Relevant, Modern Phone Instruction! Also, Live Music and Snail News

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Garina squeegies the tank

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Rotary Phone Instruction
When I was in high school, I had a friend over for lunch. She had to call her parents for some reason, and I pointed her to the phone, which was a rotary dial phone. She didn’t know how to use it. I thought it was hilarious that this smart high-schooler didn’t know how to dial a phone.

Here’s a vintage video that shows how, in case you are too young to know how, or had a butler make all your calls when you were growing up.

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Snail News
You know about Gary the snail, our new addition to the fish tank who was an impulse purchase when we were replacing our two deceased goldfish. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, Gary bought the snail farm and slipped the surly bonds of tank.

We were so entertained by Gary’s antics - crawling, munching on algae chips, and so on - that we got another one. At the pet store, I asked the guy if we could get one of those hero snails you hear about on TV news, the ones that call 911 when there is an emergency. He didn’t have any of those, but he did have some blue ones, so we picked one out and took it home.

J made the call that this one was female (no, I don’t know how to tell either), and I have dubbed this one Garina, in Gary’s honor. Garette, Lady Gary, and just plain Gary were also possibilities.

Garina is even more active than Gary was in his prime, often sticking her antennae and feelers and other doodads out of her shell for a quick crawl across the front of the tank. She is fun to watch as she slurps the glass with her mouth, or just hangs out at the top of the water breathing through her natural snail scuba gear.

Garina’s female status was confirmed when we noticed a small baby snail in the tank. It has moved to different places in the tank since it was first sighted, and it looks like it’s growing a little. I call this one Gary Jr. but it might be a Garina, we don’t know. We were worried that more Gary Jr.’s might appear, but so far, we have just one.

As far as the two new fish I reported on earlier, we don't bother watching them anymore. I'm pretty sure they're still in the tank, though. The snail is just so much fun to watch, we look right past the fish.

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Summertime and the Livin' is Easy
The summer fun continues: K went with his friend Max to a Tigers game last week as a present for Max’s birthday. That night, J, M, and I went to Top of the Park to have some pizza and watch live music. The music that night was courtesy of a group from Grand Rapids called Delilah and the Lost Boys and Detroit-based jazz band The Millionaires, who were terrific. Live music is great – I will watch anyone play any kind of live music, even things I would not listen to on the radio. Country, jazz, classical, funk, rock – I like them all when they’re live. Just because the only thing I have on my iPod now are Gregorian Chants doesn’t mean I can’t expand my horizons a little when I have a chance.

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We still have lots on our to-do list for the summer, including lots of grilling, s’more-ing, and traveling. Stay tuned!

More Museums Than At Which You Can Shake a Stick

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Jellies!

We headed west and south last Friday for a two-night stay near Chicago's Midway Airport. The jellyfish ("Jellies") exhibit at Shedd Aquarium was our main draw, but we took in some other sights as well.

We tried something different and stayed at an airport hotel. There were no Nickelodeon channels on the TV, just sports, business news, and weather. The TSA security checkpoint at the the pool was a little much - I think they took the description "airport hotel" too literally. Ease up, TSA! The kids renewed their love for foosball in the recreation area, and we played the bar TV trivia game while eating dinner at the hotel restaurant on Saturday. The kids won $40 from me, and I'm still not sure how.

We were stunned to run into this family outside the aquarium, whose members looked identical to ours.

After our aquarium visit, we headed down the street to Adler Planetarium, where the kids have never been. J and I were last there about 20 years ago, and I might as well have never been inside before because I didn't recognize anything. We saw a plantarium show about the current night sky, and looked at all the space program exhibits.

This fountain outside the aquarium is in honor of the famous American Paul Bunyan, who, before he traveled the country with Babe the Blue Ox, performed magic shows with a giant trout.

We went back to the hotel for dinner, then returned to the city to visit Navy Pier. We have been talking about seeing a Navy Pier fireworks show for a long time, and this was finally going to be it. When we got there, all the parking lots and ramps were full, and there were people everywhere. We went back to the hotel and started planning how we were going to see those fireworks someday. (Side note to Rahm Emanuel: Why aren't there any Navy Pier signs on North Lake Shore Drive? We missed the exit, which we have done before, and "going around the block" is not possible in downtown Chicago. Get your people on that, would you?)

On Sunday, we arrived bright and early at the Museum of Science and Industry. We saw the Body Worlds exhibit, which is not for the squeamish. You can see some examples on their website, but basically, they removed the skin from cadavers and plasticized the innards. Visitors can walk around them and look at them. You can see all the organs, bones, muscles, etc. J and I saw this display, or a very similar one, at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland several years back.

We then went to the Omnimax show about Tornadoes, and the scientists and other crazy people who chase them for research. If you're not familiar with it, Omnimax is a movie format that's displayed on a giant screen which tries to see how many people it can get car sick.

After the museum, we made it successfully to Navy Pier (taking the correct exit this time) and spent the rest of Sunday afternoon. We took a short boat ride, and I stayed safely on the earth while J and the boys slowly rotated themselves in the Ferris Wheel of Death.

We all know how I feel about the big ferris wheel.

