What-What?! Week of March 29th

Thursday, I died.  Actually, I didn't die, I just did all the housework.  So I didn't post.  So that happened.

Took Saffron to her Girl Scouts meeting this week, which is extra fun now, because I have to take the boys with me too.  The two of them can be a terrible handful, between Oz just wanting to run around, and Corwin wanting to be just as involved in scouts as Saffron.  So I took them shopping.

Peter's birthday was yesterday, so I made cupcakes.  Really simple spice cake with cream cheese frosting.  I made two dozen, and there are only five of us here, so there'll be lots and lots of sugar eaten in the coming days.

I went to the store to buy Poptarts, but they didn't have the kind I like, so I didn't.  I have eaten cereal for breakfast nearly every day for something like two weeks.  I need to do some cooking so I have something else to eat.

Top Gear Shouldn't Go on Without Jeremy Clarkson via Wired

If you haven't been following the news, you may not know that Clarkson has been canned from Top Gear.  While his actions are deplorable (berating and hitting producer), the show in its current format is his brain child.  The variety of humor, the pace, the challenges, the topics (useful consumer advice, anyone?), they're all based on Clarkson's vision.  I agree with this author that Top Gear needs to end; it will not be the same headlined by someone else.  Hammond and May have also left the show, so there's very little that will remain the same or even similar.

Probably the most entertaining bit about this whole thing is James May.  He has, without a doubt, released more information than anyone else, while still remaining entertaining.  His Twitter page tells of his daily struggles as an unemployed man, including his plan to play the British Grenadiers on a recorder.  His first piece is Greensleeves, hungover and on a boat:


Next week, I'll have big news and lots more to talk about.  Stay tuned! :D

What-What?! Week of February 22nd

This week has been so nuts that I haven't thought about what I'm going to write.  Today's post is going to be a bit short.  Oops.

Yesterday, I took Saffron to a Girls Scouts event to pick up her sash, pins, and books.  It was a kickoff for the summer camps, and had a bunch of different activities.  She roasted her first-ever marshmallow and made s'mores.  She tells me it was delicious.

She also got to 'ride' in a boat, and decorate her own picture frame.  It was a ton of fun.

News:  The Most Popular New Vehicles in Each State via Yahoo Autos

This was pretty entertaining, and about what I expected for Washington state.  When we moved up here, the farther north we got, the more Subarus we saw.  In Washington, you practically trip over them; I've even seen some of the more unusual varieties, like the regular sedans, the Justy, and the Baja.  What makes the numbers for Subaru more interesting is that Subaru doesn't generally have anyone buying the brand for commercial fleets, so nearly all those new cars sold are to consumers.  I'm part of the Subaru forum on Reddit, and have read about the waitlists for the new models.  Also, many owners live places where there is snow; the article mentions that, in many of the states where a truck was ranked highest, the highest ranking car was a Subaru.

What-What?! Week of February 1st

This week has been good, but busy; Peter worked a bunch of overtime, plus had to drive up to Seattle yesterday, so he's spent a good deal of time not home.  I was contacted by the local Girl Scouts coordinator, and now Saffron and I are RSVP'd for the first troop meeting later this month.  I'm excited to start getting Saffron involved in some real activities; I know that the time I spent in 4-H had a lot to do with my interests and competencies growing up.

News: How Regulation Leads To Low Literacy Among Teachers, Then Students via Forbes

I kind of hate citing Forbes, as I find that the articles tend to be written from a perspective that's a bit sideways of reality, but sometimes there are still good points.  This author is discussing the fact that teachers (K-12) who graduate from conventional education programs tend to score low on literacy and English tests.  I've taken some education classes, and to be honest, this surprises me little.  It has been my experience that education teachers tend to coddle students by giving them extended deadlines (even after they've been extended already!), subjective rather than objective projects, and very lenient grading.  My business school education was quite different. (Though not all education and business schools are the same).

