Categories
Family

Reading Instructions Good, Comprehending Instructions Better

As expected, the boy came home with homework. As he’s been doing so far this year, he sat down and got started on it right away, working on the math work that is due tomorrow. He has reading and spelling work that is not due until later this week.

I thought of this homework as “Tetris” homework, referring to the arcade game. He was supposed to work with shapes that he could create by arranging 4 squares such that at least 1 full side of a square was touching another full side of another square. Thus, why I thought of the Tetris game- anyone who played that would immediately know there are only 5 shapes that can be arranged: an ‘L’, a short ‘T’, a block, a line and a ‘S’ or ‘Z’ if you squint at it really hard.

The boy, never having played Tetris, didn’t know that so he had to work at it. The instructions told him to cut out 4 squares on the back of the paper so he could play with them and arrange them. They also told him to ignore duplicates that were mirrors or flipped variations of the same shape, like a backwards ‘L’. Finally, he was supposed to draw the shapes on grid on the back of the paper.

The only part he seemed to get was the drawing the shapes on the grid. He wanted to draw the straight line horizontally and vertically. Then he wanted to draw the ‘L’ in it’s various different configurations. He never cut out the squares either. He did manage to finish that work, but not without a lot of erasing and a little prodding from myself about following the directions.

Then came his spelling. He wanted me to give him a spelling quiz. He has 80 something words to work with this week. It sounds impressive until you realize they are variations on one word like “stab, stabbed, stabbing” or “state, stated, stating.” I gave him a quiz, but I just picked a single tense from each group of 3 words, rather than working through all the variations of each word.

He wrote each of these word 3 times, because “that’s what the directions said to do.” Then, he started writing all the other variations 3 times each as well. He had completed about 60 of the words when the Wife happened to look at the directions.

They directions actually were to take the quiz from a parent and then write and misspelled word 3 times. He didn’t misspell any of the words I’d quizzed him on. That means he did a lot of extra spelling. A lot of extra spelling.

He then began what has to be the most dramatic overreaction to anything ever.

First, he threw himself onto the ground and buried his face in his arm. There he laid, quietly. I chuckled, thinking it was just a dramatic one off to realizing he’d done a bunch of unnecessary extra work. Little did I realize that he was actually a tropical depression developing into a category 5 hurricane.

When he got up, he was mad and he was crying. It started as just a whine about how he’d messed up his homework. I was still unawares about what was coming and just ignored him. It was a little ridiculous at that stage, but I simply assumed he’d be over it. At this point, he was just mournfully staring at his paper, caught in that emotion where he thinks he’s done something that can’t be undone.

The whining then began to build. It was developing into that roaring cry, where a kid is screaming at the top of his lungs while he’s crying. His face was starting to turn pink and his gesticulating was getting more spastic- like he’d make up his mind to do something and then change it a half-second later and kept doing it over and over again. I finally realized that things were getting a whee bit out of control and I tried to whisk him away to his martial arts class. I firmly told him “Let’s go” and headed out the door, fully expecting him to be right behind me.

I sat out in the car waiting for him. And waiting for him. And waiting for him. I honked the horn once. Then again. Then a third time. Finally, the door swung open and out marched … the Wife. I turned the car off and immediately realized just how bad things had gotten.

I could hear him, wailing and stomping, from where I was out in the driveway. Great, roaring “AHHHHHHH’s” echoed from within the house. I’m pretty certain it was vibrating with all the stomping he was doing.

Apparently, he was looking for his flip flops and couldn’t find them. He was still upset about his homework. The Wife had come outside because she needed to get away from him for a few moments. I went over to the house and yelled in for him to get moving. As I walked back to the car, where the Wife had gone to in the interim, I laughed. The lass had broken last week over homework. Now, the boy had barely outlasted her by a week, all because he hadn’t comprehended his homework instructions.

When he finally came outside, he was still wailing and his face was red. There were no more tears though. He was just screaming like a mad-child. He had snapped, pure and simple.

I refused to take him anywhere in that state and he finally settled down to a much more respectable sulk. On any other day, sulking over his homework like that wouldn’t have been acceptable. But this wasn’t any other day and I wasn’t going to complain. We headed off to his martial arts class.

Which was turned out to be a timely thing. The theme for the month is self-control.

Categories
Family Football

The Boy Experiences Why We Watch

We had a Kickoff party today for our returning Cub Scouts. Nothing formal, just a simple get together for the kids and the parents. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

The boy started asking about football this morning. He wanted to know if there were any games on today. After confirming there were a “few” games on today, he wanted to know if he’d be able to watch them. That was a little less straight forward. With a bunch of guests coming here today, I told him he’d probably be able to watch at some point, but I wanted him to play outside today.

