Update

... Jacob Year 3 video is being burned to DVDs as I type. I'd like to give a special thanks to Tom for his excellent editing. It really looks professional and came out as a very high quality product. For all who view the videos, this version will have much better cuts, shorter clips, great music and a lot of clever montages. We owe Tommy a big thanks.

... Jacob is doing really well in school and the class is getting back up to full capacity. Many of his friends are back in school from the summer break. He's been very cheerful lately and a joy around the house.

... I have been really thinking through the short story I have developed. I have really been researching effective character development as well as useful tools for making that character resonate with a reader. For one, I am reading Fyodore Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, which places the reader into the mind of a person brilliantly. But, my most inspirational enlightenment came from an otherwise mundane class.

I was at a CLE program when I learned the name for my conceptual goal. That is "cognitive bias." I always discuss paradigms and a large part of my story is perception and perspective. So, I have researched cognitive biases and have picked some to apply to my characters.

A judge actually told a story that illustrated cognitive bias. She discussed how two people can perceive the same events very differently without lying. The axiom that "someone must be lying," therefore, is rarely correct. Instead, the lenses through which we see events are tainted by these biases (whether conscious or unconscious).

I try not to have a "post-modern" or "morality is in the eye of the beholder" perspective, but cognitive bias is very real and it colors everything. I see it in my line of work all the time. I will be exploring this in depth in my story and will probably concentrate most of my writing on that in the coming weeks.

... The Broncos will have a terrible season and every college team I usually follow (CU and UVA) both look to have rough seasons. Therefore, for a one-year trial, the guys and I have decided to adopt a team to save the football season. We will be rooting for the Cal Bears this year. I'm all in! George Carlin once put sports into perspective by saying "you don't leave an opera angry, and the same should apply to sports." I'll still follow my teams, but I'm in on Cal so I can taste a good season. It'll make the otherwise crappy taste of multiple bad seasons go down a little more smoothly.