my hope for spring’s eternal

April 5, 2013 1 Comment

WindInTheWillowsI keep putting away my warm clothes with undue optimism, hoping we’ve seen the last of the cold, damp weather.

We have passed the vernal equinox — why am I still wearing a wool coat and scarf?

(Well, today was lovely, in fact, but yesterday was wintery, and I was having these thoughts yesterday.)

So Benjamin and I were tired of spending this nominal spring indoors. We put on our warm clothes and headed into the woods. It was windy and chilly, and I was feeling foolish, but by the time we got to the bend in the creek where Benjamin likes to look for interesting-looking rocks, the clouds had parted for a while, and we were able to sit in the sun by the "chatter and bubble," and I took out my Kindle and read to Benjamin from the The Wind in the Willows, which opens in spring, with Mole suddenly unable to remain indoors. He abandons his spring cleaning and heads up and out into an unfamiliar world:

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life lessons from boozy bots

March 26, 2013 Leave a comment

CocktailBender My 6-year-old son, Benjamin, is asking when we will start to build robots together. A friend of mine is talking about starting a robotics club in the Charlottesville area, and I think Benjamin is now picturing us creating the autonomous bots and droids of science fiction. I’m trying to lower his expectations a bit, first by introducing him to programming through MIT’s wonderful Scratch system and iPad games like CargoBot, Cato’s Hike, Kodable, and Benjamin’s favorite: A.L.E.X.

So when I saw something on Hulu.com the other night about “Team Robotics,” I had to take a quick look. Hulu immediately warned me, “This video is intended for mature audiences.”

Really? Would this turn out to be some sci-fi fantasy about gynoid sexbots? That sure wasn’t the impression I was getting from the picture of Team Robotics: Read more of this post

Filed under family, schooling, strategy, technology, video

beautiful soup

March 13, 2013 2 Comments

Benjamin's beautiful soupBeautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! – Lewis Carroll

Benjamin makes and eats beautiful soup.

You can find the recipe here.

Filed under family, food

Benjamin loves the Artemis Fowl series

January 12, 2013 Leave a comment

Artemis2The whole family was at the bank yesterday afternoon, signing papers. Mother and father took turns hanging out with Benjamin in the lobby while the other parent visited with one of the bankers.

During my turn in the lobby, I read to Benjamin from the second Artemis Fowl novel: The Arctic Incident. I was doing my best to switch back and forth between American, Irish, and Russian accents, when another banker, not the one we were dealing with, came out of his office with a big smile and said, “Excuse me. I just had to interrupt. You’re reading Artemis Fowl? My daughter loved that series. She read the whole thing; then she made me read the whole thing. It’s just great!”

And then he disappeared back into his office.

I guess you can consider that a sort of book review.

Filed under family, literature

casting the gods adrift

May 25, 2011 1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to praise Geraldine McCaughrean’s Casting the Gods Adrift, which is what we’re currently reading for family book time. I have yet to read a book by McCaughrean I don’t want to praise. She’s so good at finding the dramatic angle. And my wife describes her writing as "liquid prose."

After the missus read us a chapter at the end of dinner, I was acknowledging the author’s ability to make me care about Pharaoh Akhenaten‘s “heresy” — emphasizing that it’s difficult for me to imagine caring about these gods I don’t believe in.

Not-quite-5-year-old Benjamin said, "You don’t believe in the Egyptian gods? I do!"

"And do you believe in the Greek gods?" I asked.

"Yes."

"And do you believe in the God of the Hebrews who said that all these other gods don’t exist?"

"Yes," said Benjamin, "but He didn’t say the other gods don’t exist; He just said that you can’t have any gods before Him!"

Serves me right for teaching him the Bible. So — will he be a biblical scholar or a lawyer?

Filed under family, literature, religion

construction set

May 17, 2011 Leave a comment

Last night, Benjamin and I came home from Lowe’s and got to work on the simpler version of this instructable:

PVC Pipe Multi Toy – Absolutely Simple

I cut the pieces, and Benjamin began to assemble the toys.

Here’s what he has built already:

Here is what he has yet to build:

If you already have a way to cut PVC pipe, this great construction set should cost less than $10.

(Now to figure out how to make modular wheels for the less-simple version of the construction set.)

Filed under family, howto

misty gate

May 16, 2011 1 Comment

Hm. “Misty Gate” sounds a bit like the stage name of an “adult film” actress, but it’s the best name I could come up with for this device:

I spent my bachelor week fixing and building things, trying to balance my online billable hours with offline nonbillable handiwork. One project I took on was this PVC construction from Instructables:

KidWash 2 : PVC Sprinkler Water Toy

In the photos above, Benjamin, just returned from a 9-hour drive after a week away from home, decides he wants to play in the mist with all his clothes on. I call that a success.

Filed under family, howto

Benjamin’s sidebar photos

January 13, 2011 Leave a comment

I’m so pleased with this photo that Benjamin’s mother took during his last karate class (“show class”) that I thought I’d do a not-quite-chronological review of all the sidebar photos I’ve posted of the boy:

Filed under family, photo

when the cat’s away

August 21, 2010 Leave a comment

This mouse will work, apparently.

Dropped wife and son off at the airport.

What does a temporary bachelor’s newly liberated afternoon look like?

Do I voice dial the escort service on the drive back from the airport?

Do I mix afternoon cocktails when I get home?

Run with scissors?

Apparently, I sit down and work for a few hours.

Maybe this evening will see more debauchery.

Meanwhile, here’s how lax airplane security has gotten:


Photo tweeted by his mother en route

Filed under family

how to play marbles

May 29, 2010 Leave a comment

Figure 1

Benjamin and I are learning to play marbles. It’s more fun than I’d have thought.

I love these images from LandOfMarbles.com:

Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9

Filed under family, howto

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