(no subject)

So summer has started in earnest - Angus only got two days off before summer school started for him - in his IEP, they thought he might be a risk for regressing over the summer. I always went to summer school; I liked it, but it's a bit different now - because of budgets, not everyone can go. You have to be recommended.

It's at a different school, and we were a bit worried about him having a problem taking the bus. He wasn't on the list the first couple of days, so we dropped him off the first couple of days. Friday, the bus came by our house, and I was all prepared for some kind of a meltdown, because he often gets really anxious about having to do things by himself. I think he was a little bit anxious - "I don't know about this bus thing," I think he said, but I reminded him he'd been on the bus for field trips before and this would be similar. When it pulled up in front of our house, he climbed right on calmly, found a seat, and waved out the window. I'm so proud.

This fall, he'll be going to a different school and have to take the bus there, so at least he'll be used to that part of it by then.

(no subject)

So summer has started in earnest - Angus only got two days off before summer school started for him - in his IEP, they thought he might be a risk for regressing over the summer. I always went to summer school; I liked it, but it's a bit different now - because of budgets, not everyone can go. You have to be recommended.

It's at a different school, and we were a bit worried about him having a problem taking the bus. He wasn't on the list the first couple of days, so we dropped him off the first couple of days. Friday, the bus came by our house, and I was all prepared for some kind of a meltdown, because he often gets really anxious about having to do things by himself. I think he was a little bit anxious - "I don't know about this bus thing," I think he said, but I reminded him he'd been on the bus for field trips before and this would be similar. When it pulled up in front of our house, he climbed right on calmly, found a seat, and waved out the window. I'm so proud.

This fall, he'll be going to a different school and have to take the bus there, so at least he'll be used to that part of it by then.

"That was a contact, you jerk!"

I was pretty much an adult already when Transformers first aired, so I'm not too worried about Michael Bay ruining my childhood, as these folks are. However, I still found this little hyper-caffeinated tribute to the cartoon pretty giggle-inducing (but maybe you have to have at least watched some of it with your kids)...

( I lactate geometry... )

edit: I'm still confused though; does Bumblebee=Hotshot or not? And, as a friend of mine said at lunch today, how much did Chevy have to pay to get them to use American cars, considering this was a Japanese show in the first place?

Hmm. Ebert liked it. Sort of.

"That was a contact, you jerk!"

I was pretty much an adult already when Transformers first aired, so I'm not too worried about Michael Bay ruining my childhood, as these folks are. However, I still found this little hyper-caffeinated tribute to the cartoon pretty giggle-inducing (but maybe you have to have at least watched some of it with your kids)...

( I lactate geometry... )

edit: I'm still confused though; does Bumblebee=Hotshot or not? And, as a friend of mine said at lunch today, how much did Chevy have to pay to get them to use American cars, considering this was a Japanese show in the first place?

Hmm. Ebert liked it. Sort of.

Squid news...

Humboldt squid, also called jumbo squid, (Dosidicus gigas) have been showing up in huge numbers off the coast here recently, more than the usual summer appearance; commercial fishermen are complaining that they are catching too many (and there being no market to sell them) and the squid are eating stuff they are usually catching. The local sport boats are running special charters for them. One of our managers was recently heard saying she hoped they were preying on all the Pacific mackerel that supposed to be out there now (very high harvest guideline this season) and not the rockfish, whose populations are recovering. There is a concern about effect such an influx of voracious high level predators has on an ecosystem; it's the symposium topic for the CalCOFI conference this coming November. I'm looking forward to hearing those presentations.

My boss sent this link to a video posted on Orange County diving listserv.

http://diver.net/waltermarti/Squid1.htm

Wow. Fascinating video - I wasn't sure if they were changing colors that quickly or it was just the flicker of the lights, but I'm assured they really do flash that fast. Unfortunately, one squid seems to be caught on a lure. I'm not sure I'd actually want to be diving with them without a little more protection, and these are only little guys, about two feet long (they get up to two meters, I think). Those suckers have teeth on them.

(The rest of his site has some other pretty neat underwater video as well - http://diver.net/waltermarti

Squid news...

Humboldt squid, also called jumbo squid, (Dosidicus gigas) have been showing up in huge numbers off the coast here recently, more than the usual summer appearance; commercial fishermen are complaining that they are catching too many (and there being no market to sell them) and the squid are eating stuff they are usually catching. The local sport boats are running special charters for them. One of our managers was recently heard saying she hoped they were preying on all the Pacific mackerel that supposed to be out there now (very high harvest guideline this season) and not the rockfish, whose populations are recovering. There is a concern about effect such an influx of voracious high level predators has on an ecosystem; it's the symposium topic for the CalCOFI conference this coming November. I'm looking forward to hearing those presentations.

My boss sent this link to a video posted on Orange County diving listserv.

http://diver.net/waltermarti/Squid1.htm

Wow. Fascinating video - I wasn't sure if they were changing colors that quickly or it was just the flicker of the lights, but I'm assured they really do flash that fast. Unfortunately, one squid seems to be caught on a lure. I'm not sure I'd actually want to be diving with them without a little more protection, and these are only little guys, about two feet long (they get up to two meters, I think). Those suckers have teeth on them.

(The rest of his site has some other pretty neat underwater video as well - http://diver.net/waltermarti