“The World Is Quiet Today, Mr. President”

At least, I think I’ve got the quote right… it comes from General Colin Powell, when he was Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor. Moments before George HW Bush was inaugurated, Powell used this one sentence to brief President Reagan on the world situation. We all know the world was no quieter on that day than the day before. Still, from the perspective of Reagan, the world was becoming much, much quieter.

I am drawn to this quote because it captures this past week so well. One of the children has been at the beach for almost a week. C and the other child left for the beach on Wednesday. Me? I’m still here in Portland, getting things buttoned up for the tradeshows next week.

Things are still going on. I know that C and the children are studying Spanish, just not near me. I know that activity is going one. I certainly know that I’ve got a LOT of things done,with more still to do.

But I also know that the house has been extremely quiet since Wednesday morning. With just me there, the place is still. I use the bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the back door… hardly more.

It won’t stay this way, though. I’m off for a week of trade shows, just chock-full of activity.

With luck, my home space will continue to be quiet for some time. In the sense of family harmony and predictability.

Container Box Reuse – Another Example

I haven’t blogged about alternative and creative structures in some time. Make Magazine’s blog, however, has an interesting new post on building medical clinics out of shipping containers.

The unit is off-grid, thanks to the solar panels, which also seem to conveniently provide some shade to the otherwise hot metal box. There are SO many uses for such highly-transportable facility. Relief agencies of the world – take notice!

Naw Ruz

The Muslim community starts their calendar with the first day of Spring. Baha'is celebrate Naw Ruz as well: it ends the nineteen day fast. The Baha'i calendar is made up of nineteen months, with each month containing nineteen days.Of course that only adds up to 361 days...there are four days left over. Well, on the Baha'i calendar, these four days comprise the INTERCALARY DAYS, or 'inter-calendar days." The Intercalary Days happen at the end of February and mark the beginning of the nineteen day fast. On the Baha'i calendar, the year starts at the end of Intercalary Days; on the Muslim calendar, the year starts with Naw Ruz.

Confused yet?
No? Then let's keep going...

At the start of each nineteen day month, the Baha'i community convenes (think of a Quaker meeting) for a "Feast". It is at feast that we have devotions, then complete any administrative duties required of us as a community.

Tonight was the start of Naw Ruz. Feast for the SE neighborhood was held at our house. Given that we were all ending the nineteen day fast tonight, it was not just a spiritual feast but also a literal feast.

Report Cards

The kids’ report cards came in over the weekend.

R’s is as expected, to be honest. In recent blog entries, I’ve already discussed his issues with being ‘present.’ The grades reflect that. Honestly, his grades are better than I expected. Now that he’s showing the kind of behaviors we’ve been trying to develop in him, I’m confident his grades will begin an upward climb.

Have you noticed that I don’t talk about M so much? She’s absolutely where she needs to be. Grades all demonstrate mastery and constructive interaction in class. She’s hardly ever in a situation where her homework isn’t done the same day it’s assigned.

Same with her piano. She just...does it.

There’s generally nothing to talk about. It’s done. Usually without help. Ta-Dah!

What must it be like to be the low-maintenance smart one, living life three years behind the VERY-high-maintenance smart one? I try to keep mindful of this situation, provide fair rewards, and give affirmation to show that her productivity is noticed. I hope I’m reasonably fair and balanced; I’m not always sure.

Wait…What?

As of last week, R is on new meds for his ADD. The Patch, which served us so well for about three years, just wasn’t getting the job done any longer. Why, we just don’t know. We may never know.

What we DO know, is that R was sleepwalking through his life. He just couldn’t engage with people to any real degree. The best he could manage was a tangential interaction. Either the conversation would be full of non sequiturs,  or R would talk on topic  but with his back to the conversation. On topic and face-to-face was just too much, it seemed. We tried a couple months with a higher dose of patch, to see if that helped. It really didn’t. In hindsight, R just became more of a zombie. In recent weeks, R spent most mornings not in class but in the principal’s office, in time-out. Classroom situations just were not working for him. The school was suggesting that we send him back to neighborhood school. We were starting to consider home-schooling.

