What-What?! Week of May 24th

This week has been extremely busy.


Sunday, we took the family to the Marysville library!  I said I would come home with books, right?  Well, I didn't.  I didn't even come home with many books for the kids, either.  The children's section felt very empty, and the children's nonfiction is mixed in with the adult's non-fiction, which makes it difficult to just quickly browse for some good non-fiction.  I also can't just send Saffron over to find a book herself, because then she'd be well out of sight from where I'm watching her brothers, and she's way more likely to run into topics and books that I'm not comfortable with her reading yet.  Also, there were kids' books on the top shelf.  Even I have to reach up to get them, how is a 7 year old going to do it?  We're going to try the Arlington library next time to see if it's any better, but I'm betting it will have the same organizational system.  We'll see.

I started doing other things instead.

I've started practicing code on a website called Codewars; it's basically a set of programming puzzles (the website calls them 'kata'), and solving them awards you better ranks over time.  I'm still at the lowest rank, though I have done a bunch (okay... 17, since Tuesday).  I was even up 'til about 1am one night fighting with a piece of code (RegEx can go sit in the corner for that.  Seriously).

In terms of classes, I started one over at Udacity covering Git and Github, which are sort of project management tools.  I already understand the why and general ideas of the topic, but the nitty-gritty details leaves me needing direction.  I had also started a Ruby class over at Codecademy, but have set that aside for now; I think I'd like to develop more depth of knowledge and practice in JavaScript before taking on a language which I have no experience with.  Also, Ruby is has some seriously weird bits.

I tried to go to a mommy meetup on Wednesday.  I've lived here almost a year, and still know no one, so I thought I would try a Meetup group or something.  The meetup was located at what the city's website describes as the centerpiece of the parks system.  It's HUGE; a barn with petting zoo, two playgrounds, walking trails, a garden, and so on.  Why am I saying that I tried to go?  Because I spent 30 minutes driving what should have been a 15 minute trip, and I still couldn't find the entrance to the park.  There's extensive roadwork on one side of the park, and between the lack of signage and the ambiguity of Google Maps, I couldn't figure out where an entrance was.  The city's website is unhelpful as well, because it just links you to Google Maps.  I wound up at a different park down the street, sitting alone while my kid played.  So that was a really nice experience. :(

And now for something completely different!

Davenriche European Martial Arts on Mainstream TV!

My brother-in-law studies European martial arts (sword fighting... and stuff.  Kicking butts.), and the dojo he goes to was featured on CNN's Somebody's Gotta Do it (hosted by Mike Rowe).  Skip ahead to just after the 18 minute mark to see it:


What is really cool about the whole thing is that in just a few weeks, my brother-in-law will be working there.  I am so happy and excited for him, because it is such a great opportunity.  Hit the link above if you want to read more about the dojo.

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: