Baby Girls

Our baby girl is due six weeks from tomorrow. As I write this, Marathon Girl is sitting in a rocking chair on the other side of the room, putting the finishing touches on a blanket for Steven’s bed. Her hands move in a regular up and down motion as the needle dips through the layers of fabric. Her left arm is resting on her pregnant belly.

In my inbox is an email from a good, longtime friend. She’s asking how Marathon Girl is doing and what my boys are up to. And she asks how I’m handling this pregnancy with a girl on the way. She’s not the first to ask this question. Once we announced a girl was on the way, people seem to think that having a girl on the way would be difficult for me.

For the most part this pregnancy has been a lot easier than the first two. I better understand the ups and downs Marathon Girl goes through. I’m better at helping her with the things she needs during this time. And Marathon Girl will attest, I’m nowhere near as anxious and uninvolved as I was when she was pregnant with Aidan.

In some ways it’s been a challenge. I’ve thought back to Hope more during the last few months than I have the last two or three years. Thinking that I’ll have a little girl to hold and cherish again puts a lump in my throat.

But the challenges are nothing I can’t deal with. In an hour we’ll go to bed and I’ll put my arm around Marathon Girl and felt the baby kick and move. Marathon Girl will tell me that this little girl the most active of all our children and I keep my hand on her belly until I fall asleep.

I’m just happy to have a little girl that will join our family. A little girl that will join her mom and dad and two older brothers. Our little girl to raise and to teach and to love.

Life is good.

We are blessed.

The Power of LOST

Thoughts on last night’s episode of LOST. (Stop reading if you don’t want to know what happened.) I don’t mind when they kill off characters on LOST. They writers have shown they can introduce other characters that can add depth and intrigue to the story. But I was a little saddened when Mr. Eko was killed by the mysterious black cloud. (I’m glad they brought the cloud back, BTW. I was starting to think the writer’s had forgotten about it.)

Mr. Eko was one of the two most fascinating characters on the island. (Locke is the other.) I loved his inner struggle between good and evil and coming to terms with whether or not he could be forgiven or redeemed for his past deeds. As evil as he may have been at times in his past life, we saw that at times he had a heart of gold and was willing to stand up and protect the innocent. He was also the driving force that united the passengers of the tail section with the passengers on the other side of the island.

Fortunately, it appears that Mr. Eko found some peace with the life he had lived. His last words to Yemi (or whatever it is) were: “I ask no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to survive.” I hope Mr. Eko found peace. His character will be greatly missed. And let’s hope the writer’s of LOST can bring up another character that’s just as captivating.

***

After last nights episode it seems like there are many who are complaining about the number of characters being killed off on LOST. Yes, LOST is a real bloodbath at time but I think it adds a realistic dimension to the show and shows how the writers are willing to break some television taboos.

First, keep in mind the plane crash survivors are on some strange island with little life-saving technology and no law and order. When someone gets hurt, there’s no hospital to rush them too. The only doctor on the island has limited resources and is often unable to saves lives simply because he doesn’t have access to the life saving technology. One hundred years ago the life expectancy was about 25 – 30 years less than it was today. Why? People got hurt or sick and died because there were little others could do for them. Same is true on this mysterious island.

Even though there’s a general sense of community among the plane crash’s survivors, it really is every man (or woman) for themselves. I’m surprised more fights haven’t broken out over resources and other things. With no real law and order on the islands, the survivors are relying on each others’ sense of being nice to each other. It wouldn’t take much for someone to put a little band of people together and try to take control of resources and other things necessary for their survival. (I’m thinking along the lines of Lord of the Flies here.) All things considered, I’m surprised the death toll on the island hasn’t been higher.

Second, LOST has shown that it’s willing to be a ground breaking show in lots of ways. (See yesterday’s post for a link to an article that details that.) There seems to have been a general rule in television that you can’t kill off main characters. Go back to, say, The X-Files. Moulder and Scully found themselves in some harrowing experiences but did we ever really think that one of them was going to die? Of course not! We knew that somehow they would be saved or rescued at the last moment. On LOST we don’t know which character might be next. It makes the island and what the characters are experiencing more real and frightening and shows that the strength of LOST isn’t one or two people, but the story itself. LOST isn’t about Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Mr. Eko Desmond, or anyone else. It’s story about a group of people – a community – who are trying to survive.

I’m sure there are some characters that will stay on the Island from beginning to end, but LOST shows that it’s not one or two characters that are carrying the show. Rather it’s the powerful story that is keeping people interested. As much I didn’t want to see Mr. Eko go last night, the show will go on without him. There’s plenty of questions that need to be solved and an island to escape and LOST doesn’t depend on just one or two characters to move the story to it’s eventual conclusion.

