Holiday report

Report from my mother-in-law's place, I'm stuffed! I ate way too much yesterday. I don't think I felt half-way normal until 7:00 a.m. this morning. So what am I about to do? Yup, help myself to a large breakfast of eggs, bacon, and anything else that gets served.

Later today glaciermom and I are going to do a bit of Christmas shopping, which leads me perfectly to the new poll question. O.k, the poll question is not very original, but when do you like to do your Christmas shopping. Personally, I like to have most of it done before Thanksgiving.

Well, it's time to eat, again.

It's Windy

Yesterday we had lots of wind blow through the area. In our area, winds were 60 to 80 mph, with gusts close to 90. I guess in Red Lodge (about 100 miles away), they had gusts closer to 110 mph. The wind was strong enough to knock out power for a few hours, among some other things.

All that wind reminded me of where I grew up. It was so windy in fact, that I remember having more "Wind Days" than "Snow Days". (I guess you really shouldn't have school if the wind gusts are above 130 mph, and sustained winds are about 100 mph. I can just imagine all those elementary kids blowing away.)

To be honest, most of the time I find a good breeze of about 20 to 30 mph refreshing. Granted, daily breezes of 20 to 30 mph get tiresome, or breezes out of the north.

Well, the wind died down today, which is good.

Last Poll, Latest Poll, Lack of Posting, Glacierbaby update

Well, obviously I have done little posting the last couple of weeks. Seems like real life has once again struck its ugly head. To sum up the last few weeks:

1. Junior High Volleyball ended, which meant rounding up uniforms and trying to get paid.
2. Teacher Convention - I was out of town
3. Grading and more grading. Due to volleyball, I fell behind on the grading and had to catch up.
4. It's the end of the quarter tomorrow, and grades are due on the 30th. So, more grading, getting last minute tests in, etc.

Hopefully, I will be able to be able to post a bit more often now.

Glacierbaby is having a birthday party on November 3rd. If your in the area, you are welcome to drop by. Apparently, Glacierbaby is requesting a 50 inch HDTV, Nintendo Wii, some blocks, a toy vacuum or two, and towels.

Well, the results for the last poll are in, and drum roll ... Its a tie. Apparently for the readers of this blog, Darwin, Mendel, M. Curie, Einstein, and Other are equally popular.

For the new poll, it's a simple question. What is your favorite greenhouse gas?

2 Polls at the same time

So the new poll is up. Yup, its a list of scientists. Pick your favorite (or which you think is most important.) I apologize for not having as many female scientists, but sadly most are not as well known as men. Also an apology to all social scientists out there.

I was going to do a poll on volleyball, but I didn't think many people would know the differences between a 4-2, 5-1, or 6-2. (The numbers deal with the number of hitters and setters.) Personally, I find 6-2's extremely exciting. If you have a favorite volleyball line up, let me know.

Old Poll - Global Warming

O.k., so there is only 1 hour left or so in the voting, and unless there is a deluge of voting in that hour, I'm pretty confident in saying that everyone thinks we are making global warming worse.

I really don't think that is unreasonable considering 3 people for for human influence of global warming and no one else voted for the other options. (Can't you feel the sarcasm!)

tRNA!

OMG! I'm presently teaching about protein synthesis and thought, wouldn't it be funny if I found that film that was shown to us in Energetics/Genetics at OAM. And what do you know, Youtube had it. Of course, this was done in 1971, so it is a little dated, but man is it funny.

This version (10 minutes), which appears to be the better quality version, is missing the introduction. For the video with the introduction (13 minutes) check out this version.

Enjoy!

New Poll - Global Warming

New Poll. All about global warming. So, what do you think?

New Poll - Who?

It's Wednesday, so that means, its a new poll. The new poll is simply titled "Who?". I'm just asking readers to pick their favorite. It's that simple. For me, I'm picking the 9th Doctor.

New Poll - It's time to read!

Reading is such an important part of life (and school).

So, how do you like to practice your reading skills? Vote Now!

EDIT: Stupid blogger won't let me fix my typo. Just to let everyone know, it is "Science Fiction/Fantasy" not "Science Finction/Fantasy". Dumb blogger.

Poll Results - Fav Science Subject

So the results are in. Chemistry came out on top. Yup 4 whole votes. Second place is a tie between Earth Science and Advanced Biology. 4th place is a tie between Life Science, Environmental Science, and whatever I'm teaching. And nobody picked Physical Science or Biology.

My question is, out of 11 selections, why does blogger say Chemistry has 50% of the vote. (Actually I know why, but don't you think you would determine the percentage by taking the vote total by the total number of selections made.)

