I can't sleep. Lying in bed listening to the rain and thinking about being in it setting up the race car in about five hours . . .

Here's the monster duck egg next to one of our large chicken eggs.

We are cooking fried duck eggs for dinner. The MONSTROUS egg had two yolks. Poor duck.

I shouldn't have picked up the guitar this morning. It's worse that the INTERNET for making you lose track of time, and now I'm late for work!

Alex's Campaign Speech

Alex wants to run for Student Council Treasurer at Fisher's Landing, and has been working on his speech. Here's what he's got for now:

Hello. I am Alex Kennedy, and I would like to be your Student Council Treasurer.

I am a Webelos Cub Scout. I do many community service projects every year, both with the Scouts and on my own. I want to be a member of the Student Council in order to continue serving my community.

I believe this is an important position because Student Council members speak for the students at Fisher’s Landing. Student Council members have an important job; their job is to make Fisher’s Landing a better and funner place to go to school.

The choice for Treasurer is an important one. A good Treasurer must be dependable and trustworthy, a good listener, and good with numbers. I have these qualities.

Your vote would be very appreciated.

Please vote for me, Alex Kennedy, for Student Council Treasurer.

Thank You.

The DJ at Golden Skate just scolded me over the speakers for using my cell phone to take photos while skating . . . It's a 'safety hazard'. I haven't gotten in trouble at a roller skating rink in a very long time!!!

I found a new game. Put the grocery list on my DROID and linked it to Tiffany's DROID. She can watch as I put stuff in the cart. She can also add stuff to the list while I shop. As I shop the list get LONGER! A marriage counselor must have designed this!

Ten geocaches in just over two hours this afternoon. Phew! Haven't done that many in a long time.

Just as we were about to give up on this duck being a girl, we found THREE eggs. And one of them is MONSTROUS! It's no wonder she's been making more noise than usual these past couple weeks!

Note to self . . . Be more careful when letting Alex practice Martial Arts on you. Now to everyone else . . . Don't EVER put Alex in a headlock!

This afternoon we'll be going to OMSI. A couple Planetarium shows at 4:00 ('Starry Nights LIVE!', then 'Journey to the Stars'), then 45 minutes or so in the museum before they close.

Osaka House

We went to a pretty good Japanese steak house, where they grill the food right at your table. The onion volcano was AWESOME. Not real cheap, but not incredibly expensive, either. Glad we came here at least once. Thanks, Tiff.

Derby is just starting to wind down, and Scouts, school, then the holidays are just getting wound up!!! I guess that's the Circle of Life when you're a parent!

Alex has to write a mini-bio for school. He has room for a couple sentences. All he has written is "I started Soap Box Derby on June 16th, 2009, in Stock."

Alex raced a borrowed Super Stock today - his first time in a Super. All things considered, I think he did really well. He drove fairly good lines on Saturday despite the steering being crooked and this being a bigger, heavier car. He took sixth. We were at the track until eight o'clock Saturday night tuning the car and running trials. Sunday he drove well again and came home with fourth. Back to Stock for the next race . . . he can't stay in Super Stock until he turns ten.

I thought it would be can funny to post a picture of Alex sitting BACKWARD in the car, and to see if anyone noticed. Alex didn't think it was so funny when he saw it. This is a picture of Alex adjusting the tail weights on Saturday morning. Yes, he knew the front of the car from the back!

Alex and I are watching 'Hubble' at OmniMax.

Alex is proud of his pets

Alex watching the sunset on the Columbia River

I was scared of spending all day at this race on an overpass in the rain. It's actually turning out to be perfect weather!

Blue Belt

Alex earned his Martial Arts Blue Belt last night. He is now half-way to his Black Belt!

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We were up at 2 AM to make it to Alex's race (4 1/2 hours away) by 7:30. If I EVER hear a soccer parent complaining about morning games again . . .

Karaoke!

Tiffany has had an Applebee's gift certificate burning a hole in her pocket since her birthday, and both she and Alex wanted to go to Applebee's this evening. Alex got all ready for bed, then put some clothes on so we could go for their 9:00 happy hour, with half price appetizers. (We Can all eat for less than $20).

We found out that Thursday is Karaoke night at Applebee's; I don't think Alex had ever seen real Karaoke before. We couldn't get him to sing, though . . . He saw that, although the microphone was set up in the restaurant, people were coming out of the bar to sing, and even HE could tell that the singers had a little too much to drink!

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We're not having much luck talking Alex out of Mount Vernon. Evidently it's his favorite track because it's so bumpy.And there's only one race there each year.

The van was broken into last night.  The window was broken, and the GPS was stolen.

Soap Box Saturday

Alex finished sixth place in Stock today. His first defeat was against Tajha Goodwin-Lowell, who won first place today; his second defeat was against Kirstin Vorpahl, who won second place today! That put him in a runoff for fifth and sixth against Kallan Wehrmeister; he lost the runoff.

He had seven runs down the hill and had fun; he also drove well. In fact, in one run we decided to break to the outside, and Alex pulled that move off perfectly, breaking smoothly, and at just the right point. Our times seem to be very consistently .5 seconds behind first and second place, and .3 seconds behind the next several places. I am convinced that this consistency means that we DO have a decent car setup, and that Alex is driving well. If there was a problem with his driving, he would not be as consistent. Because we have disassembled and rebuilt the car so many times, the same is true of the car's setup.

