Monday, March 31, 2014

It Was A Rough Winter

No thanks to Al Gore, we have had a very rough winter here.  As I was outside last weekend starting to get things picked up a bit (I still have snow/ice on the ground in the grass on the north side of the house and there ground is still not unfrozen) I noticed some dead spots in the arbor vitaes and yews in front of the house.  Then as I was driving up the road and around the neighborhood as I was running various errands and letting Sarah drive, I noticed that just about every house that has yews and arbor vitaes have dead spots in them.  Some not so much, others have at least half, if not more, of the branches turning orange.  That is a lot of trimming that needs to be done.  Hopefully I will be able to salvage the shrubs without having to cut out too much.  Digging them up and replacing them at this point would be a royal pain in the butt.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

College Fair

We get newsletters/emails from the school district on a weekly basis with links to local events or stories.  Well a few weeks ago in the weekly "Upcoming Events" email there was a link for a college workshop that was being held downtown at the Hilton.  There were going to be a bunch of colleges there and workshops/seminars for things like how to pick a major, how to apply for scholarships, how to make the most of your financial aid, etc.  We thought it would be a good chance for Sarah to go and get a taste of what she has to look forward to and maybe get an idea of what she might want to do, or where she might want to go.

Sarah of course had a fit.  She didn't want to go, but she couldn't tell us why.  I told her too bad, she was going.  For at least a week before I had to deal with whining about it on a daily basis.  Even when we got there, she pouted around saying she didn't want to be there. 

When it was all said and done though, I think she found it very informative.  Most of the colleges were from Wisconsin, but there were a few out of state universities too.  We started off going around to all the reps from the different colleges finding out what sort of majors they had to offer.  We hit MSOE one of the first ones and the admissions rep was able to explain to her the major that Kris's doctor friend had mentioned.  He put it in plain language for her and I think she thought it sounded pretty good.  Then we hit a few of the UW schools, like Milwaukee, Green Bay, Point, Stout, and of course Madison.  The guy who was the rep from Green Bay was VERY helpful.  He spent a good ten minutes with explaining what she needed to do as far as visiting a school, and what to look for, what kind of research work they are doing, who the professors are and how she could fit in with them possibly as an assistant and help with that research, possibly helping to get studies published.  She really thought that was cool.  Then just to get the information, I told her to go get some information from some of the out of state schools.  So she hit the tables for Alabama, and Minnesota (though I told her there is no way she is going to Minnesota...  BOOOOO!)

Then we had a little break before the programs started so we walked a block and a half to the Grand Ave. Mall.  Boy has that place changed.  It is a total dump now.  Kris and I told her how we always used to go there about 20 years ago and how huge it was.  Well that was before the city, and mall owners, decided to let things get out of control and people didn't feel safe shopping there anymore, which led to stores leaving.  It was a pretty good lesson in economics for her I think.  I also think she got bored listening to Kris and I tell her about "this store used to be her, and that store was there..."

So once we got back for the programs we decided to split up and we could double up on them and finish what we wanted to see before the actual workshop ended.  I went to a program on taking the ACT and SAT and then making the most of financial aid while Kris took Sarah to a program on how to pick a major based on subjects/topics you like in high school, and then a program on making the most out of your campus visits.  I think that there were a few things we already knew, but there were also some things that we found very useful.  We are trying to help Sarah focus on what she wants to do and with any luck we are going to start planning some campus visits so we are ahead of the game when it comes to preparing.  I also found out that Sarah should have probably taken the PSAT last year as a sophomore, and that she can also take the ACT this year (in June) if she wants, as sort of a prep for taking it as a junior when her score will actually count.  I'm not sure if she is going to do that yet, but at least it is an option that her HS has fallen short on (I think).

I think we have at least got Sarah thinking now about where she is going to be in two years now.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Back To The Body Shop

After I got my bumper fixed, I thought it was time to get Kris's car back in to have a couple of rust spots fixed.  I noticed them last fall, on the tailgate around the location of the license plate.  Actually, it was in the seam between the tailgate and that cover for the license plate lights. I thought that it was ridiculous that we keep having rust spots show up back there, but this was in a space that was away from all the other spots that had previously been repaired, but the car is seven years old so I thought it was just a natural wearing of the paint and metal.  But the guy at the body shop said, no it was all related to the previous repairs.  Somehow, they think there is a sharp corner on the edge of the cover of the license plate lights that had cut into the paint, exposing the metal, thus causing the rust.  I think they are going to try and put a gasket behind it to make sure that the cover won't compromise the paint again.  So the good news is that the body shop is going to cover the repair and we don't have to pay for it.