New Tech

O.k., so I'm extremely excited today! They are finally installing my new smart board. Yup, I may have it up and running by the end of the day.

For those of you that don't know what a smart board is, it is basically a white board (Chalk board for you old school types) that is connected through the computer. You write on it, and can save it to the computer plus do a whole host of other things.!!!!

Yippee!!!!

New Poll/Blogging once again

Well, school started for me on August 20th, and I feel like I'm finally back into a routine. So hopefully I'll be posting more frequently.

To kick off the new school year, I've decided to see which sciences people enjoy. Listed to the right are the classes I'm teaching this year, in order by grade level. (Sorry, no Physics this year. If that's your fav, pick something else.) Pick as many as you like.

New Poll: What do you like to eat on the 4th of July?

Your choices are:

• Hot Dogs/Brats
• Hamburgers
• Steaks
• Deer/Elk/Bison/Other
• What's on my grill

So what do you like?

Remember, vote on the sidebar, and comment to explain your vote if you feel it's necessary.

Poll Results: Favorite Star Wars Villain

The results are in, and the winner is ...

Darth Vadar. Tied for Second Place: Boba Fett, Darth Maul, and Jabba the Hutt

You can't fit that in a Prius, T-shirts

We love our mini-van. Yup, it dawned on us yesterday, that without our mini-van, we would have had to pay extra to have our new dishwasher delivered. It just so happens that we live outside the main delivery area for most businesses. Without the mini-van, we wouldn't have been able to transport the dishwasher without either 1) paying for delivery, or 2) finding someone with a truck or large enough van.

To top it all off, we are taking another extended road trip in a few days. Yeah!!!! 8+ hours in the vehicle with little glacierbaby and the dog. Boy, what fun glaciermom and I are going to have. Hopefully it will go well, but without that extra space, the dog would have to be strapped to the top of the car. (Glaciermom has vetoed strapping herself or glacierbaby, so the dog would be our next choice, plus he can't speak, so he can't vote.)

Yup, we are visiting my parents for about 2 weeks, then going to visit glaciermom's mom (and attend a wedding). So we will be gone for about 3 weeks. When we get back, we get to move.

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In other news, did anyone hear about A-Rod's wife. I can't believe that security didn't ask her to change clothing, or cover up, or escort her out of the game. You know that if that were Joe/Jane Doe wearing that profanity laced shirt, they would have been escorted out of the stadium faster than you can say "F@!$".

I don't know what is worse, the fact that A-Rod's wife brought their 2 year old daughter AND was seen wearing that T-shirt, the fact other children in the area were exposed to that profanity, OR her excuse. Can you believe that her excuse was that she didn't know that she was wearing that particular T-shirt. Now I know 2 year olds might not know what clothing they are wearing, but she's an adult. How many times do you go out in public not knowing what you are wearing?

Poll Time: Favorite Star Wars Villain

O.k., so you may have noticed that I have changed the layout, yet again. New layout, updated links, and a poll on the side bar.

So this week's poll: Who is your favorite Star Wars Villain?

Your Choices are:

• Darth Vadar
• Emperor Palpatine
• Darth Maul
• Boba Fett
• Jabba the Hutt
• George Lucas
• Darth Glacierman
• Other

Vote on the side bar, post your comments here if you feel like explaining your reasoning. Don't like my choices in the poll, write-in canidates may be considered. Vote as many times as the computer lets you. I will be posting results when I post the next poll.

Trip Details

Well, as I stated in the previous post, we made it back from our 2 week trip 1 week ago. Finally it seems like things are back to normal.

Glaciermom and glacierbaby loved meeting everyone at reunion. Glaciermom now has faces to go along with all those names I keep spitting out. Glacierbaby though still seems to be taken with J.Po. (J.Po, if you feel like babysitting, and are in MT, call us.)

Probably our worst experience about reunion, was in fact that darn heat and humidity. At least here in MT it is a dry heat.

I must admit though, I'm getting old. I seem to be keeping glacierbaby's hours better than others that are my age. Getting up early (for me) and going to bed by 9 pm. What's next, bifocals?

We did spend a few days in grrrbear's high school home town. It was quite fun, although the weather didn't cooperate. (No going to the lake, bummer! Darn whitecaps on the lake.)

North Dakota hasn't changed. It's still boring. At least glacierbaby slept through the boring parts.

Back Home, Finally

So, some of you may have been wondering "Why hasn't glacierdad posted anything recently?" Well, first there was the end of school (May to Memorial Day). Then there was cleaning the classroom (Memorial Day to Vacation). Last there was Vacation (OAM reunion, visiting glaciermom's family to yesterday).

Yes, we got back late last night from about 2 weeks of vacation. I promise I will blog about reunion, but first there are certain things that must get done, (Bills, laundry, rest, etc.)

