Who Owns the Fish?

We had a riddle to solve in my Computer Information System for Extra Credit. I solved it by putting all the options on paper and then photographed each step. I then put the instructions and the pictures in a power point. My teacher was impressed. (My teachers didn't have the sport - it had smokes in place of it - but I found this version online) So, Who owns the Fish?




There are five houses in a row and in five different colors. In each house lives a different person from a different country. Each person drinks a certain drink, plays a certain sport, and keeps a certain pet. No two people drink the same drink, play the same sport, or keep the same pet. One of these people owns a pet fish, but who? Here are the facts:

•The Brit lives in a red house
•The Swede keeps dogs
•The Dane drinks tea
•The green house is on the left of the white house
•The owner of the green house drinks coffee
•The person who plays polo keeps birds
•The owner of the yellow house plays hockey
•The person who lives in the house in the middle of the others drinks milk
•The Norwegian lives in the first house
•The person who plays baseball lives next to the person who keeps cats
•The person who keeps horses lives next to the one who plays hockey
•The person who plays billiards drinks beer
•The German plays soccer
•The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
•The person who plays baseball lives next to somebody who drinks water

So, who owns the fish?

Royality

Sonya and I watched the Royal Wedding today of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I really only got interested in it about 3 days ago when they started posting who all was going to be there and about the procession that was going to take place. I really like History - especially when I get a chance to see something that is rare. Seeing a marriage of two people that could be the King and Queen someday seemed like a big enough deal to lose a little sleep over.

I was not disappointed at all. I loved watching the crowds react to all the cars driving to the Abby and the roar when they got out. The wedding itself was wonderful. I loved hearing the "sermons" that were given - it surprised me to hear so much that I understood - it made their religion not seem as different from my own as I know there is. A lot of beliefs concerning marriage are dead on with how I feel.

I thought it funny when they said the Richer or Poorer part - you could see the princess giggle - I don't think poorer is in her future and she knows it.

Watching the ride back to the palace was the most touching for me - both William and Kate were smiling so big and just seemed to be thrilled for this to be "over." The kiss on the balcony was sweet - at least the second time around. I respect William for not liking the PDA so much. He is a royal and as much as it might have been cute to see them really kiss - it would have opened him up and that's not something dignitaries should do.

I really enjoyed it - I for one and grateful that we do not have a King and a Queen - but seeing how another country operates with one was a great experience. One I won't soon forget - now if I could only find time today for a nap.

Accomplishments

It should probably go without saying, that the more we accomplish the better we feel. That however is something I was reminded of this week. Last quarter going to school I had some success in the class room and that really fed off it's self. It only related to school though. This quarter has been the same. I feel like I'm doing well in school but it's not really positively impacting my life in other ways.

This past weekend though I had a great experience. I found a Rainbow Play system on Craigslist and was able to get a great deal on it. Of course the catch was that I had to disassemble it at it's current residence and then reassemble it for my boys at our house. It was a lot of work since I was pretty much on my own. About 15 hours total of carefully tearing it down and then rebuilding it. When I was done though I had a finished product that I was extremely happy with. I had something that I could look at and watch the boys play on and it made me feel that I had done good work.

It also transferred to another area of my life - or at least the idea did. In my job quality is very important but so is quantity - the faster you can finish a task the more people you can help - so it's a balance. I haven't always been the fastest at my job. This week though I've thought a lot about seeing a result and being happy with it. I have counted how many items I'm able to do during my shift and really tried to make a great effort to improve this week and I have.

This feeling of Accomplishment at home and at work has made me feel even better about school - although it's also reinforced that there has to be balance. I need to make sure that I am trying hard in all aspects of my life and sometimes back off of one to focus on another.

I know I'm a lucky man and have a great life - this week, I'm even feeling like I do.

Great Week of School

Life in general is going well. School though is going surprisingly well though. I am taking a business Law class and a Computer Information System's class; neither of which I know a ton about. I do know a little from work, but not the in depth stuff. So far though I'm doing awesome in my classes. Now it may be that the basic stuff I know is what would be covered in the first few chapters - but it sure sets me up nice for the rest of the quarter. What I've really been thinking a lot about though is how hard a time I have relating to my teachers this quarter. Last quarter wasn't too bad. I didn't have to read to much into what teachers meant or said. This quarter though so much of what they say seems off topic and beating around the bush. My business law class for example rarely gives a concrete answer to a question. Part of that I think is the topic - because there is obviously two sides to every argument - but once something has been decided the precedent is there and that's what he should go on as fact right? This is long and boring enough - I just hadn't written in a while and wanted to rant a little - so I did.

Isaac's Birthday

So my son turned 4 this past week. I'm so impressed with him. Everything that he's able to do and the things that he enjoys. A lot of them of course are influenced by his mother and I. Daddy (and Papa) love to fish. He's been wanting a fishing pole for a while. I figured 4 was old enough for him to break his first one - so I went out and bought one.

I had given it to him on Saturday but we didn't use it till it his birthday. He really wanted to go out and luckily I only had one class that day so I took him out and showed him the ropes - in the back yard.

What I was really amazed with though is who well he got it. True - it was in the back yard with a plastic fish. But he could cast it out most of the time... probably better than I did my first time and I was much older when I learned.

He now can't wait to go fishing for real. So we're going to be going in April when fishing season opens. I think it'll be a blast. Hopefully he'll have more success - I still haven't caught anything that I could really eat - unless you count catching I do at Safeway on the way home from fishing.

Congrats on being 4 buddy. I love you.

