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Below are the 7 most recent journal entries.

	2008.05.22  11.57 Kids and Summer What shall I do with my oldest this summer?  He is 11 years old. My 8 year old daughter will probably happy with the Boys and Girls Club. My youngest (age 2) boy is in a family day care. My oldest, age 11, ADHD / ODD / PDD-NOS boy is presently my largest concern. He 'hates' the Boys and Girls club. Why?  He won't say. Probably over-stimulation and dealing with all the kids there. I may be the same way.  Thank Ghod I got into reading.  In elementary and middle school I read three YA novels a day during the summer. Then I got into going via Subway to the Boston Museum of Science.  Is it doable to use public transit to go from Simi Valley  to the California  Science Center ? Would I want an 11 year old to do that in 2008 ?  Transit time from Simi Valley to the science center is 3 hours 39 minutes with three changes per So Cal Metro.  So not likely. Besides the Simi Valley Boys and Girls Club. we have Rancho Simi Parks and Recreation which offer many activities. Hopefully he'll find some things to do. I don't want him spending the whole summer watching the boob tube or playing computer games. I intend to spend some time with him this weekend working out a plan that he will agree to.  I can fantasize, can I not? Sigh. Summer Time and the living is easy. Hush little baby.

	2008.03.25  14.35 Excited about Denvention 3 I'm getting really excited about Worldcon in August - Denvention 3 in Denver CO USA from August 6-10, 2008. My family and I will pack into my Honda Civic - which is our newest auto for the trip across the Mohave through Las Vegas, across a good chunk of Utah to Moab, UT. We plan on staying at the Moab UT KOA Campground in a Kabin for a few days before moving on to Denver CO. I'd like to visit Canyonlands National Park including the Upheaval Dome meteor impact site. It happened less then 170 million years ago.  I figure that checking the area out in the mornings before it gets too hot, then relaxing in the pool after lunch would be a great way to relax while waiting for the next dinosaur killer. The Jurassic geologic period  started about 170 million years ago. The meteor impact must have done a number to the environment. After the visit to Moab, we'll continue on over the Rockies to Denver CO. It'll be great to see my fannish family. Peter Mood: pensive

	2006.10.21  17.26 It's Jamboree on the Air weekend !  Scouts (Cub scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts etc) all over the world will be on Amateur Radio trying to make contact with other scouts. I'm a ham radio operator. I'll be encouraging my kids to get on the air with me to talk with other scouts. 73 de Peter KB1CVH

	2006.09.07  13.10 Personality I saw a personality test thing on lauriemann 's page.  It linked to the test. I took it. Doubt this implimentation is particularly accurate as it had few questions making the sample size small. It may reflect what's going on in my life now. To a judgemental person, it would seem to reflect highly negative about me.  I'm not as bad as that. Perhaps I found the questions not particularly well written given the goal. Of course, a good hint would be the survey's title when one links to it  - "Quick MySpace Survey" ;-) I had the Myers-Briggs Type indicator test some time ago. That was truly enlightening. It was administered and scored by a professional who explained it to the team of us taking it.  I shall not divulge my type here as that's very personal. However, this test seems to be based on a system similar to Myers-Briggs Type indicator - The Big Five Personality Traits My Personality   Neuroticism 82 Extraversion 28 Openness To Experience 26 Agreeableness 15 Conscientiousness 4 Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report MySpace Surveys, Bebo and hi5 by Pulseware Survey Software Mood: lethargic Music: None

	2006.09.05  12.34 Multitasking I've was listening to the Linux Action Show as I drove in to work this morning. As I drive, I sure wish I could multitask as follows: Left eye - watching road right eye - reading Wall Street Journal left ear - listening to a podcast right ear - listening to conversations on the Magic Mountain Repeater (147.735 - no PL) on Oat Mountain. Additionally, I would need to be able to switch an ear to my cell phone and handle that if my phone rang or I needed to make a call. And of course carry on a conversation while doing three other things simultaneously with no loss of quality. I wonder if we can develop a new firmware release for humans that would allow this to happen effectively. What would be the natural selection pressure to select for this ? How would mutations that would permit this be caused ? Do we have similar mutations now - perhaps Autism and  Aspergers or other dysfunctions are phenotypes that might lead to this new capability in humans. Some thoughts about Autism is that the persons with it lack an ability to filter input. Of couse, how often are people with these phenotypes able to reproduce and do these abilities lead to the ability to more successfully multitask if selected for.  It's interesting that today's Wall Street Journal - Sept 5, 2006 page D4 has a small article that discusses statistical findings that the risk of Autism in a child is related to the age of the father. Fathers who have children when they are over 40 have increased risk.  I do hope that my son Niall, who was concieved in our fourties, doesn't come down with Autism. The abstract of the study can be found here in the Archive of General Psychiatry. I wonder if any existing humans have developed this ability, and if I could develop it. Some research is in order to determine if it's a plausible effort for me to make the effort. And safety might be a consideration. A realtime failure of this ability might lead to an auto accident. Mood: busy

