Month: November 2011

Categories
Family

Surgery Update

The physical therapist has now added some isometric exercises for my triceps to my home PT routine. This is in addition to the range of motion stretching and shoulder exercises. The amount of atrophy is, frankly, astounding to me. I haven’t been able to use my arm for roughly 6 weeks now. When compared against the previous 25 years worth of physical activity (and strenuous physical activity at that) it barely compares. Yet all that time hasn’t mattered compared to not using the muscle for 6 weeks. Remarkable. I’ll be curious as to what kind of muscle memory my body has. I’d like to think it’s good, but the proof will be in the pudding.

For the non-squeamish among you, here’s a video of the surgery that was done on my arm. The tendon I tore is remarkably sturdy looking.

Categories
Family

Fudge

Talk about unintended consequences.

Having let the boy and the lass watch A Christmas Story, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at their choice of a takeaway scene. Thinking about it, any one of a number of them would have been understandable: the Little Orphan Annie decoder scene, the flagpole scene with Flick, the unboxing of the “major award” scene, even when Ralphie gets to shoot his Red Ryder BB Gun and breaks his glasses. But the one they both have been talking about ever since is the one that I just can’t explain to their full satisfaction: the tire changing scene. Specifically, “FUUUDGE!”

Initially, they didn’t quite grok that “FUDGE” was not what Ralphie actually said. They were confused because “Dad, is ‘FUDGE’ a bad word?” Obviously, no, it isn’t a bad word. After imparting a better understanding of the scene, they immediately set to trying to figure out what exactly “the word” was.

I have to confess to a strange combination of amusement and shame at this. They started asking questions like “Was it the ‘S’ word?” and “It wasn’t the ‘D’ word, was it?” as they mulled through the options. The amusement was in how they were phrasing the questions- clearly, they understood that even the pretext of trying to understand a movie scene was not excuse enough to start letting fly with profanity. But I have to say, I was a little embarrassed at the sheer number of words they were working through.

I’ll confess to, on occasion, under moments of extreme duress imparted by child initiated circumstances, having let fly with an occasional bad word here and there. But after listening to their questions, it became clear to me that the Wife really bears the brunt of the blame here. She really needs to be more careful in their presence…

Getting back to the kids, I was more dismayed to realize that the boy’s sleuthing had involved discussing the scene with his friends at school. With their “help,” he came home yesterday and declared that he had figured out “the word” and he proceeded to spell it out for verification (at least he knew enough not to blurt it out): ‘F’-‘U’-‘K’-‘I’-‘N’.

The first few thoughts going through my head at that moment actually involved variations on that word. I finally decided that his knowing the word wasn’t the end of the world. But I decided a little reinforcement was in order. So after confirming he had figured it out, I asked him “Do you remember what happened to Ralphie AFTER he used that word?”

He nodded and said “He got soap put in his mouth.” I think he sensed where I was taking the conversation because he dropped his eyes to the ground and did a couple of nervous little foot flicks at the air in front of him.

“Well, if you want to avoid the same punishment, then I’d better not ever hear you using words like that,” I said. Then I continued “In fact, I’ll probably make you brush your teeth with soap if I hear that from you.” The lass gasped and blurted out “EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!” I added “And the same goes for YOU” and pointed at the lass so there was no opportunity for confusion.

He looked up at me, nodding, and said “I won’t.”

And we left it at that. A couple minutes later, they were both in a heated discussion about what the worst word you could say was. I broke in and directed the conversation to a more parentally approved topic when the competition was between the ‘D’ word and the ‘B’ word. And I reinforced that they should not be using any of those words. They both indicated that they wouldn’t. Ever.

Of course, I know better than that.

Categories
Family

Sparky Rides Again!

His triumphant return was marked with song and dance and drink and merriment through out the land.

PAH!

Who am I kidding? It was marked with immediate requests for this, that and the other thing. Including asking him to sit in certain places.

The kids clearly missed the little guy.

