Beth Leonard

Moving to Dreamwidth

2017-05-04T06:32:49Z

Due to the unacceptable terms of service at Live Journal, I am moving over to Dreamwidth. My account over there is: https://beth-leonard.dreamwidth.org

I will likely delete this Live Journal account once I verify that everything is working over there, but I may not.

--Beth

Gamer's New Year's Eve

2016-12-27T01:11:24Z

It's time to enjoy the Gamer's New Year's eve party!  Celebrate with
those others who say, "What?  I have to pause the game for some
countdown?!?"

Who:    You! and any friends you want to invite
What:   Board Gaming!  And celebration of the earth leveling up.
When:   3pm until very late at night New Years Eve (Sat. Dec. 31st, 2016)

        Countdowns for the kids at 4pm (Midnight GMT) and Midnight Pacific for
the older folks.  Dinner around 6pm.

Where:  Our house: 1264 Albion Ln., Sunnyvale, CA 94087
RSVP:   If you will be there for dinner it's appreciated, but not needed

What to bring:  If you'll be there for dinner, please bring a dish of
        something vaguely healthy (side or salad).  We'll have a vegetable
        tray and pizzas.

        We'll be providing Martinalli's sparkling apple cider to ring
        in the new year, but if you'd prefer something stronger, please
        bring it yourself or coordinate with others to share.

We have plenty of floor space if you are from a distance away and
would prefer to sleep over.  I believe all but one of the beds are
claimed already.  We have a limited number of sleeping bags, you
may want to toss one in the car just in case.  If you know in advance
you'll be putting kids down here, please let us know how many so we can
clear enough floor space.

Hope to see you soon!
--Beth

Properly seeding a positive culture

2016-10-24T07:30:56Z

I'll admit it up front, this is a pat-myself-on-the back post, but I'm proud of what happened this week. I feel like actions I intentionally took in the past help seed a positive culture, and the path from point A to C had to go through B. I think helping people live in a positive and supportive culture is the best thing we can do for our country and the world.
I'm proud that one of my kids at Santa Maria gave $0.50 of "free book" money to another kid who was more of an acquaintance than a friend, asking nothing in return. For some students, this altruism might have happened without help, but I don't think it would have for this particular kid.

At Santa Maria about 4 years ago I started doing the Scholastic Book club with the students. In exchange for good attendance, they were given $7/month in free book money to spend. If they were absent on book order day, it rolled over to the next month, and if there wasn't a book they wanted, or one that was more expensive than $7, they could "save up" the money for the following month.

Other than that, I had a "use it or lose it" policy. Kids could spend $6 on a book they wanted, but couldn't save the extra $1. They could give it to another student, however. Kids would frequently work together to get the books they wanted, and I remember the look of absolute joy I saw on a 1st grader's face when she was able to give $1 away to an older student to help him get the book he wanted.

Letting students earn something of value that they had control over was one of my goals (in addition to the math practice of buying books you can afford and having the experience of promises kept over a span of weeks; I've mailed books to kids who have moved away.) I wanted a culture of sharing as well as a culture of saving.

The use it or lose it policy helped develop a culture of sharing. Some students arguably abused it by finding out who had leftovers and asking for it, sometimes getting up to $5 from others. Others routinely gave half or more of their money away, but did so with pride.
Once the culture was in place, I updated my spreadsheets to allow kids to save-up partial amounts, starting last year. I wondered what would happen to the culture of sharing? The older students still routinely share, and the younger ones are learning it's possible. And that student who frequently received $5 from others? She gave $0.50 away this month. With pride.

Steam cleaner

2016-06-23T04:54:46Z

Today was one of those days when I'm glad I own a steam cleaner... and wish I didn't need it. Spilled an entire batch of wienie beanies all over the back of the minivan on the way to the church potluck this evening. ... sigh... At least it's all cleaned up now, and parts are even cleaner than they were before they got spilled on.

--Beth

Emergency crochet to the rescue!

2016-05-04T06:13:38Z

I'm doing spotlights for Amber's show, and you're supposed to bring a heat-proof glove because those lights get hot enough to burn you. One of the other spots people showed us a scar from a previous show. Despite having reminded myself 3 times during the day not to forget, I forgot my gloves in the house and didn't remember until just after we'd gotten on the freeway -- too late to turn back.

Sometimes you can get away with not having a glove if your cues are short, but they gave me the job of being center spot on Alice, which is on for nearly the whole show. I had remembered my crochet bag, so during our half-hour break I did some emergency crochet work and made myself a suitable spotlight mitten. It fits like a glove! I'm so proud of myself, I thought I'd share. There is a use to all these hobby skills I'm learning.