I am convinced that our primary problem is Alex's size. His shoulders don't fit into the Stock body, and he easily outweighs many of his fellow drivers by 30 pounds. Although the cars all weigh the same, this difference means that THEY get to put 30 pounds of steel plates in their floorboard, thereby lowering their center of gravity. Hopefully this problem will be rectified late next Spring when he is old enough to race Super Stocks; the cars are larger, and the drivers are closer to Alex's size.

Alex says he had fun today when he was racing, but not so much after he was done racing; nevertheless, he did come running across the park at one point to tell me that he had caught the Red Gyarados in his Pokemon video game . . . He is still talking about that, and I think it may have been the highlight of his day.

We have checked in to the Rodeway Inn in north Salem, and are looking forward to another day of racing tomorrow.

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Chuck E Cheese

We decided to take Alex to Chuck E Cheese this evening. After work I rushed home to put the back seat in the van, then rushed to La Center to pick up Hailey and Haden.

We got to Chuck E Cheese about seven o'clock and stayed there until about nine when Melissa got off work and showed up to pick up Hailey and Haden. The kids had a blast, but I think even THEY were tired and ready to go home.

Finally, I dropped Tiffany and Alex off at home while I went to feed Tiffany's parents' cats.

We've got to get up about five o'clock in the morning to make it to the Soap Box Derby race in Salem. That is going to be awful early.

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Bandon to Newport

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Penny Presses

Alex loves those 51¢ penny presses in gift shops. He still thinks they really press his pennies, though. He always has to dig for the shiniest penny I've got. He just did one at Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Newport and, since I didn't have a penny that was shiny enough, he took a penny to the counter and asked them to exchange it for a shinier penny!

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Wildlife Safari in Winston

We got started a little late this morning for the Wildlife Safari. I wanted to be there when it opened at 9:00, but that's about when we ended up leaving the hotel, an hour away.

We stayed at the Safari from the time we got there at 10:00 until they closed at 6:00. We drove through the park twice and went all through the walk-through exhibits, but also did lots of extras.

We had our van washed by an elephant. The elephant squirted water on the van from its trunk, then picked up a sponge and wiped the van, and finally rinsed it by spraying from its trunk again. No, the van didn't get very clean, but Alex LOVED getting sprayed by an African elephant. (Elephants Have ALWAYS been his favorite animals and African elephants have always been his favorite elephants. He's always a little upset because most zoo elephants are Asian because they are smaller, less high-strung, and easier and safer to work with.)

We went on an elephant barn tour where we got to see the inside of the elephant barn, but also feed and pet the elephants. Alex got to ride a dromedary camel. We rode a train around part of the Safari. We went to the Cheetah keeper talk.

I think the highlight of the Safari for Alex was a prank we pulled on Tiffany. We had done this several years ago, the last time we were at the Safari, and he talked about doing it all day. Finally, just before leaving, we pulled it off. Tiffany dozed off the second time through the park; we pulled up next to a female Emu (a very ugly, evil-looking animal that I call a 'Devil Bird') and let it stick its face right up to Tiffany's open window, then woke her up. I know it was a cruel thing, but she took it well, and Alex is STILL laughing about it, hours later.

When the Safari closed we decided we wanted to stay close to Bandon tonight, so I made reservations for Comfort Inn in Coos Bay and we headed out. We pulled in to the hotel about 9:00; we were all hungry, but too tired to go out. On top of that, Alex had some homework that he had to finish this weekend, so we ordered Domino's and he did his homework while we waited for the delivery.

I wrote this blog as I ate the pizza; I'm now more than ready to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we'll be hitting the Bandon Game Farm (billed as the world's largest petting zoo).

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Cottage Grove

We left last night for a trip Alex has wanted to do all summer . . . Wandering around SW Oregon. He wants to go to the Winston Animal Park and the Bandon Game Farm. There's quite a bit of driving involved so we have been waiting for a three day weekend. This will probably be our last trip of the Summer.

We left home last night heading toward our hotel reservation at Comfort Inn in Cottage Grove. We stopped at Harbor Freight in Salem to get some transfer punches for the Soap Box car, but ended up getting quite a bit more, including an RC car for Alex and a 72" level that was on sale for an incredible $15!

On our way south, I was watching the traffic map on my Droid that was showing a huge tie-up in Eugene; the tie-up had been there since we left Portland.

When we hit Eugene about 8:30, it looked like I-5 was almost shut down so we decided this would be a good time to stop for dinner. We went to a Skippers a couple miles East of the highway where a truck driver told us that a pickup had rolled over on the highway. We asked around about how to get South of town without taking I-5, but nobody had any good, easy directions.

When we were done eating we started following any road that headed South but didn't run into I-5; we had the GPS so we weren't TOTALLY blind, but it was dark and we were driving through what looked like extremely bad neighborhoods. I've often said that one of the good things about Portland is that there really aren't any neighborhoods that, as a grown man, I absolutely would NOT walk through after dark. I might be a little uncomfortable, and watch my back closely, but I would likely make it through. We drove through neighborhoods in Eugene and Springfield that I would not walk through.

