Month: November 2010

Kelly will be posting new Betty Blonde comics once per week on Mondays.  She will go back to full time in the summers, but will have to stay in once per week mode at least through these first two years of college.

We had a great time down in Atlanta.  One of the funniest parts was when our buddy Ralph (from Sweden) took us down to his favorite Mexican grocery store to buy some stuff for a Mexican barbecue that he cooked for us on Friday night.  It was very, very good.  Lorena hand-made some corn tortillas and we bought some raw wheat tortillas.  Ralph grilled a ton of meat just like my brothers-in-law would have done it.  He and Lorena made up salsa and guacamole.  It was great eating.  Of course, I blew my diet.

I just heard about a book by an education professor name James Tooley (h.t. NRO).  The book is titled The Beautiful Tree.  It is about private education in the poorest neighborhoods of the poorest countries.  I know that homeschool is not for everyone, but I have been at a loss as to what I should say when people ask what to do if they cannot homeschool.  I have always said that I do not know what to tell anyone else about how to educate their children when I had to work so hard to figure it out for my own, especially since the results are not even in yet.  The one thing about which I am most confident is that government schools and government participation in educational decision making are not the answer.  I cannot wait to get the book.  Here is the money quote from the Wikipedia article on the author:

The basic findings of the research show that in urban and peri-urban poor areas (slums and shanty towns) in India and the African countries studied, the majority of schoolchildren are in low cost private schools.  After testing 24,000 children, it was found that children in the low cost private schools significantly outperform children in public schools, after controlling for background variables and the school choice process.

We had a great Thanksgiving down in Atlanta with a group of very good friends.  The kids stayed up until all hours of the night, then suffered because one of the other kids was an early riser.  They all had a super time.  Of course we ate way too much.  When I started the four-day weekend I was down eight pounds from my high.  I am now only down three, but hopeful.  The kids are in the midst of the big final push to finish their semester well.  They did better than me last night in their schoolwork.  I should have completed more work on GaugeCam, but could not seem to get off center.

Update:  Christian found this very interesting fact. I though it was very worth noting. My brother Doug only missed this by a couple of months.

I like to take a glamor shot or two of myself around Thanksgiving time.  I thought you all might enjoy it if I shared my favorite from this year.  I will only note that this was AFTER dinner.

I went ahead and disabled Facebook last night.  I decided I could see anything I want to see on Lorena’s Facebook.  It is something that did not add any value to my life.  It is interesting that the kids spend much less time on Facebook than they did just a couple of months ago.  Maybe it is because they are so busy with school.  Maybe it is because there are no big exciting social events going on.  We are so far away from many of our friends that it is nice for them to have a way to stay in contact with the ones they do not text and email several times per week.  Still, I am glad their initial enamoration is now somewhat more tempered.

The rest of this post is just a placeholder for some topics on which I hope to expand over the coming months:

1. Several buddies and I (you know who you are) plan start a business over the next couple of months.  It will not be a full time job for me for the foreseeable future; I will only be one of the worker bees to provide machine vision code.  The leader of the group and I met yesterday to talk about when and where to get started.  I should be able to talk about it a lot more after the first of the year.  The really cool part for me is that includes gadgets and software that just about anyone can appreciate.  I will write more when I can.
2. My weight loss program is working quite well even though I have not yet had a chance to get the chart up.  I am now down eight pounds!
3. We need to get a color printer for the kids to use for school.  Christian has found a way to turn a very good $300 photo quality inkjet printer that takes very expensive cartridges into a one that uses a “continuous ink system”.  The upside to this is that ink is purchased in bottles for cheap rather than in expensive inkjet heads.  It is about a $100 upgrade and well worth the effort.
4. Christian has purchased a ZipIt computer for $15 on eBay.  It is a full blown computer that runs Linux Debian with full wireless support.  It is very small:  4 x 3.5 x 0.75 inches.
5. Kelly is working furiously on Betty Blonde.
6. GaugeCam proceeds on course with our Beta software release still on track for the end of the year.

Man, it seems like we have been working through weekends forever.  I worked at the GaugeCam laboratory again this weekend while the kids spent virtually the entire weekend on labs, papers, and other homework.  They work late into the night most nights, too.  They have been really troopers.  Fortunately, they should have every thing complete (with the exception of one small speech for Christian) by tomorrow so they can have a work-free Thanksgiving.

I found out that I had been (unknowingly) spamming everyone in one of my mail account contact lists because I made the mistake of giving a password to Facebook.  The more I engage with Facebook, the less I like it.  There is no room for an in-depth conversation, their business practices, in my opinion, are truly nasty.  I am trying to rethink the whole thing.  Lorena and the kids stay in touch with friends, but it might be too high a price to pay.  I will sleep on it a few nights and see if I am still mad.

