What-What?! Week of March 1st

Last week was crazy, while this week was just a grind.  It hit Wednesday, and I was ready for it to be the weekend.

I spent most of my time at work this week reading drivel from sexist, racist, homophobic websites (usually any two, but some had all three!).  It has been a huge reminder of how repugnant people can be.

I have also read many conspiracy theories this week, but thankfully the people who frequent those websites seem to be far less offensive.  Sometimes quite strange, but probably harmless.

I still have it way, way, way better than the people who work as internet content reviewers.

Anyway, on to happier things.

Took my daughter to her second Girl Scouts meeting.  She had an excellent time, though it was a bit disorganized.  This is a new troop, though, and no one has ever been a troop leader before.  So, yeah.  It'll get better, I'm sure.  They learned the pledge, and the law, and some songs.

Yesterday, I took the two big kids to Lowe's to do the Build and Grow project.  For various reasons, we've missed the last two, so it'd been a while.  They both seem to have improved their hammering skills a lot, and did a lot more without help this time.

A Visual History of United States Spacesuits via Imgur

I saw this through Reddit, and it is a fascinating read.  All the facts that I checked seemed to be right on, so it's pretty accurate, too.  It was interesting to see how the boots changed over time; sometimes looking like plain old leather boots (that first one!), sometimes looking suitably astronautical.

There's also some interesting discussion and links on the Reddit thread here, though watch out, as Reddit can be vulgar.

What-What?! Week of November 9th

This week has been good and bad.  The husband got a raise, but I spent the middle of the week terribly sick.  It was only a cold, but what a cold it was. D:

My job is going well.  The cool thing about my job is getting to look at bits and pieces of other peoples' interests.  I have now seen a lot more boutique clothes, sports equipment, shoes (lots and lots of shoes!), and obscure parts, like turntable platter mats.

Music:  Chopsticks... on a Tuba?

I ran into this piece of music through work.  It is variations on Chopsticks (the classic piano piece) as done by a tuba quartet.  A tuba quartet!  How awesome is that?!  It sounds like it should be in a cartoon of some sort.  Something with Bugs Bunny.  The piece is only 3 and a half minutes long, so give it a listen. :)

Lowe's Build and Grow: November's Science Lab

This month's Lowe's project was a science set, complete with project ideas, a beaker, and a flask.  It was a bit of a disaster at the store, because I had all three children with me by myself.  Luckily, this project doesn't have a lot of pieces to manage, and the big kids got through it.

That afternoon, the husband and kids did one of the experiments -- make a volcano.  This is pretty classic stuff, with vinegar and baking soda.  The kids used strawberry Jell-O to make the foam red... smelled good, too (better than straight vinegar, anyway).  All three of the kids enjoyed watching the foam explode out the top of their flasks, and watching to see how long it would foam for.  Corwin's flask went on for quite a while -- ten minutes, at least.  Later today we'll do another experiment.

What-What?! Week of May 25th

My car is in the shop.  I was sick.  Children exploded at work.  Other things happened.  This week, if it could go wrong, it probably did (in the most stressful way possible).

This week's post is quite short.  I apologize.

TV:  'And the Sky's the Limit': The Writers of the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' Series Finale Look Back, 20 Years Later via Yahoo! TV

This is a great interview article with Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga, the two Star Trek writers that worked on the show's final episode, as well as the film, Star Trek: Generations.  It is a bit long, but includes a lot of great memories for those of us who are just that geeky.

Art:  Stained Glass Watercolor

This was inspired by a project from the website, Mrs. Brown's Art Class, which I've been referring to often for ideas and activities to use at work.

I did this project both at work and home, and it went over well with both the 4th graders and my little ones.  We used crayons to create a wax resist for the lines, then painted with the watercolors.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

I recently did this craft with my kids at work, and it came out so beautifully that I thought I'd create a tutorial explaining the exact steps.  See the how-to below, as well as some ideas for variations.  If you want to keep the butterflies lifelike, a great place to find photographs is Butterflies and Moths of North America website.

 

What-What?! Week of May 11th

Happy Mother's Day!  To all you fellow mommies out there. :)

This past week, I did post a new article, and I also realized that I failed to mention the one I'd written the week prior.  This week, I wrote about tracking customer feedback, and the previous week, I wrote about the three defining aspects of a successful farmers' market.

Otherwise, this week was quite long.  None of my fourth graders had any homework all week, so that was an extra five hours of activities I had to unexpectedly plan for.  This next part takes the cake, though: Tuesday, two of my students decided to walk to the store, rather than come to the YMCA.  We wound up with the police searching for them.  I don’t think I’ve ever been more worried or anxious about anything work-related than that day.  What made it more worrisome was that these two children never walk home, or anywhere, by themselves.  Luckily, they were found after three hours, and are now safe with their families.  It was scary waiting around to see if they were found, because we didn’t know if they’d been taken by someone, walked off by themselves, or what.  I was happy when that day ended.

Mad Men:  Jumped the Shark?

Recently, I finished watching season six of Mad Men on Netflix.  After binge-watching all the seasons, I found myself wondering why Mad Men is still so popular; the show is populated with depressed, unhappy characters who make the same mistakes time and again.  Don can’t seem to stop sleeping with random women, nor can he seem to control his alcohol use.  Peggy is constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place with her work and personal life.  Betty can't seem to get anything right.

The last season especially feels like the show has jumped the shark.  CGC and SCDP merging felt like a desperate attempt to revitalize a show that has done all it can with its current cast of unchanging characters.  Though I enjoy the juxtaposition between Ted and Don, their sparring and disconnects didn’t do much to help the show.  Now that Ted is on his way to California, I’m going to assume that their relationship isn’t likely to continue in this way.  It might be better that way, since “two tigers cannot share the same mountain” – having both characters in that position felt like they were vying for who was the main character in an ensemble show.

For season six, I’m hoping that the producers and writers do more to grow the characters, as it seems like they’ve been stuck in a rut.

(img via vanityfair.com)