Pat Tillman NFL player Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. He gave up a lot of money to go into the Army after 9/11. Kinda puts the NFL draft and a lot of other stuff into perspective. No matter what you think about war and U.S. policies, this is a reminder that there are real people out there choosing to risk their lives. Tillman gave up a lot more money than most of the others, but all of the others have given up a lot to go there, sometimes (as in this case) giving up everything. I wish that more of our leaders had this kind of courage, and this kind of selflessness. (Note 1: Making a decision not to fight, like Ali did in the '60s, can also be courage. Each person has to make their own decisions.) (Note 2: I didn't intend this post to urge a vote in November for someone who did fight for his country, but if you take that away, all the better as far as I'm concerned).

Missed it I didn't make it to the second bloggerCon. A combo of being too tired to get up early for the morning session, and it being such beautiful day I really couldn't bear to be inside -- even listening to interesting stuff like that. One nice thing about a blogger meeting is you don't have to worry about catching up on what you missed. So many people have captured it, with so many viewpoints, I'm sure. Also, I haven't been much of a blogger recently -- but I hope to get back into it. One downside of having a 2-year-old is not getting out much, but it's an upside when you have a fun day with him. We went to see Drumlin Farm where he liked seeing the pigs best, I think. (Instead of saying "Oink" for pig talk he makes a sound that's a lot more like what a pig really says. Maybe that's the equivalent of oink in Guatemalan Spanish; we're trying to find out). And then lots of fun playing with the neighbors' kids. There are so many little kids in this neighborhood. Sometimes we talk about what it will be like when they all are teenagers. Be afraid, be very afraid.