Who knew I could pick up wireless here at my son's piano lesson (which is at his teacher's house). As I listen to scales and blues, here are some random items:
• Our two year old has a bias toward the numbers 5, 6, and 7. He continually counts "1,2,3,4,8..." No convincing otherwise can undo this.
• I asked my boss for a $700 billion loan. She said no. On that front, isn't is a mathematical coincidence that all of the nation's bad debt adds up to exactly $700 billion? Seems like they just picked that number at random. I'd feel the number was more legit if it were something like $700 billion, 400 dollars and 28 cents.....
• Woo-hoo! Radio Shack still carries cleaner for VCR machines. A whole world of video tapes are waiting to be watched again as soon as I get home from the piano lesson. Family movie night on Friday: Back to the Future!
• I was proud of Josh at his first baseball game last Saturday. He's playing with older kids, which isn't easy. And they play real rules, now. He didn't get to play the full time as they have 13 players, and when he was at bat (as No. 11....all kids hit, but only 10 can take the field) he struck out (though he did finally get a walk). But at the end of the first game (it was a double header), he helped preserve the team's victory! He was out in Right Field, and the play was in the infield. The shortstop or second baseman threw the ball to first to get out the batter, but it was a bad throw. But Josh, being the eager player that he is, ran up to 1st after the batter hit the ball to back up the 1st baseman. Good he did, because Josh got the overthrow, and when the runner tried to advance to 2nd, Josh threw to 2nd to get the out. YEA! They ended up winning 6 to 4. I told him he made the best of his limited playing time and opportunities to field.
• I've said before that Sprite is the default drink. No one 'chooses' it, but you get it because there is no other good option. On a plane, for example, I have to get it because I don't want caffeine and there's nothing else. It's just never a first choice drink....you drink it because it's there.
Well, I think ketchup is the same way. I like every other condiment more than ketchup. Mustard (yellow, not dijon) is always my first choice for ANYTHING...or BBQ, or ranch. But I will take ketchup for fries and such if nothing else is offered.
That's it for tonight....nice to do blogging at piano, but hard to fully compose my thoughts, so forgive if this isn't coherent.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
New Noggin Schedule
This is a record for postings in one week!
So Noggin, the cable 'preschool' channel, changed their line-up after Labor Day.
As I get up with the wee ones a little before 6 a.m. every morning, it was a big deal to see how the schedule changed (as that's what I turn on and then try to fall back asleep).
It used to be 64 Zoo Lane at 6 a.m., and Obi (I think that's how it is spelled) at 6:30 a.m.
Zoo Lane is such a gentle, tame, nice show. A little girl lives near the zoo, and the animals come out each night to tell her stories from their days in the wild. It seems to be from Australia, but I don't know why I say that.
Obi is just plain weird. It's a puppet show without the puppets. Just the hands. Who came up with that? They put eyes on the hands, and that's the characters. Once there was a foot, too.
Well, those shows are gone. Now at 6 a.m. we have Wow Wow Woobzie. (Again, pardon spelling). Weird, but harmless.
6:30 is a big improvement: Max and Ruby. I think this is out of Canada, but it's a sister bunny, and her baby brother bunny. Just so fun and innocent. Favorite kids show out there right now.
For those keeping score at home, 5:30 stayed the same with Lazytown....a show that kids sit down and are inactive for to learn the benefits of not being lazy. Hmmm. I can totally do without that show....if I can convince the kids to turn to the 24-hour PBS channel, we can watch Arthur at 5:30, and that's actually pretty engaging to the adult in the room.
So Noggin, the cable 'preschool' channel, changed their line-up after Labor Day.
As I get up with the wee ones a little before 6 a.m. every morning, it was a big deal to see how the schedule changed (as that's what I turn on and then try to fall back asleep).
It used to be 64 Zoo Lane at 6 a.m., and Obi (I think that's how it is spelled) at 6:30 a.m.
Zoo Lane is such a gentle, tame, nice show. A little girl lives near the zoo, and the animals come out each night to tell her stories from their days in the wild. It seems to be from Australia, but I don't know why I say that.
