Ah, The Irony...

Time to channel my inner Jerry Seinfeld and provide some recent observational humor, all with the dash of irony that I find so amusing:

1. A couple of weeks ago, ABC had a promo on that said to "watch as a whole family" their annual airing of "The Ten Commandments". Great idea in theory. Only problem? The movie started at 7 PM and ran to 11:44 PM! I think I could have crossed the Red Sea before it ended. Also, not sure how many families are staying up to watch together for that long. We can't make it 20 minutes at the dinner table before someone is off to do something else.

2. The company I work for is making a big push this year to get their employees to make better health choices about eating, smoking, exercise, etc. I'm all for it! We also had a pretty good first quarter and delivered strong results. Today in the break room I noticed a box that was sent by one of the higher-ups in our main corporate office in Chicago with a nice note of appreciation for our efforts. Inside the box? 100 gourmet cookies of all flavors (chocolate chip, snicker doodle, sugar, frosted to name a few). Way to walk the walk!

3. I recently received the following overview, which is one in a series of Management Tips sent our way at work: "How to Control Your Inbox". Delivery method? Email.

I'm sure there will be more to share, as I love to observe, and love to find irony.

Fuzzy Math

Our schools are wonderful, enriching places where our children go to learn all about the world. Even students who don't have a high academic acumen at least try when at school:



As Ralph points out, some subjects in school are harder to comprehend then others. Like English. Or Math.

Which leads me to today's review of Zachary's daily sheet we get from his preschool. The sheet provides many useful pieces of information, like what the students had planned to learn or do, whether the child took a nap, and a summary of how much lunch your child ate (since the preschool now provide all lunches).

Here's a quick photo of today's lunch section of Zachary's sheet:

First off, I'm very impressed with how they determined that he ate 120% of his lunch. What an exact measurement! Is that 1/2 an extra nugget or 3.2 more milligrams of oranges? But then the list highlights the fact that Zachary had no green beans. I'm no rocket scientist, but if you don't fully complete a task, how in the world is it possible to achieve 120% of the task? By omitting his green beans, he should not have come in at 100%, let alone 120%.

Part of me hopes Zachary isn't paying too much attention to the math portion of his daily curriculum if this is how percentages are going to be taught. I'm sure it was an honest oversight (full disclosure - the teacher who wrote this is a very good instructor, is great with all the kids, and a die hard UGA fan, so I'll allow some slack).

However, if more teachers teach how you can get to 120% by omitting a step, perhaps Zachary will be well suited for a job in Congress some day!

Plan of Attack

In 6 short days, the Cahill clan heads to Orlando, FL and Walt Disney World (WDW). We’re very excited about the trip, our 2nd in the past 14 months. It is also the last time we’ll be able to go where we can get a child in for free (Liam), go at a time not dictated by the Fulton Co. school schedule (Zachary starts Kindergarten (?!?!) in August), and not bake to death (summer).

The trip in Dec-08 was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot from that trip. In planning and experiencing it with small children, planning and being organized takes on a much bigger role that I thought. I’m sure there’s many of you out there that have done the Disney Dance before, multiple times even. For those folks, I apologize if this is repetitive. But here are some great tips/suggestions for any of you all out there going to WDW in the near future (kids or no kids):

PLANNING:

Touring Plans website. A MUST visit for crowd projections and creators of the very handy “Lines” app for you iPhone, Blackberry, etc.

Allearsnet.com. Another great resource for restaurant info, scheduled park maintenance/closures, and hotel reviews.

Pack breakfast for at least some of the duration of your stay. Disney is going to get you on the food bill no matter where you go, but at least you’ll be able to focus on 2 meals & snacks instead of 3. And it will make things a bit easier trying to get everyone dressed and ready to go in the mornings.

Buy park-hopper passes, allowing you to mix and match your mornings and afternoons (especially useful with kid still taking naps).

Buy Disney gifts BEFORE you go. Any mall Disney store will do. Will make a nice surprise each day you’re there.

If arriving in the afternoon, book a character dinner the day you arrive. Since you’ll likely not have spent for the extra pass to a park, it will be a nice way to meet some characters in a less stressful environment, and get a huge meal before you hit the ground running on day 1.

WE MADE IT! NOW WHAT?

If you can swing it, and have small kids, go see Epcot on Day 1. It’s probably the most grown up area in WDW, and it will serve as a nice appetizer to the main attractions in the other parks. Plus it won’t be a letdown later on if its all princesses and pirates from the start.

