Monday, February 25, 2008
Blue and Gold, Fried Chicken, Proton Pack
We had our parent/teacher conference with Pierce's teacher on Friday. Overall he's doing well -he's at a 4th grade reading level, helpful and polite in class, and few behavioral problems. Unfortunately, he has also inherited most of my school predispositions -he doesn't pay attention in class if the subject doesn't interest him, and he's not a fan of math.
His teacher suggested we work with him on arithmetic to get him moving forward -currently he's one of the last to turn in his assignments. Its surprising, because when he finished kindergarten he had a pretty good grasp on arithmetic and had started multiplication and division. He seems to have regressed a little.
Nora is going to start working with him using flashcards and over the weekend I loaded "Math Blasters" on our arcade machine. Its a terrific program that uses math as the "tool" the hero-character uses to beat the bad guys. After struggling initially, Pierce seems to have fallen in love with the game -so hopefully this will help. Anna's very interested in watching the game, so maybe she'll take a stab at it too.
Pierce's cub scout Blue and Gold banquet was Friday night. Nora and a few of the other Scout Moms spent a lot of time making a "Tiger" cake to donate to the cake raffle. It was by far the most impressive cake of the bunch (it looked like a combination of the Tiger scout insignia and the Pink Panther). It was made from, I think, 6 different round cakes pasted together with icing.
At the banquet Pierce got his official Tiger badge and Nora got a Tiger pin (the pin is a thank you for all the hard work the Mom's put in). We also saw the rest of the pack get their new badges and the Weebloes receive their "Arrow of Light" award. It was a fairly long evening -Anna brought her L-Max with her and it kept her pretty occupied. Ultimately we won one of the cakes in the raffle and Pierce in inadvertently picked the one we were going to get by dragging his stomach across the side of it...
Last week we went to a local Chinese restaurant, Andy's Wok, and it turns out Pierce and Anna both like their fried chicken wings. Pierce and Anna are not usually big chicken eaters, so this came as a surprise to me. In an attempt to capitalize on the situation, Nora made oven-baked fried chicken using Corn Flakes as the "breading". Anna helped Nora with the "shaking and baking" and both kids did some pretty good eating for dinner. So I think we'll be adding that dish to our menu of frequently-served items.
I've been working on creating the master-mold for the thermoform Ghostbuster Proton packs I'm hoping to sell on eBay. The bottom portion, the Cyclotron, got finished Sunday night. With a little luck I'll get the thermoform frame completed this week and be able to cast a couple of molds next weekend. Since I'm already thinking of how I'd like to spend the money I can get for these packs on eBay, I'm hoping this works out well. Stay tuned for pictures of my attempts.
-Eric (Dad)
His teacher suggested we work with him on arithmetic to get him moving forward -currently he's one of the last to turn in his assignments. Its surprising, because when he finished kindergarten he had a pretty good grasp on arithmetic and had started multiplication and division. He seems to have regressed a little.
Nora is going to start working with him using flashcards and over the weekend I loaded "Math Blasters" on our arcade machine. Its a terrific program that uses math as the "tool" the hero-character uses to beat the bad guys. After struggling initially, Pierce seems to have fallen in love with the game -so hopefully this will help. Anna's very interested in watching the game, so maybe she'll take a stab at it too.
Pierce's cub scout Blue and Gold banquet was Friday night. Nora and a few of the other Scout Moms spent a lot of time making a "Tiger" cake to donate to the cake raffle. It was by far the most impressive cake of the bunch (it looked like a combination of the Tiger scout insignia and the Pink Panther). It was made from, I think, 6 different round cakes pasted together with icing.
At the banquet Pierce got his official Tiger badge and Nora got a Tiger pin (the pin is a thank you for all the hard work the Mom's put in). We also saw the rest of the pack get their new badges and the Weebloes receive their "Arrow of Light" award. It was a fairly long evening -Anna brought her L-Max with her and it kept her pretty occupied. Ultimately we won one of the cakes in the raffle and Pierce in inadvertently picked the one we were going to get by dragging his stomach across the side of it...
