Homework

A milestone for me happened earlier this week. I got my first batch of homework. (Yes, there is homework in Kindergarten these days.) There are actually a bunch of things I have to do by the end of the week. They include learning the pledge of allegiance, learning a poem about Sammy the snake, tracing the letter s in various places, and some sort of social studies. I've nailed the snake poem already, and I'm pretty confident about tracing the S's. I don't know about the other things though. The Bell school is pretty tough.

Ice Cream Social

It was a busy weekend this weekend. On Sunday, the whole three family went off to play miniature golf in Livermore. It was really fun. I putted pretty well and really enjoyed playing. Daddy putted extremely well and ended up finishing 1 under for the course. After that, we went home and watched football for a little bit before going off to the ice cream social/gong show at my school. I liked the ice cream part quite a bit, but the gong show part, where the Daddies were supposed to showcase their talent, was a bit boring. Overall, it was a really fun day.

Daddy took some pictures with his new camera at both events. One of the things he's most excited about with this camera is his 50mm prime lens. He especially likes the "bokeh" from this lens. Apparently, if you set it in a particular way, you van get a laser sharp image of the subject while softly blurring everything in the background. The ice cream social shots (those where I don't have a golf club) are good examples of this effect. You can view them here.

World Series of Poker

As you know, poker is one of my favorite games. This is especially true this time of year when ESPN is running episodes of the main event of the World Series of Poker. I really like watching all the players decide what to do and have my own views about which hands I'd like to hold.

Anyway, I've been pressing Daddy for quite a while to increase the number of cards we use in playing poker. Initially, we played one card poker, which was quite fun. (And, on one memorable evening, I managed to wipe out Nainnie in a one card poker tournament through a combination of pretty good bluffing and an Ace at the right moment.) We advanced to two card poker and eventually three card.

I felt ready for the real deal---major league poker---Texas Hold 'Em. In this game, each player is dealt two cards face down (the hole cards). Next, three cards (the flop) are turned face up in the middle. These are shared by both players. Next a fourth card is turned face up (the turn), and finally a fifth card (the river). Best five card hand wins. Now, the trickey part for me is remembering all the possible hands. There are a lot of them: quads, full house, flush, straight, trips, two pairs, a pair, and a high card. Daddy thoughtfully laid out all the possibilities in order for me to consult. I'm getting pretty good at figuring things out though. I managed to win with a full house recently. I've also had a couple of straights, and a flush or two. The best is when I have a pair of aces in the hole. This hand has a special name, pocket rockets, since the letter "A" is shaped sort of like a rocket ship. I've never lost with these.

Usually, I'll have a couple of helpers like Thomas trains or stuffed animals to help me decide what to do. The only bad thing about poker is that I'm sad when things don't work out on a hand with a big pot. I really want to win these. Still, I love playing poker.

Christopher

Last night, I went over to visit with my new school friend Christopher while Mommy and Daddy went to the opera. Initially, I was quite worried about this visit since the original plan called for me to go to sleep at Christopher's house until Mommy and Daddy came to pick me up after the opera. Fortunately, Christopher's Mommy was kind enough to agree to take me back to my home for bedtime (the only live a couple of blocks away). While this was a good thing, Christopher and I came up with an even better plan--we decided that it would be great if he could come over to visit my house since he hadn't seen it. So off we all went to my house. It was really exciting showing him all the many toys. I also pointed out some of my sports stuff since Christopher is a really big sports fan. (He got TWO football helmets for his birthday and we decked out in Alex Smith garb last night). It turned out to be a great night.

Are you ready for some football?

Football season has just started and that means it's time for me to put on the pads and get out there as well. Daddy and I have been playing a number of football related games. One of my favorites is "sack the quarterback". In this game, we set up two pillows (one for each QB) and then take turns acting as offensive lineman and pass rusher. The pass rusher has to get past the blocker to tackle the opposing QB. The offensive lineman's job is to block. While there is plenty of contact in this game, there's no tackling, which is a plus.

The next game is "pass routes". Here, one player is the QB and the other is the wide receiver. The receiver runs the route called by the QB and tries to catch the pass. I've learned a number of pass routes already. I know square in, square out, slant, and fly patterns. I especially like the fly since it allows me to run down the field at top speed to catch the pass. My catching skills are much improved too. We've been doing some pass catching drills. Daddy tosses the football to me until I catch five in a row. If I drop a pass, we have to start over. This really forces me to concentrate on catching passes. I've become quite good at catching five in a row though.

Of course, I also love to watch football on TV--especially when the Steelers or the Packers are on. Happily, both teams are undefeated so far this season.

Late Already

Well, it only took me two days of school to be late. Everyone got up at the usual time on Tuesday (around 7am) and things seemed to be proceeding well, but I was in no particular hurry to do anything. I put on my clothes at a leisurely pace (no clothing races for me today), I lingered over breakfast and got distracted by all the interesting comings and goings around me. In the end, I got to school 3 minutes late. While I come home with a positive attitude, the thought of starting each new day at my new school makes me very nervous and I'd rather put it off as long as I can.

Daddy said I had

A bad case of the slows

(An aside from Daddy: The quote "a bad case of the slows" is actually due to Abraham Lincoln who used it to describe General George H. Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga.)

(A double aside: I understand that Gen. Thomas was my great grandfather's favorite general in the Civil War, at least according to Daddy.)

First Day of Kindergarten

Monday was my first day of kindergarten. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing and didn't sleep well the night before. I asked what would happen if I fell asleep during class. Since the first day only lasted a little more than an hour, Daddy and Mommy didn't think this was very likely to happen. The first day of school was pretty fun and, best of all, I got a bunch of gifts for surviving the first day. One of the absolute best gifts was a Chick Hicks from the movie Cars (my favorite movie and, in my opinion, the best movie of all time). Chick is the mean car who crashes into the other race cars on purpose while trying to win the Piston Cup. Apparently, Disney/Pixar underestimated the demand for this bad guy car, so Chick has been a hard item to find. I am very happy to finally own Chick so that I can punish him again and again for the bad things he did to The King and Lightning in the movie.

Airplane Contest

One of the big highlights of the Smithsonian Air & Space museum is the paper airplane flying contest. It was this contest that inspired my many flights of airplanes with Daddy, Mommy and Felix. (In fact, while we were in DC, we had another flying contest from Felix balcony on the 4th floor of a building, Mommy set a new distance record by flying more than a block in the air.)

Anyway, in the Smithsonian contest, you have to fly your airplane through a small hoop. The person who does this the most times without missing wins the price (which is a plastic helicopter thing). I've competed in this even a ton of times without ever winning. Well, that all changed the Sunday before we left to go back to CA. It was early in the morning when Daddy and I arrived at the air & space. Nobody was at the contest area, so I though I would win by default. Eventually, a mommy with two Japanese children (a 3 year old girl and a 5-6 year old boy) arrived. The battle was on. I knew all the patter from the leader of the contest. In fact, she said I might as well get up and explain everything to the others. First trial through the ring---I made it. so did the boy. The girly had no clue how to hold a plane or in what direction to throw so she was eliminated. Second trial--I made it again---this tied my personal best record of two in a row. So did the Japanese boy. Third trial---I made it again---a new personal best. The Japanese boy missed! I won the prize.

Round Rainbow

While I don't like any kind of art with recognizable people in it, I do like more abstract things. One of my favorite pieces while visiting DC was Olafur Eliasson's Round Rainbow at the Hirschhorn. The installation consists of a clear torus that slowly rotates while a spotlight projects onto it. The torus reflects the light in various ways to produce a pattern of rainbows as well as cardioids and other shapes. I found this absolutely fascinating.