Things ended up working out well from my perspective as he didn’t end up watching until the end of the Pats game. He and a few of his Scout mates wanted to check out some games. So he did a bit of surfing and found the Pats game. By that point I’d gone back outside to mingle some more.

The boy quickly appeared by my side and he had distressing news “The Patriots are losing 21-20 and there isn’t a lot of time left.” He was giving me a look like “Fix it Dad!” There was clearly some emotional investment in this game, even though he’d only been watching a few moments.

Being a veteran of such situations, I asked him who had the ball. He didn’t know, so he scampered back into the house to find out. I expect by the end of the year, he’ll come out with a complete rundown of the situation: exact time on the clock, possession, down and distance, key injuries, the works. He’ll just need a little coaching in that respect.

The boy didn’t come out and I got distracted talking with some people outside. I then became cognizant of screaming and shouting coming from in the house. Initially, I thought the boys were arguing, then I thought perhaps they’d started some sort of game. Then, they came bursting out of the house screaming “THE PATS WON!”

What followed was a rundown of what happened in about 30 seconds. From the excitement in their voices, one might have thought the Pats had just won the Super Bowl, as opposed to the first game of the season.

Nothing like a last minute come-from-behind win.

Categories
Misc Notweet

Yesterday in History

Some random trivia about September 7th:

  • In 1813, the US Federal government officially accepted the nickname Uncle Sam. It came about because of the US Army, whom started referring to the meat a meat packer supplied them with as “Uncle Sam’s”. A newspaper picked up on it and the rest, as they say, is history.

  • David Packard, who would go on to create Hewlett-Packard, was born in 1912.

  • The Raggedy Ann doll was patented in 1915 by John Gruelle.

  • In 1930, the comic Blondie made it’s first appearance.

  • What would become he Hoover Dam began operation in 1936 as the Boulder Dam.

  • The Bell X-2 sets the manned aircraft altitude record at over 126,000 feet.

  • In 1963, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio was dedicated.

  • Rod Laver completed his 2nd Grand Slam in 1969, winning the US Open.

So there you go. A bunch of random facts about a random day of the year.

Categories
DIY

Garage Door Opener Update

When last we’d spoken of this saga, I had broken the carriage that runs in the track of the new garage door opener. The carriage has an arm that hangs down and is attached to the garage door. Additionally, the carriage catches on a “bullet” (Genie’s term) that’s on the belt. Thus, without the carriage the garage door opener is useless. I’d broken the carriage while trying to get the opener to properly detect an obstruction under the door such that it would stop travelling down and then reverse and go back up.

The replacement arrived from Genie today, free of charge. Many kudos to Genie for that. So I spent about an hour reinstalling the carriage. It’s a time consuming operations because the track has to be disassembled to remove the old one and then reassembled with the new one in place. In order to disassemble the track, it has to be disconnected from the wall and the motor. Oh well.

The good news is the operation is a straight-forward one, regardless of the tedium involved. I had everything back hooked back up in less than 30 minutes. I proceeded through the setup process again, upper and lower limits, and then tested the force-close for the door. I had the same results as last time. Luckily, I didn’t break the carriage this time around.

What I noticed this time around is that the track bowed when under strain. In fact, if probably bowed a good 2 inches or so. Which got me to thinking that the motor probably wasn’t sensing force so much as it was measuring distance. Or, more correctly, the travel distance of the belt. Why else would the setting the lower limit be required prior to testing the “force close”?

Anyway, if it was measuring distance then the flex in the track was probably enough to allow the belt to travel such that the motor CPU simply thought the door was in the full down position. Thus, a simple way to fix the problem was to put a stop above the track to prevent it from flexing. So I cut a 2×4 to length so that it ran from the track, while in it’s normal unstrained position, up to a joist directly above the track. The 2×4 simply blocks the track from flexing upwards like it had been doing, thereby eliminating any false travel i.e., travel that wasn’t due to the door going down.

On the next test, the opener performed as expected. Without the play from the track flexing, the motor stopped and reversed direction with the obstruction under the door preventing it from closing all the way.

With that problem fixed, it was a small matter to complete the setup, including getting the remotes to work with the new opener and the other opener (an older Genie model). I also managed to get our car’s built-in garage door opener to work with the new opener. So we are finally back to square 1 where garage doors are concerned.

