The Start of Spring Break

…at the beach. Kids are staying the whole week with Grandma and Grandpa. I’m spending the weekends. Made it a long weekend, stayed over on Monday. It’s just the typical Spring Break in Oregon thing… dashes outside to play between rain squalls.

The pace of life at the beach place slows down immensely. It’s another world. We sleep a bit more, but still get up relatively early. Saturday, for example, I was awake just before dawn, watching the light come up through the window of my bedroom while still snuggled down under a quilt that my Mom had made by hand.

We do physical stuff at the beach, whether it’s work or play. We washed and detailed FOUR vehicles over the weekend, and we built a play fort in the side yard. The kids ran with the dogs outside whenever the rain let up.

And when it rained, we moved inside to feed our brains. The television showed Discovery channel and History channel; R spent time researching the history of the Trail of Tears forced march. M studied videos on how to do magic tricks with strings and cards. We also laid out a plan for ultra-lightweight survival packs that fit inside a coat pocket or a fanny pack, and learned more about tsunamis by studying footage of the recent Japanese events. Then we spent some time discussing how a similar tsunami might affect our house at the beach.

As I write this, I’m back home, ready for my work week. I try to hold on to the beauty of the beach pace. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. It’s not the speed, but the ability to pay full attention to something or someone important. Whether it’s the loving dog, or the child, or my parents, or a friend I hold dear. It’s about getting my thoughts squared up in “the present” and then keeping them there. Yes, there’s a future to plan for, and there’s a past to learn from. But the real impact is what I do RIGHT NOW. And a faster present does not always make for a better future.

Swedish Crème Cookies

It started like this, a question from M, over breakfast at the “Doghouse”**

“Dad, where can we get Swedish Crème Cookies?”

The conversation went from there. Seemed that a character in a book she’d just read gets pelted with Swedish Crème Cookies (SCCs) that a friend throws from up in a tree. M wants to know what they look like and where we might get some.

“Dunno” is the answer to both questions. We look it up. The recipe is quite straightforward, and they look yummy. So we all decide to make some. A quick trip to the store to get a couple cookie sheets, vegetable food coloring, almond extract and extra butter, and we’re in business making Swedish Crème Cookies. Everyone in the house lends a hand. M is having a blast. It’s her project, and everyone else helps, but defers to her ultimate decisions. She decides on blue and raspberry colored frosting for the centers. Because it’s her first time with the food coloring, M gets a bit carried away with the quantities, leaving the frosting a very intensely blue and vivid red-purple. Oh well, that’s how we learn. And, it’s vegetable coloring anyway, so that’s fine. The cookie dough was really stiff, so I had to do the rolling pin part. D guided the baking process throughout. Lola, the Beagle, cleaned the floor.

Total output: about 14 SCCs.

So, how were they? They turned out great! The frosting was a bit soft, so D refrigerated them. We had them for Saturday evening dessert. The first impulse as you held a blue SCC in your hand was to lick off the frosting that poked out around the edges. As soon as you did that, however, you were tattooed! It was like the exploding ink packets they put in the money they give to bank robbers – marked irrefutably by the SCC. You can see the evidence In this photo:  blue tongues abound!

The blue tongue thing became a bit of a focal point, to be honest. Suddenly the kids were working the blue frosting for maximum tongue/tooth impact. Notice, however, that they did a remarkable job keeping the frosting color to the INSIDES of their mouths, which is saying something because the USDA could have used this frosting to stamp their approvals on the sides of beef or something.

Leave it to R to take it all to the next logical conclusion. One SCC, pulled apart to make “Tommy”-esque eyes to go with the blue tongue. The SCC did NOT suffer from the vivisection – it was consumed immediately after the photo was taken.

 

Needless to say, toothbrushing was incredibly thorough on Saturday night: any residual food particles practically iridesced blue color. Dads could to tooth inspection from across the room this time around!

Four SCCs survived the Saturday evening onslaught, to be used in Monday morning lunches.

 

 

** without much real explanation as to their reasoning, the kids now refer to Dad’s house as “The Doghouse”. It just seemed to happen organically. It fits.

School Calendar

 

PPS expects the 2011-12 school calendar to be available by the end of April.

Staff have drafted a calendar that must be approved by unions and the Portland School Board.

 

Important tentative dates are:

• First day of school: Sept. 6, 2011
• Thanksgiving:  Nov. 24-25, 2011
• December break: Dec. 19, 2011-Jan. 3, 2012
• Spring break: March 16-23, 2012
• Last day of school: June 13 or 14, 2012

Bonus Time

It’s important to celebrate the little things. I get reminded of that nearly every day at this point in my life. Things like:

• How good it feels to clean out your ears with a warm Q-tip
• The magic of Potato/Leek Soup
• Coming home to the greeting of a dog
• Clothes that fit

This is a ‘living simply’ time for me, and one that increasingly is becoming a life choice more than a necessity. It’s a fitting line of thinking for me in this Ayyami-Ha season. A new beginning. Keep only what you need and only that which works. Jettison the rest and revel in the freedom and bliss that comes from simplicity. Let that freedom create the ability to respond to magical moments in life.

One of those magical moments happened this weekend, in fact. M had a date with her Mother to see the OBT professional dancers perform on Saturday. That left R with nothing to do on a Saturday night. I was informed that he could spend the evening with me if he wished; he wished; and so did I.

Now, full disclosure: I had planned to spend some evening time with my friend, D. This was, after all, my “weekend off”, so I’d planned some clothes shopping*, a trip to IKEA**, and a Saturday evening meal with D.

With the opportunity to spend time with R popping up short-notice, it was easy to adjust. D thought roller skating would be a lot of fun, so we merged everything. R tagged along on our meal / D tagged along on the impromptu boys night out, and I got to spend great social time with two delightfully witty and intelligent human beings. To watch R’s emerging mastery of sarcasm go toe-to-toe with D’s mastery of irony as a comedy device, was really cool. While I certainly could have joined in, it was much more fun to keep quiet, let them spar, and enjoy their fun. It was really, really cool for me to watch the two of them get acquainted. My son will do well in the world as he grows up. I can rest easy in that.