Further, one of the issues I keep wondering about teaching and the teaching credential programs is whether it gives people too few options.  If teachers instead had a bachelor's degree in something else, then the option of leaving teaching if it doesn't suit them becomes much easier.  Granted, this country already has huge problems with teachers leaving the profession, but I think that making it more difficult to leave the profession is just poor policy.  While I don't object to teacher credentialing, I wonder if it's too strict in some ways; one thing that I like about California is that, in order to become a substitute teacher, you only need to pass a test, get fingerprinted, and background checked.  Washington state requires a full teaching degree and credential in order to substitute teach.  With all my experience in teaching in afterschool programs, I've been interested in teaching as a profession.  However, now that we're living in Washington, I have given up on it; the expense and time to get a full teaching credential is prohibitive to someone interested in testing the waters.    Why would I go to school for two years and spend all that money for a credential that is only good for doing one thing, especially one thing I'm not sold on, that also tends to be stressful and low paying?  How many other people, who may be good teachers, get shut out because of the credentialing process?

Shopping: Shoes of Prey

Shoes of Prey is a company that makes custom shoes.  Their online interface for designing shoes is really fun to play with, even if you don't actually go through with buying the shoes.  I ran into this company through work, and then spent a bunch of time designing shoes.  I haven't bought any, because they are expensive... but maybe someday.

What-What?! Week of November 16th

It's cold here.  Yesterday, there was a little stream of water in the parking lot that never thawed.  It was frozen the entire day.  What is this magic?!  It is terrible.  I found a pair of gloves the other day, and I'm probably going to start wearing them.

News:  Benefits of Redefining Full-time Enrollment to 15 Credits a Semester Examined via Diverse

This article examines the idea of increasing the definition of fulltime enrollment to 15 units a semester, and why this is possibly a good idea.  The main reason for doing so is that it is simply impossible to graduate with a bachelor's in four years if a student only completes 12 units a semester.  This reflects the issues that many states have with students starting on a degree, but never finishing it.

The other reason I take issue with; the fact that students who take 15 units a semester are more likely to complete their education, rather than drop out.  This is a chicken or the egg conundrum; are those students taking 15 units more likely to finish their degree because of the units they take, or because they  have other factors that make it easier to take so many units?  Do those students taking 15 units a semester have to work, or have family responsibilities?  Are they professionals working towards their degree in the evenings?  My experience with this is that it is the student, not their class schedule -- I purposefully took the minimum required to hit fulltime enrollment because, while I wanted to qualify for grants and scholarships, I had small children to care for.  Similarly, one fellow business major I knew quit his job so he could take more units in order to graduate on time... but only after he checked with his parents to make sure they could foot the bill.

Another thing to take into consideration is that a class unit is equal to 3 hours of time per week outside of class.  Twelve units equals 48 hours total -- 12 in the classroom, and another 36 doing homework, reports, readings, and so on.  At 15 units, this work load becomes a total of 60 hours per week.  For some majors, I'm sure this would be fine -- not all of them have heavy homework loads or complicated projects.  However, for STEM majors, who tend to have more concentration-intensive classes, spending 45 hours a week doing homework and readings would be overwhelming at best.  That many hours makes burnout a real risk.

In my opinion, enacting 15 units a semester as fulltime enrollment would have a lot of effect on those who are already at a disadvantage to complete a degree.  Though I realize that I was relatively advantaged, I still sometimes had trouble fitting just 12 units into my schedule -- I can't imagine doing so while also having to manage a changing job schedule (like those who work in retail), or without such a supportive family as I had.  Add another class to that mess, and I think people some people will simply drop out entirely.


Oh, yeah... and the husband reading to the kids:

What-What?! Week of October 26th

Oh my goodness, this next week is Saffron's birthday and Halloween.  I'm still working on costumes, gathering up supplies to make a cake, and all that stuff.  At least I've already got her presents wrapped.

News:  Residents, Politicians Worry About Radiation at Local Park via The Seattle PI

Well, this is exciting.  A large park in Seattle was built on top of an old WWII-era military factory complex, which apparently included a radium room for building glow in the dark instrumentation for aircraft.  If there's anything I know about radiation and history, it's that it probably wasn't cleaned up properly.

What makes this particularly troubling is that, while a park may be somewhere you go often, you're not there all the time... except there are people currently living there.  So that's nice.

After doing some additional reading from the Washington State Department of Health, I'm not sure why this is news now; according to the website, this issue has been known since 2009, and cleanup began in 2013.  Did this just become public knowledge?

If so, then I guess that's nice too. D:

How about something a little cuter?  Saffron has her costume most of the way done:

Excuse the giant mess behind her. :P

What-What?! Week of October 19th

This week was a week.  I started on my new job, which is not horrendously exciting, but well enough.  I suppose I should explain what I am doing a bit more; I am working for ZeroChaos as an Ads Quality Rater.  The official description for what I do is: As an Ads Quality Rater, you will be responsible for reporting and tracking the visual quality and content accuracy of Google advertisements.  (Hit the link for more info on the job description).

