The Last Lecture

A 46-year-old Carnegie-Mellon professor gave his last lecture since he is dying. It's such a moving video. Here's the url from when he appeared on Oprah: http://www.sonnyradio.com/lastlecture.html.

Here are my favorite quotes from his lecture:

-- Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us see how badly we want something.

-- Decide if you are Tiger or Eeyeore! (It's all about your outlook!)

-- Karma is real, what you hope for hard enough will come to you...

10 Years Since Lewinsky Scandal!

Do you remember where you were when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke? I do and I can't believe it's been 10 years since that day!

For those of you who don't remember, it was the first time an Internet site really impacted what the mainstream media reported about. Matt Drudge reported that a Newsweek reporter had decided to not run a story about then-President Clinton's sexual relationship with an intern. It was a story that forever changed the times for journalism.

I was working that evening at the Washington Post's web site when this story broke. I remember well looking up at the television as CNN read the Drudge report. Washington Post owns Newsweek and so they were scrambling to decide what to put on their web site. Plus, I believe the paper had one more printing cycle to go and could still get something in Sunday morning's paper. It was like people were frozen in the mainstream media at first. Feelings were common along these lines: "Do we really have to deal with this story?" "Is there any way to ignore this story?"

But there was no ignoring this story. It involved sex and politics at the highest level -- the White House. And in the end, a president got impeached.

It's interesting to look back and remember that this story broke when the Internet was not yet a medium that quickly could spread rumors. People didn't have myspace or facebook pages or blogs to spread news reports around. This was probably one of the last stories where mainstream media could sit and think about what to do before the Web had already spread it like a wildfire.

The story broke in 1998, only one year and a half after sites like the Washington Post had launched. Most at the Washington Post still wanted to ignore their sister publication, washingtonpost.com. Old-school journalists hoped this online reporting world would go away or just be a passing trend. This story forced them to join forces and work with the online media.

It was an exciting time to be in the media though, especially at the Washington Post and learn how they do struggle to print and spread stories like this one.

ABC News did a report on the scandal, 10 years later: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4165399&page=1. Be sure to watch the video to the right to see how much better looking some of the people, like Linda Tripp, became. It looks like everyone's lives got better after the scandal, except for Monica's. She finds it hard to date or go under the radar anywhere. Moral of the story? Don't mess with the Clintons! Literally! And if Hillary wins the White House, then even the younger generation will know the name Monica Lewinsky.

Do you remember where you were when the story broke? Can you believe it's been 10 years?

Sitting by the Side of the... Toilet

Ella insists that I sit by the toilet and wait while she goes potty. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, we've had some real heart-to-heart chats. She's told me who is mean and who is nice at school. Sitting there, she seems to open up and tell me what's really on her mind. I think she knows she has my full attention. I'm not staring off at her brother or looking at the clock or doing anything but listening. So, she often takes full advantage of her time on the toilet.

Today while I was sitting on the bathtub edge, Ella said "mom, someday you'll be the grandma and I'll be a good mom." I smiled, what a sweet thought. I should have just left it at that sweet thought.

Instead, I had to say "yes, you'll grow up and marry a daddy and have kids." From here, things went downhill. "No, mom, I don't want to marry a daddy! Dylan can marry a daddy! Not me!"

Oh, boy. What had I walked into?

She's only 3 and I'm already stuttering over my words when it comes to the "big" talks. What will I do when it's time to explain the birds and the bees? Or to tell her about anything real important in her life.

Suddenly I insisted our time sitting by the toilet be over and she hurry back to watching 'Peter Pan.' I couldn't believe how inept I was at explaining life to her.

No wonder my parents were all tongue tied when it came to these topics! Whew, I'm glad I have more years ahead to practice. Dad, now I get why you explained the birds and the bees to me like eighty times. You too were practicing!

Christmas Memories 2007

The biggest hit of this Christmas was our new trampoline. The adults enjoyed it as much as the kids! Dylan and Ella had the biggest grins all day long as they jumped and enjoyed it. Of course, the company was good too: we had Grandpa and Grandma P and Aunt Cari and Nicole here too. Ella was the first to wake up, as she's our little rooster who gets up with the sun. She ran right into our room and didn't notice her new bike, trampoline or other toys. Dylan had a first: sleeping in! We had to pry him awake as we could hardly contain Ella in the room any longer. The magic of Christmas was alive for us this year!

Utah Snow Trip

We had such a fun trip to Southern Utah after Christmas. We got to go to Brian Head and enjoy some snow. We had many fun adventures on the snowmobile. Eric and I got a night alone up in the mountains. The kids had so much fun at the Staples house that they never asked where we had gone. Karly, Jordan, Nana and Papa were the best babysitters! The kids came up the next day and played in the snow. Ella loved snowmobiling. Dylan kept begging to go back to Nana and Papa's house. Dylan's favorite things were the Wii bowling game, having no bedtime, lots of family love. Ella loved to entertain us all, get tons of attention and also no bedtime. We had so many great memories from this trip and enjoyed every minute. In true Staples style, we ran fast, played hard and kept smiling!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

Ella is a very entertaining child. When we were in Utah, she got up on "stage" and sang songs to her cousins, aunts, grandparents. She told everyone to "take a seat, we have a great show!"

Here's a few of my other favorite recent lines from her:
1. "Mom, I'm glad you're a mom." Awww, how sweet!
2. Every morning, she's our rooster. She rushes to our bed as soon as the sun comes up and yells, "mom, the sun is up. you need to get up!"
3. Lately she'll say, "Mom, Dylan wants..." to get what she wants. She's an expert at speaking for him.
4. Ella came running in our room late one night. We asked her what she was doing and she said, "I don't know." But, you could tell she wanted to stay. So, I asked her if she needed to get rid of the monsters. Just then, Eric let out some gas. And Ella said, "I need dad to come stink away the monsters!" Priceless!
5. Mom, I burped out of my butt.