New poll!

The Roach Family Blog is proud to present a new poll for the regulars. Guess the baby's birth day. Bravenet won't allow more than 10 responses with their free service, so I had to lump days together. So, do you think Cathy will be early, later, right on Sept. 13th or will she go into labor on Labor Day? The poll is on the side bar to the right.

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And if you're curious, the results of the last poll was 15 votes for boy and 22 for girl. We'll find out who was right soon enough!

Which one is the W Chord?

New Orleans lies in ruin, gas prices near $3.00 a gallon, 1,800+ troops dead in Iraq and the president takes a break from his 5 week long vacation to learn how to play guitar.

Read "How I spent my summer vacation, by George Bush."

Any day now!

This baby could be here any day. The baby is head down and Cathy is 2/3rd effaced. Wish us luck!

Love you Forever: Creepy or Sweet?

My family and I have an ongoing debate about the book "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. This book has been extremely successful, with more than 15 million copies sold. I remember first hearing of this book when we discussed it in my "Sociology of the Family" class at DePauw. I started thinking about this book again while shopping for books for Baby Roach

People either love it or hate it. I happen to fall into the "hate it" category. I personally believe this book is creepy and twisted. It's a bizarre tale of a mother that apparently can only tell her son that she loves him when she sneaks into his room when he's asleep and sings him this sappy little song. The story gets twisted when she continues this after he leave home and starts his own family. She breaks into his house, crawls into his room and rocks her grown son and sings the same sappy song. The table is turned when mom gets sick and the son breaks into her nursing home and rocks the mom and sings the same sappy song. The story ends with the mother dying and the son rocking his child and singing the same sappy song.

Now, I've been told that this book will mean a lot more when I have kids (In about 2 weeks!) but I doubt it. In this book we never see the mother expressing her love to her son when he's awake. We never see the son's father. We never see the mother acting as a grandmother.

People who like this book say it's about unconditional love. To me, this is a story of a kind of unhealthy co-dependence continuing through generations. And it end with a death. What kind of kid's book is that? Apparently this is a common debate. Just read some of the 316 reviews at epinions.com of the 511 reviews at amazon.com. Some of the posts do recommend alternative books about unconditional love that look much less creepy, includingGuess How Much I Love You and Owl Babies.

And the debate continues.

City Councilman Unearths Magical Zoning Amulet

Oh, if only the Magical Zoning Amulet were real. I could have total control and unlimited power over zoning! Read this hilarious spoof from the Onion. "With this sigil, the power of zoning comes. Through me, the power of zoning flows!" city councilmember Mike LaMere stated as he "held the glowing amulet aloft and transmuted a neighborhood of low-income apartments into a semi-wooded, single-family, residential district with an adjoining riverside park." Hilarious. Well, maybe not for you, but I was ROTFLMAO!

The migration of the U-Hauls

Like the sparrows returning to Capistrano, the IU students are returning to Bloomington. The streets are full of U-Hauls, broken down sofas and out of state cars driving the wrong way down one way streets. The students returning increases the pace of life in Bloomington. More cars, more parties, more noise, but also new faces, new money, new excitement. I somewhat miss counting life by semesters and academic years. Each fall is a new start where everything can begin again. Just watch out on those one-way streets.

Thou shalt not kill (Except for political assassinations)

Pat Robertson apparently forgot about the 6th Commandment on Monday when he suggested on his television show, the 700 Club, that the US assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Roberts stated, "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." He continued with "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." Roberts also stated "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

So much for the religious right's "culture of life."

The Time Has Come to Celebrate Man

My friend Adam Yoder keyed me in to the upcoming Testostorama Men's Expo. This three day event will be at the Indiana State Fair Grounds from November 11-13. As the web site says, "Dream no more my friends. This magical place - home to both the steelworker and the CEO - exists. And it's called Testostorama." It's all the brain child of Ray Compton, former Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Ice, and Indianapolis Colts promotions director. He's the genius that creating the Dancing Elvi for the Ice. He's marketing this as an event where you can "eat, drink beer and shop for power tools in one convenient location." This appears to be the epicenter of "retailtainment" or shopping as entertainment. An attempt by brick and mortarter retailers to get us off of the internet and into their stores. Some of the products that Testostorama thinks men are interested in includes Home Theater, Barbecues, Computers, Video game systems, Sports memorabilia, Sports equipment, Golf, Fitness equipment, Beer, Billiards, Bikes, Cars, Clothes, Cigars, Lawn mowers and Power tools. I can't necessarily argue with that!

Who's in control?

Ben Folds autographed piano key

Ben Folds has donated an autographed piano key for a fund raiser auction for WYEP 91.3FM public radio in Pittsburgh. Very cool. Not sure what I would do with it, but it's very cool. Check it out here.

Mr. Housing Bubble

Great new t-shirt from T-Shirt Humor.com.

Beyond Violet

My parents attended a Parker Family reunion last weekend in Cave City Kentucky, home of Mammoth Cave. They got a chance to reconnect with family members that they had not seen in a long time. One of those was my cousin Will Parker. They brought me back a CD of his latest musical group, Beyond Violet. The group is basically Will and his wife, Suzanne “Zanny” Gaudet. Zanny is suffering from Ewing's Sarcoma and hasn't been performing much lately. Check out the Friends of Zanny web page for more information how her friends are trying to help her fight the cancer. Our prayers are with Will and Zanny during this trying time.

It takes a village, or at least a big family

Cathy and I want to thank everyone for the baby shower on Saturday. We especially want to thank Frances McElwee, the host and one of your baby's grandmothers, and all of Cathy's sisters and sisters-in-law for organizing the shower. Our baby will know that it is loved with such great family like all of you!

If you have any digital pictures from the shower, please e-mail them to us at the usual addresses. We'll post them on this site.

New camera and photo service

With the impending arrival of baby Roach (35 days, holy cow!) Cathy and I decided it was about time to get a digital camera. At the advice of a friend, I used PriceGrabber.com and found a great deal on a reconditioned Kodak Easyshare DX7440 Digital Camera. At 4 megapixels and 4x optical zoom, this camera should last us through lots of first steps and birthday parties.

With the new Kodak camera, I decided to move our pictures from DotPhoto.com to the Kodak EasyShare Gallery, formerly known as ofoto.com. Future photo updates will link to the new site.

The circus is coming!

Well, it's not quite the "Greatest Show on Earth", but the Carson and Barnes Circus is coming to Bloomington's College Mall the end of August. They're a real 5 ring circus under a big top. I can't remember the last circus I've been to. It was probably a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at old Market Square Arena. A couple of years ago a circus came to the Bloomington National Guard Armory that drew protests from local animal rights activists.

Pictures from the shower Saturday

A big thank you to Kim Williams for e-mailing me the pictures she took at Saturday's shower. If anyone else has pictures from Saturday, I would love to have a copy. Please e-mail me at the usual address.

Here's one of Cathy in the classic pregnant woman pose.



And one of Cathy with the party hostesses.



Go to our dotPhoto.com picture site for more pictures from the shower.

Not quite a pinball wizard

I discovered the resturant in my building has a pinball machine tucked away in a corner. It's a 1989 "Elvira and the Party Monsters" game. It sucked down a buck in quarters from me after lunch. They also have a couple of pool tables and "Golden Tee 2003." I think I'm be spending a few lunch breaks there.

A big thanks to everyone for Saturday

Cathy and I want to thank everyone for the great baby shower on Saturday, especially the hostesses; Kary, Kim, Gretchen and Charla. Our baby will definitely know that it is loved with great friends like all of you!

If you have any digital pictures from the shower, please e-mail them to us at the usual addresses. We'll post them on this site.