Unless you’re near a monorail, drive to the park you’re going to see. It’s nice to be able to leave when you want, and it’s easier for stroller transportation. Parking is free, provided you’re staying in a WDW resort.

If you want another character meal, go for a breakfast early inside one of the parks. We’re doing breakfast in the Magic Kingdom one morning 45 minutes before the park opens. No lines to get in for us!

Comfortable shoes. Goes without saying, you’re going to do a lot of walking and standing.

Add some “flair” to your stroller for easy identification.

Embrace FASTPASS! Identify 2-5 must see rides/attractions in each park and use FASTPASS to structure your day. It really works.

Have someone in your group as “the runner”. This is the person you trust with your park tickets and heads direct to the park headliner as soon as the gates open. That person gets a FASTPASS and then meets the rest of the party at another must see attraction. A must for the Toy Story ride in Hollywood Studios, Soarin’ / Test Track in Epcot, and Space Mountain in the Magic Kingdom.

Hope these help out!

The Cahill Gym

The recent cold snap has significantly curtailed our ability to go outside and run around to burn off energy. In fact the only time we went out was this past Friday with the whopping 1 inch of snow that fell the night before.

However, I'm pleased that we've adapted quite well and have found a few ways to increase activity with the guys despite being limited to the inside. Liam is excited and runs around alot, so he's pretty set anyway. Zachary on the other hand would go stir crazy without ways to release some energy. Luckily, we've stumbled into some good ideas (with proper supervision of course):

1. Tag
An oldie but goodie. Zachary is quite good at it, and somehow misses table corners, misplaced toys, and ocassional Herschel sightings.

2. Wii Sports Resort
Lots of good offerings for a hyperactive 4 1/2 year old, but you see a maximum effort and workout with the swordfighting game. We adults can feel the burn in our triceps after doing it a while, so it's got to be good, right?

3. Star Wars Lightsaber iPhone App
By far this has been the most popular recent discovery. It's an app that allows you to pick from 5 or 6 Star Wars characters and light up a lightsaber with various colors. When you move your phone, it makes all the sounds a lightsaber would make. It even has an option that will play some of John Williams great music while you run around and pretend to enter in to a lightsaber duel. Got to admit it's pretty fun even for me. Haven't had the guts to try it in the elevator at work or in the supermarket, but in the dark of the hallway at night, you can feel The Force flowing through your iPhone. He's a little to young to read this, but I have a message for Zachary the next time he wants to duel:

"Zachary, I.......am your father!"

1953 vs. 2010

One evening during our Christmas Break, we decided to let the boys have an impromptu movie night. That evening’s showing was the Disney classic “Peter Pan”. At a crisp 77 minutes, it was about the perfect length to hold our guys attention span without risking restlessness.

It had been many, MANY years since both Rebecca and I saw it, so we decided to hold off on chores/cleaning and tried to take in as much of it as the guys. I had forgotten how much of a jealous b***h Tinkerbell was, and how flimsy that sword that Peter Pan was fighting with.

However, the biggest surprise was the extensive collection of scenes that you could get away with in 1953 but in no way could today (unless you’re making a movie for Oscar consideration). Here’s a small sampling of scenes from Peter Pan that I think would not make the cut today:

- Numerous scantily clad mermaids virtually throwing themselves at Peter Pan in a lagoon.
- Blatant mocking and misrepresentation of Native Americans.
- Hook’s sidekick drinking and belching from an open tub of alcohol.
- Parents leaving for an evening out on the town without securing a babysitter or reviewing emergency protocol with Wendy. It was as if they snuck out to have their own fun instead of making sure someone responsible was watching out for the younger kids.
- A lost boy smoking a peace pipe.

Imagine for a minute if the internet and blogs were around 57 years ago in 1953. This movie would never have made it a week in theaters!

On a related note, I’m not a big fan of reshooting or editing an existing picture without changing a previous “objectionable” scenes. Case in point:

- The replacement of guns with walkie talkies in the ET re-release. I only wish ET would have turned around and laughed at the cops pointing their walkie talkies at ET and Elliott before they took off in the bike.
- Editing the cantina scene in Star Wars IV (the original “first one”) to show Han Solo shooting a bad guy only after the alien missed him at point blank range.

C’mon Hollywood, not every movie needs to be politically correct! Otherwise you’d not have a classic scene like this: