The Last Monday Film Festival will begin tonight at 8:30pm. Feel free to bring kids and there will be a pack-n-play available for infants, if needed. Tonight's selection will be the Errol Morris documentary, Gates of Heaven. The movie runs a little more than 80 minutes and is tauted as perhaps the greatest documentary of all time. If you are coming and you can shoot me a quick email, it would be nice to know who might be here tonight.

As some of you know, I have gotten into geocaching a little, and I have been scoping out some local caches that look particularly fun or challenging. I'm not so much of a fan of the drive-right-up-and-park-at-the-cache variety, so you can imagine that I was excited to find a cache last week that is only accessible by river. Unfortunately, Evan took his canoe to the mountains and left it there, so now I don't have a boat and I've been hunting around for a place I might be able to rent or borrow one. That lead me to this graphic from a stream flow gauge on the Eno. Have you ever wondered why every year there seems to be some paddler stuck in a tree while the water floods around him/her? This may explain it.

I would say that the new football coach over at Dook might be pretty upset over this ruling, but I'm fairly certain he had something to do with changing the schedule. It is funny to laugh about now, but if Dook schedules some cupcakes and starts winning 4 or 5 per season, they might be able to recruit some better talent. Did I hear that they were considering upgrades to Wallace Wade? Does anyone know the status of that rumor? I doubt if they could put a second level on the stadium, because that might make it taller than Cameron. Do I sense a disturbance in the (dark side of the) force? Thanks for the link, Dave.

The Summer Solstice Party was VERY fun.

For people with a slightly nerdy sense of humor (via the Joho blog): check out the reviews of these $500 audio cables at Amazon.

Yesterday, I played basketball for the first time in about 3 years. Actually, I know the exact date of the last time I played basketball--February 25, 2005, which was Dave's bachelor party. I used to play ball several times a week, once or more a day over some significant stretches. But I don't have anyone to play with usually, and I don't have a goal at my house anymore. Anyway, I was terrible. I used to consider myself as above average, mostly limited by my height and geneticly inherited slowness. Now I would put myself squarely below average. I could feel how ugly my shot was, and I've never had so many airballs. Not just kind of bad airballs, either--terrible, aweful, off-the-top-of-the-backboard airballs. Me thinks I should rectify that....

Halleigh spent a half hour rubbing my back yesterday. I think I'm liking this dad thing more and more.

This is what I call a sidecar. The official name of this model is El Coucho. Via 2SB.

They are both newly inducted scooteristas. I got the word from Cory today that Bill got a Ruckus, and reports are in that Rummy recently laid out for an LX150.

I'm now officially jealous of my cousin and the former Sec Def. Way to go Bill! Meet me in Chatanooga?

Brooklynne is in a book club and every time they finish a book there seems to be a debate about what to read next (I think they may have a few options lined up by now), but if I were in a book club, this is what I would lobby to read.

Last night was eventful. I was sitting in our office beginning to get some school work done when I heard a large bang in the other room. I thought about going out to see what was going on, but I had just finished telling Brooklynne to pretend I wasn't there, so I decided to let her handle it. A minute later I heard some foot step heading to the bathroom and the water turn on... and then... "MILES!!!!!"

I jumped up and ran into the bathroom where I saw Halleigh standing there with her dress soaked in blood and more blood dripping from her hair. Brooke was staying mostly calm, but she didn't know where the blood was coming from and she was scared to look. So I checked Halleigh's body--no cuts or punctures--and then I pulled up her hair and found a deep gash on the back of her head about the length and width of the end section of my index finger.

So we got a cloth and pressed it to the back of her head, and we stripped off her bloody clothes and tried to wipe the blood off a little before dressing her again in a dress that she had out grown (no need to ruin two sets of usable clothes). Then we drove to urgent care with Brooklynne in the back, holding the damp cloth on Halleigh's head.

We got immediate attention at the clinic. At first there was a question about whether we would have to go to the emergency room, but the doctors at the clinic said they would try to close the wound, and if Halleigh would be still enough to put in some staples without sedation, we could avoid the hospital. Halleigh and Brooklynne (who was holding and comforting her) were both troopers. I was tasked with holding back Halleigh's hair so the doctor had both hands free to work the staple gun. That was pretty interesting to watch. Halleigh was very well behaved, so before long, we were on our way home with 4 staples in the back of Halleigh's head.

We took some post-trauma pictures, but I didn't get them uploaded last night, so I hope Brooklynne will post them over on her blog sometime today. If not, look for a picture to be posted here tomorrow.

Atfer this adventure, I've been thinking about me and Brooklynne's somewhat hands-off parenting philosophy. I think our friends are sometimes shocked by how little we protect Halleigh, and the self-conscious side of me is nervous that we will be judged for allowing our child to put herself in harms way (she was climbing on a chair when she fell, which is a no-no, although we don't strickly enforce a total no-climb policy). I wondered if we should crack down on the daredevil proclivities of our daughter.

But our choice in parenting strategy is intentional, and not a product of inattention, so I still feel good about what we allow and don't allow, we just need to be very aware of what Halleigh is doing at all times. An article I saw on CNN this morning sums up my feelings pretty well.

