My husband's gift buying, and an apology

My husband was in charge of purchasing gifts for his nephews (9- and 11-years old) who are really interested in "army stuff" according to their mom. A trip to the army surplus store is always a treat for Fino (he's a former army guy) and was pleased to show me the purchases he made on Christmas Eve.

This is the conversation that ensued.

"What did you get?"

"Some patches and some other cool stuff."

I pulled out two "Fire Starter" kits, complete with directions on the back on how to start a fire.

"Honey, do you think it was a good idea to buy the boys these fire starter kits?"

"Yeah, why not? This is cool stuff!"

"I'm not sure your sister is going to appreciate you giving her boys this part of the gift."

(He had also purchased a couple of mini-can openers and some army patches.)

"But it's cool stuff! I always wanted this kind of thing when I was their age."

"Did you have one when you were 9, or when you were 11?"

"No, but I wanted one."

"There was probably a reason why your mom didn't get you one ... " (meaningful pause here)

"Well if the boys start causing trouble with it, Margaret can just take it away from them."

Of course this is what every mother wants. To be put in the position of taking away the really "cool" gift from the former-army guy uncle who lives 3,000 miles away. Then, deal with the aftermath of a couple of upset boys who were simply trying to use the gift given to them.

So I have to offer a shout-out to my sister-in-law. Really Margaret, I did try to talk him out of sending those fire starters!

Dec. is a blur, but a fun holiday-filled one

I've been busy at the office, more than ever before, but it wasn't really until this month that I realized how much work has taken over my schedule. There are a lot of things I normally do at this time of year with the kids that haven't happened. There just isn't enough time in a day/week/month to meet deadlines at work AND do all the usual Christmas-related family activities as we have in the past.

But then I went through the family calendar for the past six weeks and I'm actually surprised to see how much we have done that has been holiday-related. Of course if you read my blog you're likely to think, as the kids have, that we haven't done much lately. The truth is, I just haven't made time to blog much the past couple of months.

C'est la vie.

But I gathered up a few photos and will offer a retrospective of our last few weeks to remind the kids that they really haven't been missing out on the holiday fun.

School Band Holiday Concert
After being rescheduled due to snow, the band concert went off without a hitch for the girls. It turned out that although the last-minute rescheduling was a challenge for us, there was an upside - not as many people were muscling around for seats and we actually had a little elbow room to sit back and enjoy the music.

Grandpa's Annual Christmas Card
The car ride over to Grandpa's house was more stressful for Lupus the cat this year than usual and I'm not sure why. Given the choice, I would guess Lupus would much rather prefer to wear his Christmas sweater all day than ride in the car (the girls dress up the cats, as well as themselves, for this annual photo shoot at Grandpa's garage). Dulce on the other hand, was the curious one looking out the window. Toddy Cat's sentiments were similar to Lupus' about the car but at least this year he didn't have to spend any more time in it than was absolutely necessary (a couple of years ago he was mistakenly locked in the car - with the keys - for several hours until his rescuer (Fino) came home with a spare set to let him out). Grandpa was happy with the final result this year and was done in no time so everything worked out fine for everyone in the end.

4-H Winterfest

This is an annual event in December for 4-H county-wide awards and a day of recreational fun. It was held at St. Joseph's College Alfond Center and L. took advantage of the facilities to do some rock climbing while she was there. (The kids have been climbing for years and we all love it.)

4-H Banquets
The girls are in several 4-H clubs and we've had formal banquets with two of the clubs this past month. L. volunteered to make decorations for both, which was OK since she used the same table toppers for both. Smart girl.

Soap-making for holiday gifts
This has been a multi-month project, which I will get to sharing about later, that was dreamed up by Fino and L. back in September. The soap, dubbed "Titus Soap," was named in honor of the pig who provided the fat to render and make this lye-based soap.

Christmas Crafts
One of the kids' 4-H clubs had a crafty-type meeting so they had a chance to make Christmas gifts for family and friends. The girls also attend a weekly craft club at our local library so they have been making a bunch of things this month.

G.'s Photography Show
G. takes a black and white photography class and had her end-of-semester show to display her prints earlier this month. This class is one of the highlights of her week (along with her time at the farm) and she's bummed the next session doesn't start until February.

Christmas Tree Decorations
The set-up was again late this year due to our frisky cats and their desire to climb (and knock over) our tree. But the girls took care of the set-up job yesterday and they're working on deterring the cats from getting near it. I'm taking a hands-off approach and letting the girls manage the futility of this task (and insisted the delicate ornaments won't come out until Christmas Eve).

Then there was the Holiday boat parade, general fun in the snow this month, a bit of Christmas shopping (when the kids purchase small items for immediate family members but often end up buying something for themselves too) and all their other regularly scheduled activities that still go on in addition to the special holiday stuff.

What we have not done (yet) is...

* Our Christmas card photo. Plans are in the works to do this after Christmas for a Happy New Year card instead because the time has flown by and sending out cards was a lower priority on my To Do list (although I feel badly because I have so many friends that faithfully send us cards right after Thanksgiving).

* Make gingerbread houses (we're doing that at a 4-H meeting tonight).

* Make Christmas cut-out cookies and general baking for family and friends. I told the girls I had a grace period for the cookies because we just made animal cut-outs last month. We're going to do this during vacation week and will send out Happy New Year packages instead this year.

* Our annual Christmas Lights Car Adventure. This is a math activity I introduced when the girls were little and learning addition/basic statistics that was such a hit, they still want to do it every year. We're going to do this on Christmas Eve, which might be more fun anyhow.