Let's go Phillies

I thought I would write to you about some of the highlights of our recent trip to DC. The first is about (what else) baseball. Daddy, Felix, and I attended a game where the Phillies took on the Washington Nationals. Part of the fun was getting there, we took a metro train and there were a zillion stops between our hotel and RFK Stadium. We went in and sat in the second tier of seats (sheltered by the vast overhang of the upper deck). It's a huge stadium---much larger than Oakland---so there were a fair number of empty seats. At first, I wasn't sure who to root for. Normally, I pick by color but both the Nats and the Phillies wear red and white. I decided to root for whoever took the lead first, which was the Phillies thanks to a 2 run HR from their catcher. At that point, I swung into action. I started a cheer:

Let's go Phillies! (Clap clap clap-clap-clap)
Let's go Phillies! (Clap clap clap-clap-clap)

Happily, other people in the stands took the cheer up and soon lots of people sitting near us were cheering for the Phillies. This made things lots of fun since everyone seemed to be rooting for the Phillies.

The Phils built a 4-0 lead into the 8th inning when Tom Gordon came to the mound. Unfortunately, he gave up two solo HRs and put a bunch of guys on. Things looked despareate for the Phils. In fact, I was so concerned that I asked Daddy and Felix to leave. But we stayed and the Phils escaped the 8th up 4-2. They closed it out in the 9th for the win.

It wasn't as fun as seeing the A's, but it was still a fun ballgame.

Who is the lefty?

Answer: Barry Zito.

Comeback

A very exciting A's game tonight. Danny Haren was pitching against the Tigers. Things were not looking good for Oakland--the A's got down 3-1 to the Tigers in the 6th. Then, we saw a terrific comeback. The A's managed to load the bases and, with timely hitting, scored 4 runs in the last of the 6th to go ahead 5-3. They went on to win 7-3 with Haren picking up the win. Huston Street pitched well in the 7th to hold the lead. I was also happy to see the Marco Scutaro made some key hits to redeem a costly error that let in 2 runs early in the game.

Let's go Oakland!

Baseball Card Game Show

Baseball cards are great. There are a zillion games you can play with them. Here's a new one: You have to pick three baseball cards where one of them is different from the others. For example, you set out Danny Haren, Joe Blanton, and Jason Kendall and then ask the question which one is the catcher. (Answer = Jason Kendall for those unfamiliar with the A's.) The fun is both thinking up interesting questions and answers.

But the fun is also in the sound effects to go with the show. Daddy has located a bunch of "sounders"--effects from old game shows. During the setup time, there's the intro music from the show "To tell the truth". Then, when the contestant is thinking, we play the "thinking music" from Match Game. (Listen to it here.) The best sound effect comes when a contestant guesses incorrectly--the losing horns from The Price is Right. (Listen to them here.) Almost as good are the victory sounds, also from The Price is Right, which you can listen to here.

The sound effects really make the game.

Here's today's question: Which pitcher is left-handed:

A. Barry Zito
B. Danny Haren
C. Huston Street

Tune in tomorrow for the answer.

Labels

There's a new function on my blog--labels. I've tagged a bunch of entries with labels describing what they're about and, to the right of my blog, you'll see a count of the number of posts with each label. If you click on one of these labels, you'll get all the posts devoted to that topic. For instance, if you click on the label "Oakland A's", you'll get all the posts about the A's.

Hat Day and Danny Haren

Yesterday, Daddy and I went to the A's game. We didn't have tickets, so we talked about where might be a good spot to get. I decided that I wanted to be in the 3rd or 4th row. Fortunately, we were able to get tickets in the third row right behind the A's bullpen. These were really fun seats. We were out early enough that the Orioles (the other team) were still taking batting practice while the A's pitchers were stretching and tossing the ball near us. I noticed one guy running and doing stretches and said that he looked just like Danny Haren. Daddy replied,

That's because he IS Danny Haren.

I couldn't believe how close we were to Danny. It was amazing. We also saw Joe Blanton, who was throwing a pretend ball for a while as well as Huston Street. But things got even better after the stretches were over. It turned out that Danny Haren was signing autographs by the dugout. I was able to make my way right to the fence and, since it was hat day, I gave Danny a nice white hat to sign. I also smiled and waved at him and said hello. A couple of other people around knew how much I liked Danny (since I basically announced this fact when we first got to our seats) and shouted to him that I was his biggest fan. I still can't believe that I got to meet Danny Haren.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game was not quite as good. Wile I did have cotton candy and other goodies, the A's did not play well. They were shut out 2-0 and hardly managed any hits at all. I was very disappointed that they didn't manage even one run. As we were leaving the stadium and said, "Goodbye Danny Haren. Goodbye baseball field. Goodbye BAD baseball game." I definitely think they need Frank Thomas back.

Baseball Cards

Last week, I got a package from my cousin Emma. In it was a very nice picture she made as well as a bunch of baseball cards. This weekend, Daddy and I took the baseball cards out for a spin by playing a baseball card game we made up together. In this game, there are nine little people located on a poker table roughly in the positions of normal baseball players. We then lean a baseball card against each little person so that we have real players on the field. The hitter takes a poker chip (a white one so it looks like a ball) and rolls it across the poker table. If the chip hits any of the cards, then it's an out and the person on the card is presumed to have fielded the ball successfully. If not, then, depending on how far the ball goes, it's either a single, double, or home run. After three outs, we switch sides and the game continues like this for nine innings.

Saturday's game consisted of the Oakland A's (my team) against the All-Stars (Daddy's team). The all-stars are players that came from Emma. While the All-Stars managed to win with a late inning comeback, the A's managed several home runs and did a lot of scoring. I also discovered a new A's pitcher who I like--Jay Marshall. He has a great baseball card and, best of all, he's a submariner. I especially like submarine pitchers. This may be the most fun baseball game ever. I love it.

Maui Photos

Maui 2007
Here's a selection of long-delayed photos from our trip to Maui. I can't wait to go back. I love Hawaii. You can see the full versions here.

Diffuse Glow

Daddy picked up a new Photoshop trick--the diffuse glow filter and he wanted to share the results of some experiments with it. See the results here

Ace of Jets

I'm always encouraging Daddy to come up with new card games. Yesterday, while he was cleaning his office, he ran across a deck of British Airways playing cards with pictures on them and devised a really interesting game. Here's how it goes:

On each of the cards is the usual rank and suit, but also a picture of an airplane flown by BA at some point in its history. Instead of using the regular suits, we use the form of the airplane as the suit. There are three types: biplanes, prop-driven monoplanes, and jets. So an 8 with a picture of a jet on it becomes and 8 of jets. Each player gets seven cards. The youngest player leads the first card. The other player then has to play a card that either matches the "suit" or the rank of the card led. Failing this, the other player has to draw cards until he gets a playable card. High rank of the led suit takes the trick. first player to get rid of all of his cards wins.

One odd little feature of this game is that there's one card that has a picture of a helicopter. Since there's only one helicopter, I decided that we needed to remove this card from the deck because it is too powerful.

Danny Haren - My Hero

Some quick news to report, my favorite Oakland A's pitcher, Danny Haren, is the starting pitcher for the American League this All-Star Game. I will be wearing my A's gear, including my road A's cap (since the AL is the away team this year). I'll also have out my Danny Haren bobblehead to help root for the real Danny Haren. Danny is my favorite pitcher to pretend to be during my many play baseball games.