It was an Ayyami-Ha night. Celebrations all around, in ways that match the style of the individual members of the family.  Simple. Joyous. Freeing.

It was Bonus Time. And such a bonus it was. A “Bounty of Bonus” one might say…

Throughout this week, the kids and I will consult on a plan for our weekend together coming up. I wonder what else we can incorporate for Bonus Time?

===

* I’m slowly gathering up some ‘skinny’ clothes to fit my svelter self. Right now, I’m wearing size 30 waists where I used to wear 33 waists. Needless to say, the old pants are pretty saggy when they’re 3-4 inches too big in the waist.

** My first trip to IKEA for me. Overwhelming without a guide.

R goes Electric

R has been struggling to keep up with his homework. Not because he's buried in it, but because he's been having trouble focusing on it. Working from two different households, learning a new rhythm, and spending a number of days sleeping on the couch instead of in his room didn't help.

Nevertheless, some things now seem to have him on an upward slope:

1. We've upped his ADD meds slightly. It's not unexpected that he's got a bit of a tolerance for the meds. He takes a VERY small dose compared to some of the other kids in his similar position.
2. He's back in his room, with his things.
3. He's looking forward to time at the Beach Compound with all of us: the Three Johnsketeers, the Grandparents, and Teddy & Tilly.
4. Last night, he was invited to spar on electrics with the rest of the 'guys' after class.

Because R had his homework caught up, we could stay late and spar. He was all sorts of excited when Zach told him to put on a lame' jacket. He's fenced electric before, but this was full on sparring with the big guys. What ended up happening is that R and I sparred each other on a second strip, in parallel with the competitive types. It was good. R's working on a fourth parry / disengage/ riposte move that's accurate and whip-fast in execution. When he throws his lightning-fast super-long lunge behind the riposte, he's very dangerous -- pushes right through anyone else's parry and getting the point on the continuation. Soon to be overwhelming, that move! So we worked on that. It would seem that he was pleased to be there, pleased to have been promoted. 

I drove home a young man who was focused, thinking well, and all together in his organization. It was nice. For us both.

Trying to Hunker Down

The family’s working to hold a rhythm…and strengthen it.

Over the summer, we did a LOT of Hot Air Ballooning related stuff. Then, in the past few weeks, we’ve been working on the Stark house to prepare it for sale. All this is good, but we have a behavior pattern that has kept us out of the house most of every day, seven days a week. That’s starting to change a little. Here’s what’s up:

C:

• Working on her health and fitness. She’s been exercising and walking. Lots of walking. Daily. She’s constantly pushing her body up to her anaerobic threshold, and striving not to cross over. She has made it her mission.
• Actively changing her diet. This continues as well. She has support in the family.
• Practicing an “I can do it myself” attitude every day. C has told me that she’ll set up her own cell phone for email access, and connection to her bluetooth hands-free devices. While these tasks are well inside my strengths, I don’t necessarily help her build her own skills if I just do it all for her. So I’m willing to back off. Others build their skills through necessity and practice. That’s how I built mine.
• Because Moms need day’s off too, we’re trying to give C a change of pace at some point in the weekend…something she can point to as a ‘day off’ or a ‘break’ from the monotony. I get it.

R:

• We talk time management every day. Not a lecture or a scolding, but we sit down with R’s school planner and his homework assignments, and we discuss how to manage time to achieve goals. For R, it takes this kind of daily attention. BUT, what’s gratifying is that his results are much, much better when we do take the time. AND, the proactive time costs me less emotional energy than the crisis management that happens the other way ‘round. R is learning there’s another way to do things than the crisis management method.
• Boy Scouts and Fencing continue. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We try to set our clocks by those events. R is stepping up his activity within the troop. Now that he’s almost a Star Scout, and he’s learning to manage his own calendar, he’s showing up for the optional things like Eagle Service Projects, and earning his stripes as a troop leader, not just a junior-level kid in the troop.

M:

• Ballet and ballet rehearsals. Three days a week – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  M is in the same class as last year, and is rehearsing for the same part in The Nutcracker as last year. Because she’s done this before, and is concentrating on mastery/perfection instead of learning it all for the first time, she seems much less stressed than before.
• Because homework is rarely an issue for M, she gets more time to ‘chill’ and play. She did a lot of that this weekend, spending social time with D and her dear old Dad. She went shopping with D and C on Saturday.

N:

• With the turn back inside for winter, I’m organizing a little. Stepping in to domestic duties on weekends as well. This weekend, I cooked dinner on both Saturday and Sunday, put down the primer coat of paint in the powder bath, and had a chance to follow the OSU football game on the radio. It was actually quite relaxing. In return, C got a day off on Sunday to ‘check out;’, and spend the day doing a complete wardrobe audit in her closet.
• I’m cooking a bit more. First, I enjoy it. Second, I get to change up the menu a little. Third, I get to show support for C’s vegetarianism by showing I cook appropriately for her without being reminded.  Mid afternoon on Sunday, C had worked hard on her closet until she ‘bonked.’ She hadn’t eaten, and had neglected to take her meds. She asked me to cook some white fish for her. I countered that getting the fish thawed, then cooked, would take a long time and that I could make her egg white huevos rancheros in five minutes or less. She looked at me dubiously, but when I made good on my promise and delivered her a plate of steaming huevos, she was grateful.
• As for me, I’m working on locking onto my respectful treatment of others. Regardless of what happens, I have to hold on to that as inviolable. I’ve not been very good at doing that in recent months. I’m making that my rhythm – respect and compassion.

D:

• Our long-term exchange student, D is from Taiwan. He tested right out of the PIA English preparation courses, and immediately started attending classes at Marylhurst.
• D is finding his rhythm as a college student, attending class on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, mostly in the evening. He has four days off each week. This allows him to get his studies done, and also keeps him around the house a lot.

