The loss of confidence

"What is really lost when a civilization wearied and grows small is confidence, a confidence built on the order and balance that leisure makes possible" Thomas Cahill - How the Irish Saved Civilization, 59

On shopping on Christmas Eve

So despite my best efforts, we still had shopping to do on Christmas Eve. So, first thing this morning, we piled in the van so we could be at Costco when they opened. That trip was pretty painless. But now I'm standing in Wal-Mart. The crowds have descended and the shelves are much emptier. We split up to get the last few stocking stuffers we needed. This will prolong the trip greatly. Fortunately, once we get home we have nowhere to go until we go to church tonight.

Books and privacy

Something I've noticed about using my Kindle is it adds a level of privacy and anonymity to reading that I haven't experienced before. I'm not so sure this is altogether a good thing. I've been reading a lot of fiction this year and no one really knows what but me. Why? My wife could be sneaky and turn on my Kindle every day or two to see what I'm reading, but that would be a little like opening up my diary or journal. I think it is mostly because she can't see the books stacked by my bed. I'm not ashamed of what I read, but there is a level of oversight that everyone needs in a fallen world. Just the other day she saw a physical book, a volume by N. T. Wright, by the bed and asked me about it. We had a brief, but helpful conversation and went our ways. I wonder what conversations we would have had over my reading The DaVinci Code?

Failed attempt

Well, my first attempt at Root beer failed. Something must have gone wrong with my ginger bug, because when I went to stir the mix yesterday, there was mold growing along the sides. So I poured it out. I will say though, that the fermentation was working. The puddle foamed up very nicely on the ground. :( I've ordered some water kefir grains as well, so I'll be beginning again pretty soon. I already started another ginger bug. I want to keep this moving until I get something worth my time.

Here are a few pictures from the initial attempt.

Here are the bottle my wife bought me for this project.

Here is my first ginger bug. It was doing great in this picture, but something went wrong along the way. I'll have to keep my eye on it this time.

Here we are stirring in the various roots and herbs that make up the concentrate for the ro

ot beer.

Here are better pictures of the pit we made the concentrate in and them whole mixture being stirred together.

Update on Root Beer

All of my roots and barks came in yesterday from Monterey Bay Spice Co. This morning we opened everything up and began the process of steeping our Root Beer base. The kitchen smells awesome as we let the concoction steep. After four hours, it will be ready to strain out and into a 1 gallon jug with the ginger bug culture to ferment for about several days before we bottle it.

Making Root Beer

I have decided to make Root Beer. I did Ginger Ale a few weeks back and was pretty happy with the results. I am using a combination recipe from the Nourished Kitchen and the Learning Herbs websites. Basically, I am using the method from Learning Herbs and a modified recipe from Nourished Kitchen. My wife bought me the bottles to keep it in for Christmas, though we just picked them up today because they were on order. I am really excited about it. I love the taste of Root Beer and can't wait to try my own. It should be a more healthy version of the drink (sans high fructose corn sugar), using real ingredients and no artificial colors. I'll let keep up a running post on the progress and the results. It should take about a month from start to finish.

Analyzing my nostalgia

We've been getting old TV shows on Netflix. We've been streaming some and ordering the DVD's for others not available. Specifically we've been watching old cartoons that I grew up on: G.I. Joe and Voltron. A few weeks ago while watching G.I. Joe, I got into a discussion with my oldest boys about how these cartoon were different from the one's that they and their friends watched now. We contrasted G.I. Joe with Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We noted that no one ever died in G.I. Joe, while characters often died in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We also noted that the lines between good and evil were drawn a lot more carefully in older cartoon than they were today.

However, recently, my wife and I were talking and she pointed out something else. She pointed out that the objective of the older cartoons was problematic, in that they often held as the goal the teenage years, versus the adult years. We began thinking this through and noted a lot of the old stories on video that did this. If not the teenage years, certainly the early adult lifestyle.

It made me remember how subtle these things are. Of course, this can happen in books as well, but in books you spend so much more time with the narrative, that you can catch on more easily and defend yourself. Film often doesn't give you the time to reflect on the issues enough to make the distinctions.

Crisis of the Republic

Earlier this week I was able to go to one of the sessions of the Classical Conversations Parent Practicum. The speaker, David Lahones, introduced me to some new thoughts and helped crystallize some things I'd been trying to say for years but never been able to put into words as effectively as he did. One idea he mentioned was that of inoculation. We introduce our children to the ideas in great books to help inoculate them against the reality in life. I'll be further examining this for a while.

He also introduced me to a series of essays former presidential candidate Alan Keyes wrote during the 2008 campaign. He read from one of them to help illustrate a point about freedom and education. He said the essays were very difficult to obtain now but had a copy of them in PDF format. He posted them on his own blog, here. I downloaded the file and may, as I read them, post them or excerpts from them to this blog.

Waiting

I'm patiently waiting until my life calms down somewhat to where I think I can adequately reflect on the things that have taken place this past year. I am no longer a full-time teacher, in the traditional sense of the word. I now work a second shift job that has played havoc with my family life and we still haven't adjusted to that completely. This job presents me with excellent material for contemplation of the human condition, the importance of worldviews, and the task of education, but precious little time to reflect of it and blog about it. Nevertheless, I will eventually get around to doing this. Sometime...

A Risky Video

I was skeptical about this one at first, but I ended up laughing a lot. Enjoy.