Bye Bye Nainnie

Today is the day that Nainnie flew back to Pennsylvania. I enjoyed her visiting and wondered when she'd be back. I hope it is soon. During this past weekend, we went to Napa where, happily, the fake apples and pears were back at Trefethen winery. Daddy, Nainnie, and I played all sorts of games with these. I also went "fishing" in the fountain located out on the side of the property. In my version of fishing, I get a stick and use it to fish out colorful leaves located in the fountain. I got an especially nice one that I took back home with me. Next, it was off to Domaine Chandon for a ramble. They have a pretty stream there, and I spent some time going back and forth on the "rock bridge". It's not really a bridge, just a set of rocks crossing the stream that, if you're careful, you can use to get across without getting your feet wet. I also discovered that Domaine Chandon has really tasty bread. Daddy and Nainnie got an artisan cheese plate while they were there, and it featured a really nice stick of bread. I like the middle part of the bread (not a big fan of the crust) while Daddy thought the crusts were just fine, so everyone was happy.

On Sunday, we had more gravity races. Daddy lent Nainnie his team of gravity race cars while he fielded a new team, and we had a three way duel. While I didn't win all of the contests, I am proud to report that a car called the "Little Red Roadster" did manage to claim the Gravity Cup in one of the tournaments.

Now Pitching for the Oakland A's --- Joe Blanton

We went to the A's game tonight. It was really fun. The A's were playing the Blue Jays, so I got to see Frank Thomas and his steel bar. Frank didn't really make any great hits (though he did hit one ball deep to center field), but it was nice to see him anyway. The star of the game was Joe Blanton, who pitched the entire game and only gave up one run. He was outstanding.

In my balloon baseball games, Blanton is the go-to guy if Danny Haren (the usual starter) is not pitching well. Often, I'll substitute pitchers if things are not going as they should and Daddy, playing his beloved Boston Red Sox, is winning.

After the game, we saw the fireworks. They open up the outfield and the baselines for people who want to watch the fireworks from th field. Initially, I thought this would be a good idea until I saw all the people coming out onto the field. There were a zillion of them. The fireworks were spectacular. I held my fingers in my ears because I don't like the noise, but the fireworks themselves were very pretty in the night sky. They turn off all the lights in the stadium when they do the fireworks, which is also kind of neat.

It was a great night.

Aidan Slides - Spring 2007

Some of these you've seen before and some are Maui shots that you haven't (and are still unprocessed). Regardless, I thought you might like the cool panning effect of this slideshow. The link is below if needed.



Aidan Spring 2007

More Scotland

Here are some more Scotland photos in fancy slideshow format. Ken Burns would be proud of the panning effect. The direct link is below if needed. The link will send you to a larger version of the same pics.



Scotland

Coffee

Everyone (except me) likes coffee in the morning. I know Daddy especially likes it, so I've taken to surprising him. When I hear him taking a shower, I quickly head over the kitchen, pull up my tall brown chair, and get to work. I pour out any old coffee left in the carafe, rinse it out, and put in new water. I know to fill the water up to the 6. Next, I pour in the new water and put the carafe in the right place. Next (I need a little help with this part), I take out the old grounds, fill the bin with new beans, put it and the lid back on the coffee maker and turn the whole thing on. I then try to surprise Daddy by suggesting that we go make coffee together. He's always delighted to find the coffee already being made once we arrive in the kitchen. I love surprises.

Volcanoes

Yesterday, we went to Stimson beach in Marin. It's been awhile since we've been to a beach (I think Maui was the last time) and I really liked getting back to one. This was a very pretty beach with excellent views on the road going there. The road is quite a twisty one, so I cautioned Daddy not to drive straight or we'd fall off the big mountain. Fortunately, Daddy took the curves perfectly and we made it without incident.

When we got to the beach, one of the best things to do is play in the sand. Daddy and I ended up building something that started as a castle but eventually became a volcano. Then, we played a game called "evil real estate developer." In the game, a developer named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (a huckster from the Dr. Seuss book, The Sneetches) builds a residential development on the side of the volcano. Everyone is happy and serene in their houses. The people are also amazed at the terrific prices they got for the properties. Until one day, a resident named Mr. Smith drives his truck up to the rim of the volcano to inspect it. This is where the trouble starts. Inevitably, when Smith's truck is right at the top "lava" (actually a big buck of sea water I brought from the ocean) pours out of the volcano pushing Smith's truck down the side of the mountain and destroying the properties below.

The game continues with variations. McBean builds a wall to protect the houses, suggesting:

The strength of this wall
There isn't a doubt
Keeps homes safe within
And lava without

Sadly (for the homeowners), McBean's wall fails, Smith's truck rolls down the mountain, and the hillside is once again empty.

McBean tries one more trick---building a dome or bubble around the houses. Once again, homeowners flock for the great views and bargain prices. McBean avers:

This volcano, it's true
Is nothing but trouble
But safe will you be
Inside of your bubble

Well, you can guess how the bubble thing turns out.

Advertisements

Yesterday, we were playing Deal or No Deal, as we often do, when I took a break for dessert and milk. Since it was a break in the game, I decided that, like the real game, we needed to fill the break with commercials.

While I don't watch that much TV, I am attracted to (and have great recall of) commercials. Sometimes I use this knowledge in unexpected ways. For instance, one of my school friends had a bladder infection that caused him to have to use the bathroom frequently. Seeing his difficulty, I helpfully suggested that he might try a product (called Avodart but I didn't remember the name) designed for men with a "going problem" that I had seen on TV. I thought this was very helpful and timely information for my friend.

Anyway, back to Deal or no Deal: During the commercial break, each of the people in the house took turns making up commercials. Daddy seemed to come up with classic commercial lines like "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." (One of my favorites.) Mommy and Nainnie favored musical numbers like the Dr. Pepper theme song and the Oscar Mayer bologna song. I went for products to cure various problems. One of my best was "Key Ah" for when you have pain in your legs. Simply apply "Key Ah" and you legs will be "unpained." Works for feet too!

Scenes from Scotland

Here are some photos of scenes from Scotland (and a couple from Cambridge too). The hill dominating many of the landscapes is where Edinburgh Castle sits--right in the middle of the city. You can find the pictures here.

Scotland - Doors and Windows

Daddy posted up the first batch of Scotland pictures. These are of doors and windows. There's also a bright yellow VW bus that I especially like. You can find them here.

Calistoga 2007

While Grammy was visiting, Mommy and Daddy went on a trip to Calistoga. There, they saw the "Old Faithful" geyser of California. Here are some pictures from their trip.

Let's Go Oakland

Here are some photos from my trip to the A's game with Daddy's students as well as a cool video. Here's a link should you wish to order any of these pictures.

Green Balloon

This week, I'm attending Vacation Bible School at a nearby church. Mommy is also attending as a teacher there. We've already completed a couple of projects together. The first was a shirt with a picture of a hot air balloon on the back of it. I had to color in the balloon on the back of the shirt and then Mommy "heat sealed" it so that it will continue to look nice even after being washed. Naturally, my balloon is colored with my two favorite colors, yellow and green.

We also made a paper machier hot air balloon as well as a project. This was a pretty tricky project. First, you need a regular balloon, blown up. You then cover the regular balloon with crepe paper and a special kind of glue. I covered mine with lots of green and yellow paper strips. You then have to wait for it to dry and then pop the regular balloon, leaving only the now molded paper strips in the balloon shape. Finally, you have to add a dixie cup "gondola" attached with string to the underside to finish the balloon. It looks really nice.

Swimming, splashing

This summer, we became members of the Livona swimming pool association, which gives us access to two pools--a little pool only 2.5 feet in depth, and a big pool. Yesterday, we went over for a swim. As usual, I started in the little pool to get comfortable. Then I did something new and interesting--I started a splash fight with Mommy. Normally, I really don't like my head or hair to get wet (a difficult feat in a pool), but I thought it would be fun to splash around and I didn't really mind getting wet yesterday. Then we moved on to the big pool. I bring a floating rung with me for that pool so that I don't sink to the bottom. Again, we played lots of fun games including one of my favorites where Daddy is the submarine and I'm the torpedo trying to sink the sub. As a torpedo, I've learned how to use my arms and kick my feet to zoom around the pool. I'm getting the hang of the whole swimming notion I think.