Last week we went to a local Chinese restaurant, Andy's Wok, and it turns out Pierce and Anna both like their fried chicken wings. Pierce and Anna are not usually big chicken eaters, so this came as a surprise to me. In an attempt to capitalize on the situation, Nora made oven-baked fried chicken using Corn Flakes as the "breading". Anna helped Nora with the "shaking and baking" and both kids did some pretty good eating for dinner. So I think we'll be adding that dish to our menu of frequently-served items.
I've been working on creating the master-mold for the thermoform Ghostbuster Proton packs I'm hoping to sell on eBay. The bottom portion, the Cyclotron, got finished Sunday night. With a little luck I'll get the thermoform frame completed this week and be able to cast a couple of molds next weekend. Since I'm already thinking of how I'd like to spend the money I can get for these packs on eBay, I'm hoping this works out well. Stay tuned for pictures of my attempts.
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: cub scouts blue and gold corn flakes chicken fried Andy's Wok
Monday, February 18, 2008
World of Wheels
This weekend was a truncated one for me. I'm taking an 8 hour class on Saturdays. Saturday evening we watched a couple of episodes of Star Trek (The Original Series). Turns out Pierce and Anna like the episode with the planet killer ("The Doomsday Machine") more than the episode with the Tribbles ("Trouble with the Tribbles").
We had snow Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was the kind of snow we've been waiting for, wet and sticky and perfect for snowmen. Instead of going out in it directly, we went downtown for a car show, World of Wheels. It featured the Bumblebee (from the Transformers Movie), and Lightning McQuee (from the Pixar movie "Cars"). It had an amazing number of restored cars from the 1930s all the way to current day. Pierce and Anna both liked the 1982 Delorean (there very familiar with the movie "Back to the Future") and got to see some pristine examples of Pontiac Trans Ams. One of the cars on display was even showing the movie Smokey and the Bandit.
By the time we got home, the weather had turned warmer and the snow was melting rapidly -no snowmen were built.
Over the last few weeks, we've had several family game nights. The two favorite games are Kerplunk! and Twister. When its Pierce and Anna's turn to be the "spinner" they cheat in hopes of letting Nora win.
-Eric (Dad)
We had snow Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was the kind of snow we've been waiting for, wet and sticky and perfect for snowmen. Instead of going out in it directly, we went downtown for a car show, World of Wheels. It featured the Bumblebee (from the Transformers Movie), and Lightning McQuee (from the Pixar movie "Cars"). It had an amazing number of restored cars from the 1930s all the way to current day. Pierce and Anna both liked the 1982 Delorean (there very familiar with the movie "Back to the Future") and got to see some pristine examples of Pontiac Trans Ams. One of the cars on display was even showing the movie Smokey and the Bandit.
By the time we got home, the weather had turned warmer and the snow was melting rapidly -no snowmen were built.
Over the last few weeks, we've had several family game nights. The two favorite games are Kerplunk! and Twister. When its Pierce and Anna's turn to be the "spinner" they cheat in hopes of letting Nora win.
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: twister kerplunk world of wheels car show auto snow
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The Proton Pack on eBay
For those who have been keeping abreast of the Proton Pack story, last Sunday I put the pack up for auction. The 7-day auction was more of a rollercoaster than I previously experienced with eBay auctions. Several doofuses tendered bids then retracted them -causing the price to fluctuate wildly. I had a fairly high reserve set, so I wasn't at risk for selling the pack for less than an amount I would be happy with -but I was concerned I would have to re-list it. But... a last minute bidder came in and gave me my price.
What did they pay? I'm not telling, you'll have to look at the listing yourself. Click here to view it.
With that kind of success, I think I'll build another....
-Eric (Dad)
What did they pay? I'm not telling, you'll have to look at the listing yourself. Click here to view it.
With that kind of success, I think I'll build another....
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: proton pack ebay
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Daddy Daughter Dance and the Pinewood Derby
Well, another week has come and gone...