Categories
Family

Star of the Week Letter

Here’s the letter the Wife and I sent out for the boy’s Star of the Week thingy. To be honest, it was one of those assignments that ended up being more the Wife’s and mine than his. Sure, he had a few “My favorite is this” and “I like that” things to do. But the Wife printed out the pictures and cut them so they could be pasted in place. And the Wife asked for letter’s from immediate family for him. But I guess that’s the nature of the beast.

It’s hard to know what to write to you. We’ve been watching you grow up for 7 years now. Seven years might seem like a long time to you, but for your Mom and I it’s been very short. That’s probably hard for you to understand- how can a long time be short? Well, it’s like when you are with your friends. You’re so busy having fun that you forget that time goes by. And before you know it, it’s time for your friend to go home.

In your case, you’re a busy kid. You play soccer, baseball and hockey. You participate in Cub Scouts and practice karate as well as go to school. And then there are the times we go to the museum or the zoo or the beach or the park. All of those activities keep Mom and I and your sister go-go-going all the time along with you. So none of us notice all the time going by. You started out as a baby and before we knew it, here you are as a 2nd grader.

So what are some of the things your Mom and I can say about you? For one, you don’t like to wake up in the morning. You like to stay in your nice warm bed and sleep. When you do (finally!) get up, you like to watch TV. Your favorite cartoons right now are The Pink Panther and Avatar. That’s neat for your Mom and I because we used to watch the The Pink Panther when we were growing up.

You’re becoming more interested in football now. That’s neat for Dad because football is his favorite sport. Did you know the first time he ever sat and watched a football game with you, you cried? You were just a baby then, and he turned on a game with you and then looked at you and said “YAY! FOOTBALL!” And you looked at him for a moment, and then started crying. Mom just laughed.

You can be very serious. Especially when you are playing “Super Mario Brothers” on your DS. You still get upset when you are having a tough time with the game. But you always stick with it and get passed what you are having trouble with. Hopefully that’s something you never stop doing- keep on trying until you succeed.

What are some fun things about you? You are VERY ticklish. Your favorite food is hamburgers with cheese. You like to play hide-and-seek with your friends when they come over. You’ve started collecting Pokemon cards, but you haven’t learned how to play the game yet. That’s OK, none of your friends know how to play either. You like to swim in the ocean. You enjoy spending time doing crafts and baking with Mom. And you get very excited when Sparky appears each year.

Wow. That’s a lot of stuff already, and I could write a lot more too. I know earlier I wrote that 7 years seems like a short time, but the fact is you can (and you have!) done a lot in 7 years. Your Mom and I have been around that whole time, watching you and helping you and teaching you. There is still a lot for you to do and to learn. And your Mom and I are looking forward to it.

We love you!

Categories
Misc

Writer’s Block

Well- not really since I don’t consider myself a writer. And if I’m not a writer, then I can’t have a block.

But I’m sitting here watching the Steelers-Chiefs game trying to come up with a letter for the boy’s “Student of the Week” thingy. Of course, this is his week. Compounding matters is that everyone else has written him a letter. But I just haven’t been able to come up with a plan of attack to write it.

I’m my own worst enemy on this sort of stuff as well, trying to come up with something unique or original.

Maybe I should just send in a link to a website I know…

Categories
Family

3’s A Crowd

The boy had one of his friends over today. This situation leads to problems with his sister, whom does not understand that she’s the third wheel. The boy’s expectations aren’t entirely unreasonable, since he wants to hang out with his bud for a bit. The lass, for her part, doesn’t make it easy for him. She wants to play with his friends as well and doesn’t understand why she shouldn’t be able to. So she tails after them hi and lo throughout the house.

I ran interference a few times for him, taking the lass aside to play games with her and keep her occupied for a time. But there’s only so much that I can do, and only so long that she’ll be distracted. Then it’s right back to square one.

It does provide for some amusing moments though. The boy likes to take his friend and make a mad dash for his bedroom where he locks the door and his sister out. The lass, being a seasoned veteran at this point in counter-attacking, simply bides her time. When the boy emerges from the room, she quietly locks his door and closes it so he can’t get back in. He was none too pleased when he realized what she’d done. All I could do was unlock the door and chuckle.