Teddy and Cats:

• They’re learning to get along. Teddy doesn’t chase the cats; he greets Shadow with a nose-kisss in the morning. Sam’s slower to adapt, he doesn’t like the dog in the same room, but no longer freaks out.
• Teddy is learning to follow commands from everyone in the family.
• Teddy has transitioned to sleeping with Ryne… though some nights Teddy is just too rambunctious at bed time for this to be possible. Most nights, though…

We’re looking for a rhythm…I’m thinking I want to just settle into a six week rut, up to the holidays, then settle into a six week rut to spring break and make the drive to Phoenix as we planned. That’s what I’m aiming for…

Hey, you know what? Teddy might just be able to make the trip to Phoenix with us. I have to think about that a bit…\

Note To Self

C has been Facebooking in recent weeks.

She’s also been working on becoming more “herself”. For her, this means:

• dietary adjustments back to vegetarianism
• adjustments to bring more exercise into her daily rhythm
• changing some of her approaches to guiding, correcting and providing feedback to the children
• a concentration on making sure she’s surrounded by respectful dynamics – to her, from her, between others near her

She’s working on her thinking. She’s working on her surroundings. I’m inspired by her work, and trying to follow suit. It isn’t always easy. That, in itself, uncovers where I need to pay attention to my own “self”.

How Disneyland Keeps it UNREAL

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/02/business/la-fi-cover-disney-20100502

Peace of Mind

We helped out some friends this weekend. Their rental house has a wonderfully landscaped yard, needing some of that springtime attention to help launch the yard on the right path for summer. But, 9 month-pregnant momma-to-be was in early stages of labor. This just would not do. So we went over to their house on Saturday and did the yard work with them. When we left, the grass was mowed and edged, lots of weeds had been pulled. Plants that didn’t survive the winter were removed; some replacements planted. Color spots from the nursery were put in the ground an hanger baskets, and all the winter accumulation of leaves and yard debris from all the storms was taken out. They were ready to enjoy the yard, while concentrating on the new arrival and the parade of family and friends that comes with the baby. They had a noticeably high level of peace-of-mind when we left.

That felt really, really good.

M’s rehearsals have gone well. They’re still on the fence as to whether she’s an understudy or a cast member. Regardless of which she ultimately is, this has already turned out well. We all have a good feeling about that.

R left on Sunday for Outdoor School. Six days of environmental awareness education along the Sandy River east of Portland. He’s going to have a blast. He might just come back a little disappointed once he realizes how much environmental awareness he already possesses.  Even if he’s a little disappointed, he’ll have the validation that he’s knowledgeable and increasingly expert.

The rest of the Typhoon spent Sunday working on our own house. Two different neighbors stopped to say ‘hi’ and to comment that they’re glad we’re back. They can tell we’re back because the yard already looks so nice. They’re thankful for that. We did some landscape planning and some cleanup. I took out the seven small junipers that C has always hated. We’re planning for something new, but we don’t yet know what.

I got the cars washed, too. M helped a little bit. Both got washed on the outside; the Jag got vacuumed out in the cabin and the trunk. Then I washed both sets of floor mats, and sprayed vinyl protectant on the rubber mats … same stuff that makes the tires look all shiny. The mats never looked better. A little protectant on the shielding under the hood, and my car looks showroom new again.

Most of the day, however, was spent on the garage.

See, the garage still is full of ‘stuff’ left over from the move: extra appliances; boxes of tax paperwork old enough to be discarded but still with us; clothes ready for donate/resale/hand-down; and the like.  We managed to get a bunch of stuff onto the shelves, and consolidated/culled a bunch more. We have three loads of stuff to go to donation, and will post the appliances to craigslist this week. Once the donations are gone, and the appliances are sold, we should be able to get one car into the garage. Both cars? Well, that’s a different story. That’ll require phase two of the culling of the contents of the garage.

While we worked on the garage, M shared that she’d like to become a vegetarian. She doesn’t want to eat meat that had to die to make the food. She’s okay with vegetables, fruit and beans. She’s okay with eating eggs and milk because no animal ‘died’. She wants to include bacon and sausage and fish. In other words, she wants to avoid most pork, most poultry and all beef. That’s her idea of vegetarianism. She’s a lacto-ouvo-baco-sauso-pesca-vegetarian. Uh huh…

Well, far be it for us to put that down in any way. While R (the vegephobe) is at Outdoor School, we’ll use this as a family project to explore lacto-ouvo-vegetarian eating habits. M can see for herself how a vegetarian puts together the right foods to make for a balanced diet. This’ll be fun. And it’ll be informative for M. Then, she can decide what she really wants to do, and feel peaceful about her decisions.

So, we feel pretty good about where we are. It was great to be of service to someone else at a valuable and critical time. We spread lots of peace-of-mind this weekend. And for that, we were blessed with peace-of-mind in return.

The Med-volution

R is in transition again. His meds are like that. This time, though, we also have a new doctor. The new doc is reviewing R’s charts and has made the following changes:

• The Risperdal is done. We’ve been using this one since 2004,
• The clonidine sleep aid, in use since 2004 also, is being replaced with something similar but safer.

The impact over the last two weeks? Good. R is so present, so in the moment. He’s helpful, courteous, he’s sensitive, he plans ahead. He seems to recognize the tension in someone else’s voice and feels the tension himself. He hates the ‘drill sergeant’ tone of voice that, before,  was required  just to get through to him. Now? Not so much.

A year ago, we switched his ADD med, and our kid came back from the brink. It was an improvement, but there were still some issues. Now, though, as the Risperdal slowly flushes from his system, we’re getting a kid who…. acts like a kid.

Even as recently as a month or so, I would regularly find myself telling him that he needed to start acting his age, and to stop acting seven. Hmmm… only now do I realize that he was seven when he started using the Risperdal? And that as soon as the Risperdal is gone, he starts acting more like his age? I should have known. It’s my fault for not seeing that connection for myself already.