Categories
Family

The Last Bagel

The first thing I heard when I came downstairs this morning was “Wait, you’re eating the last bagel?”

I had quite literally just rolled out of bed and stumbled downstairs. I was still feeling foggy and heading for the coffee maker to make myself a fresh cup. Despite my early morning fog condition, the boy’s immediate reaction to the revelation that the last bagel had been claimed by his sister was plain to see.

He slumped forward, his head dipping low, almost touching the counter. There was a pained expression on his face like he had a bad case of gas trapped in his stomach. He stayed like that for several seconds. By that time, I’d made my way to the coffee maker and was preparing my cup. I’d been hoping to at least get a mouthful before things got desperate.

Then, in a teary voice, the boy croaked “I can’t believe you ate the last bagel. I never get the last bagel. Did you ever think that I might want to have it?”

WOW

So much emotion over a bagel. And he “never gets the last bagel”? Who knew he kept track of such a thing? He can’t remember where his karate uniform is, but he can remember that he’s never had a “last bagel.” Then the accusation towards his sister- obviously she owes it to him to check what’s on his menu in the morning. All this emotion brought on by a bagel.

I wish I could say the humor continued from there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I can say, though, that I finally did get to enjoy my cup of coffee. I went and sat down on the couch to enjoy it for a few moments and was joined by the boy, whom curled up with a pout on his face. You’d have thought he’d learned that he’d been permanently placed on Santa’s naughty list.

The boy’s attitude didn’t improve until we got into the car for school. Along the way, the Wife and I both admonished him to let it go. Even after he finally did have his bagel-less breakfast, he held the grudge against his sister. For her part, the lass didn’t try to rub it in. All she wanted was to enjoy her bagel. The boy did his best to make her feel guilty about it though.

I wish I could draw a neat and tidy conclusion from this morning’s experience, but the reality is I’ve got nothing. It struck me as absurd when the boy pulled his routine this morning and it strikes me just as absurd now. The bottom line is a parent just never knows when that next crisis is going to hit.

Categories
Family

Just When You Think You’ve Got Things Figured Out

I was sitting there, listening to the lass complain about her “stupid homework” that was “so easy” and I was thinking “I’ve heard this song before…”

The biggest surprise of the, still young, school year is that the lass hates her homework. We’re talking about the girl who, while in kindergarten, would bring home a homework book meant to be done over the course of a week or so and complete it that evening. Last year, she actually wanted homework and complained that she didn’t get enough of it. I documented the boy’s homework struggles last year right here so there’s no need to rehash the details. The main point is, he didn’t like it.

So now, after a few days of homework, the boy has been no trouble and the lass has been a royal pain in the ass. Her attitude has been so poor about it that she’s gotten herself sent to bed early two nights in a row. How bad was it? At one point this morning, while she was arguing with us about her doing her homework, the boy actually warned her to stop before she got herself in trouble. That’s how furiously she was digging the hole for herself.

If there’s one thing parenting has constantly reminded me it’s the capacity for surprise that kids hold. In that sense, I shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events. But I am. The Wife and I spent most of the summer wondering what how the boy would handle homework this year, especially after last year. We never seriously considered the lass because she’d never given us reason to.

Yet here we are. Luckily, it’s early days. If things can change one way, they can change the other. We’ll just have to exercise a little extra patience.

Categories
Misc

Quick Book Review

One of the tricks my Mom pulled on us was reading books before we read them. In fact, probably any book that we read growing up, she had read as well. There were 2 reasons for this, the first was she wanted to make sure the content wasn’t overly objectionable and the second, and arguably more important, was it gave her something in common with us. It was one more thing we could sit and talk about. Her being a former English teacher just made it easier for us to learn how to read a book.

With that in mind, I decided to read Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief. The boy had started it a few days ago. I started reading it yesterday and finished it today. It is a kids book through and through, leveraging Greek mythology to create an interesting story. The book clocks in at about 350 pages, but we’re not talking about George R.R. Martin levels of detail here. It’s fast paced and the action keeps on going right to the end. In short, it’s a perfect book for a 4th grader.

But if you enjoy Greek mythology, then even an adult could gain some entertainment. There are clever twists on the old Greek myths and the way the author uses them to build his story. In the process, he creates his own modern day Greek hero. It’s definitely worth the few hours it takes to plow through it.

Categories
Family

A Lesson in Cleaning

The Wife is a neat-nick.

I am not.

This is a not unimportant fundamental difference in life philosophy. Her desk is immaculate and a paragon of the old adage “A place for everything and everything in its place.” My desk, typically, has a few square inches of cleared area that moves around the desk with the piles. Kind of like those tiled-number puzzles where the object is to put all the tiles in order and there’s one open space so that all the tiles can be moved around. I defend my piles simply by stating that I remember where everything falls. An disorganized desk is a sign of an organized mind, I say.

Given our disparate views on organization and cleanliness, the Wife tends to be the enforcer where the kid’s rooms are concerned. Well, where the house is concerned really but for now we’ll focus on the kid’s rooms. She wants them picked up and tidy. She has gone to great lengths to provide cubbies for their toys so that the floors in the room can be clear for walking on. It just requires a little maintenance on the kid’s part to make the system work.

Typically, the motivation for that maintenance is provided in the form of nagging.

So today, when the Wife told them to clean their rooms, they had to interrupt their morning cartoons to go do it. SUCH AN INCONVENIENCE! They disappeared for about 5 minutes, then returned. The Wife, in the meantime, was vacuuming the floors because our dogs are blowing their coats. Again.

For whatever reason, perhaps because the quick turnaround time from the being-asked to completing their “cleaning” seemed odd, I ventured up into their rooms to see how they’d done. Just because I don’t practice it, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do it. It also doesn’t mean I don’t know how to recognize a cleaned room. Toys still on the floor, beds unmade, clothes in various piles around the room do not a clean room make.

So I called them up and played the role of supervisor for the next 20 minutes. During this time, my most oft used phrase was “What’s that?” The second most was “Where does it belong?” They claimed they’d made their beds. After pointing out the crumpled blankets, the half-off-the-bed pillows, the mussed sheets and the stuffed animals strew hither and thither, they were chastened enough to actually make their beds. Clothes on the floor were picked up- some went into the laundry, some into drawers. Toys buried under those clothes were also picked up. Pieces of paper were pointed out and thrown out. Shoes were put in closets. Finally, they each vacuumed their rooms. All was done under my close supervision.

When it was finished, I told them both to take a good look at what they’d done. With them having done so, I then explained that was what clean looked like and there should be no confusion in the future about what’s expected of them when told to clean their rooms. They both nodded with understanding then went back downstairs to finish watching their cartoons.

I’ve got a feeling we’ll be doing this again.

Categories
Family

Kids Are Good at the Dodge

The lass keeps a messy room.

Not for lack of attempts from the Wife to correct it either. There’s a constant push-pull battle going on with the Wife trying to get the lass to clean up her room and the lass … not cleaning up her room. I’m sure this isn’t indicative of things to come.

So in today’s installment, the Wife walked into the lass’ room and saw a bunch of clothes on the floor. Exasperated, she asked the lass why they were laying there. The lass was immediately defensive, saying “They were picked up but they fell down.”

And, apparently, that’s where they stayed. It’s just the natural disorder of things, that’s all. The clothes don’t want to be picked up and put away, they want to be laying on the floor, the lass was just acquiescing to their demands.

The Wife was, well, let’s say none to thrilled with that response. I was in another room chuckling.

Categories
DIY

A Frustrating Afternoon

Our garage door opener was broken, and I needed to fix it.

A couple of days ago, our Genie garage door opener started acting funny. It wouldn’t close all the way, inexplicably reversing at some point on it’s way down. With a bit of persistence, it could eventually be made to close. Afterwards, it seemed like it was OK.

When the problem recurred a second time, I started investigating. That’s when things went downhill fast. I thought perhaps the “force close” setting was off, so I tried adjusting that. The power started cutting out entirely for the board. I eventually ended up calling Genie customer support and after about an hour on the phone and trying various things and debugging, it was determined that the circuit board had failed.

The unit was out of warranty and the support person told me they could send out a new board, but it was $85 dollars or so. She advised me that with the age of the opener, my money might be better spent on a new more modern opener since the motor was near the end of its life as well. After checking the prices, I ended up following her advice.

Today, I spent the afternoon installing the new garage door opener. It’s one of Genie’s SilentMax models, which is belt driven. I’d have preferred the chain version, but the belt versions were all that was available at the hardware stores. The install wasn’t overly difficult and most of the tedious marking and measuring had already been done to install the previous unit. It only took a couple hours for me to take the old one down and get the new one up in its place. I’ll add that the instructions supplied with the unit were excellent.

I then followed the instructions in the manual for setting up the unit. The process consists of setting the fully closed point, the fully open point and then testing the force close. The force close test makes sure the unit will stop closing and then reverse and open if there is an obstruction in the way of the door. I couldn’t get the closed limit set properly so that the force close test worked. So I kept incrementally adjusting the down limit. The problem was, I could here the motor straining under the load, so I couldn’t keep doing this.

