Halloween 2015

Halloween was on a Saturday this year. Mom went out with Katie, Maddox, and Ryder. Sam went out briefly with Ethan and Joseph. He reprised his green morphsuit with the Dodgers hat (see photo, left side). Pete asked Dad if he could borrow an axe and then Dad dropped him off at Hannah’s house. The axe ended up in the same place as the spatula that Pete lent last year to Alexandra – which is some nether world where it may be seen again someday and it may not. (Update – the axe did make it back home about a week later.)

Bubble Gum Project

Sam decided for his Science project to do “Which Brand of Bubble Gum Yields the Largest Bubbles?”. For each of the 9 trials, Sam chewed each piece 20 times and then blew a bubble that Dad measured. It was not the most precise setup, but good enough. After turning in the project, Sam was seen chewing a lot of Dubble Bubble, Extra, and Trident bubble gum for the next few weeks.

Berman Family Motto

Sam had a lot of homework today, including a poster for History class. Dad took this opportunity to remind Sam of the “Berman Family Motto”, which is to the effect of “Pretty good is all right with me!”. It’s a variation on “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. The motto seems to be catching on, which leads to homework getting done a lot faster, and for about the same grade. Maybe Sam can ride this motto someday all the way to CEO of "Pretty Good Enterprises”.

On a related note, Mom got a 10 out of 10 on her essay last week for her after-school continuing education class. So the motto seems to be working for her too.

Rotini

Dinner last night was what mom calls “ziti” but technically it is actually Rotini. On the plus side, she is saving a syllable every time she says it. Dad discovered that Pete is very discerning about his pasta. On the way home from school after band practice, Pete noted that “we need to make sure we use the right kind of noodles because with the proper Rotini noodle shape it is very good but with the wrong shape it is absolutely horrible”. Well, at least he has found some things that he is passionate about.

By the way, here is the box for the proper Rotini:

Melee in the House

Dad and Sam ordered Super Smash Bros Melee on ebay. It is a collector’s item, so it cost $51 for just a CD with some scratches on it! Sam does not seem concerned that this item cost him more than 10 weeks of allowance. He has certainly been getting his money’s worth, as he has played it quite a bit and it is also the game that they use in the tournaments that Sam is going to start going to.

Tenderfoot Long View

Sam had fun camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts. His tent-mates were William and Aiden. He drove with William, Mr. Roll, and Kevin. They played lots of pun games in the car. They also saw a black bear while hiking the White Oak Canyon trail, and another crossing the road (a mama bear and two baby bears). Sam did not get any “sign-offs” in his book, but he had a good time anyhow. Perhaps he will become the first scout to graduate from high school before getting his Tenderfoot rank.

Driving Practice

Dad took Pete out for some driving practice. They went over to the parking lot near Ledo Pizza. There were some funny street names, and some tight turns that Pete enjoyed. Pete drove across to Nightwatch and then Zander Way and Anness Alley. He practiced backing in to some spaces at CVS and then drove a bit through the local neighborhood.

Campout Problems

Sam went off to a campout with Troop 761. Mom had to deal with the usual assortment of problems at the last minute, which included issues with shoes, sleep pad, backpack, pants, and several other items in the 10 minutes before it was time to leave. Sam also did not pack a lunch that he needed for the Saturday hike, since he did not want to go to the troop meeting on Monday when they mentioned this requirement. It should be an interesting weekend for him. Meanwhile, Pete marched in the parade and then played at the Homecoming football game vs. Oakton. Dad brought Pete his pants and wallet that he had forgotten over to school.

Under the Chair

Before going to bed, Mom had carefully filled out the three permission slips that needed to be turned in for Pete’s upcoming choir trips. But in the morning they were somehow nowhere to be found. Dad hastily printed out fresh forms from the school website and scribbled out the forms for Pete to bring in. Pete dashed on to the bus, and dad sat down in the chair for a breather. At that moment, the mystery was solved as Dad glanced down and saw the original forms between the chair and couch. Pete must have inadvertently kicked them off of the arm of the couch the previous evening as he was watching The Simpsons before bed. Of course, Dad had looked under the couch about three times and did not see the forms there, about two feet away. At least now they know where to look next time some forms are missing.

