Math Lesson: Less Is More

The case for teaching less math in grade school. This article made me feel much much better about not trying to force Eden to learn stuff by rote. Stubborn little Taurus that she is, I've been flirting with turning her against math! She's brilliant and simply needs to understand why on earth she should learn the stuff.

Pilates - It's just like the flu, without all the virus!

I hurt all over. After a year or more, I finally went back to my pilates studio to start over. I had quite forgotten how grueling 50 minutes can be. Now, 9 hours later, I hurt ALL over. I've hardly gotten anything done today because I'm so freaking sore and tired.
But I'll be back Wednesday morning for round two. I want to get in shape!

33 Seconds

It A Gril

Okay, here's another one from slightlywarped.com. Why bakeries should hire English speaking cake decorators.

The Nautilus House

Okay, check this place out. I wouldn't want to live there, but I sure would love to stay a night or two!

Old Man Winter

This morning the sun went behind a cloud and Krista said "Damn, I want it to be sunny and warm today, I'm tired of this cold weather!" I'm in complete agreement with that sentiment, however a few minutes later I came across this collection of COLD WINTER photographs and decided to stop whining. Check it out here, only beware the "next" button at the bottom of the page...that website can be addictive!

The Incredible Artists Soap Box Derby of 1975

Happy Anniversary

Elephant Ride, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Five years ago today our family arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was an exotic beginning of a wonderful three month adventure. Krista's mom, Joyce, was with us all through Thailand and then for a week in Bali. Some years ago I documented our travels in a little blog Thailand Sojourn with photos, travelogue and video clips. I guess I had a lot of time on my hands.
That trip is very important to me. It holds a vast space of rich memory and makes me feel like a more interesting person. That old saying "Wherever you go, there you are" just isn't true.

Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages

From the National Geographic website: "With a few thousand dollars and some volunteer labor, a village can set up fog-collecting nets that gather hundreds of gallons of water a day—without a single drop of rain falling."
Here's a link!

Hypochondria

I've been "under the weather". I won't go into details, but my lower GI tract seemed to just shut down. Except for the part that sends pain signals to my brain. I've never had anything like this before. Ever. And so my poor deluded mind goes straight to "I've got cancer!" and "It must be a tumor". Actually, my mind was kind enough to wait until the middle of the night.
This isn't unusual for me, to entertain such drastic thoughts. Pretty much every headache is a brain tumor for my overworked imagination. I've long ago stopped taking it seriously. But this was new and made me especially vulnerable.
I'm glad to say I'm almost recovered. I've hardly eaten anything in the last four days. A little yogurt with banana. Some green smoothie that Krista made. And I just heard from my friend Nancy that she's had the same thing, more or less, and it seems to be going around. So I guess I can relax about the tumor and all.

Except that I keep thinking about how totally screwed we'd have been, financially, if I really had had something serious. We do have insurance. But it's essentially 'catastrophic' and we'd end up shelling out a lot of money if something bad really happened.
We've had this policy for at least six years now, and we've never used it. Not once. We've never claimed a penny's worth of service from the bastards. And yet, I have this suspicion we'd be automatically denied coverage if we really needed it.
It's more profitable for them to pay lawyers to find ways to deny payment, or delay payment, so that's what they're doing. It's their fiscal responsibility to their shareholders, after all.

So I'm feeling really ready for the Democrats to pass the PUBLIC OPTION. There's absolutely nothing stopping them, except their allegiance to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Just a nice, simple up or down vote in the Senate.
I've been faxing Obama and Harry Reid this week, demanding action. This might be one of those moments where a few more snowflakes make the avalanche.


Last year about this time, I was just recovering from pretty severe dysentery I picked up in Thailand. For days and days I ate nothing but plain Nancy's yogurt and bananas, and here I am again. Yuk.

Holi

One of my favorite bookmarks is The Big Picture. Here's a link to the most recent photo essay on Holi, the Indian festival of color. Enjoy.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

This is one video that really deserves to go viral. Enjoy!