This weekend will be a test of will for me.  I have two ambitions that are diametrically opposed to each other.  On the one side, I started my diet a few days ago and am one of those anal-retentive types who likes to count calories in for food and calories out for exercise, then graph the whole thing at the end of the week.  On the other side, I have a hard programming problem to solve for the GaugeCam project that involves a good chunk of math–not complex math, but tedious math that requires periods of diligent concentration.  I am one of those kind of programmers that is more productive when I leave the computer for a doughnut, a bag of Doritos, and a Mountain Dew every now and then.  Even worse, when I am really into it, I bring the doughnuts, Doritos and Mountain Dew back to the computer with me.

So when I came to work this morning, I was told there would be cookies at the training session we are having.  The world is conspiring against my diet!  The say times of testing and temptation make you stronger (and in this case, maybe, bigger, too).  At this point I am down a little under five pound.  I am hoping to escape the weekend at breakeven.

The shooting yesterday in front of Grandpa Lauro’s house in Monterrey got me to thinking about how easy it is to become accustomed to what would have been unusual just not too long ago.  I have written earlier about how I got excluded from jury duty when the prosecuting attorney questioned me because I listed all the bad things to which our family and friends had been subjected.  The list included multiple instances of armed robbery, home invasion, assault, and shoot-outs.  One of our friends daughters was murdered horrifically in Guadalajara.  The mayor of my brother-in-law’s pastoral little town in the beautiful wooded hills outside of Monterrey was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by his own police force because he would not allow them to accept payments from the narcotraficantes.

Lauro and Conchita immediately laid down on the floor when the shooting started.  It went on for a long time.  They did not get up to look out so they had no idea what actually happened.  Nothing has really happened close to their house before, but they hear gunshots now and again.  Most of the family members have been caught in road blockades created when the narcotraficantes steal trucks, turn them sideways in a main thoroughfare, and throw the keys into the river so they can get away from the police or the army.  After the shooting, it did not dawn on them that it might be a bad thing to be out in the street.  They went down to the HEB supermarket to buy groceries.  It reminds me of the English going about their daily lives while the Germans bombed them during World War II.

There was a big shoot-out in front of Grandpa Lauro and Grandma Conchita’s house in Mexico today.  The authorities recovered 60 spent shells.  There were a lot more, but the neighborhood kids picked up most of them.  It is getting to be a part of everyday life down there.  We are not sure or not whether anyone was hurt.  Jorge (Lorena’s brother) has communicated with Grandpa Lauro and everyone in our family is OK.  Actually they ran down to the grocery store to get some stuff, so Lorena is suffering greatly because she has not yet heard the gossip directly from the horses mouth.  The accounts we receive from that source are generally based on the truth, but I will try to get the straight scoop from Don Lauro or one of the brothers.

Here is a link to an early article the describes the event.  I will post more when (and if) we learn more.  Here is a second article.
You can see a video report here.

We have lots of things that are “in process”.  I suppose that is a normal state of affairs, but it seems a little overwhelming right now.  I like to sit down and make a list whenever that happens.  The work through such lists probably represents the most productive times of my life.  The kids are in the most work-laden and tedious part of their first semester in college.  The work like troopers every night.  I have the GaugeCam project, my weight loss plan, a new (very interesting, but very demanding) job, a road trip to Atlanta next week, and visitors from Oregon a few weeks after that.  Lorena and I had a great talk about this last night.  We are going to take some time to sit down and make some lists together.

I paid the tuition and fees for the kid’s spring semester at the community college this morning.  It was painful, but truly a great educational deal.  Tuition, fees, and books will be in the range of $7000 dollars for two full time students for the whole year.  We are very pleased, on the whole, with the quality of the teaching in the classes.  The kids have the same, very competent math teacher.  They are in different biology classes and both of their teachers are excited about biology.  Christian has a super history teacher who tells lots of side stories.  That is a little irritating to Christian, but I tell him the ones who tell those little side stories are WAY better than the ones who stand up and teach the class by rote in a monotone voice.  Kelly’s literature teacher is very confident in a world view that is worlds away from that of our family (I am making every effort to be gracious here), but a very fair teacher.  Among other things, she hates homeschool and the idea that parents should be in charge of their children’s education, even for elementary school, but she does not hold that against Kelly and appreciates Kelly’s hard work and preparation for class.

Now that I am back in the saddle with my blog, I got to thinking maybe I ought to see if anyone wanted to join me in another weight-loss death match.  Bryan beat us all like a drum last time and he is STILL skinny.  It has been a long, long time and he is still on track.  Warren is also WAY down and looking great.  I love those guys, but I really have not been too competitive weight-loss-wise.  Maybe I can co-opt David J. now that he has taken to cavorting with svelte Russian spies.  Well, if anyone wants to join me, let me know.  I am starting today, but you can start any time.  I will send Warren and David J and email to see if they want in.  Come to think of it, maybe my brothers-in-law down in Mexico might like to take a run at it, too.

Christian and started lifting weights about three weeks ago.  We are making some good progress and really just starting to get into the swing of things.  I was thinking it might be kind of cool to get him to join us in the death match, but to gain weight rather than to lose it.  Maybe I should take some before and after pictures?  I will keep you all posted and put up some pics as soon as I have them.

