“Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards” - George Orwell
Today my son turns 8. I'm in trouble friends!
Today was all about Preston. He got some lovely letters from his Grandparents and Great Grandparents, his own Minecraft account, a huge Lego set, and a sweet DS game. Today was a good relaxing day and it was nice to see such joy on his face. Besides that, Julianne and I put most of the hardware back on the play fort, and I prepped the rusty parts for a new coat of paint.
Today I learned that Oregon has made it an opt-out process to register to vote when you get your driver's license, vs an opt-in process that it is in Kansas and Missouri. This was one of those "Why didn't we all do this before?" kind of ideas. Whether you believe it is a civic duty to vote, or a civic responsibility it hurts nothing for you to be automatically registered to vote. It's horrible that busy people take time out of their day to go vote, just to be told that their registration has expired. I think this is a great first step for the people of Oregon, so I wanted to send this to my governor and state congress people and urge them to do the same. Done!
I then learned that even if they wanted to follow suit, in Missouri, It won't be until the next year to even be able to introduce a new bill. The next earliest time to introduce a bill would be December 1, 2015 with a cutoff day of 60 days after the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January of 2016 (in this case, February 6th, 2016). Since bills can only be introduced by congress people, you at the very least need someone to sponsor it.
Since Missourians have voted Republican last cycle, and Republicans benefit most from low voter turn out, I have a suspicion that my urging will fall on deaf ears.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
"If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star." - P.T. Barnum
P.T. Barnum was an amazingly self confident man. Either that or P.T. Barnum was a great actor playing the role of an amazingly self confident man. Definitely inspiring in this way, even if he was also responsible for putting on hoaxes for his own profit.
Today was spent primarily at Worlds of Fun. Preston found a love for the "Bamboozler" and Logan managed to hit the jackpot on a game of skill in the arcade. We rode almost every ride in the "Planet Snoopy" section. Julianne and I got queasy on the teacups ride, Who knew that spinning like crazy is no longer something we can tolerate as 30 somethings! Julianne and I got a each got a chance to ride the "Boomerang" roller coaster separately, since It was way too intimidating for the kids.
Today I re-learned that centripetal force is a real force that causes an object to take a curved path, and centrifugal force is a fictitious force that defies my ability to accurately explain what it is in a single sentence.
P.T. Barnum was an amazingly self confident man. Either that or P.T. Barnum was a great actor playing the role of an amazingly self confident man. Definitely inspiring in this way, even if he was also responsible for putting on hoaxes for his own profit.
Today was spent primarily at Worlds of Fun. Preston found a love for the "Bamboozler" and Logan managed to hit the jackpot on a game of skill in the arcade. We rode almost every ride in the "Planet Snoopy" section. Julianne and I got queasy on the teacups ride, Who knew that spinning like crazy is no longer something we can tolerate as 30 somethings! Julianne and I got a each got a chance to ride the "Boomerang" roller coaster separately, since It was way too intimidating for the kids.
Today I re-learned that centripetal force is a real force that causes an object to take a curved path, and centrifugal force is a fictitious force that defies my ability to accurately explain what it is in a single sentence.
Monday, August 3, 2015
“I do my best thinking at night when everyone else is sleeping. No interruptions. No noise. I like the feeling of being awake when no one else is.” - Jennifer Niven
This is certainly me. I'd like to think that it's because at night I can get uninterrupted time to do interesting things. But if I'm being truly honest with myself, It's because I want selfish time for myself. Throughout the day I give my time freely to others, making sure to spend time with the kids, and spending dedicated time with Julianne as well. I take this extra time at night for myself to relax.
Today was a day of relaxation. I played Minecraft with the boys, tinkered with our ice maker to see If i could figure out what was wrong, and played good games with good friends. I also got a chance to play 21 holes of disc golf right after at the Hidden Valley Park course with one of my good friends. I won't mention his name here because I haven't asked permission. Some may sneer at it being a "Beginner's course" but honestly, I'm an amateur on my best days. It was a welcome change in pace to be basically on par the whole time. Plus that park has had some serious improvements made and it is really cool to see it have a covered gathering place, recycling and trash bins, a walking path, etc. The first time I saw this park 4 years ago it was basically just a field.
Today I learned a lot from the Big Think channel on youtube. One thing that struck a chord with me is the assertion that we as Americans tend to be more critical of duplicity from a female than from a male. If I examine my own reactions to things in the past, it rings true. As a middle class caucasian male it's easy to be ignorant of the subconscious bias, because I'm rarely forced to confront many of the biases that exist consciously. Whereas I believe that someone who is on the receiving end of that bias has to confront it consciously and becomes sensitive to it. All I think I can do about it is to try to be more conscious about my biases.
I think that this is a large problem for humans in general because it takes a lot of focus and energy to really do deep, honest introspection. I think being truly honest in introspection is very rewarding, but it's very hard because we all want to feel justified in our actions and first thoughts. I have been consciously trying to be honestly introspective with myself only for a few years, and I think only recently have I gotten a primate self understanding of how to do it.
