Blue Ridge Grill

Tonight was the last night before Nana and Poppy headed back to Myrtle Beach for the holidays. So the gang had dinner at Blue Ridge Grill, after which Sam went to play with Shadow for a few minutes. Dad did some trivia while waiting for the food to arrive – most of which Pete was the first to call out and answer.

SAT Score

Today was the day that Pete found out his SAT score of 1500, meaning he can probably go to almost any college that he chooses to. This was without any practice or exam prep classes. He’ll have to decide if he wants to take it again. He will probably take the ACT test first, so he has that for the schools that require it.

Be Prepared (to do Nothing)

Tonight’s Boy Scout Troop meeting was even more insufferable than the typical meeting, which is saying a lot. One bright spot was that Sam was commended by the Scoutmaster for dipping the Troop flag during the opening ceremony (which most people forget to do) and he did a good job learning about the Bowline knot (see picture above). But it was downhill from there. Thirty minutes doing absolutely nothing while the Senior Patrol Leader tried to figure out what was going on the following week at the “Open House”. Sometimes he would take a break from doing nothing to chastise the Scouts for making too much noise; then go back to doing nothing again, once everyone had quieted down suitably. After this, they broke out into small groups to do absolutely nothing for the remaining 45 minutes. Dad’s job was to supervise one of the groups and tell them every 5 minutes or so what they were supposed to be doing, immediately after which they would return to doing nothing. Somehow there was still more nothing to be done at the end of the meeting, so it went 15 minutes long for the 20 minute closing ceremony.

Haircut

Dad took Sam to get a haircut. This is always a crapshoot, since he doesn’t know how to describe how he wants it. (Which is “not too short” and also “not too long”). Today a guy cut it, who Sam had not seen before. Initially, Sam thought it was too short. But later he warmed up to it and it was a pretty good cut. They took a few pictures so they can show them to the stylist next time.

Time Management

Sam and Dad went to Harris Teeter to get some Twix and Kit Kat bars to replace the ones that Garrett stole from Sam’s Halloween stash. They stopped at Deli Italiano for dinner. Dad was trying to find a page on his phone listing descriptions of the League of Legends champions, to quiz Sam about them. But apparently this was taking too long. Sam said “just forget about it, I don’t want to be here for an hour”. They hurried home so Sam could sit by himself and binge watch “The Office.”

Brown Sauce Chicken

Today Sam prepared his meal for FACS class. Mom helped with the preparation and Dad took pictures for use in the assignment. The meal was “brown chicken” (with broccoli, rice, and apples). Part of the assignment was to include pictures of “3 bloopers”, which was not a problem since Sam accidentally put 2 tablespoons of sugar into the sauce mix instead of 2 teaspoons. After a quick ride to Giant, the meal was completed.

Thanksgiving

Dad made pancakes in the morning and then Nana and Poppy came over for Thanksgiving. Pete was not feeling well in the morning, but better as the day went on. After playing The Wikipedia Game and Kabul, it was time for the big feast. Sam dined mostly on the pumpkin pie and chocolate cake. Everyone got to pick their side. Pete chose cranberry sauce, and Dad chose mac and cheese. They did some charades and another one of Dad’s trivia games. He said there were 20 answers, so Poppy said he needed to take his shoes off. Dad said it was a good thing there were not 21 items. After dinner, Nana watched the Cowboys beat the Redskins, followed by Poppy watching the Steelers beat the Colts.

Office Party

Pete had a party at work where they asked him to bring a dish to share. He decided to bake some brownies, which turned out to be a big hit.

Chess Rating

Sam’s new chess rating came out today. He went up from 421 to 640, after going 3-1 at the tournament last weekend. Dinner tonight was at IHOP with Nana and Poppy, except Nana was not feeling well and did not make it. Dad did a trivia game in which Pete/Sam defeated Mom/Poppy. The topics were countries, animals, Presidents, languages, and politics.

Pizza

Sam brings up interesting perspectives sometimes. Tonight he was having dinner at Scotto’s before the “Court of Honor” for Boy Scouts. He posed the question: “Did you ever notice that when you’re eating pizza, it is very difficult to remember the specific taste of a different kind of pizza?”