All Is 'Lost'

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an interesting article on the influence LOST has had on other television shows. You can read it here.  It also speculates why the is down slightly this year. Like I’ve been saying since the beginning of the season, the writers need to resolve some of the mysteries before the audience becomes frustrated. Just because you answer some questions doesn’t mean it won’t open other ones.  

Happy Halloween

For those who enjoy Halloween, we’re doing a fun Halloween show on The Abel Hour today. Our guest will be Scott Johnson of Extra Life Radio. The show is broadcast live from 11 a.m. to noon MST (1-2 p.m. EDT) and you can listen to the show during that time by clicking here. If you want to be part of the show, the phone number is 1-800-331-4301.

***

The family carved Jack-O’-Lanterns the other night. Aidan thinks they're the best part of Halloween.

The kids' Jack-O-Lanterns

Aidan tries to see if The Great Pumpkin has a brain

Aidan talks to The Great Pumpkin

Steven is in awe of The Great Pumpkin

 

A Two-Year-Old Poet

Aside from two Detroit Tiger hats, the only other major league baseball hat I own is a St. Louis Cardinals hat. It was a gift from the in-laws two years ago when a vacation took them through St. Louis. It’s a nice hat but I’ve only worn it a handful of times because, well, I’m a Tiger fan. But after the Tiger’s disappointing, error-filled performance in the World Series this last week, it’s hard to wear any of my Tiger hats in public again. I might just have to jump on the Cardinal’s bandwagon to fit in with the sea of red out there. ~sighs~

***

Aidan loves having Marathon Girl and I read to him. However, his two year old brain has developed a strange love for poetry. And we’re not talking nursery rhymes. He enjoys major poets and some of their best known works. Poems that Aidan particularly likes having read to him are Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, Mary Oliver’s Maybe, Phillip Booth’s First Lesson, Rudyard Kipling’s If, Alison Funk’s The Moons of Uranus and Stephen Crane’s God Lay Dead in Heaven.

I’m not complaining. I think it’s wonderful he enjoys these. But he really floored me and Marathon Girl last week when he started repeating most of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s famous poem First Fig for no apparent reason. He going to be a construction worker for Halloween but I’m wondering if a tweed jacket and bow tie wouldn’t be a better fit. I think a two-year-old poet would scare just about anyone.

Tigers Fall and a Halloween Weekend

The Tigers should have beat the Cardinals last night. Their bats came alive and pitching was solid. What killed them were mistakes and a couple of slips and falls. That the way things go, I suppose. Still it was very disheartening to see the game slip through their fingers like that. They’re in a must win situation now. We’ll see how they fight when their back are up against the well.

***

Did I mention I’m glad it’s Friday? Lot of fall/Halloween activities planned with the boys this weekend. Going to carve the pumpkins from our garden and have a Fall Fest church activity tonight. Aidan’s been looking forward to the pumpkin carving all week. Every day he’s been asking me if we’re going to make faces on the pumpkins. It should be lots of fun.

The Rain Does Not Fall In Spain

I’m actually glad game four of the World Series was rained out last night. First, I think the Tigers could use the break to regroup and come out fighting. The rain delayed game during their series with the Yankees turned out to be just what they needed. Second, thanks to an early winter storm, we have several inches of snow on the ground. There’s something about wrong about watching baseball and having snow on the ground. Football I can watch with snow. It at least needs to be somewhat warm for me to enjoy baseball.

Third, I could watch LOST without having to worry about missing anything exciting on the game. And nice to see that last week’s episode was just a fluke as far as being a snoozer. This week’s episode was very strong. My thoughts about it are as follows (stop reading if you don’t want to be surprised):

• Like I asserted at the beginning of the season, the Others are masters of interrogation techniques. Ben may have told Sawyer he was merely conning him, but they really know what they’re doing when they’re trying to get info from Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Ben accurately told Sawyer is wasn’t the (phony) pacemaker that kept him in line but his concern and feelings for Kate. And the used the blaring horns so Jack didn’t know that Kate and Sawyer were alright. And having Ben pretending to kill the rabbit to scare Sawyer into thinking the pacemaker was great.
• I really enjoyed the Sawyer flashback. As many problems as the guy has, we see that he still cares deeply for others (especially Kate), even if he has a hard time admitting it or expressing it publicly.
• I’m not sure what to make of the second island thing. Wondering if it’s real or they’re just tricking Sawyer again.

Looking forward to next week's episode.

Writing Matters

Boy did the Tigers look bad last night. I think I’ll follow my grandmother’s advice and choose to remain silent on this subject since I have nothing good to say about them.

