Hallowe'en

Okay, I realize these are really late, but here are two photos from Hallowe'en. Julie was the makeup artist on Mari (Butterfly Princess) and I did Austin (Vampire). I like how the redeye fits in with the pic.

World History Matters

I just got a copy of World History Matters: A Student Guide to World History Online, a nicely illustrated and well organized guide to scholarly internet sites. Yes, you can cite these in your papers!

Why did the editors send me a copy? Because I contributed a couple of the reviews that are in the book. Yay.

Public Humanist

I've got a new post up at The Public Humanist. It's about Tara Donovan, and that all too common reaction to contemporary art: "I could do that."

Please check it out if you get a chance, and leave a comment if you're so moved.

Photo booth

The latest in our series of photobooth photos. This one is from August, with our niece Neve.

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

Austin is a crazy speller. He spells everything now. What do you want to drink? "W-A-T-E-R."

"I just saw a T-R-U-C-K."

I don't have anything to say about this except that it's happening and I'm impressed. Unfortunately, he's a bit of a stickler about getting things right, so he's reluctant to write anything down without checking the spelling with us first. We just ask him how he thinks something is spelled and he's usually correct.

He did ask me today what an "izland" is.

On a totally unrelated note, for some reason Google thinks I'm in Japan. Thank goodness I use it enough that I don't have to read Kanji.

WEntourage

So Rahm Emanuel has been offered the job of Chief of Staff. I don't know much about him except that he kept sending me e-mails asking for money a few years ago when he ran the Democratic House campaigns. But here's a summary from the NY Times.

What stood out for me was that his brother is Ari Emanuel, the real-life inspiration for Ari Gold, the Hollywood agent played by Jeremy Piven on HBO's Entourage.

I'm waiting eagerly for Funny or Die or some other enterprising website to put together the West Wing / Entourage mash up with Ari Gold as Chief of Staff. You know, walking and talking (on cell phones) and swearing at aides, telling Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to "Hug it out, bitches" and making homophobic comments to Barney Frank.

Yes they can

Election thoughts

Some thoughts about the 2008 election and campaign:

Since being naturalized in 2002, this may have been the first election that I voted for someone, and not just against someone else.

I voted for Obama because he is someone who seeks the truth, believes in the power of education (formal or not) and chooses to see the best in people.

The fact that he's black is historic and exciting.

I think race was acknowledged but not the most important factor in this election; that is how I want this country to be, and that is the world I want my children to grow up in.

I'm looking forward to having parents of young children in the White House. I wonder what sorts of choices the Obamas will make about schools, for example. This helps reinforce my solipsistic bubble of parental anxiety.

Joe Biden will not run for president anymore. Looking to the future, I wonder if he would take a cabinet post in a second Obama administration and cede the Vice Presidency to a younger politician. Hillary Clinton is also probably too old to run for president again. This year is a generational shift away from the Baby Boom. The Clintons, Robert Rubin, Robert Reich, Madeleine Albright--they've all become "party elders."

(Speaking of Biden, when he said that there was a three letter word that needed attention in this economy, "JOBS, J-O-B-S," I'm disappointed not to have heard any commentators say, "Without Joe, it would just be B.S." I'm not sure what that means, but I think it's funny. Where's my spot on Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!?)

Although I'm disappointed that various discriminatory propositions were passed in various states (with California pending as of this writing), it's clear from the demographics of the vote that this is just temporary. Gay marriage will be legal in twenty years.

I hope that this election was empowering enough for young people and other new or lapsed voters that turnout continues to be high in the future.

It's sad that polling places were swamped because of a 65% turnout rate. What would have happened if 90% showed up?

I'm a little amazed that 55 million people voted for McCain. The Electoral Map looks blue, but there are still a lot of people to win over.

Obama's speech last night was perfect. He struck a great tone for the country, telling his supporters that this was just the beginning and a lot of hard work will follow, and telling McCain's supporters that he would continue to try to win them over. The sight of Jesse Jackson's tears really broke me up. The encapsulation of the last century through the story of one voter's life was terrific. Obama's face was so serious, but I got the sense that he was trying not to well up with tears at points (or crack up when he mentioned his daughters' new puppy).

