A Pale Blue Dot

ANTI-PANIC DEVICE: Math meltdowns are not all that uncommon around MPA, so when I saw this eraser at a cool little shop (Lucca) in Ballard yesterday, I had to get it. 

SAGAN REMEMBERED:  A Pulitzer Prize winning author, professor of Astronomy and Space Science and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University and host of the amazing, Emmy award winning "COSMOS" for PBS, Dr. Carl Sagan was a science educator extraordinaire. Nov. 9 was his birthday, and though he's been gone years now, his legacy lives on.

Thinking about Sagan, I immediately start feeling guilty for not showing the kids any of the "COSMOS" series. :/ Unforgivable and definitely on the 'to do' list!

I did play an excerpt from "A Pale Blue Dot" for them this morning. It was inspired by an image taken on Feb. 14, 1990, by Voyager 1, at Sagan's suggestion. As Voyager 1 was moving beyond the last planet in our solar system, it was turned around for a look at Earth, 4 billion miles away, from whence it came.  Our blue marble appears as a tiny sliver of light, just a little over one pixel. 

This video is definitely worth three minutes of your time!

GAMERS DELIGHT: This evening, we headed south to Tacoma's Pantages Theater. Destination: Video Games Live™ "an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time played by a live symphony orchestra" (per their Web site).

We'd never been to this theater before. At 9th and Broadway, it has 1,169 seats and it's designed "in the tradition of the Palace at Versailles," per its Web site. I've never been to the Palace at Versailles, so I'm going to have to take their word for it. Apparently it's a restored 1918 Vaudeville house. The place is gorgeous and intimate. I doubt there's a bad seat in the house.

The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra was directed by the VGL touring conductor Emmanuel Frattiani. They covered everything from Pong through Halo, and lots in between. 

We all loved every minute of it, including a tribute to the Sonic the Hedgehog series (hence the gold rings projected below). 

Good times!  

Thursday Ramblings

CHEAP THRILL: What price happiness? Just one thin dollar for Annabelle. :)

Yesterday we were in the Dollar Tree, where everything's a dollar, and as soon as we walked in she spied a display with their featured product of the week - a solar powered dancing daisy. It was love at first sight.

Fortunately, this morning brought some blue skies and sunshine, so the daisy was doing a happy dance when Annabelle emerged from her bedroom for breakfast.

SPOT THE STATION: A week or so ago I received a press release from NASA about a new email and text message notification system in place to let you know when the International Space Station will be flying over your city.

If you know exactly when it's going to be overhead and what direction it's coming from, it's not that hard to spot, as the ISS is the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and the moon.

Image credit: Thilo Kranz, DLR (the German Space Agency)

No, your ISS sighting with the naked eye won't be as dramatic as this photo, showing the ISS transiting the sun (with shuttle Atlantis attached in the 11 o'clock position, BTW), but it's still really cool and worth taking those 5 minutes or so to check it out.  (The other dot, near the center of the sun, is a group of sunspots, in case you're wondering.)

I've been using another alert service, Twisst ISS alerts. It's easy - just follow @twisst on Twitter and they send you a tweet when the ISS is visible to you (it uses the location you specify in your Twitter profile). Twisst has been reliable and has led to many happy sightings for us, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to receive NASA's alerts, as well. So, I went to their Web site: http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ and signed up.

NASA's notification service includes text message alerts for most major cell phone carriers, but they don't have a code for my cheap-o Virgin service, so I can only get their email notifications. :/

READY TO REVIEW: It's embarrassing how long it has taken us to get CJ's custom The Rootbeer Kid mug ready for his reviews. But finally, last night, we took the time to pick out the font he preferred (after looking at hundreds on Dafont.com). CJ settled for BD Cartoon Shout. We scaled the letters T.R.K. (for The Rootbeer Kid) to the just-right size and Christian carefully cut a template into the vinyl from a glass etching kit we had on hand.

Here's the final product. Sorry it's such a crappy photo. ...

Let the rootbeer reviews begin!

HISTORY LESSON: Today, we started working our way through the great activity/education guide to go with the book we read on Tuesday, "D is For Democracy." The kids completed a fill in the word vocab/comprehension puzzle, and answered a few comprehension questions.

