Family time part two...

In this second, and last installment of the St.Louis Trip, you can see some photos from Dave and Barry's which we spent some time and $$$ at last night. If you get a chance to go and like the interactive video games and spending alot of money on cheap prizes, this is the place for you! This morning we got up, ate another bowl of cold cereal and stale danishes and headed out for Hermann, MO. Home of Stone Hill Winery, and bithplace of our favorite wines. We took the trip a few years ago and liked the place and since we were in the area we decided to go aout again. We did the tour for all of $4 for the 4 of us and learned some cool things about our favorite wines... In the photo of the barrels stacked up in a pyramid, you are looking at the newest batch of the Port wine. This is good stuff! And in the other barrels are the other red wines fermenting and aging. This winery was established in the 1830's but took a big hit during prohibition when it went from making wine to growing commercial mushrooms! After the tour and wine tasting we went to the restaurant and had a great meal. From there we went to the St. Louis Mills Mall and checked out the Cabelas, and a few other specialty stores. But we were pretty tired, and the kids really wanted to hit the pool so as of this writing we are back at the hotel, swimming, looking at delivery menus and basically just relaxing. So, I guess it is time to get wet, eat and maybe play a game... family time... just like we wanted.

Later!

Family Time in St. Louis

Hello there! I am in St. Louis right now spending a bit of time with the family. We decided to do a short family vacation as my son, Julian will be spending 3 weeks in Europe over the summer and we will not get a real vacation this year. So here we are in St. Louis. A good distance from home but not too far to make it hard to get there and back... First off, I have to say, I miss my DOG! Gunnar is my best buddy and I miss him. I wish he were here. Ok... there, that is done. He is staying at home with a neighbor. I hope he is ok. Ok, now I am really done.

Coming in we decided to hit the zoo first as we have heard great things about it and aside from parking and food it is basically free. (It is funded through taxes.. smart idea!) It ws not too hot like it usually is when we visit zoos, so the animals were actually out and awake as opposed to looking something more akin to roadkill. Our visit to the zoo was not as long as hoped as Mapquest gave us some really screwy directions and the fact that there are little to no signs indicating that there is even a zoo around the area it is located. We drove around for about an hour before we found the place. Once found though, it was a nice visit and we had a good time. Beware dive bombing puffins in the penguin house!

The next morning, we had a really bad, stale continental breakfast and headed out to the Gateway Arch. I have been before a few times but each time it is really amazing to me the size and magnitude of this monument to westward expansion. They have really done a nice job with the memorial grounds and the museum inside the visitors center is really nice too.

We finished the arch around 11 am and headed for something called the City Museum. Now, this is not your typical museum... it is more of an art museum or a work of art in progress. It is like the worlds largest set of monkey bars made from recycled items and materials and bent, banged, welded, and glued into a fantasy world were you can explore and crawl around and basically throw yourselves literally into a peice of art that someone has made. There is a tremendous amount of creativity and imagination in this place. It is really hard to describe but maybe you can get a bit of the idea from the photos. In a reversal of roles, Julian was being the brave kid for once and climbing out on precarious outcroppings and cages that hung in mid air while Cora was holding back. I think that she thought that maybe somewhere something was going to jump out to scare her but there is none of that. I must say, you should be very limber, have good knees or knee pads, and not closterphobic in this place! It was a great time and I highly suggest it.

After that it was back to the hotel for a bit of swim time and then to Dave and Buster's, the big dinner/bar/video arcade in Maryland Heights. It is a good time and is actually cheaper than going to Six Flags and the kids liked it just as much! We visited with some friends that evening and had a good time. Tomorrow is a day for Mom and Dad.... Hermann Missouri and the Stone Hill Winery!

Later!

Going to the Principal's office.... *yawn*

Recently I did a stint as a substitute teacher. I like doing this part time job as it nurishes my appetite to be a teacher and to do something different once in a while. It is also a lot of fun and 99% of the kids I meet are great kids! However, there is that pesky 1% still left out there, and I am going to talk about them for a bit.