Extra Air

The “Low Tire Pressure” light had been flashing in Pete’s car for a few days. He texted a picture of it to Dad. This is the modern method of asking for help. Dad told him to add air to his tires, and texted some key instructions. Pete followed some of the instructions, but not the one about how much pressure to put in. He didn’t find it surprising that he had to increase the pressure in each tire from 26 all the way to 40 PSI (the maximum pressure marked on the tire). More than a 50% increase! It turns out that the proper PSI level was 30. So Pete currently has 33% extra air. On the plus side, it should give him extra visibility sitting up so high above the road!

Chess

Sam had a busy Saturday. Two basketball scrimmages in the morning and then a stop at Scotto’s before his chess tournament in the afternoon. He finished 3-1 in the tournament and brought home a nice trophy. Farmwell also finished 1st in the school competition. If there were a piece stacking competition, he might have fared well in that also.

Donuts With Dad

Today Dad went in to school early with Sam for “Donuts With Dad.” They enjoyed some donuts with Ethan W, William, John D, and Garrett. Then Sam showed Dad his locker (which he was able to open surprisingly quickly) and they went to the library to pick a gift from the tree for a needy family at Sam’s school.

Family Chauffeur

Pete texted Dad to let him know that he could pick up Sam from school after chess club. This turned out to be not as glamorous as expected, since he waited in the parking lot for about 15 minutes as Sam waited for William to finish his chess game. Welcome to Dad’s world.

Driving

Pete turned 16 and 3 months today, so Dad watched as he backed the Kia out of the garage and drove himself to school. Dad reminded him earlier of the Berman family parking motto, which is “choose a spot that you’re comfortable with.”

Cluttered Desk, Cluttered Mind

Pete usually does his homework at the kitchen table. You may be wondering why he doesn’t use the nice desk that he has in his room. Take a careful look at the picture above and see if you can deduce why he does not use it.

Mailbox Repair

Dad put up the new mailbox today. The old one was destroyed by Eve, who picked up Pete on Friday and backed straight through it at a very high rate of speed. The picture shows the new mailbox, along with an inexplicable tire track in the middle of the yard.

Mills Mess

Sam has been working on a juggling trick called “Mills Mess”. Here is a video of him doing a bit of it successfully.

All-County Chorus

Pete had his All-County Chorus concert today. He was in the Chamber Choir. There were 2 people picked from each school. Dad left his Scouting for Food event in time to attend the 2-hour concert at Briar Woods. Pete’s Chamber Choir performed these songs:

• Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron
• The Banks of Doon
• Russian Picnic
• Marianne
• Happy Together

Dad and Pete compared notes about the concert as Dad drove Pete to work immediately after going home to change. Dad picked him up from work at 12:30am.

Veterans' Day

Dad was home for Veterans Day (like every day), so he got to hang out with Sam, who was home sick. Pete was busy, with All-District Choir during the day and then work at night until 11:30pm.

Trivia Night

Mom, Dad, and Pete went to trivia night at Greene Turtle (Sam was not feeling well and stayed home). There were questions on Simpsons, Golf, and Football, so as you may have guessed they did well. Their team name was The Straw Men. The last question required arranging 5 cities geographically from East to West (Omaha, Fargo, Dodge City, Denver, El Paso). Since they had the lead, they only bet 1 and won first place when everyone got the final question wrong. They brought home a cheesesteak to go for Sam, which had him feeling a little better (but not enough to go to school on Friday).

40% Fluent

Dad drove Pete to school, since there was still a week before he could drive by himself. They were joking about the “I Voted” sticker in Dad’s car. There was some discussion about which candidate Dad’s car voted for. The conclusion was that Dad’s car probably voted for Trump, for many reasons such as it does not have a brain, has not expressed any opposition to gun ownership, doesn’t read the Washington Post, and has never had an abortion.

Sam announced today that, according to DuoLingo, he is 40% fluent in French. Not bad for a few weeks into French I class. This seems like an odd concept, like being 40% pregnant. Perhaps the binary days are gone where you were either fluent in a language or not.

Election Day

The boys were home from school today. Dad took Sam to the mall at lunchtime to get a pair of black Vans. Pete joined them also (and drove). Everyone was able to catch some Pokéstops and Pokémon from the table at lunch. Mom and Dad voted for Hillary Clinton and then Dad watched the returns come in with Pete until about 1am. Once Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania were announced for Trump, the race was over and it was time for bed. The Republicans also retained control of the House and Senate.

Too Much Pressure

Today was the first family crossword tournament. Dad printed out the weekly Patrick Blindauer “Piece of Cake” crossword and everyone competed to complete it. Mom opted for the bar instead of the kitchen table, since there was “too much pressure."

