Shane Klingonsmith

Much to our shock, we walked into the NICU this morning to find Walter off the CPAP!  There he was, all alone, sleeping like a baby with slow, easy breaths.  I was so excited, I pulled out the camera just to get some video footage of him breathing on his own!

As we have done every morning since Walter was flown here from Arlington, we came in early enough to sit in on the NICU Team’s rounds.  They went over all of his vitals and stats and discussed the schedule of things they wanted to do today. The Respiratory Therapist reported that when she went to remove Walter’s forced air face-mask early this morning, that he had already pulled it up off to his forehead.  The Doctor’s responded “Good, I like babies that self treat.”  Everyone thought that was funny.  She then commented that he was “simply gigantic” and about twice the size of the babies she usually sends home.  She then proceeded to tell us that he was on day 4 of 7 days of antibiotics and that they would start the discharge paperwork on Monday!

We should be taking him home on Tuesday!!!

More electronics than Darth Vader's Bathroom.

Life is full of miracles for those who will recognize the hand of God.

On June 22-26th, we took our newly Scuba Certified Venturing Crew #206 up to the San Juan Islands for a week of exploring, boating, camping and Scuba Diving.

Two days before we left for the week our dishwasher died and the week or so before that, our computer blew up.  So, in the three days before the high adventure, I had a pretty full plate rebuilding my home entertainment PC and purchasing and installing a new dishwasher so that my 7 month pregnant wife would not be left at home with 3 small kids, no easy entertainment or dishwashing service.  The night before the trip, I did not sleep more than 35min.

Being exhausted, I took a nap in the forward cabin of our captain’s boat.  When I awoke we were surrounded by fog.  It was so dense we could see only 30 or 40 yards and only once saw a tug boat on our way north.  Our capable captain navigated via compass and map right to where we wanted to go, even though he had to get out maps later to figure out how he did it.

Once on the island, the fun began.  See the pictures. They are each worth a thousand words.

This commercial aired on election day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28UwAyzUkE]

This video summarizes my opinion.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewXaVmfOj2w]

This is what the First Presidency had to say.

SALT LAKE CITY 30 June 2008 The following letter was sent from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Church leaders in California to be read to all congregations on 29 June 2008:

Preserving Traditional Marriage and Strengthening Families

In March 2000 California voters overwhelmingly approved a state law providing that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The California Supreme Court recently reversed this vote of the people. On November 4, 2 008, Californians will vote on a proposed amendment to the California state constitution that will now restore the March 2000 definition of marriage approved by the voters.

The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.

A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The Church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.
We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.

Being a Californian, I voted for Proposition 22 in 2000.

On the March 7, 2000 primary election, Proposition 22 was adopted by a vote of 61.4% to 38%, thus adding § 308.5 to the Family Code. The one-sentence code section explicitly defines the union of a man and a woman as the only valid or recognizable form of marriage in the State of California.

If you want to read a nasty bit of “Judicial Legislation,” about when and how the California Supreme Court created all this mess in the first place then read this.

Where do we go from here?

We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position.   No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

It is important to understand that this issue for the Church has always been about the sacred and divine institution of marriage — a union between a man and a woman.

Allegations of bigotry or persecution made against the Church were and are simply wrong.  The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians.  Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches. [FULL STATEMENT]

Every Latter-day Saint has to decide where they stand and for what they stand.  I would think it is common sense for Latter-day Saints to not affiliate (have membership) with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or to sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual.  — Just my humble oppion, offered without judgment or prejudice.

As you might have noticed, Klingonsmith.com is getting a major refresh.  Since so many of the immediate family were maintaining individual blogs more appropriate for their their “Non-member” Klingonsmith relatives, Gavin and I decided it was time to turn www.klingonsmith.com into a blog aggregator.  Simply put, klingonsmith.com will check our “contributor” family blogs about every 10 minutes for new posts and pull a small excerp to post on the front page.  Clicking on the title of the post or the read more. . . link will send the reader home to the original post on the appropriate blog.  Comments on these “contributed” posts are turned off since responses are more appropriate at the source.

There are far too many changes to list in both the theme and functions of our website and photo gallery.  But one you might find fun is Cooliris integration on the albums in Gallery2.

You will need:

1. http://www.cooliris.com/ to install the Cooliris plugin for your browser
2. navigate to an album in the gallery.  You know, the ones with just the thumbnails of the photos.
3. Look for the Cooliris icon when you “hover over” the thumbnail with your cursor.
4. Right click on the Cooliris icon and let the fun begin.