Winding Down - too fast

Doesn't "Winding Down" give the impression that things are going slow. It makes me feel that I should be relaxing. In reality though even though the quarter is winding down - I have to kick it into high gear. In my college Success class we have 1/3 of the points left in the quarter even though theres only two weeks. My English class we have our final paper due next Tuesday and then have to present it as well after that - it's worth 20% of our grade. All this while Overtime was just asked for at work again. Oh yeah - I'm trying to get over a cold - Issac turns four in a week - we just lost almost a week at school to snow days - and I'm planning a surprise for Sonya.
Wow, I just want to crawl under a rock and let it all go by.

I've done that before - that is the old me. The new me though I'm hoping will persevere and push through this. Make a plan and stick to it. If I do that - in two weeks time I should be very proud of what I accomplished. This is make or break time. Time to prove that I am a new person and not a quitter anymore.

But if I hear one more person say that this quarter is "Winding Down"...

Katies Law

Below is the final product. It got in the top two in the class - we don't vote on an overall winner but I got some good remarks and got to read it in front of the class... Only thing left is to write my representive.

Thanks again for those that commented.

Greg Buchanan
English Composition 101
Prof. Terry Heath
February 14, 2011
Katie’s Law
Katie Sepich was a 22 year old Grad Student who was brutally raped and murdered outside her home in August of 2003. During the struggle for her life Katie was able to scratch the killer enough for a DNA sample to be taken; because of this her parents and law enforcement were hopeful that they’d eventually be able to find Katie’s killer. What her parents learned though is at the time DNA testing was only done on convicted felons. So although Katie’s killer ended up with a felony arrest just 3 months after the murder, her parents spent over three years not knowing who her killer was and if he’d ever be caught. Because of their experience, Katie’s parents have worked tirelessly to pass Katie’s Law which would require that DNA be taken from any suspect that is arrested for a felony. Katie’s Law is now coming before Washington State law makers. We must pass Katie’s Law to allow the DNA sampling of those arrested for felonies.
Our current state law is similar to almost every state before Katie’s Law; we require the DNA sampling of those convicted of felonies. In five years since Katie’s parents, Dave and Jayann Sepich, helped pass this law in New Mexico it has been passed in 23 States Nationwide. This is the second time this law has come before our Legislature. It has more support this time around but it still needs a lot of help to get it on the books as law. Just this month Katie’s Mom, Jayann, came to Olympia and made a plea before the legislators telling them, “What we can do is solve crimes, save lives and absolve the innocent” (Mikkelsen). If this law is passed “Every adult lawfully arrested for or charged with the commission of any criminal offense constituting a violent offense or a sex offense” would be required to give a DNA sample at the time of their arrest (Washington State).
DNA sampling has many benefits, and one of those is to solve cold cases. If DNA is recovered from a crime scene police are able to test the sample and run its findings over a nationwide data base called CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System. If there is a match, police and prosecutors have a better chance at a conviction for crimes the individual committed. In the case of Katie’s killer, he committed a crime just three months after killing her. Had this law been in effect at the time her parents would have known immediately who the killer was. They would not have had to wait three years for him to be convicted of the other crime.
On the flip side, DNA can also be used to rule out guilt. If a person has been arrested for a crime and DNA is taken at the time of that arrest it can absolve him or her from the crime when it’s ran against the DNA at the scene. If a person is found innocent of the crime, according to the House and Senate Bill, their record can be expunged and their sample removed (Washington State).
DNA prevents bias when policing. It is common for people’s history and bias to effect their way of thinking. Police, although very good at their job, are sometimes influenced by this bias. When DNA is used it doesn’t see color or background. It only looks at the information that was left behind. Furthermore, the information sent to CODIS is a numeric file. There is no link to personal information or criminal background (Sepich). This will help to prevent a bias of any kind from occurring.
The most important point that the Sepich’s make is that DNA can potentially save lives and reduce further crimes. If DNA is taken from a crime scene such a murder and then a person is arrested later DNA can make that match quickly. This would take that murderer off the street and not allow them to commit any other crimes. Without this law they would continue to be out among us until they were actually convicted of a crime. The City of Chicago did a study in 2005. They took a close look at eight convicted felons and determined that if this law was in effect it would have prevented 60 crimes including 22 murders and 30 rapes (Sepich).
Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are arguing against the passage of this law. They say that it goes against our constitutional right of innocent until proven guilty. The ACLU said, “DNA is more than a fingerprint. DNA contains your entire code; DNA is you: This is your entire genetic information that they are seizing from people, many of whom are presumably innocent” (Reichback). They say that this is a search and should require a warrant. A search warrant would only be granted in a particular case to match with that single crime. Although unpopular the defense lawyers argue that it is, “Incompatible with Washington’s constitutional provisions” (Mikkelsen). Both groups have threatened that if passed they will bring their issue before the court. The argument has worked before and they are hoping it will work again.
It is important that we let our legislators know that we don’t want the Defense Lawyers to win again. We want to protect ourselves and the memories of those like Katie Sepich. This law is about timing. It moves DNA testing from a conviction to being arrested and charged with a serious crime. By taking samples then we will solve cold cases sooner and potentially save lives; all while protecting those accused by minimizing racial bias and absolving the innocent if the DNA does not match. The Sepich’s have set up a website, www.katieslaw.org that can help you know who to contact and what to say. I urge you to contact your local representative and let them know that you support this law. Do not let Katie’s murder be in vain.


Works Cited
Mikkelsen, Drew. “Murder victim’s mother wants DNA samples taken during arrests.” King5.com. Belo Corp, 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 2 Feb. 2011
Reichback, Matthew. “Katie’s Law expansion has bipartisan support but faces court challenges.” Newmexicoindependent.com. The American Independent News Network, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.
Sepich, Dave and Jayann. DNA Saves. Sepich, Dave and Jayann. 2009. Web. 11 February 2011.
Washington State. Legislature. House Bill 1369 and Senate Bill 5240. Access Washington, 13 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.