Fast Friday

BARGAIN BASEMENT: How much fun can 52 cents buy? You're looking at it. It's a a heavily armored hamster, also known as a Kung Zhu, which is part of the Zhu Zhu pets line which, apparently wasn't all THAT popular with the masses since it was on clearance at Toys R Us today for 1.98. But wait, it gets better. Because this TRU happened to be going out of business, so the hamster was 60 percent off that clearance price, and then another 20 percent off, per yet another hastily hand scrawled-taped up sign saying another 20 percent off. Bottom line, the great treasure cost 30 cents. At that, we could splurge for the armor kit, which set us back 22 cents after discounts on discount's discounts. Nice.

Annabelle and CJ had some epic Kung Zhu battles this afternoon. They may never play with the things again, but we got our money's worth. :)

B&B: This morning we and a dozen or so others were at the first screening of the just re-released (in 3D, for the first time) Beauty and the Beast.

I was surprised how dated the film's animation looked to me. I watched it about 298 times with Rick and Ken on VHS back in the day, and it seemed fresh and new then. To my eye today, it looks every bit as old as the animated "Snow White" and "Cinderella" classics. Granted, they did work a little 3D magic, but it didn't pop off the screen at us. 

That said, it's still a wonderful story and an amazing soundtrack. But I'll let the shorter pundints offer their opinions.

CJ: "Beauty and the Beast has very very good music.  My favorite music is the ending music. I got to admit, that movie has some great music (also some sad music). Overall, Beauty and the Beast gets an A+"

Annabelle: "Beauty and the Beast was a good movie overall, but I'm going to focus on my favorite character, the beast. My favorite scene involving the beast was when he was dancing with Belle. I think the Beast was mean at first, later, he learend to love and turned human again."

SHORT STUFF: We did math and some reading, of course, today, but this post is going to be brief. We're heading south west tomorrow, hopefully ahead of the snow, and I have a ton of cleaning and organizing to do. Our next report will be from the road. :)

Bread Head

ALTOGETHER NOW: The kids completed their group build project in LEGO class today. Look at that beauteous shuttle on the launch pad!

I usually go get some work done in the library when the kids are in LEGO class, but I overheard the teacher say she didn't have her usual helpers today, so I stuck around. Man oh man, do those kids have fun. Each kid is working on their own (different) LEGO kit, but they do a fair amount of visiting with one another and admiring each others' projects. It's 50 minutes well spent.

GYM RATS: The kids played in the school gym for awhile today. The game in progress which they joined was a modified version of dodgeball.  There were three balls in play, and everyone is against everyone. The idea is to hit anyone you can. Last man or woman standing wins. If you get hit, you have to sit down where and when you got hit, and you can't get back up until the person who hit you gets clobbered by someone else. The kids had a blast, even when they got hit and had to wait. 



STORE SCORE: We came home from Shoreline on surface streets rather than I-5 because the freeway was so backed up.  Our path went past Value Village so we popped in to see what we couldn't live without. Today's treasure: Anpanman playset, straight from Japan.

Just a few scant hours ago none of us had heard of Anpanman. But when the kids saw the box covered in Japanese words, they simply 'had' to have it. And so, it came home with us. Annabelle got to playing with the set straight away. CJ, however, took to the computer to do some detective work.

Turns out Anpanman is a cartoon superstar in Japan. In fact, according to the Wikipedia article about him/it, Anpanman has been the most popular fictional character among people age 0 to 12 years in Japan in 10 consecutive years, according to research by Bandai.

Anpanman (a superhero with a bread head filled with red bean paste - he's the one with the red cheeks atop the kids' 'new' playset), was created by author Takashi Yanase in 1973 as a picture-book series. Today, it's a popular cartoon that has been airing since 1988 in Japan. 

We hopped to YouTube, where I suggested CJ search for "Anpanman theme song." He did, and when we checked out the link, Annabelle almost immediately said, "I know that song! I played along with it on Pop'n Music (a Japanese video game where the player pushes colored buttons in synch with the music) at Gameworks)!" And sure enough, she was right. I remembered the song, too. Quite a coincidence.

Obviously, we're going to have to try to hunt down some Anpanman videos - maybe from the library? ...

MATH IN MOTION: Today via email, I received a link to a video of a piece of heavy construction equipment climbing a steel tower in Germany. We gathered 'round the computer and watched man and machine work together to defy gravity.

As we watched, I told the kids, "Someone did a whole lot of math in order to make this happen."

Watching and Waiting

THRUSTERS ENGAGED!: The big news 'round our household today was watching and waiting for news on Mars Science Laboratory's biggest maneuver planned for the mission's journey between Earth and Mars. At about 3 p.m. Pacific time, the maneuver began.