I was interviewed by a Boston Globe reporter and gave a bland quote that the reporter reworked with judicious use of selective quotation.

McCain's speech last night was also excellent. If that had been the tone of his campaign, I think Obama would have still won, but McCain would have gotten a lot more votes.

At my polling place there were people with signs trying to make last minute pitches about candidates or ballot questions. "Dog lovers or pot smokers?" I asked them. Turns out they were taxpayers. The three questions here were all lopsided, 2:1 affairs: No on eliminating the state income tax ($70 million of advertising spent on opposing this), Yes on decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and Yes on ending dog racing.

Obama won three states where I feel some pride: Massachusetts where I voted, New Hampshire where the family spent a couple of afternoons canvasssing for Obama and Shaheen (who won the Senate seat), and Pennsylvania where I encouraged my sister- and brother-in-law to write letters to their local newspapers.

Last year Austin said he wanted to be president when he grew up. I hugged him and told him he could. If he had said it two or three years ago, I still would have hugged him but I probably wouldn't have said anything.

This will be the first presidential election that my children will remember. I hope they remember that we paid attention to the news, that we were proud to say who we supported, that we volunteered our time and energy (and money) to help who we supported, that we didn't "hate" or disparage opposing candidates just because they were not our choice, and that voting is a civic duty and an act to be proud of.

I think Mari will remember that we hit the Obama office in Salem, NH two days after Halloween and there was a lot of candy on the food table.

Okay, President-elect Obama, you've got an electoral vote mandate. Yes we can feel the fierce urgency of now. I have two words for you: metric system.

Non-election post; poetry

Austin wrote a poem today. I'll try to replicate his line spacing and capitalization:

IN The mIddle Of
THe nIGHT
THe moon SHINes
BRIGHT

WITH
STARS SHINING
TO AND IF YOU'R
e A WAKE YOU
CAn See THIS
BeauTiFUL
SIGHT.

The Choice

I'm a news junky and have been following this election very closely. I also just watched Frontline's The Choice and learned a lot. There's something so sober and thoughtful about the show that puts everything into context and takes away a lot of the vitriol. In other words, it's worth seeing even if you've made up your mind.

Public Humanist

I have two new posts up at The Public Humanist this week. Here and here.

Comments welcome and encouraged!

Notes to parents

Austin gave me a nice note a few weeks ago.

It said:

I LOVE
YOU
DADDY

When Julie got home, I showed it to her. Isn't he sweet? And then Julie said, he gave me a note, too. She showed me hers:

I HAIT LOVE
YOU
MOMMY

Believe me, it's usually the other way around, but still, I laughed.

Palin as President

Says it all. The voice isn't great, but some fun flash to explore in the Oval Office.

Walking on eggshells

Literally. I see them everywhere around West Roxbury, especially around Billings Field.

Good to know the police are on the job!

Sheldon

My friend Sheldon made a video that's up on the Canadian Discovery Channel website.

Beginning readers' books and series

We've been very happy with Austin's kindergarten experience so far. His teacher is very nice and seems to have a good sense of his abilities.

Since he's starting to read, she gave us a list of chapter book series with pictures that he might like. I thought I'd share it here, in part because we are bound to lose the piece of paper she gave us. So, the list, with some comments:

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey. We have some of these already. A friend of mine called them masterpieces of potty-humor. Follows two rambunctious boys through space-time and superheroics.

Something Queer... by Elizabeth Levy. Less than 50 pages each. Mystery series with lots of pictures. These look to be out of print but available used from Amazon.

Pinky and Rex by James Howe. Adventures of two good friends, a boy who loves the color pink and a girl named Rex.

Cobble Street Cousins by Cynthia Rylant. We love Rylant's Poppleton series (illustrated by family favorite Mark Teague), and also like Henry and Mudge. This is a series about 3 nine year old cousins who live together with an aunt and have various projects.

Meg Mackintosh by Lucinda Landon. Meg writes down clues in her notebook and readers follow along to solve the mystery. B/W drawings of Meg's notebook.