"Much after-dinner wrestling here," reports Michelle Mayr, the Davis, California, mom of four boys, ages 5 to 12. "I'm constantly fighting to keep my house a home rather than an indoor sports center. Their stuffed animals' primary function is to be added to the pile of pillows everyone is launching into from the coffee table."

In general, boys are more rambunctious and aggressive, experts say. Taking risks lights up the pleasure centers of their brains. Many parents find they have to keep a closer eye on what a son is "getting into," or use more bandages.

But letting kids explore -- at the cost of a few scrapes and cuts -- builds character, self-confidence, resilience, and self-reliance, says Wendy Mogel, Ph.D., author of "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee." Boys, being natural risk takers, may need encouragement to slow down a little, but maybe girls need to be encouraged to take more risks. Look for opportunities for your daughter to jump off a wall, swim in the deep end, or try the bigger slide.  (clipped from this article)

I'm not advocating letting a child harm themselves, but I think you have to give them some room to test their limits. That's why I probably won't shift to a more protective style. I want to have an empowered daughter. That is very important to me. Thoughts?

**Update: Brooklynne posted a couple pictures at IMR. Warning though--they're gross.**

I'm stating my own film festival. For now, it will consist of 3 films, which will air at my house on the last monday of June, July, and August. The festival may be extended into the fall if enough people are interested. Following up on the wildly successful showing of King of Kong, this year's theme is documentaries, specifically Errol Morris documentaries. So if you are around on June 30, please Join us at 8:30pm for the first in our series, Gates of Heaven. The other films tentatively scheduled are

• July 28 - Fog of War
• August 25 - Vernon Florida

Let me know if you are planning to attend. Can't wait to watch with you guys! 

Since I'm doing movie reviews...

The Fall

R, 156 minutes

Critics: none

Miles: B+

Brooklynne took me on a Fathers' Day date to see The Fall. I picked it out. It isn't often that I can convince Brooklynne to see a small-release film at the Carolina Theater, but my clout on Fathers' Day was a game changer. I don't think she liked it much, and I wish she had, because it would have made future trips easier.

However, I liked it very much. I think it is a good example of filmmaking as an unique art, not just another medium for a novel or biography as many mainstream films seem to suggest. The colors and shots were dramatic, the story was deep and complex, and the directing was superb. The movie did slip into some overly-artsy, symbolic cut-aways during one short span, which I did not think was consistent with the way the story was told before and after, but it did not distract too much from the rest of the film.

Here's a link to the trailer. I would love for you to tell me what they think if you get a chance to see it.

During the Italy vs. Netherlands game earlier this week, there was a controversial no-call on Holland's first goal. Click continue reading to view a  highlight, but only if you are interested in these things.

In case any of you did not notice, the XO laptop finally reached Haiti. I would love to get those guys another one. We'll see what we can do toward the end of the summer.

I've been following Euro 2008 online and it has been an exciting tourney already. The Netherlands were truely impressive vs. Italy (3-0), and Spain was just as good against Russia. I was glad to see Spain play well because it makes me feel better about the poor showing by the US aginst them last week (0-2). We had some good chances, but Spain dismantled us in the secnod half of that game. At least they are proving that you can be a decent team and still look bad against them--not that Russia is all that good either, but Spain is ranked #2 in the Euro power rankings after the first games of the group stage.

Meanwhile the US begins World Cup qualifying on Sunday vs. Barbados. in the past two meetings, we have beaten them by a combined score of 11-0, so I'm hoping for a relaxing game. The game is on ESPN2 immediatly before the UNC's opening game in the college world series. What a great father's day to veg out watching sports!

I got about 4/5 of the garden weeded this week after it was overrun while we were gone to the beach. The cucumbers are blooming (as well as the tomatoes and watermellon as reported earlier), Brooklynne has already harvested quite a bit of basil, we've got tiny carrots, and the cilantro and lettuce are looking good. The only thing that is showing no real signs of producing are the peppers, but I think we just need to be patient.

Tonight, Brooklynne and I will travel with the Wallaces to the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area to camp and hike. I don't think it will be long until we know that place like the back of our hands, which is awesome. You can see some pictures from MRNRA here and here. I'll put up our own pictures as soon as we get back, provided we have better luck than last time.

That brings me to the fact that we won't be online tomorrow, so check back Sunday for more beach photos.

Evan was shocked when I told him we had two significant bolts left over after Matt's clutch job. So here is a picture from that night just for the record. These are the parts we had left over at the end of the job.

 Here are a few more pics. I'll try to post a few per day until I go through most of the good ones.

We're back. I was planning to blog during our vacation, because I really do enjoy writing here, but a last minute decision to go on a blog/computer fast dictated leaving the laptop at home. So, it is perhaps needless to say that I have alot of piled up blogging material. Right now, I don't have time to post all the pictures at once, but here are some starters. Also here are a few of the other topics besides the beach that I plan to write about in the next couple of days:

1. Soccer (US vs. Spain and Euro 2008)
2. Obama
3. The new Indiana Jones flick
4. Our garden (we have tomato and watermellon blooms)
5. UNC baseball
6. Car repairs
7. Shrimp boats

Enjoy these pics and I'll post some more later.