Whiteboard

Mom made the mistake of asking Sam to update the whiteboard weekly calendar after dinner. There were many lessons learned. One is that Pete should never say to Sam “whatever you do, do not erase that item…”

99th Percentile

Dad dropped Pete off at 7:45 to take the SAT at Herndon High School. As Pete walked into the building, Dad had a confident feeling that Pete would score higher on the test than 99% of the people walking into the building along with him. (Spoiler: he was right)

After leaving Pete, Dad went to his puzzle contest in Arlington. Later that night, Pete and Sam worked on the Sudoku and Octo puzzles that Dad brought back from the tournament.

Panther

Pete had his first day of work tonight at Panther Laser Tag. He was pleased to discover that he gets tips from kids’ parties. He got about $20 in tips tonight, and would get another $44 on Saturday. This is in addition to his $7.50/hr wage.

Candy Exchange

Sam took the bus to Jackson Vickers’ house today for some sort of post-Halloween candy exchange. His backpack was about twice the normal weight, from all of the candy. He was able to use Dad’s ingenious invention, the “catch-all” note which has a few blanks on it for the date and bus number.

Cubs

Pete and Dad were watching game 7 of the Cubs/Indians world series game. The Cubs had a comfortable lead, so Pete went downstairs for a few hours to write some music. When he came back upstairs at 12:30am, they were coming out of a rain delay and it was 6-6 in the 10th inning. Pete and Dad witnessed a bit of history as the Cubs scored twice and won the game – their first world series in 108 years!

Cancer

Continuing with Food Fest 2k16 while Mom is out of town, the boys went to Ledo for dinner. Hopefully there were no cancer patients within earshot of the table. It started innocently when Pete asked Dad a question…

Pete: Do you talk to your best friend from elementary school anymore?
Dad: Occasionally we chat on Facebook. Not as much since his wife was diagnosed with cancer
Sam: You can post on his Facebook page “your wife has cancer”
Dad: Well I think it might be better if I phrased it a little differently
Sam: Your has cancer wife
Dad: That’s not really what I had in mind
Sam: Cancer has your wife

While waiting for the pizza, Pete also took a few minutes to teach Sam about limits.

Halloween

Sam went out with Jackson and Jackson for Halloween. He had pizza and Jackson’s house and then went around the Cheltenham Circle area. His costume was Josh Dun, drummer for 21 Pilots. Jackson V went as his fellow bandmate, so they were a tandem costume. Pete stayed home and kept Dad company. Mom did a great job getting most of Sam’s costume together before leaving for her Philly trip.

Food Fest

Mom headed to Philly today for her conference, which meant it was time for the commencement of “Food Fest” (renamed from “Pizza Fest” at the request of Pete). The start of Food Fest was delayed about an hour so Pete could help Emily (neighbor) get ready for her Math test. Then it was time for some Chipotle before Brian came over to watch the Sunday Night Football game (Eagles v. Cowboys). Sam watched the first half of the game with Dad and Brian, but Pete had to finish reading “The Tipping Point” for school so he came down just for the last three minutes of the game (plus overtime).

Pete, Dad, and Sam have also been constructing some of their own crossword puzzles.  Dad and Sam did a few “minis”, while Pete has been working on a fairly ambitious full-size puzzle.

Smash Tournament

Pete had his VBODA band assessment today. They scored the highest rank (Superior). Dad and Sam went to Fredericksburg for a Smash tournament. Sam lost his first game (to Schleppy – Jigglypuff), won his second (Zora – Captain Falcon and Yoshi), and lost his third (Hero - Marth). Dad got to watch the third match on the live Twitch stream from his perch in the Eagles Nest café, one floor below. He also saw Sam (Lemon) juggling in the background during several of the other matches.

Procrastination

Everyone knows at this point that the Berman family motto is “Pretty good is good enough” (especially when it comes to finishing up homework assignments late at night). Today Sam proposed a new Berman family motto, which is “If tomorrow ain’t the due date, today ain’t the 'do' date”. It is pretty catchy, but Dad declared this to be the Sam motto, since he could not endorse it from a family perspective. Sam does not need any additional encouragement to do things at the last minute.