Obi is just plain weird. It's a puppet show without the puppets. Just the hands. Who came up with that? They put eyes on the hands, and that's the characters. Once there was a foot, too.
Well, those shows are gone. Now at 6 a.m. we have Wow Wow Woobzie. (Again, pardon spelling). Weird, but harmless.
6:30 is a big improvement: Max and Ruby. I think this is out of Canada, but it's a sister bunny, and her baby brother bunny. Just so fun and innocent. Favorite kids show out there right now.
For those keeping score at home, 5:30 stayed the same with Lazytown....a show that kids sit down and are inactive for to learn the benefits of not being lazy. Hmmm. I can totally do without that show....if I can convince the kids to turn to the 24-hour PBS channel, we can watch Arthur at 5:30, and that's actually pretty engaging to the adult in the room.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Family Home Evening
Three posts in three days....I may have to change the name of my blog.
Anyway, I witnessed genius last night in Family Home Evening. Just a small shift that made mountains of difference in our Family Home Evening.
After we walked in the door from fetching me at the train station, Kathryn just jumped right into FHE by having the kids draw pictures. No opening prayer or song....and that was the genius.
For our family, having a formal opening leads to major discontentment. Issues arise as to which song to sing, I didn't get to chose it, how come I don't get to say the opening prayer, why does it have to be a baby song, etc. So we just eliminated it. (If we continue with this, maybe Kathryn and I will open FHE with a silent prayer to ourselves).
But by asking them to all start by drawing a picture, it eliminated jockeying for "who gets something that no one else gets".
Josh did a very detailed picture. Matthew and Sam just scribbled but were engaged for a long time. So it was an easy way to tailor the lesson to reach both the older and younger kids.
Then she asked Josh the first questions, and they were "deeper" than what got asked to the other kids. After Josh answered questions first, he didn't feel the need to answer the little kids questions as he already demonstrated his proficiency.
The younger kids stayed engaged in the lesson -- they kept coloring, but at least they weren't running around, and I feel like they do pick up something.
I think part of the genius was simply not expecting them to sit still for the first 10 or 15 minutes....start right off with something that engages them and lets them use their motor skills....then the learning comes later.
On another note, I do believe that each word is significant in "Family Home Evening".
It should be just your own family....not an extended ward activity, lots of extra guests invited, etc.
It should be in the home....not an outing to the zoo or such. (Sure, there are exceptions, but....)
And it should be an evening...not just 15 minutes, not Sunday afternoon. It's "evening". After the lesson, I (for once) opted to not feel distracted or wanting to do my own stuff. Rather, I set aside in my mind that I would play toys with the three younger kids for a full half hour before doing stories, etc. for bed. The computer and TV stayed off all night. FHE should be "an evening" set aside for the family, not just the lesson time.
OK, that's all I have.
Mark
Anyway, I witnessed genius last night in Family Home Evening. Just a small shift that made mountains of difference in our Family Home Evening.
After we walked in the door from fetching me at the train station, Kathryn just jumped right into FHE by having the kids draw pictures. No opening prayer or song....and that was the genius.
For our family, having a formal opening leads to major discontentment. Issues arise as to which song to sing, I didn't get to chose it, how come I don't get to say the opening prayer, why does it have to be a baby song, etc. So we just eliminated it. (If we continue with this, maybe Kathryn and I will open FHE with a silent prayer to ourselves).
But by asking them to all start by drawing a picture, it eliminated jockeying for "who gets something that no one else gets".
Josh did a very detailed picture. Matthew and Sam just scribbled but were engaged for a long time. So it was an easy way to tailor the lesson to reach both the older and younger kids.
Then she asked Josh the first questions, and they were "deeper" than what got asked to the other kids. After Josh answered questions first, he didn't feel the need to answer the little kids questions as he already demonstrated his proficiency.
The younger kids stayed engaged in the lesson -- they kept coloring, but at least they weren't running around, and I feel like they do pick up something.