Dorrie by Patricia Coombs. A young witch may not do things right, but can still manage to help adult witches solve their problems. This one you probably want to go to the library for; Amazon's got some used copies but they look to be priced as collector's items.

As we read these books, I'll write up reviews.

Sweet Chile o' Mine

We're going to Chile!

Yes, we bought tickets to visit Amy and John and Lucia in Santiago in December. It'll be our first Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere. I look forward to flushing the toilet and watching it spin down counterclockwise.

If anyone has any suggestions of places we should see, books we should read, food we should eat, etc. while or before we're there, please let me know.

Missed opportunity

The thing I wanted Obama to say in last night's debate was this:

"I said that if Osama bin Laden was located in Pakistan, I would send troops in to kill him whether or not we had permission from the Pakistani leaders. Anyone who stops to ask permission before trying to kill or capture bin Laden is not suited to be president."

Bam! Take the high ground! Refocus the war on terror! Make McCain look like a wuss and goad him into saying something outrageous!

Oh well, next time.

Ricky Jay

Here's a link to a video of Ricky Jay doing... uh... to call this a "card trick" is like calling the Last Supper a "water color."

I'm posting it because I'm going to need to watch it a few more times.

McCain suspending campaign

If McCain can't campaign and fix the economy, how will he fix the economy, oversee two foreign wars, upgrade American infrastructure and protect our borders as president?

Hey, here's an idea, how about suspend the war in Iraq? Oooh, pwned.

Morning Edition

So this was on NPR's Morning Edition:

James Coobler, a retiree living in central Florida, says he's undecided.

"Obama, I can't read. I think he tells you what you want to hear," Coobler said. "John McCain seems to be much more of a quiet person but is straightforward as far as what he says."

So, let's break this down, Mr Coobler. Obama "tells you what you want to hear," in other words, Obama is saying things you agree with. Whereas "McCain... is straightforward," presumably because he is so blunt about saying how we need to hunker down and win in Iraq; in other words, McCain is telling things you don't agree with.

Here's a hint: vote for the guy who says things you agree with.

More pigs fly

Hey,

This George Will guy can be pretty smart.

Candidate tax plans

The Washington Post made a very clear presentation of each presidential candidate's tax plans.

Mari's birthday party

Today's pictures

We had a party for Mari's 4th birthday.

It was at a gym (the Little Gym in West Roxbury).

The kids had pizza, lemonade...

...and cake.

Afterward, we took a walk around Jamaica Pond with Alex, Tom, Amelia and Lydia.

Then we came home and Julie found a beautiful tomato in our garden. She insisted I photograph it...

...as she threw it...

...again and again...

..until I got a shot of just tomato and sky.


It was a nice day.

This one's for dorks!

In case the introduction doesn't make clear, this is a mash-up of John McCain and Frank Miller's 1980s comicbook The Dark Knight Returns.

If you're dorky enough to care about both subjects, it's amusing.

Our House

We're on Google Streetview now.

When I checked a few months ago, there was only a shot from the traffic light down the hill, but now there's a picture of our house. Looks like it was taken on a Tuesday evening this summer (some people had not come back from work to pick up their trash cans on our street).

Toronto 2008

The last ten days of August, we made our annual pilgrimage to Toronto. This year, our trip coincided with a visit by my sister Vera, her husband Stephen and their kids Neve and Mason.

Mari spent two weeks prior talking about how much she wanted to play with cousin Mason.

Here's Mason!

And here's Neve!

One of our favorite family tourist sites in Toronto is Ontario Place. Among the attractions is the Atom Blaster, where various pneumatic guns and cannons fire foam balls all over the place, not unlike the basement of that children's department store in Beijing.

Boy, I wanted to smack some kids with some foam balls. Fun!

This is a giant habitrail for children. Austin and Mari went through this thing a dozen times each. Mari even climbed up that bit on the left, went across the tube bridge and down the slide by herself. (We had sort of lost track of her for a while until she came out that slide.)

I think we have about a thousand photos of Mari eating ice cream.

My parents took a pedal boat out; my mother said she had never been on one before.