We finally hit a traffic-free Interstate south of town and drove the remaining 20 minutes to our hotel, arriving about 10:00. Alex and I played in the outdoor heated pool for about half an hour (that boy is a FISH!!!), then we watched the last hour of 'Titantic' and feel asleep.

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AC Nutter

I got Alex out of the house early this morning to visit AC Nutter's shop. AC has been building race cars, race car engines, and race car drivers for decades. He is one of the big names behind Greg Biffle's success, and built every one of Biffle's engines right up until he was signed on by Rousch Racing. Alex was actually pretty excited to meet him and didn't give me ANY problem getting up early to go. Although I have a couple connections to AC (He went to High School with my father-in-law and has built an engine for my brother-in-law), I have never met him. We just drove to his shop and introduced ourselves.

We talked Soap Box Derby for a while. AC remembered there being Soap Box races in Vancouver when he was a kid, and jumped on his computer to pull up the websites . . . He was very interested. He had lots of good tech advice based on his decades of involvement with various types of racing. Much of his advice sounds pretty good, and is a little different than what I hear at the track. And some of it . . . Just SOME . . . Would actually be legal. (Sorry, But no, we won't be rod drilling our axles!) We had brought in a part to ask him to do a little mill work on. Instead of doing the work, he actually came up with a way I can do it myself with a drill press, and it will be just as accurate (or even more accurate).

We ended up having to run to get Alex to school on time. After dropping Alex off, I called back to apologize for running, and to thank AC for his ideas. He wants me to bring the car in for a little show-and-tell. Turns out he has a machinist working for him who has a 6 year old daughter who lives and breathes race cars, and they might want to try this out. I figure getting this guy's eyes on our car can yield nothing but good things. We're going over next week after putting the car back together for the next race, but before aligning it.

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Pumpkin Pie

Alex had been wanting to make a pumpkin pie for a while so last night we went to the store and he got all the stuff . . . Canned pumpkin, spice, whipped cream ("In a can!", he insisted). The only thing we did not get was condensed milk. Alex was insistent that we had some, and I thought we did, too.

We got home, poured the pumpkin into a bowl, then discovered that we had only evaporated milk. I had to run down to Albertsons to get condensed. As Alex was stirring I convinced him that condensed milk tastes like frosting, and he nearly licked the can clean!

Alex took a shower while his pie cooked them enjoyed a slice before bed. His only two complaints . . . It was too hot, and the whipped cream was melting.

Tiffany just sent me a photo that illustrates how much Alex is still enjoying his pie today for lunch.

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Cub Scout Pack Picnic

We had a great time at the Cub Scout Picnic today. We came back from Poulsbo and skipped a day of Soap Box racing to be there, so I was really hoping Alex would enjoy himself. He did.

The picnic was at Orchards Park. We played Frisbee and catch, the kids rode bikes and scooters, and we all played a big game of Ultimate Frisbee. This is basically football, but with a frisbee instead of a ball. There were about three adults and five kids on each team. Tiffany says we played for half an hour; I'm pretty sure it was more like four hours. Nobody is sure who won.

David brought an air and water powered rocket and let the boys launch 2 liter bottles 100 feet in the air.

After the picnic we went to the Troutdale Outlet Mall and Wal-Mart for school clothes and supplies.

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Poulsbo Soap Box Derby

Alex had a great time at today's race. He ran three heats (six runs down the track) and came in eighth place. In one of the photos you can see his 'cheat sheet', where he mapped out the track and planned his line, then taped it inside his car for reference.

His first heat was against Anthony Poggi, who just came back from Akron, where he won eighth place in the world.

After the race I drove to NAPA where I bought a new brake light switch for the van . . . Both the brake lights AND the cruise control now work.

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On our way to Poulsbo

Alex and I are both excited to get back to the track this weekend. Tiffany is going, too, and I think she's just excited to get out of the house for a couple days. We've got a race Saturday and Sunday in Poulsbo.

We got out of town okay, but were having problems with the trailer lights, so we had to pull over in Kelso to buy a new plug for the van. When we left Kelso, the cruise control wasn't working. The van got a new brake switch this week so, thinking it might have a problem, I pulled up on the brake pedal and . . . The brake switch fell out! We pulled over in a rest stop but the switch didn't seem to fit in its bracket! By this time all the part stores were closed, so I was forced to drive all the way from Kelso to Bremerton with no brake lights.

We're now in our hotel (the photo is Alex in the lobby waiting to check in), have had Domino's delivered, and are about ready to go to sleep.

Alex discovered that his footie pajamas have become too short; I cut the feet out so he can wear then this weekend, and he's now excited that he has matching pajamas and slippers!

Can't wait to get on the hill tomorrow.

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Mobile Blogging

So, I have been posting lots of stuff on Facebook recently that really SHOULD have gone to the blog. I now have a DROID X Smartphone, and have just added a blogging app. Hopefully now I will stay putting los of stuff on the blog instead of Facebook!

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An Odd Historical Family Coincidence?

I've been doing a lot of research lately into Irish, Scottish, and early Appalachian history, and looking at how it relates to my genealogy. Although I cannot yet prove it, I am becoming increasingly convinced that I am not Irish, as I had always believed; it is very likely that I am a Scottish Kennedy, having come to America by way of a 200 year layover in Ulster Plantation. This means that I am completely unrelated to the Irish Kennedys (and, thankfully, to the Massachusetts Kennedys).