Monday I had my training, and Tuesday I started working for real.  Thursday evening, I got my first review, and received pretty good feedback -- the things I went wrong with were mostly ratings where the guidelines are a bit more fuzzy.  This job relies on a lot of general knowledge in making decisions, and makes me happy I know as much as I do about computers and car companies, because I keep getting tasks centered around those topics.  The only difficult part about this job is doing it at home; I'm still working out a good schedule that makes it easy to work around taking care of the kids and house.

Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures

I don't know what to categorize this as, other than just awesome.  Thomas Geijtenbeek and his associates do biomechanical engineering work, and have done extensive research on animating creatures using physics-based simulations.  The video below is both interesting and pretty funny.  For the author's website, hit the above link.

Crazy Halloween Costumes

Saw this on Reddit, and was really impressed by the costume accuracy.  This was the child's costume from last year.  The one for this year?  A vending machine:

...and my kids just want to be robots, princesses and Buzz Lightyear.

Maybe next year we should all be inanimate objects?

What-What?! Week of October 5th

It is October, oh my goodness.  My daughter's birthday is at the end of the month, as well as Halloween.  I gotta get out my cutting mat and sew Saffron's dress, paint Corey's robot box costume, and figure out what I need for Ozzy's Buzz Lightyear costume (because that kid is Buzz Lightyear).  I need to start on that stuff soon, because I'm scheduled to start a new job on the 13th.  After that, I expect my free time is going to be more limited.  But money will be good, and I can put it on my resume.

News: Does a Five-Year-Old Need to Learn How to Code? via BBC News

The push to teach young children computer programming really irritates me.  This is because the fundamental skills used in programming are things children should be learning anyway; planning, logical thinking, attention to detail, and working with the abstract.  It's not special to programming.  Those skills can be learned through mathematics and language arts.  It's cool to say "oh, we're teaching children how to program computers, because we're so modern", it's superfluous.  Math and language arts is a much more direct way to teach those skills.  It's also cheaper, easier to apply to a variety of things, and has a much larger body of work backing up the methods used to teach it.  Now, I've taught computer programming to elementary school kids, and it went okay.  The kids were happy to mess around with computers, they did have a degree of understanding about it, but I still hold to my point -- spending more time on math would have had a better effect, especially over the long run.

For older kids, say from sixth grade on, I could see the value in teaching computer programming as the application of logical thinking skills.  Not as job preparation.  I'm not going to comment on whether or not learning a programming language is useful.  Languages rise and fall as technology changes, but the fundamental skills stay the same.  After you learn one language, it's vastly easier to learn another.  The thinking behind it doesn't change, and the value of being able to plan, think logically and be detail oriented doesn't change.

The Duck Song

I have to apologize for this.  This song will get stuck in your head.  You will wake up in the middle of the night humming it.  It's not that I hate you or anything... but it's so darn catchy.  There are at least two follow up songs, but really, you only need to listen to this one.  It will haunt you enough by itself.  Sorry guys, the duck made me do it. D:

What-What?! Week of September 14th

Things are as they were, mostly.  This past week, I set up Skype with my father-in-law, which was really nice.  I miss everyone back home.

I went to an informational meeting for this local homeschooling group, which I'm probably going to join.  They seem like people who could be my kind of people.  They have events mostly in town, too, so it's not like driving to the East Side all the time, which is where the other homeschool meet-ups I've found are.

And now something vaguely depressing...!

Gene-Altered Apple Tested in Washington State via The Seattle P.I.

Last year, an inspection of gene-altered apples found trees that were flowering less than 100 feet from conventional apples, poor record keeping practices, and using no methods of keeping animals away from them.  Basically, doing everything to ensure that these genetically altered apples interbreed with other apples.

The article goes on to describe the kinds of incidents that occur at experimental plots with the potential to spread genetically modified produce to unwanted areas, and the wrist slaps that the overseeing government agency applies when things go wrong.  In the incident above, the agency fined the company $19,250, which is a paltry sum.

