Proud of my little learners

We had Back-to-School night on Tuesday. I drove into work so I would get home sooner than I do on the bus. Good think too, we walked out of the school just in time to see the bus that I would have been on drive by, but I digress. Kanga is starting 2nd grade and is continuing in the Chinese immersion program and Tigger is starting kindergarten. They are both excited and we're looking forward to seeing their teachers.

Even though Tigger won't know which teacher he will have yet, they went by both of possible options' rooms. He might have the same teacher as Kanga did, but he might not. Angel told me that when he was talking with the other teacher she asked what subject he was excited to learn in kindergarten. He replied, "Science! Like volcanoes and space!" She smiled and told him that they won't be covering science in kindergarten, but that she was sure that he could tell her some interesting things about volcanoes and space. He started to immediately. I was also pleased with him when we went to visit Kanga's teacher. While she waited to talk to her teacher Tigger found something interesting.

The teacher had this math balance, fully loaded with all of the pegs on. Tigger, in his tinker, must-push-that-button kind of way took one of the pegs off and the scale tipped. Intrigued, he started shifting, removing, replacing, and adding pegs. He was experimenting with the pegs, not knowing the significance of the numbers on along the top, but clearly experimenting with the different positions and seeing what would happen. Tigger is very much into seeing what will happen, but unfortunately, it often lands him in trouble because what often happens is something gets lost or broken. I really, really don't want to stifle his curiosity, so watching him explore the math balance gave me some hope that we can help him explore in a safer way.

Kanga, at this time was sitting quietly at her desk waiting for your Chinese teacher. She does not speak Chinese often to us, but we have learned a couple of phrases. I was a little anxious about how much she has retained. The teacher came up and started talking to her in Chinese and Kanga didn't even blink but responded in kind with confidence and comfort. They didn't talk long and I'm sure that it was not a complex exchange, but Kanga looked more confidant than many of the other students. She was also able to explain the conversation in some detail as we were leaving. Perhaps I'm just being influenced by my fatherly pride, but I am very proud of her abilities, particularly when it comes to Chinese.

I'm sure there will be challenges - I hope that we can get Tigger to complete homework for instance. But I am glad that my children love learning new things and are looking forward to school.

Book Review - The Ethos Effect by L.E. Modesitt, jr.

I've mentioned before that my father is much more of a science fiction fan than I am. I've also mentioned that I will regularly talk books with him and get some recommendations. The Ethos Effect is one of his recommendations based on my enjoyment of Dune. Both Dune and The Ethos Effect include hard sci-fi elements (important technologies, space battles, and galactic cultures) but also include huge social and political components. With classes and limited reading time it's taken me a while to get to it, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The book takes the long view, taking place over several years, but keeps the perspective to one character with a returning cast. It wasn't really difficult to keep track of everyone. My father's copy was personalized with the statement "For the ethics!" and I wasn't sure why until I was about half way through it. There is an overarching question throughout the book of what is ethical, why ethics are important, and to what extent is someone willing to go to preserve ethics. Some might call the book message fiction, but like Pratchett's books, I didn't feel that I was being influenced to think a certain way, but rather to consider an idea and its possible implications. There are plenty of hot-topic buzz words, but they did not captivate the story - I didn't feel like Modesitt was trying to check things off a list.

Plot: Van Albert is a capable commander who has had some bad luck. A previous attempt to destroy a marauder resulted in a freak accident that killed a colony ship of innocent bystanders. Even with it proven to be beyond his control, with such a black mark on his record he knew that he would never be considered for important missions. However, he received an important mission when he is called to be the military attache in a highly pivotal system. Things get stranger after he foils an assassination attempt. and finds himself forcibly retired for "medical reasons." Cast adrift and cut off we tries to find something to do with his time, but nobody wants a ex-career military pilot. Nobody by a strange information group that not only offers him his own command, but a salary that is obscenely high. Is it too good to be true, or is it too little compensation for the lengths that Van will be required to go?

My personal favorites: Van was a good character. He was competent and likable. The other supporting roles felt real too. The conflict was a balance of physical and mental and wasn't heavy handed or heady. Modesitt was an economist by trade - one of the reasons my father likes him - and I liked the way that he discussed the economic and ethical aspects of the story. They were not complicated, but were though provoking. The tech was well handled without being burdensome, focusing on the story.

Considerations: The only consideration that is needed is how the reader feels about the actions taken in the book. There is no graphic violence and no sensuality. What the book does contain is people making choices that the reader is asked to judge for themselves.

While I had to remind myself that many classic sci-fi tend to take a while to build up, I enjoyed it and found it rather engaging. It was certainly thought provoking. I just read through some of the one star reviews on Amazon and while I can see why some people may not enjoy it, I did. The total length was 544 pages.