I have run across a set of facts that tie together very interestingly . . . Tiffany disagrees with my conclusion. I wonder what others make of this . . .

1. FACT – My Kennedy ancestors lived in Kentucky for nearly 200 years, from the early-to-mid- 1700s until my Great Grandfather moved to Portland in the early 20^th Century. Much of this time the family seems to have been in the area of Lewis, Kentucky.
   

   
    

2. FACT – As everyone knows, Daniel Boone was a very famous Kentucky explorer, soldier, businessman, and statesman. He brought many of the first settlers to Kentucky in the 1700s (about the time my family moved there), and established the first structured settlements. Later, he was a Revolutionary War hero, then a politician and successful Kentucky businessman. His first settlement, Boonseborough, was about 80 miles from Lewis; the city he later settled in as a businessman, Maysville, is 20 miles from Lewis.
   

   
    

3. FACT – Daniel Boone died in 1820 in Missouri. Many Kentuckians were upset about Boone being buried in Missouri . . . so upset, in fact, that in 1845 a posse went to Missouri, dug him up, and brought him back to Kentucky.
   

   
    

4. FACT - My Great-Great Grandfather, Daniel Kennedy, was born in 1845 in Kentucky.
   

   
    

5. FACT - Although I cannot find a list of children born around 1845, I have found a list of marriage certificates about 20-some-odd years later, and it is FULL of the names Daniel, Daniel B., and Daniel Boone. Seems that nearly every family named at least one of their sons Daniel, Daniel B., or Daniel Boone.
   

I am not going to say that my family rubbed elbows with Daniel Boone. It's quite possible that they did, but there is no evidence. What I DO believe is that, around the time of Boones' death, Daniel became a very common name in Kentucky, and that my Great-Great Grandfather was very likely named after Daniel Boone.

The reason that this is so interesting to me is that my father, Daniel Kennedy, was named after HIS Great Grandfather.

My conclusion, which Tiffany does not completely buy, is that my father was named after Daniel Boone.

Beauty and the Beast Rehearsal and Family Game Night

I had rehearsal with CYT's Beauty and the Beast today. I got there late – about 10:30 – and rehearsed until 5:00. Tiffany and Alex slept in pretty late today then met me at McDonald's after rehearsal.

We came home and had a game night. Tiffany and Alex agreed to play Chess4, which I have had for years, but never played. Tiffany was not too upset when Alex and I got her in a combination checkmate, taking her out of the game early. Alex and I then duked it out for a while, but I eventually won. The game is actually harder than it looks. The playing field is huge, so you've got to look out for pieces from long distances; it is also difficult to control the center of the board because you simply do not have enough pieces to cover it.

Although we generally let the winner choose the next game, I let Tiffany choose because she was nice enough to play Chess. She chose Scattergories. We played 6 rounds, and Tiffany won that. Finally, Alex chose Jenga, which he lost.

Beauty and the Beast is getting very intense. Opening night is February 19, and I've got either rehearsal or shows every day starting yesterday, and going through Sunday, February 21. I've got the 22^nd off, but then more shows on the 23^rd, and again the weekend after, the 26^th – 28^th. I will be skipping rehearsal tomorrow, however, because I agreed with Tiffany that I would not rehearse on Valentine's Day. This was one of the stipulations for her to let me play the show.

After School Activities – and Karate Retest

Alex and I went to the final Chess Club meeting of the year. I finally got Alex to play a game of chess . . . he lost to Brandon. After Chess Club Alex helped me go through all the sets and make sure everything was in order for the club equipment to be put away.

Because he failed his physical test in Martial Arts yesterday, we had to go back today. Not really having the time to go home, we went to McDonalds and had a small ice cream cone while we waited for class.

Alex failed his test yesterday because he was not yelling loud enough. In fact, he was barely mouthing the words. We have been stressing the importance of yelling with him, and letting him know that if he does not yell loud enough today, he will not get his orange belt. He seemed to understand, and determined to pass.

At the beginning of class, Alex was not yelling. Instead of keeping his mouth closed, he was moving his jaw up and down, sometimes with his tongue sticking out. It was very obvious that he was not yelling. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We spent a whole evening coming to class again because he would not yell loud enough, and he was doing this. When it came time for the test, he started vocalizing, but not very loud. When they told the rest of the kids to line up and get their stripes, Alex was once again pulled aside . . . he had not passed. Yesterday it was Alex and another boy who did not pass; today it was Alex alone. Yesterday's teacher was not there today, and the instructor today did not even know that Alex had been in class yesterday, so this was not a case of Alex being singled out. He simply refuses to yell.

While the instructor worked one-on-one with Alex for a few minutes, I could see the fear in his face. He was glancing at me occasionally, and I was probably wearing a scowl that would have melted iron. Still, Alex would not yell. Instead of punching or chopping with forceful intent, he was just putting his hand out. Instead of a forceful, guttural yell accompanying the hit, he was just saying 'dia'. Really, no better than yesterday.

Finally, the instructor allowed Alex to get his stripe. When he tried to give Alex a high-five, Alex snubbed him (as is usual for Alex). The instructor called Alex back and made him give him the high-five; Alex hit only one of the instructor's two raised hands.