I don't necessarily disagree with genetically altered produce.  I understand the science, and that, as yet, we have no evidence that it would be harmful to humans.  However, what I do object to is that it is extremely difficult to keep genetically modified produce from mixing with conventional produce.  I want to have the choice not to get it, and I want to have the assurance that, if for whatever reason we do find out that certain varieties are harmful, we have other options.

The article, clocking in at five pages, is a bit of a long read, but well worth the information.

With that, how about some pictures of my kids?  They are adorable:



The artist at work.

It's unusual to see this one be so still.

What-What?! Week of August 31st

Friday, I put up a new shelf in the bathroom.  I had assembled the shelf earlier this week, which took maybe 20 minutes.  Getting it attached to the wall, though, took another hour and 15 minutes.  Between not having the proper tools, having to find what tools we do have, small children, and other accidents (like dropping parts in the garbage can, d'oh!), it just took forever.

I finished reading the Corwin cycle of the Chronicles of Amber -- all five books.  So, there's that.

Took the kids back to the library, which was good.  Next time we go, I'm going to try the branch library, since it seems to have more children's events than the main library.  Maybe they have an even better children's section, too?

Random Children's Quote of the Week

My middle son: "Dinosaurs died before the cowboys died."

Factually true, I suppose.

News:  Smithsonian Digital Volunteers

I saw this on Reddit, and thought it was really cool.  The Smithsonian has  opportunities for online volunteers to transcribe various texts, as well as work on Wikipedia pages, and postage stamps (but only for those who have particular knowledge of stamps and postal operations).  The transcription website has a pretty big variety of content to work with in six major themes -- American Experience, Biodiverse Planet, Civil War Era, Field Book Registry, Mysteries of the Universe, and World Cultures.

Adorable Cockatiel Artwork via DeviantArt

Rolly-rolly-rolly-roll...

Growing up, my family had a cockatiel, which are great little birds, very full of personality.  Not always the best personality, mind you, but entertaining, nonetheless.  This artist on DeviantArt has done a great job capturing their very birdy essence.  Also, it's adorable.  Adorable.

Pink?!  So cute.

What-What?! Week of August 24th

This week was pretty quiet.  I finished reading the second Amber Chronicles book.  I remember them being longer.  Maybe I'm a faster reader now?  Hm.

Job things have been going on.  Some good, some bad, but all stressful.  I cannot wait for life to settle down more.

Corwin splattered chocolate ice cream all over the dining table.  He managed to get a rather significant amount over some of Saffron's pictures, which understandably made her sad.  We made some stampers out of foam stickers, which the big kids have had a great time playing with.

News:  Nearly 37% Of All Registered Steam Games Have Never Been Played via Forbes

First off, for those who don't know Steam is a digital distribution and online gaming platform put together by Valve.  They offer over 3,000 games, and have about 75 million users.  At present, Steam has 781 million games registered.  However, Ars Technica found that only 36.9 percent of games have ever been played, leaving about 60 percent of all games bought sitting around unplayed.  I'm willing to bet that, if you included all the games that are played for less than, say, 5 or 10 hours, that number would jump significantly higher.

Why is this so?  The Steam Sale, and the Humble Bundle.  Why not buy a game that's 75% off?  Why buy one game for $5, when you can get five for $15?  The Steam sale and the Humble Bundle work because they appeal to the gamer's sense of thrift, the idea of collecting things ("Now I have the whole series!"), and the press of a limited time offer.  Combine all that with the relatively small amounts of money being spent, and there is little buyer's remorse to keep gamers from coming back for more.

Art: The Nine Princes of Amber by Ayej

I was looking for some Amber artwork that I'd seen online years ago, and ran into this comic strip.  It is hilarious and fitting.  Hit the link above for a bigger version.  My favorite is Julian (in the white armor):

What-What?! Week of August 17th

Peter dug out his copy of the Chronicles of Amber, which I started reading.  I made it through the first book in about... 3 days.  Yep, I still like 'em. :D

I took the two big kids back to the library this week; I expect that when it starts raining, we'll probably spend a fair amount of time there.  The indoor play area really encourages just hanging out and spending time there.

I spent more time this week writing; I now have a few articles that I'll be posting in the next week or two.  Yay for progress!

No odd jobs to post this week, but I did see a listing here in Seattle that was literally for a ditch digger.  Digging ditches.

News: Michele Carragher Embroidery for Film and TV

Browsing on Reddit last week, I stumbled upon the woman that does the embroidery for the Game of Thrones show.  While I have no interest in the show, the costuming is brilliant.  There are so many great close-up photographs on this website that I haven't seen them all yet.