It's a MAN-Van

Well, glaciermom and I finally went out and did it. Yup, we finally upgraded one of our vehicles.

Considering that we live 5+ hours away from any family, and the only way to get there is by car, we opted for a minivan. We just love our new van, and hopefully it will be a good vehicle for glacierbaby, Santana, and any other family or gear we are packing.

It was an interesting experience. In fact, the van we wanted, happened to be sold out from under the salesman we were working with. I can say for certainty that he was none-too-happy about this. We did find another we happy with though.

Although this process did remind me why nobody likes buying cars. All the stupid antics. The negotiating*, saying NO a bizzlion times to stupid extras, all the waiting, and how everyone thanked us afterward.

Anyway we now have our "Silverish" colored van. Maybe glaciermom will let me eat waffles in it.


*Our sale actually followed a typical script, including the sales manager in a private office "Screaming" about how we were trying to rip them off. Glaciermom and I nearly laughed our heads off it was soooooo funny. Who falls for that anyway.

"Cool" Glacierbaby

Here's a picture of Master "Cool" Glacierbaby right after a mid-afternoon walk!

Its On!

Yup, Major League Baseball is back, and boy am I excited. True enough to form, I think my team will go all the way. (Yup, I predict that they will finish all 162 games this year!)

Sure, I'm still not going to get to watch the games like I did last year (darn MLB and direct tv). Hopefully they'll have a deal in place by tonight.

In other news, Glaciermom and I have been playing our own simulated baseball league. Last season we were both in the running for division titles and/or the wild card. This current season, which we finished up yesterday, glaciermom didn't finish as well as she did last season, but I managed to win my division. Granted it was a pretty weak division, and I only managed 86 wins. But I won my division (1st time glaciermom or I has one the division in 5 seasons). I guess my strategy of carrying 14 pitchers and 11 position players finally paid off.

So, who do you got? Ohio State or Florida? Around here we are rooting for Ohio State. If Ohio State wins glaciermom wins our office pool!!!!! If Florida wins, it goes to tie breakers to see if glaciermom wins. If Florida wins, lets hope the point total is less than 134!

Meez too

Well, here I am! Those kiddo's in the hall better behave, or I'll whack them with my deadly keys! (Insert evil laughter here!)

Spring Science Showdown, Brackets

Well, you may or may not know that the big NCAA tournament has started and my bracket already looks like crap. (Yup, I picked Texas Tech to make the Sweet Sixteen and Davidson to beat Maryland.) Well, hopefully I can gather enough cumulative points to win our office pool.

On the lighter side, some science people apparently have too much free time on their hands and have come up with a Science Tournament. Looks exactly like an NCAA bracket, however it there are science related concepts competing against one another. Personally, I have respiration going all the way, losing to Newton's Second Law of Motion in the championship.

I've upped the ante in my classroom, having high school students fill out the bracket as well. It looks like the overwhelming favorite to win it all with them is Dark Matter. (Although a healthy percentage also picked HIV and Jesus to be champions.)

22/7 and AL

Happy Pi Day everyone!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Al (Einstein)!

I did it!

Well, I've gone and done it. Yup, I've registered for Reunion weekend this summer at OAM.

In other news, glacierbaby is up to 15 pounds, and over 2 feet tall!!!

Greedy MLB

I don't know if you've heard, but MLB is in the final stages of having DirecTV be the exclusive carrier of MLB Extra Innings. MLB Extra Innings is a PPV baseball package that allows you to watch what ever team you like (not just those in your viewing area). For my wife and I, this will really suck. First off, we love watching baseball in the summer. In fact, the last two years, we have probably watched 75% of all Twins games. Secondly, we don't have DirecTV, nor do I planning on changing to DirecTV.

In case you weren't aware, 75% of cable and satellite households currently have access to MLB Extra Innings. If the contract goes to DirecTV, only a fraction will have access (Less than 10% I think. I will have to find out.)

What I find frustrating is that MLB is screwing over millions of fans just like me. Sure they claim that I can still watch my MLB. I just have to sign up to watch it on my computer. Huh? Can MLB tell me that watching the game on my computer is the same as watching in on my Big Screen TV. Secondly, in order to watch it on the computer and have an even remotely viewable image you need broadband access (and a good computer). We don't have broadband, and our current home machine was purchased in 1997. (Yes, it is an antique, but it serves our needs well.)

So, thank you MLB for screwing over millions of fans, just for a few more bucks. (DirecTV is offering 100 million a year for seven years, while the current carrier of MLB Extra Innings (In Demand) only offered 70 million.) The difference in money is only about 1 million dollars per team. I would gladly give up the contract of Sidney Ponson if it meant I could watch the Twins.