SWEET SORROW: In another history related note, this afternoon we spent some time cleaning out the kids' closet. It ended up being a bit of a trip down memory lane. Most of it went smoothly enough. We stuffed an enormous IKEA bag full of clothes that no longer fit. Unfortunately, for Annabelle, that included her Hello Kitty kimono pajamas. After she deposited them in the 'donate' bag by the back door, she came back to her bedroom in tears, snuffling about how much she loved them.

We agreed that they were lovely - and that some other little girl is going to love them, as well. That made her feel better.

Soon after, a 3-foot tall Dora the Explorer was on the chopping block. Both of the kids got a little wide eyed at the prospect of saying "Adios!" to one of their first favorite cartoon stars. I reminded them Christmas was coming and after we take it to Goodwill, their Dora may very well wind up being the biggest, best Christmas present some little kid gets this year. That made them feel heaps better about giving her the heave-ho. A pink plastic castle also didn't make the cut.

We'll be digging deeper in the days to come, but today was a good start in the right direction.

The Morning After

OH SO COLORFUL: This afternoon in science class there was an activity that all of the kids loved - constructing kaleidoscopes.

For a couple weeks now, their science classwork and homework has involved mirrors. So building kaleidoscopes was a great tie-in for the unit.

The kids worked in pairs. Each pair had three small, rectangular mirrors, which they taped to a piece of standard paper folded lengthwise into thirds. Once the mirrors were affixed (with tape), the  paper was folded so that the mirrors formed a triangle abutting each other. The colors and shapes were produced by taking a square of clear film and drawing designs on it with magic markers. That colored film was then taped over a small plastic petri dish filled with colorful beads. Combine the dish, film and a trio of mirrors and you have something beautiful!

And here's the kaleidoscope Annabelle and a friend came up with. ...

All of the kids' kaleidoscopes were beautiful - and very different. 

D IS FOR DEMOCRACY: With all of the election excitement yesterday, I forgot to report that the kids read a really great book, "D is for Democracy: A Citizen's Alphabet."

Truth be told, a couple weeks ago I hastily pulled it off the shelf, thinking, "I need something for Election Day." When I saw the title, I assumed it to be a very primary ABCs type book. Boy was I wrong.  Instead, it's a pretty darn in-depth primer on American politics, from A is for Amendments to Z is for Zeitgeist.

As a bonus, the book's publisher, Sleeping Bear Press, has a fantastic teacher's guide on their Web site. The 27-page PDF has puzzles, writing prompts, comprehension questions and more. View or download it here: http://www.sleepingbearpress.com/teachingguides/DemocracyTeachersGuide.pdf. We'll definitely be using it in the days to come.

Speaking of democracy, as the kids settled into their seats in science class today, out of nowhere Annabelle pipes up with, "Barack Obama was elected president again last night."  The little "uh oh" alarm immediately went off in my head, as I know talking politics can get touchy, and based on other people's bumperstickers I see outside that school, I figured the crowd there would be none too happy about the election results. 

However, her statement was just that, a statement, so no biggie, right?

Then, across the room, CJ pipes in with, "So how does everybody feel about that?"

Doh! 

As I expected, a chorus of grumbling erupted. CJ was genuinely surprised. He politely engaged a couple of kids with questions about why they felt the way they did and some sort of Détente was reached. Nice. 

FESTIVAL FLASHBACK: Kennedy needed to borrow our video camera today, which forced me to purge the files from it to make room for his recording. That enabled me to upload a couple of gems for you. 

First, it's a super short video of CeeJ and Bee dancing to some live Indian music at the Diwali festival we attended Saturday night.

And here is a video of Annabelle and friends Bollywood dancing. I don't usually publish photos or videos of other people's kids on my blog, but this was held at a public place and I noticed that a number of people in the crowd (the majority of them not even parents of the dancers) were taking videos with their cameras or phones. Those videos could all be on YouTube, Facebook and who knows where else now, so I figured this was fair game.

I gotta warn you, the song (Deewangi Deewangi) in the video is catchy. If you watch it. later on you're likely to find yourself walking (or dancing) around singing, "Om, Shanty om!" 