Carragher actually has a few videos and tutorials of how she creates these works of art.  The methods that she uses to create Daenerys' dragonscale dresses are pretty simple, but combined look very distinctive.

The best, though, are the animals that she creates.  Her selection of insects is just fantastic.

...also, the birds, and the fish:

I love those fish.  They are so fishy. :D

Go check out her website, but make sure you have some time first.

What-What?! Week of August 3rd

This week has been... well, a week.  Last weekend, I worked as a housekeeper in a local hotel.  I spent Saturday getting everything that I did redone in a slightly different way.  Sunday was much better, though, so there's the learning curve.  Sunday, I made up somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 beds, and probably 200 beds for the entire weekend.

Odd Jobs

This week's odd job is a shop assistant to help care for a bunch of WWII DUKWs (more commonly called "Ducks"), for a tour company.

 

News:  Cast of Firefly Reunite for Firefly: Online Game via PC World

I'm going to be a bit fangirl-ish for a minute, though maybe it's too late for warnings, considering that I named my daughter after a Firefly character.

At the San Diego Comic Con this past weekend, Quantum Mechanix and Spark Plug Games announced that they've gotten the entire original cast of the show to provide voicework for the upcoming Firefly Online game.  So excited.

Of course, the game itself might still be awful, but this is a great ray of hope for it.  The game is going to involve picking out a crew, and finding and completing jobs.  This part sounds very similar to MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, which was one of my favorite games growing up.

The game is due out in Spring 2015.  If I have money, I am totally buying it.

What-What?! Week of July 20th

This week has been pretty long.  I went to work on Sunday, working "security" at a soccer game in Seattle (the Sounders versus the... Timbers, I think?).   It was a pretty easy job, but I'm not sure that the pay is worth the drive to Seattle.  I also worked in the shipping department at a local bread plant, which was... amusing.  It is a very physical job, but the pay is good.  When I worked there, I was the only girl, and easily the shortest person.  I got to work on all the "short person" specials, until we ran out of small stacks of bread.  Then I got to do the big stacks, which are about 7 feet high; the biggest set of stacks I sorted out was around 1800 packages of bread.  Those stacks were huge.  It took some ingenuity to manhandle them around the warehouse.

Hm.  Neighbors.

In other news, local apartment complexes keep having fires.  Two apartment buildings just burnt down in Renton, while the apartment complex up the street from us had a two alarm fire early this morning.  A week and a half ago, an apartment complex in North Everett had a fire.  The entire time I lived in Hollister, none of the apartment buildings had fires.  So what is going on here?

News:  A Middle School Cheating Scandal Raises Questions About the No Child Left Behind via The New Yorker

At ten pages, this is a pretty long read, but well worth the insight into what actually happens at schools, especially schools that deal with low income and ESL students.  The parts where teachers and administrators were bullied especially rings true after seeing how certain admin treated afterschool staff, and certain members of their own staff.

I understand why many of these teachers felt that standardized testing just got in the way of more important things; in my experiences, the issues that children face outside of school are even more important than those faced in school.  Children without a stable home, food to eat, parents that are supportive, or just simply a lack of supervision have a much harder time excelling in school.  I've tutored kids that have these issues.  The most heartbreaking situation I've seen was a little first grader who had been removed from her parent's care, and was living in between her two aunt's houses.  She never knew where she was going home to, or what adult was going to pick her up.  The entire time that I tutored her, she made very little academic progress.  It was pretty obvious that the upheaval in her home life overshadowed everything else, and that the best she could do at that time was just survive the day.  My boss and I did as much as we could for her, but she was falling behind.  She was only in first grade.

Basically, this.

When your job relies on other people passing tests, suddenly there's a lot of pressure to do whatever necessary that entails you keep your job.  My first tutoring job was like this.  The students took a grade-level evaluation at the beginning and the end of the school year, and whether the company maintained its contract with the local school board depended upon these children making academic progress.  The fact that I had children who went from failing to passing grades meant nothing in relation to whether or not I (or anyone at my site) would have a job the next year.  My boss and us staff did everything we could without cheating; we took kids aside in small groups to do the testing, they had as much time as possible, they had help in clarifying anything confusing, and so on.  Even with plenty of time, there were kids that randomly pushed buttons, just to get the test done.  This, of course, negates the entire use of testing at all... but their scores were still measured and counted.  Some of the kids made progress, while others stayed the same.

