Some Blog Site

Alpha has taken our teaching to heart.

For those who don’t know the story, go read the original Pblk Education first.

Okay, now that you’re back, take a look at his recent paper (click on the picture for a larger version):

Every single word has the wrong number of boxes for letters. I’ll give them the one box for “sh” since that’s one sound and that’s the lesson for the day and they made that box slightly larger. But they’re still short by one letter every time.

Alpha adds boxes where boxes should be. If they don’t give him enough spaces to spell a word correctly, then he makes the spaces himself. The curriculum might not know how to spell, but he knows that he knows how to spell and he tries to do things the right way (okay, “shrit” isn’t exactly right, but we’ll tell him that and he’ll learn that it’s “shirt”).

There are a bunch of ways I could go with this topic, but I’ll choose this one: it’s good to know that my child is listening to his parents over the school. I hope it stays that way. And it’s good training for the future – “I don’t care if the government says it’s legal; it’s still wrong.” He has already learned that people in power can be wrong.

Except for his parents, of course.

My goal is that he learns something more than spelling – that there is right and wrong and that is ultimately determined by God. He needs to do what is right regardless of the culture.

There are gray areas too, and he should understand that not everything is either 100% right or 100% wrong. But we’ll work on that concept later. Spelling, grammar, and math work better without gray areas.

In cooperation with MckMama’s Not Me Monday, I am posting a Not Mine Monday. Head on over to her blog if you want to
see what she has been doing, or not been doing, this week.

• My child did not yell “Let’s go, slowpoke!” just after a jogger passed by us. If that had happened, it would have been because my child and I were having a race and I was letting him win, and he had no clue there was a jogger nearby.
• My children did not yell “Fire in the court” from the back of the minivan while I was driving. And then they did not throw a sock all the way up front, hitting the dashboard and obscuring the gas gauge (it’s okay, we weren’t close to E). My children know that throwing things in the van is not proper behavior.

  Plus they also know the correct phrase is “fire in the hole” (or “order in the court”, I’m not exactly sure which one they meant). And if that had happened, I would not have had to stifle my laughter so as not to encourage such behavior.

• We had pancakes for dinner. They were plain pancakes, not the usual chocolate-chip pancakes. My children did not make up for the lack of chocolate chips by grabbing the Hershey’s syrup and pouring it on their pancakes. And I did not let them know that chocolate sauce isn’t for pancakes. And they did not reply that it says “syrup” on the bottle and we do put syrup on pancakes and also mom said it was okay

And we’ll wrap this up with a Not Me:

• I did not ask Alpha and Beta, who were sitting in the back row of the minivan, to check for oncoming traffic when I was backing the minivan out of a parking space and couldn’t see through the SUV parked beside us. I know better than to trust my driving to the observation skills of kids in car seats.

This post is a continuation of a previous post.
Please start with that if you need some background information.

I’m done with all the pictures – now I have some stories about the trip to Idaho.

Cart Wheels

I will relay one incident on the flight over. We were sitting peacefully, nibbling on some pretzels and watching people. The airplane was not huge – there were three seats on each side of the one aisle. A lady, probably in her late 70s, was making her way back to her seat and was a few rows in front of us, facing away from us. The airplane wasn’t getting ready to land, but it was going through a bit of a descent, and we heard “Look out!” from behind us.

If that ever happens to you, make sure you turn to look without leaning your head into the aisle. Because the warning was to let us know a beverage cart – a metal, heavily-laden cart – was freely rolling down the aisle. As it passed me, I put out my hand and foot to slow it down, as did the guy in front of me. It ended up stopping a couple rows before the row where the lady was standing.

If the cart hadn’t stopped before reaching the lady, I think the cart would have won that confrontation.

It’s Not a Cookie

If you have a young child, do not opt for the “cookie” that they offer as the complimentary snack on the plane. It is a thinly-disguised teething biscuit. As many parents know, teething biscuits are just dried paste. Sure they taste fine, but the child’s saliva turns the biscuit into a goo that gets on any surface near the child. I was trying to clean biscuit paste off my shirt for the rest of the flight. Go for the pretzels instead.

And I know I could have titled this section “Snacks on a Plane” but I already used that heading in a picture post.

During the Flight

Beta: “What are clouds made of? Are they made of fluff?”

How could I tell him they weren’t?

I couldn’t. But I may have said something about fluff being made of water vapor.

One Side of a Conversation

Overheard on the way to Boise, during the flight:
“This is the plane that Captain Sullenberger landed in the Hudson River.”
(garble garble from the other person)
“No, not the actual plane, just the same model.”

Solid, Liquid, or Gel

We inadvertently found a way to stump the TSA. As a general rule, you are not allowed to bring liquids onto the plane. Liquids are not allowed, but solids are.

My wife likes cold water, so she stuck a water bottle in the freezer the night before the flight, and it was still frozen when we went through security. The TSA lady saw that bottle (since we had it with the other liquids to help keep them cold) and said she had to test it since it was more than 3 oz. When she picked it up and saw it was not liquid, she didn’t know what to do. She conferred with some other TSA people, then she walked off with our bottle. She came back a few minutes later and said it was good.

