Live, from Magnolia

HERE COMES THE SUN: This morning's sunrise was a beauty. As the full glowing orb appeared, there was a thin strata of clouds running along the top of Queen Anne Hill. I went out onto our new roofdeck to take a photo. I didn't think it would shoot well, since the lighting was so harsh, but this one turned out OK.

We all returned to the roofdeck a bit later this morning, because I heard helicopters hovering overhead for several minutes. I knew that meant Magnolia was making news.

The KIRO 7 chopper was easy to spot, so I hopped to Twitter and found out that a bank in Magnolia had been robbed in a 'takeover' (guess that means where the gunman orders everyone to the ground - hey, I learned something new today!). Fortunately, no one was hurt. This is the latest in a series of bank robberies in our 'quiet' neighborhood. I think we're an easy target because everyone knows that there are almost NEVER any police in Magnolia. I mean, the only time you'll see one is AFTER a robbery or burglary. ...

MORE EARTH MOVING: In science class, the kids had fun playing with water and sand again, learning about erosion, land formations. Here, they have a couple meandering rivers which, over millions of years, might form canyons.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Annabelle set up her print-for-sale station again last night. This morning, when she got up, she found one of her pieces of artwork gone, and some $ and a note left behind.

Later today, we got photographic evidence that it is now on display. ...

GADGET GURU:  CJ has amassed quite a collection of gaming consoles and peripherals. Sometimes, he likes to try them in odd combos, to see if they'll work. Here, is a Frankenstein he came up with today. ... 

On the bottom is a SupaBoy, made by Hyperkin. It's an after market portable gaming console which will play Super Nintendo and Super Famicom games. Into it, CJ inserted his Super Game Boy. That device allows people to play Game Boy games in their Super Nintendo consoles. Atop the Super Game Boy, is a backward Game Genie. That allows players to hack Game Boy games by entering 'secret' codes. In the Game Genie, he has inserted a Game Boy game cartridge (in this case, "Kirby's Dream Land"). So, in effect, he has 'tricked' an aftermarket device meant to play standard Super Nintendo games into playing a hacked Game Boy game. Pretty cool!

HOPES AND DREAMS: As I've oft lamented here, there's no Apollo, there's no Shuttle program, there's no way other than a Soyuz rocket to get U.S. astronauts beyond Earth's gravitational pull right now. Yes, private companies, like SpaceX, are ramping up to handle low Earth orbit duties, but what about to infinity and beyond?

That is, hopefully, where Orion comes in.  Today, NASA released and artist's rendition of what the capsule Orion might look like atop a European Space Agency Service Module after it's launched by a NASA Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The press release said this is supposed to go down, er, up, in 2017. Fingers crossed. ... 

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY: These fine people climbed in Orbiter Columbia at Kennedy Space Center. It would be their last day on Earth. Though they completed their mission aboard the ISS, on their voyage home the shuttle and all on board were lost.

                                 Image credit: NASA
Here's a iink to an interactive slideshow about STS-107 and it crew from NASA's site. ...
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/sts107/index1.html

Art, Park, Mars & More

SIGHTSEEING: Every once in awhile we like to play tourists in our own city. The sun made a valiant effort to come out today, and when it did, we made a beeline for one of the city's number one tourist destinations - Kerry Park. Atop Queen Anne Hill, with great vistas to the south, it's a great place to be on a sunny day. Above, the kids play around on "Changing Form" by Doris Chase. It was added to the park in 1971, a gift from the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Sperry Kerry, Sr., who donated the park to the city in 1927.

We got a good look at the Space Needle's relatively new green paint job. Interesting. ... I liked the Galaxy Gold much better, I have to admit. 

MORNING ON MARS: At 10 a.m. we tuned in to a live press conference about the latest Mars Science Laboratory activities and what's up next for Curiosity. Much of today's talk walk about the drilling that the rover will be doing in the days to come. 

    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 

The photo above shows a patch of veined, flat-lying rock. It will serve as the first drilling site for MSL. It's been named John Klein, after a former deputy project manager for Curiosity who died in 2011.

Per a JPL/NASA press release, this is what you're looking at: "Enlargement A shows a high concentration of ridge-like veins protruding above the surface. Some of the veins have two walls and an eroded interior. Enlargement B shows that in some portions of this feature, there is a horizontal discontinuity a few centimeters or inches beneath the surface. The discontinuity may be a bed, a fracture, or potentially a horizontal vein. Enlargement C shows a hole developed in the sand that overlies a fracture, implying infiltration of sand down into the fracture system."

The image has been white-balanced to show what the rocks would look like if they were on Earth.

TABLE TIME: We spent a lot of time with pencils and paper today. First up was a rather tricky math assignment involving figuring out areas, then the kids had some worksheet from their weekly Math Detectives class to complete. That was followed by science homework, reading a story about the Grand Canyon and answering some comprehension questions afterward. 