For all his griping about his sister though, he was having a lot of fun running around with her by the end of the afternoon. They were all running around playing the ol’ classic, hide-and-seek. Sure, she seemed to be “it” more often than the boy or his friend; but they were all getting along just fine. Too bad they couldn’t have played like that he whole time.

Maybe next time.

Categories
Family

“That’s Creepy”

The Wife’s after Thanksgiving schedule does not involve trips to the stores for Black Friday. Rather, it involves setting up the Christmas tree.

This year it also involved separating the kids for a time. Blame it on turkey hangover. They sat around most of the morning watching TV and then went right at each other’s throats when the TV went off. Their energy was redirected towards chores, where they continued to fight and snipe at each other.

The Wife and I, in the mean time, took care of the grunt work of tree setup. No natural trees here. We’re all plastic and fantastic. Complete with lights. We also did our best to ignore the yelling and screaming upstairs.

When an eerie silence began to emanate from the upstairs, we had them come down and begin the fun part of tree setup: putting on the ornaments. The kids have various fun ornaments from Hallmark involving Looney Tunes, Rudolf, Harry Potter and so on. The Wife and I also have our own ornaments, which involve Star Wars and A Christmas Story.

The boy became curious about the Christmas Story ornaments. They highlighted some of the better known moments from the movie such as the flat tire scene with “F-U-D-G-E” and the flag pole scene with Flick complete with audio with the push of a button. Of course, having never seen it, he had no appreciation for the scenes depicted. But I think my own fondness for them made him curious in a “What’s the big deal with this movie?” kind of way. So we agreed to let him watch it before going to bed.

Most of the humor was lost on him. Though he did get a kick out of some things like when the Mother is dressing Randy up in his snow suit, or when Randy falls and can’t get up without help. He also chuckled at the over-the-top nature of the two bullies and when the duck got it’s head lopped off at the Chinese restaurant. He even empathised with Ralphie when he got his mouth washed out with soap.

It didn’t occur to me until it was too late that we were running a bit of a risk in letting him watch the movie. In particular, the Santa scene in the mall and then the gift unwrapping scene could have led him to start asking questions. Thankfully, it didn’t. But he did have a couple of comments during the Santa scene. First, when Ralphie finally got his turn and the movie had all the extreme close-ups with the mall Santa bellowing “HO-HO-HO!” in his face, the boy commented “That’s creepy.” Which was actually pretty accurate, really. He also commented on the elves being mean.

When it was all said and done, he was happy Ralphie got his Red Ryder BB Gun. But it’ll be a while before he enjoys the movie like I do.

Categories
Family

A New Approach

One of the challenges, for me personally, having the kids involved in youth sports is the practice dynamic. I, having participated in college sports and continuing to practice various athletic disciplines, know what it takes to not just be good, but be very good. Going out and practicing really isn’t enough- the practice needs to be focused and effort needs to be given and a vision of proficiency has to be maintained and strived for at all times. Also, in order to prevent burning out an athlete needs to rotate through different kinds of routines and drills as well as rotate through different aspects within the discipline.

Having said that, it’s pretty clear that expecting a 7 year old to get all that is a bit of a stretch. Their attentions spans are notoriously short and they have their own things they want to be good at. Like Mario Brothers or Mario Kart. Also, it seeming more and more likely that 7 is the age where a certain amount of rebellion starts to set in. But that’s a different topic.

So typically, when I bring the kids to a practice, I try to encourage them and emphasize “having fun.” To them that mostly, I think, means shucking and jiving with their friends during practice. It doesn’t generally materialize into a consistent amount of effort at trying to get better. In fact, I see a lot of times where they just go through the motions.

Which drives me crazy.

I’m a firm believer that the better an athlete is at a sport, the more fun it is. Not giving effort in practice basically means no improvement; thus, it’s just not as much fun and increases the likelihood of quitting. Actually, I think the basic principle applies to any discipline.

So I’m starting to try to get them to pick something to work on when they practice. But I don’t pick it for them. I just ask what they think they need to improve on. If their reply is to general, like for karate the boy might say “sparring”, I steer him towards something more specific.

“Like what in sparring? Kicking? Blocking?”