--Beth

The Deadlock Empire is mine!! Bwa ha ha ha!

2016-02-12T07:34:11Z

I gave up playing mindless games like Candy Crush and 2048 for lent. So I found this instead:
https://deadlockempire.github.io/#menu

I remember tracking down a bug in a program at HP that was essentially the problem in the #5 "Deadlock" challenge. Our code hadn't changed in weeks, yet our regression tests were failing to complete about every 10 days, and I eventually tracked down why. I still remember the elation of figuring it out a decade and a half later. And yes, I did figure it out while in the shower. It's where engineers get our best thinking in.

--Beth

5 tips for great conversations

2016-01-24T10:46:54Z

Sometimes it's easier to write things out than to lie awake thinking about what I'd write. At Peter's parent visiting day, the children were given an optional assignment by the drama teacher to write articles for the newspapers that the kids are going to have printed for the Upper Elementary production of "Newsies." These are filler articles, but they might actually get read. Parents and kids were encouraged to contribute complete articles over the next several weeks that fit the topics "5 tips for..." or "How to..." or "8 Reasons to..." I received the distinct impression she wasn't expecting many submissions, and wordiness is not a problem.

I couldn't help brainstorming and now committing to paper the following tips. Some of these are from college, others are ones I've learned along the way.

5 tips for great conversations
by Peter Leonard's mom

Have you ever walked up to a group of people and felt like they didn't want you there? Have you ever felt uncomfortable and embarrassed talking to someone? or accidentally made someone else feel embarrassed while talking to you? Would you like to become excellent at and comfortable with talking to others? Here are 5 tips for having a great conversation:

#1. The 2-minute linger rule: Whenever you approach a group of people who are already talking, linger and listen without saying anything for at least 2 minutes. Resist the temptation to jump in and say, "Who are you talking about? What happened?" If you linger for 2 full minutes, chances are that just by listening you'll figure out from context what happened. It's like solving a mystery from the clues. If after 2 minutes, you still can't figure it out, or the other people haven't asked what you need, then it's ok to interrupt and ask questions. If you linger before you leap in and talk, people will not look annoyed when you come near them.

#2. The 10-hour looks rule: Never comment on or ask about someone's looks until after you have had 10 hours of conversations with them, unless they bring it up first. This is generally true about people's clothing, but it is especially true about things a person can't change, such as baldness, skin color, physical disabilities, or wearing glasses. If the checkout clerk at the grocery store has a big scar on her cheek, don't comment on it. Even saying something nice like, "That scar makes you look so cool!" can be annoying to the other person, because she probably hears comments like that 10 times a day. Your comment is not unique or helpful. Bite your tongue unless they look seriously ill and you can help.

After you have known a person for a while, and eaten lunch together for an hour a day for 2 weeks -- talked about different things for at least 10 hours -- if you find you still must know about the part of them that looks unique, only then you may comment. If a friend gets a new haircut, it's ok to say, "Do you like your new haircut?" but if you see a stranger with an unusual cut, don't say anything, because you don't know what led to it, and what might make them feel bad.

#3. The pets conversation: If you can't talk about other people's looks, and you don't know them, what can you talk about? Here's a great conversation starter: "This morning my pet...." Fill in the blank with the best thing your pet did all day. "... ate all his food and gave me cute puppy eyes when he wanted more," or "... jumped up on the counter and knocked over a glass of water." Before you've finished speaking, everyone you're trying to talk to will want to share stories of their pets.

#4. The YouTube video conversation: What if you don't have a pet? Surely you've seen a YouTube video. These can be harder to describe, so you might want to practice summarizing it before you join a group and start talking. "Yesterday I saw the funniest YouTube video about a brother and sister who could play the piano while sitting backwards. My sister would never do that with me." If no one else responds with a video that they like, you can add, "What's the best video you've ever seen?" This gets the conversation going and it can branch out to many different topics. People can talk about piano or other YouTube videos.

#5. Listen and make eye contact: Don't forget to listen. Starting a conversation with people you don't know well is wonderful, but make sure that you're not the only one doing the talking. If there are 4 people, you'll be talking at most 1/4 of the time and listening 3/4 of the time. Try to pay attention to what they're saying, and not just thinking about what you'll say next. Trust yourself to say what you want to say when your turn comes. Make eye contact with the person speaking, instead of looking around or looking past them. Even if they're talking to the whole group and not specifically looking back at you, they can tell if you are not interested. They're more likely to look at you and give you another turn to speak when they're done if you're looking directly at them.