Cars, cars, cars

It was a great weekend for cars. On Saturday morning, Daddy and I washed both of the cars and Windexed all the windows of the cars as well. We hadn't washed cars in a long time, so this was really fun. Later that day, we had a bunch of toy car races around the house including through the office, which has treacherous bumps that trip up many of the cars.

On Sunday, it was more cars stuff. I was looking forward to seeing the Nascar race (which was held in Sonoma). While we didn't go in person, we did watch on TV. It was a very exciting race at the end. I was rooting for the Shell car (driven by Kevin Harvick). He got passed by the Texaco car with about 11 laps to go. The announcers indicated that the Texaco car would have to stop for gas sometime in the last lap. Both cars drove and drove and, even in the end, the Texaco car had just enough gas to finish the race. The Shell car finished second, which was still very good.

Following this, Daddy and I had "gravity races" using the Hot Wheels orange track. Daddy organized a kind of tournament with cars competing in single elimination rounds. We each used our "announcer voices" to describe the action---this drove Mommy nuts. In the end, the Little Red Roadster managed to win the championship.

I love cars.

Jason Kendall

Today, I'm going to work with Daddy. And then to the Oakland A's game. I thought I would share with you a neat picture of Jason Kendall so everyone can see.

Robot X - Revenge of the Humanoids

Here's are some new Robot X videos where the dreaded Mommyoid launches an unexpected ball attack. You will notice that I am now sporting a nifty new Robot X hat made entirely of aluminum foil. This allows for even more powerful death rays. Amazingly enough, the videos were taken using Daddy's phone.

Part 1:


Part 2:

Cougar Alert

This weekend was really fun. We did all sorts of things. On Saturday, we enjoyed going to Downtown! We get a sugary pretzel (scrumptious), visited the Apple Store (exciting), and visited the fountain (lucky wishes). I've posted a couple of pictures Daddy took using the camera in the his phone of me riding the cougar sculpture, which is near the pretzel place.

In case you like any of these pictures, they are available on Shutterfly by clicking here.

Happy Mother's Day

Here are some photos from Mother's Day. We went to our usual place, a restaurant called the Blackhawk Grille. There is a pond, fountains, and other stuff in the complex where the restaurant is located. You can view the photos here.

Kindergarten Open House

Yesterday evening, I got to take a sneak peak at my Kindergarten classroom in the "Bell School" (as I refer to the Alamo School owing to the large bell on its sign). It was a pretty neat classroom with lots of interesting things to see and do. There was a large board with numbers from 1 to 100, a calendar with patterns of tulips and stars labeled with the days of the month, lots and lots of dinosaurs, and so many other things. I also got to meet the teachers as well. I was very happy to be visiting and quickly settled into making patterns with wooden blocks in geometric shapes (including my favorite shape---the hexagon).

I also discovered that Grady, a person who is in Garden School, will also be going to the Bell School for Kindergarten. I hope he's in my class! I think it will be fun to go to the Bell School.

Aidan the Athlete

It's the summer of sports for me. In a typical week, I visit my soccer class, tee ball, play golf with Daddy, as well as play the occasional game of balloon baseball. In soccer, I still love to be the goalkeeper. I'm getting quite good at this. Last class, I only let in one goal the entire time--a new record for me. In tee ball, I really whack the ball off the tee. There are two bats in tee ball, a small one and a large one. Most of the kids go for the small one. On the other hand, I try to think of what Frank Thomas would do in this situation. The answer is clear---go for a large bat. I always take the large one and swing as hard as I can. I can hit the ball really hard that way. My golf strategy is a bit more controlled. If I swing as hard as I can, I rarely hit the golf ball, so I swing a little easier there. My putting continues to improve as well. I love sports.

The Game of Business

We've added a bit more texture to the car selling game. Here's how it now works. As the owner of "Aidan's car lot" I have to acquire some "inventory" to sell. This can happen two ways. Sometimes, I negotiate with another car seller for some cars that are already built. Other times, I hire a worker to build the cars for me. In either case, it costs me some money to get the inventory on the lot. Since I have an allowance now, I've got a wallet full of ones, so we use real money in these pretend transactions. Part of the trick is figuring out whether it's cheaper to make the vehicles using the worker or buy them from the other seller.

Next, I try to sell my inventory. I've quickly figured out that it's a good idea to sell my inventory for more than I paid, so that I end up with more ones than when I started. I try to choose cars that I think will especially appeal to my customers so that I can make a good profit on the transaction. My best deal so far was to get my worker to build a "heliplane"---a vehicle that's half helicopter and half airplane. It only cost me a dollar to get one of these built and I was able to sell it to a stegosaurus for six dollars---a tidy profit.

We've also abandoned the not so nice business practice of selling the same car to multiple buyers. Instead, I've become a more honest car seller and make up for the lost profits by doing a greater volume of business by buying lots of cars for the lot.

Baby you can buy my car

It's very interesting to learn about the world of negotiation. One of the ways I get to learn about this is in a little car building game I play with Daddy. In this game, we take my Tomy car building set and build a vehicle. The vehicle is always outrageous with wings, smokestacks, and the like. Sometimes the vehicle is multi-use: it's a car, and a plane, and a helicopter. When it's finished, I put it out at Aidan's car lot and wait for customers to arrive.

The customers, who are often stuffed animals, come to check the car out. They test drive it and decide whether they like it. If they decide they want to buy, we then negotiate. Usually, I make the initial offer, which often consists of more than googol dollars. None of the animals can afford this, so they will typically make a counteroffer, like one dollar. We then negotiate back and forth until we arrive at an acceptable price.

So far so good. But here's where the real profit opportunity comes in. I've found that if the stuffed animal does not immediately drive the car off the lot, there's an opportunity to sell the same car AGAIN to the next stuffed animal to come along. This really boost profits since I've managed to sell the same car twice. What I've discovered, though, is that the animals are none to happy to learn that they've both bought the SAME car and that there's only one car. Often, they ask for a refund.

I learned another thing too. My cars are not always very sturdy. Recently, a box of crayons bought a car (after the usual haggling) and proceeded to drive it off the lot. Shortly thereafter, the car broke into two pieces. The crayons demanded their money back citing a California lemon law. I countered that the crayons had bought a car and not a fruit so the lemon law did not apply. I later learned that when a car goes bad shortly after purchase, it's called a "lemon" and that's what the law referred to. This car business is pretty tough.

This Week in Baseball

Baseball season is in full swing. Last week, I had my first session for the Danville Cubbies, a tee-ball league that I'm now in. I whacked the ball off the tee several times and motored around the bases. I've now figured out that power and speed are crucial to be a successful hitter in tee ball. Daddy and I also played a version of tee ball in the backyard called "home run derby." In this version of the game, every hit is either an out or a home run depending on whether the ball manages to make it sufficiently far down the yard. It was a great contest. I made lots of home runs and the A's (my team) managed to come back to defeat the Sox (Daddy's team) with 3 home runs in the last of the ninth inning.

We're also playing baseball with a pitcher as well. Daddy tosses the ball underhand to me and I hit it and run the bases. I'm getting quite good at making consistent contact with this version of the game. I also like to pitch to Daddy. I toss the ball overhand for him to hit. We recently played this game in the park across from our house. The A's managed another victory, but Daddy, playing the role of Big Papi, hit a mammoth shot into a tree. I told him not to hit the ball so far.