R’s people skills are much, much better. R’s fencing is now rather passionate and interested. R is diving in to his boy scout activities, and he’s already reading next years’ math texts in his spare time. He’s behaving more like a kid with a 150 IQ would be expected to behave. And that’s a good thing. He’s getting lots of positive reinforcement. He’s being taken seriously and treated with great credibility. And he should, because when he is able to express himself, he usually has a LOT to share, at a very high caliber.

And, today was the school Design Competition day. R and I built a small trebuchet for the trebuchet competition. It’s his first go-round on the trebuchet competition. We’re prepared to participate but not place very high, then learn from the experience for next year. R can wrap his emotions around such a strategy now…before? No way.

I’m proud of him. I like having a twelve year old boy in my life.

Ballet Date Night

Well, we went on a date to the ballet Saturday night. Oregon Ballet Theater’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, to be exact. Actually, there were two pieces in the program. I’ll start with the other piece.

First was an interpretation of the Four Humors. You know them from your Shakespeare:  Choleric, Melancholy, Phlegmatic, Sanguine.

See, I hadn’t read the program yet when the curtain came up for the first program. I just watched, completely unaware of the intent of the piece. I was most captivated by the dance and choreography in the first vignette. The other three vignettes were delightful, but I connected most deeply to the first.

During intermission, while we stretched our legs in the lobby, C asked me my thoughts on the first piece. I shared my preference for the initial vignette. That’s when C brought out her program and we looked at the notes. Only then did I realize the ‘Four Humors’ thing.

Care to guess which humor was first? Melancholy. Yep!
To know me is to love me.

Midsummer Night’s Dream was a narrative style ballet. Know how Nutcracker tells a story with dance interspersed with miming? Same here. The dancers act. The actors danced. Set changes move the story along. It takes about 40 minutes I guess for Midsummer Night’s Dream, in one single act.

The dance was wonderful. The principal dancers were amazing. About 14 or so dancers are children from SOBT. C whispered in my ear that they’re all Level 2 students. My lovely daughter? She’s Level 1. 

It was a great show. On that particular evening, I cannot say that the ballet touched my heart, but I could admire the effort and the skill involved. Whether the ballet touched my heart, I think, had more to do with my emotional condition as an audience member than it did with the magic of the dance or the efforts of the dancers. They did amazing work; I got out of it only as much as I was able to receive that evening. And that’s okay.

C and I had a date, though. That was a victory right there. I have to admit that our family life is wound so tightly that time alone is hard to come by. We almost didn’t know how to treat each other, out together, alone, without an entourage to herd. It was a working session for us. We had a date, but we also constructively and respectfully discussed some relationship dynamics throughout the family that have blocked our own relationship. It was a hard talk to have, but we did it. It wasn’t a fight, or an argument; more like a very serious Bahai consultation ongoing between events of the evening.  And, in the process, by the end of the evening, we  relocated our common ground.

Ballet Shoe Facts

In anticipation of this weekend’s performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream, I’ve lifted the following facts, from the  Oregon Ballet Theater website:

• One pair of pointe shoes costs about $80 and typically lasts for only 8-12 hours.

• Last year alone OBT purchased over 1,500 pairs of pointe shoes at a cost of $120,000.

• All OBT dancers wear shoes from FREED of London, the world’s premiere pointe shoe manufacturer. Cobblers at FREED custom craft [OBT] dancers’ shoes to suit each ballerina’s particular specifications and preferences.

• A Principal Dancer will often wear one new pair of shoes in every single performance.  For very demanding roles, like Odette/Odile, it is not unusual for a ballerina to go through multiple pairs of shoes in one evening.

• Pointe shoes are constructed with layers of Satin Burlap, tissue paper, flour paste, reinforced cardboard and leather.

• Young dancers must study ballet for 4-5 years before going en pointe; it requires a great deal of strength in the legs, ankles, and feet as well as strong turnout.  Most young dancers get their first pair of pointe shoes around the age of 11 or 12.

The Who didn't Know Mobile!

The Who wrote a song called Goin' Mobile, but they didn't know. It's not their fault. That song was written a long time ago. I'm just old enough to remember the song in its original context and to admire current technology. What pray tell, is my contemplative groove right now?

Well, at this moment I'm tapping this blog out on my Droid while waiting for R to return from a Boy Scout outing. I'm in the car. My Droid is simultaneously streaming a Seal song to my Bluetooth speaker phone, which in turn rebroadcasts the audio stream to an FM channel that my stereo is tuned to...wireless tunes. I've taken a call in the middle of all this. When a call comes through, the Droid automatically pauses the tunes and lets me take the call - putting the caller's voice on the car stereo speakers. Finish the call, and the Droid automatically resumes the tunes.

To achieve this integrated to my car? $1,000. To achieve it with my Droid cost me effectively nothing, as the Droid just fully enabled all the pre-existing equipment I had on hand to be legal in the State of Oregon. Nice.

Oh, and the phone call required that I put something on my calendar. No problem, that. I just popped out to my calendar, tapped in the details while still talking, and voila!

The Apple iPhone commercial in which the user is on hold, and he describes using his iPhone to do other things while waiting (paying bills, etc.) is exactly the kind of experience I'm having right now.

This thing is amazingly capable. It really changes how I stay connected. Not always for he better, I suspect, but there's a lot of 'better' here.

Private Fencing Lessons

Private fencing lessons were worth it. Inevitably, some one-on-one time with an instructor becomes a valuable thing. After eight weeks of group lessons twice a week, 30 minutes of solo time with a great instructor, Len, was a big impact.

And yet, as is so often the case, we worked only on the most very basic skills during our session.

Len and I hadn’t ever worked together before. So he started me with my en guarde position. He tweaked the position of my feet a little, and we moved on to how I hold my foil.

I’ve been told that I hold my foil way too close to the center, that I need to keep my foil much more to the outside when I’m en guarde. Len helped me really ‘feel’ the correct position, and gave me some insights as to the ‘why’… and ‘why’ always helps me to maintain an unfamiliar skill until it becomes familiar muscle memory. In the case of my guarde position, having my foil so far toward center means I open up the whole of my ribcage to an attack outside my blade. Not good. Len made sure my foil and forearm are in proper alignment, fixed my hand position, and we moved on to my basic footwork.