	2006.09.04  10.52 Universal Studios Hollywood and Bubba Gumps We visited Universal Studios California Amusement Park on Saturday, September 3rd, 2006. We were thinking of visiting the Universal Citywalk and perhaps taking in a movie, but Katt Thorndike, a friend of ours, her son Aaron who is a friend of my son Edwin, and another friend of ours called us and wanted to take Edwin with them to Universal Studios. We decided to all go to Universal Studios.  I had my wife purchase tickets for us at our local outlet of EES Tickets - which we purchased for $39 each.  We left the house in Simi Valley at about 7:30am on Sunday. We arrived at Universal Studios a bit after 8am.  We walked down the Citywalk and had coffee at the ubiquitous Starbucks.  We still miss Dunkin Donuts. Katt was a bit late. We hung our in front of the Universal Globe for a bit.  Katt had not told her son that Edwin would be there. When they arrived, it was a happy reunion as they hadn't seen each other in a week. As we had prepurchased tickets, entry was quick.  Edwin and Aaron went off with Katt and her friend.  Joyce and I went with Eleanor and Niall to visit the water areas and meet Dora the Explorer.  Eleanor also got to meet Spongebob Squarepants. We then found another water area next to Terminator 2. Joyce went to ride the Terminator 2  ride while I waited with  Niall and Eleanor. Eleanor enjoyed the water toys. Niall slept.  I received a call from my old friend Maddy Duff  on my cellphone.   She was calling to wish us a Happy Anniversary and the kids Happy Birthday.  It was nice to hear from her. Katt  and party joined us at T2 and we decided to go to lunch. We agreed that Bubba Gumps on Universal Citywalk would be a place to try.  We walked over and were quickly seated with the kids at one table and the adults and Niall at an adjacent table.  Katt had told us that a child eats free if an adult is eating. With 4 adults, we were anticipating that the 3 older children (ages 7-10) would eat free. Unfortunately, that special only applies to Universal owned restaurants.  Bubba Gumps is not Universal owned so we paid for the kids meals.  I enjoyed the meal I had. The popcorn shrimp was a surprise - I'd expected many little shrimp. We received larger shrimp in a bucket with real popcorn.  Joyce and I with Edwin and Eleanor enjoyed our meal to the tune of $83 (that includes a 20% tip).  Our server was Matt and, he was excellent.  We reentered Universal Studios - there was no one at the reentry portal when we arrived and people were standing around.  I went through the turnstile and opened the gate for folks with baby carriages including my wife and Niall. In the afternoon, we went on the Universal Studio tour which had a 45 minute line.  Some parts were shaded and water was occassionally available in the line, but standard bubblers don't cut it.   Cold water faucets would have been appreciated as we attempted to refill our water bottles.  The studio tour was okay for mundanes.  I'm not into 'Desperate Housewifes'. I appreciated seeing the car from Serenity in the auto area. Still I tried to use my camera to take pictures during the tour.  I also got a kick out of seeing an attempt to create scenes from Boston, where I grew up.  I also rode the Back to the Future ride.  I shall not do that again.  It made me nauseous.  It reminded me of the Las Vegas Star Trek rides which were fun, but didn't make me nauseous. The kids had a good time. Seems like I'm mostly living my life for my kids now. I don't enjoy amusement parks generally. I'd rather read a good book or story. The complete set of photos from our visit to Univeral Studios is here. Mood: tired

	2006.08.28  15.15 Worldcon 2006 I had a nice time at Worldcon 2006. I spend most of my time in or around the Adventurers Club - children's programming. This program was the best children's program I've ever seen. I've seen quite a few. The Adventurers club had a different theme each day. Actors in costume really made it. In the morning, after a meeting to discuss the clue riddle to find the time scepter piece, actors and children disbursed to activities including areas of the con where they could look for the scepter and meet the actors. If they asked a question of an actor or answered a question asked by an actor - the child was able to get a stamp in their Adventures Club Book. Visits to the Dealers Room also allowed children to get stamps in their book. This was a good opportunity for me to take my daughter around the con - however, she was very gung ho about the stamps. I would have preferred she looked at the delights of the dealers room and art show when she visited there. We went down to the art show ahead of the Adventures club group. Eleanor, age 7, wanted to find the missing time scepter piece. It took some serious convincing that she should not dig into the boxes under the table or open artifacts that could be opened. She didn't find the time scepter piece, but did manage to be the first person to earn the first full Adventures Club membership that included a patch and a bag of swag. Apparently LACON has a tradition of running the 'Adventures Club'. It's a terrific tradition. Pictures I took of the club are available here:  Adventures Club Photos