It was while I was struggling with that whole sequence when I heard a loud pop. Shortly after that, the carriage that serves as a means to connect the door to the belt stopped travelling with the belt, and I realized that in less than a day, I’d broken the damn thing.

My hope was I could possibly fix the carriage, but after another call to Genie, I was disabused of that notion. It was broken, no fixing it. The only good is it is under warranty and they sent me a replacement carriage, which won’t be here until later next week.

So after an afternoon’s worth of work, I was back where I’d started. Our garage door opener is broken, and I need to fix it.

Categories
DIY Patio

Let There Be Light!

I’m not much of a photographer, but I think these will do.

Categories
Misc

Stop with the Gloating about Riggs vs King

ESPN has an interesting story about the famous “Battle of the Sexes” between Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs. For those that don’t know, that’s the famous tennis match in which Billy Jean King defeated Riggs in straight sets and changed the arc of history between men and women.

I’ve seen a lot of references to this story in my Twitter feed today, most of them some variation on “HA HA! Riggs threw the match! In your FACE women!” To this I say, “Meh.” Number one, the article is far from definitive. Aside from mentioning that many tennis people believed Riggs threw it (Riggs himself never admitted as much), the entire things hinges on the word of an 80-year-old man who supposedly overheard a bunch of mobsters talking. Even more so, for the past 40 years, he’s kept quiet for fear of retribution or something and he’s the only guy in the world that knows this. That’s pretty thin.

Further, if we assume for a moment that it is true, what’s to be gained by gloating at this point? Sure, if it was fixed, then knowing the truth is I suppose interesting. But when things counted, the entire world believed otherwise. If perceptions were in fact changed (and I have no reason to doubt they were), then does knowing now automatically undo everything the match did for women and sports? Is it the gloater’s contention that it should be undone because it was built on a lie? I just don’t see the point of gloating about this news.

So at best, those gloating are revealing themselves as preening a-holes. At worst, they’re fools getting taken for a ride. Not exactly a couple of great choices.

Something I did learn from the story is that King was not the number one ranked female player at the time. A woman named Margaret Court was and Riggs had played her 4 months prior to King and thoroughly whooped her. That was the match the that pulled King into the mix.

One thing I’d always wondered was, why did everyone think a 55-year old man losing to a woman was a big deal? Think about it- King was 30 at the time and at the top of her game. Riggs wasn’t. So why was it so monumental when she beat him?

The Margaret Court match is why. With that match, Riggs established that he was fully capable of not just winning, but dominating a top-ranked woman player.

As for my own opinion regarding the article’s theis, I find the evidence put forth in the article compelling, but not totally convincing. Mostly, it’s just another cord of wood for the “Battle of the Sexes” fire.

Categories
Misc

Adenium Blogging

It’s actually been a tough year for my Desert Rose plants. I changed the location of my largest one, a Uranus variant, because it is difficult to move around. I thought it might do well out in our front yard, unfortunately it hasn’t gotten enough sun to cause it to bloom. With the peak of the Summer well behind us, this will end up being an off year for it.

Earlier this year, I lost my White Desert Rose. It just seemed to rot out inexplicably.

That leaves my Red and Black Orchid varieties. The Red is pushing a few more blooms, and the Black Orchid has finally bloomed:

Still, overall it’s been an off year for my adeniums.

Categories
Family

An “Ehh” First Day

I suppose the rain this morning pretty well captured the kid’s mood. They went through their routines- breakfast, making sandwiches, backpacks ready, a little morning cartoons. Neither of them was particularly pleased though.

The lass griped about he pictures- somehow she’d gotten some food on her dress. Rather than addressing he problem, she insisted there was none. We eventually opted to turn the TV off on them this morning to drive home the point that the bad attitude wasn’t appreciated.

On the ride in, the lass whined about recess and gym and why everyone like those times during school. She thought they were stupid and didn’t like them. Continuing with all the happy talk, the boy complained about being stuck in “smelly, sweaty rooms” all day. When we finally arrived at the dropoff, the boy stalked out the door, closing it in his sister’s face without so much as a backwards glance. With his head down, he might as well have been marching off to prison.

The lass brightened a little at that point. She opened the door her brother had closed in her face and hopped out without complaint. She turned and waved at the Wife and I, a big smile on her face. Then she was off, and we headed home.

By that point the rain had stopped falling, but the clouds remained.

