Okay, the last entry got long, so I figured I’d just continue on the new year. How do I start a new template while leaving the old one as-is? I switched from the Aqua design in Sandvox to the Cirrus design, for the 2015 photoblog, and it seems to have applied the design template site-wide. I think iWeb would allow me to change templates blog by blog. In order to change designs in Sandvox, it appears I’d have to start a new “site”. I’d keep the same host and so on, just change URLs within the domain, but everything would be in a different editing window… Maybe later.
To continue...
Family — Boy Scouts — Other:
I mentioned earlier that W is his Troop Librarian. The one project he was assigned is to take his troop’s library of merit badge books and, at the end of his term, catalog them and donate them to the local public library. We visited the San Marino Public Library, and he spoke with the Children’s Librarian there. It’s a wealthy city, so the library is very well done, and he kind of fell in love with the facility. The librarian was very agreeable to the arrangement, so it looks like that project will get done.
I myself have agreed to be a counsellor for several things: Nova STEM, the Ad Altare Dei religious emblem, and the Physical Fitness merit badge. So far, nobody has asked me to help with Nova STEM, I have yet to do the training for AAD later this month, and Physical Fitness comes up in February or March, I think.
Family — Miscellaneous:
School is the biggest and most important activity in the boys daily lives, of course. It’s also the most expensive. Both continue to do well, although after all these years at the same school, we question whether the boys are challenged enough as well as whether their skills are recognized and appreciated enough. This worry is especially galling when we consider how much we’re paying for private school, and it’s urgent because W will be applying to high schools starting next year.
Math and science are particular concerns for me. Prashant has been going on and on about how he thinks the school doesn’t prepare the kids well enough to compete in the best high schools in math and that they should have taken geometry by the time they leave, which they don’t, unfortunately. However, in order to take geometry, some people send their kids to outside courses, which is a ridiculous additional expense.
Additionally, from my own perspective, I’ve seen how kids in middle schools in the area can compete in county, state, and international science fairs, having judged in all three, and I’ve concluded after many years that “STEAM week” at this school is a colossal waste of time and effort that teaches no science, technology, engineering, or math but instead pretends to teach the kids those things while fooling nontechnical parents. Projects are packaged, with students not being allowed to pursue their own interests — all too often selected for “green” or “climate” or “recycling” or other trendy subjects, with obviously preferred outcomes and no real attempt to teach the scientific method or actual critical thought. Teams are preselected, with students not being allowed, frankly, to “fire” unproductive or uncooperative temmates. “Technology” means putting together PowerPoint presentations afterward, in the Middle School. In the Lower School, the whole thing is a mess of large scale dioramas.
Meanwhile, W has entered debate contests and joined teams with the school. Debate is apparently well thought of at this school, apparently because of the large numbers of lawyer families; meanwhile, there are no science fair entries or math teams.
For myself, I always thought of debate as rapidfire verbal obfuscation intended to mask a lack of substance and logical construction in oral argument. Debate is the stupid, ugly cousin of logic, one step up or more from drama club, but far, far below math, science, engineering, and logic. Debate, in my opinion, is what a school’s pseudo-intellectuals unskilled at math or science do to feel good about themselves.
J, on the other hand, has entered with a team in something called Odyssey of the Mind, which is sort of an engineering contest. Unfortunately, Hsuan tells me his team is an uncooperative mess.
Meanwhile, at least, W and J did compete in the American Open Scholastic Chess Tournament in Orange County on November 23rd. J struggled a bit in his division, but W won 4th place in the Junior Varsity U1200 K-12 division.
Ivan, one of J’s classmates who competed in a lower division than J, acted like his usually spectacularly insensitive self, won a trophy in his lower division, and basically rubbed his win in J’s face as well as their classmate C’s face, who competed in the same division as Ivan. C’s mom took him home before the award ceremony, and I told W that I had to take J away as well because of Ivan. W was an understanding older brother, so I took J to the nearby mall for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.
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After the tournament, W got sick and started throwing up after the Boy Scout meeting the following night. At first, we thought it might have been food poisoning from some food that had been left out overnight — honey BBQ hot wings, maybe something grew in the honey sauce — but a couple of days later, Hsuan and J also got sick, with vomiting and diarrhea just as W recovered.
Since I wasn’t sick, we deduced that maybe they had drunk contaminated water from a water dispenser at the chess tournament or otherwise caught it from close contact with someone there. I kept mostly to myself there, so maybe I was safer.
It was a pity, because right when Hsuan and J were getting sick was when the Thanksgiving turkey was thawed and I had started the brine. When Thanksgiving came, I set about deep frying the turkey for the second year. W and I enjoyed it thoroughly, but Hsuan and J could taste only a bit.
It was spectacular.
This Christmas, I fried another turkey, so we could all enjoy it.
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Finally, since June, I’ve been on a prescription weight loss medication, Qsymia (7.5 mg phentermine, 46 mg topiramate). I had a choice between this and Belviq, and I had to read through the literature as well as do some journal searches myself in order to make the choice. One study said that Qsymia was more effective for more patients. Unfortunately, both are relatively new and still — at the time I made the decision — hadn’t completed all of their FDA-mandated tests. However, the Qsymia has been pretty effective for me. Since June, I’ve gone from a maximum of about 212 pounds to under 195 pounds, and my appetite has been fairly well controlled. Of course, I’ve been exercising pretty well with all my activity with W in scouts, too.
The Qsymia has two unfortunate side effects. One is that it leaves me feeling pretty drowsy around noon, after lunch. I take my one dose in the morning at breakfast. The other is that I’ve been experiencing noticeable hair loss, though I think this is more an effect of the strong weight loss (i.e. loss of protein) than it is an direct effect of the medication. I can’t wait to get off the medicine once I hit my target range.