Election Day
Election day is finally here. I already voted, and now I’m having to endure CNN’s election coverage, while I sit in the customer lounge at the Toyota dealership while the mighty Prius gets a new auxillary battery installed. I think this is one of Dante’s Circles of Hell, having to listen to the combo of CNN’s anchors, “reporters”, and unbiased man-on-the-street-average-voter interviews.
Two nuggets I just heard were, 1)Obama winning will drive up minority enrollments at the Ivy League schools, which is a good, warm, fuzzy, and inspiring thing, and 2)the polls really *are* accurate & important indicators of what is and will be happening — Really? Good Lord but they are shameless…
Also interesting, though, was that one reporter actually almost admitted that PA was back up for grabs, but he quickly qualified that with a “but not really…”
I’m still hopeful that America’s not dumb enough to vote that stupid…
-ghp
Reunion Day - pt. 1
Phase one of ‘Reunion Day’ is almost complete. The family reunion has been quite pleasant. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, and the park is very nice - big enough to spread out, but not so big as to be spread out all over hell’s half acre. And, I must admit, that after almost 20 years I’ve grown rather fond of my wife’s side of the family (subject, of course to my usual anti-social caveats…). They’re good people, and there are far worse ways to spend a few hours.
Which reminds me about what’s coming up in phase 2 of ‘Reunion Day’ — the 20th reunion of Milford High’s Class of 1988… Freshmen dorks who didn’t even go to my school! w00t!!
-ghp
Ambition and vocation
Something that I’ve been grappling with of late (for the last 9 months or so, actually) is the relationship between ambition and vocation, particularly as it relates to one’s individual career advancement and family obligations.
We are constantly bombarded with the idea & mantra that ambition is good, and that there really is no such thing as selfish, blind ambition (except, perhaps, in hindsight to ascribe blame/guilt). Job-hopping up the career ladder is no vice, even if it means uprooting home and hearth.
But does this conventional wisdom mesh with a Lutheran of the Doctrine of Vocation? I think not…
In my case, raw ambition would dictate a full-court press job search, so that I could show “proper progression” and get into a director-level job to have enough time to parlay that into a director-or-higher-level job somewhere bigger & better. And if I have to uproot the family, so be it.
Here’s the rub - to do that, I think I would have to seriously drop the ball on propery executing my vocations as father, husband, & head of household. My family likes where we are. The kids are getting old enough to have “roots”. And the only reason (at this moment) to think about leaving would be my ambition (vanity? selfishness?). And I just don’t think that it’s enough, at least not enough to warrant the type of full-bore search that I would’ve undertaken without a second thought even 5 years ago. It isn’t just about me anymore - not even to rationalize it such that “I need to be happy in order to make my family happy.” That’s true, but not necessarily in quite the way that raw, unfettered ambition would demand. Sobering thought.
So, what say you? I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the subject of ambition vs.vocation - help me out here with your collective wisdom! 
-ghp
Ballgames
Ballgames are a completely different experience as a parent than they were as a kid. I don’t remeber them being this boring 30 years ago — at least it’s a beautiful 70 & sunny as I sit, watch, and write at 7pm on a Wed evening.
It does my prideful heart good to state that my daughter is good — carrying on in the tradition of me & my dad. And those of you who know me, know that I wouldn’t say she was good if she wasn’t (right bigsis?)
I’m just glad it gets easier to watch each year, particularly as the amount of self-esteem-boosting rule-tweaking gives way to actually playing by the rules - like keeping score, succeeding, failing, winning, and losing.
-ghp
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