Another great kids' spot was the Ontario Science Center. Although the day we were there it was so freaking loud with screaming kids that I had a massive headache. Still, the place is great and almost completely different from when I was a kid. There are some of the same exhibits but the halls are all rearranged.

Julie and I had a day downtown while my parents watched the kids. We saw lots of fun design stores, clothing shops and art galleries. This knife holder was one of our favorites.

Julie got a weird shirt. Then we went to the Distillery District where an old distillery (duh!) has been converted into lofts and retail space. The area has a lot of arts organizations including multiple dance troupes and the Soulpepper Theater. We managed to see two farcical one-acts that night: Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer and The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. Both were ridiculous and funny and we were very impressed with the cast.

We had a nice dinner at the Mill Street Brew Pub and Julie said she had the best coffee ever at Balzac's Coffee:

Here's a shot of the Distillery District. Julie often posts this rhetorical question: Gay or Canadian? You decide:

On Kids and Eating

Here's an article parents will want to take note of, from the New York Times.

Veeps meeting Heads of State

Sarah Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson included this exchange:

"Have you ever met a foreign head of state?"

"I have not, and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you."

It's good of ABCNews to provide an article on the fact that she's wrong, going back as far as Walter Mondale.

I don't know about Gerald Ford, but I suspect that this means the last VP who didn't have this sort of foreign experience was Spiro Agnew, governor of a small state for two years when he was elected. Of course, Agnew was forced to resign the vice presidency while under investigation of criminal charges.

Great company, Sarah!

John McCain thinks you're stupid

Someone needs to take this message to the people: "John McCain thinks you're stupid."

As in:

Barack Obama proposed laws that would teach our kids how to avoid sexual predators. John McCain calls this sex education for kindergarten because McCain thinks you're stupid.

Sarah Palin asked for hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks last year; it's a matter of public record. John McCain says she never asked for earmarks as governor because John McCain thinks you're stupid.

etc. etc.

Obama and Biden don't think you're stupid. That's why they're talking about specific economic plans, that's why they have a plan to get out of Iraq, etc. etc.

He is lying to America and he needs to be called on it in a way that reveals how his lies betray a contempt for ordinary Americans.

Pigs (lipsticked or not) fly

Never thought I'd be agreeing with Andrew Sullivan, but he's coming around to more sense in this post.

Thanks to Brendan for the head's up.

Craig Ferguson on Politics

Sarah Palin info

In case you haven't seen it yet, a resident of Wasilla sent an e-mail around that went viral. The letter is up at the Huffington Post.

Stumbling on Happiness

I just finished reading Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert's book Stumbling On Happiness.

It's descriptive, not prescriptive, and is sort of a survey of psych experiments that deal with perceived happiness, remembered happiness and predicted happiness. What you want to do with this information is up to you.

The book is well written and very colloquial, especially considering the number of footnotes there are. Here are some of my favorite "bits" from the book:

We tend to rationalize misfortune. This only works, though, if our misfortune is bad enough (p. 181). For example, if I stub my toe, I'll be annoyed. If I get in a car accident, I'll be grateful for having survived. Gilbert cites data on people with cancer who can always find people who are in worse situations than themselves and thus tend to rate themselves happier than people who are not sick at all.

No one likes to think of themselves as normal. The most extreme stats he cites are that 90% of motorists consider themselves better-than-average drivers and 94% of college professors consider themselves to be better-than-average teachers (p. 229). At those rates, how bad a teacher do you have to be to think you're worse than average?

Lots of interesting experiments here, and worth reading.

WSJ on Palin

Here's a Wall Street Journal article on Palin's record as mayor of Wasilla.

Not a lot of good news for people who like due diligence, hate eminent domain and generally prefer competence.

McCain

I don't hate John McCain, but boy was that a lousy speech.

The content was terrible, and the performance was worse. He acknowledged the housing crisis by highlighting a couple in Michigan who lost their... "real estate investments." Really? Their investments? That's a shame.

