Happy 5th Birthday Joseph!

Joseph actually turned 5 on Tuesday, and I wanted to pay a little tribute to him here. These are a few photos that help mark his life at various points.

He had to spend a little time in the hospital when he was born. He had a serious congenital defect that was corrected shortly after birth. It was a period of great growth and faith for our family, and I am grateful for his living reminder of how precious life is.

Lacy is holding him here, but this photo was snapped on my 26th birthday (I believe), the first day that I was able to hold him.

We got him home, not knowing that sleeping was not among the things Joseph would do well.

But smiling definitely was (and is). The below pictures can demonstrate that.

(Almost) without trying I have been able to inculcate Joseph with a love of 2 teams- BYU and the University of Miami. You have to start young.

What a smile.

I am named after my dad, and Joseph is the third Lowry to bear the name. Here he is around his 2nd birthday with his Papa Joe.

Joseph was almost two when Millie was born. He is a good and loving big brother.

And he loves his mommy (holding his hand here).

He decided he was going to the office. I thought my tie looked even better on him.

This was taken on Father's Day this year. I am truly a blessed man to have this family, and a little boy like Joseph.

I thought this was great. After a while of being neglected, the kids decided to use the sandbox. A toad had made his home there, and with not an ounce of fear, Joseph picked him up. He is such a great kid, and makes our lives more interesting and fulfilling, every single day. Often that means trying to explain to him why, despite how cool it would be, we can't build a rocketship in the backyard and why he can't learn to drive a motorcycle.

Happy birthday little buddy!

Inception

I wrote this over a week ago but never published it.

I saw Inception last night (Wednesday the 21st). I'm glad I went. It was a supremely engrossing movie. I'm left with a lot of questions about the film's resolution, which in turn have led to other questions about events preceding that.

I have not seen every film made by Christopher Nolan, but he is responsible for one of my all-time favorites, The Dark Knight. Despite the heavy nature of the film's subject matter, and the fact that its relentless pace is characterized by tragedy and setback, I always find a moving positive message in it. I think I have rewatched it 7 or 8 times. This is a piece from Film.com that talks about why Inception has ideas worth discussing (SPOILERS). My feeling of Christopher Nolan's work is summarized nicely by this quote from the article:

Again and again people choose humanity over certainty. It may not be the
right choice ... but it's the only choice we've got.

I would change it a bit. It may not be the easy choice.

The Whole Truth

I hadn't paid much attention to the story of Shirley Sherrod. She is the USDA official who was forced out of her job for making allegedly racist comments in a speech to the NAACP. According to this piece from Peggy Noonan, she was treated unfairly by many commentators AND the Obama Administration.

It is a lesson in the importance of learning the truth about a person and their actions. We are all potential victims of a 24/7 news cycle and instant-publish news and commentary.

Awesome Video Saturday CXXXVIII

I grew up loving the original TRON movie, so I have been looking forward to the sequel. Here is the latest trailer. Looks great.

A Fascinating Life

A local photographer, filmmaker, and explorer passed away Wednesday while diving. By any definition, Wes Skiles was a cool guy. He had done things that most of us would never even attempt, such as mapping underground waterways and exploring uncharted caves. He directed films, worked in TV, and has the cover photo in this month's National Geographic.

I was able to get to know Wes a little bit over the past 6 years or so. As someone who wanted to be a filmmaker at one time, I was fascinated by his work. He was a big idea guy and was able to see some of those ideas come to fruition. I know he had a lot more that he hoped to accomplish as well.

He recently had a photo selected for the cover of National Geographic Magazine. You can see some of his work here.

His wife, 2 children, and other family are in our thoughts and prayers.

Bias

Fred Barnes is a well-known conservative commentator. He wrote a great piece in yesterday's WSJ about something called Journolist. Journolist was a network of liberal reporters and journalists, and Barnes explains the unique historical context of the network, and their apparent collusion, at least intellectually, in support of liberal causes.

Independence & the Court

This is a great article about the political ramifications of recent Supreme Court decisions. In particular it looks at how the Obama administration will likely face more push back from a conservative-leaning Court.
Obama has demonstrated petulance in response to some of these issues, as in his State of the Union address. I like the following quote from the article.

McConnell, the law professor, said the administration's broad set of regulatory moves made a clash almost inevitable. "It does not mean the courts are being 'political,' " he said. "It is the way the institutions are designed, to create checks and balances."

I think it will be too much to imagine that Obama will take this view.

Happy Independence Day!

Reasons to love the Cup

I enjoyed this column about the World Cup from ESPN's Bill Simmons.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100701

Living Hero

I enjoy reading the stories of people who do remarkable things to protect others. Many of these seem to come from the experience of men and women in the armed forces. A soldier is being considered for the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan, and if awarded, it will be the first such Medal given to a living recipient since the Vietnam War.

You can read a little about it here.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/01/2010-07-01_pentagon_nominates_medal_of_honor_for_living_soldier_to_white_house_first_since_.html

Raise it!

By this I mean the Social Security retirement age. It won't "cost" us a single dime and would put the system on much sounder footing.