Last Episodes on Earth

Dad, Pete, and Sam watched two episodes of “Last Man on Earth” this evening, since the DVR is going to get deleted when Dad trades it in this weekend for yet another new one. They have two more episodes to watch on Thursday. Hopefully this is the last time for a while that Dad will be swapping out DVRs.

Good To Know

Sam and Dad had this discussion when Sam was getting ready to brush his teeth before bed:

Sam: I have a question about the time travel paradox where you go back in time and kill your own grandfather
Dad: Ok
Sam: Does that paradox have any effect on your going forward in time?
Dad: No, most physicists agree that traveling forward in time seems much more plausible. There is no issue there. In fact, I could kill you right now, with little repercussion.
Sam: Ok, thanks Dad

Winterizing

Dad was standing in the upstairs hallway around 10:30pm. Pete whooshed by and stated the following as he jogged down the stairs: “Dad, I’m going with Marietta to Wal-Mart so she can winterize her car. Will finish my Math homework on the way there in the car. Bye.” This statement raised a number of questions. Dad raised a finger as the front door closed and Pete ran down the front walk. Dad woke up at 2:30am and decided to check to see how Pete was doing. He was at his desk working on AP History homework. It’s no wonder that he had difficulty waking up the next morning.

More Vaccines

Dad took Pete for his second of three appointments for his Gardasil vaccine. This one went a lot better than the first one. They went a bit earlier and the nurse actually let them leave after a few minutes, realizing that Pete was not going to pass out.

The Martian

Pete traveled with his band today to the Parade of Champions competition at James Madison University. He left at 7:30am and returned around 11:30pm, which is typical of these competitions. Mom, Dad, and Sam wrapped up Dad’s birthday celebration from last week by going to see “The Martian” with Brian and Patti in Herndon. This was one of those theaters with really comfortable recliner seats. Sam was amused when Brian predicted that Patti would fall asleep, and further amused when she actually did so about half way through the film.

Cheese Steak Night

Pete was away this evening, playing at the “Battle of the Burn” football game between Broad Run and Stone Bridge. After some cheese steaks with Dad and Sam, Mom went to Target to get some gifts for Pete’s secret buddy.

Pete doesn't like cheese steaks, so when he is away is a good time for cheese steak night. Ironically, Sam doesn't really like steak, so when he is away it is often steak night. (When Mom is away, it's Ledo Pizza night.)

Choir Concert

Pete had his first choir concert tonight. Mom, Dad, and Sam were in attendance. How did they manage to get Sam to go? Well, Jennifer was going since her sister is also in the choir. She saved three good seats for them in the center of the third row. Pete did a great job in his first choir performance since elementary school. And as you can see, he looked pretty good up there also.

Write Night

Dad and Sam went to “Write Night” at Farmwell. Mom also joined later after her class was over at school. It was pretty similar to the Write Night that they did with Pete four years earlier. They mixed it up a bit by doing some different exercises. Dad also tried to mix in some poetry whenever possible, since he was in the midst of his online Modern Poetry class.

Here are the two poems that Dad wrote during Write Night:

Sam
wind-swept, strong-willed, free-spirited, butter-dipped
scion of this great nation-state
who loves sleeping until fully prepared for the confrontation of the bursting day, challenging the status quo, learning new secrets
who is afraid of the pall of mediocrity, the taste of plain blandness, premature decisions
who wants to see the fabric of the universe, proof of any empirical claim, the solemnity of what exists on the other side
resident of that which can be reliably demonstrated

Berman


Timeline

The great glacial climes of January
Absorbed the rays of the February sun
Yielding March droplets descending
Slanted slopes of April
Collecting to a shallow puddle of May
Steaming toward a June bog
Adjacent with the still swamp of July
Which rapidly flowed toward an August river
Forded off as a bitter stream of September
Slowing to the brook of October
Frozen by the calm chill of November

Halted upon a December dam.