***

There was an interesting article in the October 16 issue of The New Yorker about how some people have come up with a computer program that can predict whether or not a movie will be a box office hit. (Yeah, that issue came out awhile ago, but if you’re on my mailing list, read the email I sent out today and you’ll know why I’m behind.) So what did these guys who developed this computer program conclude?

That stars didn’t matter, that the director didn’t matter, and that all that mattered was story—and, by the way, that you understood story the way the people on the inside, people who had spent a lifetime in the motion-picture business, didn’t.

Basically, their argument is that if you have a good story that people can relate to, a lot of the other details don’t matter. Though I don’t fully agree with this, it goes to show how important the story is. Too often Hollywood bigwigs think that a big name star or special effects can compensate for a bad screenplay.

The truth is storytelling and the ability to write matters and is a big reason why many of the movies (and television shows such as LOST) are successful. Unfortunately, it’s often the part of the whole movie making process that is often overlooked or rushed. Why spend decent time and money on a story when you can have Brad Pitt or Uma Thurman make the money instead. If only studios paid more attention to their writers, they might end up with more hits.

The World Series and Doritos

I was relieved that the Tigers cleaned up their act and tie the series with St. Louis with a 3-1 victory last night. The Tigers looked a lot better than their game Saturday. Still, they had plenty of chances to blow the second game wide open and were unable to capitalize on the. I’m hoping the Tigers can put their act together a little better and take two out of three in St. Louis. (I’d rather them finish the series in Detroit and win it in front of the hometown fans.)

***

It appears I’m not the only person getting old.

One of my favorite snack foods is Doritos. Marathon Girl, who does an excellent job of keeping my snack cupboard well-stocked, is always buying me new flavors of Doritos when they come out. So, when I noticed there was some Fiery Habanero Doritos in the cupboard a few weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to try them. I love hot and spicy things. Unfortunately Fiery Habanero proved to be a bit too much for me. It was hard to eat more than a handful without drinking copious amounts of water or feeling a tinge of heartburn.

Ten to 15 years ago, I don’t think I would have had a problem eating a whole bag of those spicy chips. Today my body rebels against the anything past medium on the hot and spicy scale – just a further reminder that no matter how good of shape I try to keep my body in, there’s some parts of getting older that I can’t keep stop.

Fortunately, the good people at the Frito Lay also came out with Blazin’ Buffalo & Ranch Doritos. These have a nice bite to them but nothing guys in their early 30s like me can’t handle. They’re quickly becoming one of my favorite chips.

Motown Mojo

There was some major mojo in Motown Saturday night. Twenty-two years to the day the Detroit Tigers were last crowned the best team in baseball, the Tigers completed a four game sweep of the Oakland Athletics and advanced to the World Series. Even the way the Tigers won their final games against the Athletics was magical. Down 3-0 early in the game, the Tigers clawed their way back and won the game with a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The victory set off a night of parting in a town that hasn’t seen the Tigers team finish with a winning record since 1993.

The Tigers' accomplishments this year have been nothing short of remarkable. Three years ago they lost an American League record 119 games and were the laughing stock of the baseball world.

Not many people are laughing now.

Before the season began, no one expected the Tigers to rise higher than fourth place in their division. As their early season victory total began to add up and had the best record in baseball, sports writers and broadcasters didn’t give them much credit. The Tigers' success was a fluke, they said, built upon beating teams with losing records. Even when the Tigers were 40 games over .500, baseball experts all said the Tigers weren’t strong enough to win the division with teams like the White Sox or last long in the playoffs against far superior teams like the Yankees.

The Tigers almost provided their critics right. They struggled at season’s end – winning only 19 of their last 52 games – and backed into the playoffs as a wildcard team. Their late season floundering earned them a series against the New York Yankees who field what is arguably one of the best lineups ever assembled. Not one baseball expert picked the Tigers to advance to the next round.

They were drubbed by the Yankees 7-4 in their first post-season game since 1987. But the Tigers didn’t give up. They kept working, determined to achieve success. They roared back and demolished the Yankees and their $198 million payroll with three straight victories. Money can buy a lot of things in New York, but it apparently can’t purchase a World Series ring.

Then the Tigers took on the Athletics and a country full of still naysayers convinced the Tigers' success was nothing more than an aberration. And once again the Tigers proved their critics wrong.

The 2006 Tigers are the quintessential America success story. They’ve shown that expert opinion means little and well-financed opposition can be defeated. Like a Horatio Alger novel, the Tigers have proved that hard work, determination, and the willingness to keep their eye on the prize is what it takes to make dreams reality.

On Saturday the World Series begins and the Tigers will have a chance to rise from years of futility and prove themselves the best team in baseball. With their work ethic and willpower, there’s still plenty of Motown mojo to go around.

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This essay was originally published on FreeCapitalist.com. You can read all of Abel’s FreeCapitalist essays here.