Year: 2011 Page 8 of 11

Day 15 of 1000

Even though I wish I had something a little more exciting about which to write, I should not complain.  We had a great weekend, the central element being Christian’s sixteenth birthday.  Kelly worked pretty hard on most of her projects–math homework, caricature drawing, and college applications.  I really have nothing much to say in terms of commentary about Rick Perry.  I put up the drawing because I think Kelly did a good job on it.

Kelly worked hard on her college application essay(s).  She completed everything she needs for NCSU except for the principle “why am I applying her” essay.  She should finish that in the next couple of days.  She needs to put her writing into high gear because she has her first newspaper article to write for the school newspaper, a bunch of reports for several classes, and her blog which will be evaluated for possible acceptance in a Journalism summer program in New York City either this coming summer or the one after that.

Day 14 of 1000

Today, our son, Christian turns 16 years old.  We are very, very thankful for Christian.  He does not like us to tell people what he is doing because he says it sounds too obnoxious, so I won’t.  Some of you who know him, know that what he is doing is kind of crazy and fairly exceptional for a 16 year old kid.  The thing we think is exceptional about Christian is that he is a kind and obedient son.  Most of our celebration will be centered around eating (Yah!!!).  Happy Birthday, Christian!

Day 14 of 1000

Today, our son, Christian turns 16 years old.  We are very, very thankful for Christian.  He does not like us to tell people what he is doing because he says it sounds too obnoxious, so I won’t.  Some of you who know him, know that what he is doing is kind of crazy and fairly exceptional for a 16 year old kid.  The thing we think is exceptional about Christian is that he is a kind and obedient son.  Most of our celebration will be centered around eating (Yah!!!).  Happy Birthday, Christian!

Laurel & Hardy dance Santana — Amazing

Laurel & Hardy dance Santana — Amazing

Day 13 of 1000

We maintain such a focus on education that we have to make a special effort to assure the kids learn to cook, clean (house, clothes, dishes), maintain (car, yard, house plants, animals, finances), and the other, more mundane tasks required to run a household.  Today, Lorena wanted to run out to do some shopping so the Kelly and Christian are teaming up to clean the kitchen and cook Tuna Helper for lunch.  I LOVE Tuna Helper.  Right after I put them to work I read Jay Nordlinger’s National Review Online post about members of his family who love powdered eggs and powdered milk.  We were one of those families who economized with powdered milk during the 1960’s when my dad was struggling to get his business started.  Now I look at it as a badge of pride that we drank powdered milk.  I am glad other people see it the same way.

Sadly, Kelly just said, “We can not make the Tuna Helper because we have no milk.”

“We can make it with powdered milk,” responded Christian.  “There is some in the pantry.”

“But it is three years old.”

It looks like I STILL have a lot of educating in front of me.  This reminds me of how many times I have heard people say, “I drank water from a hoof print in a cow pie and was glad to have it.”

Day 12 of 1000

Our plan for this Labor Day weekend is to apply to colleges, do homework (Lorena, Kelly, and Christian), and work out.  Christian has pretty much decided he wants to go to NCSU.  Kelly is torn.  For now she will apply at NCSU, San Diego State University, and University of Idaho, in that order.  There are lots of criteria, but proximity to friends and family, a good statistics program, acceptance of credits already earned, and the ability to get scholarships are all high on her list.  This is an on-going process in a high state of flux.  It is also a lot of fun, so I am sure we will write about it often.  You can also read about it at Kelly’s blog.

I do not know how my buddy Andrew does it.  He finds relevant, obscure blogs and websites on a regular basis.  He sent me a link to one named Retraction Watch this morning.  It is one of my pet peeves.  One of many, very big problems in academia today is the whole publish or perish, peer review process.  The whole authorship pecking order thing creates an environment where cheating is rampant.  The worst part is that the powerless (read “students”, both graduate and undergraduate here) suffer a lot at the hands of unethical researchers and professors.  Should the person who fills out the grant applications and schmoozes with the government bureaucrats and other toadies that shell out money confiscated from the tax payers be the principle authors or should it be the people who do the heavy intellectual lifting and write the papers–students and industrial partners.  Should the research that gets funded be that which is selected by politically correct government bureaucrats and other toadies that give out the confiscated monies or should it be driven by more altruistic methods (e.g. sickness cures and military needs) or market needs.  The Retraction Watch blog identifies a few of the high profile cases where this abysmal system has failed abysmally.  Thanks for the link Andrew.