While subbing, I encountered a couple, no three kids, all boys who were somewhat considered troublemakers or unruly, or just lacking respect or discipline. One boy just seemed to thrive on disrupting class and the attention it got him, and so, he was removed from class, oldly enough at the request of many of the other students. Off he went to the prinicpal's office. I saw him later, no worse for wear...

The second boy, while struggling in school, seems to be able to cope with the class work, seems to be a victim to his own inablity to ignore outside stimuli and reacts, or more accurately, overreacts to it. I was present when he and others were called out for taking a test in private room without teacher supervision. One thing led to another and he started to yell, hit the wall and otherwise over react to the situation. Off he went to the prinicpal's office, with me escorting him. While walking I tried to tell him that it was not the fact that he was not to take the test without a teacher present, but his actions that followed that got him a visit to the office. I think it made sense to him and he seemed to understand, a bit. (Later he was about to over react and he stopped and looked at me and said, "Oh, right!" "I remember!" and he stopped and just sat back down!) After his visit, he was back at class, able to finish the test and looking like it was just another day at school.

The third boy, had a direct confrontation with me and I decided that if I did not act immediately, I would loose respect and give this boy more confidence to act out again in the future. This kid seemed to think that he was better than just about anyone else and held other in contempt. It is a good thing that our local school kids are nice, because this kid is pretty small and nerdy and stands a good chance of getting a pounding if things in the make up of the school kids was different. Anyway, I took him to the office and went in to the meeting with the Dean of Students while he was made to explain while he was there. He basically stalled, hem-hawed and ignored the Dean and as I was leaving, the principal was filling out a disciplinary report. I looked a the boy and he seemed to not care at all. And why should he? All he was getting was a report form and maybe a after school detention. (Don't know for sure, though)

None of these kids seemed to be in the least bit intimidated about going to the office. Maybe it was because they have been there so many times, they don't care, or maybe it is not a big deal at home and so they don't worry. I do know that in my time and that was not that long ago, a trip to the office was a thing of dread! I even remember getting spanked! In grade school! (so much for that now) Punishments were real then, it seemed. Long after school detentions, extra homework, extra physical work, and even expulsion. Doesn't seem to be the case now. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe my school district doesn't really have really bad students like I hear about in other places, but I think they have made the "OFFICE" a very un-intimitating place. I remember at my school it being a place to fear. Not so now it seems. That is too bad. I don't have a solution, but I would think that making it a more scary place might make it a less often visited place too!

Your thoughts?

Later!

Non Sequitur

Check out the "Non Sequitur" comic for May 3rd, 2007. You might find it at www/gocomics.com/nonsequitur.

This is a great comic strip and this day's comic in particular is right on target. It is something that my wife and I have often wondered, every time we hear about a suicide murderer blowing themselves and other up in the name of their religion or god. So why are the Jihadist leaders, leading by example? Huh?

In a nutshell, the comic shows a jihadist leader on a pulpit in front of a crowd of followers. One of the crowd has his hand up and asks, "Um... If being a martyr is so great, why don't you ever volunteer?" And on the bottom, of the strip, a text box that states, "Why jihadist rallies never have Q and A sessions."

Wiley, the creator, hit the nail on the head. Maybe if a few more jihadist leaders lead by example, there would be less holy war in the world.....


later!

Global Warming on Mars??? How's that happen?

I am not sure where most of you stand on the topic of Global Warming, but I am not a proponent of the theory. While most people believe humans are responsible for it, I have yet to be convinced. I do admit that we humans do put a bunch of crap into our environment and we aren't doing it any good by continuing to live as we do, but I don't know if I believe that we can affect the entire earth with our efforts alone. Here is something that has recently come to my attention. It is certainly on the opposite end of the spectrum on then debate on the global warming. So I present this to you, "For What It's Worth!" Note the final paragraph of the article. In that same vein, so was Issac Newton, Galileo and other noteworthy scientists!

later!


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
Kate Raviliousfor National Geographic News
February 28, 2007
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.
Solar Cycles
Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets.
Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout their histories.
"Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance," Abdussamatov said.
By studying fluctuations in the warmth of the sun, Abdussamatov believes he can see a pattern that fits with the ups and downs in climate we see on Earth and Mars.
Abdussamatov's work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists.

"His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion," said Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England's Oxford University.