Last weekend was Pierce's Pinewood Derby. The good news? Pierce's car rarely lost. The bad? He came in consistently 3rd place. Unlike when I was a scout, the revamped the race so that every kid/car races against every other car on every possible position. That amounts to 12 heats before you even make it to the semi-finals. Strangely, in about 8 of those races, Pierce's car came in 3rd -regardless of track or the other cars he was racing (there were a total of 4 cars in each heat).
Pierce seemed to have a good time and didn't worry much about coming in first. Nora and Anna were able to attend the derby for the first couple of heats before Anna headed off to a birthday party. All the Tiger cubs (first year scouts) were given a participation trophy; so Pierce was ecstatic. Next year I think we'll go nuts with the dry lubricant. The two kids in his den that won consistently had taken their wheels and axels and dowsed them with graphite -so we'll know for the next race.
The birthday party Anna attended was unique. It was for girls only at a place that gave "make-overs" and had a fashion show; complete with stage, runway and karoke. We got some great pictures of Anna in a cocktail dress all made up. She and Nora both had a great time.
Last night (Friday), Anna and I attended a Daddy/Daughter dance sponsered by the Olathe Parks and Recreation. Nora and Anna bought a new dress (that Anna picked out) and Anna bought me a matching tie. She was so excited all this week she kept asking if "tonight was the night I was going to wear my new tie".
The girls attending the dance ranged in age from about 5 to 12. Dinner and dessert was included (catered by Hyvee grocery store). While not good for us, the food was pretty good. Anna seriously wolfed down chicken strips. The dance had a very nice DJ; a woman who interacted with the girls, had contests, gave away prizes and lead dance numbers. The only down side was that she played the music WAY too loud. Anna requested that we go out into the lobby area so that we could get away from the music (I agreed with her). She's indicated that she'd be willing to go to another dance provided the music wasn't so loud. That being said, it was a great way to spend an evening with my daughter. We got to dance together, cheek-to-cheek.
-Eric (Dad)
Last weekend was Pierce's Pinewood Derby. The good news? Pierce's car rarely lost. The bad? He came in consistently 3rd place. Unlike when I was a scout, the revamped the race so that every kid/car races against every other car on every possible position. That amounts to 12 heats before you even make it to the semi-finals. Strangely, in about 8 of those races, Pierce's car came in 3rd -regardless of track or the other cars he was racing (there were a total of 4 cars in each heat).
Pierce seemed to have a good time and didn't worry much about coming in first. Nora and Anna were able to attend the derby for the first couple of heats before Anna headed off to a birthday party. All the Tiger cubs (first year scouts) were given a participation trophy; so Pierce was ecstatic. Next year I think we'll go nuts with the dry lubricant. The two kids in his den that won consistently had taken their wheels and axels and dowsed them with graphite -so we'll know for the next race.
The birthday party Anna attended was unique. It was for girls only at a place that gave "make-overs" and had a fashion show; complete with stage, runway and karoke. We got some great pictures of Anna in a cocktail dress all made up. She and Nora both had a great time.
Last night (Friday), Anna and I attended a Daddy/Daughter dance sponsered by the Olathe Parks and Recreation. Nora and Anna bought a new dress (that Anna picked out) and Anna bought me a matching tie. She was so excited all this week she kept asking if "tonight was the night I was going to wear my new tie".
The girls attending the dance ranged in age from about 5 to 12. Dinner and dessert was included (catered by Hyvee grocery store). While not good for us, the food was pretty good. Anna seriously wolfed down chicken strips. The dance had a very nice DJ; a woman who interacted with the girls, had contests, gave away prizes and lead dance numbers. The only down side was that she played the music WAY too loud. Anna requested that we go out into the lobby area so that we could get away from the music (I agreed with her). She's indicated that she'd be willing to go to another dance provided the music wasn't so loud. That being said, it was a great way to spend an evening with my daughter. We got to dance together, cheek-to-cheek.
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: daddy daughter dance pinewood derby
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