Alex SAYS he loves Martial Arts, and does not want to quit. He SAYS he likes it, and he seems to be learning. But we've got to work on . . . what? Discipline? Or Attitude?

Karate Trouble

Alex just had his first trouble in Karate.  Today was his monthly physical testing; he had to demonstrate a series of moves, and this is his final test before receiving his Orange belt at the graduation in a couple weeks.  They always tell the kids that it's okay to make mistakes, but it's NOT okay to not try hard.

Alex failed his test.  He performed the moves okay, but he did not yell loud enough.  In fact, he did not yell loud at all . . . he barely mouthed the sounds . . . "DIA!", and etc.  The instructor kept him after class working on the moves for 10 minutes, but Alex never did get louder.  I think it really surprised him and woke him up when they explained that he failed.

Now we've got to go back to the school tomorrow evening for him to be retested.  If he doesn't yell louder, he won't get his orange belt with the rest of his class.

Laptop Problems!

Sunday evening as Tiffany and I were playing Uno over the internet and Alex was sitting next to me, looking over my shoulder, I dropped the laptop off the arm of the couch.  I'm not sure whether I was getting up or just adjusting my posture, but there it went . . . it rolled backward onto the carpet.  It landed softly upright, then rolled backward, with the screen closing as it went.  Watching the soft impact on the soft carpet, I was very thankful.  Until I picked it up and opened it.  I could still hear the Uno game going on, but the LCD screen was cracked.  Alex immediately yelled "It wasn't me!"  Of course it wasn't Alex . . . it was completely my fault.

That night, I searched the internet for a replacement screen.  I found two websites that had them.  One was $270, and the other was $125, with shipping.  I had not heard of either site, and both looked a little shaky.  ENU, my favorite PC parts supplier, does not list laptop screens on their website, so they likely do not carry them.  I did not see any similar laptops on Craigslist for parts.

Monday morning I went to Costco to exchange the laptop (it is only about 60 days old), and they exchanged it with no questions asked.  Literally . . . they never asked what was wrong with it!  Because it was originally purchased in Oregon, I had to pay $43 in sales tax, and I walked out with a new laptop.  Good deal.

Alex was concerned that Santa had made our laptop, so Costco wouldn't exchange it.  I told Alex that Santa had bought it at Costco, but Alex asserted that Santa makes everything.  Finally, I explained to Alex that Santa called Costco and asked them to exchange our laptop, and that Santa was going to make a new one for Costco to replenish their stock.  This Santa stuff is getting complicated.

Before exchanging the laptop, I had thought long and hard about what data I might be losing off the hard drive.  Of course, there is the obvious security concern with giving Acer back the hard drive, but I am not very worried about that.  I trust both Costco and Acer.  Because I was concerned with theft, I have not stored anything important on the laptop.  I should have plugged an external monitor into it and checked, but I didn't think that was necessary.

This morning, I realized that I lost about 8 hours' worth of writing.  I have been considering starting a Mechanical Engineering blog, and have been writing entries up ahead of time; I think I had about a dozen.  And they were all stored on my laptop desktop.  There is no way I can recreate those entries.  I will start over, but I will not be able to recreate them.

Alex the Chef

I tought Alex to make pancakes this morning.  I had him worried that he was not going to be able to remember all the ingredients, but when he found out it is only pancake mix and water, he was okay . . . he's got it memorized!  Instead of measuring, I taught him to tell how much mix and water by looking at the consistency of the batter.

He was worried about flipping . . . we made smallish (5") pancakes, and he still made me flip the first one.  Then he made the second.  I did the third, showing him how to sprinkle chocolate chips on just after pouring the batter in the pan . . . then he was done.  He ate the chocolate chip pancake while I continued cooking the rest of the pancakes and eggs.

After breakfast, I called him our pancake chef, but he didn't like that; he says he's not making all of the pancakes from now on.

EXCEL Test, Part 2

Alex took the second part of the EXCEL test today.  He took it in the library, and I was able to see him as he was taking it because I was in an adjacent hallway doing Math Facts.  Alex had no idea I was there.  He looked very calm and happy.  He says that he enjoys taking the EXCEL test, and he appeared to be enjoying himself.

During his lunch break, I was able to speak with him for a moment before he had to get back.

After school, he said that he thinks he did very well today.  He took the Language and Reading portions of the test.  He was extremely disappointed that they did not administer the Science or Social Studies portions of the test.  Apparently, the entire CogAT test is not used.  Other than the missing sections, Alex said that the test was very similar to the practice test he took Monday evening.

EXCEL Test, Part 1

Alex took Part 1 of the EXCEL test on Tuesday.

Evergreen School District uses the Iowa CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test), which can be studied for . . . in fact, there are study guides available for puchase online.  I downloaded a practice test, and Alex took it Monday night.  Most of the practice test was very easy for him; he quickly and easily got 100% on the Math, Science, and Social Studies.  In the Reading and Language parts, he had a little more difficulty.  I had to coach him a little on word associations.  for example, he missed the following problem:

The words BLUE, GREEN, and RED are alike in some way.  Choose the word that is alike in the same way: 

1. COLOR
2. CRAYON
3. PAINT
4. YELLOW
5. RAINBOW

Alex chose the word COLOR.  In fact, he chose this word several times, even after I told him that it was incorrect.  Eventually, he seemed to understand that the correct answer is YELLOW.