There are lots of rumblings in the press recently about the new Amazon Tablet.  It is rumored to run Android and to be very cheap.  I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these.  All the programming work I am doing on the Nook Color to learn about Android should apply to this new tablet.

I am well into the reconstruction of my computer after its meltdown last night.  I should be up and programming around mid morning on Tuesday after Labor Day.  In the meantime, I was aghast that our eternally campaigning president, after stating for weeks that he will reveal his plan in a speech after Labor Day, will really only reveal PART of his plan, the rest of which will be revealed, piece meal, throughout the fall!!!  What is that?!??  HE HAS NO PLAN!!!  This is mind-boggling, especially after the disappointing, ZERO new jobs, employment numbers that came out earlier today.

I am well into the reconstruction of my computer after its meltdown last night.  I should be up and programming around mid morning on Tuesday after Labor Day.  In the meantime, I was aghast that our eternally campaigning president, after stating for weeks that he will reveal his plan in a speech after Labor Day, will really only reveal PART of his plan, the rest of which will be revealed, piece meal, throughout the fall!!!  What is that?!??  HE HAS NO PLAN!!!  This is mind-boggling, especially after the disappointing, ZERO new jobs, employment numbers that came out earlier today.

Day 11 of 1000

It is already on of those days.  My computer was blue screened when I got to work this morning–both solid state drives had errors on them.  So, I am going to have a fun filled day of getting my computer back to a runnable state.  That bad news, however, is mitigated by the fact that an old, mostly like minded friend has agreed to start blogging with me here at Chapman Kids.  I cannot reveal too much right now, but hope to have a picture, a name, and maybe even a first post over the Labor Day weekend.  In the meantime, I am out of the loop until I can get my computer up and going or I go home for the weekend.

Day 10 of 1000

There are lots of good reasons to keep a journal.  In a quick Google search, I found a PILE of good reasons:

• The Benefits of Keeping a Journal
• Inspiration for You to Keep a Journal
• 10 Reasons to Keep a Journal
• Etc.

There are lots of reasons to make a budget.  I found a PILE of good reasons for that, too:

• Why You Should Use a Budget
• Why You Should Make a Budget
• Why a Budget is a Good Debt Management Tool
• Etc.

President has pontificated gratingly on how the congress needs to take up his proposals and implement them, but he has yet to submit anything to congress in writing.  He is scheduled to give a speech on September 8 that is purported to be about his plan on how to get the economy going and create jobs.  Obama attacked the budget proposal of the Republican controlled House of Representatives and demanded more spending, higher taxes, and bigger government in his budget speech on April 13.  The thing he did NOT do was submit a specific proposal in a written budget.

My daughter, Kelly, started college last year.  She did OK the first semester, better the second semester, and now, in her third semester, she is really on top of it.  She attributes the improvements to the fact that she writes a study plan every day.  She is better at planning and better at studying because she writes it down.  In an earlier post, I described a rut into which I had fallen when we finished homeschooling the kids.  My plan to get out of the rut and accomplish something of value revolves around writing stuff down and committing to get it done.

In this upcoming speech, if Obama does not submit a written budget, he is digging a deeper hole.  The prospects for such a plan do not seem too good.  The title of Jim Geraghty’s blog post says it all:  Obama to Supporters: Demand Congress Pass My Unrevealed Plan Now!.  The worst part about his unwritten plan is that he demands that congress implement it.  If they do not implement this undefined plan, he will hammer them for their intransigence in his eternal election campaign.

Day 10 of 1000

There are lots of good reasons to keep a journal.  In a quick Google search, I found a PILE of good reasons:

• The Benefits of Keeping a Journal
• Inspiration for You to Keep a Journal
• 10 Reasons to Keep a Journal
• Etc.

There are lots of reasons to make a budget.  I found a PILE of good reasons for that, too:

• Why You Should Use a Budget
• Why You Should Make a Budget
• Why a Budget is a Good Debt Management Tool
• Etc.

President has pontificated gratingly on how the congress needs to take up his proposals and implement them, but he has yet to submit anything to congress in writing.  He is scheduled to give a speech on September 8 that is purported to be about his plan on how to get the economy going and create jobs.  Obama attacked the budget proposal of the Republican controlled House of Representatives and demanded more spending, higher taxes, and bigger government in his budget speech on April 13.  The thing he did NOT do was submit a specific proposal in a written budget.