Categories
Family

A Quiet Final Day

In contrast to most of the rest of the Summer, the kids spent their final day playing quietly. I had to go participate in sexual harassment training at the school I tutor for, so I left them for a couple of hours this morning. When I left, they were starting a game of Monopoly. When I returned, a couple of hour later, they were finishing that game of Monopoly.

They continued playing, changing board games as their patience with each other began wearing thin over a new game of Monopoly. In the meantime, I had a little lunch and then tended to some outside chores that needed doing. I’ve replanted grass over all the areas of the lawn that I’d wrecked during the Great Patio Project of the Summer so I’ve been tending to that with water and the like while waiting for the initial sprigs of grass to show up. I told them I’d probably be going into the pool for a bit after I was done.

This news got them outside for a bit. They were in the pool well before I was, eagerly awaiting my arrival in the pool. They’ve invented a new game they call “Shark”. Original, I know. It’s basically a form of under water tag. The person that’s “it” swims around but can only tag someone when they and their target are both submerged. We play with eye goggles one, so it’s actually quite difficult to get tagged. None the less, we managed several rounds until it became too cool to continue.

Plus, it was time to start prepping for dinner. We wanted the boy to attend martial arts class tonight to make things easier for later this week. I’d missed my own usual Monday morning class because of the training I’d gone to, so I decided to attend classes tonight as well. The boy has been participating in teen classes lately because the children’s classes have nothing left to offer him at the junior apprentice level. So my participating tonight meant we got to take a class together, which he seemed to take as a novelty. Anyway, in order for him and I to make class, I had to get dinner going a little earlier than usual. While I took care of dinner, the kids went back to playing their games.

We returned home for class to find the Wife and the lass curled up on the couch reading together. They had already done some prep for tomorrow morning, getting lunches and snacks ready. The boy had to go take a shower, then he got a little ice cream- a final summer treat before the long slog of the year began. Afterwards, he also took care of some of the formalities for the next day, assembling part of his lunch and making sure his school bag was ready to go.

They were both in bed by 8. The Wife is in bed now, and I’ll be following suit shortly. The Summer was, in many respects, too short. For all the parental joking about “relief” that school is back, the house will have a quiet about it that will take a little getting used to. On the way home from martial arts tonight, the boy said, a little glumly, “I guess a lot of parents will be happy come tomorrow.” I thought for a moment and then told him it probably wasn’t quite like that. I said Summer’s are a fun time for everyone since we all get to spend a little more time together doing things, even if it’s just hanging out together. Summer is a nice break from the routine of schools- the dropoffs, the pickups, the homework, the activities.

When I finished explaining this to him, he seemed a little more pleased about the circumstances. I suppose it never occurred to him that, while he and his sister were busy enjoying their Summer vacation, the Wife and I were as well.

Categories
DIY

Pool Chemistry

We had a pool growing up and I actually did a fair amount of the maintenance for it, especially as I got older. So when we got our own pool this Summer, I had a fair amount of practical experience with pool care. Still, there is a difference between being the laborer versus being the guy responsible. Then, I was the laborer. Now, I’m the guy in charge of the pool.

My first learning experience was with our sand filter. Growing up, we had a DE filter and it basically had 2 operating modes: filter and backwash. The new sand filter has filter, backwash, circulate, rinse, closed, winter and a couple others I’m forgetting. When I started running it I had it set to “circulate”, which seemed reasonable at the time because I hadn’t noticed the “filter” option. I realized something was wrong the first time I vacuumed and realized nothing was getting accomplished.

Filter issues aside, the biggest deal with a pool is chemistry. Namely, maintaining pH, alkalinity and free chlorine levels such that swimming is a pleasant experience. All three of those are, to a certain degree, interrelated. Arguably, the most important of those is the free chlorine level. That’s what keeps the pool clean and sanitary. The trick is, too much and the pool’s liner or filter life can be greatly shortened. Too little and the water is not that pleasant to swim in.

Fortunately, we got off to a good start and never had any problems, though I did have one minor issue that made me go to the web looking for answers. As part of our “kit” we got from the installer, our filter has a chlorinator. Within the first couple of weeks, I went through 2 cartridges of chlorines tablets for the chlorinator. I asked at the store if that was normal and they indicated that a cartridge should be lasting me a month or so.

So, I started my search and came across Trouble Free Pool, which is full of useful information about pool care and chemistry. Since I wasn’t having any real water issues, mainly a chlorine level issue, I opted to try the advice from there using liquid chlorine to maintain appropriate chlorine levels. I haven’t spent any money on the fancy test kits recommended there(I use test strips), but I’ve saved myself some money not buying expensive chlorine packs while still maintaining crystal clear water.