Democracy in Action

ELECTION DAY: Today, FINALLY, it was election day. Time to decide who will be our president for the next four years, along with U.S. Senate and House races, state reps and ballot initiatives.

Of course, my answer for everything is "Make cookies!" and so we found some Demo donkey and GOP elephant icons online and I cut their shapes out by hand and baked 'em up.

And then they got the "royal" treatment - as in royal icing.

We also made some Americas, a couple of t-shirts and a pair of signs. Those were fondant topped, and decorated with edible ink. 

Our dinner was built around the election. We had hot dogs (as a nod to Chicago, Obama's neighborhood), topped with Bald Eagle Sauce (how American does THAT sound?). It's really more of a relish, and it's a taste sensation we saw on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. On the side, Boston baked beans (a nod to Romney's former governorship of Massachusetts). Those were tasty, too, thanks to a great recipe for John Adams Quick & Easy baked beans I found on a blog called The History Chef. 

In the spirit of election day, this afternoon, I asked the kids to come up with a ballot of their own, They picked categories and I asked them each to come up with four 'candidates' per category. Here's what they generated. ...

FAVORITE RESTAURANT
1.      Laredos
2.      Mcmenamin's
3.      Hattie’s Hat
4.      Nickerson Street Saloon

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME COMPANY
1.      Nintendo
2.      Sega
3.      Capcom
4.      Konami

FAVORITE MOVIE
1.      Star wars: Episode 4: A New Hope
2.      The Lion King
3.      Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
4.      The Dark Knight Rises

FAVORITE TV CHANNEL
1.      The Hub
2.      Disney channel
3.      Nick
4.      Kiro 7 news

FAVORITE FUN SPOT
1.      Bayview
2.      Hilltop play park
3.      iFLY
4.      Disney World

FAVORITE CARTOON CHARACTER
1.      Felix the Cat
2.      Dora the Explorer
3.      Spongebob Squarepants
4.      Cartman

This evening, as we watched election returns, we cast our ballots. When all six votes were counted (Rick and Ken were here), the results were as follows:  Restaurant = Laredos; Video game company = Nintendo; Movie = Star Wars; TV channel = KIRO 7; Favorite fun spot - Disney World; Cartoon character - Spongebob.

Earlier than we thought we'd know, the networks (yes, plural) we were watching projected Obama the winner. Four more years. "He's been president half my life," Annabelle astutely pointed out. Looks like he's going to be president for 2/3 of her life by the time she's 12.

KERFUFFLE: We made a quick stop in Goodwill today in hopes of finding CJ the perfect mug with which to sample rootbeer for his Rootbeer Kid blog. Happily, Annabelle spied a mug in short order.

I asked the kids if they wanted to check out the toy aisle, too. Of course, the answer was 'yes.' So as they're looking at the toys, I told them I was going to look at men's shoes - which was 7.5 feet from where they were, in full line of vision. Except, I turned my back for 15 seconds.

By the time I turn back around and take two steps toward them, I hear CJ grousing about a child's "bleak future" and someone's "lack of parenting skills."

Uh oh.

At that, a woman with a 3 or so year old in her cart says to me, "My son accidentally hit your daughter."

Oh really? I pictured him accidentally clipping her with a toy sword or something.

Annabelle's not bruised or crying or anything so we just leave the aisle. As we're walking to the registers I ask the kids what happened. Annabelle tells me (and CJ confirmed) the boy slapped her on the head while she was just standing there, looking at games.

She said CJ got upset (which CJ confirms) and that he said something to the kid along the lines of "Don't hurt my sister" in probably a not-too-friendly voice, I'm guessing.

The kids told me the mother tried to explain that Annabelle got "too close" to her son and that he doesn't like people around him. OK ... Clearly her kid smacking Annabelle upside the head unprovoked is somehow her fault. She should have known the kid was so mercurial, apparently. But it gets better. Apparently the mother asked (not ordered or instructed, but asked her kid to apologize to Annabelle and CJ. So what did the kid do? He said no. Over and over, the kids tell me.