...
I feel like it needs a closing sentence, but that will have to inspire me another day.

Progress

2016-01-24T08:13:26Z

I remember when 8GB was more storage than the entire CS department had, and now I'm giving out 8GB USB drives as birthday party favors.

There's a lot about the current world that I don't like, but quite a lot that I do.

--Beth

Honk! Tickets to be purchased soon.

2016-01-14T07:51:27Z

Amber is loving doing theater! Her next musical is "Honk" and pre-sale tickets for VIP season ticket holders are on-sale now. i.e. I can buy you a ticket before they go on sale for the parents this Friday at 10am. There are 3 casts with 69 kids each, and each cast only does 3 performances, so tickets will go quickly.

Tickets cost about $20 each, slightly less for kids, slightly more for adults by the time you include ticketing fees. Let me know if you would like me to pick some up for you.
Her shows are:

Friday 2/26 7pm
Saturday 2/27 Noon (my parents and Peter are seeing this one)
Sunday 2/28 3pm (Jon, Peter, and I are seeing this one)

Amber is a part of the hatchery. In other words, for this show she is dancing poultry so if you're going to pick a show to skip, this might be it. I have tremendous respect for the director and artistic staff, so I'm sure it will be a great show. Amber loves it when people come out to see her perform.

If you want to buy your own "friends and family" tickets directly starting Friday, here's the link:

https://cmt.vbotickets.com/event/Honk/10555
--Beth

Unsolicited phone calls

2016-01-05T21:33:27Z

I strongly dislike unsolicited phone calls. Despite joining the "National Do Not Call Registry" about a year ago, the volume does not appear to have decreased. We get 3-5 calls daily.

This morning they started at 6:30am (my alarm goes off at 7:20am). I was Not Pleased.

--Beth

Mommy's first Smartphone

2016-01-05T05:54:49Z

I have finally joined the land of the living and purchased a smartphone to replace the iPod touch/$6 per month flip phone combo I had been using. "Why," you ask?

In part, because I lost my old phone somewhere in the house, and in part because now that Apple has unlocked the iPhones I can now get a $15/month plan as part of my parents' family plan. For that monthly price, it's worth it. I couldn't justify spending $70/month for services I almost never use.

Now hopefully I'll stop losing my phone because it will fit in my beltclip where I've never lost my iPod touch. It will also be much easier to text now that I have somewhat of a keyboard.

Does the iPhone have a swipy mode like the Android devices? The auto correct isn't very good yet.

--Beth
[posted from my iPhone]

EDIT TO ADD: It appears that although it says it has one dot worth of signal at the house, it doesn't actually appear to have enough signal to have a phone conversation, and texts may or may not be delivered. :-( So if you want to contact me, your best bet is still to call our home line or send e-mail, as always.

New Year's Eve is today!

2015-12-31T19:27:43Z

It's the party that's so regular we almost don't need to send out
invitations! We've had another trip around the sun and it's time
to celebrate with the Gamer's New Year's eve party! Celebrate with
those others who say, "What? I have to pause the game for some
countdown?!?"

Who: You! and any friends you want to invite
What: Board Gaming! And celebration of the earth leveling up.
When: 3pm until very late at night New Years Eve (Th. Dec. 31st, 2015)

Countdowns for the kids at 4pm (Midnight GMT) and Midnight Pacific for t
+he older folks. Dinner around 6pm.

Where: Our house: 1264 Albion Ln., Sunnyvale, CA 94087
RSVP: If you will be there for dinner it's appreciated, but not needed

What to bring: If you'll be there for dinner, please bring a dish of
something vaguely healthy (side or salad). We'll have a vegetable
tray and pizzas.

We'll be providing Martinalli's sparkling apple cider to ring
in the new year, but if you'd prefer something stronger, please
bring it yourself or coordinate with others to share.

We have plenty of floor space if you are from a distance away and
would prefer to sleep over. I believe all but one of the beds are
claimed already. We have a limited number of sleeping bags, you
may want to toss one in the car just in case.

Hope to see you soon!
--Beth

Thankful

2015-11-24T21:44:49Z

I'm thankful for Scholastic Book Clubs.

I'm thankful Peter has matured so much over the last 3 months.

I'm thankful Amber's play is over.

I'm thankful Amber's play was awesome, so I didn't mind seeing it 3 times and wanted to see it a fourth.

I'm thankful for Jon, who let me have a half-day to myself at Disneyland.

I'm thankful for seeing friends at Disneyland.

I'm thankful for snow in the mountains.

I'm thankful for tae kwon do classes.