Will I still get my MLB. Yes, I will find a way. I will probably have to listen to it on the radio. Does XM still carry all MLB games?

Ice & Fire Update, Glacierbaby update

The author himself, GRRM has posted an update about HBO acquiring the rights to his "Song of Ice and Fire" series.

I for one am very excited.

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Glacierbaby has decided that rolling from his tummy to his back is very fun. (At least fun the first few times, after 3 or 4, it is just a chore. Now his big challenge these days is to see if he can get both fists into his mouth. So far, he has been unsuccessful.

Seven help us, Winter is Coming ... to HBO; Exciting News

I can't believe it. I never thought it would happen, but HBO has acquired the rights to George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire". Of course, acquiring the rights and actually making the darn show are two separate feats. I mean, how long have we been waiting for Ender's Game: The Movie.

For me, I'm quite excited to see one of the best fantasy series brought to life. Here's hoping it doesn't suck. (And yes, I am quite aware that it will not be 100% faithful to the written material.) Being on HBO is important due to the graphic nature of the material in the books. Although I've wanted to watch ROME, I've never wanted to pony up the cash for the Channels. Now it looks like I may have to. Darn you HBO!

Anyway, I haven't been this excited about a book becoming film in a long time. (And yes, this makes me way more excited than finding out LOTR was going to be a movie.)
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On to more important and exciting news. Yesterday, glacierbaby rolled over for the first time. Yup, he went from tummy to back. Apparently he did this 4 times. I personally did not see it, however glaciermom assures me that he did do it. Also, glaciermom took him back to be reweighed (last week at the doctor's office he weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz.) Both glaciermom and I thought that seemed low, so while in town today, glaciermom had glacierbaby weighed. Our hunch was right. Today he weighed in at 12 lbs 1 oz. (or was it 12 lbs 4 oz.). Either he gained 4 pounds in one week, or he wasn't weighed properly at the last doctor's visit.
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On a final note, I've finally gotten in the process of putting labels on older posts. It seems as if glacierbaby is the number 1 label to date (16 times), weather number 2 (10 posts), and school and baseball tied for 3rd (7 each). However, I'm only a 1/3 of the way through or so. Of course those numbers will change as I finish putting labels on posts.

Chilly, Shots, Ilium

Well, when I woke up this morning to take the dog outside, the thermometer read -18.9 degrees. Of course with a 5 to 10 mph breeze, it really felt like -30 degrees. Yikes is that cold. Surprisingly, the car started with little effort. Just a few more days of this and hopefully we will be in the double digit temps again (but on the positive side of the number line.)

Other news, Glacierbaby had his first set of shots on Wednesday. After the shots he was a bit fussy and his legs were a bit sore. But by mid-afternoon yesterday, he was the same old Glacierbaby.

Well, I finally finished Robin Hobb's Assassin's Quest. It was very good. In fact if you like fantasy and haven't read her books, I would highly recommend them. Now I've started Dan Simmon's* Ilium. I read his Hyperion Cantos (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion) in college. Those 4 books are probably some of the best Sci-Fi written (in particular the first two). The structure of Hyperion is much like that of the Canterbury Tales (but in the far future, with a machine that kills people, yet they worship it, etc.). In fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons changes narrative format, settling on more traditional story telling techniques. However in Fall, he borrows heavily from John Keats' poetry.

Ilium is one of his latest works. It quite interesting at the moment. Presently there are old style humans living on earth and all have lost the ability to read and invent. On mars the Trojan War has been recreated by the "Olympian Gods". They have also brought back to life Scholars from the 21st century to monitor the war and compare the "actual" events to Homer's account of the war. Third there are group of sentient bio-mechanical machines living in the Jovian moons that have been sent to monitor the events on Mars and Earth. These bio-mechanical machines love to analyze Shakespeare (mainly his sonnets) and Proust. I'm only 100 pages in or so, but having a great time with the book. The sad part is that Ilium is the 1st book of 2. The second, Olympus concludes the story.

*On a side note, Dan Simmons seems to have some pretty extreme views on Islam. Although I don't agree with his view, I do enjoy his writing. His stories are some of the most thought provoking stories I've ever read.

More of Glacierbaby at X-mas

Glacierbaby's response to finding toys hidden in the present full of clothes.










Glacierbaby's "See I'm a good little boy!" pose. Of course taken after all his present have been opened.

Glacierbaby's X-mas

Look at all of Glacierbaby's loot!!!!














I think he was very excited to open all his presents.














Glacierbaby's response to opening yet another present filled with clothes.
Look at that excitement now!