Len had me advance and retreat, then he had me lunge. We pretty much stopped at the lunge for the rest of the lesson. Not that my lunge was bad. Len told me to my face that my lunge was pretty good and had good extension (what he said to Zach after I’d left might be something different <GRIN!>) but that I had to be wary of some mechanical issues to avoid injury. This is especially important given that I’m coming to fencing relatively late in life. With that in mind, Len fixed the following in my lunge:

• My foot needs to land further forward. At the terminus of my lunge, my knee should end up behind my foot, not beyond it. The angle formed by my thigh and shin should still be obtuse.
• I tend to pronate my foot on my lunge, landing on my instep and big tow. That throws my knee inside, and pushes my back end out. With my back end out, my spine angles and the reach of my foil shortens.
• I tend to sight down the foil like it’s a rifle. Len moved my had further outside on my reach. Again, back to guarding my ribs as a target zone, and to get around my opponent’s parry.
• The timing should be that the foil tip touches my opponent BEFORE my front foot lands in the lunge. If the foot lands before the point touches, I have to extend my reach. and push my knee in front of my foot.

And that was the whole 30 minutes. There’s a huge long list of things wrong with my lunge, but if I just fix my foot (further out, no pronation) then everything else migrates back into proper alignment.

By the end of the session, I was already feeling how my form was snapping ‘to’. I’d never really felt a good form, so it was great to actually feel it for a few consecutive minutes. It was a lot like the first time I stitched together a half dozen turns on alpine skis: uncomfortable and awkward at first, but once I’d felt how a good turn set up the dynamics for a successful subsequent turn, my technique locked into place. Same thing here. Sort of.

R took a private lesson, too. His feedback? It was boring. All he worked on was lunging and parrying, which seemed stupid and a waste of time to hear R tell it. R wasn’t so impressed. But then, R is in it for the ‘battle’. He’s twelve. He’s impatient. He delights in flailing away with a sparring partner as his learning mechanism. And, that technique works for him. Shoot, it worked for me, too, when I was his age. Afterall, a five minute lesson with a splitting maul and a wedge was all I needed. After that, they just let me flail away until I could read the weakness of the wood all by myself, and split tree rounds that others had given up on. That’s where R is in his life. I’m very clear that I’m no longer in that place in MY life any longer. I’ve learned to love the repetition of the drill. My body needs more opportunities to get it ‘right’.

Nevertheless, I’m betting that the information from the lesson will sneak into his fencing this week. Whether he would admit to it or not.

“R2! Shut down all trash compactors on the Reactor Level!”

The steady squeezing with respect to email access when away from the office finally built to a breaking point during last week’s business trip. Time to get some help and stop the pressure.  Granted, I didn’t get an R2 unit, but I have been experimenting with a Motorola Droid phone over the last three days. The experience has been a bit eye-opening, in unexpected ways. For example: here’s the electronics-related to-do list I was packing as I headed into the Verizon store to shop smart phones (with the preconceived notion that I was looking for a Blackberry, not droids):

• Needed a “push” email solution for work communications (wi-fi alone was not good enough)  Figure $50-$150 on upgrade to a Blackberry type device.
• Someone ‘relieved’ me of my Jabra Bluetooth speaker  phone. That’s a $60-$90 replacement.
• Still want/need a GPS for the Jaguar. My lovely wife now refuses to surrender hers (good for her! a gadget she loves/uses!), so that’s about $200 give-or-take. I sure would like to give verbal instructions to the GPS, so that runs an additional $200 or so.

So, I was looking at $310-$640 in gadget upgrades, the clutter of multiple devices (sucks on the road) AND a $30/mo data plan for the Blackberry.

That lead me inexorably to the Droid. Instead of all that, I spent $200 on a Droid, and got: my phone; a built-in, in-car speaker phone; a mobile email device; a voice-recognition GPS device; and all THAT. So for the cost of the minimal GPS, I handled everything. Work pays the data plan; I’m good to go. The guy at the Verizon store removed the restraining bolt from my new best friend and we took off.

And just in time to spend most of the weekend out in the urban jungle, testing connectivity and usability.

With exchange students at our house for a whirlwind weekend tour, things got started early. Friday night, while the phone sat on my car’s console getting its first charge, I headed to the Rose Garden Arena to accompany the family and students to a WinterHawks game. Missed the first three inbound calls because I didn’t know how to answer the darn thing (swipe your finger to answer the call. Yeah, now I know). The Verizon store had set up my gmail and google calendar, but not a connection to Outlook Exchange at my employer. Remember, I needed Blackberry-like push service.

So, as I sat down at the game, I gmailed the IT manager asking how to set up the Outlook and could I do it myself? He emailed me three or four settings, and I gave it a whirl. Three minutes later, my Droid filled with Outlook Exchange messages and I successfully sent an outbound email to coworkers. All before the end of the first period. Not bad.

On Saturday, I played tour guide. That was my first chance to use the Droid in the Field. The GPS overlay on Google Maps was natural, informative and extremely useful. The one accessory that was a wise choice was the in-car windshield mount. For me, I got the mount with the magnet inside, which signals the Droid to go into CAR MODE as soon as the device gets cradled. Car Mode uses a different home screen – essentially a GPS with voice dialing and interactive voice recognition search. In fact, Smart Device Central said this in their blog:

“Speaking of Car Mode, the Droid is the first phone to come with Google Maps Navigation, which provides free, turn-by-turn, spoken driving directions. Car Mode is a simplified interface that gives you a few large icons to poke at in your car; Verizon will sell a car mount for the Droid, as well. The combination may make the Droid the best GPS phone on the market.”