I think part of the genius was simply not expecting them to sit still for the first 10 or 15 minutes....start right off with something that engages them and lets them use their motor skills....then the learning comes later.
On another note, I do believe that each word is significant in "Family Home Evening".
It should be just your own family....not an extended ward activity, lots of extra guests invited, etc.
It should be in the home....not an outing to the zoo or such. (Sure, there are exceptions, but....)
And it should be an evening...not just 15 minutes, not Sunday afternoon. It's "evening". After the lesson, I (for once) opted to not feel distracted or wanting to do my own stuff. Rather, I set aside in my mind that I would play toys with the three younger kids for a full half hour before doing stories, etc. for bed. The computer and TV stayed off all night. FHE should be "an evening" set aside for the family, not just the lesson time.
OK, that's all I have.
Mark
Monday, September 8, 2008
For Better or For Worse
So, I read an AP story this weekend that left me a little sad. I had heard that my much-loved comic strip "For Better or For Worse" was wrapping up. It has always been one of the best written comic as it has been very real, with the characters growing and changing and maturing. That's so rare in the comic world. But even more so, it was such a sentimental strip with many strips just being heart warming than funny.
I'm not sad that she wrapped it up as it's gone for 29 years. And the final Sunday strip wrapped up story lines and flash forwarded to highlight what happens to the characters in the future. Now, it goes back to its origins telling the story when the 'grown kids' are back to being just young 'uns and will mix new strips drawn in the old style with recycled ones.
I'm fine with that.
But at the end of the story, it mentioned that Lynn Johnson, the cartoonist, had split from her husband after more than 30 years. That depressed me. Perhaps it's because I always felt the comic mirrored their life, and while it wasn't always perfect, it always seemed to 'make it'. In a weird way, it was inspiration that good will prevail and faithfulness and family life can succeed.
Now it feels like the strip and its senitimentalism -- was a bit staged.
As a bit of a comparison, perhaps that's why we hear of stories of people who want us as LDS to succeed in keeping our standards. Why people sometimes WON'T let us compromise our standard because it provides hope to them vicariously that while they may not be able to live the standard or have the faithful family life, it still exists in society and is achievable.
But when someone you respect and admire falls, it makes you feel just a touch if anyone can make it....speaking more on the LDS person remaining faithful than simply my personal feeling to see that a cartoonist's marriage failed.
Not sure if this all makes sense....but then that's why I like to blog....I don't have to be completely articulate and can just let it be a first draft of my thoughts, so to speak.
Mark
I'm not sad that she wrapped it up as it's gone for 29 years. And the final Sunday strip wrapped up story lines and flash forwarded to highlight what happens to the characters in the future. Now, it goes back to its origins telling the story when the 'grown kids' are back to being just young 'uns and will mix new strips drawn in the old style with recycled ones.
I'm fine with that.
But at the end of the story, it mentioned that Lynn Johnson, the cartoonist, had split from her husband after more than 30 years. That depressed me. Perhaps it's because I always felt the comic mirrored their life, and while it wasn't always perfect, it always seemed to 'make it'. In a weird way, it was inspiration that good will prevail and faithfulness and family life can succeed.
Now it feels like the strip and its senitimentalism -- was a bit staged.
As a bit of a comparison, perhaps that's why we hear of stories of people who want us as LDS to succeed in keeping our standards. Why people sometimes WON'T let us compromise our standard because it provides hope to them vicariously that while they may not be able to live the standard or have the faithful family life, it still exists in society and is achievable.
But when someone you respect and admire falls, it makes you feel just a touch if anyone can make it....speaking more on the LDS person remaining faithful than simply my personal feeling to see that a cartoonist's marriage failed.
Not sure if this all makes sense....but then that's why I like to blog....I don't have to be completely articulate and can just let it be a first draft of my thoughts, so to speak.