In addition, he missed a few problems in which he was asked to find a spelling, word usage, or punctuation error.  Most of his mistakes were simply the result of going too fast.  A couple of them were the result of his not knowing a particular rule.  For example, he did not know that there is supposed to be a comma between the day and the year in the following date format:  January 1, 2010.

He got up on Tuesday morning for the test and got to choose anything he wanted for breakfast.  He chose hashbrowns.  Freshly grated hashbrowns.  He also had to take a sack lunch for the test, so we had bought some special treats for him and he got to take an extra special lunch that he would really enjoy after the test.  I spent the morning grating and frying potatoes while he got ready for school.  The hashbrowns did not cook as quickly as I had hoped, so we were a little rushed getting out the door, but he did make it to school on time.

He took the test on Tuesday morning.  He was the only student from his class to take it.  He told us that he took the math sections only, and that they were very easy.  There were 6 sections, and he seemed to be pretty upset that, although it was easy, he did not have time to complete one of the sections.  I explained to him that some tests are designed so that nobody finishes them, and that is okay.  When he got back to his classroom, he spent the rest of the day doing math in school.  He thought it was funny that he spent an entire school day doing math!

Tomorrow is the second half of the test, including the Language parts of the test that I am nervous about.  I'm just going to coach him to take his time and double check his work so he avoids the problems he normally has with hurrying through his work.  He got to bed a little early tonight; we have some special stuff ready so he can pack whatever he wants in his lunch, and I have told him he can have anything for breakfast again.

I'd better get up a little early in preperation for those hashbrowns again!

Owl Pellets

Alex dissected Owl Pellets in science today.  He has been looking forward to this for a couple weeks, and he said it was a lot harder than he thought it would be.  He had to wear rubber gloves and cut the 1 inch Barn Owl pellet apart with toothpicks; he said it had a shell about like an egg.  He found some teeth still attached to a jaw bone, some other bones, and fur.  When I asked him what he thought the teeth were from, he said a Beaver.  Then he said . . . "No, that's too big.  Probably a mouse."

Another FULL Day!

Today's main activity was my interview with Acumed, but there was enough other stuff going on that the day was one of those that just go on and on and on . . . at least it was all pretty fun.

INTERVIEW

This morning I dropped Alex off at school, then headed to Hillsboro to interview at Acumed. I didn't know what traffic was going to look like, so I arrived about an hour early. Parking myself in a Starbucks a mile down the road, I sipped a Venti Pike's Place Blend while researching Acumed and some of their key technologies on the web.

Acumed makes Orthopedic Implants (bone screws and plates, mostly) for the extremities (shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, legs, ankles, feet, etc). I was pleased to find that Acumed's lobby has a full-sized skeleton with more bone plates attached than anyone wants to ever have. It showcases many of Acumed's products. This is what Evil Knievil's skeleton probably looked like near the end of his career . . . he still holds the Guinness World Record for the most broken bones over his lifetime.

I spent two hours in the interview, and think it went well.

CAR PROBLEMS

When I left and got in my truck, it wouldn't start! It seemed to have a dead battery. This was odd - the battery is getting weak, so that if I don't drive it for a couple days I have to jump it, but it's not so bad that it would strand me. Yet. Because I was parked right outside the lobby, I didn't want people seeing me futzing with the truck, so I pulled out my cell phone and started walking. Wanting to be a little discrete, so that Acumed did not see me with a tow truck or taxi in the parking lot, I called Tiffany and asked her to come give me a jump . . . she was willing, but wasn't sure about weaving her way through downtown on I-84, then I-5, then I-405, then finally OR-26, in traffic, without taking a wrong turn and getting lost. My mother (Grandma Kennedy) offered to make the 45 minute drive to come give me the jump, and I graciously accepted. While I was walking in the rain and cold and talking on the phone, I remembered that there is a fuse that has blown before in the truck . . . it could have a blown fuse. I ended up walking about a mile in the cold and rain to Fred Meyer, where I bought a package of fuses and a magazine, then walked next door to Starbucks, where I sat with the magazine and another Venti Pike's Place Blend, waiting for my rescue.

When we finally got back to my truck, we pulled up alongside it so using the jumper cables would be quick and easy, but before popping the hoods I checked the fuses. Sure enough, it was just a blown fuse. I changed the fuse and drove home. I don't believe anyone at Acumed has a clue what happened . . . that is, unless they find this blog, of course! That's actually not an entirely unlikely scenario, if they follow the internet bread crumbs. If they do, however, I really don't mind; now that it's over, it seems like a pretty comical occurrence.

BROKEN GLASSES

On my way home, Tiffany called to tell me that Alex had an unfortunate event at school. Last year at Sifton he had been sent to the principal's office quite a few times for pushing or shoving; we have been teasing him that we were proud of him for not going to the principal at all this year at Fisher's Landing, until a couple weeks ago when a screw came out of his glasses and the principal fixed them. In his office. Today a screw fell out again and was lost. I met Tiffany in the driveway at home and we hurried to our Optometrist at HoneyBee Eye Care in Hazel Dell. Dr. Hurtubise replaced the screw and got Alex's glasses back in shape just before she closed up shop for the evening.

