Go Go, Godzilla!

THE WORK CONTINUES: The kids are still piecing together their "Fun with Photoshop" display board for a school expo on Thursday night. Today's creation: Godzilla Attacks Seattle!  We took a photo of a 12" toy Godzilla they had, and CJ erased its background. He then moved it onto a cityscape photo I took from the Space Needle a couple years ago. Meanwhile, Annabelle scoured the Internet in search of the perfect photo of a shooting flame. She finally found it. CJ eliminated the background from it and Annabelle moved it over onto the composite of Godzilla and the city and made all the pieces fit. Fun stuff!

HILL HOPPING: Mid-morning we headed for Group Health, a couple of hilltops to the east of here. I had an eye appointment and I suggested Christian take the kids to get a flu shot next door at the same time.

Fortunately for the kids, they had an option of a nasal mist immunization. Apparently CJ politely ("no thank you') declined it when presented with the sprayer the first two times. When he was informed that his only other option was a date with a needle, he managed to accept the mist.

After I was done at the eye dr. (no change in prescription despite 3 years since my last visit - apparently my eyesight isn't fading as precipitiously as I thought it was), we all went to a super neat-o toy store just down the block. The Red Balloon has so many fun things for people of all ages. I could spend hours in there.

The kids love the place for the rainbow of M&M candies. They each got a small bag (four ounces) with several colors of their choice inside.

TENNIS ANYONE?: On Saturday, we wound up playing tennis in windy 40-something degree weather. Today was a tad bit nicer, and so we returned to the courts for another go round.

It was cool to see how much the kids' had retained from their Saturday experience. Today, they really hit the ground running, so to speak. Their strokes were smoother and way more of their balls wound up over the net.

Annabelle still misses a fair number of balls entirely. I would link this to two reasons: 1) She doesn't watch the ball all the way to her racquet and 2) She (almost) never stops talking.

I was surprised by the number of people who stopped to watch us 'play' tennis today. And, in case you are wondering, our 'game' of tennis consists of Christian alternately serving a ball to CJ or Annabelle, and them attempting to hit it back at him. My job is to be the golden retriever, running 'round the court shagging balls. One older couple with a baby in a stroller stood for a good 15 minutes and watched our antics. I know people couldn't have been watching because we were so good, so I can only presume they watched because we were so bad. Oh well, I'm happy we could provide some cheap entertainment. :)

After the tennis, we walked over to the playground where CJ and Annabelle got in a few good rides on the zipline.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: We received news this weekend that we won a contest held by The Wing Dome - one of our favorite restaurants. During Snowmageddeon a couple weeks back, The Wing Dome challenged their Facebook fans to sculpt or create something out of snow that paid tribute to Wing Dome.

So, CJ, Annabelle and I toyed with a few ideas. I tried sculpting some over sized chicken wings out of snow, but quickly gave up. They looked like crap, and Wing Dome's wings are NOT crap. :) So, we went with a much easier approach. We filled squirt bottles with water, added some hardcore red and orange food coloring, shook 'em up and then I looked at The Wing Dome's logo on our 'frequent flier' card while I rather sloppily tried to reproduce it (that colored water came out too fast).

CHECK YOUR INBOX: Annabelle finally checked her email inbox for the first time in a couple of weeks today. There, she found a letter from Congressman Jim McDermott in response to her message to him urging him not to support SOPA and PIPA. Here's how McDermott responded:

Dear Annabelle:


Thank you for contacting me regarding your opposition to H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. I appreciate your taking the time to write to me on this important issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, H.R. 3261 would allow the Attorney General or an intellectual-property owner to take legal action against individuals associated with an internet site dedicated to infringing activities (ISDIA). An ISDIA is defined as a website having no significant purpose other than engaging in or facilitating copyright infringement. It would also facilitate legal proceedings taken by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice against foreign nationals that are associated with delinquent d omain names that harm American i nternet users.

I share your concerns about the potential impact this bill could have on free speech, innovation, and creativity. H.R. 3261 was introduced by Rep. Smith on October 26, 2011. Although something must be done about internet piracy, I do not support this legislation or any that will harm the internet, free speech or innovation. The i nternet is an extremely important engine for economic growth, innovation, and communication .

If you are interested in following a particular piece of legislation through the legislative process, the website hosted by the Library of Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov is extremely helpful. It provides a wealth of information about legislation under consideration in the current Congress as well as bills introduced in earlier sessions. The site is called Thomas to honor President Thomas Jefferson and his belief in public access to the workings of government.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I welcome your views, and look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,

Jim McDermott
Member of Congress

I would say the letter is quite clearly boilerplate (he probably had several hundreds of emails on the same topic), but fine by me. He responded, he explained his position, and it is well written.

GOING MAINSTREAM: Last night I received an email from Linda Perlstein. She's a writer who lives on Queen Anne hill who just finished a story for Newsweek about urban home schoolers. I'd chatted with Linda a few months back, sharing some resources and some of our experiences with homeschooling. Her story just published, and she gave a link.

It was nice to see a mainstream media story that doesn't paint home schooling parents as a bunch of religious zealots. You can read the story here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/29/why-urban-educated-parents-are-turning-to-diy-education.html