Simultaneity

I was asked to submit one of my photos to be reviewed for the East Coast Guide of Schmap. They sent me an e-mail a few days ago to let me know that they've selected the photo to represent the Maryland Science Center.

This isn't a blog that most of you would read so I thought I'd encourage you to read about A Grand Celebration.

Sitting in class everyday from 8-4:30 and taking in tons of information is supposed to be hard - that's why these two weeks are called intensives. And, to a degree it is difficult, but it's a lot easier because there is someone at home making sure that all the other parts of my life keep on running.
It's no small tasks to raise these two children - and I'm sure that it's hards to be a single mom even if it's for two weeks...but top that off with being in a new community and a home that you've only been in for 10 days before being alone and it makes intensives look like a vacation.

Thank you Teri for making life at school so much easier.
I love you!

Who's the super-ist super hero?

Two different fellows on the web are trying to find out. They take turns creating and drawing a character with a power, then the other must come up with a hero that cancels the power of the previous character.

The list begins with the Unopposinator - see who's winning now.

You may have noticed that I fell behind on updating my books read. I have a goal of reading at east 10 a year (and with school that won't be a problem) but got so busy with moving and school that the update to the read list fell behind.

While I've listed new books, I want to preface that I am not listing all of the school books that I need to read. In most classes we need to read all of the book, yet skimming is sufficient in parts of the book. So, depending on the amount of skimming and the depth of the reading I may or may not list a school text. Those not listed also do not count toward my ten, but in no way mean I didn't get something out of them or didn't read them.

A repeat from Kevin's Blog - but wanted to put it here as well...

Yesterday Teri wasn't feeling well and I was getting ready to leave for school. This was pretty disruptive to the family, yet also an opportunity to see some of the results of our efforts in raising a spiritual champion.
After fixing lunch I returned to the living room to find Kevin say "...in Jesus name I pray, Amen." I knew that he and Alex had said grace so I asked him if they were saying it again.
Teri had returned from upstairs and said, "No, he knew I was upset and asked if he could pray for me."

Then just a short while later we gathered together as a family before I left for school and he led us in prayer for my schooling, safety, and that school would be fun.

Wow, I am so sick...

Most of the time I'm only sick enough to take off work every other year or so - it's pretty rare. Even more rare is throwing up.
Last night I did that at least 4 times and had to be on the potty about once an hour...so, 2nd day at the new job and already missing a day for being sick :(

I'm not alone though - one of the secretaries hasn't called in sick in 19 years and she has the same thing, as do a few other families - misery loves company I suppose.

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

About a week ago I learnd that all company-operated Starbucks use rBGH free dairy products which is great, because despite those that say their is no harmful side effects, my body says otherwise (as do most other countries). But this didn't really do anything for me because I don't care for coffee. I like the smell, but not the taste or the aftertaste. And I almost never drink anything with caffeine.

Today we set out for Illinois, planning to do half of the 12+ hour drive and before we hit Fredrick (about 30 minutes) I was groggy and not just a little bit. I stopped and walked Jake for a bit, which helped for about 20 more minutes. At that point I decided to go for caffeine, I'd get a Coke. Entering the TigerMart I smelled the coffee and decided to get that instead. After adding some coffee to my cream and sugar, the caffeine hit me instantly.

At my next rest stop, there was a Starbucks so I caved and had my first ever coffee from there, a Caffè Mocha. It was okay, certainly addicting, but it was still coffee and therefore something that I won't chase after...but I probably will have another as we complete our drive tomorrow.

Even before we put our house on the market I've been saying that I don't think that the government should step in to help people that find themselves in trouble because of the housing issues of late. I still feel that way - even though it means it will take longer to sell our house.
For one, I think government fixes would just hurt the market even more, but that's now why I'm posting...I think this story pretty much sums up why we are in the crisis we are.

She looked at only one house and paid too much for it: $430,000 [triple] what the house had sold for the year before, and $5,000 more than the asking price, according to real estate records. She agreed to a high-interest loan that would cost her more than $3,000 a month, more than 70 percent of the $4,200 that she and her husband brought home monthly.

Hulu rocks.

It's a new site owned partially by NBC and Fox, but independent of both that has tons of TV shows in good quality. Old shows, current shows, some movies...a little but of everything and growing.
Best of all it's free. Yes, it's ad supported so you have to watch 2 15 and a 30 second ad during your show, but it's well worth it to see some of those classics.

I own the DVD set of The Tick (Live Action) but now I can watch it any time....this show cracks me up.

Panda Cub Injures National Zoo Keeper
The 170-pound giant-panda cub at the National Zoo grabbed a worker while trying to play, sending her to the hospital with a small leg laceration, zoo officials said Wednesday.