I am thankful for many, many, more things and people.

--Beth

It's show week!

2015-11-09T06:25:22Z

I have 3 tickets left in a group block of 15 for Saturday November 14th at 2pm. Let me know if you'd like one. If that date/time isn't good for you but you want to see the show, she's in the Webber (as in Andrew Lloyd Webber) cast. http://www.cmtsj.org/content/sale

--Beth

My chocolate is calling me.

2015-11-07T09:19:49Z

I lost my phone on the day before Halloween.

Today I found it in the cupboard in the kitchen on top of a large stack of chocolate.

My chocolate is calling to me. Literally.

--Beth

Certified Incurable Chocoholic

Gamer's Halloween Party!

2015-10-30T04:35:57Z

It's time for our annual Gamer's Halloween Party!

Costumes! Spiders! Witches! Dry Ice! Trick-or-Treating! and of course games!

Party starts at 4pm on Halloween.
Dinner at 5:30 (pizza, carrots, & hot apple cider)
Group photo at 6:15pm.
Trick-or-Treating as soon as the neighbors turn on lights, around 6:15 or 6:30.

Gaming all evening long! Bring friends!

RSVP's for dinner appreciated but not necessary.

Drinks, sides, or salads also appreciated yet not necessary.

This year Jon & I are continuing the minecraft theme, going as twin Minecarts. Peter is a Mathemagician and Amber is Mark Watney of "The Martian" fame.

Hope to see you soon,
--Beth

I'm getting better at being social

2015-09-29T20:59:25Z

Last night at Peter's open house, the school locked the gate and wouldn't let any parents in until precisely at 7pm. I was about 10 minutes early because evening traffic is much lighter than morning traffic, but I allowed morning drive time. (As another parent said, "It's the difference between night and day, literally!")

It quickly became clear that those few parents standing outside were going to hang around staring at each other, and shortly people were going to be pulling out their phones and not talking.

Not that I've become an extrovert, and not that I enjoy being social with other people I don't know who might judge me and my choices in life, but I've come to find value in relationships with people, and the only way to have them is to be the one who facilitates them sometimes.

So I boldly started the conversation, "So what classroom is your child in?"

That was all that was needed really. The other mom told me, and asked me the same question in response, then we used our body language to invite the other two parents who were standing at odd angles about 6-8 feet away into the newly begun conversation and share their names and children's ages and grades.

From there we talked about how long we'd been at the school and how not every school is a fit for every child, and basically managed to politely pass the time until the school opened the doors.

When I was in junior high through high school, when faced with a similar situation, I would have pulled out a book and ignored everyone unless someone specifically talked to me, and if they did, I would have interpreted their actions as likely to be hostile, as though they were just looking for some action on my part to occur that they could make fun of to their friends later.

It wasn't until college that I viewed unfamiliar people as potential friends I hadn't met yet, as opposed to likely enemies I needed to make sure I didn't make myself the target of.

It's a skill, like coding or chemistry, that some people are naturally better at, and some people are more naturally drawn to enjoying practicing it. When I look back at my life, I'm proud to say I've leveled up in this area.

--Beth

Amber has been cast!

2015-09-23T01:01:21Z

Amber has been cast in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat!. She is in the "Webber" cast, and she'll be performing:

Fr. 11/13 7pm
Sa. 11/14 2pm
Su. 11/15 1pm
Th. 11/19 7pm (Jon's Birthday)
Fr. 11/20 10am (showing for schools)
Sa. 11/21 7pm
Thanksgiving is the Thursday following that.

As far as I can tell, this is not the lowest tier group, so Yay! Go Amber!

Let me know if you want me to get tickets for you. Groups of 15 or more get a 15% discount. It could be fun to all go on Jon's birthday.

--Beth

I finally signed up for facebook for real.

2015-09-16T05:23:44Z

I've given in to the dark side, I finally signed up for facebook for real. Amber's play requires parents to join the facebook group. Last time I created a single-use account for it, but it was too much effort to maintain so this time I've decided to just sign up for real. I got half a dozen friend requests in the first few minutes after creating a beth at slimy account. I don't think I want the time-suck of reading all the cat picture forwards, but I know some of you who I do consider friends mostly post only over there, and I do want to know what's going on in people's lives whom I cherish.

Not that I post here nearly often enough, but when I do, it will still be here.
--Beth

To do

2015-09-15T06:19:11Z

My to do list had 23 items on it that I was supposed to bring to the cub scout meeting this evening. I wrote it last night so that I wouldn't forget anything important. I unfortunately did forget to add "paperclips" and "Extension cord" to the list. I went separately from Jon so luckily I was able to call him and ask him to bring the paperclips. But it was too late to call by the time I realized that I needed an extension cord.