We also had some quiet reading time today - an activity. The kids each read tons all day long, but most of it's articles of their own choosing on the Internet. I want them to get more literature under their belts, especially the classic kids' books. To that end, I picked up E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" and "Stuart Little" at the library last week.

Annabelle completed "Charlotte's Web" in a couple of sittings. Here's what she had to say about the book's title character.

Charlotte is a grey spider that saves Wilbur's life in Charlotte's Web by writing messages in her web that express the pig as being "some pig" "fantastic" and "radiant". Charlotte is a half main half side character, as she is not talked about throughout the whole book, yet when she appears she becomes a main character. Charlotte is described at first "sight" as bloodthirsty and clever but later becomes Wilbur's friend, and as quoted by Wilbur himself: "Charlotte, when I met you, I thought you were bloodthirsty and sneaky!" (not exact words, as I've read the whole book and can't remember some parts that well). Charlotte helped the main character, Wilbur, throughout almost half the book, when she appeared at almost the half-way point. Charlotte loves weaving her web, so she is happy to help Wilbur by writing on her web. Since she helps Wilbur so much, her name is part of the title. Overall Charlotte is a nice character though depicted mean during her appearance.

CJ read Stuart Little quickly. I asked him to write about any character in the book. Here's what he came up with. ...

Margolo was a female bird in the 1949 book Stuart Little. In the book, she was depicted as liking to whistle. During the later events of Stuart Little, (*WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!*) it is told that two cats, Snowball and one anonymous cat, are planning to kill and eat Margolo.

However, in the book, it is said that one other bird was listening to Snowball and the anonymous cat, and he sent a note to Margolo reading this: “BEWARE OF THE MYSTERIOUS EVIL CAT THAT WANTS TO EAT YOU AT MIDNIGHT.” Of course, this frightens Margolo, so, she hid under the refrigerator that night in the book.

(*WARNING! Spoilers end here.*) However, for the rest of the book, Stewart can not find Margolo.

Interesting, and kind of obscure, character for CJ to single out. 


ART ONLINE: Annabelle spent a fair amount of time online today, creating art. She drew a flying dragon in Paint, and posted it to deviantART.

She also used General Zoi's Pony Creator to make a pony with Sponge Bob as its inspiration. Very clever. 

MAS MURAL: The painting of Ponyville continues in Annabelle's room. I've made some good progress over the last few days. Today, we even started putting finishing touches on some of the elements. Like here, Annabelle adds berries to a bush.

Agony, Ecstasy, Agony, Oh Well

'HAWKS NEST: Sunday the homestead turned into Seahawks Central, as we hosted yet another Seahawks' playoff party. 

We shopped and prepped food on Friday and Saturday, and come Sunday we were ready for the hungry masses and playoff football. 

What. A. Game. The first half was so abysmal. And the second half was so amazing. In the end (and by 'the end,' I mean the last 15 friggin' seconds), the Seahawks lost. 

I'm disappointed, but that's sports. Although it uses bad grammar, this graphic about sums it up for me. ...

There's always next year, ya know?! :)

OLD SCHOOL: Lately, CJ's interest in retro video games has re-emerged in a big way. So today, as our 'field trip' we decided to go visit Another Castle, a video game retailer and arcade in Lynnwood, WA. There, we got our Kong on, for starters. ...

The kids also played some Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, pinball, House of the Dead, Dig Dug, and other classic arcade action. 

While the kids were playing games, I was sizing up the options and couldn't help but notice this first-person shooter equipment. ... 

Immediately, I thought, "That's brilliant marketing." Normally, girls don't gravitate toward these types of games... but what if there was a pink gun. ... I immediately predicted (to myself) that Annabelle would be drawn to it because of the color of the hardware. I didn't point it out to her, I just watched and waited. 

Sure 'nuff. ... 

LATEST, GREATEST: Want to know what's going on on Mars? Make sure you tune in to a press conference tomorrow (Jan 15) at 10 a.m. Pac Coast time. We'll be tuning in on NASA TV, for sure!

I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR: I mentioned last week that we're in the midst of a 'beef-up-our-knowledge-of presidents' campaign here at MPA. Today, I discovered a great resource with tons o' inauguration resources. It's on the White House's Web site, called The Our White House Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids.   The kit contains non fiction stories, poetry, articles and art about presidents and the White House. 

We'll definitely be resourcing it in the days to come - especially the games "Inaugural I Spy" and "Pin the President on the Presidential Timeline."

Clearly Cold

CHILLY: This morning brought bright blue skies, but frigid temperatures. Ken called us early to tell us his car was frozen shut. Fortunately, he was eventually able to chip his way in.

We saw lots of frost on the roads as we made our way to West Seattle this morning, to Family Learning Program classes at the Southwest Teen Life Center.

