We Love the Leader

On a scale from 1 to creepy, I'd rate this as very creepy.

Grandparents Visit

Maya's Grandparents stopped in for a visit this afternoon to see their granddaughters. They were also nice enough to baby-sit and give Zaheeda and me a chance to go see the movie Burn After Reading. This was the first movie we'd been to together in about ten years and had a great time - we laughed hysterically through the entire film. We give it two thumbs up!!! Way Up!

Neal Stephenson

Maya and I went to Barnes & Noble in Edina tonight to see author Neal Stephenson discuss/sign his new book Anathem. Neal is one of the current generation's best science fiction writers and getting to see him was a real treat (for me) and one of those, 'you are going to go to this because when you are older you'll be glad you did' things for Maya. Maya's Grandma recently finished his book Snow Crash and though her review was mixed she did learn what an 'avatar' is.

Wild

Maya and her mom went to a Minnesota Wild hockey game tonight compliments of Maya's teacher - she's got some kind of in with the team and got free tickets. There were three fights during the game, which is always nice since hockey is such a low scoring affair a person really needs some kind of entertainment to alleviate the boredom between goals - and really, what's better than watching two grown men in skates punching one another? After all the fisticuffs the Wild did manage to come away with a 2-1 win.

Blowing on Belly

Best part of having a little sister is blowing on her belly.

Jasper

Jasper has been attending dog school in hopes they can train and/or beat the stupidity out of him. Hunting season is fast approaching and unless Julie (the dog trainer) turns out to be the Marva Collins of obedience training, Jasper is not going to be ready for prime time. Maya's been bad mouthing Jasper to other dog owners. This lady at the bus stop in the morning has a little cocker spaniel and Maya is always saying to her, "Your dog is so well behaved. My Grandma has a dog and he's terrible..." If only he could be as good as Gizzy.

Rocking out with Annah

Field Trip Report

Maya really enjoyed her field trip today - she learned all about the day to day life of the early settlers. Her favorite part was the fur trade post and how the beaver was the standard of trade value. Did you know in the old days fur values were as follows:

1 Wolf = 2 Beaver
1 Fox = 2 Beaver
10 Muskrats = 1 Beaver
20 Weasels = 1 Beaver

Interesting fact: Nowadays you can pick up a controlling interest in American International Group Insurance for about 15 Muskrat. However they have and balance sheet with about 620 billion in outstanding beaver debt. This is due to the fact that the entire financial industry is run by a bunch of weasels.

Field Trip Tomorrow

Maya and her fellow 4th graders will be having an all day field trip tomorrow at Pond Dakota Mission Park in Bloomington. Her teacher said out of all the field trips they do this is the one she thinks is the most interesting. Well get a report from Maya tomorrow afternoon and find out how it went.

Country Folk

When this group isn't home watching Wipe Out, American Gladiator, or Deal or No Deal they like to stand on the side of the road and wave at passing cars.

Cousin Evan

Cousin Evan is really starting to assume the posture of a Packer fan.

Quashed Plans

Rain put a damper on our plans today. It seems ridiculous to complain about the weather considering the mess being endured by those poor people in the Texas Gulf Coast, but that wont stop me from doing so. We were really looking forward to heading to the Tree Frog Festival in Fairbault today, since we had such a great time last year, but who wants to sit in the rain all day. The festival does continue on through Sunday but the level of performers is not quite as good the second day - and really, if you are a performer, and being relegated to the second day of the Tree Frog Festival in Fairbault, MN - at that point it's a pretty clear indication that fame and fortune will forever be eluding you.

Gnome

If you open this post the Gnome will give you good luck... Or is it bad luck? I can't remember.

MayaTimes #25

Comic Book Convention

Took the girls to Uncle Sven's tonight so Maya could get a comic and they were promoting the Midwest Comic Book Association's Fall Convention to be held at the Fair grounds next month. Maya is kind of excited because they are going to have a lot of comic artists there and it sounds like a lot of fun. Geek ratio is expected to be high - very high.

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This is a monkey in a Maya suit.

Fourth Grade Orientation

Fourth grade orientation tonight at 5:00PM. Zaheeda is unable to attend because she has some kids to watch so that means I'm going to have to get orientated alone. I suspect I'm going to hear about how the teacher is really excited about the new school year and she wants to have a lot of parent involvement. Truth be told, she really means - "my summer vacation is over and I'm dreading having to be back to work and I hope you parents volunteer for chaperoning field trips and all, but as far as having a lot of back forth we me, please remember I have a job to do and I can't spend my whole day talking to you about trying to come up with ways to get your creepy little kid to do his or her homework - so give me some space." Oh well, we all carry on as we must.

Alien

School - Day two

Second day of school went off without a hitch. She got on the bus in the morning and got off the bus in the afternoon.

New Teacher

Mrs. Kortuem

First Day of School

Maya survived the first day of Fourth Grade. One exciteing new twist this year is that she is able to take the bus to school - which she is opting to do in lieu of the private chauffeur service she's utilized over the previous four years. Unfortunately, we were at the bus stop this morning and the bus drove right past us and didn't stop! So we drove to school just like the good ol' days. The bus did manage to drop her off at the right spot in the afternoon so hopefully we'll get this worked out. I called the school and they are going to look into the problem. I also mentioned this to our neighbor Cathleen (who is a teacher in the Saint Paul school system) last night and she said that bus drivers around here are usually not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Skinned Knee

On the ride home Maya was distracted by a helicopter flying overhead, tipped over on her bike, and skinned her knee. Concentration.... Concentration.

RNC Convention

Today Maya and I took a bike ride downtown to see all the hulabulu surrounding the RNC Convention. It was a beautiful, though slightly warm day and by the time we got downtown Maya was really starting to look overheated. Fortunately she was able to cool off in the water sculptures at the park.



Here the police are keeping an upper hand on unruly protesters. There were about 50 arrests today as the local and federal authorities had to crack down on violent Anarchists. Why can't Anarchists do anything more productive with their time than break windows and slash tires?

New Glasses

Maya With her new glasses - the hat I believe was sold seperately.