Dangerous thing #1

Today i licked a 9V battery for 2 seconds. it tingles Alot! Electricity make me adrenaliney

Harry Potter

So last year, I started reading Harry Potter. I had seen the movies and i loved them. Big and thick the books might be. They will suck you in and close the door behind you. They are great for kids and adults. They have great characters, a great story, and a great author. Isn't that great?


One of my favorite characters is Severus Snape. I had hated him until the very end of the series when i learned that he betrayed super-villan Voldemort.I had hated him because he had been cruel to Harry, and he had supported the dark arts.

The movies do not have as much detail as the books. For example: Harry's two best friends are prefects in the 5th book but not the movie.
I have high hopes that they include more detail in the 7th movie.

Barbarians

We started watching a History Channel documentary yesterday all about Barbarians. This episode focused on the Vikings. We are so happy that we watched from a DVD and had a pause button so that all his questions could be answered right then and there. It was excellent timing for this particular choice of video since we are right at the Viking section in Story of the World. This is Evan's second time through the STOW books. The first time through a few years ago, he read them to himself. Now I am reading aloud to him and his sister. There are tons of things he does not remember from the first iteration. I find it interesting to hear about the nuggets that he does remember!.

Life with a Scientist

When you live with two scientists, it is practically impossible not to absorb scientific knowledge, critical thinking, and objective analysis skills. It is important to play with the world too though. This is the reason we started having Scintillating Science and Marvelous Math Days at our house. In the fall, Evan's primary task for SSoMMd was demonstration assistant. He helped me organize SSoMMd activities and perform the "leader only" demonstrations. Why did I not require him to do the activities others were paying to do? His participation level was up to him. Usually, in helping me get ready for SSoMMd, he would have already done the activity and gotten the information straight. Once exposed to a new idea or concept, he has got it. There was no need then for him to do the activity again "in public". His favorite? The burning bubble demo from Bubble Fun. Next up is the Colors and Chromatography day.

Goooo Art!

This fall I took an art class at Art Smart Studio. Our teacher, Ms. Lorina taught us about tonal value. The first project that we did was an experiment with tonal value. We put corresponding colors to the light and dark areas on a black and white picture.


The second project we did was a simple drawing. We drew scenes of our choice.















The third (and my favorite) was a mini-sculpture that I made by hot gluing perfection pieces to a piece of wood. I spray painted it light green and maroon. The mixture of the paints and the original yellow give it a variety of tonal values to make it interesting.

meatballs and haikus

Today i made meatballs because they are AWESOME. We are having them for dinner tonight . i am also re-learning to cook!!!



recipe:
a touch of heaven
2 pounds ground sausage
3 eggs
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup bbq sauce
3-4 T dried onion
a dash of pepper
1/2-1 cup bread crumbs
mix w/ hands
shape
bake at 375 till nicely brown
and tinged with awesomeness

while shaping the meat i thought up this:
Raw meat is blucky
F**king mushy meat is cold
Meatballs are awesome
It is a haiku!!
The finished meatballs are the best i ever have had.

what happened in chernobyl?

over the last week i learned about chernobyl.

chernobyl is famous for its nuclear power plant. on april,26, 1986 at 1 in the morning, reactor #4 exploded. the neighboring town of pripyat was evacuated within 36 hours. the residents never returned. less then 50 people have been to chernobyl until 2006. now there are guided tours to the area. it is your perfect example of a ghost town.



Click here for photos.

Vision Chart

Yesterday Evan and I created his vision chart. This beautiful chart lists all the things which Evan currently dreams of doing. What's on the list you ask? Here's the list:
• skydive
• scuba dive
• water ski
• go to Hawaii
• surf on ocean
• go to an unschooling conference every month
• fly across the country first class
• visit with friends more often
• drive a snowmobile
• shoot an AA-12 (auto shotgun), a sniper rifle, and a machine gun at a shooting range
• own a food store
• custom make a video game
• learn fencing
• own a video game store
• accomplish a spy mission
• assemble arsenal of spy gear and nerf guns
• perform a training mission at a military facility
• get stronger in upper body
• get a big backpack for camping/hiking
• get better at first person shooter video games

4th fireworks

what did you ask? what did i do for the 4'th? alright [sigh] ill tell you

we set off fireworks duh
and here is what i thought of them.

first and definately LEAST were the VERY VERY lame sparklers

the tequila sunrise was like somthing you would see out of a jet fighter (only mini) it was cool!

the second one we put off a.k.a. the california rocket was very eruptive. and i made the mistake of holding it . stupid me. next time we will stick them in the ground!

there was also a smoke bomb witch was not so much a firework because it was just smoke duh

more to come soon!