Every year, our neighborhood has its own parade for Memorial Day, and I looke forward to it. It’s a small event, but it’s a chance to remember the holiday in the right way and see our neighbors. For the first few years, Neil participated as a cub scout, and one year Kelly dressed up for [...]
A few weeks ago, Neil happened to meet famous mathematician Bill Gosper at the Julia Robinson Math Festival. Gosper and Neil kept in touch via email afterwards (both keeping me in the loop). Finally, Peter and I dared to invite Gosper over for dinner. He accepted, at which point Peter and I wondered whatever could [...]
For Neil’s break between sixth and seventh grade, we took a two-week vacation. I asked Neil what he wanted to do, and besides play on the computer, he wanted to revisit the Lawrence Hall of Science, one of his favorite science museums in the Bay Area. For the last few years, we’ve been lucky to [...]
I’ve been thinking, if there was a zombie invasion, who would I rather hole up with: the Baptists or the Mormons? Both these Christian sects are in good shape to hold off zombies. They keep provisions and have killer homemaking skills, they have guns and people who know how to shoot them, and a broad [...]
Several years ago, our neighbors Dave and B.J. sold their house and traded it for 40 undeveloped acres separated from the Bay Area proper by a mountain range or two. I rarely see them, but this week Charybdis and Scylla was on break, and I wanted a break away from the urban hustle and bustle, [...]
On Saturday, Peter and I received the news that Kelly did not make it into Hacienda (the science magnet), and her spot on the waiting list to get in was #278. Peter, in particular, was crushed. Last year, when the waiting list had only 130 children, she was 3 up from the bottom of the [...]
A few months ago, Neil participated in the Math Counts competition, which was enlightening and humbling. The program was great: all through the year, he had to work out tough mathematical challenges. In February, the Silicon Valley chapter put the students who’d been in the program to the test. It turns out, that compared to [...]
My last few posts have been rather down, but I was beginning to cheer up. Then, last night, I kept waking up from dreams based on Natural Born Killers. Then today, I loaded my children in the car to take them to the Grange, where I could check out a (sort of) a homeschool group [...]
Last month, to teach Neil a bit about the stock market and to watch its current trends ourselves, Peter set up a stock market game for the family. To say I was pessimistic at the time may have been a bit of an understatement. I had recently seen this graph based on the Congressional Budget [...]
On Tuesday morning, Kelly started moaning and crying and then ran to throw up. Normally, in these circumstances, I simply declare her sick and she has to stay home for the day. But by then, the news services in full-on panic mode about a new viral strain that had been dubbed swine flu. Peter and [...]