Oh, and yogurt counts as a liquid. In case you were wondering. Or maybe it’s a gel. Either way, they don’t like it.

Sharing

Our hosts were very nice. The daughter relinquished her room for the few days we were there, and all five of us stayed in that one room. Apparently they grow houses a bit bigger over there. Gamma stayed in a pack-n-play, which our hosts borrowed from their neighbors. The morning of our departure, we stripped the sheets off the beds, packed up the pack-n-play, and tried to restore things to how they were before we arrived.

I was thankful that we did not have to return the pack-n-play to the neighbors because they’re a little weird. Friendly people, and gracious to let us borrow their stuff, but weird. Phone first before stopping by their house.

Tonight is Frank Sinatra songs, as arranged by Harry Connick, Jr.

Aaron Kelly: “Fly Me to the Moon”

It was okay, I suppose. He looked a little different. Maybe they went overboard on the makeup tonight. He is trying to look the part, but it doesn’t quite work.

Conclusion: Not Frank Sinatra-y

Casey James: “Blue Skies”

He’s a good singer and a good performer, but this is just not his style. That’s two weeks in a row now that I’ve said that about Casey. Not a good sign.

What is that? Is his hair in a bun?

Casey’s voice is better suited to Frank Sinatra songs than Aaron’s. I thought he had a better stage presence than Aaron too, but for some reason the judges didn’t agree. I did think that he didn’t hit the high notes very well.

Conclusion: Not Frank Sinatra-y

Crystal Bowersox: “Summer Wind”

Very professional, although she almost didn’t make it to the mic on time. Didn’t move around the stage a lot, but she didn’t need to.

Conclusion: Somewhat Frank Sinatra-y, if he were female

Michael Lynche: “The Way You Look Tonight”

He is the first one who looks the part. Although his hat might be a bit small. But it worked.

And he sounded good. And he worked the stage.

Conclusion: Frank Sinatra-y

Lee DeWyze: “That’s Life”

Lee looks the part too, and he sounds even better than Mike. Lee always looks like he just got out of bed.

Conclusion: Frank Sinatra-y

Who’s going home: Harry Connick Jr.

My Favorite: Lee

I don’t know who’s getting voted off, but I’ll put a guess out there for the bottom two: Casey and Aaron.

Normally I’d recommend reading BooMama‘s re-cap of AI, but since she didn’t do one this week, I won’t. I’ll still recommend the rest of her blog though.

So now the rumor is that the Big Ten will increase to 16 teams. They skipped right over the 12-team format, which means they didn’t use my new Big Ten logo that was custom-made for 12 teams. Now I have to make another Big Ten logo update.

Here it is:

Betcha didn’t see that one coming, did you? It’s not at all like my previous logo. I know, I know, it’s a unique take on the traditional Big Ten logo – bold, yet subtle; progressive, yet retro.

Although I do like the history of the Big Ten and the tradition of the conference, perhaps it is time to change. That’s it – we need change! Let’s pass a College Football Reform bill!

Sorry, I got carried away.

Let me start over.

Maybe the Big Ten should change the name of the conference – take out the number. It works well for other conferences: SEC, ACC, MWC, MAC, WAC. You don’t need a number in your conference name. It’s either wrong or you have to keep changing it.

• If PAC-10 adds some teams, they could become the PCC (Pacific Coast Conference)
• If the Big 12 loses some teams, they could become the FSC (Flat States Conference)
• If the Big Ten really does add 5 more teams, they could be called something else:
  • If they absorb Notre Dame and NBC wants the rights to the games, they could become NBC (National Big Conference). Think of it – “The NBC on NBC”
  • If they want to keep their current deal with ABC, they could become ABC (America’s Best Conference). That could be sold as “The ABC on ABC, presented by TCBY.”

My brother might be appalled to learn that I don’t check my credit card statement every month. I’d just look at the balance due and, if it was somewhere in the ballpark of what I expected, I’d pay it.

The most recent statement for my wife’s credit card came recently. Well, it didn’t really arrive here because everything is electronic now. But I got an email saying that the bill was ready. I thought the balance was slightly more than it should have been, so I clicked on the View Statement button.

This credit card never had an annual fee. But I saw a line in the statement that said $60 for the annual fee.

Where did that come from?

Apparently they weren’t making much money off that card, so they added a fee. Since the fee was brand new, I had a chance to appeal the terms of the card. The note thingy said that we had 30 days from receipt of the bill to dispute the fee.

We disputed it. Or rather, my wife did. It’s her card so she has to be the one to officially talk to the credit card people.

Who are in India.

And are not authorized to remove that fee.

So she said “Fine, cancel the card then.” And lo, the card was cancelled.

The timing of all that was interesting because she had been eyeing a new credit card just a week earlier – a card with a fancy-schmancy rewards program. I didn’t want to add yet another credit card to the mix, but it turns out that now we can.

