Lent begins...

OK, so lent began on Wednesday - I know!
I did post my Lent commitments on Facebook, but thought I should elaborate here.  First, no political posts on Facebook or on my blog.  It has been hard - and will be really hard this coming week especially.  Normally I can get my "fix" of politics in the classes I teach.  This next week is Spring Break - so no classes.  So why did I give up political posts for lent?  As with any good (non-Catholic) lent commitment, I have chosen something that I do frequently, I normally enjoy doing, but that I feel is not so good for me.  I want my blog and my FB status to be about me and my family.  I want it to be the phone call back to all my family back West that I don't have the time to make.  They know I'm politically opinionated, but they want to know how I am feeling, what I am doing in my career, what the kids doing and how are they feeling.  All of these things are easy to ignore when I just link to the latest political article or video.  My elimating politics from my posts could do two things.  First, it could eliminate my posting altogether.  I really hope this doesn't happen (and is why I have two Lent commitments) but it could.  Second, it will change the nature of my FB and blog posting and get me into the habit of regular posting about things that my family really would like to hear.
OK, my second commitment is to eliminate late-night television and movies.  My wife and I have shared that particular activity for many years now.  It began when we started watching Star Trek: TOS via our Netflix subscription and continued through TNG, DS9, Voyager, The Office, all of the Food Network competitions, and beyond.  We really had a field day when we got Netflix's Instant View function installed on the Wii.  Well, after finding that season 2 of Buck Rogers really sucks we decided to take some time to rediscover other activities.  We started reading an Orson Scott Card book out-loud (like we did with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Hunger Games trilogy) and have spent some time just talking.  In addition to time with my wife, I think I may actually have some time to post something worthwhile on my blog (or at least on Facebook!)  As with my other Lent commitment, I think this one will help me improve myself and my relationship with my wife.  We will probably return to some of our favorite late-night television (it really is an interactive and "connected" experience that we share) but we may be more discriminating in our choice of programs.  I hope it will also remove the TV as the "default" activity.
That's all for now.  I'll let you know how I'm doing as Lent moves along (on the 2nd commitment - you'll know how I'm doing on the first!)

Brad