Thursday, November 20, 2014

Nate the Great, Twice Missing

Smiley has been sick quite a bit during the past eleven days.

I went to the local library and got him three compilations of Nate the Great books on CD.  There are now on his "story player" and he listens to them in the afternoon when his little brother naps, and he also needs to rest but cannot manage to fall asleep.


Oddly, our library has volumes 1, 3, and 4, but not volume 2.


A mystery!

Both boys love mysteries.  I am currently in the middle of reading them on my Kindle Paperwhite a library loan e-book that is a Ron Roy mystery for kids named Detective Camp.

Gallant now gets very excited whenever I misplace something.   "It is a mystery!" he proclaims.  "No," I think to myself, "I just left something downstairs."  But I do not want to deflate his enthusiasm.

But we do have a real mystery in the house.  Ironically, Smiley has lost one of the library's hardback Nate the Great books.  For a month I have been renewing it.  But eventually we will need to find it or pay a fine.

The Ur-Quan are Back

I was playing Hearthstone, but now it is not working with my version of Ubuntu or wine.  So I needed something else to play at night when the boys are tired but earned watching a game before their bedtime story.

A few days ago I downloaded The Ur-Quan Masters, a free re-make of Star Control II.


The boys love it.  But then, who would not love silly and cowardly Fwiffo?


When I was an undergraduate I played this game for many, many hours.  There was so much to explore and do!

One of my friends even played through the game an extra time to record all of the music to cassette tape.  This was back in the days when our computers had Sound Blaster cards, and recording sound files to your hard drive was a distant dream.  I still have my copy of his cassette tape in a box of old tapes.

Now I have less free time, so I am relying on a walkthrough for mining and other efficiency issues.

(I was amused to see that GameFaqs has a speed guide that claims to complete the game in only nine in-game months.  Maybe I will try that some day.)

I also found some maps that are more readable than the in-game Star Map.

One map is spoiler free.


The other map has spoilers.  I use it when Smiley becomes fearful that we might be going too deep into enemy-controlled space.


This morning little Gallant called to me before breakfast, "Daddy, we have to go!  We have to go somewhere in our solar system!"

Gallant pretends to use an old calculator as a spaceship control dashboard.  He calls it "Playing Blast Off".  He types a countdown from 9 to 1, then presses the equal key while saying "Blast off!"  This makes another copy of the digits appear, which he finds quite satisfying.

The calculator also has four arrow keys.


He uses these to excitedly steer our imaginary spaceship after it blasts off.  Despite the frantic pace, I feel completely safe while he is piloting.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Days 2014-11-18

Cooking/Baking
Gallant had a new cold and his nose was running like a faucet.  My day largely involved helping him blow his nose, then going to wash my hands.  Not conducive to baking.

Website Pages Worked On
For math geometry concepts I made a polygon area page useful for both Math 20 and when I volunteer at Edgewood Elementary School


Air Quality
146 pm (no wood stove!)

Things I Did for My Wife
We were both exhausted and went to bed soon after the kids did.  No time to really spoil each other.

Things My Wife Did for Me
see above

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: This is my walking stick.  [He is holding a tower of marble run cylindrical pieces, topped with a single marble run trough since Grandpa's walking sticks are shaped like that on top.]  It is a transformer walking stick.  If you push this button it turns into something else.  Like a race car.  Or an airplane.

Red Air Quality Today

Today is the first day this fall that the LRAPA air quality measurements were in the red zone.


LRAPA is being generous and still declaring "Burning cautioned". When the shift to "Burning prohibited" they start using satellite imaging to locate houses with smoke coming from the chimneys, and issuing fines to people.

Last year Eugene/Springfield has only six red days.  (Oakridge had seven.)

The wood stove prohibitions keep the number of red days low.  Too many and the Environmental Protection Agency starts interfering.

There have clearly been many people unaware of (or ignoring) the rules during the past few days.

Rain is predicted tomorrow.


I wonder if anyone will be fined before the rain clears the air.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Smiley's pattern

One advantage of being a math teacher is having pattern blocks at home.

A few days ago Smiley made a fancy pattern, and photographed it himself.

Days 2014-11-17

Cooking/Baking
In the morning I made both tropical pancakes and egg baby, a good start to having breakfasts for the week.  In the egg baby recipe I replaced some of the skim milk with canned pumpkin, which meant it did not make its fancy custard layer but did have an autumn theme.


After lunch Gallant and I made more of those brownies (the GF Krusteaz brownie mix from Costco with extra chocolate and walnuts)

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers sample adventure Caves of Chaos, but the new work is not online yet.

Air Quality
126 pm (no wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
it is a Monday, another swing dancing night!

Things My Wife Did for Me
it is a Monday, another swing dancing night!