And here’s what Lance Ulanoff had to say back in October 2009 about the Google Maps navigation in Android:

“I'm certain that the execs at TomTom, Garmin, and Magellan all sat up and took notice of the little e-bomb Google just dropped this morning. According to the Google blog, the free app (still in beta, by the way), has constantly updated maps, voice-driven commands and search, free traffic details, search for points of interest along route, 3D views, turn-by-turn direction—well, you get the idea. It has a lot of what you'll find in the best stand-alone GPS devices. Plus it's coupled with a big touch screen and something most GPS devices do not have: a keyboard.”

Yup, all the functionality of that $800 d0-everything Bluetooth-enabled Garmin you wish you had.  The Droid can rotate to vertical or horizontal in Car Mode. Works just fine.

I especially liked being able to use voice recognition to say “find ice cream nearby” and have Google Maps give me all the ice cream shops in the vicinity. It works GREAT that way for gas stations, too.

The voice guided directions are extremely accurate and helpful. Instead of the typical “exit. right.” as I approached my freeway off ramp, the Droid would say something like “in 1000 feet, take exit 280, I-205, West Linn, Oregon City”. While the map feedback is very good indeed, I found the spoken navigation directions were detailed enough (without overkill) to drive by ear alone. Nice.

I also like being able to perform a normal Google Maps type search, then ask for Navigation Directions from my current location. Because it’s Google Maps underneath, you can turn on the traffic density display, and help choose your route based on freeway flow. Minimal use in Portland; HUGE benefit in Seattle and San Francisco!

Over the weekend, while at home, I tested the accuracy of the GPS positioning by zooming in as close as possible, then walking around the house. Darned thing could pretty much put the location cursor right inside the correct room of the house!

Away from the car, I repurposed an old Dell Pocket PC belt clip to hold the Droid. It fits nicely and is well padded. Done. Belt holsters have to be thought of as disposable anyway; I’m happy to give an obsolete one new life…

How’s it work as an MP3 Player? Let’s see. I loaded a couple albums worth of music onto the Droid, using Windows Media Player. A free book reader app and a handful of free-distribution books from Cory Doctorow for recreational reading, too. Last night my bed time reading was Cory’s “Little Brother” and jazz on the headphones. Simultaneously. My personal netbook runs Ubuntu Linux. I’m going to play with syncing music to the Droid from that environment. I’ll report more later.

I haven’t tried pairing it with a Bluetooth device yet. Later. My car stereo doesn’t have the Bluetooth factory option (damn!), so I can’t pair the phone to the car stereo. But, I did learn that a FM retransmitter was an effective way to wirelessly connect my MP3s to my car stereo. I’ll be looking into that as an option.

For work stuff; I have access to my cloud storage on google docs. I have access to my google voice account. I have a free app that lets me view Microsoft Office documents and PDFs on my device. I can go to webpages willy-nilly.  The Droid mounts via USB cable to my PC; Windows recognizes it as a removable storage device. Drag and drop file transfers to your heart’s content.

“But Nolan!”

I hear you.

“It’s a phone!” you say. “What about call quality?”

Everyone on the other end says it’s hunky-dory. “Hear you very clearly, I can,” was one reply. The Built In speaker phone may be just a little too quiet for in-car use long term, though. People hear me fine, but I need a bit more volume to hear the other person clearly. That may just be a function of placement on the windshield. Experiments are in order.

“Why not an iPhone?” I’ve been asked. I wouldn’t mind an iPhone, to be honest, but the Verizon network meets my needs very well and it would cost me nearly a house payment to move the whole family. As long as the iPhone’s tethered to “the DeathStar” for service, it won’t be an option for me.

TomTom has a GPS app for the iPhone. $50. Google Maps? umm… free?

Ulanoff finishes his column on Google Maps Navigation with this: “the arrival of Google Maps Navigation deals a major blow to dedicated GPS device manufacturers and one of the biggest, craftiest wins of Google's decade-long existence.”

Given that I’ve just spent half of my weekend talking about how good at GPS my …. PHONE …. is, my behavior agrees with him even if my brain may not. I guess it’s a new era in human-cyborg relations. At least in my particular corner of the galaxy.

REAL Science

Specifically, R’s science project. Hydroponics In Space. I’d blogged about R’s project before. This week is where all the hard work came together.

The big science project, I’m told, had two possible due dates:  Feb 5 if you want to be considered for the State Science Fair, and Feb 19th if you don’t want to be a State candidate. R wanted to be a State Science Fair candidate, so we scheduled up to hit the earlier deadline.

And he did. As I left for work this morning, he was loading his Science Fair exhibit and his 10 page Science Report into the car.

My earlier blog post covered some of the details about the results and the analysis, so I won’t duplicate that here. But what was cool was how R endeavored to work ahead of his deadline. Here are some examples:

• R was stuck on how to make an exhibit for his project. At first, he was just going to clue each page of his printed report to the poster board and be done.  I helped him understand that the two mediums, report and exhibit, were very different. He allowed me prototype his exhibit with paper and pencil to make a compelling story. This planning process helped him a LOT, it turns out. He felt much more at ease when he had a template to build to…
• Further setting the stage for success, R took his paper/ pencil prototype to school on the Monday before, to consult with his teacher. By getting early feedback on the plan, R could easily adjust his work to meet the teacher’s expectations, and probably improve his grade (plus, now the teacher knows that R’s organized and on-task a week ahead of the deadline. Good politics, that!)
• On Tuesday, R took the first draft of his report to school to consult with the teacher on that. Again, the teacher now knows that R has “this” much work done by Tuesday, well ahead of the deadline. R brought back the remarks and we made slight changes.
• C helped R get started on his board. I must admit, a huge science fair exhibit board, blank, is an intimidating amount of emptiness to fill. Even to me that first look at the empty board feels as big as handpainting a highway billboard with a kitchen sponge.
  C helped him get started. They had to stay up late on Wednesday night, but they got a lot done. By the time I got home from my trip on Thursday, things were nearly complete. I helped with three finishing touches, then I assisted in getting the report printed out on paper, and we were done. R got to bed at a reasonable hour and started his Friday well rested.