Given that, I have to agree with CJ. "bleak future" and "lack of parenting skills." As CJ's recounting this he says to me, "Say that kid's 18 and hauls off and hits someone in Goodwill. Then he's going to JAIL!"

Excellent point, CJ. And perhaps then his mother will wish she hadn't raised a child with no rules and no understanding of right and wrong, not to mention no remorse.

Fun & Games

INTERESTING EVENING: Saturday night found us at the NewHolly Gathering Hall  in southeast Seattle. Annabelle and her fellow Bollywood dance classmates performed at a Diwali celebration.

We got there at 7, as instructed, and Annabelle connected with some classmates. Soon, a prayer service started. I would love to tell you what was said, but the entire 40-some minutes of it was in Hindi. The prayers were followed by chanting and singing. Which also might have been prayers. :)

There were about 150 people in the room, and the girls and women were all dressed in lovely, colorful sarees. A little after 8 p.m. they started bringing around bowls and spoons and filled them with some mystery-to-us food. It kind of looked like oatmeal or thick cream of wheat. It tasted a little bit like half baked cake batter. Here's what it looked like. ...

Naturally, we asked CJ and Annabelle if they wanted to try it. I was happy that they both said 'yes.'
Annabelle took one bite and then passed on more. CJ ate the whole bowl up.

Christian and Kennedy browsed the buffet and came back with a bowl full of more mystery. From the magic of the Internets, I was able to learn that the orange thing in the bowl is a jalebi, which is made by deep frying wheat flour (Maida flour) batter in a pretzel or circular shape and then soaking them in sugar syrup.

We've tried researching the other two types of food in the bowl and remain completely in the dark regarding what they're called and what they were. Neither of them had any meat in them is about as descriptive as we can be. Christian thinks the darker ones might be pakoras.

To drink, there was a red punch like juice. Annabelle said, "It tasted like watermelon a little." The rest of us drank what I believe was masala chai. It was delicious.

About 8:20, it was time for the dance troupe to take the stage. First they did a number where they were divided into two teams, kind of having a dance off.  Annabelle was in the blue bandanna group.

Then, the kids changed into their costumes (see photo at top of post) for their second number. Earlier in the day, I had spent some time doing surgery on Bee's costume. It was too small when she got it several months ago, and it was too-smaller now. MUCH too smaller, as in when she lifted her arms over her head, she was flashing way more than her belly. So, off to the fabric store I went, in search of a suitable swath of something I could add to the bottom of her shirt.

I finally found some green fabric with gold circles on it which matched the dark green throughout her costume (including around the bottom of her skirt), but the fabric was completely transparent and wouldn't match the rest of the costume, so I also had to find some matching green lining to use under it. I think it turned out OK, and I was happy that no one in the dance ground asked, "What the hell did you do to her costume?" :)

GAME ON: Thanks to yesterday's fall back, we all were up an hour earlier than usual. The kids had knocked out math, language arts, some science and guitar practice by 11. Nice! Their reward? This afternoon we went to Gameworks!

Last night, when searching for our tickets to the upcoming Video Games Live! concert we're going to, I came across a couple of Groupons for Gameworks that were about to expire. Christian and I had spent all weekend working on the house (sound familiar?), so we decided Monday afternoon would be a good time to get out and have some fun.

The kids both played PopMusic (where you have to hit the right colored buttons in time with the music).

They played lots of driving/racing games. Here's Annabelle getting her motor running on a Harley themed game.

 They played several sessions of Tank! Tank! Tank! - probably their favorite game in the arcade.

 And, with Christian's help, they killed hundreds of zombies.

 I played a few games too, and admired the scenery - including this poster. ...

Tomorrow, it will be all about the election. I, for one, will be soooooooo glad when the political ads are gone from the airwaves.

Out to Pasture

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/Bill Ingalls

ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING: Our breakfast 'entertainment' this morning was watching orbiter Atlantis rolling down Cape Canaveral roads toward its final resting place, a display at Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex.

The slow, final parade was both cool and awful to watch. Sure, it was great seeing the shuttle in motion, and appreciating its place in history. But it was also like watching an eagle with clipped wings plodding along. :( This particular 'bird' has soared 125,935,769 miles during 33 spaceflights. It made 12 trips to the ISS and back, and was the very last shuttle flown, landing on July 21, 2011. 