We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart so Tiffany could exchange some socks she received for Christmas, and Alex bought himself a Remote Controlled car. The car is a Nascar #18 . . . this is the M&M car, one of Alex's favorites.

FAMILY GAME NIGHT

Finally, we were off to the Fisher's Landing Family Game Night. The PTO had filled the gym with various games, from board games to basketball. There were quite a few people there. I was particularly proud that there were about a dozen of the Chess Club's sets out, and they were ALL filled!

Alex begged to play Twister, but I refused.  We tried to get him to join a game with other kids, but he didn't want to.  We tried to play HORSE, but discovered that Tiffany can no longer throw a basketball high enough to make a basket . . . she used to be a pretty good shot, and could easily beat me in HORSE, but she can no longer lift her arms above her head, so she can't throw the ball.

Alex beat me in a game of Connect 4.  I am very good at Connect 4, and almost NEVER get beat.  I got too sure of myself, though . . . Alex had three in a row; I didn't see it, and when he pointed to a different row and said "go there", I thought "okay, why not?"  That was the end of that game.  And the last time that EVER happens!  Then we played checkers.  Me against Alex, but Tiffany was on Alex's side of the board, helping him quite a bit.  I beat them handily.

GLOW SABER SEMINAR

We were only able to spend 30 minutes at the Family Game Night before we had to hurry off to East West Martial Arts, where Alex takes Karate and Kick Boxing. They had a special seminar where they gave each child a glow-in-the-dark saber (really, a long plastic tube with a couple large glow sticks inside), turned the lights out, and taught them basic saber moves; all the while the Star Wars soundtrack was playing in the background. The kids loved it. The darkness was often punctuated by some kid yelling something like "This is COOOOOL!"

TOMORROW

Finally we were able to return home, where Alex took a shower and went to bed. Tomorrow we've got to get up and go to Salem, where the Soap Box Derby is having their winter party - the kids are all bowling together. It's going to be nice to once again see the friends we made last summer at the track. It also is a reminder to me that the next race is only eight weeks away, and I haven't touched the car since the last race! I had all kinds of plans for the car this winter, but somehow they have not yet happened. I need to get on the ball!!!

A Full Schedule

Today was cram-packed with activity.

After dropping Alex off at school, Tiffany and I had breakfast at Carl's Jr. in downtown Portland on our way to the Myotonic Dystrophy support group meeting. It was great to see everybody there again – I am a little sad that I will likely not be able to participate with the group much once I return to work. We had Lisa Vittek from the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation call in and introduced everyone to the Myotonic Dystrophy community website – it's a Social Networking site, much like Facebook or LinkedIn, but its focus is on Myotonic Dystrophy.

After lunch, Tiffany went home with her parents and I high-tailed it to Lake Oswego, where I participated in a Resume Editing Forum at Right Management. There were four students and a Career Counselor. One by one we passed around our resumes for everybody to read then we critiqued them. It was very interesting to see other very professional resumes, but I also got a lot of positive feedback on mine.

Alex had a short day at school, and I had the van, so Grandma Kennedy had to pick Alex up at school then took him to Karate. I met him at Grandma Kennedy's house after Karate, helped Grandpa Kennedy carry a new bunk bed upstairs (that he had just bought today), then finally brought Alex home for homework, dinner, and bed.

During dinner, Alex watched an episode of NOVA on the laptop. He did this of his own accord, not any suggestion from Tiffany or I. He chose an episode about the statues on Easter Island. He has been interested in them since he saw one in 'Night at the Museum'. He loves quoting the line "Dum-Dum have Gum-Gum?"

Incredible Essay - If you want to speak English, PLEASE read this

I can't believe I've never been exposed to this!

I just ran across an incredible essay making the point that written English is in decline. The author agrees that the decline of written English may be partially caused by a general decline in critical thinking by society. However, he argues that there is a feedback that is even stronger - that the decline of written English causes a general decline in critical thinking throughout society.

I love this essay because I am a stout defender of clarity in communication. Some consider me to be a grammer Nazi; from my own writing, anyone with a decent grasp of formal English can tell that this is far from true. What I do believe is that words MEAN SOMETHING, and the ultimate goal in any writing is to convey that meaning at clearly as possible. (This is also my take on technical drafting, and why I dislike ANSI/ASME Y14 and ISO 128, often finding myself in disagreement with those who cite them as scripture . . . but that is a topic for another time)

The wonderful thing about this essay is that it was written by George Orwell in 1946. In case you care to read the entirety of "Politics and the English Language", please follow the link.

Orwell's conclusions ring even more true today than in his time. In fact, it is incredible to see his examples of bad English and compare them to contemporary usage.

I do not believe I have ever seen this piece by Orwell. This is probably due to the political examples cited by Orwell. This is, after all, a post-WWII work. For example, Orwell states that the word 'Fascist' now signifies "something not desirable", and that it is impossible to stand against 'Fascism' when the word has lost its true meaning. Although this is much more true today than it was in 1946, it is nonetheless a topic that a public school teacher may be afraid of confronting head-on. In addition, I believe the piece does have slightly anarchist undertones.

