in black and white

These wonderful pictures are by our friend Darlene, ably assisted by her daughters. We had a great night out last Friday socializing with them and other physics teacher families.



So, my test on dynamics yesterday produced a certain amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth among scholars at the high school. I workshopped it down at Rutgers last night and the expert consensus is that it's a great test -- in fact, it's great enough to be three tests. So I will cut it down a little for next time I suppose. I may have erred in my judgment of how much students enjoy physics tests.

up and running

If you couldn't see pictures on this page yesterday it should be OK now.

If you've ever thought about running your own blog I can't recommend Picasa highly enough. It's easy and free. Just download the free Picasa from google and use the Blog This button to post.

And if you ever wondered why you should bother, I can tell you from personal experience that your family and friends will really enjoy your efforts.

I am in my thinkhole this morning, took the kid down at 6am to give G some alone time. It's 8am now and he's just stopped fussing for the first time. Oh wait, here he goes again. Bye.

smiley baby

Like I said before (below) we've been cooking a lot in the evenings. The boy will often sit in his bouncy chair thing while we do so and watch the goings on with evident enjoyment. We got a couple smiley pics on Monday this way.



He seems to smile at me a lot. This seems like a sound evolutionary strategy for the young of the species: gotta charm dad. Mom'll love you no matter what, but in the jungle you better get dad on your side.



We've been reading the Sears baby book lately and this seems best suited to our particular style of scientifically-informed pragmatism blended with our desire to raise an organic free-range human with a healthy balance of humours.



OK now I really gotta get to work on lessons. You wouldn't believe some of the lab reports I have received.

a night out in ... mendham?

Before I get to the baby pics, here's a nice one of my mom from our last Friday night out in Mendham. A new cafe opened up across the street from the library and Nick and a pal were providing music. We trooped out en famille (with Kim from Greenbelt too) to try the fancy evening prix fixe menu. My mom was happy because she was sitting next to her grandson, who was in a basket on the floor and didn't make a peep all night.



Grey was happy because she got to eat an entire meal without someone attached to her!



The restaurant staff were very anxious on their first big night (it felt like being an extra on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares) but the food was much better than on most of those shows. I had sweetbreads and a steak and a nice creme brulee. Oh that reminds me, I have to call up the doctor's office and get the results of my cholesterol tests. 

slinging hash

This is a picture of G peeling carrots with the boy in his sling. We've both been having good luck with the sling. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, pun not intended, but it's comfortable for us and the kid seems to love it. I raked all the leaves in the back yard while wearing him.



This week we have been mostly cooking our own meals from our new favorite cookbook. So far we have made baja fish tacos, pan-roasted chicken with chipotle-orange glaze, pork stew with plums, and a bunch of other things. We love this book. It's real cooking with real ingredients but you can get the meal on the table in time to have a few minutes of socializing before you fall asleep on the couch.



By the time you read this I will probably get up another post with the latest baby pictures. I am up early this morning because himself was not kind to his mom last night and I am taking the 3am-6am shift while I work on my lessons.

grandpa nick et al

By popular demand I am finally publishing a better baby picture!



We've been short on pictures for a week or two but I snapped this one yesterday when dad visited. The kid is now estimated at about 11.5 pounds.

Me and G have been enjoying two days of teachers' convention. I should be catching up on a lot of schoolwork but so far, not so much. 

high school halloween

Here's a picture of me, in 6th period, discoursing learnedly on Newton's 3rd law. A student snapped this with his camera phone.



Yesterday was Halloween and G loaned me her old punk jacket and dressed me up out of the 80s. I found an old Billy Bragg concert T from a million years ago. The kids got a kick out of it and it was fun for me too. I even snuck in a lesson: punk bands took over the world because they said anybody could make music, you didn't have to be an expert or a genius. I told them science was the same way: sure, you need experts a geniuses but anybody could do it and enjoy it and get something out of it if they try.

I've had the hardest time making them think and evaluate for themselves -- most of the time they just want to give up an answer and be left alone. But yesterday in my punk persona I got a rise out of them with a problem about Newton. "Are you just gonna believe what the establishment says is true, or are you gonna figure it out for yourselves? Do you trust the man even though his laws contradict your common sense? Well?"

It worked good. We had some fun.

It's 4:30am and I am working on a lesson about universal gravitation. The boy is down here in the basement with me this morning because he was fussing all night and G needs a little sleep before I abandon her for the day.