Our house is officially for sale. We moving westward and hoping that our house sells quickly. We've enjoyed living here for the past decade and there's some sadness in leaving - but there's also joy in the adventures ahead.
Sorting and packing has been quite a chore but we're more or less at the point where we need to wait until closer to moving day to get much else done. I'm still making some minor cosmetic changes (paint, etc) to the house to make it even more attractive.
So far I know of three, maybe four people, are interested. No one has come in yet, but I imagine it is only a matter of time. We're more or less on a dead end street in a quiet part of town so it's perfect for people that want some privacy.

NGC 4736 is a puzzle to astronomers.
It seems that it lacks dark matter which is essential for forming and maintaining galaxies.

Galaxy without dark matter puzzles astronomers
"It is unclear how one would form a galaxy without a dark halo, or how one could remove the halo without destroying the galaxy," says Diemand. "A galaxy without dark matter really does not fit into our current understanding of cosmology and galaxy formation."

Yesterday Kevin had an appointment with one of the teachers at the school. She was kind enough to give him a kindergarten evaluation test even though she knew that we were homeschooling and planning to continue to homeschool.

In the readiness skills; reading, spelling, and arithmetic he scored at a 99.9 percentile. His age equivalent for arithmetic and reading is 7 years old, and for spelling it's 6 years 11 months.

On the development side of things, his age equivalents are:

Developmental tasks (like copying shapes, completing a drawing) 5.8
Language skills 7.3
And academic indicators (writing numbers, name, naming animals) 6.8

for an overall developmental age of 6.6

So Proud!

Chimp beats students at computer game
A particularly cunning seven-year-old chimp named Ayumu has bested university students at a game of memory. He and two other young chimps recalled the placement of numbers flashed onto a computer screen faster and more accurately than humans.

I know it's been a long time since my last post, and honestly, it will likely be a long time until my next one...but, just in case you are wondering how school is going:

Intro to Children's and Family Ministry: A
Hermeneutics: A

Next round of classes begin January 8, with even more books to be read.

On the way home from church this evening, Kevin was talking about getting Buster Bear (his stuffed Bear) a bear for Christmas. He was talking about going to Build-A-Bear.
Teri asked quietly if we should make him use his own money for it...but he heard and said, "Yes, I have enough money."
Jesse: Do you know how much a bear costs at Build-A-Bear?
Kevin: No
Jesse: How do you know you have enough, how much do you have?
Kevin: Thirty Dollars (don't know where this figure comes from)
Jesse: So if a bear costs $20, how much would you have left?

He then posed a random guess and I told him to figure it out and not guess...I heard counting for a while and finally told him he would have $10 left.

Kevin: How much is $20 in nickels. (He knows nickels and pennies)
Jesse: 20 times 20. That would be 400 nickels.
Kevin: FOUR HUNDRED?!?!
Kevin(dejectedly): I guess I'm not going to get him a bear.

I reassured him that he had more than enough...after all$30 is 600 nickels.

He then asked what would happen if we didn't have cars. I explained that only the very rich have cars (top 3% of the world) and that not everyone has a car. To which he followed up with asking what if we didn't have cars or stores.
Again, not everyone has cars and not everyone has stores...

Jesse: Some people have to get their milk from cows or goats.
Kevin: Where does cream milk come from? (cream milk is what he calls whole milk)
Jesse: Cows.
Kevin: Where does plain milk (2%) come from?
Jesse: Cows. Milk is sent to a creamery where they make sure there are no....
Kevin: YOU CAN MILK A GOAT?!?!

Guess tonight was a night of Interjections.x

I have a few friends that are librarians. I never thought much of it, someone has to be one...besides, I like books - I wish I could read everything I wanted (though that would require assimilating a book in a matter of minutes). I don't know why, I suppose it's because I've only really interacted with public librarians, but I always figured it wasn't a huge ordeal - know how to file book, use the computer, check things out...what do you need to go to a special school for?
In high school I used the library for pleasure reading, I use the public libraries for the same, in college I didn't use the library other than as a quiet place to study, so, sorry guys, this is how I say librarians.

But, a librarian named Tim helped change that. He wasn't the typical introverted type that you expect librarians to be. I was introduced to him though a class he was giving on how to use the seminary library (we need a class for that I thought?). But, wow, the resources that were available to us...all of which he was familiar with. Further, he's been there long enough to be familiar with the professors assignments and is more than willing to point students in the right direction when they're struggling for material. Additionally, he's accessible to us distance learning folk by phone.

Being intimately aware of what the library has to offer would be one thing, but I've found that most are pretty aware of what ANY library has to offer and how to get that for you. In other words, a librarian is like having a real life Google at your disposal, except better. You know that the resources they point you to will be ones you need, not things that some random dude thought would be neat to post.

So, to my librarian friends out there, I have a better understanding of what you do, and thank you for doing it.