Category Archives: Mr. Boy

No. 2 in Pinewood Derby

Posted on November 23, 2008 | Comments Off on No. 2 in Pinewood Derby

Mr. B.’s car tied for second out of sixty-one cars this afternoon in his Cub Scout pack’s annual Pinewood Derby race. Much better than last year when he came in dead last, sixty-sixth out of sixty-six cars–essentially because of a sticky wheel. Better even than his Tiger year when his car came in third out of sixty. We think part of what did it this year was having an optimal, wedge shape, using the same wheels and axles from the third-place car, and arranging it so this year’s car had only three wheels touching the track. What cost him first apparently was the weight distribution on the car. Too much in front of the rear axle. No trophies this year, but he got a ribbon.

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School overreactes

Posted on November 14, 2008 | Comments Off on School overreactes

The educators are supposed to be the enlightened ones. So why are they so ill-informed?

Parents at Mr. Boy’s elementary school have been advised to "take extra precautions" after four teens robbed a couple in their apartment last night across from the local high school.

The high school’s written alert, passed on to us by the elementary school’s PTA, locked down the high school’s campus for the day. It says the armed robbers were men. The police told the news media they were in their late teens. The alert makes it sound like the robbery was a random act of violence. The police say the victims knew their assailants.

The PTA prefaces email distribution of the high school’s alert this way:

"Please take extra precautions. Keep doors locked at all times, keep an eye on your children when they are playing outside, note and report all suspicious persons or activities."

This would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.

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Wisdom for Mr. Boy

Posted on November 7, 2008 | Comments Off on Wisdom for Mr. Boy

"…let your children overhear you saying complimentary things about them to other adults,"  is a bit of wisdom I’ve decided to try that comes from Treppenwitz in Israel, in an essay worth a read for the other good ideas as well.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Israel, Mr. Boy

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Batting slump

Posted on October 26, 2008 | Comments Off on Batting slump

Like anyone else who is appalled at how Big Media has turned into Pravda for Barry and Joe Hairplugs, I’ll be concentrating on politics until the election.

But Mr. B. fans might want to know that he is going through a terrible batting slump. Big hitter that he was in T-ball and coach-pitch, he is having lots of trouble adapting to player-pitch. Since June, he’s only hit two foul balls. After striking out the other night against the River Cats in Fall Ball, he was in tears. At least he swung at two of the pitches. Too many of the kids watch them go by, hoping the kid pitcher will throw so many balls that, under the rules, they’ll then get a coach-pitch which they can hit. With just two games to go before the end of Fall Ball, we’ve got our fingers crossed that Mr. B. gets a hit. Elsewise he’ll have to wait until the Spring Season starts in late February for another chance. The good part, so far, is that he refuses to give up.

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Cub scout camping

Posted on October 18, 2008 | Comments Off on Cub scout camping

Tonight will be our fourth campout in the woods with Mr. B.’s cub scout den. This time we’ll only be a few miles from the rancho. It’s forecast to be in the high seventies during the day but drop into the upper forties overnight.

I’m bringing two radios, just in case, in order to listen to the Longhorns game. I expect them to beat Missouri, but I want to be sure to hear them do it. Watching it would be nice, but I never bought one of those portable televisions. No, that isn’t true. We had one on the family sloop years ago, but it was stolen. Anyway, where we’re going is in a valley between two hills, so the teevee reception might be poor. If necessary, I’ll hike up the shortest hill to listen to the game. But it probably won’t be.

UPDATE:  It was fun sitting in a camp chair, watching Orion climb the sky and listening to the Longhorns as they thrashed Missouri, 56-31. Next up, Oklahoma State, should be a bit tougher.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing, Texas Football, Weather/Climate

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Chess Master

Posted on October 15, 2008 | Comments Off on Chess Master

Mr. Boy likes to play chess. When I taught him, a few years ago, he’d lose his temper when he lost. So we didn’t play a lot. Now, he’s in competition with another boy in his third grade class on various things, mainly reading-comprehension scores. But the other boy also plays chess.

So, since Mr. B. can now lose with relative equanimity, we play chess a couple of times a week. Usually I try to help him stay out of trouble and take my time beating him. I recently got him a chess program for his Nintendo DS called Chess Master. He’s had a lot of fun with it, playing against the computer at the easy level, and occasionally winning. It shows. In our most recent game, I was perking along, trying not to proceed too quickly to checkmate, when he made an unexpected move. He had taken my queen. Yipes. I managed to checkmate him without her, but it took longer. The smile on his face, however, was worth it.

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Tribute to Sarah

Posted on October 13, 2008 | Comments Off on Tribute to Sarah

A pink camo hunting and target bow from Lakota Industries Inc: The Sarah Cuda. Mr. B. would say, eeeyoo, pink! But this one works.

Via Functional Ambivalent.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Scribbles

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