It's all over but the crying. Science Fair projects were due this morning and we got them completed by bed-time last night.
1 of 2, like all third graders, was required to do a science project this year. Entering it into the Science Fair was optional, but since the requirements were the same I cannot imagine anyone not doing it.
1 of 2 chose to work with a friend (F of 1 of 2) on a project. They each had their own log book and report, but collaborated on a display (project board). 2 of 2 worked solo.
I knew that getting 1 of 2 and F of 1 of 2 together to work on their project was going to be like herding cats, so we started early. And it's a good thing we did because F of 1 of 2, unlike 1 of 2, is not a free-range child. His schedule is very full and our work time was always restricted by another activity. Science does not like to be rushed and restricted. Then again, the attention span of your average third grader isn't conducive to much science, either. The optimist in me will say that the lessons learned from the failed experiments are as valuable as those learned from the successful ones. The pessimist in me says that the paperwork requirements of these projects seem designed to snuff out any interest the students may have in science. Perhaps it is part of a plot by supporters of intelligent design?
2 of 2 was more enthusiastic. Perhaps it was because doing the science project was optional in kindergarten. But he, too, had his periods of waning interest. 2 of 2's project was also delayed while 1 of 2 and F of 1 of 2 were in the "lab" and again by a series of illnesses. As a result we were a bit rushed for time in that we couldn't take any days off in the last week. And mom had to help with the last bit of the project board when I had to go to my bowling league. But it got done.
The next problem is that they are both convinced that they are going to win first place and go on to district! I hope they won't be too crushed when the Asian kid with the overbearing parent or the white kid whose dad did 90% of the experiment and 100% of the display ends up winning.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Ahh, The Simple Life
No, not that wretched show featuring two spoiled rotten brats. I'm referring to my newly simplified telephone wiring, now that aDSL service has finally been turned off.
In early December I subscribed to Verizon's FiOS service and have blogged about it several times. Last week I blogged about the termination of my Earthlink DSL account. But even though my Earthlink account was dead, the carrier, for lack of a better term, was still active on my phone line. I know this because the DSL modem still had green lights for the "modem" and "data" indicators.
The reason this is important is that my DSL installation used in-line filters on all of my telephones. You see, DSL shares the same copper wire that provides your phone service, but uses frequencies that are not normally used by voice communications. In order for these two services to co-exist on the same wire you have to plug each telephone into a special dohickey and plug that dohickey into the wall. I'm not exactly sure what would happen if you didn't use the dohickey, but I've never been willing to risk the ire of my wife should the worst happen and my phone got fried. After all, I do have to sleep and we have sharp knives in the house.
Anywho, in my office I have two phone lines (line 2 has the DSL on it) connected in various combinations to 4 devices: a single line phone, a two-line phone, a fax machine, and the DSL modem. The tangle of splitters (and joiners), pair switches, and filter is rather scary.
Today, 7 days after Earthlink stopped accepting my username and password, the modem and data lights have gone dark. With any luck this means that the DSL service has been completely disconnected and I can remove the filters and tangle of wires, replacing them with a single two-line splitter.
I'm so happy! It's the simple things in life that give us the most joy. <sniff>
In early December I subscribed to Verizon's FiOS service and have blogged about it several times. Last week I blogged about the termination of my Earthlink DSL account. But even though my Earthlink account was dead, the carrier, for lack of a better term, was still active on my phone line. I know this because the DSL modem still had green lights for the "modem" and "data" indicators.
The reason this is important is that my DSL installation used in-line filters on all of my telephones. You see, DSL shares the same copper wire that provides your phone service, but uses frequencies that are not normally used by voice communications. In order for these two services to co-exist on the same wire you have to plug each telephone into a special dohickey and plug that dohickey into the wall. I'm not exactly sure what would happen if you didn't use the dohickey, but I've never been willing to risk the ire of my wife should the worst happen and my phone got fried. After all, I do have to sleep and we have sharp knives in the house.
Anywho, in my office I have two phone lines (line 2 has the DSL on it) connected in various combinations to 4 devices: a single line phone, a two-line phone, a fax machine, and the DSL modem. The tangle of splitters (and joiners), pair switches, and filter is rather scary.
Today, 7 days after Earthlink stopped accepting my username and password, the modem and data lights have gone dark. With any luck this means that the DSL service has been completely disconnected and I can remove the filters and tangle of wires, replacing them with a single two-line splitter.
I'm so happy! It's the simple things in life that give us the most joy. <sniff>
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Next Blog
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. From time to time the subject of blogs comes up in conversation and 98.37 percent of the people don't know what a blog is (43.78% have never heard the term).