It was supposed to be a one day repair, so I dropped the car off last night and planned on picking it up today after work.  Well we hadn't heard anything by about 4:45 PM so I called to check on it.  Unfortunately, they were swamped and ran into a few snags on other jobs, so they didn't get Kris' car done.  Luckily they offered to give us a loaner for the weekend.  They said that her car will be ready by Monday evening.  Hopefully they don't run into any more snags.  I think it might finally be time to unload this car with all the problems we have had with that tailgate.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Project DNA

Sarah had a project for biology class this past week to make a model of a DNA molecule.  She actually has had the assignment for a month, but waited until the last week to work on it.  In all fairness though I said I would help her with building it.  I figured it would be very easy to do, just a few styrofoam balls, some paint, and pipe cleaners.  But I was sadly mistaken.

The one requirement was that she couldn't use licorice, because apparently everyone over the last couple of years used licorice.  There are all kinds of instructions online for building a DNA molecule using food, so the teacher apparently wanted the kids to use more of their imagination, or something.  And when I was looking for things online to give Sarah some ideas, I saw several model kits for building a DNA molecule.  Some were pretty simple, and others were quite elaborate, and the cost ranged from about $25 up to over $100.  So we could have bought a model to make, but that sort of defeats the purpose.  And I wanted to keep the cost under $25 because of the supplies cost more than that, I would have been better off just buying a model.  This lead us to the craft store.

The first thought Sarah had was styrofoam balls.  But for a the two different sizes of balls we would have needed and the number of them would have been about $30.  Then we would have needed to get pipe cleaners, or dowels, and paint.  Using small wooden balls would have been even more.  So we had to go back to the drawing board.  After some thought I suggested marshmallows.  They come in different sizes and they should be easy to connect.  Sarah agreed so it was just a matter of getting supplies.  I figured we could get things for about $10.

So a week and a half before it was due we sat down to start making her model.  Our supplies were heavy gage floral wire, two bags of large marshmallows (we actually found flavored ones that were pink and blue so we didn't need to color them) a bag of small marshmallows, and a couple of packs of food coloring.  Sarah and Alison got some ziploc bags and filled them with about 25-30 little marshmallows and then put a bunch of drops of food coloring in each bag and mixed them around.  It actually colored them much better that what I thought it would.  The only problem was that like when we did the sugar cube castle a couple of years ago for Ali, the food coloring getting the marshmallows wet made them all sticky, and it was hard to get them out without them sticking together in a huge clump.  It took a little while but I helped get them all out, and then they sat overnight to dry.

The next day I helped Sarah string her large marshamllows on the floral wire and then made her "rungs"for her DNA ladder.  The assembly of the model only took about a half an hour and when it was done, I thought it looked pretty good. 


And she even finished it a few days ahead of time.

But then after going back to school the next day, Sarah found out that she made some mistakes.  And by mistakes, they were minor ones, but she wanted to make sure they got corrected before she turned it in.  She attempted to take it apart and fix it, but unfortunately, that didn't work out so well.  The model ended up falling apart, or rather not staying together too well.  So now we were in a little bit of a crisis mode.  I ended up having to run back to the store for more marshmallows, because of course, Sarah and Ali took care of our extras.  I told Sarah that I would take care of coloring her adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, and then when I got home from work the next day I would help her assemble it.  This time it was a little more difficult putting it together because Sarah corrected her hydrogen bonds so we had more than one toothpick in each rung, so that when we put in the twist of the helix, they were very close to ripping loose.  I was worried that in the morning we would find that it had fallen apart. and she wouldn't have a project to turn in. 

Luckily, it stayed together, even during the drive to school.  When I dropped Sarah off, I was worried that it would come apart either walking into school or she would bump into someone in the hall in her way to the classroom.  And after seeing some of the other kids bringing their models in, I thought that Sarah's might have been a little sub-par.  But she was happy with it, and when she got home she said that it made it to class in tact and that several other kids used marshmallows, just like she did.  There were also some kids who were very extravagant with their models, and I am glad Sarah didn't go that route.  It seems like that was a little over the top for a simple high school model.  Now we just have to wait and see what kind of a grade she gets.  I think it should be pretty good.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Our Next DIY Project

Kris and I were talking about making some more improvements to the house.  After some discussion, we have decided to remodel our small, downstairs bathroom.  Unlike the upstairs one, there is no plumbing to deal with, so I think I should be able to handle the remodel by myself.  The downstairs bathroom hasn't been updated in some time, I think it has been at least 10 years, if not more. 

