a midnight showing of a sweet movie, the night before a big meat smoke, or standing in line for a U2 concert. Pretty dorky for a guy who doesn't even live in Iowa, but what the heck? When I get home from the Harlem Globetrotters game tomorrow night, I'll certainly be staying up until the wee hours of the morning flipping between the Orange Bowl and CNN. Unless, that is, the BBC or PBS is pulling wall-to-wall coverage of the Caucasus. That would certainly be fantastic.

So what do I want to see tomorrow?

**A John Edwards victory, coupled with an Obama 3rd place finish. Nothing against BO. I just think he'd make a way better VP at this point in time. Give that cat 8 years, and he'd absolutely tear it up as President. An Edwards/Obama ticket in '08 is that one that gives me chills, though. Clinton/Obama could be an effective administration, though I'm not convinced that America has come far enough to elect a woman and a black man in the same election. We'll see if Edwards can really clean up in rural Iowa like he says he's going to. 7 points is a lot to make up in the polls, though.

**A John McCain victory. Apparently, I have a thing for guys named "John". Who knew? Anyway, I love where he stands on torture, I think he gives us the best chance to rectify the situation in Iraq, and I think he is the strongest of all candidates when it comes to foreign policy. For the life of me, I don't understand what Republicans have against the guy. Karl Rove played dirty and spread lies about him in 2000, which contributed greatly to his fall in South Carolina. And yet, he stood by President Bush throughout the rough days in Iraq, and didn't switch to the Dems when they recruited him hard a few years back in an effort to tip the balance of power in a divided congress. You'd think all of that would make him a red darling, but he isn't getting any love. Granted, if I am a huge fan of a Republican, that candidate probably doesn't play well to the base. I was happy to hear this morning that Brownback is backing McCain. McCain/Brownback '08, anyone? I'd give money to that campaign.

**Mike Huckabee seems like a nice guy. Funny, strong in his faith, capable of governing a state. Certainly a high-quality individual. That being said, he has no business being President.

"The immigration issue is not so much about people coming to pick lettuce or make beds, it's about people who could come with a shoulder-fired missile and could do serious damage and harm to us...and that's what we need to be worried about."
—Huckabee, after Benazir Bhutto's assassination, citing statistics that 660 Pakistanis entered the country illegally last year, when in fact Border Patrol says they only apprehended a "handful" of illegal immigrants from Pakistan. As quoted on time.com

I am so freaking tired of seeing Christians interviewed on TV talking about how they are going to vote for Huckabee because they are "Values Voters". Whatever. We're all values voters. It just so happens that Christians like myself value candidates who have a clue when it comes to foreign policy. Pakistan is uber-important, but not because you want to scare people with the quasi-racist platform of anti immigration. No, Mike, it's important because the country shares borders with India, China, Afghanistan and Iran. It's important because a stable Pakistan is critical to America's ability to be a player in both Asia and in the Middle East. Give me a freaking break. Immigration.

I can't tell you how big my eyes got when I heard the above quote. My first thought was, "Well, at least he won't win now". But then I kept watching the polls and the interviews, and it seems as though the Evangelical base has rallied around an easy-speaking Southerner who is running on a platform that mostly revolves around his faith. Remember the last time we did that? Yeah. How'd that work out for you?

We'll see what happens. I'm keeping hope alive.

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