Sam and I went to the Baltimore Comic Convention this weekend - one of those great father/son bonding experiences. I'm glad that there is something that we both enjoy, that we can do together. My dad was great about that as well, when I was a kid (although it was Star Trek conventions then - I know, I know, I'm a geek).


We took the Light Rail into Baltimore city. It was Sam's first ride on the Maryland Light Rail (and only my second or third).


We played the Sam-invented game of "What would you do if you didn't have any senses?" on the train. Well, it doesn't work to yell at me if I can't hear, Sam.


This one was better. Strange thing, though. The guy sitting directly in front of us had a stack of comics a mile high, but he didn't get off at the convention center stop... Guess he was just taking them out for a train ride.


Sam took one look at the table of free stuff and freaked. Who knew there was such a wonderful place in the world as the comic book convention, where, not only do they have great things to look at and buy, but they also give you free stuff? Utopia, I tell ya.


That Batman is one big mother... Sam also met a traveling caravan of Wolverine, Marvel Girl, Rogue, and, for some reason, a Stormtrooper. Go figure.

It was a good day. I'm training the boy up in the way of the geek. And that's ok.

Ok - I officially need some help from the blogverse. I know we've all been through this at some point, but I'm on the verge, and I probably need to be talked down.

Should I get rid of all of my CDs (after, of course, ripping the hell out of them onto the PC)? Then, sell the discs, and perhaps, buy a iPod? I have well over 500 CDs stacked up, getting in the way (or so my lovely wife thinks.. I think they're elegant).

Thoughts? Help!

John

Taken from the fantastic Ship-of-Fools.com...

St Peter decides to take the day off to go fishing, so Jesus offers to keep an eye on the Pearly Gates. He is not sure what to do, so Peter tells him to find out a bit about people as they arrive in Heaven, and this will help him decide if he can let them in.

After a while, Jesus sees a little old man with white hair approaching who looks very, very familiar. He asks the old man to tell him about himself. The old man says, "I had a very sad life. I was a carpenter and had a son who I lost at a relatively young age, and although he was not my natural child, I loved him dearly."

Jesus welled up with emotion. He threw his arms around the old man and cried, "Daddy!"

The old man replied, "Pinocchio?"

Isn't Photoshop great?!? I can erase my own child from existence! Plus, isn't Laney the cutest thing ever?

I guess the reason that I've been so loathe to post this last week was just that I had nothing to say. I can't really add to the feelings of sorrow and dismay posted on other blogs, written by better writers. This blog is apolitical, so I can't add anything there, and I think that we are all inundated with pleas for donations, etc.

But more than that, I'm tired. I'm tired of the news, of the finger-pointing. Sure, I guess it's profitable, but it makes me tired and I don't want to talk about it. But I can't talk about anything else here without feeling like a schmuck, so I've just shut the hell up. My contribution... silence.

Complete and utter helplessness. That's all we have here. We want to help. We want to get on a plane. We want to distribute food. We want to minister to brokern families. We want to do SOMETHING.

So we donate. We give some money to the Red Cross, or to World Vision (I chose the latter). Or maybe we donate blood. We call our friends and families and tell them that we will do whatever they need. But we really don't do much.

Why is it, that in the 21st century, we can put a goddamn robot on Mars, but we can't do a damn thing about starving people in the most advanced country in the world? Why can't we do anything?

Yes, we're thankful for what we have here. We hate ourselves just a little bit because we're secretly so glad it wasn't us. We wish that our children cared. We wish they knew what need was. We complain about gas prices. We watch CNN and check Drudge 10 times a day for the most current news.

But what can we do? Yes, we didn't get hit by the hurricane, but we have a curse of our own - helplessness.