It's the shuttle we saw in person, with our very own eyes, leave the planet for STS-132. And now, it's a museum piece.

Of course, NASA big wigs, including administrator Charles Bolden, tried to remind us that it's not the end. This is a transition, and that back in the day shuttle was the new thing, after the Apollo program was retired. (Of course, I don't find it all that reassuring. In the '60s and '70s we put men on the moon, in the '80s and '90s we were flying astronauts to low Earth orbit, and now, we can't fly any astronauts anywhere. But I digress. ...)

Anyway, we watched Atlantis be put out to pasture this morning. Sigh.

BEFORE AND AFTER: Jaw dropping post-Sandy images continue to flood the media. Today, I found an interactive image from NOAA/AP using Google Earth with a slider on it that shows pre-and post-storm along the Jersey Shore. Just use the orange slider in the center of the image here: http://seattletimes.com/html/picturethis/2019591918_before-and-after-images-of-sandy.html

LAZY DOG: Kirby has taken up residence in the laundry basket at the foot of my bed. I hate to break it to her that it's not a permanent fixture. 

I must say, it looks exceedingly comfy. I wish it were large enough to accommodate me. 

RAINBOW CONNECTION: Thursday, when we came out of yoga and were walking back to our car at the library, a double rainbow arced over the building. Pretty, even via my crappy cell phone camera.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: We'll be celebrating Diwali for the first time tomorrow night. I know, we're a bit late to the party, as it's a centuries-old celebration.

Today we learned that Diwali is a five-day festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-November, and that it commemorates the return of Lord Rama from his 14-year exile and defeating the demon king Ravana. 

Our participation in Diwali will come in the form of Annabelle dancing with her Bollywood troupe at a Diwali celebration at the NewHolly Gathering Hall in southeast Seattle. It ought to be interesting and I hope to get some decent photos. 

November Dawns

MARK IT: November is upon us and that means it's time to vote! 

Christian and I are on permanent absentee ballots, so we voted at home. Because we had our ballots here, the kids were able to participate. They read the ballots, and we talked about some of the candidates and races, and we even let them each fill in one little bubble (per our direction, of course).  

I will be glad when the election is over. I am sooooooo siiiiiiiiiick of all the ads.

LEFTOVERS: Some Halloween leftovers that didn't make the cut yesterday. Here's CJ demonstrating the "Gangnam Style" dance for his science class.

  

And here are the kids slogging home through some puddles, post trick-or-treating in Magnolia's business district.

TALES OF TERROR: I asked the kids today to write stories about a Halloween gone terribly wrong. Here's what they came up with. CJ's is first. There was a boy named Tyler. One Halloween, just like the one yesterday, Tyler went trick-or-treating. That faithful day, he came across a zombie. He asked the zombie to give him a trick or a treat, but he said to Tyler: "I am not a candy giver. You should see my proof that I am NOT in a costume." Just then, the zombie pulled his brain out. Tyler shrieked with fear as he dialed his parents and 911. 911 responded to Tyler with this: "Really? Do you think tha-" It stopped when they heard the zombie yelling "Brains, BRAINS!" and straight after that, a police truck arrived to the place where it was happening. A few seconds later, the KIRO 7 news truck, the army, and Tyler's parents arrived to the scene. The zombie was brutally shot with a AA-12, a  AK-47, and a X1 calibur. The zombie was killed, and Tyler went home safe that night. During the KIRO 7 new broadcast that night, it was mainly focused on the zombie sighting.

And up next, Annabelle's. ...