Everyone should read at least the first few paragraphs, and take away the following of Orwell's rules:

1 - Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2 - Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3 - If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4 - Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5 - Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6 - Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

Alex’s New Bookmark

Yesterday we bought Alex a bookmark with a small stopwatch on the end of it. He's supposed to be recording his reading time, and this will help. In addition, it might mitigate some of the awkward nights when he goes to bed to read for 15 minutes, and we find him 2-3 hours later still reading. "You forgot to tell me when 15 minutes was up" is always his story. Yeah, but it's been 3 hours!

McDonalds Trouble

We had some McDonalds in the Lloyd Center Food Court this afternoon just before watching a movie. When I saw the guy behind the counter, I knew this was not going to be an easy exchange. He was about 18 years old and had a vacuous stare with an all-around drugged-out look; it was pretty obvious there was not much going on behind his eyes. I ordered a Double Cheeseburger Mighty Kids Meal with no pickles. He took 20 seconds to stare at his register and punch some buttons then asked if I'd like that in a meal or by itself. I told him that I wanted it in a meal, and repeated myself . . . "it's a Double Cheeseburger Mighty Kids Meal with no pickles". Again, the guy punched buttons for 20 seconds, looked at me, and asked what kind of Meal that was. I said "What?"; he asked if I wanted Chicken Nuggets in the meal or a Hamburger. We were now at least a minute and a half into this exchange, I had more food to order, and this guy couldn't understand "Double Cheeseburger Mighty Kids Meal with no pickles". And we hadn't yet gotten to the drink.

That was more than I could take. I remember thinking to myself that in this economy it's incredible that this idiot has a job, then I looked at a manager standing at the next register and asked if there was someone else who could take my order. The manager told me that this guy was new. I said I don't care – he's an idiot. The manager came over and helped the guy put in the rest of my order. By the time he finished with the register and gave me my total, the food was already prepared and on a tray at the counter.

Perhaps my expectations are too high, but until you can understand "Hamburger Happy Meal", you have no business working a McDonalds cash register.

School Skate Night

We all went to the Fisher's Landing School Skate Night at Golden Skate. Alex and I skated; Tiffany watched. Alex also played Lazer Tag.

Kaleb, who in Mrs. Gallo's class with Alex, was there.

It was a lot of fun for everyone, especially Alex.

Grandpa Harold died

My Grandpa Harold died today of emphysema. He was in his 80s . . . 88, I believe. He lived in Bremerton, and the last time we saw him was in July when we stopped by his house on the way back from a Soap Box Derby race. Before that, it had been a few years.

I'm glad Alex got to see him.

Moby Dick

This is just scary.

Tiffany's Uncle and Aunt Rick and Sherry sent Alex a copy of Moby Dick for Christmas. It's not the original version – it's a "Great Classics for Children" version, edited to a 176 page, simplified novel. (If you've ever read Moby Dick, you would understand that the original version is extremely difficult for even literary adults to read and comprehend). I thought that it was a very nice gift, but did not expect it to be read soon – it went on Alex's bookshelf.

A few minutes ago, we were discussing Alex's reading homework. He is supposed to read 15 minutes each day, but we know he reads much more than that, often sneaking books under the covers late at night. His reading homework has been changed so that instead of simply reading 15 minutes, he is now supposed to record how long he did read, and write a few sentences about the reading. He told us that the new format would be easy, and said to us "Tell me any book that you think I didn't read." That one's easy, I thought . . . "Moby Dick". He insisted that he HAD read the book, so I quizzed him a few minutes (I've read the original version twice). Sure enough, he read it. He knew about Ahab and his wooden leg; Moby Dick the white whale; the Pequod (although he couldn't pronounce it, he knew how it was spelled); Queequeg and his tattoos (again, he couldn't pronounce the name); and Ishmael, the narrator. He also knew the relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg (they were friends who had met just before the voyage), and how the book ends . . . including the name of the sole survivor.

My jaw dropped. I thought he was up there reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the 15^th time, or Garfield comics. I'm proud not so much that he could read the book, but rather that he chose to read it and stuck with it. He says it took him three days, and he read it between Christmas and New Year.

RISK

Tonight I got to roll out the new RISK game that Tiffany and Alex gave me for Christmas. We played a simplified version of the game that makes it easier to understand, and quicker to play. It still took about an hour and a half. Alex loved it, but I think he was ready to quit by the time I crushed both him and Tiffany. Tiffany has never liked RISK, and did not pretend to like it this time . . . but she played, since it cannot be played by two people.

I wish Tiffany would play it more; it's a great game for kids. It reinforces math, and teaches geography and strategy. I love to see Alex playing purely strategic games, instead of the chutes-and-ladders-type pure chance games that kids so often play.

Where The Wild Things Are

This evening we went to see a movie. The choices were 'Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel', which just came out; or 'Astro Boy' or 'Where The Wild Things Are', which are playing at Vancouver Plaza 10, a second-run theater. Alex decided to watch the movie that had been out the longest, 'Where The Wild Things Are', because Alvin and the Chipmunks will be in theaters for a while.

I was disappointed in the film. It's a nice book, but there's not a whole lot of plot, so I knew that they were going to have to add storyline for the film. Because it was produced by Tom Hanks, I guess I was expecting magic. I thought the whole movie was way too deep for a young audience, confusing, and extremely depressing. Although the story was too confusing to get depressed over, the character's voices, the soundtrack, and even the character's faces and gaits were enough to depress everyone.