As luck would have it, I came across a technical publication describing a very similar experiment currently underway on the International Space Station. The lab module attached to the outside of the ISS is investigating the effectiveness of different plants and care strategies for space-bound horticulture. We printed out the article and attached it to the exhibit. Why? Because R’s work is directly related. We get to make the point(mostly to R, frankly) that he just did real science.

I’ll update with pics later. I’m proud of him; this turned out well.

UPDATE:  R informed me last night that he was not selected for the State Science Fair. He was very apologetic that he didn’t make the cut. I assured him that, even though he didn’t get to go forward, he delivered real science, well communicated, and in his own hand. I’m proud of him anyway. There will be other opportunities.

The X-Men Have a Birthday Party

R and M’s birthdays respectively bracket the Labor Day holiday. One has a birthday just before school starts, the other just after. It’s an awkward time for a birthday on both occasions: friends are overbooked with end-of-summer, get-ready-for-school stuff, then overbooked with settling-in-to-the-new-school-routine for the other.

And, in 2009, we threw ANOTHER wrinkle at these two… a cross-town move and a parental surgery.

So. We made a deal with the kids. The family would delay any birthday parties until 1) the move was finished, 2) C’s surgical recovery was mostly over, and 3) the normal holiday rush was completed. And, at that time, we’d have one combined big-deal birthday celebration. To demonstrate our seriousness, we took the kids shopping for the party decorations at the time of their birthdays, and started the party planning process at that time. It’s easier to delay the gratification if you know the things at least started, you know?

That big-deal celebration took place this past weekend. At OMSI. We had 15 or 16 children present. It worked out to be about seven friends each, at a collaborative theme party. The boys were a pirate theme; girls were Pacific Islanders. I joked that, instead of the “pirate or ninja?” question, our party was asking “islander or interloper?”

Party guests arrived, checked in, and were assigned the following:

1. pirate bandana or lei, depending upon group.
2. a team for the OMSI treasure hunt (including at least one adult chaperone for the team)
3. a treasure hunt list and instructions

Phase 1 of the party involved a museum-wide treasure hunt for knowledge. Teams had to cover the museum, answering questions from the exhibits all throughout the facility. Answer 15 of the possible 26, then turn your sheet in to the Sergeant at Arms for validation and entry into the party proper!

The treasure hunt was a stroke of genius from C. The party spread out, smaller groups of tangential acquaintances forged the bond of friendship, and C had ample time to set up a wonderful party space with pirate-castle cakes, punch, ice cream and all sorts of cool themed decorations.  Oh, and presents for the party goers, too.

Phase 2 of the party was cake and ice cream. Guests did the limbo while all the treasure hunter teams finished up. The refreshments were tasty, and the kids liked the highly themed decorations and food items. No longer do the birthday parties look like the near food fight of six year olds hopped up on sugar and excitement; now, the gatherings are a bit calmer and even include some cross-gender conversational outreach, if you know what I mean.

Phase 3, was what we called ‘open play’ at the museum. Some guests took advantage of free passes to OMNImax, others took advantage of free submarine tours, and some of sought out specific exhibits for deeper study. We had all types, and met everyone at their specific need. And… C and team cleaned up the party during this time.

I’m telling you, hanging out with this particular group of kids is like being on site with the X-Men. Every one of them is amazingly gifted in some area to such a degree that it’s easy to call that strength their ‘superpower.’ NONE of them have the same superpower. When these kids take the time to divide up challenges to match their respective superpowers, they accomplish amazing things.  In fact, here’s an example of what I mean from just one of the guests, to illustrate the amount of talent they possess.

There’s one blonde girl in the group – tall, thoughtful, not shy but introverted – who is a classmate for R and M. She’s not even twelve yet.  She’s EXTREMELY advanced linguistically, and LOVES life sciences. She was in my group to visit the museum exhibits, for phase 3. She wanted to spend the last portion of the party in the Life Sciences lab, handling the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches that are available for petting. Yes. For REAL!.

As there were four of us in our group, I referred to our team as the ‘fearsome foursome.’ I could tell be the immediate change in her expression that I had played with words in a way that intrigued her. A few minutes later, one of our party pealed off to visit their exhibit of choice. At that moment, my eleven year old blonde charge asked, “What is a good adjective that starts with T-H? The only one I can think of is ‘theocratic’, but I don’t think I want to be ‘the theocratic threesome.’” We also eliminated ‘Thessalonian’ and ‘theatrical’. We still hadn’t found a suitable adjective by the time another member of our group pealed off, leaving us with just two. My suggestion of the ‘gruesome twosome’. made her laugh so hard she snorted.

For most of the hour we spent in Life Sciences, she held a cockroach in her hand and give live demonstrations to the kids, explaining all about the mechanics of how the cockroaches hissed, where they came from, what they ate and why some were brown while others were black in color. The little kids idolized her; the adults thought she was a volunteer. She was clearly in her best element; using her language like a media-trained grownup to discuss interesting living beings.

The whole day was filled with vignettes like this. Like I said, it’s almost like hanging with the X-Men.

At the party end, everyone naturally gathered in the lobby for ‘fond farewells’ and lingering. It was a very good time, well planned to accommodate kids, adults, girls, boys. and all interests.

A triumph without doubt. C has just upped her game for event organizing, I must say. When she can orchestrate the mini X-Men to a unanimously grand good time, she’s the real superhero.

And what about those guests of honor? They had a GREAT time. Their respective friends intermingle nicely, everyone was respected, included and treated as an equal. Even more telling, while they enjoyed the presents they received, they were even more interested in making sure the party favor present each guest received was to their liking. There’s my kids in action; caring deeply about others when it truly matters. Again, it’s like the X-Men, along with their strength they each have flaws. And sometimes behave badly when there pressure’s off. But… add the need to be serious about something, and they snap right to it, doing the Right Thing nearly every time.