Crosswords

Sam asked Dad if he could print out a Monday crossword from New York Times to bring in to school. This was to do in gym class, while waiting for the other students to do their push-up test. Dad printed that, and also one of his “Piece of Cake” crosswords that he receives each week from a Kickstarter campaign. Sam was able to complete the “Piece of Cake” puzzle without any difficulty. Dad helped him finish the NYT Monday puzzle on the ride home from Chess Club. Sam is pleased to see how much his French knowledge is helping with these puzzles – there are typically 2-3 clues in any given puzzle that involve knowing some French.

Interview

Pete had his interview tonight with Germania at Panther Laser Tag. Then he walked over to meet Mom and Dad at Arby’s. The interview seemed to go well, since she gave him the new employee paperwork to fill out. However, he forgot to ask whether she accepted his wage demands, so he didn’t know what was being offered to him.

Quiz Bowl

Pete has joined the “Academic Team” at school. It is what Dad’s school used to call “Quiz Bowl” when he was on the team in 1987. This means that once a week he has to go in early for practice. It is a pretty small team. Today there was only one other person at the practice.

After dinner tonight, Dad did a mock interview with Pete, to help him prepare for his interview tomorrow at Panther Laser Tag. It did not get off to a good start. The first question was “Why do you want to work at Panther Laser Tag” and Pete had no idea how to answer it.

Math Homework

Pete declared at 11pm “if anyone wants to help with my Calculus homework, you can com downstairs”. So Dad turned off Monday Night Football, grabbed his laptop, and headed down to the kitchen. Pete discovered that he had a Chemistry lab to do first, so he took care of that. Then he worked on his Math problem set. This was one of those trick assignments that looks like a homework grade but then gets counted as a test. Pete declared at 12:30am “If you want to check my answers, you can”. So Dad tried his best to check the answers. He did find two mistakes, so it was worth his while. Dad was glad that he spent the time with Pete.

Sunday Evening

Dad returned home from his camping trip in time to make steaks for dinner. Mom make chicken for Sam, since he hasn’t eaten the steak the last few times. After dinner, everyone helped with the Sunday New York Times puzzle on the TV screen in the family room (chromecast from Pete’s laptop, which by the way is named “Gertrude”).

Parade of Champions

Today was Pete’s competition at James Madison University. They met up at school at 8:15am and returned home at the ripe hour of 2:30am on Sunday. The band finished 5th in the competition, and also 1st place in the “fan favorite” category. This may mean that the Broad Run moms at the event were able to rapidly create the most fake Twitter accounts for casting votes.

Webelos-O-Ree

Dad headed off to the Webelos-o-ree with Sam’s Scout Troop. The only person missing from the equation was Sam. The Scoutmaster asked Dad why Sam didn’t come on the campout. Dad replied that Sam “doesn’t like getting up early, being in the cold, or doing work”. So camping is not the best fit for Sam. Unfortunately Dad signed up to help out the Troop as Assistant Scoutmaster, so he braved the winds and cold for the weekend. Sam did have to temporarily face the elements as he walked from the car into Deli Italiano on Saturday night.

Chorus Concert

Tonight was Pete’s chorus concert (as well as the concert orchestra and chamber orchestra). He was a bit concerned, since Mr. Layne did not seem to be teaching them as much as Ms. Kauffmann (who has been out on maternity leave), but it turned out to be a pretty good show after all. Pete is in the Chamber Choir. The songs his group did were: “Siyahamba” (intro), “Ghana Alleluia,” “The Water is Wide," “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground”, and “Vine and Fig Tree” (outro). Dad texted Pete after the show that “The Water is Wide” is essentially the same song as “Van Diemen’s Land,” a song from his college days on the U2 album “Rattle and Hum”.

Fallacies

Dad took a second ride with Pete over to Panther Laser Tag to turn in his job application. The good news is that the facility was open this time. The bad news is that they need to go back next Wednesday for an interview with Germania. They agreed to do a practice interview to help Pete prepare for the real one. After returning home, Pete and Dad watched the final Presidential debate between Clinton and Trump. Pete had to take notes for class, finding examples of ethos, pathos, logos, and logical fallacies. There were plenty of all to go around.

Panther Predicament

Dad dropped off Sam at his basketball evaluation and then took Pete to drop off his job application at Panther Laser Tag. There were only two issues at the laser tag place – (a) they were closed on Tuesdays, and (b) Dad’s battery died and he couldn’t restart his car. Pete was pushing the car so Dad could kickstart it, when a tow truck driver happened to be driving through the parking lot to go to Mr. Pollo. He gave Dad and Pete a jump and they were able to drive the car to the Goodyear place, where Mom picked them up. Sam spent the remainder of the evening working on his History project (due last week) that Mr. Sassak called Dad to talk about.