Another data point supporting the self-centered conclusion can be found right here on blogger by clicking on the "Next Blog" button at the top of this post. How many blogs can you find this way? Not very many before you find someone who has sent the blogger header into oblivion with custom CSS. Why do people do this? It seems to me to be an attention grabbing technique. "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! NO! DON'T GO! STAY HERE AND READ MY BLOG!
I'm disappointed when someone doesn't have the "Next Blog" button. I sometimes like to click it to see what is out there. Occasionally (though not often) you can find something interesting. But my stroll down the blogging avenue rarely goes more than a half dozen clicks before I am tripped up by someone who has dug up the sidewalk.
Like I said, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Aside #rand(): 95% of all stated percentages in all published studies are lower than 82%, which is the number of statistics that are completely made up. This makes the 98.37% number stated above a relatively rare result and, therefore, highly significant.After learning what a blog is, most people wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to write one and what sort of person they (bloggers) might be?
Aside #2: Very few people consider me to be in my right mind.The first assumption is that bloggers must be very self-centered. This assumption is supported by a general impression that everyone is more concerned about getting their 15 minutes of fame than in doing anything worthwhile. Even fame for doing something stupid or badly seems to be okay. If it weren't, where do reality shows, small claims court shows, and Jerry Springer find people?
Another data point supporting the self-centered conclusion can be found right here on blogger by clicking on the "Next Blog" button at the top of this post. How many blogs can you find this way? Not very many before you find someone who has sent the blogger header into oblivion with custom CSS. Why do people do this? It seems to me to be an attention grabbing technique. "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! NO! DON'T GO! STAY HERE AND READ MY BLOG!
I'm disappointed when someone doesn't have the "Next Blog" button. I sometimes like to click it to see what is out there. Occasionally (though not often) you can find something interesting. But my stroll down the blogging avenue rarely goes more than a half dozen clicks before I am tripped up by someone who has dug up the sidewalk.
Like I said, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
No Spam (Yet)
I've had my new internet connection, with its new email address, for a month now and have yet to receive a single piece of spam. Heck, the only email that account has received at all were a couple of test messages I sent on the first day.
To what do I owe this tremendous success? Well, for starters I haven't sent anyone email with the account in question (and no, I won't divulge the address here).
I did, in a moment of temporary insanity, use the email address when creating an account at an e-tailer. I was at a kiosk in the B&M instantiation of the business and wanted to buy something. This particular merchant is almost a pure play internet business, but does allow locals to walk in and buy things without having them shipped. The trick is that you still buy from the internet (hence the kiosks). Anyway, their shopping cart requires that you have an account and login to buy anything. I use unique passwords with all of my accounts and record them on yellow sticky notes on the underside of my keyboard. But since I wasn't home I couldn't look under my keyboard, so I was sort of stuck. So I created the new account.
That was less than a week ago, and I suppose it will take a while before the virus grows enough to be detected. But for now I am still blissfully free of symptoms and so I will continue to live my life as always.
As a point of comparison, I had an account with Earthlink for about four years and never used that account for any e-commerce, memberships, sweepstakes, bulletin boards, etc. But it got spam regularly. I don't recall how long it took for it to start getting spam, though.
It is known that spammers try random user names with known domain names, hoping for a hit. So it's a really bad idea to register a user name like "smith". I suppose that's how they hit on my earthlink address. Oddly, many people add supposedly random numbers to the end of their user names in the hopes that this will ward off the spammers. But if the spammers can send a million messages at no cost, what's to stop them from sending to every possible variation of "smitty1053280@aol.com"?
Another thing, we know that spam email written in HTML has a couple of tricks to verify your address, like including a graphic with a link of the form
To what do I owe this tremendous success? Well, for starters I haven't sent anyone email with the account in question (and no, I won't divulge the address here).
I did, in a moment of temporary insanity, use the email address when creating an account at an e-tailer. I was at a kiosk in the B&M instantiation of the business and wanted to buy something. This particular merchant is almost a pure play internet business, but does allow locals to walk in and buy things without having them shipped. The trick is that you still buy from the internet (hence the kiosks). Anyway, their shopping cart requires that you have an account and login to buy anything. I use unique passwords with all of my accounts and record them on yellow sticky notes on the underside of my keyboard. But since I wasn't home I couldn't look under my keyboard, so I was sort of stuck. So I created the new account.
That was less than a week ago, and I suppose it will take a while before the virus grows enough to be detected. But for now I am still blissfully free of symptoms and so I will continue to live my life as always.
As a point of comparison, I had an account with Earthlink for about four years and never used that account for any e-commerce, memberships, sweepstakes, bulletin boards, etc. But it got spam regularly. I don't recall how long it took for it to start getting spam, though.
It is known that spammers try random user names with known domain names, hoping for a hit. So it's a really bad idea to register a user name like "smith". I suppose that's how they hit on my earthlink address. Oddly, many people add supposedly random numbers to the end of their user names in the hopes that this will ward off the spammers. But if the spammers can send a million messages at no cost, what's to stop them from sending to every possible variation of "smitty1053280@aol.com"?