Wait, let me back up a bit. That biographical film was horrible. All those shots of WWII made me think McCain was older than he is. The hammy joke where the punchline is "Mama's boy" was the worst, and fell so flat. The inserted shots of black folks--what's up with that? Are there no photos of John McCain shaking the hands of a black person? Just three random insertions of clips of black people, seemingly culled from stock footage. The music was a weird pastiche of the Theme from Dallas, the editing was choppy (especially the audio and video disconnect). The narration was terrible.

Then we got Fred Thompson's intoned introduction which sounded like he was reading it live for the first time.

The speech was poorly written. Aside from the fact that I disagree with the policies, the rhythms of the speech were choppy. When he got to the litany of differences with Democrats, he cited his own position, and then the Democrats, leading the ExCel Center to grow with "Boos!" Then he ripped into his own party, without really acknowledging his own part in the culture of "Warshington." Take a little responsibility, John.

And then the way McCain gave the speech made me cringe, the way I do whenever I see a public speaker blow the delivery. Doesn't matter if it's in a classroom, a wedding toast or a Powerpoint presentation, it drives me crazy. He swallowed the ends of sentences, and misspoke a number of times, correcting himself after. He let the crowd control him, rather than control the crowd. As the wave of applause built as he said, "Governor Sarah..." he should have shouted her last name "PALIN!" into the crescendo, but instead backed off, let the applause die down and then spoke her full name when he could hear himself again. It was like he was an old person talking on a speaker phone. "I'm ready to fight for... Are you still there? Can you hear me?... Okay, let me start again..."

The backgrounds were ugly and reflected blue and green light on his face. He walked and waved his arms stiffly, like he had just been reanimated last week. And that terrible smile of his kept reminding me of someone and it wasn't until later that I realized who it was.

I thought Palin did a great job for what her speech was and McCain was terrible.

Toronto pictures

Lots to write about Toronto, but I'm too lazy as yet.

Meanwhile, I found this great set of photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shyeyes/sets/72157606977050966/

that may be of interest to anyone who cares about Austin and Mari.

Watching Beach Volleyball with the Krongs

You're probably wondering, what would it be like to watch beach volleyball with the Krongs?

Well, this is the kind of thing you would hear:

"I saw regular volleyball on Sunday afternoon. It was pretty awesome."

"Don't hit it so close to Walsh! She's a wall!"

"Walsh has no fat on her body; she has abs like Austin's."

"Hey, Walsh and May have been together since 2000, like us! Happy Anniversary!"

Bathrooms

Too good to ignore: this link to the Immodium website will show you where the nearest public bathrooms are.

I had the idea of making a map of Harvard Square bathrooms once. That was so Web 0.0

Overdue pictures

With John, Amy and Lucia in Vt.


Our friends Elizabeth and Toby live "off the grid"--no wires lead onto their property.


It's hard work, but there's plenty to say for the way they live.




Mari and cousin Lucia in VT.



Austin and I visited the Revere Beach sand sculpture competition. Yes, that's a hole through that galactic sculpture.


Sandy superheroes.

Austin and I were inspired.

Obama/Delilah video

Here's an amusing parody song off "Delilah." The guy's talented.

Welcome to His Brain

Today Austin told me that he has a draw-er [one who draws] in his head.

-What does that mean?

-He draws pictures in my head.

-Like if I say, Shark, he draws one in your head?

-Yes.

-Do your eyes have to be closed?

-No.

Silence as I drove.

-He also talks, but no one can hear him.

-No one can hear him? Not even you?

-No. Well, sometimes when he talks I can hear him.

Book Review: Welcome To Your Brain

Welcome To Your Brain by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang seemed like the kind of book I would love. Unfortunately, I didn't.

The book is sort of a popular textbook on neuroscience and there are some interesting historic and scientific anecdotes in the book but overall the tone is really odd. On the one hand, there's a really poppy voice like a sidebar on marijuana studies ending with the point that more studies are necessary. "Volunteers?" they ask. On the other hand, there's serious science about neurotransmitters, etc. The transition between these two voices tended to make me zone out before I got back on track.