Monday with Grandparents

Dad got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa while everyone else went to work and school. He played golf with Grandpa. Everyone met up at 5pm and Pete drove Grandma and Grandpa to Scotto’s in the red Kia. After dinner, they walked over to Coldstone and sat outside. Then Dad and Sam went to their Troop meeting. Later in the evening, Dad and Pete went over to the hotel to watch the Monday Night Football game with grandpa. They also finished the two crossword puzzles from the Courier Times. At 10:30, Pete and Dad had to hurry home so Pete could start on his Chemistry lab (due at midnight), and so Dad could deal with the crisis of Sam seeing a wasp fly into the attic above his room. (End result - Sam slept in the family room.)

Grandma's Gifts

Mom and Dad picked up Pete’s coffee table this morning. It is a little bigger than he was expecting, but he will try it for a while to see if it will work. Grandma and Grandpa arrived around 5pm to celebrate Dad’s birthday weekend. Grandma brought her usually assortment of gifts – for Sam, a witch figure and monkey that plays a happy birthday song; for Pete a thing that plays Monster Mash; for Mom a teapot; and for Dad, two shirts. For dinner, they ordered Chinese and pizza, and then had cake from Hornberger’s. The cake was very heavy, and nobody could finish their piece except Pete.

Uniforms

Pete’s band finished in 1st place again in their competition today. They actually had their uniforms this time, now that they finally arrived in the middle of October. Dad went downtown all day to a Puzzle Hunt, so Sam got to hang out with mom.

Spirit Days

About once a week, there is a special day at Sam’s school. Something like “dress like your career day” or “80’s day”. Sam will generally disregard such directives. Today was “Hoodie Day”, however, so Sam was happy to oblige by wearing his gray TSM hoodie that he wears every day.

High Standards

It seems that the family may be dining out too frequently. One of the ways you can tell is when Pete or Sam ask “what’s for dinner” and the answer is something innocent such as “chicken”, they give you that disappointed look. The look of someone who was expecting Chipotle and instead was going to be subjected to gruel and water. So everyone sat and suffered through their chicken, rice, and broccoli. Then helped themselves to the usual assortment of desserts fit for a king.

Dad's Birthday

Today was Dad’s birthday. To celebrate, everyone went to pick up Pete after band practice and then met Brian and Patti at Escape Room Loudoun. They were joined by strangers Bridget and Theresa for “The Five Fingered Discount” room. The room was too difficult, though, and they were not able to complete it. After the failed escape, they walked over to IHOP for dinner.

The Office

The boys have been watching all of the episodes of The Office again over the past few days. It is not clear what got them started on it. It is hard to walk by the family room and fight the temptation to watch. Occasionally Sam will take a break, such as 5 minutes to do his tissue box project for French class or tell Dad that he has decided not to do his History homework because it is “worthless”.

Pokémon Walk

Dad and Pete walked over to the Fultonham Pokemon gym and quickly defeated it. Then Pete had a good idea to walk over to the Cheltenham gym and defeat that also, so they could get double coins (20). However, on the way to the second gym they saw Christopher Lock walking toward the first one. Dad asked him not to defeat the gym so he and Pete would have time to get to the second one. But it turns out Christopher was on their team, and just putting his Charizard in the gym. Crisis averted. Pete and Dad defeated the second gym and got 20 coins each. They stopped at the Cheltenham playground on the way back home and played some songs with sticks on the bells there.

Down With Bullying

Pete joined Dad this evening to watch some of the Trump/Clinton debate. It was horrible, but there was some funny stuff if you listened closely. For example, Clinton was listing a bunch of problems in one of her answers and she included “bullying is up”. Pete and Dad were trying to figure out what that meant. Meanwhile, Sam was watching the big match being streamed between Flash and SKT. He was glad that SKT won, which worked out to be good for CL9 also as they advanced to the next round along with SKT.

Homecoming

Pete went to “Homecoming” tonight, which means that he went with Eve’s friends to take some pictures, then got dragged to “Not Your Average Joe’s”, a few hours of Laser tag, and then a sleepover. Pete is NOT a fan of “Not Your Average Joe’s”, and always seems to end up there for these events. He says the name is correct, since the food is actually below average.