Since it is such a small space, I think we should be able to take care of it rather quickly.  So we went yesterday to get most of our supplies ordered.  The only snag was that we couldn't get the cabinet we wanted because the room is so small.  We only have 19" from the wall to the door, and the cabinet we wanted was 22.5" deep.  So we ended up having to settle for what we could get.  I just hope it works out ok.  So now when the girls leave for the spring break, I am going to start ripping things apart.  I figure that at the very least, I should be able to get the new floor in and the new toilet, and really, that is what I need to get to have the room be operational.  The cabinet and sink can wait a little bit of needed, though I am going to try and get it all done before the girls get back.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Cheer Banquet

Tonight was Sarah's cheer banquet.  I don't know if this will be her last one or not.  Sarah has said that she doesn't want to do it if her current coach doesn't get bumped up to varsity coach.  Plus, Sarah doesn't have her tumbling down yet, so if her current coach doesn't get promoted, there is no guarantee that they'll let girls without tumbling on the team.  Her coach now had talked to Sarah and encouraged her to try out next year, which made me think that she was going to allow some girls who didn't have their tumbling skills down yet on the squad.  The rumor that was floating around was that some girls were very good at the dance portions, and were good bases, or spotters, and it would be a shame to lose a good cheerleader just because they couldn't do their back flips.

Now however, it is up in the air.  Sarah isn't sure what she is going to do yet, though she is leaning toward trying out and just seeing what happens.  My worry is that if they don't move the JV coach up to varsity, they are going to lose any sort of cohesiveness they have.  I think there is something to be said for having someone who knows the girls, and knows what the program has gone through to get to the point they are now.  We have heard stories of other schools who don't want to compete against out girls because they are so good and have built up that reputation.  If they bring in a completely new coach, I feel like they would lose that, and at the very least it would take a few years to get back to the point they are at today.

As captain, Sarah had to give a little speech, and I thought she did a very good job.  Her coach then introduced all the girls and gave them all their own "individual awards".  Most were very funny, and we could tell that her coach truly loved working with the girls this year.  Sarah got the last award of the night, the most valuable cheerleader.  This was an award that was voted on by the girls of the team, so I think it shows what the other girls thought of Sarah.  I don't know how many votes she got, but it must have been enough.  One of the other parents said that Almost all the girls voted for Sarah, but Sarah didn't think so.  Either way, Kris and I are very proud of how she performed this year.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Driving Progress

It's been a while so I thought I should report on Sarah's progress behind the wheel.  There are times that she does very well, and then there are other times when I feel like I have aged two or three years just from a 15 or 20 minute trip to the store.  The problem is, I think, that once she starts to feel comfortable she starts to take short cuts, like not looking behind her when she backs out of the driveway.  She also still has problems turning because she whips the wheel back to straighten out instead of making a nice, slow, gradual turn.  One other thing that she needs to work out is braking.  There are times when I swear I think we are about to slam into the car in front of us.  I can't believe it is that hard to PUT YOUR FOOT ON THE BREAK PEDAL.  I swear, I need to get an instructor's brake put on the passenger side.  I am usually the one driving, so not having control of the car when it looks like we are about to rear end someone is very unnerving.

Right now, Sarah lost her driving privileges for a week for mouthing off.  I just hope having a week off doesn't end up in regression, because it is scary enough with the experience she does have.  But we shall see how things are six days from now.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

End Of The Cheer Season

OK, now the cheer season is officially over.  Tonight was the MFHS Cheer Showcase.  This year was the last for the varsity coach, so there was a nice little send off for her.  And as always, the Jr. Indians cheerleaders got to perform, and Alison did a great job.


Sarah and the JV squad had a nice performance as well.


And as we did last year, we (Sarah and I) did the father-daughter routine.

Trip to the Vet

Our trip to the vet with the cats went off pretty well.  They are healthy and no issues other than possibly being a little bit overweight.  That doesn't really make sense to me.  Last year when they were examined, the vet said that both Samson and Phoebe were in fine health and a good weight.  I remember asking specifically about Samson because he is so big, and we were told that yes, he is big, but he is also just solid.  His weight isn't fat, it's all muscle, which if you have ever tried to pick him up you would find out first hand.  He is a strong boy.  So now this year, the vet says that they are a little overweight, even though Phoebe weighs less than she did last year, and Samson is only a couple of tenths of a pound heavier.