Boy Scouts, Beverly Beach, Burgeoning Blessings and Busy Bounties

As evidenced by the photo above, the Typhoon boys enjoyed the rare treat of a tw0-night Boy Scout campout this weekend. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Oregon Coast on January 23rd. Temperatures were in the low 50’s.

We yurt camped at Beverly Beach State Park, and enjoyed an  AMAZINGLY MILD Saturday. The sky was blue, the winds were calm, and we hung around the fire in shirt sleeves. Nice.

The boys in the troop ate well. To support their work on Emergency Preparedness merit badge, they held both a lost “child” drill and a fire building contest. They found the “child”. And they all succeeded in building fires, though none of the teams achieved the contest goal. Mind you, troop adults set a very lofty goal for the fire building contest, on purpose.  By all accounts, the events were a success.

Saturday dinner included a kebab appetizer, chicken & white bean chili entree, fruit and carrots on the side, dutch oven cornbread, and either strawberry or cherry cheesecake for dessert. We uh, had too much food.  Time to rethink portions!

Late Saturday night, though, the storm rolled in. Even though we had rain in the morning, everyone stayed dry in the yurts. Here’s R, preparing to bunk down in the yurt on Saturday evening.

*  *  *  *  *

Us boys made a stop in Pacific City on the way home. My mom is going in for a (relatively) routine angiogram on Friday. Furthermore, the plans to let the kids spend some weekends at the beach before spring have become more difficult to realize now that M has rehearsals on Saturdays again. So, we made sure to stop in. We had lunch, chatted and watched the Jets game with Grandpa, borrowed the shower, and helped Grandma fix some minor issues with her computer.  Then we headed home. We were close; it makes me happy to see them face-t0-face whenEVER possible. It makes R happy, too. Every time he walks into that house, he begs to stay at least two days!

The Art of Analysis

R has a science project underway that he’s been working on – quite literally – for weeks. Months, even. His science experiment had to fit inside the concept of science that allows astronauts to travel to/from and live successfully on Mars.

His experiment of choice? The effect of varying light conditions on vegetable plant performance in hydroponic containers.

He did his experiment in multiple multi-week phases:

1. Validate the Concept. R built a test fixture and proved that he could grow radish seeds in it, using light exclusively from a light bulb. This took four weeks, and resulted in some minor modifications to the hydroponic container.

2. Full-blown test. Set up multiple identical hydroponic containers, and subject each to different light conditions for a period of time. R’s test period was about six weeks, if I recall correctly.

3. Measure Results. At the end of the time period, extract a random sampling of the plants and measure their size to determine how well they responded to the light given to them.

R’s experimental results are both surprising and useful. They point to a clear conclusion from multiple directions. Even though one hydroponic container behaved VERY differently from the rest, it still corroborates the same conclusion as the rest of the data.

Last night was data gathering night.  R broke open the containers, did his sampling/measuring, and collated his data. I helped him put his sample data into a spreadsheet (his first exposure to the spreadsheet), showed him how to make a formula to calculate average, and made his eyes bug-out when I graphed the results ‘instantly’ on a chart and his data suddenly told the story in clear numerical terms. It was cool to be his Dad and see his thinking suddenly converge on the meaning in his data. We stayed up an hour past his bedtime discussing and analyzing, as opposed to spending that same time engaged in the painful task of  keeping R’s brain on-task while plotting data points on graph paper by hand.

It was a great experience for us both – I was able to engage R’s brain where it likes to live: using detailed information to analyze, but not wasting precious time on the creation of that detailed information.

The other cool thing? R’s project needs to be turned in by mid-February. He’s got his experimental results, and a preliminary report framed up with three weeks to spare! We get to spend nearly a month not stressing about completing the minimum, but rather in polishing his findings into something really insightful. In other words, we get to spend time on the art of analysis instead of the mechanics of the scientific method.

Truth be told, R’s project is in the place where his Dad likes to operate, too… the art of analysis. 

Haiti Helping

The Typhoon did something telling yesterday. They cleaned out the closets to help the displaced in Haiti.

I know, that probably sounds simplistic. But here’s the deal – C and the kids wanted to do something to help. So they put together a plan to send usable clothing and a dozen or so personal effects kits (toothpaste, toothbrush, feminine products, etc.) They also ransacked their closets for a selection of very usable kids’ clothing that they could sent to Haiti.  The kids who survived probably lost everything in the quake, is their reasoning, they’ll need new clothes. If the stores fell down, where will they buy what they need?

Today, they’ve learned that 1) none of the local aid organizations will accept the donation of  goods at this time, because they don’t have a finalized supply flight schedule, 2) they’ll take our donation of goods as soon as they can be assured of putting it on a flight.

There are three ways to help in a disaster:

1. Money – given to an aid organization, this can help in a NUMBER of ways. Infrastructure repairs, supplies, medical support, etc. Money can also be transferred quickly, globally, as needed. Certainly an effective mechanism, but hard for children to wrap their heads around.

2. Goods – still money, but you have control over what the money is spent on. Good, in the sense that we can get our children kinesthetically involved in preparing kits of supplies; they can easily imagine a disaster victim getting the package and how they’d put the items to use. M was particularly good at this. Listening to the radio reports and talking about what we could do to help, M said, “the buildings aren’t safe; they’re sleeping outside under tarps. What they need is TENTS!” So, while the kids are thinking like this, sending goods makes it real for them.
The trouble, of course, is that we have to wait for a plane of supplies that agrees to take our stuff. Our help won’t be on the first wave. But the need in Haiti will be for some time; we’ll help. Regardless of exactly when.

3. Labor – either assisting in the efforts of an aid organization at a distance, or going to the site and helping, whether it’s looking for survivors in Haiti or continuing New Orleans to recover and rebuild from Katrina.  In a sense, the family project to build up personal care packages qualifies as labor (on a very small scale).

My family – my kids especially – good and labor are making the effort to help concrete and real. I think this is good. The cash from others will create the immediate response; we’ll be back a bit from the initial onslaught, but we’ll be able to send more durable items to help with recovery.

I commend my family for being so big-hearted and kind toward others. I’m proud of you all.