My wife and I went car shopping yesterday. We've been doing it for so long (narrowing our choices) that the salesmen all think we're crying wolf. Hardly anyone is taking us seriously. But today, for the first time, we're asking questions about up-front fees, delivery lead-times... I think they realize it's time. How depressing. The only way to keep our payments anywhere near what they have been means taking on a longer lease term. And we also purchased a new mattress for the guest room. It's supposed to arrive next Wednesday.

The evening prayer meeting at my cousin's house was again well attended, and since I am awake, I expect I will be going again this morning. So far, I still remember that I have a dentist's appointment tonight.

I'm starting to get angry with NBC. For the past two weeks in a row, they've been talking up "West Wing". Now, this is a show that I will watch with no prodding required. It is intelligently written and well acted. But, the ads for this program have recently been over the top... They've talked about "can't miss" episodes or "important" episodes. I'll admit that last week's episode had a couple of engaging, interwoven story lines, but last night's episode was a complete throw-away. Under normal circumstances, I would have considered it "OK"; but, given the hype, I instead considered it hugely unsatisfying. Is viewership down for this show? Is that why the ads are trying to get more people to watch? Whatever the reason, it should stop. I'm a rabid fan, and if it's starting to tic me off, I would imagine other viewers are totally annoyed.

My step-son had his girlfriend over last night, and after West Wing, she needed a ride home. I had previously volunteered for this duty, and when it came time, they politely reminded me that it was time to go. I like seeing them together. He treats her respectfully, and I'm really happy to see him behave that way. After she got dropped off, he again thanked me for the favour. I reminded him that it's a pleasure to help him out, seeing that he is such a good kid, and I'm appreciative of that fact. The difference this time is that he didn't cringe at the compliment. Usually, when confronted with such "mushy" praise, I'd see "Oh dad, stop fussing" -or- "Yeah, big deal" in his expression. Last night, it was different. Last night, I got the impression that he really believed me, and was mentally taking stock of the benefits of being a "good son". Not in a manipulative, self-serving way, but in a genuine way. I'm really proud of him. He's a much better person than I.

His mom sees him in a somewhat different light. She sees him as abandoning the church, listening to the devil's music, and taking a path away from the teachings of the bible. She spends much more time with him than I do, so their personal mini-conflicts have more of an effect on her than they do on me. Once in a while, I have to point out the good things about our son... the fact that even when he experiments with ideas and substances that we don't approve of, he will own up to his behaviour; admitting to us what he has done, despite knowing that there will be consequences to his actions. If we've taught him anything, it's that our love is unconditional, and that truthfulness is the most important thing he can offer us. Over the years, Jon has learned that he can tell us anything. While being resentful of our control (what teen isn't), we feel we're still able to communicate freely about any subject.

I expect he'll be wanting to move out as soon as he can scrape together enough money to afford an apartment and a car, because we are more restrictive than some of his friends' parents. And there are times when he really resents us for our determination to keep him away from the worst influences. But, there are those other times when we can see the bulb go on - where he says "friend 'x' just got thrown out of his house for staying out all weekend", or "friend 'x' just got into his third car wreck and is grounded for life" - and realizes that we care more about him than his friends' parents cared about their son.