My Son on the News
During today’s speech by President Obama, a news reporter from NBC17 came to my son’s school to interview students and teachers for their reactions to the speech. My son is featured in the below video and it also aired on the 6:00 and 11:00 news.
From the MyNC.com site run by NBC17:
At Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill, a class of 6th graders sat quietly and watched the President’s speech from their desks.
Peter Cohen, 6th grader, said he listened carefully to what the President had to say.
“I think one of the things he really emphasized was that you make your own future and so if you want to be a doctor or lawyer, you have to make that happen. You can’t depend on other people your entire life ,” said Cohen.
Back to School, Again
Grace and Peter are looking tired after their first day back to school.
Happy Birthday to Blog
I will take this occasion to wish my blog, and me, a happy birthday. It is now 4 years old. I am somewhat older. Recent milestones of my blog include the migration to WordPress in the spring and my 1000th post a couple weeks ago. Lots of things going on other places, so check out my other sites at the right and my social profiles for a fuller picture of what’s going on. Cheers.
Girls Rock North Carolina
Last week Grace attended Girls Rock NC. The girls were put in bands at the beginning of the week, and they chose a band name, wrote a song, made posters, t-shirts, learned instruments, practiced their song, and made rock zines. She had a great time. This is a tremendously empowering experience for these young girls. Below is the video of Grace’s band in an extra performance. Tonight she performs at Cat’s Cradle, a well-known indie rock club in Carrboro.
Here are photos from the last day of camp rehearsal and here are photos from the Pittsboro show.
I Lego NY
Illustrator Christoph Niemann blogs for the New York Times blog, Abstract City, and he recently posted a series of representations of New York using Lego. He currently lives in Berlin and he posted “During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York.”
My initial expectation when I clicked on the link was that I would see a series of notable NYC landmarks or complex Lego cityscapes. But what he did was create the smallest details of New York in Lego. Anyone who has spent any time in New York will recognize the difference between Starbucks and street vendor or deli coffee cups above. And just a note, regular coffee in NYC comes with milk and sugar. This post is a reminder that even the biggest things are made up of a series of minute details. Here’s a link to the post.
Arizona Quarter Completes Collection
In 1998 the US Mint started its 50 State Quarters program. They changed standard quarter designs to ones honoring each of the 50 states. The designs were created by each state and produced five per year for ten years. Early on in the cycle, I got 2 coin books to keep all the quarters. My son had just been born and I got a second for his future sibling.
A few weeks ago we went through a tin of state quarters and finished out the books with the quarters from 2007 and 2008. We were missing one single quarter: Arizona. Well, yesterday I got an Arizona quarter as change to finish off these the second of these two books. I showed it to Grace today and she was excited.
A ten year collecting project is finished. The US Mint has started releasing District of Columbia and Territory Quarters. There is no room in the book, so we will not be collecting those. Do you have a ten year project that you have completed?
Grace Wishes You a Happy 4th of July
Grace offers Happy 4th of July wishes.
Do You Have What it Takes?
Grace offers me a real life challenge.
Happy 4th of July 2009
I have always been a fan of Carrboro’s Family 4th of July Celebration. This year, like most others, we arrived early at the Weaver Street lawn, decorated our rides, a scooter in Grace’s case, and lined up for the parade. Here’s a short video of the parade.
The parade ends at the Carrboro Town Hall and Farmer’s Market with lots of free games and fun. Grace wanted to be at the front of the parade so she could get to the fun before the lines got too long. She went on the bouncy obstacle course first and then she climbed the climbing wall. She also tried her hand at the “Ring the Bell.”
Here’s a link to more pictures on Flickr.
My Phone Rang
Yesterday my phone rang and it was Grace.
“Hi, Dad. Can you give me Peter’s cell phone number?”
Peter is at the beach with his friend and their family. I gave Grace the number and said goodbye.
My phone rang again.
“Hi, Dad. Can you give me Peter’s number again.”
I asked her why I needed to give it to her again.
“I was in the garage and didn’t have anything to write it down on.”
I decided to ask her why she needed Peter’s number.
“Well, we were playing with Peter’s water balloons and I can’t turn the hose off.”
I asked her if she tried to get someone else to help her. The kids of one of her mom’s friends are staying with her this summer.
“Yes, they tried and they can’t turn it off either.”
I asked why she wanted to call Peter.
“He has more experience with the hose.”
At that point, I asked her if she wanted me to come try to turn the hose off.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
As I was on my way, my phone rang.
“Hi, Dad. We got the water to stop. We put a clamp on the hose.”