We also asked about Phoebe and her anxiety/licking issues.  She has been on anti-anxiety medication for some time (I want to say about a year and a half or so).  They do make her a little bit lethargic so the vet thinks that may be why she is "overweight" (which she really isn't).  I wanted to ask him about it her pills anyway, because she is still licking, just not as much.  There are still bare spots/thin spots on her stomach and hind legs from obsessively licking so I wonder how much the pills are really helping.  He said we can try weening her off the pills over the next couple of weeks and see what happens.  The worst thing that can occur is that she is still licking herself bald and we have to put her back on the medication.  So we'll give it a try and see what happens.  Hopefully nothing will change and she'll be a little more active.

As far as Samson goes (actually for both of them) we're going to try cutting back on their food a little bit.  We were free feeding them all day long.  Now we are giving them a set amount at certain times of the day.  I guess losing a pound or two can't hurt, so we'll see how things work out.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Washing The Cats

The cats have a vet appointment coming up and we have noticed that they are full of dander.  In fact we have noticed it for some time, probably about the last two months or more.  Winter is always a bad time for them anyway, but they were looking particularly bad, so that meant it was time to give them a bath.

I don't know how many people know the joys of trying to give a cat a bath, but it isn't pretty.  Phoebe is a little easier to deal with than Samson, just because he is a little smaller, and has shorter hair.  We try to do it as little as possible, just because of how hard it is to do.  And Samson has never had a bath.  I seem to remember trying dry shampoo with him at one time, but it didn't go well.  But it was time to bite the bullet and just do it.

Phoebe went fairly smoothly.  There were a few "howls" while she was sitting in the water, and I could tell she was ready to bolt the minute I let up on my grip of her.  But for the most part, she was pretty cooperative.  Samson was the problem.  Kris helped me with Phoebe, but for Samson I needed Kris and Alison to help.  When you think about it, it is kind of sad that it takes three people to give one 21 pound cat a bath.  In fact, it sort of sounds like a joke doesn't it?  How many people does it take to give a cat a bath?

I saw it coming and that is one of the reasons Samson doesn't get baths on a regular basis.  He fought, and squirmed, and did everything in his power to get away.  The floor was covered with water when we were done with him, and not just from dripping when we took him out of the sink.  Did I mention we washed them in the kitchen sink?  Well we did.  It was much easier that way because I didn't need to kneel down, and lean over into the tub.

When it was all over, both cats have fluffy, clean fur and smell nice and fresh for the upcoming vet visits, and it only cost a mess of water on the floor and just a couple of scratches.  So we're now good for another year.

Planning for the Future

With all the discussion we were having with Sarah about her schedule, it got me thinking about planning for college.  She pretty much has about a year to make a decision about where she might want to go and what she wants to major in (at least initially).  She thinks she wants to do something in biology, possibly bio-engineering.  Kris knows a doctor who has a daughter who just started at MSOE (that would be the Milwaukee School of Engineering for those who aren't familiar with it) last year who is majoring in bio-genetic engineering.  It sounds like a really cool program and I think it would be something that Sarah is interested in.  And at her teacher conferences last fall we found out that her biology teacher helped to develop the curriculum for the program.  the doctor that Kris knows told her that they were practically giving scholarships away to women just to get into the program, so that sounds promising.

I decided to look and see if there were any other schools that offered that major, and it turns out the only other one is MIT, so it sounds like a pretty exclusive major.  I have a friend who graduated from MSOE and I know that a degree from there is a pretty big deal.  There are lots of other schools that offer bio-engineering degrees, and that includes a couple in Florida. 

Last year when I was watching the NCAA tournament, the broadcast showed pictures of one campus, Florida Gulf Coast University, and it looked like they had dorms on the beach (ok, not really, but it was a very tropical looking campus).  She said she would love to go to school there.  So on a lark, I decided to check it out last week, and they do offer bio-engineering.  So if she wants to go there, that could be an option.  Then we could go visit her when the weather gets cold up here.  It might not be a bad idea to move to someplace warm.  But in any event, it is time to start looking into it.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

My 2₵ On Common Core

I happened to be helping Alison with her math homework last night and as I was looking at her worksheet and noticed it said NY Common Core on the bottom of the page.  I decided to look it up and apparently Wisconsin has been teaching the "common core" curriculum for the last 5 years or so.  Then it all made sense to me.  When I would help Sarah with some of her math homework I thought this is just ridiculous the methods that the children were being taught to solve problems. 