I'm also learning how to catch the ball, but this is a bit of a struggle. I can catch maybe 1 out of every five balls thrown to me. The key, I learned is to cover the ball once it hits the mitt with my throwing hand so the ball doesn't pop out. This seems to help a lot.

I love baseball. It's my favorite sport. (Yes, I love it more than golf too.)

Some Easter Pictures

I had a very happy Easter. I got chocolates and other stuff. I also got to go on an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. I asked Mommy to tell the Easter bunny to make it harder to find the eggs this year, and he definitely did. It took me quite a while to find all the eggs, but I did find them. One of the highlights was that I put a painted egg in the backyard for the bunny to find. He found it and took the egg. In return, I got a Thomas train and a carrot. I guess the bunny wants me to discover how delicious raw carrots are---they're the bunny's favorite food.

We also took some pictures out in the back yard. Daddy got out his tripod, which makes picture taking more fun. You can see the highlights here.

Target Golf

Daddy and I were playing golf in the back yard last night. I came up with a new game that daddy really liked. The way the game works is that you pick out a target which, in this case, was my clubhouse. Each golfer's job is to hit the balls from a designated point to the target. I made a couple of balls into the target. It took Daddy many tries.

Balloon Baseball

I have lots of ideas about what I'd like to do when I grow up, but my latest is that I want to be a baseball player. I'm going to be as good as Frank Thomas and play for the Oakland A's. To practice, Daddy and I play balloon baseball sometimes. Today's matchup was game 7 of the World Series between the A's and the Phillies. The A's were the home team. As usual, ace pitcher Danny Haren was on the mound for the A's while Brett Myers took the hill for the Phils. Haren ran into trouble in the first inning and was relieved by Marco Scutaro (huh?). He did better. It was a seesaw contest marked by a 3 run HR by Milton Bradley. Eventually, Frank Thomas came in to pitch. In my games, he's also a good pitcher as well as a good hitter. Eventually, Eric Chavez won it with a 2 RBI double in the ninth. The other players mobbed Chavez in celebration.

Let's go Oakland!

Birthdays galore

This weekend I had a busy social calendar---two birthdays in two days. The first, for Sophia Luccio, was a garden party. I got to plant a marigold in a pot and put some nasturtium seeds in one of those seed grower thingies that expand when placed in water. I also managed to find an earthworm in her yard. I showed all the guests the worm while we were eating cake. Later, the worm got to visit Sophia's clubhouse inside her house. Apparently, that was a bit much for the worm and for her Mom. Once we found the worm, we put it back outside in the yard.

Gear Dragon

This afternoon, Mommy and I made a very col creature--a dragon made completely of gears. First we built the body of the dragon with various supports and gears. Then, I came up with the idea that the dragon should have fire breath. We built a whole long section with red gears and put a crank on the end to make the fire breath. What a cool dragon.

Robot X Attacks!

Daddy and I continued with our Robot X adventures today. We rebuilt the antennae for the megawatt energy beam on our robot hats. Next, we created some paper "humanoids" to capture/destruction by the invading robots. Finally, we hid the humanoids around the yard and then took off on our rocket in search of them. This was a really fun version of hide and seek. First one of us would hide the humanoids and give the other "robot" clues as to where they are. Then the other "robot" hid the humanoids. In searching for the humanoids, you have to walk like a robot (the picture above is me in mid robot walk) as well as shout out our official robot saying,

DEE-STROY THE HUMANOIDS

The video below gives one of my most scary robot versions of this phrase. I've also posted a short photo album wth pictures from our adventures. You can find it here.

Aidan Morgan: Teaching Assistant

I helped with Daddy's class today. It seems that his class is playing the OPEC game and a coin flip determines whether the game continues. Check out how I determined the results for market A here and market B here in two short videos Daddy and I made.

The Amazing Race Returns

I love the TV show The Amazing Race, as well as the game that Daddy and I invented. Happily, Mommy finally unpacked the game from our Washington, DC boxes and we got it out to play. I had to explain the rules to Mommy since she didn't know them. I then went on to defeat her a whole bunch of times. Hooray for me.

Of course, I realize that this game is more about luck than strategy. I'm starting to get an overall feel for which games require strategy and which only require luck. I like both types of games though.

When Daddy came home from work last night, we played it as well---and my luck held. I won all the games but one. When I would win, I'd do my happy winning spin move where I would spin around on my knees on the floor. Hooray for the Amazing Race.

Robot X Returns

This weekend, Daddy and I devised some adventures for Robot X. We got some new furniture from Bombay Company which came in a big box. I was able to acquire the box and use it as a spaceship for the adventure. Next, Daddy and I needed to turn ourselves into robots from the planet X. We made paper hats and then taped on aluminum foil antennae to the top of the hat. Putting on the hat and then making a machine-like voice made us robots. We then got into the spaceship and headed for Earth with a plan to "Destroy the Humanoids." (Robot X is rather single-minded.)

We were able to eventually locate the humanoid leader (Mommy) thanks to some coaxing of the plastic Diego figure and a threat to smelt him with our energy beam. Unfortunately for us, the leader of the humanoids was equipped with the dreaded kaleidoscope ray so we had to flee once we encountered her.

These were some of the best Robot X adventures ever.

Sandy the Squirrel

Lately, I've been enjoying the hiding games played by Sandy the squirrel. Sandy likes the key to my toy cash register. She hides it in various places around the house and then tells Mommy and Daddy where she's hidden it. I then have to ask for clues to figure out where the key is. Sometimes, I can figure out the clues like "He's a friend to the animals", "Treehouse", etc. (where the key was located in Diego's treehouse.

Other times it's harder like, "The key likes to be clean." "Sandy loves locomotion." Sandy likes to visit an island." and "Seeing the cranes on the island makes Sandy cranky." In this case, the key was hidden in the engine wash of my Thomas train set.

Being a detective is lots of fun.

Another Month, Another Birthday Party

On Sunday,I had a birthday party with my school and play friends. It was at a place called Picture Perfect Party. There was a great play area with a big inflatable slide, lots of dress up clothes, some vehicles, and tons of other stuff to do. While all of us were playing there was a lady from the place who took a bunch of pictures of us, some of them really cute.

Next, there was a box with a bunch of candy in it. Below the box were a whole bunch of ribbons, one of which opened the bottom of the box to let the candy pour out. I got a whole bunch of candy in the scrum under the box.

We also had yummy chocolate cake in the Cars theme, and I got lots of presents. It was a great party. To see the picture highlights, click here.

Christmas Evening 2006

Daddy took a bunch of pictures during Christmas dinner this past Christmas. Since he cannot bring himself to shoot photos with flash indoors in poor light, he used Nainnie's camera. Here are some highlights. Most of them are even better than the picture to the right.

Aidan the Dancer

As you know, I love to dance. We had a "glittery show" last night with a bunch of new songs loaded onto the iPod. As part of my dancing, I occasionally have Daddy take some photos. He doesn't like the way pictures look with flashes, so he rarely uses a flash. While that works out well in the outdoors during the day, it's a bit dcey at night. Anyway, the cover photo to this weblog entry is a low light shot taken in Washington, DC. Daddy thought the line was excellent in this picture. The picture is clickable to see it in big size.

Chicago

Daddy went to Chicago for the national economist meetings this January. As usual, he took a little time off (in this case, one morning) to see the city or, more accurately, to take pictures. Here are some highlights.

2 Days in DC

Just before we left our house in DC, Daddy took a couple of days off to actually see the city. As is Daddy's way, seeing involves taking a zillion photos. Here are some of the highlights. Daddy is especially proud of his orchid shots---in larger formats, the purple orchids with the water drops are outstanding.

