In the old days we would write home for money, and Mom and Dad would send a check. That’s now replaced with instant messaging and instant web-based funds transfer. Our last installment at UGA:
Not sure why she is using Grandad’s photo for her chat ICON. Something she and Danny were up to. I suppose it is an honor.
Danny received a good reference letter from Dr. Benjamin, his language arts teacher. It should be noted that Dr. Benjamin does not give out reference letters lightly, and that she intimidates so many students, few would even approach her for a letter of reference. That context is worth noting when reading the reference. Way to go Dan!
Today the five of us got up early and headed up to visit the grounds for Southern Catholic College set to open in the Fall of 2005. Originally SCC was going to open in 2002 at another location, but building from the ground up was proving too costly. They have been able to secure about 100 acres including a set of buildings that can be converted to dorms, offices, and classrooms.
The new campus will be small but impressive because it was formerly an executive conference center adjacent to a 27-hole country club in the rolling hills just north of Dawsonville. The photo on the web site shows the circle of villas that will become dorm rooms. The villas on the left sit on the lake.
We started with Mass held by Father Kevin Peek. He started by dressing in front of the group of about 200, explaining the tradition behind each vestment. Kelly and Claire were craning their necks. Kathy used to play at Kevin’s house when they were kids. Grant and Kevin were also friends, and he later asked about Grant, promising to visit him in Athens soon. Kevin is currently the official chaplain of SCC.
We got to personally talk to the founder, Tom Clements, who showed the five of us the drawings for the grounds, explaining what would be added each year.
Paul Voss is a professor who took a year sabbatical from Georgia State to create the SCC curriculum. Mary Voss and Kathy were in bible study together at SJN, so we had a chance to catch up with them. Paul is enjoying teaching at Georgia State where he is writing and teaching “the Shakespeare stuff”. His words.
Mary brought us over to talk to the President of SCC, Jim Ashcroft. When Jim heard Danny was interested in playing baseball in college, he showed Danny where the field would be and explained that his son had already arranged to get scoreboards donated from Coca-Cola.
Kevin Peek offered to fund uniforms for the team.
The trip was a fun one to take, especially in the Fall with all the leaves turning. The idea of helping start a new college with 149 other classmates has definitely got Danny (as well as Kathy and my) curiosity up.
For those of you who may recall Home Coming 2002 (and we all have tried to forget it), I am happy to report than Danny and his date, Morgan, had a wonderful time with six other couples all the way from the football game, through the photo session, through the Bar-B-Q, and the dance. Still not sure about the footwear choices.
The Brookwood vs. Parkview game last Friday night was another disappointment for Bronco fans. Neither team did very well offensively. Most of the game the score was 3-0 with Parkview scoring in the last few minutes another 7 for a final 10-0 score. Kathy, Kelly, Claire and I managed to get to the game an hour early and found some of the last seats available. So that was an improvement from sitting on the end zone hill in past years.
Danny and friends were up front cheering their hardest. Seniors get the best seats. This photo appeared on the AJC.com high school fan site. That’s Andrew on the left. Chris, who had a very strange paint job, did not make the picture.
Danny reports that’s a smiley face on his chest that included too much paint and started dripping. His back said “GO BHS” in gold.
Morgan and Danny went to Wendy’s after the game. He managed to get the paint off of his face, but had red arms sticking out from his shirt. When he came home, he used a hose to wash off most of the paint outside so as not to mess up the bathtub too much. Considerate boy.
Mary Claire brings home a puzzle to solve for her Focus class each week. Sometimes she asks me for help. I enjoy trying to guide her to figuring it out herself.
This week’s problem was how many pizza combinations can you make using zero to five different toppings: sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, peppers, and onions. Mary Claire set up a grid and made X’s next to each ingredient to come up with all combinations. She discovered this pattern:
1 that is plain
5 that have 1 topping
10 that have 2 toppings
10 that have 3 toppings
5 that have 4 toppings
1 that has 5 toppings
She added them up for the answer, 32. Danny noticed the pattern and said, “That’s Pascal’s triangle.” He drew the triangle. See: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Pascal’s Triangle and more.