Another thing, we know that spam email written in HTML has a couple of tricks to verify your address, like including a graphic with a link of the form
<img src="http://spam.com/dot.gif?joey104338@hotmail.com">That's why I use POP and an email program that doesn't display HTML (unless I want it to). But lots of people just love webmail and the providers seem blissfully unconcerned that they are exposing their users to more spam by not giving them the option to render messages in plain text. Maybe they get more users by touting their anti-spam features, and that is only effective if the users get lots of spam unless they turn on the anti-spam feature.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
So Long
Today marks the end of my relationship with Earth(link), so the good-bye of the dolphins as they depart the Earth in Douglas Adams' semi-autobiographical novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, seems appropriate."So long, and thanks for all the fish."
-- the dolphins
in "The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy"
by Douglas Adams
I think our parting is amicable. I know it is for my part. During our four years together I got nothing but excellent internet service from Earthlink. It was rock solid and consistently performed at the top of the marketed "up to" speeds.
My only complaint with Earthlink was that they never reduced the price of their service as other competitors lowered theirs. I guess they simply assumed that the cost of switching was more than most people could tolerate. I suppose they were right, to a point.
The point, for me, was the introduction by Verizon of a service called FiOS.
Aside #5/2Mbps:Does market research show that products with non-standard capitalization are perceived as more technically sophisticated?FiOS gives me about 7 times faster internet access than Earthlink DSL, and does it for 20% less money. The money alone is compelling. And the increase in speed is appreciated at least once a month — on Patch Tuesday.
Maybe Earthlink will win me back one day, just as Arthur Dent found himself back on Earth. But until then, do I have to keep the fishbowl?
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Hook 'Em!
Okay, the color of the "Rounders 2" header was a bit too Aggie-ish for this Longhorn's taste. So I've changed it. Or tried to.
Hook 'Em.
Hook 'Em.
New Format
It's a new year, and I'm tired of the look of my blog. So I decided to see what other canned formats they offered. I chose one called "Rounders 2". Don't know if I'll keep it.
Or maybe I'll customize it. Yeah, that's what I'll do; I'll rewire it!
Or maybe I'll customize it. Yeah, that's what I'll do; I'll rewire it!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Life After Vince
As happy as I am about the National Championship, it didn't take long before the discussion turned to Vince Young's pro prospects.
Vince said after losing the Heisman Trophy that he would come back next year to win it. Reggie Bush could come back as well, but one has to wonder if he would beat Young in the voting again. Bush had a pretty solid game, to be sure, but Vince really stole the show. That will probably remain in the voters' minds next year.
But even if Mr. Young stays another year, the post-Vince era is drawing rapidly to a close. What comes next?
Vince Young is an incredible athlete, the kind you don't find in every recruiting class, or every decade. So who will pick up the slack when Vince moves on to (much) greener pastures? Of course we really can't know. We didn't know that Vince would turn out to be, well, Vince when he first came on the scene. True, he was a highly recruited and touted high school player, but those are a dime a dozen and rarely pan out.
The fear, of course, is that UT will regress to the old ways. You remember those, don't you? It was the norm only three years ago: Darkie up the middle; Darkie up the middle; Whitey pass; Whitey punt. Yes, that's not a very PC way of describing it, but it is accurate, perhaps in more way than one (i.e. that stereotypes fitting players to positions by race are slow to change, even in the face of prime counter examples).
Much has been made of a transformation on the part of Mack Brown, saying that he has learned to relax and have fun (and let his team have fun). They try to imply that that is why UT is winning now. Oddly, or maybe not, this transformation coincides exactly with Vince Young's ascension. So which was the cause and which the effect? Will Mack's new fun approach carry on when Vince has gone on? Will the team remain unpredictable — and successful?
It will be interesting to watch.
Vince said after losing the Heisman Trophy that he would come back next year to win it. Reggie Bush could come back as well, but one has to wonder if he would beat Young in the voting again. Bush had a pretty solid game, to be sure, but Vince really stole the show. That will probably remain in the voters' minds next year.
But even if Mr. Young stays another year, the post-Vince era is drawing rapidly to a close. What comes next?
Vince Young is an incredible athlete, the kind you don't find in every recruiting class, or every decade. So who will pick up the slack when Vince moves on to (much) greener pastures? Of course we really can't know. We didn't know that Vince would turn out to be, well, Vince when he first came on the scene. True, he was a highly recruited and touted high school player, but those are a dime a dozen and rarely pan out.