Here's the link

Chick Hicks

It was rainy at the worst possible time last week---right after I just got my new green bike. Fortunately, things cleared up by Sunday, so Daddy and I went out for a ride. He rode his scooter while I rode my bike. We went to the now slideless "slide park" to ride around.

An aside: The slide park used to contain a slide and other play equipment. Somehow, this equipment was not "up to code" and so was removed. What is left is a kind of playground rubble---a concrete rectangle full of sand and debris with no stuff in it and a mound of dirt where a wooden climbing thing used to be.

Back to our story. After riding around for a bit, Daddy proposed a race between bike and scooter. Eventually, we morphed into characters from the movie Cars. He was The King while I was Lightning. A little bit later, I observed that, since my bike was green, it made sense for me to be Chick Hicks. Now Chick is not a very likable character in the movie and normally I wouldn't want to be him, but somehow it made sense for me to be him this time. We raced a whole bunch of times. Sometimes The King would get a big lead and then decide to visit his sponsor's tent in the middle of the race. He would only realize his mistake when a blur (me) zipped past on the way to victory. Racing is really fun.

My Bike

I rode my bike in the park accross the street today after school. I had one fall, on a turn coming off a small hill, but I got back on and rode some more. I liked riding in circles and ovals on the basketball court area! I *love* my green bike!

A Boy and his Bike

Today, I got a really cool two-wheel bike. It is a spectacular bright green color with black and silver accents. Even the seat is green! I love it! We had been investigating bicycles, but the ones we had seen before were boring blue or red. Then, today, we lucked into one that had just arrived at the store, and it was the color of my dreams! I am so excited. I couldn't ride it much today since it was dark when we got home, but I rode it a bit in the hall (the only day this will be allowed, I hear). When I got off, I was dancing down the hall practically clicking my heels together in the air. What a great day!

(I'm also including a photo of me on Superbowl Sunday. We had some friends over to watch the game and eat lots of snacks. I would have been more interested were my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers playing, but given my choices, I rooted for the Bears. Unfortunately, the team with the boring blue and white uniforms won. I did get a cool football balloon though, as did my friend, Roxy.)

Mount Vernon

After a long delay, Daddy has posted the best of the pictures we took at Mount Vernon. You can check them out here.

Where's my gun?

Are three words you hope you never hear being said by your local policeman. However, for Dieter and Horst, misplacing their gun is a continuing problem. Both of these figures have tiny little Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistols. They're very small and they sometimes fall out of the holster and then require searching around for. Dieter and Horst also use their guns creatively. For example, on Saturday, they decided to make "gun pancakes" by shooting open the pancake mix, then adding the usual ingredients, and cooking. Neither officer is exactly responsible when it comes to gun use or safety.

Art Work

Lately, I've been really excited about a particular art design I came up with. It consists of a rubber band painted to the center of the canvas with a rainbow running around and through the rubber band. I've made several of these including the one pictured here (a poor shot taken with a camera-phone), which is hanging in Daddy's office. I really like this design, and I intend to make lots and lots of them. My only worry is that my school might run out of rubber bands.

Project Alphabet

Yesterday, I completed one of my most ambitious projects. We have an extremely long puzzle (it runs the length of the room) consisting of an alphabet train. Each letter is a train car containing an animal whose name starts with the letter of the alphabet on the train car. While I've built this with Mommy's help in the past, it's always seemed like too big a job for me. Well, now that I'm 5, no job is too big. I managed to get the whole thing done and then surprised Daddy with it when he came home from work. I'm very proud of myself.

Weekend Update

It was a very busy weekend for Daddy and me. On Saturday, Daddy arranged a playdate with Roxy. She is 7 years old (just turned 7) and lives about a mile down the road. Her Daddy is one of the professors in Daddy's work. I wanted her to come over to the house to show her all the great Christmas presents I got. We played the Cars racetrack game, Balloon Lagoon (a huge hit), and Hullabaloo (another huge hit). We also had a lot of fun running around and playing in the stuffed animals.

It turns out that Roxy can read all sorts of things. She read Stanford University on my Daddy's sweatshirt and several other things. I pointed out that I can't read and then listed the many exceptions to the "rule" from objects lying around the house including the words on, off, go, stop, and so on. Daddy thought it was odd how many words I can read for a person who can't read.

On Sunday, Daddy and I went out to play golf with Miguel (another of Daddy's work friends) and his little boy Vasco. I won the golf match thanks to an unprecedented streak of 6 consecutive holes in one. Daddy finished first among the grown-ups but didn't play especially well.

New Lines on the Island of Sodor

After staying in a configuration that Daddy cooked up (after photographing the arrangement at Barnes & Noble) for more than a year, Mommy and I decided that the track layout for Thomas and his friends needed a new look. She flipped over the surface of the train table to reveal farms and meadows and we went to work on the new arrangement. It took awhile but it's really nice. One of the big highlights is the two story train station. Using the big bridge, we were able to set it up so that passengers can get on and off at the lower station (located on the ground) as well as a higher station located on the bridge.

Fore!

Today was a really fun day. We spent the day getting ready to go golfing. In the morning Daddy and I practiced making shots in the back yard. It was the first time I took out my new set of golf clubs. Daddy got me these when I was only 1 (it was a great sale), but, since they were built for guys aged 5-8, they sat in the garage until I got old enough. Well, having turned 5, I'm now old enough. Anyway, I teed up the ball and whacked it with my 9 iron. (My set includes a 5, 7, and 9 irons as well as a "big dog" [driver] and a putter.)

In the afternoon, we went to Daddy's usual golf course and played 9 holes with his friend Miguel. It was great fun. I got to tee off from the red tees (the blues are a bit further back) and I got to do lots of putting. I'm getting much better at all of these things. I made a number of putts. But best of all was my drive off the 9th hole. I managed to hit the ball almost 20 yards! I then kept whacking at the ball and managed, after several shots, to advance the ball almost 120 yards down the course. I even managed to find a nice pink golf ball on my travels.

I love golf!

Playing the Ponies

As you know, I really like My Little Pony stuff. One of my favorite things to do is to make up stories about the My Little Ponies. Often in these stories, the ponies go to parties or have concerts with lots of fireworks. I like to jump around and pretend to be one of the ponies. Usually, Daddy is not too interested in doing My Little Pony stories, but today he made one up. Here it is:

It was an exciting day in Ponyland for today was the day of the great pony race. All the ponies gathered at Pony Downs and the betting was early and furious. The three challengers were Dipsy Do, Twinkle Twirl, and a Pegasus Pony. The steward had to remind the Pegasus Pony that no flying was allowed. "How about just a little flying?" the Pegasus asked. No flying or you'll be DQ'd said the steward.

The three ponies began trash talking. "You're going to spend the whole race looking at the little heart thing on the back of my hoof" Twinkle Twirl said to Dipsy Do. "Well, you're going to be looking at my pony behind with all the little sparkly stars on it" replied Dipsy Do. The Pegasus kept away from the others and plotted how to sneak in a couple of brief wingflaps during the race.

Finally, it was time for the race to being. The ponies were loaded into the gates, trumpets blared, and they were off.

Daddy then called the race in the style of what he told me was legendary race announcer Dave Johnson. It was an exciting race with many lead changes and lots of jostling on the rail.

"And down the stretch they come!" Daddy cried. Dipsy Do managed to just sneak past Twinkle Twirl while the Pegasus finished a close third. All the ponies with the winning betting tickets crowded to the window.

Pinkie Pie was especially delighted for hitting the Exacta. A $2 ticket paid $30.58. Sweet Sparkle, who dropped a c-note betting on Pegasus to win, tore up her ticket in disgust and uttered an epithet about sending the Pegasus to the dog food factory. Still, the ponies agreed that it was a wonderful day at the track.