As for Trouble Free Pool, they’ve got a wealth of information there about pool care and the forums are a civil and an informative place to find help for dealing with problems of all sorts. It’s definitely worth a look see for pool related issues.

Categories
Football

I Want Cake Now!

If you’ve seen something funnier than this today, I envy you:

Categories
Family Notweet

Ending the Summer with a Flourish

The first day of school is next Tuesday. Why it starts on Tuesday instead of Monday I have no idea. Considering that weather has extended the past several school year significantly due to days cancelled, I’d think they’d try to front load the year a bit more. But I’m not in charge. So school starts on Tuesday.

They also get Friday off as well.

With school vacation fast coming to its end, the kids are getting every opportunity to continue enjoying it. The weather has been absolutely fantastic for awhile now. How fantastic? If summer weather were typically like this, I might actually not cringe at the thought of Summer’s arrival. Warm days with highs around 80, cool nights with temps in the low 50’s and even the 40’s sometimes. Little to no humidity, which is the typical hallmark of New England summers. The past several weeks have been this way.

So they spent today in the pool for the afternoon. They’ve thoroughly enjoyed the addition of the pool this year. I have as well. It’s been very refreshing a number of times after finishing outdoor chores.

Tonight, the boy is sleeping over at a friend’s for a birthday party. It isn’t the normal sort of sleepover either. They’ve setup tents for sleeping outdoors tonight and they also setup their own “drive-in” movie. They took bedsheets and erected a big screen and are using a projector so the boys can watch. There’s a campfire as well as cake. A pretty good setup.

The lass her time with Mom and Dad at one of the local fairs that started today. After dropping the boy off, we took her there and spent the evening walking around and seeing the sights at the fair. She watched tractor pulls and lawnmower races as well as checking out livestock. Plus, she got to eat fair food. Always a hit- except at the weighin the next morning.

The fun doesn’t end for them today either. Tomorrow, the boy has a practice at his dojang, after which he’s invited to go to one of the instructor’s house for a pool party. The lass isn’t left out of the action either. She’s going to a friend’s birthday/ pool party as well. Possibly the only thing better than a pool in their own backyard is a pool in someone else’s backyard.

Not sure what Sunday or Monday have in store. But I’m sure we’ll try to make the most of it. Because next Tuesday, it’s time to get back to work.

Categories
Misc

What to Make of This Followup

A couple of days ago, I related what I considered to be an unusual exchange in our school’s office. My brother commented:

As a Connecticut resident, you should be able to think of at least one horrific reason why office personnel may be a little less lenient with visitors now a days. I am not saying you should be suspected of anything, but it is always the people that people least suspect. Additionally, I find it encouraging that someone in that office has the guts to stand up and say something that puts everyone on notice that “we are watching”. Would you rather have them not notice?

You may be known, but how many times does the crazy person have to calmly walk into the office before everyone is comfortable with that individual too?

Liability is a scary thing, and when the lives of children are at stake, it might be best to support efforts at security and encourage a second glance or an extra question. Unfortunately, it only takes one person letting something slide to change the course of a life forever.

I received another comment highlighting this article as well, which was something I was aware of.

I had considered this but didn’t bother writing it up in the original post. I might as well address it here.

So, assuming it is part of some kind of new security protocol, allow me to say I’m more concerned now than before. Keep in mind, I had already gained access to the building. Not only that, I had walked straight into the office. School shooters are not rational people, and this “security protocol”, if it is such, seems to have been concocted by someone expecting rational behavior. If I’d been armed and intending to do damage, then I was at the point where all I had to do was start shooting.

I don’t think it’s too hard to game out that trying to account for everything an irrational person is a near impossibility. Perhaps I’d planted a bomb. Perhaps my target was down the hall from the office- remember, I was already inside and no one met me until I reached the office.

It’s scary to think about this stuff for too long because it quickly becomes apparent just how easy a target a school is. I would say 99.99% of the time, the person walking through the front door is a parent with some kind of legitimate business. Administrative people need parent’s help and generally don’t want to create too many hassles for them. To impose enough obstacles so as to dissuade an irrational person would impose serious inconveniences on the 99.99%. Personally, the one thing I think would work is armed guard, or making it known that there are teachers with concealed carry permits within the building. But that’s an argument for another post.

So, based on it’s complete ineffectiveness, I’m going to say I hope this wasn’t part of the school’s new security measures. Thus, why I didn’t mention this in the previous post.