One Halloween night, one just like the last... Emily, Stan, and Carlos went trick-or-treating. They were going around with Emily as a cat, Stan as a dog and... a Carlos-mummy."Sure is a rainy day!" said Emily."Sure is!"  replied Stan.The kids then came upon a big, spooky mansion... *while giving a nudge to Stan* "Hey, I dare you to go in, you two scaredy-cats! Especially you, Emily. Since you're a cat." said Carlos; Carlos always teased the two.Emily replied: "Are you sure? it sure looks *gulp* spooky.""It does look spooky," added Stan. Carlos pushed them both forward towards the gate."I double-dare you if you're THAT scared!" said Carlos, unlocking the spooky black fence gate, which was covered in cobwebs. Emily and Stan seemed to be drawn to the mansion in a  most particular way, and when they reached the stairs, their legs stepped up by themselves, Carlos-mummy back by the gate chuckling as if they were pretending they were being drawn inside... but they weren't!The door swung open by itself and the kids were marched in by ... themselves! Once they were inside, the door swooped shut and locked itself! Just as Emily turned turned around to unlock it and run out of the mansion... the lock disappeared! A note appeared in place of it reading this: To make your way to safety, you must find the ghost-key!Then, the couch (which was a spooky white) started to float and took shape of a big ghost! The kids could see there was a black key shaped like a ghost inside the ghost (for the ghost was transparent, like all ghosts) and hopped on a white chair trying to reach the ghost ... but the chair turned into a ghost too and made the kids fall! Then a pillow turned in to a tiny ghost, and it seemed to have some gloves inside it - a pair for each of them! They both grabbed a pair (since the ghost was flying low) and put them on. They touched the ghost again and to their surprise... their hand didn't go through! Emily took Stan's gloves in her pocket so she could pull down the biggest ghost while Stan reached through and grabbed the key. When Stan got the key out, the lock appeared on the door again - and the note was gone! Stan used the key in the lock and... it worked! They walked out of the mansion, calm, with Carlos standing outside, a look of glee on his face when he saw them."I was so worried! How did you get out?" said Carlos with a squeal of joy. "We found.... erm... a ghost key" replied Stan, holding the key in his outstretched hand. Once Carlos saw the key for about 10 seconds, it disappeared, and inside the mansion, all was back to normal.... at least they thought.  THE END

MIRROR, MIRROR: With all the Halloween hubbub, I neglected to report on yesterday's science class doings. The kids are continuing to experiment with mirrors. Yesterday they worked in pairs and sat across the table from each other, with a big black book separating them, so they couldn't see each other - until they were given four mirrors and were instructed to use them to check each other out. They came up with some interesting combinations.

Afterward, they built periscopes and then went and spied on people in the library. :) Can you spy the spies?

BE PREPARED: With all the Sandy coverage, we've been talking more about natural disasters the last couple of days. Today, I busted out a couple of booklets the kids received at the Wreck-It Ralph preview from a Radio Disney/Red Cross street team. Called "Ready Freddie!" the 11-page booklet was developed by emergency preparedness public educators in King County, Washington representing several agencies. You can view it (or download it) as a PDF here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness/~/media/health/publichealth/documents/disaster/ReadyFreddie.ashx

At one point this morning CJ asked me if we were going to have a disaster. (Apparently all this preparedness talk has made him understandably wary.) I told him I am not personally privy to such knowledge  and that many disasters come with little to no warning, so all you can do is learn how to try to ride one out and to try to be prepared for the aftermath.

We talked about post-disaster supplies and plans our family has and reviewed what to do in an earthquake or tornado.  

BEARY ENDANGERED: Yesterday I picked up a couple of "Time for Kids" mini magazines at the kids' Shoreline school. The cover story is "Saving Polar Bears." I had the kids read the story and then they completed a couple of worksheets about bears. One of them was all about how zoos take care of Polar bears, and the 'bonus' question was sketching a design for a polar bear exhibit. I was impressed with the thought they each put into it, incorporating guidelines from the article (at least 9 feet of water, 5,400 square feet of space for one or two bears, and so on). Annabelle even drew a "Cloud Maker 3000" in her bears' exhibit. She said it takes the moisture from outside and makes into clouds to help keep the bears cool. 

WELCOME TO MY WORLD: Another great composite image of MSL today. This one a high resolution version from the NASA peeps. 

                            Image credit; NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
It's the port side of Curiosity at "Rocknest," the site where it took its first scoop of Martian soil. 

In the background (right) you can see Mount Sharp rising. In the distance on the left is the northern wall of Gale Crater.

The photos used to make this composite were taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).