Future Poltergeist

I haven't read it yet, but this looks excellent .

I may just have to work my way through this list here .

A while back I realized that when I hear the kids singing, the songs fall into one of two categories.  Either kids songs, like Itsy Bitsy Spider, or more modern music from the FP Gal, like 'Shake it Off'.  That didn't sit well with me.  One of my parenting duties is to pass on my musical tastes to my children.  To aid in this, I decided to consciously put some earworms from the 80's into their path. To do this, I asked my friends on Facebook for suggestions.  They gave me 30+ comments worth of suggestions and I spent some time (and money) on iTunes and made a disc for the car.  This post is to update what has worked and what hasn't. 1. We Got the Beat, Go-Go's - This one worked.  The kids sing along and sometimes talk about it when it isn't playing. 2. Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper - Maybe the biggest hit of the bunch.  I've caught Felix singing it outside of the car. 3. Break My Stride, Matthew Wilder - A miss, at least so far....

After all the run up to the US Olympic committee, I think I forgot to mention that they actually did get a pick made.  They choose Boston.  The belief is that the US is the front runner for the games because they've gone so long without hosting them.  If Boston wins, it will have been 28 years since the Atlanta games.  Since the US provides a huge amount of the advertising and support, it only makes sense that they'd get good treatment in terms of hosting. Anyway, they've released some pictures of the proposed sites.  It looks pretty good.  I especially like the idea of holding events on famous University grounds.  I look forward to it!

On the ride home today, DF asked me if I know how to cook a salmon.  I don't but he was kind enough to give me the recipe.   Step 1. Get a big fish. Step 2. Peel the skin off. Step 3. Cut it in pieces. Step 4. Leave a big half. Step 5. Put it in the oven in a long pan. Step 6. Cook it for maybe 30 minutes. Step 7. Slice it up into little pieces. Step 8. Eat.

Last week my dad got me a book called 'The Well Trained Mind' ( Amazon link ).  It's basically a book about the educational upbringing of your children with a heavy emphasis on home-schooling.  While I'm not about to go the home-schooling route, the book seems like an excellent plan for those who do.  I'll be using it as a big ol' suggestion box for things to supplement the education the kids are getting at school. One thing that it emphasizes is exposing young children to the myths and stories of the classic world.  This means the Greeks and Egyptians of course, but it also suggests the Babylonians and Chinese and such.  We've touched on some of these but probably not enough. This Sunday we went to the bookstore so that Relia could use her new kids club discount card.  While she was looking at books, I noticed a large bookshelf dedicated to children's versions of the classics.  I grabbed the opportunity and picked up a book of Greek myths.  I s...

There is an interesting NYT article about the proposed stadium for Tokyo's upcoming 2020 Olympics.  They're fighting over the size and cost of the thing and (especially) its post-Olympic future.  Officials here have reacted to the public outcry by reducing the proposed stadium’s size and budget. Ms. Hadid’s earlier version came in at about $2.5 billion, more than twice the $1.1 billion originally allocated for the stadium. The Sport Council at first called for a retractable roof to soundproof future cultural events like concerts. The steep cost of building and maintaining such an apparatus, critics said, would take away valuable materials and financial resources still needed for reconstruction after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. After sustained objections from critics, including Mr. Maki and the 2013 Pritzker winner Toyo Ito, the Japanese government reduced the stadium’s budget to $1.37 billion and its site to 52 acres, down from 71. The revised design ...

Ten years ago today, I started this little blog.  It grew and then became less but hasn't puttered out.

A pretty good list from Amazon .  I've already read 42 of them and have another 10 or so on my shelf.  I don't know if this link will stay good or not but I hope it does.

Next week the US Olympic Committee will decide if they'll bid on the 2024 Olympics (I'm betting they will) and may decide on which city they'll put forth to host.  There are four cities on the host list: Boston Los Angeles San Francisco Washington DC I've long believed that if the US bids on 2024, they will win.  The US hasn't hosted an Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002 and no summer games since Atlanta in 1996.  Given the importance that the US has, particularly in funding, a 28 year gap is a huge one. So who gets the nod?  I have absolutely no insider knowledge but I'd like to make some guesses.  Pure speculation to follow. San Francisco is an interesting choice.  The Bay Area is certainly beautiful.  I'm guessing (I haven't checked into it) that there are enough venues in NoCal to satisfy the sporting requirements.  Between the professional teams (six?) and the number of big time colleges, there must be.  Throw in the big mo...