Using a choreographed sequence of firings of eight thruster engines during a period of about 180 minutes, the spacecraft was redirected more precisely toward Mars to land at Gale Crater. The maneuver was necessary, as the trajectory resulting from the mission's Nov. 26, 2011, launch (I was there!) intentionally misses Mars to prevent the upper stage of the launch vehicle from hitting the planet.

FYI, per NASA, "the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft rotates in flight at about two revolutions per minute. Today's maneuver included two different components: one that changed velocity in the direction of the axis of the spacecraft's rotation, and one that changed velocity in a direction perpendicular to that."


The MSL vehicle has eight thruster engines on the cruise stage of the spacecraft, grouped into two sets of four. Today, a series of 5-second bursts were repeated more than 200 times during a period of about two hours for a total burn time of about 40 minutes.

As a result of today's successful maneuver, the spacecraft is now traveling 12.3 miles per hour (5.5 meters per second) faster than it was. As of 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) on Thursday, Jan. 12, the spacecraft will have traveled 81.2 million miles (130.6 million kilometers) of its 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) flight to Mars. It's clipping along at 10,300 mph (16,600 kilometers per hour) relative to Earth, and at about 68,700 mph (110,500 kilometers per hour) relative to the sun. So, so exciting! Annabelle set off a party popper tonight to celebrate Curiosity's successful maneuvering! :)

We're so SO happy to see Curiosity's mission going as planned. Meanwhile, dust off the hard hats and get ready for Phobos-Grunt to come crashing down within the next four days or so. (Be especially wary if you're in Afghanistan, where it's projected to plummet.)

MEANWHILE, BACK ON EARTH: We did earthly things, like math, and reading and science. Speaking of science, the kids' class today started a weather unit. For the unit, they'll be keeping a weather journal. To get it kicked off today, we took a 'field trip' out to the front of the building to observe the current conditions.

Here's Annabelle, an all too typical PacNW kid, being blinded by some January sunshine.

We gathered 'round the flagpole to check out Old Glory's status. Obviously, there was a bit of a breeze today.

Then, there's always the time-tested wet fingertip to the wind ... 

As part of their homework, the kids will be keeping weather journals. Do us a favor, remind us that this is our homework. ;)

OOPS, IT HAPPENED AGAIN: In order to meet a rocket launch deadline, I absolutely had to haul some naked shuttle cookies to the kids' school and embellish them at a back table in the library while Annabelle was in art class, and CJ was toiling away on a physics-themed game on the computer. These cookies have to be on the Space Coast by next Tuesday, for a rocket launch party some friends of mine are having.

Though I tried to fly under the radar, eventually the scent of sugar was detected and several little boys gathered 'round. The first who spoke up asked, "When do we get to eat them?"

Poor kid. I had to tell him that they were all promised to people far away. I told him my friends were gathering for a rocket launch party. But the news got worse from there. "Of course it's not a shuttle launch, because there aren't shuttles any more," I clarified.

Well, you woulda thought I shot his dog. "No. More? SHUTTLES!?" he exclaimed.

"Um, yes. They're done. Retired. No more shuttles," I had to confirm. However, I was quick to follow up with the fact that the space program was alive and well. In fact a rocket shot off from California this morning, Curiosity's on its way to Mars, my friends would be seeing a rocket go up next week, and there will be many more rockets to come. Spaceflight isn't over, it's just evolving, I assured the kids. And then, I promised to make them all some of their very own shuttle cookies. All is well in the universe.

GONE TO THE DOGS: And speaking of the space program being alive, there was a lil rocket launch at the Wallops launch facility (Virginia) today. I had to re-read the NASA press release four times. It said, "A NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched this morning, Jan. 11, 2012, at 8:25 from the Wallops Flight Facility. This was a test flight of the vehicle being developed to support NASA suborbital science missions."

I couldn't help but picture puppies and ponder what all this had to do with Terriers and Malamutes. 

Image Credit: NASA

Cute lil' rocket, isn't it? It doesn't look to be much bigger around than the light pole. Of course, it is a sub orbital rocket, so it's not exactly a Saturn V. It would still be a HUGE thrill to see in person.

Rocketeers

ROCKET RANCH: We got our math over with early so we could get to a bit more fun stuff - like building a rocket!!!

We got a good start on the project today. First, we did a little work on the part that will eventually hold the engine. This involved some careful gluing. We also carefully applied the stickers to the fuselage and the nosecone, and they look nice and straight, which made us happy.

IN REVIEW: As a writing exercise, today I asked the kids to write reviews of the Peter Pan panto they saw on Sunday.