My daughter, Kelly, started college last year.  She did OK the first semester, better the second semester, and now, in her third semester, she is really on top of it.  She attributes the improvements to the fact that she writes a study plan every day.  She is better at planning and better at studying because she writes it down.  In an earlier post, I described a rut into which I had fallen when we finished homeschooling the kids.  My plan to get out of the rut and accomplish something of value revolves around writing stuff down and committing to get it done.

In this upcoming speech, if Obama does not submit a written budget, he is digging a deeper hole.  The prospects for such a plan do not seem too good.  The title of Jim Geraghty’s blog post says it all:  Obama to Supporters: Demand Congress Pass My Unrevealed Plan Now!.  The worst part about his unwritten plan is that he demands that congress implement it.  If they do not implement this undefined plan, he will hammer them for their intransigence in his eternal election campaign.

I have mentioned that, for our GaugeCam project, I am setting up to program our Nook Color.  I downloaded the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the Android SDK, the Nook Color SDK (with a Nook Color emulator), and various and sundry other items to get started.  I have been able to write a program that allows a user to enter a web address, then press a button to load a web page into a web browser and show the HTML code in a text field.  Java is the language of choice for most Android programming.  C/C++ is possible, even with QT creator, but not recommended for anything other than spot speedups for a number of good reasons (complexity, compatibility, development tools, debugging, etc.)  I have not been much of a Java guy because I make my living with C/C++ and a little C#, but I have to admit that I am quite impressed.  The image below shows the small program I wrote to access the web with the Eclipse IDE behind it.  Now comes the fun part of designing a more serious program that we can use at GaugeCam.  Notice the web page shown here is the Chapman Kids Blog!

Eclipse IDE debugging Nook Color program via an emulator running on Windows 7

Day 9 of 1000

I work as a research engineer for a medical device company in Research Triangle Park.  I live a little over thirty miles from where I work.  If I leave home at about 5:45, it takes me about 35 minutes to get to work.  If I leave 6:15 or later, it takes me 45 minutes and a lot more driving hassle.  The commute is about twenty minutes longer than I like, but I have found a routine that I enjoy very much.  I have possibly the worst office I have ever had.  It is what most people might call a half size cube.  It is at the intersection with heavy foot traffic.  The rest of my working group is two rooms away.  My boss gave me an awesome computer, so awesome that it generates enough heat to make my cube the hottest place in the building during the steamy North Carolina summers.

Nevertheless, I love my job.  I have a great routine.  The first thing I do when I get to work is make coffee.  Then I go to my desk and eat a yogurt while I read a chapter of my bible on Xiphos.  When I finish my reading, I go to this awesome streaming radio website to listen to Bill Bennett’s Morning in America.  By the time I finish, the coffee is ready, so I have a cup of coffee and eat a granola bar while I read the news headlines and I am ready to work.  The other people start streaming into work around 7:30.  I work with a great group of very bright people, which mitigates the quality of my cube.  That and the fact that I will get a new (to me) office in a new building after the first of the year.

I cannot believe that I enjoy getting out of bed at 5:15 in the morning.  I have turned into my dad.  Life is much better for me when I have a good morning routine.

Day 8 of 1000

I visit National Review Online’s The Corner often.  Some of the regular posters like Victor Davis Hanson, Mark Steyn, and Kathryn Jean Lopez are without peer.  Quite a few of them are excellent most of the time, but have a little bit of that country club, neo-con, RINO thing going.  That would include Stanley Kurtz, Jonah Goldberg, and Jim Geraghty.  The thing about the second group is the so often write great stuff that, when they hit a sour note, it grates more than it would if they were not such stellar writers.  Then there are the writers like Ramesh Ponnuru and John Derbyshire who I really wanted to like and kept reading way longer than their material warranted, although Derbyshire has had a few good articles on educational pretension, more than you can say for Ponnuru.  At any rate, Mark Kirkorian was not really on my radar as a distinct personality until today.  He has been one of those authors I knew I had read before, but his writing never made such a strong impression on me that I associated him with any topic in particular.  That is, until now. 
Kirkorian posted an article that is just wrong on many, many levels.  It is profoundly ignorant to say “the attack had nothing to do with drugs (the perpetrators were with a protection racket) and nothing to do with guns (they used gasoline bombs).”  It turns out that the perpetrators of the firebombing were members of the Zeta Drug Cartel and they carried guns into the casino when they went in to firebomb it.