Mary Claire recognized the triangle of numbers and said she recognized it. In her class they called it the Period of Mystery. I asked her, “Why do you think they call it period?” She said, “Because it is shaped like a period.” I then realized her mistake. “You mean, Pyramid of Mystery.” She agreed that name made more sense, given that Pascal’s Triangle looks more like a Pyramid that a period.
I just want to know when did they start teaching third graders about Pascal’s Triangle?
G, one of the greatest teachers on earth, will often* stop Danny in the hall asking about Nicole. (Nicole and Danny both took Latin from G, based on my recommendation. I told them it wouldn’t matter what he taught, they should sign up for it.) Danny will* give G an update.
The last time he asked Danny, “How’s Nicole doing?” Danny replied, “Why don’t you ask how I’m doing? I was in your class, too!”
G thought about that and said, “You’re not as pretty as she is.”
A good teacher will put you in your place.
* Danny… ask G what tense “will often” is. Funny way to talk about the past.
Greg asked if there was a video of Danny’s Rat Trap Racer in action. There is not. Danny accomplished his mission in AP Physics, but when showing the racer off in another class, the front end was snapped off by the repeated blows. With a 96 grade on file, Danny tossed the racer in the trash. (He’s not a pack rat like his Dad.)
With no video available, I can only describe what I saw in our hallway and our driveway during test runs the night before. I also want to offer this clickable front view of the racer:
Sleek, huh?
In early tests in the kitchen the racer had some design problems. Danny tied a single string to the trap arm with the other end to the rear axle. Danny would wind the string and set the trap. By dropping a pebble on the bait lever, the trap would violently spring, spinning the wheels. The car would move a foot or two, and more often than not the string would be broken.
After many experiments, three modifications turned the Rat Trap Racer into an amazing machine.
First, Danny stopped tying the string to the axle. I told him how my Grandfather, Papa, used to wind a string around a top and throw it. This solved one problem, because the string was being rewound on the axle, acting as a brake.
Second, he added duct tape along the edges of the rear CD wheels. This gave the wheels much better grab, especially on slick surfaces.
Third, Danny put two strings on either side of the arm and either side of the rear axle. Instead of the arm violently snapping, it would close in a more controlled way, allowing the car to accelerate to top speed.
By this time, the hallway was far too short to contain the speedy Rat Trap Racer. Final tests were conducted in the driveway where the racer zipped along some 30 to 40 feet on an upward slope!
The teacher has video of Danny presenting the physics of the Rat Trap Racer. I hope to get my hands on that and provide a transcript.
Kelly went to career night at Crews Middle school with Kathy. Kelly has been thinking about being in the FBI.
A detective brought in a black, drug-sniffing German Shepherd. He hid a real bag of pot in the room. The dog found it pretty quickly. All commands were spoken in German or Chech, so the dog was bi-lingual. Everyone was impressed.
When the officer left and everyone was leaving the room, Kathy realized he had left the drugs under the cushion on the couch. She went out in the hall, worrying that he could get fired for leaving drugs in a middle school.
“You left your package!” she shouted.
He turned around, “What?”
“You left the marijuana in the couch.”
“Oh S–!” he shouted in front of the kids and parents.
So Kathy had fun at career night, and Kelly still wants to be in the F.B.I., but I suggested the C.I.A. since the “I” there stands for “Intelligence.”
Cashel, Mary C.
Brookwood Elementary School
First Quarter from 08/11/03 to 10/10/03
ID: 200109622 Grade: 03
E = Excellent
S = Satisfactory
A = 90 – 100
E – 3rd/Gr (Conduct), Mattison, F.
A – Language Arts/3/Reading, Mattison, F.
A – Language Arts/3/Spelling, Mattison, F.
A – Language Arts/3/Wrtg-Gram, Mattison, F.
A – Math/3, Mattison, F.
A – Science/3, Mattison, F.
A – Social Studies/3, Mattison, F.
E – Heatlh/3, Mattison, F.
S – Phys Ed/3, Heck, B.
E – Art/3, Cunningham, S.
E – Music/3, Turner, P.
E – Math/3/Enrich, Mackellar, N.
Comments:
Shows enthusiasm for learning
Wonderful role model
(I put III because Nicole’s was the first entry, and in the gap of recording these things, Kelly likely brought home II.)