Cute Things a Son Said
Me: [through a closed door] Do you need any help?
Smiley: No.  I am fine.
Me: Are you sure?
Smiley: Well, you might want to help me clean up in here.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Days 2014-11-16

Cooking/Baking
my wife used some of our loaf bread recipe without the eggs and honey as pizza crust, then set aside the remainder to rise a few days

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers design
Math measurement homework
Math geometry homework

Air Quality
101 pm (no wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
helped her a little with her garden chore
traded massages after the boys went to bed

Things My Wife Did for Me
let me sleep in until 10am
traded massages after the boys went to bed

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: I am reading Winnie the Pooh...in Spanish!  It is my kind of Spanish.  You do not know these words.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Days 2014-11-13

Cooking/Baking
breakfast bread

Website Pages Worked On
that breakfast bread recipe

Air Quality
30 pm (wood stove ok)

Things I Did for My Wife
put boys to bed while she went to an evening yoga class

Things My Wife Did for Me
nothing to blog about

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: [looking at the elevator] G!
Me: G is for "ground floor"
Gallant: And "Gallant".

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Days 2014-11-12

Cooking/Baking
none

Website Pages Worked On
Math measurement homework
Math geometry homework
Nine Powers sample adventure Caves of Chaos

Air Quality
decreased to 43 pm (hooray we can use the wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
she got a nap when she arrived home from work

Things My Wife Did for Me
before bed we soaked in the spa, and exchanged massages on the massage table downstairs in front of the warm and pretty wood stove

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: [looking at the jar of TJ's pumpkin butter] Look!  P...P...Pumpkin butter starts with P!  And pumpkin starts with P too!  And Penguin starts with P too!

The Best Pathfinder Spells?

Fascinating.

In a chapter about letting Wizards design their own spells, the Paizo staff reveal their picks for the best spells per spell level. 

(Which has no relation to the image below, but I needed something visual for this blog post.)

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Days 2014-11-11

Cooking/Baking
my wife made brownies (the GF Krusteaz brownie mix from Costco with extra chocolate and walnuts) for a work potluck the next day

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers design page and sample adventure Caves of Chaos

Air Quality
52 pm (hooray, we could use the wood stove)

(Hm.  This was only yesterday, but I am drawing a blank on anything especially nice that I did for my wife or she did for me.  Both boys are sick, so we are worn out.)

Cute Things a Son Said
Me: Put on your coat.  It is chilly outside.
Gallant: That is because of all the cold air!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Days 2014-11-10

Cooking/Baking
tropical pancakes

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers sample adventure Caves of Chaos

Air Quality
58 pm (day three of three without the wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
A friend was going to GM a Pathfinder campaign in two weeks got too busy.  Now I will need to start being GM in two weeks.  Time to finish my Caves of Chaos adventure so my wife will get her new role-playing game group!

Things My Wife Did for Me
Nothing I am allowed to blog about.

Cute Things a Son Said
[The boys are talking in the car.  Smiley wants to tell Gallant a joke.  But know that when going to bed, after their head is on their pillow, they each get one question for me and to say a prayer.]
Smiley: I have a question for you.
Gallant: I do not need a question.
Smiley: It is a funny question.
Gallant: I do not need a question now.  It is day!  I want questions at night.

Sunday, November 09, 2014

Days 2014-11-09

Cooking/Baking
none, today was my restful weekend day

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers economic rules

Air Quality
58 pm (day two of three days without the wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
watched the boys while she went to an "Ankle Yoga" class and Costco

Things My Wife Did for Me
let me have a have restful day, especially the afternoon

Cute Things a Son Said
Smiley: [He prays before going to bed.]  Please, God, make healthy all the sick people I know or daddy knows, or mommy knows, and help the people who live where the water is not clean not get sick, and please protect all the countries from asteroids that crash, and thank you that you help us be good people.

Saturday, November 08, 2014

Days 2014-11-08

Today the air quality was poor.  I am adding to this series the air quality from LRAPA.  On days when it is above 50 we are usually prohibited from using our wood stove, which is an expensive bother.

Cooking/Baking
pumpkin bread

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers economic rules

Air Quality
66 pm (start of three days without the wood stove)

Things I Did for My Wife
took care of sick Gallants so my wife could have restful day

Things My Wife Did for Me
made a very nice soup for dinner

Cute Things a Son Said
Smiley: [While going to bed.] How much does a comet cost?
Me: I don't know.
Smiley: I will give you an acting-it-out hint.  [He kisses the bed.]
Me: A kiss?
Smiley:
Five kisses!  You get nine points out of ten for being very close.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Days 2014-11-06

Cooking/Baking
gingerbread cookies

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers economic rules
also removed needless xanthan gum from gingerbreak cookie recipe

Things I Did for My Wife
took care of sick Gallant from 3:30am through the start of the morning (he slept some, I did not)

Things My Wife Did for Me
watched boys while I napped between dinner and their bedtime

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: Let's play hide and go seek!
[He is trying to hide inside his towel after a bath.]

