The Compleat Ralph Hogaboom

sep23

eyes on the prize

My wife pulled a muscle over the weekend, so I was home on sick leave yesterday. I had the best day taking Sophie to Sweet Nothing's & doing her Homelink home school stuff. Steamed milk for her, americano for me, wifi, and we split a hot swiss & ham sandwich.

Her classes are online - Language Arts & Science, both 3rd grade level - and it's pretty fun. The technology isn't great - in fact, frequently has interruptions - but if there's an adult to 1) engage her 2) read the material to her so she doesn't skip through it 3) draw pictures to illustrate the point, she does marvelous. It's really nice to be able to watch her face screw up as she thinks about a quiz question or considers the material. And hearing words like carbon dioxide and chlorophyll spill out of her mouth is fabulous.

I kept thinking about the busy work that would be assigned to her in first grade were she there, and how defeated she was at the end of each day. In kindergarten, she was bringing home messages about herself being fat, a moron, or stupid. It's not about the academic acheivement. It's about being a healthy person, and I'd be much more comfortable sending her to public school in a few years when she's older and (hopefully) more sure-footed of who she is.

Labels: family, life, thatsjustawesome

Posted Tuesday, September 23, 2008

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jul29

the correct terminology
For COMPLETELY COINCIDENTAL REASONS, I stumbled across some clinical knowledge yesterday. Short Penis Syndrome, or SPS, is an affliction north American men have. It is not, however, actually having a small dick. It's the belief that you have or the fear that you have a small dick.

Actually having a small dick is known by the 'cold, clinical term of micropenis.'

I think that's an excellent name for a band, probably instrumental rock, and the cover of their first album is a 70's era shot of a young man with blonde curly hair, leaping victoriously out of a shallow body of water. A rocky mount creek or the shores of Lake Quinault or something like that.

Yeah. Damn.

Labels: life, thatsjustawesome

Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008

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jul03

the family & the eagle
For no particular reason that I can see, Sophie suddenly undertook writing a book last night. She presented it to me, and like any good publisher, I recognize a story that needed to be heard. Scan, copy, & paste 30 minutes later, and here's the book in PDF.