It is frustrating to work with children everyday, all school year, only to have that effort and investment seemingly amount to so little every time test scores are published.  I don't think what these people did was right, but I'm not going to pretend that I don't understand where they're coming from.

(imgs via myeverettnews.com, mrsfilas.blogspot.com)

What-What?! Week of July 6th

This week was pretty exciting.  The husband and I took the kids and a friend to the Woodland Park Zoo, which is discussed in this another post.  We had a great time.

We finished getting our car stuff figured out, which was more difficult than getting ourselves licensed, but still not overly so.

Peter now has a job, which he'll be starting this coming week.  It will be nice to have income again.  I'm still looking for a job, but that's neither here nor there.

Writing: My Newest eBook is Published!

I finally finished writing, editing, converting tables and graphs to images, creating a cover, description, and so on.  Now Specialty Grocery Retail Industry Leader Profiles has been published, and is available on Amazon as an eBook.  It covers the leading companies in the specialty grocer industry, with an emphasis on their target markets and how they market themselves.  It's pretty academic, so I expect I'll start getting sales when universities start back in session.

News: Bolivia CongressClock Altered to Turn Anti-Clockwise via BBC News

This is... well, this is just kind of odd.  I mean, it's not something that I wouldn't expect from a country like Bolivia, because little countries like this tend to have some odd aspects.  The idea of it is to question norms and to encourage creativity, as well as the mindfullness that this is a country in the south, not the north.  The north versus south thing I'm not entirely sure what to make of, but I get placing value on creativity.  Of course, is creativity good when it takes a useful object (a clock) and makes it difficult to use?  I'm not so sure.  There are certainly clocks that are art first and functional second, so I suppose this falls into that category.

What-What?! Week of June 29th

Life here is moving onward.  It feels more normal now, though I still reach for the drawer in the bathroom to get my hairbrush, and I caught myself thinking that I could visit my parents, since we were going to Costco and all.  I've been taking the children down to the local park nearly every day, both to give us something to do, and just to get out of the house and see the sun.  The weather's been good -- a bit like California in the spring, really.

Early this week, the husband and I got our Washington drivers liceneses.  It was surprisingly efficient.  In this state, the drivers licensing and the car registration stuff happens at separate locations; this means that the only issues happening are drivers license related.  To get my Washington DL taken care of took maybe 10 minutes total, from the time I stepped in the door to the time I left.  It was so easy.

Last Sunday, we also attended the Everett farmers' market.  I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but was disappointed nonetheless.  The husband and I will miss the produce and farmers markets in California greatly.  In contrast to the neat rows, and the division between producers (farmers) and purveyers (prepared food vendors), the Everett market was a giant mess.  Its rows went this-a-way and that-a-way, and the produce was all mixed about.  The selection of produce was also pretty small, especially in terms of veggies (I wanted to buy carrots, but found none to buy).

And there were lots of dogs in the market as well.  Not that I dislike dogs, I just don't particularly care for them around my food that much.

News:  Time Stands Still in Locked Off Cave via The Japan Times

This is a fascinating article about the Chauvet Cave in Paris.  Discovered in 1996, the cave holds some of the oldest and best preserved cave paintings in the world, and now stands locked and monitored 24/7, to ensure its longevity.  The article discusses more of the details, as well as the replica cave being built not far away.

What-What?! Week of June 8th

We're now at the one week countdown to our move date.  It is exciting and horrific, terrible and terrific.

Wednesday, I told my class at work that I wasn't coming back next year.  When I started working, they all wondered and questioned why the previous leader had left, and I didn't want them to be in that position again.  The kids seemed pretty sad; one even wrote me a thank you note.  The older kids in my coworker's class also seem sad that I'm leaving.  One of the sixth grade boys told me that he liked having me there this year.  For a sixth grade boy, that's a pretty strong sentiment.

I'll miss the kids, and I will definitely miss my coworkers, too.  This year has been a challenge, but it's been made way better by having such a supportive crew to work through it with.

Been slowly working on my paper.  I got about two hours worth of work on it yesterday, which is the first time I'd touched it in nearly a week.  I've resigned myself to the fact that it isn't going to be finished before we move.  So, there's that.