PERS and the 4J School District

I have long wondered what percent of the local 4J school district budget goes to funding retirement plans.

I last blogged about the 4J budget here and here.

At that first link, I had navigated the district's convoluted budget documents as best I could and thought that the district was paying for $3.7 million of "extra" pension expense (beyond the $2 million that is set aside because part of planning salaries is setting aside money for retirement costs).

That was 2.4% of the total budget, or $234 per student.


I recently found, hidden as the last sentence of a newspaper article, the revelation that the district is  actually paying $21 million each year for retirement.  They hide that very well in their budget document!

That was 13.8% of the total budget, or $1,326 per student.  Much bigger!

Looking at the numbers another way, the district spends 60% of its budget on instruction, and 23% of that amount is retirement funding.

The national average for private sector employers to pay for retirement and savings benefits is 3.7 percent of total compensation.

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Planetarium Laser Shows


The Science Factory is having its end of the year planetarium laser light shows again!

Legolas is slain!

For those curious about the flavor of "old school" Dungeons and Dragons, I have found two very funny accounts of that play style.


Misadventures in Randomly Generated Dungeons
(really takes off on pages 15 and 17 when The Fellowship of the Bling enter the Caves of Chaos)

Adventures of Navero
(not as funny, but no need to skip over forum folk commenting about the retelling)

Days 2014-11-05

Cooking/Baking
more tropical pancakes

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers economic rules
hobbies index

Things I Did for My Wife
put boys to bed while she spends the evening with a friend

Things My Wife Did for Me
make pizza dinner

Cute Things a Son Said
Contractor rebuilding our front wall: These excavated tree roots are not nearly as bad as I feared.
Gallant: When the wind blows really fast--woosh!--it can knock down a tree in the forest and then we would all be trapped.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Days 2014-11-04

Cooking/Baking
tropical pancakes

Website Pages Worked On
invented a new math game: The Kittens of Tindalos
(for this week's Thursday first grade volunteering)

Things I Did for My Wife
stayed caught up on housework despite being exhausted

Things My Wife Did for Me
very relaxing neck massage before I went to bed

Cute Things a Son Said
Dental Assistant: Those ridges in your molars are very deep.  They can trap food or help plaque grow.  That is why we seal them with this clear stuff.
Smiley: I don't get it.
Me: Are your molars for chewing or tearing?
Smiley: Chewing.
Me: Which teeth are for tearing?
Smiley: These front ones.
Me: Do you need deep ridges for chewing?
Smiley: No.
Me: So the deepness of the ridges is extra.  It does not help you.  It can only cause a problem.
Smiley: So why did God make teeth that way?  Was it part of what happened with the punishment of Adam and Eve?
Dental Assistant: [tries not to laugh noticeably]
Me: What about the days before helpful dentists?  When people lost more teeth.  If your front tearing teeth had cavities and fell out, you might need to do some tearing with molars.
Smiley: I get it.  I am glad we have good dentists now.

Monday, November 03, 2014

Days 2014-11-03

Cooking/Baking
egg baby and pizza dough

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers sample NPCs

Things I Did for My Wife
swing dancing with U. O. Swing Night


Things My Wife Did for Me
see above

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: I pooped in the toilet!
Me: Hooray!
Gallant: I am good at pooping fast.  Before it gets dark at night.
[This was 1pm, before his nap.]

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Days 2014-11-02

I have been doing a lot of website typing.  That means I am not in the mood for blogging.  A new idea is simply to blog a bit about each day.  Here we go...

Cooking/Baking
(none - we spent most of the day out of town)

Website Pages Worked On
small update to math fractions homework

Things I Did for My Wife
family outing to Newport aquarium, chat in spa after boys in bed

Things My Wife Did for Me
see above

Cute Things a Son Said
Gallant: I am full.
Me: You ate a little dinner.  But not enough to have desert.
Gallant: Actually, I am not full yet.

Saturday, November 01, 2014

Days 2014-11-01

I have been doing a lot of website typing.  That means I am not in the mood for blogging.  A new idea is simply to blog a bit about each day, for November.  Here we go...

Cooking/Baking
gingerbread cookies

Website Pages Worked On
Nine Powers core rules
(added section about a less dominant GM role, partly in response to the essay The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast)

Things I Did for My Wife
went out on a date night, babysitter after boys were asleep

Things My Wife Did for Me
see above

Cute Things a Son Said
Me: Let's wash your hands.  They are very dirty.
Gallant: That's because of all the dirt.