By getting them to focus on something in practice, I’m hoping for a number of things. First, that their effort level will improve. Second, they’ll start to get much better. And third, they’ll start to enjoy it more because they are getting better. With any luck, it’ll form a positive feedback loop where having fun motivates them to get even better, making it more fun.

Categories
Football

He’s Not That Good

From a PFT article about Rex Ryan’s attempts to motivate his QB:.

And perhaps that would be the next step in Rex’s second annual effort to get Sanchez’s attention.

I find this remarkable because Mark Sanchez is a pro quarterback on a highly visible team with a highly visible coach. For the past 3 years including this one, the Jets have been expecting to make the playoffs. In each of those 3 years, Sanchez has been the mitigating factor. Or, more precisely, his play has been the mitigating factor.

Sanchez consistently says he knows what’s expected of him and that he has to perform better. Yet, here we are with his coach having to play mind games in an attempt to motivate him.

Given all the above factors, how can Sanchez need to be motivated? If he’s capable of playing at a higher level, then he should be doing everything in his power to get there. More films, more practice, whatever it takes. He shouldn’t need someone driving him. If he does, then I’d say the Jets need to start looking for a better quarterback.

The way I see it, there are 2 possibilities here: that Sanchez isn’t the quarterback the Jets thought he was, or the offensive staff isn’t as effective at teaching the quarterback position and offense in general. Personally, I’m of an opinion that’s a version of former: he’s just a middling quarterback with the maddening knack for performing above average under pressure.

Categories
Misc

Something to Think About

The boy has misplaced his winter jacket. We’ve searched all of the obvious places, but no reward has materialized yet. We’ve been trying to get him to think of the last place he wore it or brought it, but we might as well be trying to teach string to braid itself. With the Winter coming, you’d think he’d at least be a little interested in finding it. Rather, he seems resigned to the fact that it’s gone. He probably figures “Mom and Dad will just buy me a new one.”

Which brings me to the school’s “Lost and Found” barrel. We searched it this morning in the hopes of his jacket turning up. Once again, no luck. But what really struck me was *how full that barrel was”. It was overflowing with clothing. Jackets, pants, gloves, hats, umbrellas, a football, shirts. Everything. An entire 55-gallon barrel filled to over-flowing with clothing. I couldn’t even wager a guess at the number.

A teacher came up to me to ask if we wanted help. I responded with my astonishment at the shear number of articles of clothing, and she said it had already been filled once and emptied and that it would likely be filled again.

None of that stuff registered to any of their owners as missing. Does no one think to come look in the Lost and Found? Or is just that no one cares.

A pair of pants: “He has plenty of others.”

A pair of pink mittens: “We’ll just buy her new ones…”

Such waste. And the kids don’t care because no one takes the time to teach the lesson.

Categories
Dictionary

A New Word

“Constructions,” one the lass has been using for a while now.

Categories
Computers

Say what?

I read [Engadget’s comparison][1] between the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire and that’s what I thought when I read their conclusion that the Fire best the Tablet. Up to that point, they gave the Tablet an edge in form factor, performance, display, reading and specs. The only thing that gave the Fire an edge was Amazon’s cloud services. Even there, with Hulu Plus, Netflix and Pandora the tablet isn’t exactly blown away by the Fire. Despite all that, they prefer the Fire. Again, say what?

For my part, I was in the area and stopped by a Barnes and Noble to checkout the Nook Tablet. The nickel version of my impressions are- I liked it. A lot. Almost bought it on the spot. If it weren’t for my unusual ability to resist technology products (despite my enthusiasm for technology and computers), I probably would’ve brought one home. Then spent the evening trying to justify it to the Wife.

Anyway, if interested, read on after the break for more details.

Continue reading “Say what?”
Categories
Computers

Amazon Disappoints

While out and about today, I stopped at a Staples on the chance they’d have a Kindle Fire to check out. Somewhat to my pleasant surprise, they did have the Fire there to play with.

But even more to my disappointment was that the unit was a demo. No, not just a demo unit, a demo period. The only interaction with it was through some kind of flash application that simulated their UI that I’ve been reading about. But I couldn’t launch browse or really try anything else. What’s more, I couldn’t figure out a way to break out of the app to just get to the raw Fire functionality.

