Cheep!

Posted by Dutchman Friday, January 22, 2010 1 comments

Why is it that whenever a battery runs low in a smoke detector, it always happens in the middle of the night? You wake to that incessant "CHEEP". It is not really all that loud, but apparently is at just the right frequency that your ears spark your brain into action. Then you have to make the decision on whether to get up, retrieve the step ladder from the garage and disconnect the detector until you get a battery, or try to go back to sleep. You always opt for the latter. CHEEP! It doesn't work. You have to get up.

Last night, I outlasted it. I remember a few intermittent chirps, but then apparently the dying nine volt managed to procure a final bit of power. When my alarm went off, it occurred to me that the computer thermostat allowed the temperature to go down during the night. When it started the cycle to warm the house for the morning, the battery probably returned to enough life to avoid the chirping. That only means that my task for this afternoon includes changing it.

I need some nine volt batteries that are CHEAP!


January...

Posted by Dutchman Friday, January 15, 2010 2 comments

For about the last 3 months, things have been relatively quiet and slow. It's January however, and things start to heat up in the Bachelor household.


Tyler has been attending his weekly baseball lesson, but now things start to ramp up. His baseball team is back to weekly practices and he also made the 8th grade basketball team. That means practices every day until 4:30 and games twice a week. Our weeks will be more and more busy until May, when our peak of activity occurs.
Goodbye home cooked meals. Hello more stops at the gas station to fill the tank. So long "moments peace and quiet".


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Homework

Posted by Dutchman Thursday, January 7, 2010 0 comments

When I was in high school, there was always some kid in class (especially math class) that asked the question "Why do we need to learn this?" Now that I'm a parent, I know the true answer. You need to know it so that when you grow up, you can help YOUR children with THEIR homework. Mostly there isn't another reason.

I've warned my sons, Zach and Tyler, that they really need to pay attention in school, and work hard to understand. As they get older, they are going to start running into more and more difficult things that I as a parent won't remember. So, when they come and ask for help with homework, there will come a day when I won't be able to help them.

Last night, Tyler, an eighth grader, asked if I would help him with his algebra. I told him that I would if I remember how. He showed me his worksheet. It was equations having to do with slopes and y intercepts. I told him "I don't think I can help you as I don't remember that stuff". He replied "It's ok; I can teach it to you".

"WHAT? If you can teach it to me, why do you need my help?!"

Anyway, I spent a while relearning that perpendicular lines have negative inverse slopes. Once we got that far, I was able to show him that if line A and line B are parallel, and line C is perpendicular to line A, then line C has to be perpendicular to line B.

Then I watched Maria Carey give her drunken "thank you" speech at the People's Choice Awards, and fell asleep.


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I'm a middle aged divorced father living with my two sons. We like to canoe, bicycle, fish, camp, play baseball, and spend money when we want and where we want, without permission from anybody. HA!

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