Last month, to teach Neil a bit about the stock market and to watch its current trends ourselves, Peter set up a stock market game for the family. To say I was pessimistic at the time may have been a bit of an understatement. I had recently seen this graph based on the Congressional Budget…
Author: cjbickford
Swine Flu Panic
On Tuesday morning, Kelly started moaning and crying and then ran to throw up. Normally, in these circumstances, I simply declare her sick and she has to stay home for the day. But by then, the news services in full-on panic mode about a new viral strain that had been dubbed swine flu. Peter and…
Snoopy in Space at the Schulz Museum
I originally planned to take the children to the De Young Museum today; and another homeschool parent had told me about a free hands-on science day as CSU-Hayward; but in the end, I decided what I would rather do this weekend than on any other is to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum again with…
Is the North American Reciprocal Museum Membership (NARM) Worthwhile?
Last year, I finally tried something I’ve been meaning to try for a while. Instead of buying memberships at both the San Jose Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, I bought a $150 membership at the San Jose Art Museum which included a North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) membership (as well…
Grumpy & Condescending at the Legion of Honor
This April has not been a good month for me, but I’m trying to make it work. In particular, field trips and parties make for nice diversions, and this month alone (among other fun adventures) we had a wonderful visit to the Exploratorium; found a lone banana slug in the remote Portola Redwoods; and had…
Get Off the Couch Day!
At the Indian Health Center, I learned that on April 18th, a local Barnes & Noble was going to be hosting a four hour activity/storytime/music extravaganza. So, naturally, Kelly and I were going to be there! I made sure to get there early, because I expected it would only get more crowded over time. Outside…
The Santa Clara Valley Rock, Gem, and Mineral Show
The Santa Clara Valley Gem and Mineral Society (essentially a geologist and rock hunter club) had a brilliant idea to improve attendance and interest in its annual show: they recruited the youth leaders amongst themselves so that Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts could earn badges learning more about geology while at the show….
Kelly Works the Farmer’s Market
Kelly loves the farmer’s market, and already, at the age of five, she’s got the farmer’s market vibe down. She walks around all the booths, trying samples and greeting the farmers. She points out her favorite produce for me to buy (today’s take: English peas for snacking, Romanescu broccoli, salmon dip, though I passed on…
My Economist
I saw this Dilbert cartoon and thought, hey, that’s the economist I‘ve been listening to: In our family’s fantasy stock-picking game, I cynically chose an “Armageddon-is-coming” mix of stocks: guns, ammo, aerospace defense, gold, Russian gas and oil, and a nice chunk of cash to grab for when the banks completely collapse. To my surprise,…
The Accidental TEA Partier
Yesterday, Peter called me from his office to tell me about the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party/Protest which had formed on the street below his office. This TEA Party was people protesting out-of-control goverment spending, such as the TARP bank bail-out (which as far as I know no-one, right or left, liked); the blasted-through-without-being-read trillions-of-dollars…