The End

Ice Skating

As you know, I first discovered the joys of ice skating in Washington, DC. Well, it turns out there is a seasonal ice rink in Walnut Creek too. Today is the last day it is open. Yesterday, was a suitably wintry day (it was unusually cold here---only about 40 degrees), so the whole three family took a trip to the rink. As first, I was pretty scared and clung tightly to the sides of the rink. After a while though, I got more sure of myself and eventually skated to the center of the rink. By the very end, I wasn't holding Mommy or Daddy's hand at all and kind of skating around a little bit myself.

Meanwhile, I've decided that Daddy is the fastest skater in the three family. He zoomed around the ice when not holding hands with Mommy and I. Mommy is second-fastest, though Daddy and I did manage to catch up to her near the end of the skating session. Mommy is a lot better at skating when she has boots that actually provide ankle support. Her first pair were kind of like sneakers and she couldn't skate on these at all. Ice skating is fun.

Latvia

I'm starting to learn and recognize the names of several of the countries in the Amazing Race game. My favorite so far--Latvia. When we went to the farm, we got a ride from a couple of people in Daddy's work, one of whom was from Latvia. It was pretty neat to visit Latvia in the Amazing Race and see where she's from. My other favorite country is Italy. I've learned that Italy is the home of Luigi and Guido, two of the characters from the Cars movie. Whenever my racer visits Italy, they kit out my racer with a Ferrari (their favorite type of car) so he'll be able to race faster. Another favorite country to visit is Ireland. Among other things, I learned that Ireland is very green with lots of trees and grass. More importantly, Ireland is the home of David Feherty, an announcer in the golf game who I like to imitate.

Birdie, birdie, Birthday

Daddy got a great present for his birthday, the Tiger Woods PGA golf game. When he first got the game, I created a player named Happy Birthday in honor of the fact that the game was a birthday present for him. (I've since created some other characters named Golf Ball, Golf Club, and Sprinkles are Colorful. The two Golf players are cousins and Sprinkles is the cousin of Happy Birthday.)

Anyway, we were playing a match at the Aviara Golf Club (in LA) last night and I played the best computer golf of my life. The first hole was split as we both made par. Then I went on a tear making birdies on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th holes. I jumped around flapping my arms in the happy birdie dance. Daddy has never managed a birdie streak like this. It was also lucrative, my player made about $500 in Tiger Woods money as a result of his stellar play.

A Very Good Hiding Spot

Yesterday, we went to a holiday party thrown by one of the people at Daddy's current work, the IMF. The gentleman who threw the party lives on a big farm in the middle of Virginia. At first, I wasn't too happy since he has two big dogs--Tibetan Mastiffs--that were really scary to me. As you know, I don't like dogs at all. After the dogs went away, we had a chance to explore the farm. We played a couple of racing games and then decided to play hide and seek. The best round of the game was when Daddy and I hid from Mommy. I came up with a great hiding place, just behind a small hill on the farm. We both laid down on our tummies and waited to see if Mommy would find us. After a long search, she spotted Daddy. But she didn't see me until she almost stepped on me. It was a great spot.

I liked lots of other things at the party as well. The gentleman throwing the party had a huge TV set---bigger than I'd ever seen. Happily, he turned on the Jets game and I got others in the room to root for the Jets. I taught them the cheer: J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets!

It was a really fun party. I want to go back to the farm and visit again.

Gamesmanship

This weekend, Daddy and I worked on designing several games. It all started Saturday morning. I wanted to play the Tiger Woods golf computer game, but Mommy was using the computer. This led Daddy and I to try to come up with our own games. First, I thought up a game like Candyland. It had a windy trail and you had to get to a castle at the end. Daddy sketched the trail and then I colored in the squares. It was a pretty good game, but too much like, well, Candyland.

Next, I decided that I wanted a game with arrows that you could travel on. Daddy came up with a game that was sort of a cross between Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. In this game, there is a grid of colored squares. You throw the color dice (which we also made) to see which square to go to next. If you land at the end of an arrow, you slide along it to wherever it takes you. I liked this game a lot although there was one arrow that was a little too "happy" and makes the game too easy to win if you land on it.

Because of the happy arrow and some problems with the color die, Daddy thought up a variant of this game. Daddy thinks this variant is a great game although I like it less than the arrows version. In this game, there is once again a grid that you have to travel to get to the end. On each square of the grid is the name of a card A, 2, 3, etc. However, the names of the face cards and the joker are missing. Players take turns drawing cards and proceed to the next spot on the grid with their card value. However, if you draw a face card or joker, then instead of moving along the gird (up and down) you move sideways. Jack and King are bad. You move 1 square to the right on a Jack and three to the right on a King. Queen and Joker are good. You move one square to the right with queen and two to the right with Joker. First one to the end wins. The reason Daddy likes this game is that it plays relatively quickly and there are dramatic swings of fortune. There are two or more lead changes every time we played.

Now, on to the best game of all---the Amazing Race game. Daddy and I came up with this together. I suggested that I wanted a game where you had to travel around to various places on Earth and get treasure. Daddy had the idea of drawing a map of Europe (freehand) where we colored in all the countries. The only variation from real Europe is that I insisted that we should have Hawaii on the map too. We placed Hawaii in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

We then labeled many of the countries with a card value like red Jack or black 10, etc. At the start of the game, each person draws a card to see which country they start in. They then draw the first "clue" card to figure out where they have to go on the first leg of the race. Players then take turns moving one country or one sea area to get to their destination. Once they arrive their, they draw another clue card to get to the next destination. First one to complete four destinations wins the Amazing Race.

This game is spectacularly fun. I'm learning about all sorts of countries. For instance, did you know there is a country called Turkey. I thought that was kind of funny. I met someone from Turkey at a party last night and put my new knowledge to use. I told here that Turkey was a country near the Black Sea. She was really impressed that I knew that. There is also some trickiness in the game in figuring out the quickest route to get to the next destination. Should I go by land? Or by boat? It's really a fun game. We should play it over Christmas.

Aidan Morgan: General Contractor

On Monday, Mommy and I built a house together. It was quite a considerable undertaking, we had to raise the walls, carefully put on the roof, and seal the whole thing together so it didn't fall apart. We then had to add windows, a door, shingles, and various decorations. Then of course, we had to landscape the yard. It was quite an undertaking. At the end of building process, we had maybe the most beautiful house I'd ever seen.

It now sits on our dining room table.

It's a gingerbread house.

Happy Trails - Frank Thomas

It was a very sad day for me yesterday. I learned that my favorite player on the Oakland A's--Frank Thomas--has left the team to join the Blue Jays. I cried when I found out about this since I love Frank Thomas more than any other player. It will be sad not to see stick guy playing for the A's.

Pictures from the Potomac

Last weekend for Daddy's birthday, we went on a trip to Georgetown. The idea was to visit a really nice park there and then go on a sunset cruise on the Potomac. We managed the park part all right, but we found out that the last cruise only goes one way--from Georgetown to Alexandria, VA (or, as I tended to call it, Alexabama--Alexandria and Alabama confuse me). Anyway, to see some pictures from our trip click here

Robot X - The Movie

Yesterday, Daddy and I revived one of our old games--Robot X attacks the city. Usually, we do this by building the city and Robot X out of Legos and then having Robot X terrorize the city until he either wins or is destroyed by some sort of defense figured out by the citizens. Since we don't have Legos with us in Washington, we made the city and the robot out of paper. We use a lot more paper here than we did in California.

So that you would not miss any of the Robot X excitement, we made this little video of the battle.

Signals and Noise

I love to do experiments. As you know, I started experiments at a very young age--2--when I got to do some sinks versus floats experiments. Since that time, I've done lots of other experiments. Here is the most complex experiment I've done yet. It's called signal versus noise.