It's also a bit odd in that the chapters are really short. I mean like 5 pages is maybe the longest one, and that includes page long sidebars. Because of this, none of the ideas feels fully fleshed out and there isn't an argument that is carried through the book.

Okay, but those fascinating anecdotes! Here're my favorites:

p. 4: Although the left and right brain are usually divided as the logical/linguistic left side versus the artistic right side, that's not really a good distinction. The left side requires logic so badly that it will make up theories to fit the facts. The right side is more grounded in spatial perception, touch and visual-motor activities; it's the right side that prefers "Just the facts."

p. 18: Remember The Matrix? How the machines used human brains as a source of power? The brain uses only 12 watts of power, less than the light in your fridge.

p. 56: There really are people who sneeze when they see a bright light. (Also: certain men will sneeze during orgasm). This is because of crossed wires in the brainstem, a really mixed up region of the brain that seems to have been jury rigged into various functions over the course of evolution. The authors note, "the brainstem is about as good an argument against intelligent disign as one could ever hope to find in nature."

p. 52: How to better hear your cell phone in a loud room: Turns out your brain is good at distinguishing noises from left and right. So, instead of holding your phone to your right ear and sticking your finger in your left ear, what you should do is use your left hand to cover the mouthpiece of the phone. That way the phone will not pick up and retransmit the local room noise into the earpiece and your brain can sort out a clearer phone signal on the left from the room noise on the right.

Win dinner for two--anywhere in the world

Our friend Gina has the best promotion I've ever heard of. Adopt a rubber duck, they will race the ducks and the first 40 ducks win a prize. Grand prize is dinner for 2 anywhere in the world. Seriously. They have an arrangement with a travel agent. Previous winners have gone to New Zealand and India.

All proceeds benefit the Allens Pond Sanctuary run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. So you support a great environmental cause even as you get to dream about dinner.

The race is THIS Saturday, so enter soon!

Here's the information on how to enter the race:

Hello friends and family,

I'm appealing to you to help us (me!) out here at the Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary… and take a chance at a great prize in the process!

Those of you who know me well know that I make my livelihood directing activities at this green & sandy spot on earth. It’s grown a bit since I started and now it’s about more than my meager efforts. One of the ways we fund our ecological management and education outreach is through the Allens Pond Duck Derby: a race of rubber ducks that provides the “owner” of the winning duck with a trip of a lifetime: ANYWHERE in the WORLD including airfare, two nights’ stay, and dinner – for TWO!

Last year our fun little event gave 1000 people a lot of excitement and one couple a trip to NEW ZEALAND. We had 3700 ducks in the race. With this year’s race coming up on SATURDAY we only have just over 2000 ducks so far, entered by only 600 people! One of them is going to win the Grand Prize and another 39 will win other great prizes. With odds this great don’t you want to get in on it?!

I’m asking you to help me out by spreading the word about this in the hopes that we can EXCEED last year’s volume of ducks and raise an equally vital sum of money ($30,000 last year) for the Sanctuary. Because higher costs of living affects us too, our budget depends on a successful race!

It's REALLY EASY to adopt: just go on line to our site, then follow the links:

www.massaudubon.org/allenspond. PLEASE pass the word to your friends, family, colleagues, etc. The more ducks in the race, the better we can manage these beautiful 1000 acres and the wildlife that use them.

You can pay either via credit card ON-LINE or (if you're local) you can download the printable form and DROP it OFF at designated spots in Dartmouth by 1pm Friday, and anytime at the Sanctuary up til 12:30pm on Saturday, Aug 9. It's too late to mail it at this point.

Not only is this our big fund raiser, it’s also a fun event for the whole community. As usual we have many great exhibits, games, and crafts, plus great BBQ food again ($5) in the Sanctuary's field across from the Bayside Restaurant from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. We’re also hosting a SILENT AUCTION of local art, produce, plus some great treats from outdoor outfitters, as well as a live PLANT AUCTION. Come enjoy it if you can. The Duck Derby race itself will take place around 1pm on August 9th, 2008.

Thanks so much for your love & friendship. And for your support of the Duck Derby!