There is a very nice article here , listing some little known Christmas music.  It's heavy on choir music, which is fine for me.  The article includes YouTube clips of the songs and they've been nice enough to put them into a playlist, which can be found here. I don't think I know any of these, but I'm enjoying them.

This is my 30th post in 30 days and I've fulfilled the task.  True, some of the posts have been bare but I got many of the 'ideas' posts out.  I've still got some more so I'll post them in the next week or two. Did this restart my blog?  I doubt it.  It's hard to blog day in and day out without any audience.  And to be honest, almost all of that audience has fled to Facebook or elsewhere.  That's just how it is.

[Sorry, I got nothing.]

I fell asleep on the couch last night while watching a movie.  The cats woke me at 6a so I fed them and turned the thermostat.  I returned to the couch, half listened for the furnace to kick on and fell back asleep.  Around 7a the FP Gal came down and asked if I wanted to head up to the bed.  I did.  About 45 min later she woke me and told me that the furnace wasn't working. It got cold.  The lowest the thermostat read was 52 degrees.  I came down stairs and all three kids were bundled up on the couch, under about fifteen blankets.  The FP Gal called some repair people and made an appointment for the afternoon.  We watched some TV and then I took them to the Y.  After we were done there, the FP Gal told me to take the kids out for lunch. We got home at the same time as the repair guy.  He only needed about twenty minutes or so and he had it fixed.  We need to do a larger repair down the road, but this one wasn't too bad....

We went down to Austin today for Thanksgiving.  (When we told LL this morning he said, 'Austin? I like Austin!'.)  So we loaded up the car for the trip.  Apparently today was the coldest Thanksgiving in decades.  The windchill was below zero.  It made the trip seem much more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.  Hopefully the climate control will be adjusted soon as it's much too cold. We made it down there without any problem.  We could see plenty of tire tracks in the median.  I'm guessing that yesterday was an eventful day for the tow-trucks.  Once we were down to Austin we went immediately to Pop Pop's church.  We missed it on the last trip and DF was very angry with me.  We made up for it here.  The boys love the nursery room there so they played for a bit.  We had some small snacks. Then we headed to David and Donna's for another quick visit and then out to the 3B Eatery for the real meal.  Oh, Amy is such a goo...

It's late in the month and I don't want to break my streak but I don't have the energy to write up another idea.  So please, enjoy this picture from Bavaria.

For the start of the ideas series, go here . We used to have a mini-SUV but when we got pregnant with our third, we had to upgrade to a mini-van.  The van is fine, though it is often too big for simple parking or for mileage concerns.  But we had to go bigger, our car seats mandated it. Those with small children know what I'm talking about so let me explain it for everyone else.  When kids are very young (less than a year old) you can put them in a seat much like a basket.  You strap them in and then carry the basket out to the car.  This basket locks into a plastic base which is strapped in tightly.   The next step up is the more traditional car seat.  It's a full seat that is strapped in place.  It has a full back that extends up to the head and arm rests.  After a certain age (or weight gain) they go to a booster which is a much smaller piece that rests on the car seat and raises them to a height where the regular seat belt ca...

For the start of the ideas series, go here . Sometimes I fantasize about winning the lottery.  If this ever happens, I have some ideas of what to do with the money (including a great one about a giant map that I'm NOT going to share).  This idea would be kind of my way of giving something back to the world at large.  Since I'm unlikely (odds at least 4-1 against) to win the lottery, any wealthy person or group of people can feel free to rip off this idea. This is an idea about a high school for writers all over the country.  The student body would literally be selected from all 50 states and various territories and districts.  Each year of students would be around 220.  This would mean four from each state, two boys and two girls.  One of the intentions of this would be to create something of a support group for each incoming student.  The other twenty students would represent DC and other 'at large' students.  It would be a four year sch...

For the start of the ideas series, go here .  (I'll admit up front that I'm coming at this one from a place of ignorance.  I tried searching to see if this was being done and I couldn't find anything.  If I'm wrong, please let me know in the comments.) Sometimes there are special children who don't fit well in our school system.  I'm talking about the geniuses that skip through school and wind up in college as young teens.  In fiction, this is well represented by Sheldon Cooper but they exist in real life as well. It's my understanding that we don't really have a good set up for these prodigies.  I'm thinking of people like Ted Kaczynski and James Dallas Egbert III here.  Each of them started college very early and their lives became very messed up.  One of the obvious issues here is that college is set up for people aged 18-22.  That's a tough place for a 14 year old, especially if they have some socialization issues (again, think of Sh...