A salesperson came over and I asked him if it was possible. He verified that it was not and when I replied that was extremely lame, he agreed. He’d even tried to figure out how to shut down the app so that people could actually use the device, like the other tablets they had on sale there. But to no avail.

I left at that point, since there was no way I’d purchase a Fire without the ability to actually exercise it. Perhaps I’m just being persnickety. But it struck as extremely poor marketing on Amazon’s part.

Categories
Family

3 Links

Via Ann Althouse, an article about children and play.

Ann wants a policy definition of play. The article she links is about how allowing kids to play isn’t a high enough priority. My takeaway? “Self-Initiated Cognitive Activity”- a.k.a “play.” If only it made for a nifty acronym, it would be perfect.

Next, via Glenn Reynolds, some video whether spanking is abuse.

I’ll parrot Glenn’s pithy answer- no, it isn’t. The confusion is because people opposed to spanking equate it with hitting. It’s not. It’s a physical correction. Spanking isn’t about hurting, it’s about teaching. For those who think otherwise, I offer the following (true) story.

I had cooked up some pizza for dinner and set the pans on the table after they came out of the oven. The lass (she was probable 2 or so, at the time) was sitting down and I told her “Don’t touch the pan, OK? It will hurt you.” I had just turned my back to go get drinks when I heard her yell out and start crying. I turned around and she was holding her finger- she had touched the pan. I picked her up, took her to the sink and started running cold water over it while the Wife took an ice cube out for me to hold on the spot. I said to the lass “I’ll bet you’ll never to that again.” She nodded through tears. And she hasn’t.

So clearly, pain can be useful as a teacher.

I’ll also add that as kids get older, the number of pressure points increases as they develop their preferences like TV, Wii, aversion to early bed times, etc. Thus, the utility of spanking decreases quickly as they grow up.

And finally, Kevin Drum talks about “early intervention”.

My first thought about this is- you guys needed a study to know that neglect of a child at an early age stunts their growth? Isn’t this obvious?

He wants to spend more money on the problem. Of course he does. Because spending money on problems is universally shown to solve those problems all the time. Do I have to link some of Kevin’s own posts about the effectiveness of all the money we’re spending on education to support my point?

Look, I’ll say “Kevin, all the more power to you” if he wants to go and start up some foundation that raises money and distributes it to day cares around the country or something. Good. Great even. Heck, I’d even be fine with targeting more of the money we do spend towards early intervention. But he needs to do a better job of convincing me the problem is widespread enough to justify the kind of response he’s advocating. He has a link to purportedly demonstrate this, but all I get is a post where the author says “experts say.” Feh. Show me some data and your work.

For that matter, why not just advocate against day care more? It is possible to choose to stay home and raise kids you know. Even Dads can do it.

A final, observation. Just because.

What struck me about these 3 links is how they all deal with “extremes”: too much spanking is abuse; neglect is unhealthy for kids; no to time to play is unhealthy for kids. And all 3 try to convince the audience that their extreme has to be dealt with and the sooner the better. But none really provide any real evidence that their problem is becoming endemic, or even on the rise. It’s just that someone did some research and found a “bad” thing to advocate against. Even then, what they’re advocating for is hardly novel. I certainly can’t imagine anyone advocating for this stuff. Yet, something needs to be done in their mind.

Categories
Misc

NCAA Going in the Hotseat

Deadspin received a tip the NCAA would rather they not have, I’m sure. They (Deadspin) has downloaded and posted the last 5 years worth of NCAA financial statements. I haven’t combed through them myself, but the folks at Deadspin have and found the NCAA made $24 million in profit in 2008 for starters. Guess it’s good to be the NCAA- less so to play for them.

I think it’ll get a little tougher for them to justify their actions regarding student-athletes whom try to make a little extra on the side.

Wonder what else will be found?

Categories
Family

A Letter to Santa- Follow-up

Not to be outdone, the lass decided to color a picture and address it to Santa. (I chose not to scan that one in because her name was too prominent a part of the picture.) Both kids then decided to leave it out on the fireplace in the hopes Santa would stop by and pick them up. They wanted some assurance that he would, in fact, show up to get the letters.