Love,

Gina

Gina Purtell, Director
Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary
Massachusetts Audubon Society
1280 Horseneck Road
Westport, MA 02790
Email: gpurtell@massaudubon.org
Phone: (508) 636-2437
Fax/alt: (508) 636-0272
Website: www.massaudubon.org

Adopt a duck and join the race!
The 5th Annual Allens Pond Duck Derby takes place Sat. Aug 9 from 12-3 pm. Join the fun on race day or support Allens Pond from afar. Go to www.massaudubon.org/allenspond to download an adoption form.

Vowels

I was just reading about "Obamania" and his "Obamaura" and remembered that when Mario Cuomo considered running for president (in '92?) that the code among media pundits was that it would be a long time before we had a president whose last name ended in a vowel.

Better idea

I was reading Snow White to the kids and they said, pointing to the queen disguised as a peddlar, "If I were her, I'd make a poison apple that would just kill her, not make her fall asleep."

Candy

Yesterday, the kids wanted to eat some candy from the goodie bags they got at cousin Gavin's birthday party this weekend.

Julie wasn't home; I was tired, I said, Okay.

Austin found his goodie bag and was deciding between peanut and regular M&Ms. Mari was going nuts looking for her goodie bag, and when we found it, there were only a few toys in it and no candy.

"I want candy!" she said.

"Sorry, you must have eaten all of yours," I said. We all knew that at some point this weekend she had sneaked candy behind the couch for a secret pig out.

So she had to watch as Austin ate M&Ms. He gave me one and Mari begged him and finally he gave her one.

When he was done, he threw the wrapper away and said, "Thanks, Mari."

"Why are you thanking Mari for?" I asked him.

"She gave me that package of M&Ms from her goodie bag," he said.

Canada Day

There's nothing really to add to this list of Canadian geek contributions.

Well, except for another Robin Sparkles video:

Austin Reading

Austin's reading is getting very good. He reads signs all the time and today even looked over my shoulder and read an e-mail that I wrote.

From watching him read, and hearing him guess at words he doesn't know, I've come to appreciate how much reading is from recognizing whole words (or patterns) versus sounding out letters. There's a limited number of English words that are easy to sound out anyway. For instance, we read a book about a kid named Marvin who's family was moving. Austin would guess at any word with "M" and "V" in it, not always correctly. But it revealed how his mind is figuring things out.

I found a great book from the library recently by Adam Rex called Pssst!. It's about a girl who visits a zoo and the animals who request favors of her. Each interaction is very cute, with memorable dialogue (the kids can quote big chunks) and even the fairly uneventful pages of the girl walking to the next exhibit are filled with lots of background jokes, puns, and beautiful art. Recommended (also, available for a penny Used on Amazon).

Anyway, the connection to these two facts is that the other day Austin told me he wanted to read "Pissed."

Last few weeks

We're still here. Busy working and having fun. Here's a video clip of the latter from the 2008 Brown Reunion with Luca from California playing with Mari.

Obama music

I'd been thinking about Frank Sinatra campaigning for JFK and wondering where were the catchy campaign tunes of today? I'm not talking about just using a Celine Dion or Fleetwood Mac song as a "theme" but original tunes? The Will.i.am. tune is interesting but unsingable.

And then came my friend Liz, ethnomusicologist and all around cool person, with this link to songs about Barack Obama.

I think my favorite is the Miguel Orozco just because the chorus is catchy:

Como Se Dice…Como Se llama?
OBAMA! OBAMA!

I don't even know what it means, but it sounds good and it rhymes.

What sort of education?

Here are two recent stories about higher education in our country. One is from the Boston Globe Sunday magazine and wonders if vocational schools are really the best choice for kids. The other is from the Atlantic and suggests that there are some people who just aren't suited for college.

I'm saddened to report that I am more sympathetic to the second. I think that's all I'll say about it.

Softball news

This is the best sports story I've read in a long time. Worth your while, I think.

Radiolab interview

The Onion AV Club interviews the hosts of Radiolab. They rock.

Self portraits

The kids drew these a month or more ago, but I just got around to scanning them. (Austin says he helped on Mari's picture). Mari writes her name forward now.