Coffee Break # 75

Congrats and good luck on the Pinewood Derby! We learned a few of the tricks. It was a great experience in my family.

Hilarious thing is that I have ZERO carpentry skills. Simple doorstop design cut with a hack saw. I do streamline it.

We learned that if you make the front fully aerodynamic it will either win or it will pop wheelies because of imperfections in the wheels. In order to win the big prize, performance has to be consistent.

Congrats on your son's win, Victor!

Karen

Thanks, Karen.

I have weights under the front so no wheelies.

What are friends for?!

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2012/02/24/man-charged-with-chopping-off-friends-hand-for-insurance-money/

Eeewwww!!! Friend indeed.

The poor guy who lost his hand must be really ill & going through life without it is terrible.

Hope little guy does well in the pack finals! Wish the girls did that....my 2 GDs are Daisy Scouts....they sell cookies....I eat them.

Yeah, the cub scouts get all the fun. But i have to say, gender envy comes up at different ages and in different directions. When they were five years old and skating in ice shows, DS couldn't have a costume with feathers or much real excitement, and in the middle and early high school English curriculum, they stopped teaching classics, and he had to read "girl" books for school. Other compensations for a boy: Pinewood Derby, deep-frying turkeys in Boy Scouts, the ability to be stronger, faster and bigger, and gradually watching his world open up to him. Thank goodness as he got older his more "muscular" prose has been admired and nurtured by teachers, too.

Go Victor's son!

It's nice Rosemary that you have both genders & can appreciate the differences! I only had a son, but I think he was much easier to raise then his daughters are going to be.....

Yes - especially when they are the same age.

Thanks!

At this time, the boy is definitely the easiest. He's bit of a home body as he's learning Java and Linex (SP?)on his computer, but the girls are off enjoying trips to Boston's North End, cooking at someone's house (sometimes the mess is at ours) endless shopping and sleepovers, dates and double dates, sometimes invitations to rock climb, ski, sail, or do whatever dangerous sport is popular...not giving them money is about the only tether to earth and to our expecttion that they find jobs. And they're all good kids, too, who are thriving in school.

The time to be with our kids and guiding them is truly short and fleeting.

Pinewood Derby was one of those beautiful times for us.

How about the girls, Rose? Are their personalities very similar? Always amazing how different siblings are. More interesting with twins or triplets.

Though they look a lot alike, the girls are different from one another. They do egg each other into adventures together, though. DD1 reads voraciously, has always tried to find a social problems to address herself, has strong relationships with teachers, piano teacher, and keeps in touch with international friends abroad, loves nature. She is a true polyglot, a language talent which happens in my family about every five generations. DD2 was the last to walk, throw, do math, etc. but when she starts something ooh la la! She's become a quick student so now she can manage to find all the happenings in teen age life and still maintain 1st honor roll and volunteer at a church daycare Since last year, she's had several boyfriends, and lots of adventures with her devil-may care attitude that we monitor constantly. She can do a translation of Virgil that can move one to tears, but she won't touch her violin. My kids are all truly feisty, independent spirits.

I'd love to hear about the personalities of other kids.

Rosemary, what a blessing to have 3 great kids! My own son was quiet & serious....the friends he made in elementary school, he still has....when he was 4 or 5, he would get mad if you told him to play.....he would say he "worked"....he still has tons of projects .....started as a biology major... became a landscape architect, but may end up teaching vo-ag....my DH is probably wincing in heaven...Garret's oldest child, a girl, is just like him...the other 2 are totally different!

I love-love-love the good news about the next generation !!!

What a nice break from the bad news that befalls most of us in our daily lives.

I tip my hat to ALL of you that nurture the people that will inherit Planet Earth.

Well done!

Hi, guys. Just passing through.
Have you heard about the new Google Privacy policy? You have only 2 days left to opt-out of them tracking your every click. And using the info as they wish.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/320137

Andy P

thank you!

I did it last week. Forgot to mention it here. Thanks, Andy. Hope all is well.

never mind....I forgot Picasa is a google company

This message was edited Feb 27, 2012 8:41 PM

Yes, they probably own your photos already.

Another tragic school shooting. Same circumstances - a bullied kid. Despite all the crap about zero tolerance, bullying is still way too pervasive. Obviously, it does not justify shooting people, but I do feel sorry for those who are mistreated and bullied.

Ya, we were just talking about this the other day and many of school don't like kids "tattling" on other kids....but if they don't "tattle" how will they know who the bullies are ?

True. Challenge is to help them distinguish bullying and other serious stuff from the not so serious.

Problem is that the "bullies" are often victims, too. Massachusetts has a zero tolerance law that means automatic suspension from school for any kid found out to be a bully. There are some tragic stories about those reported "bullies" too, and even a few suicides out of a national list of outcomes. And the kid who tells can bear a big emotional burden because of what happens. I believe it's a bigger problem than these laws can address, and that aggression is considered by some to be a solution to problems. Prevention efforts often rely upon the seach for the "profile" of a killer-- a police method that does not have empirical support. There are other prevention efforts for training kids to recognize the difference between fantasy and reality, and others for training whole classrooms to be better problem-solvers. Sometimes those smaller solutions have more traction.

I like hearing about the miracle of how kids grow up and find happiness. Robin's DS sounds like a kid who is following his own compass. Bravo!

Of course, and that's why we pay the education professionals lots of money to make that distinction.

Thinking of Google if we don't use G mail how to we get rid of the history?

I don't know about Google.

Re the bully law, sadly I don't think there is any more discretion for educators in my state.

UGH my post disappeared...

I replied I know how to delete temp files/cookies but don't know if that will help
Don't want to type it all out again, if you want to know let me know

question about google - i have never set up an account with google - just use it as my search engine - will they still track my clicks?

Sometimes bullying is so sneaky educators do not see it.....this boy may have been shunned by others, who knows....but the result was tragic....thanks, Rosemary...my son is feeling better about being laid off, as many of his friends & relatives are paying him to do projects around their houses....he does a beautiful job tiling, he can do many carpentry jobs, painting....all that, plus the blueberry farm, plus his work subbing is making a difference....

Don't know, Bill....I have no account, either....

I believe so, Bill. They 'know' you by your ip address.

well even if you opt out they still track under anonymous - so that is what they will do to marilyn and I is my guess

Nice deal for a bag for you guys on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/rick-steves/leap-for-this-monthly-facebook-blowout-sale-5-civita-day-pack/10150577721489702

Interpol announced it arrested a bunch of Anonymous members across South America and Europe. Anonymous responded by taking down Interpol's website. They are scary powerful.

great deal

Yikes!!!

Thanks for the link. I got all the way through to the payment page and they don't take Discover, so I was bummed.

Added to say that Maggie made out fine having her tonsils out. She took a 4 hr nap this afternoon.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2012 6:38 PM

I bought two.