It was really pretty bad, all-in-all. R was just plain non-functional on any social level. It was like he saw the world just as the third Stooge, Curly did. You know, Curly: “I’m trying to think, but nuthin’ happens!”

So back to the child psychologist we went. Based on the results we saw (or lack thereof) from the higher patch dosage, he suggested we change R’s meds. So last week we started the new protocol. It’s a pill. It’s not as time-released, which means that R’s meds stop having an effect about dinner time; then we coast down the drug slope until bed time. The Doc assured us that we’d have fewer side effects from this med. He assured us that R would eat; that he’d sleep better; that he’d be more engaged.

He was right.

My son has an appetite again. He eats his meals in minutes, not an hour. He gets things done on his own initiative. He starts his homework by himself, and finishes it promptly. He takes a bath and remembers to wash his hair without being reminded. He can hold multiple instructions in his head at the same time.

It showed in his gymnastics performance over the weekend. I’d mentioned that he seemed to be ‘present’ in his routines. He’s been absolutely ‘present’ ever since. He’s much more kinesthetic – more active – on the new meds, but his head is in the game. I’ll make that tradeoff. The increased activity is within the window of normal; on the patch, R’s thinking and behavior was NOT normal.

It’ll take a couple weeks to establish the new normal in the classroom. I’m encouraged that behavior will change in class as it has at home. All around R, people are responding with “wait…what? Oh, sure!” First they’re caught off-guard by his different level of interaction. Then they’re approving, accepting and encouraging of him. It’s a good dynamic. R is in a better mental place.

Because People are Asking..

 

Compare this, from February, 2008, at R’s second gymnastics competition:

To this, shot March 14, 2009, roughly 14 months later…

A Quiet Sunday Morning

After weeks of high-intensity weekends, we’re all so ‘hungry’ to just stay home and have a private Sunday*.  Here’s what was happening today, even before we finished with breakfast…

*So, of course, what do I do? I record it and post it to the internet!

The After-Meet Interview

Publishing R’s “Official” post-meet interview with the “media”. He’s got a bit of a bad-boy of the sport ‘tude going on… time for me to do some media training with this fine young man!

2009 Men’s State Meet results

R took second place in his age group. His scores continue the upward trend. In today’s meet, we saw R go beyond just repeating the elements; I saw him exercising decision-making during the routine. Like he was processing whether to try the harder element or stick with the safer one. It was fun to watch him start to think about his efforts!

High Bar

Floor Exercises

 

Rings

Pommel Horse

Parallel  Bars

Vault

One Year Ago this Month…

• Nolan becomes a talking head for an industry video. No. I won’t link the video, thank you. But this video broke the curse. Every other time I did some media piece like this, I got laid off within a month. Whew! I was on pins-and-needles for weeks afterward….
• I contemplate thinking like a laggard
• The Typhoon skied Hoodoo.
• I replaced the wrecked 1993 Mercedes E-Class with a 1994 Mercedes S-Class. Who knew the S-Class would only last until September and get totaled by another inattentive driver as well?
• Dad had surgery. One year later, he’s great. Except for the ankle he broke last month.
• Our house was on the local TV News as a part of their coverage of the spring break snowfall.
• I was in Las Vegas for the APEX show. Those who know me can read this blog post and start to recognize the discomfort…I would never complain about walking under normal circumstances!. This trip was when I started realizing that I might need some surgery of my own!

State Gymnastics Meet Tomorrow

Last year was R’s first State level competition (blogged here, at the old blog site). This year, we’re making our first repeat trip to State.

Last year was an eventful overnight trip to Bend for the competition. This year, the meet’s in Springfield so we’re making it a day-trip.