And I have learned my lesson and will be reviewing credit card statements more thoroughly, at least for a little while.

Today’s post will cover both the draft and the schedule but I didn’t want to put both those in the title. So I have a rather bland title.

The Draft

I didn’t pay too much attention to the draft, other than the fact that Tim Tebow was drafted in the first round. He wasn’t expected to be picked until the later rounds, but Coach McDaniels of the Broncos wanted him on the team.

McDaniels already has Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn, both of whom want to be the starting quarterback. Quinn was just brought in, so either McDaniels is trying to put some handwriting on the wall for Orton or he has other plans for Tebow.

I say he has other plans. Do you think it is just coincidence that the Broncos got rid of their tight end just days before drafting Tebow? I sense some trick plays up someone’s sleeves. Am I the only one who thinks McDaniels is going to put Tebow out at tight end? Apparently not.

I do think that Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen made the right choice in not attending the NFL draft in person. Unless you’re being discussed as one of the top three picks, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. If you’re not picked right away, the cameras will be on you the whole time and people will be wondering why you have not been picked yet.

Tim Tebow also was invited but did not attend the NFL draft in New York. The correctness of his choice is not as obvious as the other quarterbacks’. Since Tebow was not slotted to be picked until the third round or so, there should have been no pressure. He could have gone, enjoyed the festivities, and not worried about not going in the first round. Then he would have been pleasantly surprised when he did go in the first round. Ah well, he certainly didn’t make the wrong choice. I’m not sure there even was a wrong choice in his case.

The Schedule

Shortly before the draft started, the NFL announced the 2010 schedule. Now that we know who will play whom and when, we can start predicting wins and losses.

I keep my predictions over at Some Fun Site. During the course of 2009, I saw that predictions based on the previous season’s results were just as good as predictions that updated themselves week-by-week. Results are here.

Now that the schedule is out, I have setup the 2010 predictions. Most of them are good for the first week only, but the two methods with “last year” in them are good for the whole season already. Here is my summary of the results:

• Of course, the generic prediction of Home Team Wins always forecasts each team to win half the games and lose half the games. So everyone gets an 8-8 record. Boring.
• The Isaacson-Tarbell Postulate (better record wins) was 63% accurate last season (in 2009, using 2008’s final numbers the whole season). It predicts this for 2010:
  • Arizona = 12-4
  • Atlanta = 9-7
  • Baltimore = 8-8
  • Buffalo = 3-13
  • Carolina = 7-9
  • Chicago = 5-11
  • Cincinnati = 12-4
  • Cleveland = 2-14
  • Dallas = 11-5
  • Denver = 7-9
  • Detroit = 1-15
  • Green Bay = 13-3
  • Houston = 10-6
  • Indianapolis = 16-0
  • Jacksonville = 5-11
  • Kansas City = 1-15
  • Miami = 6-10
  • Minnesota = 15-1
  • New England = 12-4
  • New Orleans = 16-0
  • New York Giants = 8-8
  • New York Jets = 10-6
  • Oakland = 4-12
  • Philadelphia = 13-3
  • Pittsburgh = 11-5
  • San Diego = 15-1
  • San Francisco = 8-8
  • Seattle = 4-12
  • St. Louis = 0-16
  • Tampa Bay = 2-14
  • Tennessee = 7-9
  • Washington = 3-13
• The More Points Wins method was 66% accurate last season (in 2009, using 2008’s final numbers the whole season). It predicts this for 2010:
  • Arizona = 12-4
  • Atlanta = 8-8
  • Baltimore = 14-2
  • Buffalo = 4-12
  • Carolina = 7-9
  • Chicago = 5-11
  • Cincinnati = 6-10
  • Cleveland = 2-14
  • Dallas = 13-3
  • Denver = 8-8
  • Detroit = 1-15
  • Green Bay = 16-0
  • Houston = 9-7
  • Indianapolis = 13-3
  • Jacksonville = 3-13
  • Kansas City = 3-13
  • Miami = 7-9
  • Minnesota = 13-3
  • New England = 14-2
  • New Orleans = 16-0
  • New York Giants = 7-9
  • New York Jets = 11-5
  • Oakland = 1-15
  • Philadelphia = 11-5
  • Pittsburgh = 11-5
  • San Diego = 15-1
  • San Francisco = 10-6
  • Seattle = 5-11
  • St. Louis = 0-16
  • Tampa Bay = 2-14
  • Tennessee = 5-11
  • Washington = 4-12
• Comparing ITP and MPW gets me this:
  Consensus:
  • Arizona = 12-4
  • Carolina = 7-9
  • Chicago = 5-11
  • Cleveland = 2-14
  • Detroit = 1-15
  • New Orleans = 16-0
  • Pittsburgh = 11-5
  • San Diego = 15-1
  • St. Louis = 0-16
  • Tampa Bay = 2-14

  Dissension:

  • Baltimore = 14-2 or 8-8
  • Cincinnati = 12-4 or 6-10