Homecoming Parade

Mom and Dad rode their bikes out to Faulkner Parkway to watch Pete and the band march in the Homecoming Parade. They stopped at Bertuccis on the way home, and brought some garlic knots for Sam, which he liked (new food!).

Thursday Night

Pete and Dad watched the Thursday night football game and rooted for Dad’s defense (49ers) against the Cardinals. They took a break at 10pm to work on the Friday crossword, and got Dad’s best time ever (about 19 minutes).

Early to Rise

Dad is having more and more trouble each day getting Pete and Sam out of bed in the morning. The concern is that it is only the beginning of October. The boys are already in late-April form of waking up at the last possible moment. There is nowhere to go from here. Dad will have to start coming up with some fresh ideas to make it through the year.

Teensmart

Pete has started working on the “Teensmart” program which will get Dad a 10% discount on the auto insurance premium. It is pretty boring, so he works on his History homework while the guy is droning on, and then takes the Teensmart quizzes at the end of the unit. So far this has been working pretty well. However, he is coming up on the driving simulation part of the program during which he may have to actually look at the screen.

Hillary As Our Guide

Sam was home sick today, so he and Dad did not go to the Scout Troop meeting. In the evening, Dad showed Pete the Hillary Clinton video that he made for grandpa. 

Grandpa wants the video to go viral; his three goals for the video are:

• Become famous
• Make a lot of money
• Get Hillary Clinton elected (plausible)

Dr. Panic

Pete did the “Dr Panic” escape room this evening with Jennifer. He escaped the room, but did not fare as well escaping her car, jamming his right index finger in the door. It may be a long week for playing the trumpet.

Sunday Crossword

After dinner, Dad went up to Pete’s room with Pete and Sam and they did the Sunday New York Times Crossword together. They sat on Pete’s new couch and used Chromecast to stream the puzzle on to his big screen TV. Mom helped out a bit too. The crew was able to finish the puzzle without any difficulty in 35 minutes.

Hat Day

Today was “Hat Day” for Sam at school. They have various spirit days on Fridays throughout the year. Usually Sam disregards them, since they are things like "Emoji Day" or "Dr Seuss Day" or "Dress Like Your Career Day". Dad tried to get him to wear his top hat, but he decided to go more conventional with an Eagles cap. Which worked out well since the Eagles are now 3-0 this season under their rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz.

Ottoman Blanket

Pete seemed a bit tired this evening. He fell asleep with the huge ottoman on top of him like a blanket. 

Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight was “Breakfast for Dinner” night. Everyone enjoyed some pancakes, eggs, toast, and bacon. And Sam helped Dad with the cooking too. After dinner, Tom came over to help Dad carry the new treadmill downstairs.

Paperwork

Pete has decided to apply to National Honor Society. This may sound glamorous, but at the moment it means that there are papers and envelopes strewn all across the kitchen table. Pete has decided to get 7 or 8 references, each of which has paperwork. Add to that his application, which is spread everywhere. Not a good situation with tonight being “Taco Night”. Dad will have to decide whether to have Pete move his papers on to the floor in the family room, or try to clean Mom’s piles of junk off of the dining room table.

Presidential Debate

Pete and Dad watched some of the Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They enjoyed a good laugh every time Trump said something ridiculous. At 11pm, they did the traditional evening activity which was Dad heading off to bed and Pete starting to work on all of his homework assignments that he hadn’t started yet (tonight was English and Psychology).

College Fair

Mom and Dad went with Pete and Eve to the College Fair at Briar Woods. There were representatives there from about 200 colleges. Dad was worried that Pete would be overwhelmed, but he seemed pretty content with the experience. Pete took brochures from Penn State, James Madison, William & Mary, and University of Virginia.

Herndon Competition

Mom and Dad went to Pete’s band competition today at Herndon High School. They also watched about 6 other bands in Pete’s division. Dad took Sam to Hair Cuttery for a much-needed trim. After dinner, Mom and Pete went over to Village Fest. Dad had some customer activity scheduled for work, so was not able to join his friends at Penn State or go on the whitewater rafting campout with Sam’s Scout Troop. Sam also did his first New York Times Crossword puzzle today (“Monday” puzzle) - with a lot of help from Dad.

Hyper Slide

Occasionally Dad will wander into the playroom (aka "Mom’s hidey hole") and pull out a few games from the archives. Pictured above are Mom and Pete playing a spirited game of Hyper Slide.