We have a hard and fast rule in our household that was not really necessary until Kelly turned 10 or 11 years old.  The rule is there will be no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.  Many of you will understand.  The rest will think I am evil.  At any rate, I found a video that, while not breaking the rule, is very border line.  I loved it.

We went for our usual Saturday breakfast at McDonald’s this morning then headed down to the NCSU main library so the kids could research their speeches and papers in a decent study environment.  I have found that McDonald’s coffee is a lot better than the swill stuff the offer here in the library, so Lorena got me a large to take along with me.  McDonald’s coffee is really pretty good, but I still do not think it is as good as Dunkin Donuts.  It is a hard choice, but you cannot get biscuits and gravy at Dunkin Donuts.

We really like to come down here to study because there is usually a few moments of high drama that gets intermixed with the studying.  I remember lots of posturing and opining when I was college age, but I don’t remember looking so foolish or ignorant.  I am sure I was not much different at that age.  I am probably just like I was then.  The difference is that it embarrasses me now.  Still it is a lot of fun to watch the antics.

The Betty Blonde and ChapmanKids web sites, blogs, comic strips, etc. are hosted on a service called echristianwebhosting.com.  We have been there for six years now.  Yesterday they experienced a denial of service (DOS) attack that took us off line for a couple of hours.  There hard work to keep us informed, get us back on line, and put remedies in place to solve the problem are very much appreciated.  I was reminded again of why I am a customer and a fan of this hosting service.  I highly recommend them.

I have started blogging again regularly.  I had a big blog post written before the DOS attack occurred and I am really thankful it did not get posted as I was pretty irritated and the post was pretty acrimonious.  Still, this all got me to considering how we are going to improve the web site.  Christian has decided to use Drupal on the rework of his NerdHow web site.  I am in the process of figuring out how I can upgrade Kelly’s Betty Blonde site and both the ChapmanKids web site and this blog.  Our plan is to make some big changes by the end of the year.

The hardest part about all this is the change in direction required by the fact that the kids have finished homeschool and started college.  I want to write about stuff I like that might be relevant and interesting.  I like a lot of stuff, but some (if not “much”) of the stuff I spend my time doing is either only relevant to 0.000000001% of the population, or is covered better in other venues.  I am sure I will get it all worked out.  Kelly and Christian are both have better ideas about what they want to do than I with their web sites.  I am looking forward to watching that.

In the meantime, I have returned the Betty Blonde and ChapmanKids sites back to an older state until I get the new stuff worked out.

The kids studied all weekend long for their big Calculus test this morning.  Friday and Sunday afternoon and evening they studied at home.  Saturday they spent at the NCSU Main Library.  I worked on GaugeCam most of the time they studied.  It was good to have a reminder of the difficulty of learning hard material.  Preparation for history, writing, and literature tests is fundamentally different from preparation for math, chemistry, and physics.  Biology is somewhere in between.  I was particularly proud of the intensity and amount of work they did this weekend.  We do not know how the tests will come out.  They worked hard to prepare and they understand the material, but who knows what quirky problem or brain freeze might happen during the test.  I always tell the kids that the point of education is not to get a grade, but to understand the material.  The grade is a way for teachers and students to know whether the information transfer took place and its works as feed back loop between the teacher and the students is its most important function.

Kelly and Christian signed up for spring semester classes this morning.  It is a harder schedule than last semester, but it is all on the campus right by our house so there will be a lot less running around.  I think we will be able to drop the kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon everyday.  The kids have three classes in common, but the only one they have together is Calculus II.  The kids both upped their load; Kelly has 16 credits and Christian has 17 credits.  I think the class Kelly is most fired up about is her Public Speaking classes.  Christian is most excited about his Design I art class.

We decided to try to get them each a class that would help them with the research they do at NCSU on the GaugeCam project.  I wanted to get Christian into C++, but they have only one section of that and it was full.  Kelly will take Probability and Statistics so she can help us crunch and present some of the data we gather.  We bought a book on the R statistical programming language that Kelly, Christian and I will study over Christmas break.  Francois Birgand, the professor at NCSU that works with GaugeCam on this research recommended Ross Ihaka‘s course material on R and statistics to take us deeper into the subject, so we are going to have to make time in our schedule for that, too.  I will post some here and on the GaugeCam blog on how that goes.

Hayek vs. Keynes Sequel Sneak Peak at The Economist Buttonwood Gathering

There  are three guys in my group at my current job.  One of them is my boss.  He has a PhD in Physics and Applied math from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  The other guy in our group got his PhD in Chemistry from Moscow State University.  Part of the reason I do not understand them is that they are way smarter than me.  My insecurities were mitigated a little bit this morning when it dawned on me that they speak Russian to each other most of the time.  It is very, very cool and it really makes me want to learn another language.  I love it that we speak Spanish at home.  Still, a whole lot fewer people around here speak Russian than speak Spanish.  Kelly is well on her way to speaking French.  Lorena says she is going to learn French, too.  I think Christian and I should get on board to learn a third language, too.  French might be good for Lorena and I, but Kelly and Christian are young enough that it would be great if they went on to Russian, Mandarin, or something else hard after they finish up with the French.