There was a small lake covered in ice in the parking lot. The kids had fun testing the strength of it.

By afternoon, it was just another puddle.

BLUE FRIDAY: The Seahawks continue their post season march. This weekend, the Atlanta Falcons are the opponent. Today, The Powers that Be declared it Blue Friday, and sportsfans were supposed to wear their Seahawks gear. Count us in!

Thanks to a Facebook post, I learned about a cute lil craft project - a little Russell Wilson doll graphic you can print out at home.

To get yours, follow the link to this Russell Wilson PDF from The Seattle Times. 

Annabelle lovingly crafted her little Russell this evening. It was a little tricky, requiring a lot of tiny, precise cuts. Hold still Russell, this won't hurt a bit ...

She was happy with the outcome, though. Except she lost his facemask. We'll have to hunt it down. Can't have Wilson out there with no facemask come Sunday.

GOT A MINUTE?: If you have two minutes to spare, check out this cool video compilation chronicling the history of the world, from Big Bang through Obama. (Thanks to Nonnie for the link!)

Mixed Bag

GOODWILL HUNTING: Yesterday we had a few minutes to spare before their science class, so we stopped at Goodwill in Shoreline. It was quite the shoppers' paradise there, let me tell you.

For just $49, we could have taken Barbra Streisand home with us. Someone had spent HOURS and HOURS on this enormous (about 3-by-4 feet) portrait of her. And they managed to make Bab's nose look even bigger than it really is. ...

And we found a horrifying clown in the toy department. It's eyes opened and closed. Super scary.

Annabelle really wanted to buy this basketball, since we had just heard on the radio that the Seattle Super Sonics might rise again (via the Sacramento Kings moving here).

But I told Annabelle that I didn't think we needed a basketball with a hole in it (you could actually feel the air streaming out when you held it).

But the Bestest Thing Ever was this plush. ...

We call him the Afronana.

It's a stuffed banana. With an afro. And no eyes. How it ever wound up at Goodwill, I'll never understand. I mean, who could bear to part with such an absolute TREASURE?
.
PRESIDENTIAL: Since the inauguration is just a few days away, I thought it would be a good time to do some learnin' 'bout the presidents. Specifically, I'd like the kids to learn all the presidents names, and be able to recite them in order.

To that end, today we watched and listened to the Animaniacs' song featuring all the presidents (well, up through Clinton) over and over again.


We also read along with a narrated book online, "So You Want to be President?" written by Judith St. George, with illustrations by David Small. We accessed the video  through the BookFlix site via the Seattle Public Library site. The 23-minute video shared all sorts of factoids about the office and the men who have held it. Rather than tackle the subject chronologically, the book examines presidents in other ways, physical characteristics, hobbies, education and personality. It was entertaining and informative.

LANDSAT UPDATE: This morning, we watched a live press conference about the upcoming launch of the latest satellite that's part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission. A collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological survey, the Landsat program has a 40 year history of monitoring the Earth's landscape from space. Data collected from the satellites is used for everything from farm to forest management. This new satellite is the eighth in the Landsat series, which started in 1972.

The next Landsat satellite is scheduled to be launched on Feb. 11. Here's a photo of it installed on a horizontal frame after the satellite completed thermal vacuum testing at the Orbital Sciences Corporation facility in Gilbert, AZ.

Photo credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.

We put in for the #NASASocial to attend the launch. Notices go out on that Jan. 18, so our fingers are crossed. ...

There's a great video all about the Landsat program and upcoming launch can be found here: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11166

WATERWORLD: In science class yesterday, the kids had a chance to mess around with sand and water while learning about how geological formations like the Grand Canyon were made. Fun!

Big Birthdays

FIT FOR A KING: January 8 marks three big birthdays in our household: Musician David Bowie, 65, Stephen Hawking, 71, and The King himself, Elvis Presley, who would have been 78 this year.

As we've done the couple of years past, we decided to dust off the "Are You Hungry Tonight," a collection of Elvis' favorite recipes.

CJ was lobbying for the old standby - peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but I told him this year, I thought we should expand our horizons. So we got crazy and made BLTs and macaroni and cheese per the recipe in the book.

No surprises in the BLT recipe - bread, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. The recipe did note note that Elvis liked his bacon not burned, but very crispy. That's the same way CJ likes his bacon.

The mac and cheese called for American cheese (ewwwww!), elbow macaroni, dry mustard, a little flour, some salt and pepper, onion, and milk.

The kids made a shopping list and off to Albertson's we went. We took less than 5 minutes in the store (hooray!). As dinnertime approached, the kids read the recipes and we tacked the mac and cheese first. We boiled the noodles, and while those cooked, the kids dug into the American cheese. I don't believe either one of them has ever eaten or handled it before. Turns out they liked it. They tore it in bits, and we added some grated cheddar, as well.