My best guess is there’s some kind of new office protocol that hasn’t been communicated to us, the parents, yet. Perhaps they were saving it for the 1st day of school packets. My second best guess is this woman is a new hire and she was just carrying out her job. Clumsily, I might add.

Categories
Politics

Straight-talk or Jerk?

John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame points out this article on speaking in tongues and opines:

Hard to believe The New York Times ran this piece of claptrap on their op-ed page. “We” don’t speak in tongues; religious nutjobs do, and they do it because they believe in superstitious nonsense. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that there is a high correlation between tongue-speakers and climate change deniers and creationist “science” school curriculum pushers — people who are doing real and genuine harm to our society and the planet.

Sometime after this, he added the following update:

UPDATE: As a perusal of my (and @daringfireball’s) Twitter replies will show, this post was, I suppose unsurprisingly, controversial. One word I’ve seen from those whom I presume to be Pentecostals or other evangelical Christians is “hate” — examples here, here, here, here, here, here. A lack of respect is not hatred; I do not respect superstitious nonsense. But this framing — equating lack of respect with hatred — is what keeps many from criticizing nonsensical religious views.

I haven’t bothered to copy over the links in the original update. See Gruber’s original post if interested. I’d recommend reading the original NYT article at the link above, if for no other reason than to contrast it with Gruber’s disrespect.

Gruber, I think, hangs himself pretty well in the update:

… A lack of respect is not hatred; …

No, I suppose it isn’t. But it’s not much of an improvement either, especially for someone who likes to consider himself so enlightened. Politically, speaking, Gruber is a liberal and one of the most oft repeated charges liberals bring against conservatives is the latter’s lack of respect for other cultures and many things liberals hold dear. Similarly, conservatives charge liberals with lacking respect for certain traditions and institutions that conservatives tend to hold dear. Last I checked this “lack of respect” wasn’t exactly resulting in a great deal of comity between liberals and conservatives. So the fact that Gruber is trying to draw a distinction between “hate” and “lack of respect” in his defense is pretty thin. Fine, his commenters in this case accuse him of “hate” and he’s playing a silly game of “Gotcha” pointing out he doesn’t “hate.” Roger that. He just totally doesn’t respect them. I’m sure they are assuaged.

I also note this line:

… “We” don’t speak in tongues; religious nutjobs do, …

Here, Gruber has setup the oft used “other” construct. But it’s more than that. By labeling one group as “religious nutjobs,” he’s implying that the other group, which Gruber is clearly a member of, is the normal, enlightened group. While I think that’s perfectly consistent with “lack of respect,” it’s hardly consistent with being tolerant, a typical source of pride for the enlightened.

Having read the original article, I’d personally go with labelling tongue speakers as “different” and leave it at that. No, I’m not about to start speaking in tongues, but that doesn’t automatically make me better than those that do. If I had a friend who spoke in tongues, it would certainly be a sort of curiosity to me. I might even think it weird; but, I wouldn’t lose respect for someone who believes in something like speaking in tongues. I find it hard to believe Gruber could make the same statement. Then again, perhaps some of Gruber’s best friends are tongue speakers…

Finally, as a form of justification, Gruber says:

I’ll bet my bottom dollar that there is a high correlation between tongue-speakers and … — people who are doing real and genuine harm to our society and the planet.

I suppose I should note that the “people doing harm” that Gruber specifically names are climate-change deniers and creationists. More of the “other” construct, along with some helpful labels! Gruber offers no support for his “enlightened” hunch- I’d take his bet.

As to the charge of “doing real and genuine harm to our society”, again I find that pretty thin. Gruber is a speaker all over the world. I’d refer him to this article about the actual real damage he’s doing flying all over the world, as opposed to the supposed damage his “other” is doing. No doubt, he’ll say how he doesn’t fly “that” much as his defense. That or I’m sure he gets the “Enlightened Group Discount” on damage.

So, enlightened people damage the planet as well. As for society? Gruber voted for President Obama, I’d bet my bottom dollar. I’ve got two words: “surveillance state”. Here’s two more: ’nuff said.

Consider this a shining example of “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”- shoot, spoke in tongues there.

From a broad perspective, Gruber thinks himself as a “non-bullshitter.” A straight talker that tells it like he sees it based on available evidence. When it comes to computers and technology, he’s often quite good at the schtick. But in this case, he’s confused his strong opinion about how he thinks the world works for “truth,” a common mistake for the “enlightened.” Ultimately, in this instance, he’s not a straight-talker, just another disrespectful jerk.