To do this experiment, you need poker chips in three different colors. I have red, white, and blue chips. You make two stacks of chips. One stack contains 2 blues, 1 red, and a variable number of white chips. The other contains 2 reds, 1 blue, and the same number of whites. The experimenter then decides which stack to put in the "urn" (my pumpkin basket) and which to hide in a nearby drawer. The other person, then draws chips from the urn, records their color on the data sheet, and then puts them back. After 5 draws, the goal is to guess whether the urn contains 2 reds or 2 blues.

When there are no white chips, it's not that hard to guess correctly. If more reds come up, you should guess red. If more blues come up, you should guess blue. Adding white chips makes things more interesting. The white chips are "noise"--you don't learn anything about the reds and the blues from the whites. After a bunch of trials, Daddy and I learned the following.

The more white chips there are in the urn, the more data you need to make a correct guess. We tried drawing 5, 7, 9, even up to 20 times and making guesses. It gets pretty hard when there are a lot of white chips. The more noise, the harder it is to guess correctly.

Now, for an even more surprising experimental finding. We tried the following comparison. 2 red, 1 blues and 6 whites versus 1 red, 2 blues, and 4 whites. Interestingly, when the number of whites is not the same in the two stacks, you can use the "noise" (the whites) to guess whether there are mostly reds or mostly blues. Amazingly, even without seeing any reds or blues, you can make a good guess. For instance, suppose you draw 7 whites and nothing else. We learned that this is a good indication that the urn contains mostly reds since there are more whites when there are more reds. Daddy says that this is because the whites are "correlated" with the reds.

This is maybe the coolest experiment ever!

A postcript: I've started thinking up and designing more of my own experiments. Yesterday's experiment asked the following question: Do you get more soap bubbles when you add the soap before adding the water or after. To conduct this experiment, I got two identical Dixie cups. In the first cup, I put in one squeeze of liquid soap, filled to the top with water, and observed the number of bubbles. I then filled the second cup to the same level and added one squirt of liquid soap after it was filled. I observed that the second cup had a lot fewer bubbles than the first.

Conclusion: Soap first produces more bubbles than soap added after.

Daddy was very impressed at the quality of this experimental design.

Metro Train Tour

Yesterday, the three family went out on a photo tour of the Metro. I had the idea that it would be neat to take pictures of the various stops for the Metro train as well as taking pictures of the trains, the stations, the turnstiles, the ticket selling machines, and so on. Armed with Daddy's camera, we went off on the tour. Click here to see the tour.

First stop, Dupont Circle. As you know, there's a really huge escalator in Dupont Circle. Amazingly, Nainnie went up and down this escalator a bunch of times when she came to visit us. Pictures 4-6 how the escalator. Picture 6 is a daredevil shot that Daddy took while sitting down on the escalator as we went down it.

Next, we came to the ticket vending machines. There are two types. The red ones only take cash while the blue ones take credit cards. Pictures 7 and 8 show these. I took picture 8 in a Daddy extreme photography pose. I more or less lay on my back in the Metro station (which Mommy thought was yucky) and shot up at the ticket machine.

Metro stations have lots of nifty turnstiles. Picture 9 shows me checking them out.

Next, we rode on the red line and transferred to the blue line at Metro center. Picture 10 shows the transfer point. Then we rode t L'Enfant plaza and switched again to the green line. This took us to Chinatown (picture 11). We roamed around Chinatown, but it was not as exciting as the Metro train. We went back into the Chinatown metro station. Picture 12 shows it. The rainbow thing in the back is a big lit-up Chinese fan piece of artwork.

We rode the red line back to Dupont Circle where we went up a different big escalator (pictures 13 and 14) before arriving at the top (picture 15). We stopped at the Dupont Circle fountain for a lollipop break (pictures 16 and 17) before heading home.

Sad postscript: We got home just in time to watch the Steelers lose a heartbreaker to the Falcons. Daddy and I were waving our "terrible socks" (really just my yellow socks) to try to help the Steelers.

Dali and the Ghost

I don't really like to follow the rules when it comes to making things. When coloring, I like to do it my own way--purple hair, pink clouds, and so on. Same thing when it comes to activity books. Sometimes I try to get the answers right, other times I try to get the answers wrong. A "perfect" score is when I can get them all wrong. Well, in this vein, Mommy and I were making Halloween decorations yesterday. One of the decorations we were making were ghosts. We have foam ghost bodies and sticky eyes, etc for other parts of the ghost. Mommy made ghosts with faces that looked like this:

* *
g

_____

where * = eye, g = nose, and _______ = mouth

My ghost face looked like this:

*
_______
*
g

I like my ghosts to be different.

Texas Hold 'Em

Daddy brought home some poker chips the other day after I spent the previous evening in rapt attention at this year's World Series of Poker. I give a lot of the gys on that show nicknames like handsome guy (the ultimate winner, Jamie Gold), sunglasses guy, fat guy, ugly shirt guy, yellow dog guy (Allen Cunningham, who always wears a yellow shirt with a white dog on it), and so on. One guy, Leif Force, who has very bad hair, was eliminated while I was watching. I was sort of happy about this since I decided I didn't like him.

In addition to the guys, I like to make predictions about which guy has the better hand. I now know that two aces is the best hand to start and that you should fold if you have a deuce-seven off suit.

Anyway, Daddy and I have now been playing full-blown Texas Hold 'Em at home. It's hard for me to remember all the combinations of the cards. And keeping track of the shared card in the center and how they relate to my "hole" cards is tough. But I love playing, and I especially love pushing my chips into the pot. One of my favorite things is going "all-in" and seeing if I win a big pot.

Planes, Trains, and Boats

We had a great day of transportation last Sunday. First, we went on the Metro train to the Mall area between the Washington Monument (which I learned is an obelisk) and the Capitol. While there, Daddy brought a bunch of sheets of paper, and we made some paper airplanes. We tried to figure out whether airplanes fly better when launched into the wind or away from it (into the wind is better) and to figure out which model of plane flies the best. It seemed to me that the origami box plane was the best design---followed by a plane called "The Master". After that, we walked to the tidal basin where we went on the paddle boats. I was a bit nervous about the paddle boats but soon came to appreciate their many advantages. It was a fun day to spend as a family.

Champagne Celebrations

This weekend, I saw the deciding fourth playoff game of the Yankees-Tigers series. Daddy has had several conversations with me instructing me never to root for the Yankees, so naturally, I was cheering hard for the Tigers that afternoon. When the Tigers finally managed to win, I got to witness a truly odd celebration. They taped cellophane all through the locker room and got out a bunch of champagne. While I recognized the champagne (it's the wine with the coolest type of cork), I didn't understand the need for cellophane. When Mommy and Daddy have wine, they don't cover the house in cellophane. Daddy explained that the wine was mostly not for drinking but rather for spraying on one another. Sure enough, the players ran and jumped into the locker room and proceeded with the sprayfest. Some of the players even wne back out to the stands and sprayed the people in the first couple of rows with champagne.

While I liked the idea of the players celebrating like this, I wasn't sure I would want to get squirted were I in the stands. First, I tried to gauge how far he spray might go. It seemed like it went in about four rows and not beyond. So if I were in the fifth row I'd be safe. But what if I had a REALLY good seat in the first couple of rows. Daddy explained that we could always move back in that circumstance before the players started squirting. I then thought that maybe if I wore a hat my hair wouldn't get wet from the champagne. I didn't mind the idea of my clothes getting wet, but definitely not my hair.

At the end, I decided that I'd really like to be in the stands for a champagne celebration. Especially one where the Oakland A's were celebrating.