R has been stronger and stronger in his events every meet. It should be fun to see how he does. As usual, we’ll post video clips of his events so everyone can share.

We’ll be taking the Jag down for this trip…first time we’ve taken it out for a real road-trip with the whole family. It ought to be fun!

A SPIN Battery?

Researchers at the University of Miami and at the Universities of Tokyo and Tohoku, Japan, have been able to prove the existence of a "spin battery," a battery that is "charged" by applying a large magnetic field to nano-magnets in a device called a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). The new technology is a step towards the creation of computer hard drives with no moving parts, which would be much faster, less expensive and use less energy than current ones. In the future, the new battery could be developed to power cars. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Nature and is available in an online advance publication of the journal.

link here [link]

Health and Welfare Update

So today is 22 days of recovery (I counted back on the calendar) since my surgery. How am I doing?

Well.

In the last couple days, I’ve really stopped favoring my left side. I’m pushing off with my left leg as would other wise be normal for me. I’m actively shifting my weight to the left side with confidence.  I’m bending my leg without bracing for the ‘wince’ of tenderness/pain from the suture area.

It’s still tender, but better every day.

I feel like running. I haven’t felt comfortable with running for a number of years (probably corresponding to the time I was protecting this injury).

Rumors

Okay. I got it on good authority from a coworker in Tooling, who heard it from someone in Manufacturing, who heard it from someone in Accounting, who heard it from someone in Human Resources who’s cousin works elsewhere in the industry who says…… that we may have won an industry excellence award.

I wouldn’t claim to know which award, and I wouldn’t claim to know if the rumor’s true. And, of course, even if I did know, I’m wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it prior to the awards presentation at the end of the month. So there.

And weren’t we just talking about the dangers of gossip at last Friday’s Ruhi class?

All I can say is: with all this talk of rumors, I’m suddenly in the mode to listen to some Fleetwood Mac music.

Copenhagen Suborbital Closer to Their Goal?

Back in October, I blogged about Copenhagen Suborbital (I’m heretofore dubbing them CopSub) and their scary/cool setup for achieving a human suborbital mission on a shoestring link to my previous post

Well, here’s an update on their progress. I wish I could understand the Danish, but the video is cool.

I STILL think the guys at CopSub are Crazy. I’m simultaneously captivated and frightened by their vehicle setup. I suspect the ascent would be manageable, but when the attitude tips nose=down for re-entry, that would be the moment my mental rubberband would snap, leaving me permanently, certifiably insane.

Star Trek Nights

Each month, a long-time member of the Milwaukie Baha'i community hosts Star Trek Night at her house. The premise is this:

In the Star Trek Universe, every episode contains a discussion or treatment of a theme or principle central to the Baha'i Faith. Star Trek night is a raucous family-oriented evening in which Baha'is and non-Baha'is gather to socialize, and deepen on the faith by way of Star Trek episodes.

Original series, Next Generation, and even some Deep Space Nine episodes will make appearances. During any given Star Trek evening, there is usually time for two episodes. It's not uncommon for upwards of thirty people to be present in this typical Portland bungalow -- family members stack themselves like cordwood on the sofas; others watch from the adjoining dining room. Buster, the Beagle, sneaks off with stuffed animals and hides them in the bedroom.

The dialog - quite reminiscent of Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000 - is respectful and inspired, but unrelenting ... to the point that closed-captioning is required to make sure we can always follow the dialog.

I simply cannot describe the scene adequately; it must be experienced first-hand to appreciate.

Tonight, for example, it was all about the Godly virtue of Perfection. We watched The Changeling from the original series – all about finding perfection and a perverted space probe. Then, we watched an episode from Next Generation regarding the perfect woman, an empathic metamorph who fixes her personality on the traits most desired by her chosen mate. It was cool when my son, R, stands up in the middle of this mass of people and shouts at the top of his lungs: “She can’t REALLY be perfect; she has NO FREE WILL!”