Since we hadn't had enough of museums yet, we went to Henry Ford Museum Monday night to see the Emancipation Proclamation. Pages two and five of the actual document are on display starting at 6 pm Monday and ending 6 am Wednesday. The museum is open continuously during that time, and admission is free. We arrived at about 8:30 pm Monday, hoping that we'd only have to wait a few hours. Instead, we waited five; we finally saw Honest Abe's signature (along with Seward's), and dragged ourselves to the car for the ride home. Yes, the line was insanely long, and we discovered as the night went on that the line was moving slower and slower. We're not sure why it was going faster at first. But - we have a story to tell about it, and we all got home safe and sound. Some of us had to go to work this morning, but since my boss is in New Jersey, I can snore as loud as I want at my desk, and who's going to know?

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I hope everyone's doing well, and if you saw the Saturday Navy Pier fireworks show, send pictures, OK?

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Science Olympiad! Soccer! Grillin'! Exhaustion!

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We had an incredibly busy weekend June 11-12. I'm not sure how we're all still standing, but we are.

Science Olympiad

Before Science Olympiad

After Science Olympiad


Saturday was the annual Science Olympiad competition at Pioneer High school. M competed in Circuit Wizardry, an electronics circuits-based event, and Write It Build It, where two students write about an object made of multiple odd parts, and another two students have to build that object based on those instructions. He trained hard for both events, and he and his teammates won a second-place medal for Circuit Wizardry.

K competed in four events: Rock Hunter, which involved learning about the structure, hardness, and uses for rocks and minerals; What Went By, which required students to identify endangered and extinct animals based on their habitat, location, diet, and other characteristics; Estimania, which is all about math, estimating distances and measurements, and estimating the results of difficult math problems (such as 992 x 4005); and Mystery Architecture, where the participants are given odd materials from which they need to build the tallest possible tower able to support a tennis ball.

K was a last-minute addition to the Mystery Architecture team - one of the participants was unable to compete in it due to a time conflict with another event.

K won two medals, both fourth place: Estimania and What Went By.

We're so proud of the work they did, the time they spent, the patience they had at the competition itself (they were there all day) and their (and their school's) sportsmanship.

Lawton school won the overall trophy for the 2nd/3rd grade events, which took place in the morning, and for the 4th/5th grade events, which took place in the afternoon.

I spent most of the day in the academic check-in area, helping to ensure everyone was on time to their events, answering questions, looking for missing fourth-graders in the Map Reading room, sweating more than should be healthy while neglecting to drink enough water, and enjoying helping about 1500 Ann Arbor-area students from 24 different schools. It was a great day for all, and I am proud of the students from all the schools who worked hard, studied, and showed up ready to compete. It is comforting to know that these kids will be running the country someday. I hope they hurry.

Coach Monty (left), M, and Coach Jim

Soccer Headlines
On Sunday, M had his final soccer game of the year. It is also his final soccer game with the team he has been playing with for the last three years. His coaches for the last two years, Monty and Jim, have done a wonderful job teaching the players about working hard, being mentally tough, using your head as well as your body, as well as the rules and strategies for playing soccer. M is very lucky to have had these coaches as leaders and role models. We've met some coaches from other schools for whom we probably wouldn't want M playing.

K's last soccer game was last weekend (they had a game on Saturday, but K couldn't attend). His team won all but one game this season, and has shown a tremendous improvement. K has played well at defense and offense, and he is also fortunate to be coached by a parent who is, first and foremost, concerned with sportsmanship, athleticism, and fair play. K has learned a lot from his coach, and has grown as a player over the last year.

After M's final soccer game, K went to his piano teacher's awards party (M spent the time winding down from his soccer game and farewell party) and then we all went to our favorite picnic of the year, Food Gatherers' Grillin'. We had a peaceful dinner, walked around a little bit, did some shopping at the silent auction, and had some Zingerman's gelato and brownies for dessert.

It was a relaxing end to a hectic weekend.

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Ice Cream Social

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M takes a shower the hard way as some of his fifth-grade classmates look on. What? No shampoo?

K had already hit the target with a ball and drenched M fair and square, but he figured, why not smack the target too?


The Lawton Ice Cream Social was Friday, June 3, and it was a great night for it. D stopped by early to help set up the inflatables (a moon walk for little kids, a sort-of "rock wall" for older kids, and an obstacle course.) J was there from start to finish in her capacity as co-treasurer.

M, being a fifth grader, had his opportunity to get water dumped on him by spiteful underclassmen (including his brother) and fellow outgoing "seniors". Each year, there is a carnival game where contestants throw balls at a target, hoping to dowse the hapless fifth grader occupying the adjacent Throne of Honor.

There used to be a real dunk tank, but we haven't had one of them in a while. It's too much trouble to set up and fill with water. Most students miss the target with their four throws, but when that happens, they usually walk up and push it anyway. It's not fair, but life isn't fair, is it? It's good practice for middle school, high school, and working in the software industry.

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Jim Gaffigan says:

At home my wife’s always like “Did you rinse out that soda can?”

“I haven’t showered today. Maybe I should clean myself before I start washing the garbage.”

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If the Ice Cream Social had been held today they would have had to change the name to Ice Cream Melting. The next few days will be hot, so everyone stay inside and relax a little. Or find an ice cream social nearby to cool off. Just get there early before the vanilla turns into a warm puddle.

Have a cool week, and don't forget to wash the garbage!

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