We threw in the flour, mustard, and S&P, but skipped the onion at the kids' request. They stirred in the al dente noodles, which melted the cheeses.

We poured it into a baking dish and then the kids poured the milk over it, per direction. It was topped with a little more cheese and a few pats of butter and into the oven it went.

Then our attention turned to the BLTs. The kids sliced the tomatoes (I think that's a first), under the watchful eyes of The King.

They prepped the lettuce and assembled the sandwiches.

Dinner was a huge hit - everyone loved it.

(Note to self: Guess we need to try to find a Bowie or Hawking cookbook before next year.)

MATHNET: Today we spent some time making sure the kids were back on track for the classes that resume at their Shoreline school tomorrow. That meant checking science homework, and making sure they were up to date in math. One of the things they do in their weekly math class is watch a segment of "Mathnet."

"Mathnet" originally appeared on the children's show "Square One Television," which aired form 1987-1992. show. And once you get past the very '80s fashions and production values, it's pretty good. :)

CJ and Annabelle finished watching "The Case of the Ersatz Earthquake," a compelling tale about a psychic who said she could predict earthquakes and was trying to blackmail a city to pay her for advance warning of the next one. The show is entertaining, and it encourages problem solving and using logic. Good stuff.

PRACTICE: Out of nowhere, today CJ said, "I think I should try shaving practice."

I told him if he started today, that would definitely make for way more than enough practice, as he's probably about 5 plus years away from needing to shave.

Given that, we didn't break out the shaving cream and razor.

Gamers

HAWKISH: This weekend, the Seattle Seahawks were on the top of the minds of a lot of Pacific Northwest people - including us! They were playing in the first round of the playoffs, at Washington, against the Redskins.

We'd volunteered to host a party during the game on Sunday, so Friday and Saturday meant some pre-party hunting and gathering for us. For the big game we make three kids of cookies, we bought Skittles (as a nod to star running back Marshawn Lynch, whose mom used to give him that candy for energy when he played youth football). We made a variety of appetizers, stocked coolers, decorated the house, and even painted faces. Here, Annabelle's sportin' some Seahawk blue on her cheeks and lips.

I'd show you a photo of CJ in his facepaint, but it didn't last long. Within a few minutes he complained that it itched, so off it came. At least he tried. ;)

We had about 15 people here watching the game and it was great fun - except for the first quarter, when the 'Hawks quickly got down by two touchdowns. Fortunately, before the second half, the real Seahawks showed up, and by the third quarter they were cruising. It's so unusual for a team I'm rooting for to win in the playoffs, I'm not quite sure how to act. ...

Of course we're having another party for next Sunday's playoff game. And hopefully two more parties beyond that! Go Hawks!

BRUSH OFF: Big news from the planet Mars. Curiosity used its Dust Removal Tool for the first time, on Jan. 6. The DRT is a motorized, wire-bristled brush at the end of the rover's arm.

Below, you see the spot DRT brushed on rock target Ekwir 1. It's about 1.85 inches by 2.44 inches.

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 

Wonder if I could get NASA to give me a rover to sweep the dust off our floors. ...

LIGHTS, CAMERA: Annabelle has been busy in her room over the past couple of days. She's been trying to film a "documentary" of sorts - a film about one of her stuffed animals, Bunnybelle, playing an online game on the laptop.

So far all of the footage has wound up on the cutting room floor for one reason or another. Hopefully in the next day or two, we'll have something to post here.

BYE, BYE, LOVE: The kids' homework for guitar this week has been practicing plucking out the notes for "Bye, Bye, Love." I listened in as I painted ponies, and they were plucking out notes, alright, but it sounded nothing like the oh-so-familiar-to-me song.

I told the kids I thought it would be lots easier for them to play the song if they heard what it sounded like, and so we found a version of it by the VERY young Everly Brothers.

CJ wanted to know what year the show was made. I told him I had no idea, but that he and Annabelle could do some math detective work and figure it out.

I asked them what they *did* know from the clip that could be used as a clue. After about 15 seconds, Annabelle struck upon the fact that the eldest of the brothers, Don, said he was 20. And so I asked them how they could use that info to find out what year the show was filmed. CJ correctly figured out if they looked up Don's birth year and added 20, that should give them the show date.

We turned to Wikipedia and learned that was born in 1937. The kids quickly figured out that the show was taped in 1957. Gotta love math.

REDISCOVERY: Over the past couple of days, CJ has rediscovered all of his vintage games and gaming systems. I think perhaps us getting the Famicom up and running a few days ago spurred that.

And so, he's been playing Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Sega, Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, Super Famicom, Super Nintendo and I'm sure there are some I've left out. And when he's not playing the games, he's researching them and the consoles. He's quite the repository of retro game information. Maybe someday he'll be curator at the Videogame History Museum.