That was a cool moment for a Dad…

Nolan Needs…

Okay, so the meme is to enter the search phrase “<name> needs” into google. Naturally, you replace <name> with your…name. So, in my case, I entered “Nolan needs” (with the quote marks, mind you) into google. The top ten unique entries comprise your list.

I don’t usually participate in memes like this, but tonight I’m tired and susceptible to easy methods of self-entertainment. And so, without further ado…..

Nolan Needs:

1. Printfection – detailed images.  Apparently. I didn’t know….
2. time to decide. Thanks for that, Oakland Tribune
3. bailout. Well… if ye’r offering, why not?
4. to direct it --- Batman 3, that is.
5. to be more aggressive.  That’s right! You wanna make something of it? Huh?
6. to go. Just ‘go’
7. to get his priorities in order. But getting my priorities in order is only #7 on my list… must not be a, um, priority.
8. a new shifter leg.…. A SHIFTER leg?  Yeah, I got’cher shifter leg – right here!
9. back surgery.    NO thanks, I just had hernia surgery!
10. to reboot Garfield.   I have no idea what that means.

The ‘Cult of Done’ Manifesto

I’m certain this will emerge as an internet meme almost immediately. Nevertheless, this is an ideal starting point for discussion with my son, who’s a Perfectionist with an Attention Deficit. I mean, think about that…achieving perfect consistently takes longer than his attention span can hold on. Guaranteed non-performance EVERY time!

So, this manifesto comes to the rescue:

1. There are three states of being: not knowing; taking action; and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away
   [or turn it in for a grade, depending upon the context – ngj].
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
    [except where grades are involved – ngj]
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

Un-Yellow Old Plastics – Make Post

Retr0brite is an easy-to-make open-sourced gel that un-yellows the flame retardants found in ABS plastic. It started as a chance discovery that hydrogen peroxide partially helped banish the yellow... but then it was refined in to an easier-to-use and more powerful version by a variety of retro computer enthusiasts, chemists, and engineers.

[Link] to the article

The Cause for Gray Hair Identified!

This posted today from Discovery News:

Attention parents: It's not your kids that are making you go gray. Your hair is simply building up too much hydrogen peroxide.

Bottle-blondes may be a fan, but hydrogen peroxide, which is produced naturally in the human body, interferes with melanin, the pigment that colors our hair and skin.

The body also produces the enzyme catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. Or at least it does for a while. As we age, catalase production tails off, leaving nothing to transform the hydrogen peroxide into chemicals the body can release.

So, as hydrogen peroxide builds up, we go gray, concluded researchers at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, who last week published the results of a study in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology'sonline journal.

[link] to the entire posting

Dog Update

It is indeed just a urinary tract infection (UTI). The doc, however, does call it a “hummer” of an infection. She identified over a half-dozen bacteria that cause UTIs in the sample we took over the weekend – a coordinated attack. Left untreated, this UTI would eventually turn fatal. So we’re glad we caught it. UTIs are common for old dogs. The vet assures us that we’ll clear this one up, and Aki will probably do just fine in the warmer weather. Looks like she’s with us for a good while longer!

Weekend Update

Dog
M and I took Aki to the ‘pet launderette’ on Saturday for a much-needed bath. We’ve been battling the smell we’ve taken to calling ‘old dog smell.’ The bath was thorough and relaxing for us all. We had fun. But, as we left the shop, Aki squatted and peed a red stream of urine. Not good.

A trip to the vet confirmed that she has a major urinary tract infection that requires nuclear powered antibiotics. She’s now taking them. What we learned is that the ‘old dog smell’ comes from the infection.

Still, this keeps Aki’s looming death at the forefront of the family collective consciousnes.

House
Open House with some visitors this week. It just didn’t seem like an Open House sort of weekend.

Family
This being Ayyami-ha, we celebrated a bit this weekend. Saturday dinner was Snow Crab and Lobster tails. Then we had family game night playing Pit.