Luckily, he brought one anyway because he thought I might need it. He's pretty wonderful that way.

--Beth

Marbles
Pencils
Jokes
Rice cooker
Dry ice
Balls
Sticks
Cage
Newspaper
Boxes
Computer
Projector
New Scout spreadsheet
New Scout blank applications
Directions for games
Popcorn popper
Check for Pampanito
Envelop for Pampanito
Gathering Game (Scout Law)
Pack Annual plan handouts
Parent behavior handouts
Ropes
Stepstool

Mike! Games! My 40th birthday!

2015-09-02T06:05:39Z

Mike Cohen is visiting from Denver over Labor Day weekend, and we're having a gaming party on that Saturday. It is also the week after I turn 40 and I like to eat cake with my friends.

My children will be camping that weekend with my mother (the saint) so their bedrooms are available as crash space. Let me know if you plan to use them.

4pm gamings starts. Kids are welcome.
6pm-ish dinner, grilled yummy meat and raviolis, feel free to bring a side or salad
8pm-ish cake, ice cream, and singing
Gaming late into the night.

Bring friends! I've been enjoying "roll for the galaxy" quite a bit lately, but there may even be time for Titan.

Where? Our house: 1264 Albion Ln, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

Let me know if you have any dietary needs.
--Beth

Cleaning the house

2015-08-21T03:36:35Z

My To-Do list on Trello has been running at a little over a full column for most of the last year, but I've finally got it to the place where "Clean the house" got to the top of the list. I threw out six 33-gallon bags of trash (mostly from Peter's spring cleaning) today. I really need to get the kids to write their birthday thank-you notes to their friends so that I can clear the list.

--Beth

Stanford has started sending me bills for $5.

2015-07-28T04:57:36Z

Stanford has started sending me bills for $5 and they called Jon twice in two days while I was away to tell him this.

Dear Stanford: I know you just changed billing providers, but I sure hope you clean up your act.

My Pollyanna side says that now I can run their charges through my credit card again, and get another 1% cash back a second time for the same office visit. This rate of return doesn't come close to minimum wage however.

--Beth

Book Review: The Martian

2015-07-15T05:40:31Z

If you read my blog, you want to read this book. It was written so well, it felt like it was really happening -- like I could go to NASA's feed and see the latest news about the happenings on Mars.

Book review behind the cut for people who don't like any spoilers.

In the first pages, astronaut Mark Wattney wakes to discover his Mars team thought he was dead so they went back home without him. The rest of the book is about his struggle to survive on Mars. It was so well written that it felt like it was really happening.

It's pretty much like XKCD says:

Normally, I can't read books that have swear words in them, but after the first page, they were few and far between. Tolerable levels appropriate to the drama.

This part has even more spoilers.

Most of the book is his personal log of what he's struggling with, but partway through, we cut to the people back on Earth, and in the spaceship that has left him behind. It was so well-written, that my endocrine levels went up and down with the emotions of those on Earth. It may have been that I was extra sleepy and reading on an airplane, but I really felt for the people at NASA making the hard choices, and I just deflated when their plans failed.

The notes in the back say that the guy who wrote the book was a space junkie, who started thinking to himself how he'd plan a mission to Mars. Those plans, and plans for what would happen if something failed, and how the people would deal with the failures, just turned themselves into a book. He released it for free, a chapter at a time, on his website and when he was done, some readers asked him to make an Amazon Kindle version. He said "sure", formatted it, and released it for the cheapest price Amazon would allow, $0.99. He was completely shocked when it turned into a New York Times bestseller and movie studios started bidding on the movie rights.

Thanks to Bill Mason for giving us the copy!

Enjoy,
--Beth

London Underground strike. Boo, hiss.

2015-07-08T09:30:36Z

London Underground workers are going to strike today at 6:30 pm for 24 hours.

For us the comsequences are pretty severe. We have 2:30 pm Wicked Theater tickets, and instead of hanging out in London for a nice meal and possibly catching another show witb rush tockets in the evening, we'll have to rush back to our hotel afeter the show. Thats about $400 lost revenue for London businesses.

More importantly, there's no good way to get to the airport tomorrow morning for our 2pm flight.

At this point, I have reserved a cab to pick us up at 8:30am. It will cost us around $250,vs the $20 in underground fairs. If we can't get to the airrport in time for the flight, costs will be much higher.

At least someone was nice and told me about it so I wasn't blindsided.

--Beth