Benihana

For Dad’s birthday dinner, he selected Benihana. It was a pretty good dinner, but everyone decided that they like Nagoya a lot better. Benihana seemed to nickel and dime you for everything, and the food was not as good. There was also a bit of a wait for the table, despite the reservation. The one nice thing about Benihana was that they took a family photo and provided it on their website (see below).

Tread Marks

Sometimes Dad discovers some interesting things at bedtime. Such as that his sneaker leaves a large mark on Sam’s back. Note: this activity was for amusement purposes only. No actors were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Hair Cuttery

Sam was ready to start going to a real place to get his hair cut. So Mom put away the clippers and they went to Hair Cuttery. Sam thought Nelly did a good job, so Dad took some pictures of the results that they could show to her when he goes in next time.

The Zone

Dad went with Sam to “The Zone” to spend his $25 gift card from Nana. He had the card for quite a while; possibly since last Christmas. They played some air hockey and skeeball until their laser tag game was ready to start. The laser tag was pretty fun, but Sam was really steamed about some adults that were way too serious about it. They were sniping everyone from above. It took the fun out of the game for Sam. He was ready to go straight home, without spending the rest of the money on the card. Dad will have to go back with Pete sometime to spend the remaining $5, which will probably take about 3 minutes at that place.

Marching Spartans

Pete was busy again this fall with marching band. Mom signed up as a chaperone for the day with multiple band competitions, including the evening one at Rock Ridge. Dad joined to watch the Rock Ridge competition also. This year’s theme was some sort of pirate battle. There was a sound board with cool pirate sounds, but someone forgot to charge the iPad after the earlier performance, so it was not available for the Rock Ridge competition.

Spiders

Sam: Do you think spiders catch smaller spiders in their webs?

Dad: That seems unlikely. It would be like a dog eating a dog.

Sam: Well, it is a "dog eat dog" world.

Allergy Shot Fun

Something crazy always happens when Pete and Dad go for an allergy shot at ENT & Allergy Associates of VA. One time it was the pen that won’t write on the slick receipt paper on the granite counter. Another time it was the chair with excessive taping and “Do not use” sign. Or the time the doctor ran out to the waiting room for the toy. The list goes on. Of course the classic was the time Dad said he had a credit of $40 on his account. The receptionist (“Krista”) insisted three or four times that he did not have a credit. Finally, Dad gave up. After which Krista said the infamous line “you do have a balance of $40 though”.

FSBL Evaluations

The FSBL basketball league evaluations were the usual combination of 50% chaos and 50% waiting around. Dad got wise this year and did a drop-off/pickup. These “evaluations” are a bit of kabuki theater. Usually they at least have all of the coaches standing with clipboards and making some type of markings. This year, they only had 1 or 2 people with clipboards and it was questionable whether they were even writing anything. This might explain why Sam's team ended up with a bunch of the shortest kids, while some of the other teams had 2 or more tall players. It makes on wonder why they took the height measurements in the first place. Sam ended up on the team with the coach he didn’t want, but it worked out in the end as the assistant coach ended up taking on most of the coaching duties.

Popcorn 2015

Sam and Dad only went out for just one day this year to sell popcorn. It was a beautiful day. Dad was ready for about 3-4 hours of good sales in their usual perfect spot in Lansdowne. But Sam was done after about an hour. The good news is that Sam had 100% sales for the houses where people came to the door. The bad news is that this only amounted to 4 houses (including the house with the back-flipping dog). With additional sales to Nana and Uncle Victor, Sam still ended up with a respectable $300 in sales – enough to get 2 knives as prizes (in addition to the one he already has). This also made him the top seller in the Troop! Good thing Ethan is not in his Troop this year.

Eclipse

The above photo may appear like a black rectangle. But if you look closely, and perhaps use your imagination, you might see the eclipse. It was an excellent eclipse that everyone enjoyed tonight for about 2 hours in the late evening, right out in front of the house. Pete even brought some of his homework outside to study by the eclipse-light.