Spirographs via Math Playground

This is a cool spirograph thing.  The math itself is too complicated for my kids, but they still have fun making pretty pictures.  To see the math part, you can click on the "Where's the math?" button.  The first time we sat down with this, we probably made about 20 or so.  :P

News:  Swedes Test a Future of Less Work, More Play via Yahoo! Finance

In a lot of ways, this makes sense.  Technology should make life easier for humanity, but even with the huge productivity gained from industrialization, our workday has stayed pretty much the same as 50 years ago.  In other countries, workers are mandated a certain amount of vacation, and then they use it.  Americans don't seem to do that, especially without huge amounts of guilt.  I think that a 6-hour workday would probably be really beneficial for the health of our nation; with more time to cook and shop for healthier foods, it means that there are fewer reasons to eat out or from the frozen foods section.  I'm always a little appalled at how often I see the families I work with eat fast food, but I understand that they don't have someone at home to cook like I do.  This would also give parents more time to spend with their children.

...But I don't expect this will happen here.  Workaholics are too prized here.

What-What?! Week of May 4th

In just a few days, my baby will be two years old!  When did that happen?  I'm not ready for him to be so big.  He's a funny little guy, and a lot more far along developmentally than his older siblings at this age.  He talks so much, and so clearly.  His current interests include Thomas the Train (his favorite character is Percy), Chuck the Truck, and action figure "guys".  And Legos.  And dinosaurs.  Dragons, of course.  Barbies.  My Little Ponies.  Toothbrushes.  Pouring water on things (just not himself -- too close to taking a bath!).

But for all of his interests, I'm still his mama, and I get many snuggles. <3

Writing:  Amazon Royalties Payment!

Good news!  I have actually been paid for something that I wrote.  Mind you, it took 14 months to net that $107.99, but it still pleases me so.

News:  Industry Seeks Comment on Retirement of Coupon Barcodes via Progressive Grocer

In a step to further the move from standard UPC barcode coupons to databar coupons, the Joint Industry Coupon Committee is seeking comments from affected industries on the retirement of certain types of barcodes.  By June of 2015, all UPC-5 and GS1-99 barcodes will be retired, which is to say, most barcodes that still exist on coupons will disappear.

The move to databars for coupons has been in the works for about two years now, and it has advantages and disadvantages, both for the industry, and for customers.  It will lead to less coupon fraud, as well as accidental misredemption, but at the same time, which is great for manufacturers.  However, because the databar includes more information about what products are allowed and disallowed for the coupon, it will make it easier for coupons to be programmed improperly, not covering products that should be covered, leading to the dreaded "coupon not accepted" beep.  Granted, a certain amount of this happens already, but when a customer can look at the coding of the UPC and anticipate the beep, they can then be prepared to argue with the cashier if necessary (I've been there, done that).  For those that don't coupon often, you may be wondering how often coupons are misprogrammed?  While some manufacturers almost never have programming problems, some, like Nivea and Proctor & Gamble, have regular issues with it.  It's frustrating for customers and cashiers, and I expect for this to only increase with the databar codes.

(image via survivingthestores.com)

What-What?! Week of April 27th

Yesterday was my first day working the Kidzone area for the YMCA.  The Kidzone is a childcare area that parents can use while they work out or take a class at the YMCA office.  It was pretty low key, and I spent most of the time working on things for a special event the office was having that day.  To be honest, getting paid to paint banners is pretty fun, and I also spent some time looking through books, so now I have some great ideas for upcoming curriculum.

Earlier this week, I did a post about concept artwork from Disney's Frozen, and how it looks similar to a lot of other Disney films.  If you missed it, check it out: Disney's Frozen Concept Art versus Other Disney Films.

News:  Amazon, in Threat to UPS, Tries Its Own Deliveries via WSJ.com

Amazon is now testing a plan to take over delivery services of goods in the "last mile"; that is, the final part of the journey from warehouse to consumers' homes.  This bid to forward integrate has advantages and disadvantages to it; on the one hand, it can help facilitate the goal of more efficient 1-day shipping, and helps Amazon control shipping delays, preventing some of the customer service pain that happened this past Christmas.  The biggest advantage is cost; with the United States Postal Service and UPS increasing prices by 3-5 percent a year, it gives Amazon an incentive to invent cheaper modes of delivery.