The fear, of course, is that UT will regress to the old ways. You remember those, don't you? It was the norm only three years ago: Darkie up the middle; Darkie up the middle; Whitey pass; Whitey punt. Yes, that's not a very PC way of describing it, but it is accurate, perhaps in more way than one (i.e. that stereotypes fitting players to positions by race are slow to change, even in the face of prime counter examples).
Much has been made of a transformation on the part of Mack Brown, saying that he has learned to relax and have fun (and let his team have fun). They try to imply that that is why UT is winning now. Oddly, or maybe not, this transformation coincides exactly with Vince Young's ascension. So which was the cause and which the effect? Will Mack's new fun approach carry on when Vince has gone on? Will the team remain unpredictable — and successful?
It will be interesting to watch.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Oh Me of Little Faith!
A few months ago I whined about Texas being ranked number 2 in the preseason football polls. I predicted that you'd be able to tell whether we really were #2 by the flushing sound. Gotta love scatological humor, eh?
Well, believe it or don't, we're still #2 in the polls and tonight we play top ranked U$C in the Rose Bowl! Don't go wavin' any feathers around or I might fall and hurt myself.
Along the way, we managed to not lose to Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, or Frankford Middle School (or whatever patsies we played before conference play began). We had some tough games, but every time we managed to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and that's something new for a Mack Brown team.
So I am cautiously optimistic that Texas will at least be respectable in tonight's game. Though I still have trouble believing that we'll actually win.
Well, believe it or don't, we're still #2 in the polls and tonight we play top ranked U$C in the Rose Bowl! Don't go wavin' any feathers around or I might fall and hurt myself.
Along the way, we managed to not lose to Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, or Frankford Middle School (or whatever patsies we played before conference play began). We had some tough games, but every time we managed to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and that's something new for a Mack Brown team.
So I am cautiously optimistic that Texas will at least be respectable in tonight's game. Though I still have trouble believing that we'll actually win.
Two-Wheelin'
Haven't had time to blog about it, but I really am thrilled that 2 of 2 threw off the shackles of training wheels last week started riding his bike the way God™, or at least Schwinn™, intended!
At 6½ years old, he was probably on the old side to have still been using training wheels, and his quick success without them tells me that he was definitely ready, from a balance and coordination point of view. So did we wait too long, or was this the right time? Is there any real value in falling over and over again while trying to learn to ride?
We did the same thing with 1 of 2, though he actually asked us to remove the training wheels. But they were both about the same age and both had similar immediate success.
So what was the technique? We took him to a local park where there was a short, moderate slope followed by a large flat area. He mounted the bike and put his feet on the pedals while I held the bike upright. I gave him a bit of a push and told him to steer and pedal, and he was off! Step 2 (of 2, of course), was to describe how to start from a standing position. It took a few tries, and is still the hardest part of riding, but he's on his way.
The only problem that has arisen due to 2 of 2's new mode of transport is that I spent a lot of time jogging beside him during those first several minutes. I'm not in the proper shape for that. My shins were killing me for several days afterwards.
So way to go, 2! Your triumph is now permanently recorded in the blogosphere.
At 6½ years old, he was probably on the old side to have still been using training wheels, and his quick success without them tells me that he was definitely ready, from a balance and coordination point of view. So did we wait too long, or was this the right time? Is there any real value in falling over and over again while trying to learn to ride?
We did the same thing with 1 of 2, though he actually asked us to remove the training wheels. But they were both about the same age and both had similar immediate success.
So what was the technique? We took him to a local park where there was a short, moderate slope followed by a large flat area. He mounted the bike and put his feet on the pedals while I held the bike upright. I gave him a bit of a push and told him to steer and pedal, and he was off! Step 2 (of 2, of course), was to describe how to start from a standing position. It took a few tries, and is still the hardest part of riding, but he's on his way.
The only problem that has arisen due to 2 of 2's new mode of transport is that I spent a lot of time jogging beside him during those first several minutes. I'm not in the proper shape for that. My shins were killing me for several days afterwards.
So way to go, 2! Your triumph is now permanently recorded in the blogosphere.
Monday, January 02, 2006
New Year Resolutions (2006)
Well it's that time of year, isn't it? A time to reflect on the year just completed and to look forward to the year just begun. And, of course, to make resolutions to do better this year that we did last.
But why? How many people do you know who make NYRs and actively work on them throughout the year? It's really just a waste of time and is often depressing, first because last year's failures are often the inspiration for this year's resolutions and then because you fail so early and give up all hope of succeeding.
Who needs that?
I have only kept one new year resolution, and that was several years ago when I resolved to not make any more.
But why? How many people do you know who make NYRs and actively work on them throughout the year? It's really just a waste of time and is often depressing, first because last year's failures are often the inspiration for this year's resolutions and then because you fail so early and give up all hope of succeeding.
Who needs that?
I have only kept one new year resolution, and that was several years ago when I resolved to not make any more.
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