This is certainly me. I'd like to think that it's because at night I can get uninterrupted time to do interesting things. But if I'm being truly honest with myself, It's because I want selfish time for myself. Throughout the day I give my time freely to others, making sure to spend time with the kids, and spending dedicated time with Julianne as well. I take this extra time at night for myself to relax.
Today was a day of relaxation. I played Minecraft with the boys, tinkered with our ice maker to see If i could figure out what was wrong, and played good games with good friends. I also got a chance to play 21 holes of disc golf right after at the Hidden Valley Park course with one of my good friends. I won't mention his name here because I haven't asked permission. Some may sneer at it being a "Beginner's course" but honestly, I'm an amateur on my best days. It was a welcome change in pace to be basically on par the whole time. Plus that park has had some serious improvements made and it is really cool to see it have a covered gathering place, recycling and trash bins, a walking path, etc. The first time I saw this park 4 years ago it was basically just a field.
Today I learned a lot from the Big Think channel on youtube. One thing that struck a chord with me is the assertion that we as Americans tend to be more critical of duplicity from a female than from a male. If I examine my own reactions to things in the past, it rings true. As a middle class caucasian male it's easy to be ignorant of the subconscious bias, because I'm rarely forced to confront many of the biases that exist consciously. Whereas I believe that someone who is on the receiving end of that bias has to confront it consciously and becomes sensitive to it. All I think I can do about it is to try to be more conscious about my biases.
I think that this is a large problem for humans in general because it takes a lot of focus and energy to really do deep, honest introspection. I think being truly honest in introspection is very rewarding, but it's very hard because we all want to feel justified in our actions and first thoughts. I have been consciously trying to be honestly introspective with myself only for a few years, and I think only recently have I gotten a primate self understanding of how to do it.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
"To me, if life boils down to one thing, it's movement. To live is to keep moving" - Jerry Seinfeld
Interesting to think about, movement of all types I presume. If i'm being truly honest there aspects in my life that I do a lot of movement and others where I'm barely moving at all. I wonder if it's possible to have movement in all aspects of life or if stability in one allows for movement in another. This quote will probably stay with me for a while.
Today we stained the play fort, which took about 1 hour to setup the sprayer, 30 minutes for me to do the roof and areas above 8 feet. 1 hour to do the rest with Julianne in a complete paper suit, respirator, etc. and 2 hours of me cleaning up and prepping the sprayer for long term storage. After that, we had a nap and set about trying to figure out what to do with the little bit of left over stain. We ended up on a pinterest binge and found an idea to use the wood I still have left over from cutting down 6 foot fence to 4 foot fence size. The idea was to lay down the boards in a pattern with purposeful spaces for rocks or plants. So we set about doing that in an area under our deck where no grass will grow. we found about 20 slugs, 1 cool blue-tailed lizard, a frog occupying a perfectly frog sized crack in our footing for our deck stairs, and a plethora of pill bugs. We knocked that out and settled down to watch Sporting KC draw with the Houston Dynamo.
Today I learned that thoughts about how to terraform Venus into a second planet habitable by humans is farther along than I had assumed. Also that a solar day on Venus is 116 days on earth.
Interesting to think about, movement of all types I presume. If i'm being truly honest there aspects in my life that I do a lot of movement and others where I'm barely moving at all. I wonder if it's possible to have movement in all aspects of life or if stability in one allows for movement in another. This quote will probably stay with me for a while.
Today we stained the play fort, which took about 1 hour to setup the sprayer, 30 minutes for me to do the roof and areas above 8 feet. 1 hour to do the rest with Julianne in a complete paper suit, respirator, etc. and 2 hours of me cleaning up and prepping the sprayer for long term storage. After that, we had a nap and set about trying to figure out what to do with the little bit of left over stain. We ended up on a pinterest binge and found an idea to use the wood I still have left over from cutting down 6 foot fence to 4 foot fence size. The idea was to lay down the boards in a pattern with purposeful spaces for rocks or plants. So we set about doing that in an area under our deck where no grass will grow. we found about 20 slugs, 1 cool blue-tailed lizard, a frog occupying a perfectly frog sized crack in our footing for our deck stairs, and a plethora of pill bugs. We knocked that out and settled down to watch Sporting KC draw with the Houston Dynamo.
Today I learned that thoughts about how to terraform Venus into a second planet habitable by humans is farther along than I had assumed. Also that a solar day on Venus is 116 days on earth.
Friday, July 31, 2015
"We dream of having a clean house - but who dreams of actually doing the cleaning? We don't have to dream about doing the work, because doing the work is always within our grasp; the dream, in this sense, is to attain the goal without the work." -Marcus Buckingham
I thought this was appropriate for a day full of chores. When I think about this, it's so true for me. I come up with all kinds of ideas and projects, but it takes a lot of self convincing to do the work. Even if it's something that I enjoy doing but has just a bit of discomfort involved.
Today we got the final prep done on our playset. we trimmed the grass super low, hit the areas I missed the first time with the power sprayer and sanded the high traffic areas. Tomorrow we'll spray on stain and when that's all dried we'll get the hardware all back on and tighten all the screws and bolts. We also got the pool all back to good shape after the trip and the boys made some big strides on their learning to swim today. I tried my hand at stir fry, and I think focusing on the techniques and flavor combinations rather than the specifics is really paying off on my cooking ability. I made some honey garlic teriyaki steak in the wok with wild rice pilaf in the rice cooker. No recipes!