Ethos and Pathos

Pete has been putting his English class to good use. Mom was crafting a letter to the Principal (Mr. Spage) to get permission for Pete to take 8 credits in the Spring (a request that was already denied by his Guidance Counselor, Ms. Harris). So Pete was helping Mom update her e-mail to include more ethos and pathos, so it would be more persuasive to Mr. Spage.

Watch Your Step

Sometimes Dad feels like he is living in a cartoon. Case in point, the other day he found this banana peel at the top of the stairs. If this were Mario Kart, it would be a catastrophe.

Too Fibrous

Sam has interesting descriptions for why he doesn't like to eat certain things. Above is a picture of a Pop Tart with one bite in it. This is typical of what might come home in Sam's lunch box. Here is a sample conversation:

Dad: "Sam, why didn't you like your ham sandwich today?"
Sam: "It was mushy"

Other adjectives Sam might use for why he didn't eat something: damp, fluffy, stiff, bland, fibrous, etc.

Carson Wentz Era

After band practice and Boy Scouts, Dad and Pete went to Tom’s house to watch the Eagles/Bears Monday Night game. Reagan let them play with Jackson’s hamster (Teddy) a bit. Everything in that place is named after a President. The Carson Wentz era is now in full swing, with the Eagles winning to go 2-0 to start his career. It is important to overlook the fact that they defeated two of the worst teams in the league this year. 

Not Done Yet

Dad was able to mount Pete’s TV on the wall above his bed, so he finished getting that hooked up today. In case Dad thought he was done after the sagas of the TV, couch,  and wall mount, Pete casually announced today that next he needs a coffee table.

A Tale of Two Competitions

Pete and the Broad Run Marching Spartans were away at a competition from 8:15am until 9:30pm at the Millbrook HS "Battle on the Blue Ridge". They did a great job (despite not having their uniforms yet) - 1st place win (out of 4 bands), as well as securing all captions in their Class. With a score of 78.98, the Marching Spartans also scored Best Overall Music, Best Overall Percussion, and were named Grand Champions of the competition.

Meanwhile, Dad and Sam went to Fredericksburg for a Melee tournament at UMW. Sam started off well, defeating Kenpachi 2-1 (Falco ditto) although being down to his last life. He lost to Joak, who was the top seed and ended up winning the tournament.  Sam lost his next match in the lower bracket. After the tournament, Sam and Dad walked around campus a bit – getting some pizza, pokestops, and defeating a gym before arriving home at 9:30pm.

In Da Club

Today was an URF day on League of Legends so Sam used his time before school to play a quick game. Dad dropped Sam at the bus since he was driving Pete into school early (for the third time this week). So far, Pete is doing Improv Club, History Club, and whatever he went in for this morning. Dad told him to be careful of Marcia Brady syndrome.

La Villa Roma

Everyone piled into Nana and Poppy’s car to pick Pete up from band practice and go up to La Villa Roma for dinner. There was a Pokestop reachable from the table, which along with the 18 garlic knots made for an enjoyable dinner. Nana and Poppy shared stories about Sarah’s moving into the townhouse, Taylor’s job at Auntie Anne’s, Bart’s finger, Cathy’s chickens, Alan Michael, and so on.

The Dreaded Phase 2

This morning was Sam's orthodontist appointment. He asked Dr. D not to rip any teeth out this time. This is the appointment where Dad found out that Sam would, in fact, be needing "Phase 2" braces next year. Dr. D advised Dad to "put as much as you can into your Flexible Spending Account next year" (not the words you want to hear on any appointment).

Sam had his usual problem with his English homework this evening. He had the same issue last year. The assignment was to read in his book and find four words that he doesn't know. He reads and reads but can't find any words that he doesn't know. And he refuses to just pick some words and say that he didn't know them. So it's going to be another long year in English class.

Evening Walk

Pete and Dad walked over to the “Cheltenham Gym” around 10:45pm to defeat it. They put a Flareon and Scyther in there. The paths in Ashburn Village don't get much traffic at that time of day on a school night.

A Day Without Dad

Dad left at 7am for golf with Doug, so Pete and Sam had to get themselves out the door this morning for school. They did a good job. Also, Mom had to go to Pete’s “Back To School Night”, so the boys ordered pizza delivery for themselves.