In Felipe Calderon, Mexico has the best president they have had in many years, possibly ever.  He is in an ugly situation.  In the speech Kirkorian cites, Calderon accepts culpability for Mexico’s part in this, but the fact of the matter is that drug consumption in the U.S. drives much of the insidious violence in Monterrey, the beautiful colonial city where the attack took place.  The drug cartels are in Monterrey for its proximity to the U.S. markets and because they launder a LOT of their dirty, drug money in Texas.  What does the American government do?  They send powerful weapons to the drug cartels that are used to murder not only innocent Mexicans, but innocent Americans including a Federal Border Patrol Agent.  Calderon is doing everything within his power to get Mexico’s problem under control; why can’t we prosecute those people in the American government who are selling guns to the bad guys.  In addition to that, there are many reasons to deal with our drug problem here in the U.S. than just to help Mexico.  William F. Buckley, Jr. was flat wrong about drugs.  Drug legalization is just wrong.  If drug addiction is harmful to society, and it is, we should do everything we can to stop it, but that is another topic for another day.

Mexico has its problems, but they are fighting for their lives right now and they are is our neighbor and our friend.  We talk to people on Skype everyday who live in the middle of what was the most peaceful and prosperous large city in Mexico just a few years ago.  We SHOULD help them, not write sanctimonious letters about the evils of Mexico.  We used to be able to go to Mexico to visit our children’s grandparents.  A couple of weeks ago, a man was pushed out of a car onto his knees, shot in the back of the head, and left in the middle of the street, a couple of houses down from those grandparents.  There are too many horrifically violent stories to tell that have directly involved our friends and family in Monterrey including home invasions, a murder, armed robberies, kidnappings, and on and on.  These are the kinds of things that are perpetrated by the drug cartels.  Our insatiable appetite for drugs is a big link in the chain.  Good people on the street on both sides of the border know that this is a problem that belongs to all North Americans, even those in drug addled Canada.

Update:  ATF chief steps down because of the guns to Mexican drug cartels scandal.  The claims of Mark Kirkorian in his shameful article appear even more scurrilous now.

Day 7 of 1000

Uncle Lauro sent this photo of us talking to Grandpa Jose via Skype on his 90th birthday.  We had a great time talking to everyone there.  The reason we did not go there to celebrate in person is because of the war that is taking place in Nuevo Leon (the state where Monterrey is located).  The family was actually a little bit afraid to even have the party because of the terrorism that occurs daily down there.  The party was at Lorena’s Uncle Abel’s beautiful home in Allende which is about thirty miles from Monterrey.  There has been a lot of violence in Allende as well as the other smaller towns around Monterrey.  The last thing we heard about that happened in Allende was a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning, two young men were hung a highway overpass by their ankles and shot in the head as the terrorists drove away.  That all happened within easy hearing distance of where this party occurred.

After the party we spoke with Uncle Jorge, Aunt Mari, and all the cousins. There were military helicopters flying over their home as we spoke. Jorge described the Casino firebombing that happened last week. He lives and works right in one of the municipalities that make up the city of Monterrey and had driven past that exact location of the bombing about 15 minutes before it occurred.  The short video below is of the terrorists as they arrive and enter the casino. You can see the patrons streaming out of the casino followed by billowing black smoke caused by the firebombing, followed by the terrorists getting back into their cars and leaving.  It all took about 3 minutes; At least 53 people died.  That count is expected to rise.  It was the worst terrorist attack so far in Monterrey.

President Felipe Calderon went to Monterrey the next day to mourn with the city.  He sent additional military support to Monterrey.  Here is a quote from a post about Calderon’s Monterrey address on the Los Pinos blog (the Mexican equivalent of the White House in the United States) with which I am in complete agreement:

President Calderón urged society, congress and the US government to reflect on the tragedy currently affecting Mexico and many Latin American countries, due largely to the insatiable drug consumption of millions of Americans.

He indicated that Mexico can no longer be the gateway or pay the consequences of this market, which not only translates into thousands of millions of illicit dollars from the black market but also thousands of deaths as a result of the violence caused by the gangs engaged in this business.

The president asked the US Congress and government to end the criminal sales of high-caliber weapons and assault rifles to the criminals operating in Mexico.