Partlow’s

Mom and Dad went for a bike ride on the WOD trail up to Ashburn Road. Sam did not want to join. They stopped for lunch at Partlow’s barbeque. Dad noticed that they had a nice assortment of ice cream treats. Dad snapped a picture to text to Sam, in the hopes that it would entice him to join next time.

Village Fest Communications

Sam went to Village Fest on Friday night with Garrett and a few of his other friends. Since Sam had his new phone, Dad was able to drop him off and then pick him up later. In the meantime, Dad went out to a nice dinner with Mom. Sam was careful to hang on to his new phone when he went on the upside-down rides.

Tag Day Photo

Unfortunately, Pete could not participate in “Tag Day” with the marching band this year. He was at James Madison University on his choir trip. Dad was able to capture a photo of his bandmates when they came to the door. Note: hopefully you like the photo since it cost Dad $20 in donation.

Nine Stomps

One night Sam was getting ready for bed and he asked Dad “How many times do you think I would have to stomp on the floor before Mom would yell?” Dad replied “Nine.” Sure enough, Sam began stomping on the floor, and after the ninth stomp: “Hey!!!!” could be heard coming from downstairs.

Froyo Observations

Dad and Pete went to Luv’n Berry. The plan was for Sam to get something from the ice cream freezer at Manhattan Pizza, but they apparently got rid of the freezer when they opened Luv’n Berry. Dad tried to convince Sam to get something equivalent from CVS, but Sam refused to go in there. Dad took the above picture to prove to Sam that they had lots of the same good stuff that you would find in the ice cream freezer. But to no avail.

Pete and Dad loved the sign in Luv’n Berry “$8.00 per pound, $.49 per ounce” (see photo below). So the intelligent customer will be sure to pay by the ounce and save 16 cents per pound!

Can-Can

Dad and Pete went to Broadlands Family Practice for the first of Pete’s three Gardasil vaccinations. Dad made sure to ask if it would be quick when scheduling the appointment, since Pete likes to get to school by 9am to avoid waiting in the dreaded tardy line. Unfortunately, the nurse giving Pete the vaccine was not going to let the rule slide requiring that Pete lie down for 20 minutes after getting the vaccine. Despite the pleas of Pete and Dad, they were stuck there. Pete decided to protest this rule by doing the Can-Can instead of lying down on the table. After some additional negotiation with the nurse, they were able to leave after 10 minutes.

Also, in case you were wondering, Pete survived despite not laying down for the full 20 minutes.

Musical Chairs

If you look briefly at this picture, you may conclude that there appears to be plenty of seating in the four spacious chairs in the living room. However, looks can be deceiving. One chair is occupied by mom, one by the rifle that Pete left there for weeks, and one by the small guitar. No problem, you say, since Dad can sit in the other chair. Not so fast. If you look closer, there is another guitar leaning against the arm of that chair. Dad took a seat in the dining room. By the way, that stuff on the coffee table is not clutter. Other than the Burger King crown and guitar pick, all of those items are actually permanent design fixtures on the table.

Evil Minions

In the entertainment industry, 2015 was known as the “year of the minions” (at least until the new Star Wars movie came out). This was bad news for Pete, since he absolutely hates minions. Especially when they are given their own spinoff movie. Dad figured he better not buy these minion freezer bars that he saw at Walgreens, but he did take a picture of them. Dad figured that Pete would be conflicted about these bars, since he hates Minions but loves freezer bars.

Make Yourself Comfortable

Pete went to the mall with Mom and Dad for some lunch and to look for some clothes for school. Sam decided to come too. Of course, the trip would not be complete without spending about 30 minutes lounging in the massage chairs at Brookstone.

Surgery for Mom

Mom’s quest continued to try to figure out what was causing the chronic pain in her side. Today’s phase was the surgery to remove a lipoma, which the surgeon said was “about the size of a chicken breast”. Pete and Sam tried to be nice to Mom for a few days, and help out a bit more around the house. Although the surgery was “successful”, unfortunately the pain did not go away (other than when she was taking Oxycodone). So the search for answers continued.