CJ wrote: "The Peter Pan Play was very great. We saw it on Sunday. I (and probably most other people at the play) heard VERY VERY funny lines. In my opinion the only downside is the actor for Peter Pan. The actors were very great (discluding Pater Pan and Nana). My favorite scene is the final battle with Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Overall, Pater Pan gets an B+."

Annabelle wrote: "When we went to Hale's Palladium on Sunday to see Pater Pan, the play was great! It was funny, too. My favorite scene was when they were singing "There's no such thing as crocodiles," all the kids (and us) were screaming "watch out," when the crocodile passed. It grabbed two of the three people, then on the last one, both the crocodile and the person went "aaaaah!" and the crocodile ran out the door towards Fred Meyer! Over all, the play was really good."

UP TOP: We ventured out this afternoon to get some physical exercise (also known as P.E.). We had the park to ourselves. The kids mostly played on the merry-go-round/carousel (since the slides were wet) and CJ spent some time swinging.

LEIF'S LODGE: We had to run over to Ballard this afternoon to return some library books and pick up some crafting supplies. While there, we walked past the Leif Erickson Lodge, a longtime fixture in Ballard, where once upon a time a whole lot of Norwegian immigrants used to live.

I explained to the kids that they'll hear people talk about Christopher Columbus "discovering America," in reality, Ericson was the first European to land in North America, and he beat Columbus by about 500 years.

INDIGNITIES: I suppose Kirby is lucky in that she doesn't have to worry about the kids trying to dress her up. Much. However, she does have to endure episodes like today. Annabelle was using her LEGO satellites and space probes to explore Planet Kirby in the Canine constellation.

This probe landed for a fur sample.

Play & Play

PETER PANTO:  Sunday afternoon we had the pleasure of attending a play at Hale's Palladium, just across the Ballard Bridge from us. It's not a fancy theater - basically a big garage-like building with concrete floors and folding chairs. "Why does it smell like bread?" Annabelle asked at the entrance. That would be because of all the beer they brew next door at Hale's Ales, kids.

The play was a British panto, which is short for pantomime. Not to be confused with mime, the silent form of acting which derives from the same root, this is far from a quiet performance. A panto is a British tradition of winter musical comedy theater. It's rowdy, rollicking experience, and audience members are encouraged to participate by booing and hissing at villains, cheering for heroes, and more.

This type of play play is an annual event there. Last year the kids saw a rollicking version of "Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs." This year's play was "Peter Pan." In panto, it's very typical for men to play women and vice versa, and there was plenty of that going on in "Peter Pan." The man playing Wendy and Michael Darling's nanny was hysterical! The actors were awesome, the house band was terrific, the dialogue and the songs were great. All in all, a wonderful production. I didn't have a real camera with me, so here's one crappy shot from my cell phone.

ROCKETBOX: Imagine our glee this morning upon finding our SpaceX model rocket kit had arrived. Yee haw! Can't wait to get this bad boy put together!

GAME TIME: Monday we spent most of our afternoon in one of the kids' favorite places on Earth: Gameworks. We had a couple of Groupon coupons good for all day game passes that we needed to use up pronto, so that's just what we did. (We also had a $25 Restaurant.com coupon to use for their restaurant, so our lunch was a screaming deal, too!)

The kids both played dozens of driving, shoot 'em up and beat 'em up games. They also played some old school arcade games (Pac Man and such), and a few rounds of air hockey.

There are a number of Japanese-language only games in the place. Sometimes that makes it a wee bit difficult for us to know how to play 'em.

Fortunately, the one above was about drumming to the right beat, and that's kind of universal, so Annabelle adapted just fine.

We rode the bus to and from Gameworks, since parking is so difficult to find and expensive in their part of downtown. The kids were excited that on the way home we got to ride an articulating bus, and they got to sit right in the middle. The seats they were sitting in were bolted to a disc-shaped section of the floor that swiveled as we rounded corners. Such fun! :)

POINTING FINGERS: I read an interesting story about the soon to be tumbling Phobos-Grunt spacecraft today. This article (on Ria Novosti's Web site). The story predicts the wreckage will land in Afghanistan and cites an interview with Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos, in which Popovkin blames a number of elements for the missions failure. One factor he lists is the fact that it took too long (11 years) to build. More curiously, Popovkin seems to point a finger at external factors/entities, saying “today there is powerful equipment to influence spacecrafts, and the possibility of their use should not be ruled out.” Niiiice - how convenient to blame other nameless people outside of the project for its failure. Guess we should have had our cell phones on Airplane mode when Phobos-Grunt launched?