Read the whole thing here.

Day 7 of 1000

Uncle Lauro sent this photo of us talking to Grandpa Jose via Skype on his 90th birthday.  We had a great time talking to everyone there.  The reason we did not go there to celebrate in person is because of the war that is taking place in Nuevo Leon (the state where Monterrey is located).  The family was actually a little bit afraid to even have the party because of the terrorism that occurs daily down there.  The party was at Lorena’s Uncle Abel’s beautiful home in Allende which is about thirty miles from Monterrey.  There has been a lot of violence in Allende as well as the other smaller towns around Monterrey.  The last thing we heard about that happened in Allende was a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning, two young men were hung a highway overpass by their ankles and shot in the head as the terrorists drove away.  That all happened within easy hearing distance of where this party occurred.

After the party we spoke with Uncle Jorge, Aunt Mari, and all the cousins. There were military helicopters flying over their home as we spoke. Jorge described the Casino firebombing that happened last week. He lives and works right in one of the municipalities that make up the city of Monterrey and had driven past that exact location of the bombing about 15 minutes before it occurred.  The short video below is of the terrorists as they arrive and enter the casino. You can see the patrons streaming out of the casino followed by billowing black smoke caused by the firebombing, followed by the terrorists getting back into their cars and leaving.  It all took about 3 minutes; At least 53 people died.  That count is expected to rise.  It was the worst terrorist attack so far in Monterrey.

President Felipe Calderon went to Monterrey the next day to mourn with the city.  He sent additional military support to Monterrey.  Here is a quote from a post about Calderon’s Monterrey address on the Los Pinos blog (the Mexican equivalent of the White House in the United States) with which I am in complete agreement:

President Calderón urged society, congress and the US government to reflect on the tragedy currently affecting Mexico and many Latin American countries, due largely to the insatiable drug consumption of millions of Americans.

He indicated that Mexico can no longer be the gateway or pay the consequences of this market, which not only translates into thousands of millions of illicit dollars from the black market but also thousands of deaths as a result of the violence caused by the gangs engaged in this business.

The president asked the US Congress and government to end the criminal sales of high-caliber weapons and assault rifles to the criminals operating in Mexico.

Read the whole thing here.

Grandpa’s Birthday

Today is my grandpa Jose’s 90th birthday from my mom’s side of the family. My brother Lauro (the first grandson) and my cousin’s daughter Susanita (the first great grandchild) were both born on Grandpa Jose’s birthday.  Most of my family is in Allende, Nuevo Leon right now celebrating my grandpa’s birthday party. Grandpa has 7 daughters and 2 sons. 33 Grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren My mom is the oldest of the 9 kids that he and my grandma Leonor had together .   My grandpa is a very happy person. He always has a very nice attitude.  I love him very much.  We are very thankful for many, many  things that he taught us.  We wish we could be celebrating with him and all the family.  My uncle Abel has a great house with a huge patio to fill the whole family for party’s.  They told me that they are doing  lots of very good food.   The main course is borrego al ataud. It is kind of like a steam goat. I have never had that before, but it sounds great!

Mi Primer Día de Clase

Después de casi 5 años de haber llegado aquí  a Carolina del Norte. No había podido enrolarme en la escuela por cuestiones de tiempo y otras cosas.  Este verano pensé en que quería regresar de nuevo para avanzar en mi carrera.   Decidí tomar solo una clase por el momento.  Estoy tomando Contabilidad Financiera.  Hasta ahorita me encanta!  Parece ser que tengo un profesor bueno:)  Vamos a ver si así sigue.  Se ve que le encanta enseniar este tipo de clase.  Entre la clase, le gusta contar lo que le paso durante la semana y también le gusta hablar de su mama que tiene 85 años.  Todo esto hace que la clase de 2 horas termine mas pronto.  A mi me gusta mucho escuchar su acento y la manera que describe las cosas. La ultima clase que tuvimos se la paso contando de su ida a la playa y que no tenia acceso al Internet.  Se la paso contándonos como por 20 minutos mas otros 20 minutos de tomar asistencia y repetir los nombres de los compañeros uno por uno. No tuvo suficiente tiempo para darnos la clase entera.  Ahora estamos un poco atrasados en la tarea, pero no fue por culpa nuestra sino de el. Ayer escribió en el correo electrónico disculpándose por no haber dado la clase entera.