Daddy/Daughter camp out, Aug 6-7 / 2015

Dad learned that the Elder's Quorum in his ward was having a Daddy/Daughter camp out and asked if he could bring his granddaughters. Considering that he's not even in the Elder's quorum anymore (hasn't been for over 10 years) he figured he needed permission. They basically said, "you're going to anyway, so why are you asking?" What can I say, they know my father. He was kind enough to invite his granddaughters' fathers, so Darpa (my brother-in-law) and I found ourselves enjoying a very nice weekend with our girls.

We stayed in the Weber Memorial Campground not far from Causey Dam. Angel dropped Kanga off as I got off work and she and I drove up from Ogden. It took us a little over 30 minutes and was nice weather. The campground had a lot of thistle bushes. Darpa said that it seemed like the perfect place for Eeyore to live. Most of them were in bloom and I can't resist a blooming thistle. Despite leaving at 5:00 pm our party as one of the first ones at the site. Dad was there with the elder's quorum president and his two daughters. Kanga immediately began playing with them and her cousin. I don't have pictures of the mud pies and other creations they made, but they had a lot of fun.

That night we had hot dogs over the fire and started in on some s'mores before it started to rain. It was particularly nostalgic for me because we had forgotten to bring roasting sticks so we had to cut our own. When the rain started to come down hard, but we had a nice tent, games, Oreos, and lights. I was impressed by Kanga and her cousin's logic abilities as we played mastermind. I read Secret Garden to Kanga as we passed out to the rain. We all slept well, although I did wake up when a drop of water hit my nose. Luckily I was lying on my side so I just scooted over and it didn't happen again. My clothes did get a little damp, but that was because I had a water bottle that didn't have its lid tightened all the way.

The next morning revealed that a lot of people had arrived in the night and we had a big crew for breakfast. While we were cooking the girls had a rousing game of "who can be the bigger pyro." they used over 450 matches in a little over ten minutes. Kanga had fun and surprisingly no one was hurt. That's a difference I noticed between camping with girls verse boys - potentially dangerous activities generally have less injuries. With that said, my oldest niece did seem a little too anxious to use her knife. I was a little worried. Kanga was not so interested in using my knife to trim her stick, so I didn't have to worry too much. 

After breakfast we went to Causey Reasevor and the girls were able to pile into a canoe. I took them out for a quick tip and then Darpa took them on a longer tour. Kanga really liked it, citing it as the highlight of the trip.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and very enjoyable, despite the rain. We got home in time for lunch and had a quiet afternoon with Angel and the boys.

Book Review: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

This is another book I picked up in the library because I thought the title and cover were interesting. Interestingly enough, as I started to read it, I realized I had heard of the book referenced on Writing Excuses. I actually started reading this book about a year ago, but didn't get very far before I had to return it. As the cover picture and blurb indicate, it is a steampunk story. Set in Seattle in an alternate history of the 1880s, the story did a good job of combining steampunk, post-apocalyptic, and zombie elements in the story. It felt like it was more of a literary fiction, that is it read slower than normal, but I might just be out of practice. I enjoyed the story and will keep an eye out for other books by Cherie Priest in the future.

Plot: The start of the Yukon gold rush saw a contest to develop a machine capable of harvesting the gold from the frozen wasteland. Leviticus Blue won the contest but on a "test run" tore through downtown Seattle ripping the bellies out of the four largest banks and destroying, killing, and impacting countless thousands. What's more, it released a gas, the Blight, from under the earth that eats away at people turning them into mindless eating machines that crave human flesh. People were evacuated and a giant wall was built to keep the Blight and the Rotters contained. Ten years pass and Briar Wilkes, the wife of the vanished Leviticus Blue, has a son desperate for answers and sure that he can prove Leviticus' innocence. The search for truth takes him under the wall an into Seattle's deadly streets. Briar suits up and with her father's old service repeater goes in after him. What they find is whole communities of people who have made a living for themselves behind the wall. And these communities are on the brink of war.

My personal favorites: The story line had some great diversity to it. It moved incorporated so many elements from across a broad spectrum that I found the world very engaging and interesting. The characters were fascinating, even if it took a while to relate to them. I liked how the story presented the challenges and the people that had to overcome them. While some might accuse the author of deus ex machina, I found the story flowed well with the characters. There are quite a few fun characters that I liked.

Considerations: There are some graphic descriptions but nothing over the top or outside of what I consider outside of young adult. There was no sensuality gratuitous violence. There was some strong language, but no F-bombs. I recommend it for a mid to late teen without difficulty.

The book was a great example of using multiple elements of multiple stories together. I enjoyed the way the story flowed and thought the characters interesting and engaging, even if it took me a while to engage. The total length was 416 pages.