Do Not Admit Fault

Dad told his “Raj” story at dinner this evening, which he had been saving up for 3 days. The punchline of the story was “My Uber is here”. Then Dad and Pete had to quickly run out because Giancarlo was home, which meant they could go pick up the new couch. They went to Giancarlo’s, then Home Depot, back to Giancarlo’s, then home to drop off the couch, and a final trip (Dad only) back to Home Depot. Pete was amused by the instructions in the glove compartment of the truck rental. Rule #2 of the “what to do in an accident” pamphlet was “Do not admit fault”. Also, there were witness cards included in the packet. Dad and Pete were able to get the sofa in the house, up the stairs, and into Pete’s room! Pete had “lowered his standards” to accept a smaller couch. Even so, it barely squeezed through his door (standing on its side) and it takes up most of the space on that wall.

TAG Day

Sam decided to skip the W&OD Trail Cleanup again today for his Boy Scout Troop, so once again Dad went by himself. 

Mom went out with Pete’s band for TAG day. She didn’t get to ride around with Pete’s group this time though. 

Pete went in the evening to Eve’s birthday party.

Kayak Devotee

Whenever listening to the song “L.A. Devotee” by Panic at the Disco, everyone is reminded of Dad’s story when he was on the Potomac with Brian in the inflatable raft and had that song stuck in his head. This led him to paddle way too frenetically, but it did not help them get anywhere since the kayak was not very hydrodynamic and Dad was often paddling by himself in the 2-man kayak.

Stand Chaperones

Mom and Dad were the official “stand chaperones” at the football game tonight, so they got to see Pete play at halftime with the band. Sam decided to stay home. Pete’s secret buddy is not the best this year. Before each home game so far, he has gotten one bottle of Hawaiian Punch and a bag of Sour Patch Kids. Well, at least his buddy is consistent.

Good Luck Harambe

Dad went to Sam’s “Back To School” night at Farmwell. Mom was stuck doing the same at her school (Sterling Middle School), meeting with the one parent who came in to see her. The highlight of the evening was Dad signing the board where you leave messages for the kids. He signed it “Good luck Harambe. Love, Dad”. Pete somehow knew about this before Dad made it home. Apparently a student had already snapped a picture and posted it on Twitter. When Pete saw the post, he immediately suspected it was Dad who was responsible.

Entrance Names

Pete was pretty hungry this morning at his allergy shot, so he was pleased when the third song played was Bruno Mars; which means he gets donuts on the way to school. Dad was able to pay with his phone at Dunkin Donuts. He dropped Pete at the new entrance at 8:59, giving him just enough time to scurry off to Psych class without having to wait in the tardy line. Dad and Pete have code names for each of the entrances, such as “Dolores”, “We Park for 24”, “Rickety Bridge”, etc.

Garrett's Birthday Weekend

Today was Labor Day. Sam went to Top Golf in the morning for the continuation of Garrett’s birthday weekend, and then to the pool with Jacob immediately after that. Dad and Pete went to Claude Moore Park for a few hours.

Communal Experience

Dad and Pete went over to the Cheltenham Pokemon gym and quickly defeated it on behalf of Team Valor (red). Pete placed a Charmander in the gym, and Dad a Cubone. Then an Asian lady and her daughter leveled up the gym prestige and put a few more Pokemon in there. Then another couple came and leveled it up further. It was an interesting communal experience. (However, the gym was defeated anyhow later in the day.)

Notebook Quest

After lunch at Friendly’s, Pete and Dad walked over to Office Depot to look for his 200-page notebook. Pete stopped briefly to sit on the red ball in front of Target, which was temporarily painted like a pokeball. After securing the notebook, they went to Claude Moore for about an hour to get some Pokemon. 

Sam went out in the evening with Garrett, William, and Shakti for Garrett’s birthday. They went to an escape room in Herndon and then Jimmy Johns. They did not successfully escape, but Sam had a good time. They actually had a better time throwing water bottles around than they did in the Escape Room. This is the current craze, taking a partially filled water bottle and flipping it so that it lands standing up.

Iron Chair Adjustments

Sam decided that he didn’t want to sit in the iron chair anymore at the computer desk in the kitchen (pictured, left). Notice the scratched out area on the floor, which was created by this chair over the past few years. Mom and Dad tried several iterations of raising it, with power tools and shims and hardware store trips, but could not come up with anything that Sam was content with.  

So Sam’s new chair is the stool (pictured, right). Dad snapped this photo at a rare occasion when Sam is not seated at the desk. Also notice the Ethernet cable coming out of the drawer. This is what Pete pulls across the floor to the counter and plugs into when he is in a high-bandwidth situation (e.g. League of Legends).