Second Day of School

Sam looked pretty sharp on the second day of school, with his pink shirt and bright neon shoes. Pictured (l-r) are Ethan, Sam, Mason, Mary, Makayla, Maya, Nicolette, and Sasha. It was a big change, being in middle school this year at Farmwell Station.

First Day of School

Pete looked great, as always, on the first day of 10^th grade. Sam looks good too, even though the only picture opportunity was in the laundry room before he had put his socks and shoes on.

Knowing How Lebron Feels

Pete and Sam had a fun day with Dad on the last day before the new school year.

It was a blazing hot Sunday afternoon in August. Dad asked Sam if he wanted to go to the pool, but he said he wanted to go to the basketball court at Fincastle Field to do some dunking on the low hoop. Pete joined them to get in on the action.

Pete put down a few dunks and then they started a regular half-court pick-up game of Dad and Sam vs. Pete. The only two rules were "goaltending is allowed" and "no blood, no foul". Early on in the game, Dad got to experience something he never thought he would. First you need to watch Lebron James in this video. Now imagine Pete coming up to the hoop and jamming with two hands, while Dad went up for the block. The only difference in this case was that Dad's arm got jammed pretty hard against the rim. But it wasn't broken, so they continued with the game.

After the game, Pete demonstrated an arms-free fence-jumping technique he had developed during his earlier employment at camp:



That evening, they did all go to the pool to celebrate the last night before school. Dad actually wrote a poem related to this topic. It was a great joy to squeeze out the last little bit of summer on this day.

Below is a picture Sam took of Dad and Pete tossing the football around at 8:29, packing their final minute with good times. (The blue at the bottom of the picture is Sam's juggling beanbag that he tried not to get wet)

Potluck Dinner

Sam had a good time at the Boy Scouts end-of-summer potluck dinner. And reserved himself a nice seat front and center for the “Court of Honor”:

Omphalos Hypothesis

Sam and Dad are reading "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Science", two items per night.

Item #185 was about a doctrine called "Created Antiquity". After finishing it, Dad said "there is another theory that means the same thing as "Created Antiquity". Sam cried out "Last Thursdayism!". 

All of which led Dad to wonder if this is the sort of conversation that most Dads are having with their 10 year old children.

By the way, the official term for this flawed theory is "The Omphalos Hypothesis".

School Preview Day

Sam attended the preview day for new students at Farmwell. Pictured above is the gym where the parents were to pick up the students. Dad got to play a game of “Where’s Waldo” to try to locate Sam in the crowd of chaos. After that, they went over to Sam’s locker so he could struggle to get his “locker organizer” in place.

Dead Battery

Mom’s car would not start today. It appeared to be a battery issue, and AAA gives free tows, so they towed it over to the shop for a new battery. Fortunately, that's all that was needed. It was quite a sight on Merrywood Court to see Mom’s car up on top of that big tow truck.

Summer Concerts

Mom and Dad took advantage of the great summer weather to attend several of the free Friday evening Herndon concerts, and one in Broadlands. Pete and Sam chose not to join, so they stayed at home.

Chaperone

Dad signed up as volunteer chaperone for one day of band camp. It rained, so they had to play inside. On the plus side, Dad got a good photo of a rainbow above the high school.

Breatheable Sheets

Sam can be in a variety of blanket arrangements when you go to wake him up in the morning. It is a wonder that he can even breathe some of the time. But up until now, he has survived.

Birthday Headphones

Pete turned 15 this year. That means just 6 months before he can get his driving permit. Here is Pete with his birthday present, a new set of Bluetooth headphones (which he got a lot of use of).

Drivers Ed Class

Dad and Pete went to Heritage High School to attend the final seminar for his Drivers Ed class that he took over the summer. They stopped at Arby’s first for a pleasant picnic lunch. 

According to the seminar, apparently texting while driving is a bad thing. After sitting through all of the tedious presentation, they signed in, and Pete earned his certificate for passing the course.