I told them that it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet and Santa was busy preparing for Christmas already, so I didn’t think he’d be stopping by to pick them up. The kids decided to give it a try anyway, but at least they were prepared.

The boy was the first to notice that their pictures were gone this morning. In their place, a piece of green licorice and a red mint had been left. Apparently, Dads don’t know everything.

And the legend of Santa grows a bit more.

Categories
Family

A Letter To Santa

The boy drew a picture:

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You can see who it’s for. But wait! There’s more!

Continue reading “A Letter To Santa”
Categories
Family

Nice Moments in Parenting

The boy comes over to me with his homework paper and hands it to me. It’s math homework. At the top is a picture of a train with 11 cars and the boy has numbered them accordingly. Underneath the train is written “5+5=10”; presumably as an example for how to use the cars in the train to help with the addition. The boy has crossed this out and drawn an arrow to another spot where he wrote “5+6=11”.

He then says “Dad, this is wrong. There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cars here and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 cars here and that makes 11, not 10. Also, I don’t get the question at the bottom.”

So the boy thinks the equation is supposed to match the cars in the train, but it doesn’t- so he’s right. But he’s wrong because “5+5” does, in fact, equal 10. I know math is different nowadays, but it can’t be that different. So I take some time to explain that the train is just there to help with adding and I demonstrate it like someone would use there fingers to help with addition. After initially sticking to his guns, he finally agrees and asks, “So I don’t have to cross that out?” I shake my head and he takes the paper away and erases his “correction.”.

He then returns and asks me about the question at the bottom. The question is “What pattern do you see in the sums above?” The “sums above” are all answers to math problems where a number is added to itself, e.g. “1+1”, “4+4”, “7+7”. The answer is obvious to me, but I can’t just tell it to him.

I begin by saying “Well, what do all the numbers have in common?”

“They’re all less than 14?” he asks hopefully.

I point to one of the problems that reads “9+9” (he got the right answer) and say “Nope.”

“Oh yeah, there’s 16 too” he points to “8+8” and corrects himself. He thinks for a couple more seconds and then says “Uhhh, they’re all doubles?”

Pretty sure that he means all the problems involve adding a number to itself, I answer “Yes, but that’s not it. The question is about your answers. What else?”

Now he gets a little frustrated and furrows his brow. Then he gets distracted by his sister. I give him a moment, figuring he’s puzzling it out. Finally, his attention returns to the homework, but he doesn’t have any other ideas.

“What numbers are missing in the answers?” I ask.

Then the light bulb goes on and he gets a smile on his face. “OH! They’re all EVEN numbers.”

I returned his smile, tousled his hair and handed him the paper. He wrote his answer down:

“Ther an all even numbers.”

A parent’s work is never done.

Categories
Computers

All Hopes on the Nook Tablet

Reading this review of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, it would seem my best bet for a tablet in the short term rests with the Nook Tablet. My overall impression from reading the review is “you get what you pay for.” It almost sounds like the Fire is about the equivalent of the Nook Color performance wise, with some pretty annoying UI deficiencies in addition. I’ll still be curious to play with it, but I’m now thinking either the Tablet will be the way to go or the way to go will be to wait.

Categories
Family

Elbow Update

Here’s pretty much the exact brace I’ve got for the time being. The hinge has a lock switch to immobilize the elbow completely, in addition to a couple of “stops” to limit the range of motion of my elbow. For the first couple of days with it I tried to pull sweatshirts and the like over it. But it’s too much of a hassle and I’m just wearing short sleeves now until the brace comes off.

My PT has started as well. For the moment, all that consists of is range of motion exercises and working on some of the scar tissue. I’ve got nice golf ball sized wad right under the incision in the crook of my elbow. It kind of looks like an alien has taken residence there. At least it won’t be fatal if something does pop out of there.

One final note: the lass was initially very impressed with the brace. She particularly like the “thermometer” where the hinge is. The Wife and I had to explain to her it measures a different kind of “degrees” than temperature.