Mark
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Some More About Summer
A few other thoughts about the summer that didn't make the last cut:
• It's fun to watch the wheels work in Matthew's mind. I could just see them churning when we were on Joyce's boat. He just had his eyes gazing out on the water and the splashing of the wake, etc., and you could just see he was absorbing all the stimulation. I see that now at nights as he scans the Richard Scarry "Busy People" book. He sits on his bed for 15 minutes just looking at all the pictures and studying them.
FYI -- that's the exact same copy of the Richard Scarry book that I got in the hospital when I was 7. And now the kids are playing with my Richard Scarry toys from that same era.
• The one glitch in our water skiing trip was when Sammy threw the safety flag into the lake and saw it sink. "Flag go Bye-Bye!"
• We visited Promentory Point on the way home from Idaho. It's where the transcontinental railroad met. I wish we had had more time but we got a late start due to the fire alarm at the hotel in the middle of the night. (FYI -- I wrote asking for a credit of one-half the bill due to the fire alarm, and received it. Yea for writing a letter!) Anyway, at least Josh and Caroline will have a point of reference when they study it in school eventually. Probably only kids in their class who will be able to say "I've been there".
• Best water park ride EVER: The Rapids at Cherry Hills. I LOVED going to Cherry Hills. Just mellow and the right pace for me...and the kids. The rapids aren't over-the-top, but just enough adventure, and getting wet that I loved it. Never been on a better one in my life. Perhaps best 30 minutes of my summer when I just went down in again and again.
• When we lay outside at Joyce's sleep watching a movie before going to bed, Matthew saw a star, and said the "Star Light, Star Bright" poem. His wish: that daddy would sleep next to him outside. It's nice to be the loved Daddy.
And for new stuff now...
• I bought the whole WKRP in Cincinnati series on DVD. Fun to see that some of those episodes really hold up! Also enjoying my Hawaii Five-O DVDs that I watch on business trips.
• In a year of obscure moments, perhaps the biggest was hosting 8 Elvises in Las Vegas at the Eiffel Tower restaurant for a Monopoly World Record. More to follow on that in my Christmas Letter.
• It's fun to watch the wheels work in Matthew's mind. I could just see them churning when we were on Joyce's boat. He just had his eyes gazing out on the water and the splashing of the wake, etc., and you could just see he was absorbing all the stimulation. I see that now at nights as he scans the Richard Scarry "Busy People" book. He sits on his bed for 15 minutes just looking at all the pictures and studying them.
FYI -- that's the exact same copy of the Richard Scarry book that I got in the hospital when I was 7. And now the kids are playing with my Richard Scarry toys from that same era.
• The one glitch in our water skiing trip was when Sammy threw the safety flag into the lake and saw it sink. "Flag go Bye-Bye!"
• We visited Promentory Point on the way home from Idaho. It's where the transcontinental railroad met. I wish we had had more time but we got a late start due to the fire alarm at the hotel in the middle of the night. (FYI -- I wrote asking for a credit of one-half the bill due to the fire alarm, and received it. Yea for writing a letter!) Anyway, at least Josh and Caroline will have a point of reference when they study it in school eventually. Probably only kids in their class who will be able to say "I've been there".
• Best water park ride EVER: The Rapids at Cherry Hills. I LOVED going to Cherry Hills. Just mellow and the right pace for me...and the kids. The rapids aren't over-the-top, but just enough adventure, and getting wet that I loved it. Never been on a better one in my life. Perhaps best 30 minutes of my summer when I just went down in again and again.
• When we lay outside at Joyce's sleep watching a movie before going to bed, Matthew saw a star, and said the "Star Light, Star Bright" poem. His wish: that daddy would sleep next to him outside. It's nice to be the loved Daddy.
And for new stuff now...
• I bought the whole WKRP in Cincinnati series on DVD. Fun to see that some of those episodes really hold up! Also enjoying my Hawaii Five-O DVDs that I watch on business trips.
• In a year of obscure moments, perhaps the biggest was hosting 8 Elvises in Las Vegas at the Eiffel Tower restaurant for a Monopoly World Record. More to follow on that in my Christmas Letter.
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