I thought they were rather confusing and much more difficult than the traditional methods.  Actually, now that I think about it, Sarah's work was much more confusing in grade school but by the time she got to middle school all the methods she had been taught were pretty much thrown out and her teacher began teaching her the traditional methods for things like multiplication and division, and then algebra.  Alison, however, is being taught really funky ways of doing things.  Which I suppose would be alright if I understood what the heck they were doing. 

For example, right now she is working on ratios.  Instead of setting up equivalent ratios with a variable for the missing number, then cross multiplying and dividing the get the answer they set up "number boxes".  She understands it, but to me it is just a bunch of empty boxes.  I figured it out after about a half an hour of looking at it, but it seems so much more difficult than simply cross multiplying and dividing.  And that, I think, is the problem with common core.  The teaching methods are dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, trying to make a one size fits all method of teaching.  It just doesn't work that way.  Now add to it that when a child has a problem with a concept and needs help with homework, the parent can't explain it the same way the teacher/school is teaching it.  And that is a big problem, because I think in order for a child to have success, the parents need to be heavily involved in the learning process, because unless the teacher is going to be there 18 hours a day to answer questions, it is the responsibility of the parents to serve as an extension of the teacher. 

If you can't help your child at home, then that child will fall behind.  At least that is my opinion.  Both Kris and I have been very involved with helping the girls with their work and I think that is a big reason why they are at the tops in their respective classes.  I have heard arguments from educators about the merits of the common core curriculum, and that is great, but unless the parents (or other caretakers) are educated and trained in the the same methods of teaching then it isn't really going to help, and in many cases will end up hurting the learning process.

I have heard suggestions that the governor and others want the change the common core system because it isn't working, but of course the superintendent of schools says it is just fine.  I don't know what they are going to do here in WI with common core, but I for one can say that I don't like it one bit, and I hope they do change it.  So that is my 2₵ worth on the subject.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Getting Ready for 2015

This weekend we were tasked with helping Sarah to choose her classes for next year.  Her choices had to be submitted by Monday, and she is sort of stressing out over which classes to select.  In a way I am a little upset at the school because they have her (as well as the other students) essentially choosing their careers by the time they are 15 years old and setting them on a schedule to have their courses laid out for them.

Sarah has the opportunity to take some AP courses next year (which for those who don't know, are college level courses that will allow them to earn college credit in high school).  While I think that it could be beneficial, I also think that given the work load with an AP class in addition to her other honors level classes, I am worried she would be biting off more than she could chew.  She will be taking two honors classes for sure and will most likely be taking another one.  So I would be worried that taking one (or maybe two) AP courses would be too much for her to handle and her grade point would suffer.  My thought is that if her grade point drops, it doesn't matter if she got credit for one college class or not because she won't get accepted into the college that she wants to attend.

Plus, while you can get credit for one class (or maybe more if she takes more than one AP class) I don't think it will do all that much for cutting down the overall time spent in college.  These would all be basic, entry level freshman classes anyway, and it wouldn't be like she can cut out a whole semester by taking one class in high school.

We still have to talk about the actual class choices she can take for science, or English, but that will hopefully be finished in the next hour or two.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

First Official Lesson

Sarah had her first "behind the wheel" driving lesson today.  She got a bonus in her first lesson too, because it was snowing all afternoon, so she got some experience driving on the roads with no salt and that were not plowed either.  I don't envy the driving instructor, because I have to do it daily, though he at least has the instructor's brake on the passenger side (I think).

Her instructor told her that she did very well, and he didn't have any real complaints about her driving other than she needs to work on her turns.  He told her that she tends to enter her turns too early.  She said that the kid that she was paired with almost got them in an accident, and that she was getting nauseous with the way he was being jerky on his braking. 

Sarah can only schedule one behind the wheel session per month and she is able to schedule her next lesson in a couple of weeks.  Now that she knows what she is doing, I think she may try to get it scheduled with another one of her friends.  I think Kris and I may try working with her on some of the other skills she is supposed to learn between now and then (like Y-turns and parallel parking).