The disadvantage is the risk itself.  Amazon is just not very good at making profits.  If this doesn't work out for Amazon, and that is a big if, the company stands to lose a significant amount of investments that it doesn't have the ability to absorb.

It'll be interesting to see how it works out for Amazon.  I don't expect it to become a widespread service for at least a few more years, even with the company already in the testing phase.

(img via aim.org)

What-What?! Week of April 20th

The husband and I have both had this week off from work and school, so it's been a pretty nice week.  We canned a double batch of strawberry jam, as well as getting a good start on packing.  Peter mailed off the last of his work papers, handed over the keys to the truck, and that kind of thing.  He slept in yesterday, too.

We're all ready for Easter here; the kids have been counting down to bunny day, and later today we'll be going to the farmers' market to take part in the egg hunt, for the first time!  This year was also the first time my husband has decorated eggs with the kids, which was a lot of fun.  We might do even more in a couple of days.  I see potato salad in my future, nom-nom! :D

News: At-Home Mothers on the Rise, New Research Shows via Yahoo! Shine

The Pew Research center just released a study finding that the number of stay at home mothers has grown to 29 percent, compared to 26 percent in 2008, and 23 percent in 2000.  The researchers connect these results to increases in immigrant mothers, more mothers who are unable to find work, and a greater prevalence of the attitude that women with young children should stay home, rather than working.

There are probably many factors creating this trend, but one that works against it is definitely the cost of housing, especially for young families.  In the comments section, one gentleman was describing how investors have bought up all the starter homes in the area he lives in, renovated them, and are now selling them for around $100,000 more than they were previously.  This exactly mirrors my experience.  About 18 months ago, my husband and I were looking at houses in the Scotts Valley area.  There was one house we were really interested in, and had put an offer in, only to lose the house to an investor.  This investor purchased ten foreclosed homes from the area.  Ten.  This area is not densely populated, so ten is pretty substantial.  When you have events like that, it is very discouraging for those just starting out, and many, like us, get blocked out of the market entirely.

Of course, working for this trend are childcare expenses.  For families with young children, infants especially, the cost of care is deeply prohibiting; when you spend nearly all of your income just paying for childcare, it follows that you start to question what the point of working is.  What's sad, is on the flipside, daycare workers are generally poorly paid, and that tends to translate into poorly educated.  I know that many of the people I've worked with in afterschool programs had the job as a step on the way to doing something else, like teaching, social work, or something completely unrelated.

(image from theyoungmommylife.com)

What-What?! Week of March 16th

This past week has been pretty busy.  I've been at work early the whole week, which has been somewhat stressful trying to create enough activities to fill up all the hours.  Consequently, I have almost nothing prepared for this post.  I have also been sunburned often.  I need to find a new sunscreen, because mine smells too much.  The day that I first wore it, one of my kids looked around and said "it smells like the beach?".  Ha!  I didn't tell him it was me.

Yahoo! Voices published an article of mine, Your Child and the Fourth Grade Reading Slump, which they paid me upfront for!  Yeah!  That's the first time, ever.  So that's pretty brilliant.  After reviewing some spreadsheets, I've also found that my Amazon.com ebook has been making about 2-4 sales a month, which isn't bad for something that I consider a learning experience.

I recently read the kids the book Rosie Revere, Engineer; at the end of the book, my daughter asked me what an engineer is.  So after I explained that it's someone who builds things, both she and Corwin (my older boy) piped up saying how they want to be engineers.  Then they began listing the things that they want to make:  A convertible (car), boat, airplane, submarine, helicopter, computer, and a boat/car/airplane hybrid (of course).  Also, mechs.  So that's pretty cool.  Saffron was pretending to be an engineer a few days later, and had a few books that she was pretending to read plans out of.

News: New Lotus Motorcycles Look Like Tron via Yahoo! Tech

This "hyperbike" amuses me greatly.  If not for Top Gear, I'd probably have no idea who Lotus is (they make the Elise and the Exige, both beautiful cars).  Sadly, Lotus is only going to make 100 C-01 motorcycles.


The 80's are calling, yo'.

Designed by Daniel Simon, who designed the motorcycles from Tron: Legacy.  The style itself reminds me of a cyberpunk anime from the late 1980s, Bubblegum Crisis.  The motorcycles from the show are what originally turned me on to motorcycles as a cool thing (however, the reminder of my own mortality soon caught up with me).

(imgs via Yahoo, zerochan)