Sempi loves Vian. Vian thinks Sempi is the coolest guy ever. When Vian is crying and I've tried every trick in my book, I call Sempi for help. Sempi starts doing something funny (sing a song in gibberish or jump up and down on a mattress), immediately Vian starts laughing (not just a smile but a wholehearted laughter). Vian thinks Sempi is hilarious and Sempi loves to entertain Vian. It works out great for me. :)
My son's preschool Whole Child Montessori is running it's annual fundraiser called Little Hands Big Work. It's an event where the school raises money to provide scholarship to kids who need it. In addition the kids and parents volunteer to restore a natural water shed. So donors get the double benefit of supporting early childhood education as well as making the environment better.
It is a worthy cause that deserves your support.
Here's the link to donate: http://www.wholechildmontessori.org/little-hands-big-work/
When you donate mention Sempi's name in the student column, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. :)
A common advice that is given to people in software is "Surround yourself with programmers better than yourself". Somehow this advice does NOT work for me. Whenever I've worked on a team with programmers who are better than me, I get lazy. I tend to write code that is slightly worse than my average. I reckon it's because I rely on the better programmers to catch my mistakes. I do learn things from them but it's not quite at the same pace as when I'm thrown in the deep end with minimal help.
When I work in teams where people are about as good as me or they come to me for advice, I produce significantly better results. This goes beyond code, I've noticed this effect in project direction or project management. I find myself doing a lot of self-study and personal experimentation to make sure I know what I'm talking about. This naturally leads to better results.
I still need access to the expert when I'm stuck, but that access should not be as easy as turning my head to ask a question. I prefer that access to be through an email where I'm forced to write my thoughts down. Describing my problem in written form usually triggers cognitive dissonance and I end up solving the issue before hitting send.
Last Sunday Sempi decided he wanted to setup a lemonade stand. Yoshi and Sempi went to store to pick up a bunch of lemons and spent the morning hand squeezing them.
It was made with the finest ingredients (cane sugar and ice cold water). Yoshi said she can help make the signs and Sempi declared that he's going to give free lemonades. He insisted that he won't charge for his lemonade.
At this time I'm beaming with pride with his decision to give away his lemonade for free.
He sat out in the scorching sun in the middle of the day calling out to passersby "Free Lemonade". When people came over his first words were "you don't have to pay, this is free lemonade". Then he diligently poured some lemonade in a cup and handed it over.
Our neighbor across the street came over for some lemonade. He not only gave him a few quarters as tips and he was also the salesman of our fine stand. Calling out to bikers and walkers to come taste the delicious free lemonade. It was a grand success.
At one point even Vian was sitting inside the little lemonade stand helping his brother.
I'm incredibly proud of my son's decision to setup a free lemonade stand. He is the best.
Nice hot day for driving to the gorge and visiting some of our favorite falls. First stop Bridal Veil falls.
Bridal Veil falls:
After an awesome hike we have a clear view of the bridal veil falls. Sempi takes in the view and announces, "Appa I'd like to pee now". Of course, you do.
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Zinger between me and Yoshi.
Me: Do you think it is named Bridal Wails falls because it sounds like a wailing bride?
Yoshi: I can see why you would think that, but the wailing you saw at our wedding is a special spectacle, I had my reasons. No one does that.
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On our hike back from the falls, I convinced Sempi to say that the falls ran out of water. He wasn't quite convincing, but he tried his best. Unfortunately none of the hikers heard what he said. Oh well, we'll try it again next time.
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Multnomah falls:
After Bridal Veil we were trying do decide which one to visit next. The top contenders were Multnomah falls or Wahkeen falls. Multnomah falls won hands down because they have soft serve ice cream. Priorities!
Once we got our soft serve cones and started walking up, Sempi became increasingly distraught that his cone was melting. So I generously offered to switch his cone for mine. He agreed and we switched for a minute but then he realized my cone had very little left in it and promptly switched back.
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A little while later...
Sempi: Appa can you just eat the ice cream so I can eat the cone?
Me: Gladly!
But unfortunately before I could do any damage to his ice cream, he changed his mind.
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After the ice cream is done we were sitting at a bench and admiring the view.
Sempi: Appa do they turn off the water at night when they close the gates?
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