I learned today that researchers have made a 6 step Memristor. Memristors were announced in my last years of college and they are incredibly promising for density of memory. In this case, If the Memristor was the size of a standard flash memory bit, it would be 6 times more memory in the same space.
I thought this was appropriate for a day full of chores. When I think about this, it's so true for me. I come up with all kinds of ideas and projects, but it takes a lot of self convincing to do the work. Even if it's something that I enjoy doing but has just a bit of discomfort involved.
Today we got the final prep done on our playset. we trimmed the grass super low, hit the areas I missed the first time with the power sprayer and sanded the high traffic areas. Tomorrow we'll spray on stain and when that's all dried we'll get the hardware all back on and tighten all the screws and bolts. We also got the pool all back to good shape after the trip and the boys made some big strides on their learning to swim today. I tried my hand at stir fry, and I think focusing on the techniques and flavor combinations rather than the specifics is really paying off on my cooking ability. I made some honey garlic teriyaki steak in the wok with wild rice pilaf in the rice cooker. No recipes!
I learned today that researchers have made a 6 step Memristor. Memristors were announced in my last years of college and they are incredibly promising for density of memory. In this case, If the Memristor was the size of a standard flash memory bit, it would be 6 times more memory in the same space.
"If you’re not crazy there’s something wrong with you." - Willie Nelson
We were on the road again today, so I had Willie Nelson on the mind when looking for today's quote. I can assure you, Mr. Nelson, I am certainly one crazy human being, and I'm also definitely raising two new crazies.
Today started by packing up and finding a really cool nature trail in Branson that descends a limestone wall by lake Taneycomo. We went down 338 steps to see a neat little cave and a really cool grotto. The steps were laid down in the 20's by hand and I can only imagine the pain it would have been to haul that many buckets of cement. So the pain of climbing back up the steps (halfway with a 5 year old on my back) was relatively minor in comparison.
The drive back to Kansas City was uneventful, just how I like it! We unpacked, and I tried my hand at cutting open a geode with my Dremel tool and a diamond disc. The geode was 99% solid, so I had to cut it all the way, but was able to do it! patience, steady hands, and some skills passed down from Dad meant that both halves were clean and smooth when I finished. I then rigged up a belt sander upside down in my vice and tried my hand at making obelisks out of river rocks. So far so good, but it's slow work.
Today I learned that lapidary work absolutely requires water and that a dremel tool can only run for about 20 minutes before getting too hot to hold onto. I also learned that I'll have to work extra hard because Julianne and I share a dream of a second home in the wilderness someday.
We were on the road again today, so I had Willie Nelson on the mind when looking for today's quote. I can assure you, Mr. Nelson, I am certainly one crazy human being, and I'm also definitely raising two new crazies.
Today started by packing up and finding a really cool nature trail in Branson that descends a limestone wall by lake Taneycomo. We went down 338 steps to see a neat little cave and a really cool grotto. The steps were laid down in the 20's by hand and I can only imagine the pain it would have been to haul that many buckets of cement. So the pain of climbing back up the steps (halfway with a 5 year old on my back) was relatively minor in comparison.
The drive back to Kansas City was uneventful, just how I like it! We unpacked, and I tried my hand at cutting open a geode with my Dremel tool and a diamond disc. The geode was 99% solid, so I had to cut it all the way, but was able to do it! patience, steady hands, and some skills passed down from Dad meant that both halves were clean and smooth when I finished. I then rigged up a belt sander upside down in my vice and tried my hand at making obelisks out of river rocks. So far so good, but it's slow work.
Today I learned that lapidary work absolutely requires water and that a dremel tool can only run for about 20 minutes before getting too hot to hold onto. I also learned that I'll have to work extra hard because Julianne and I share a dream of a second home in the wilderness someday.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
"It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn." - Eric Hoffer
I would like to think that people my age and younger are now constantly learning thanks to the internet. I'm wonder if Mr. Hoffer would agree, but I'm more curious if any of my peers would agree. has the balance shifted? are we too busy learning to have time left to be productive?
What a busy day! Today we went to the trout hatchery here in Branson and learned all kinds of things about how the trout are grown. next we went to try go karts, but both of the boys took one look and were not wanting to try out the noisy things. So we went and did some indoor mini-golf instead. Both boys got a hole in one! we checked out an arcade, and had a blast there. Then we headed over to a the talking rocks cavern. It was a frightening experience for Logan given that it was cold, dark wet and high up at points. We tried out Rocco's Pizza based on some reviews on trip advisor and were not disappointed. Finally, we went to The Landing and did some shopping and watched the Fountain and Fire show.
Today I learned that the trout in lake Taneycomo need to be constantly stocked because the variability in the outflow from the Tablerock dam means that the trout spawning will not be successful. I also learned that by creating the tablerock dam, that we've effectively made the waters inhospitable for most of the native fish, and that of course means that trout are not native to Missouri.
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