So even though this month flew by and we didn't fit in everything we usually do at this point, by the end of December I think the kids will have crossed out every item on their Holiday To Do list.

Braved cold for a fun holiday event

The girls and I had a great time at the Boat Parade of Lights on Casco Bay this past weekend. We went with our friend Shannon and although it was a mighty chilly Saturday night, it was a fun way to celebrate the season (we even had a chance to say hi to Julie and BOO on the boat).

There were large windows to view the illuminated boats and fireworks from the warmth of the spacious cabin on the ferry but L. opted to spent the majority of her time outside on the bow. She likes to be where she perceives the "action" to be and prepared accordingly with lots of extra layers so she was comfortable out there. (She lamented she didn't have any long-john bottoms that fit her so her legs were a bit chilly by the end of the night - good thing that item is on her Christmas wish list.)

I realized that after two days outside in the frigid temperatures that I have much more tolerance for the cold when I'm active and moving than I do simply standing around. Ringing a bell in Monument Square (we were, unfortunately, in the wind tunnel area) and standing on the bow of a boat at night in December are not quite the same as moving down the trail on my cross country skis. Or maybe my body just had to get over its shock of the arctic blast we had over the weekend. Either way, I'm ready for winter now with my double-layer gloves and long-johns.

The girls have their cross country skis ready (we picked them up from the Maine Winter Sports Center at Pineland over the weekend) and are eager to get on the trails.

Now it's just trying to find time among the myriad of holiday activities we have in our family schedule to get out and enjoy the snow. Is Christmas really only 11 days away?

Ski goggles are worth investment

My kids are old enough now that they get themselves ready to go out in the snow. I don't need to remind them to bundle up, and I don't usually have to track down their preferred snow gear.

As they got ready to go in to the backyard to do some sledding during this blustery snow storm, I couldn't help but smile when they donned their favorite piece of snow storm gear - their ski goggles.

Those ski goggles were a bit pricey (about $30/each on sale 5 years ago). But I can confirm that they have certainly been worth the investment.

From the kids' creative use of ski goggles while chopping onions in the kitchen to the years of sledding, skiing and our other cold weather adventures, those ski goggles are one of the best winter gear items I ever bought for my kids. It ensures they will be comfortable and enjoy their time outside in the winter, no matter how nasty the conditions can get.

The only one undecided about going outside today was our ducky friend, Quackers (no ski goggle options for him). He perched on the frame of the coop's door for a long time before venturing out to "swim" his way down the path (the snow was deeper than his little legs and it really did look like he was swimming) and back into the coop.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable snow day, whether you ventured outside in the winter wonderland, or not.

Kid Tracks Column: Chill out as a family

Winter is one of my family’s favorite seasons. The girls are waiting eagerly for the flakes to start flying so we can begin enjoying favorite snow-related activities. Our list of must-do outdoor activities this winter includes:

Dog sledding
The top item on our list for the winter of 2010 is going on another dogsled adventure. Last year we went to the Musher’s Bowl in Bridgton (held in January, www.mushersbowl.com) and the girls were absolutely enthralled with the dogs and the sport in general. From watching the races at Five Fields Farm to the ride they took on Highland Lake with a dog sled team, there will be no keeping them away from the event this year. When I asked the girls what their favorite part of their dog sledding adventure was, comments included “running with the dogs” (you need a running start before jumping on the sled) and “the cold wind in your face.” When kids say things like that, you know they had a great day.

My 13-year-old has been begging for years to go to the Can-Am Dogsled Race in Fort Kent (held in March, can-am.sjv.net). And although my family loves Fort Kent in the winter (cross-country skiing at the Maine Winter Sports Center there is great), we need a new car that has four-wheel drive to make the trek. We had some difficulty with snow-covered roads and hills on our last adventure to Fort Kent – in a front-wheel-drive car. So, much to my children’s chagrin, they will have to enjoy the sport locally until we can manage the logistics of attending the international event up north.

Cross Country Skiing
When we dig out our cross-country skis and poles from the storage closet, we will also be pulling out the hula hoops. We spend a lot of time out on the trails skiing through the hoops with our friends. It is always a much laughed-about aspect of our winter ski adventures.

Winter Picnic
Whether we are on skis, snowshoes or simply taking a short walk in the woods in regular boots, planning a picnic out in the snow-covered woods is a seasonal highlight. We usually pack a nylon blanket to keep our bottoms warm, along with sandwiches and thermoses of hot cocoa. The winter woods are a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of our daily life. Plus, the kids think it’s a special treat to go on a winter picnic since it’s not something a lot of other people do during this season. And animal tracks are abundant in the snow, which makes speculation about animals near our picnic spot enjoyable lunch conversation.

Sledding
Although I think cross-country skiing is a safer sport than sledding (really, I think there is less risk-taking for kids on cross-country skis than there is on sleds), the girls have found a few hills that are must-visits each season. Some of our favorite sledding hills are simply a car ride away, while others are off the beaten path. Strapping the sleds to our backpacks and snapping into our cross-country skis and/or snowshoes to visit the lesser-known sledding hills on hiking trails is a favorite winter adventure.

Playing with GPS
The girls enjoy recording speed, distance and time spent on their cross-country skis with the family GPS unit. They are not interested in the competitive side of skiing but do like to figure out how fast down a hill we can (safely) ski. And when mom takes a wrong turn and we end up on a longer-than-planned adventure on our skis, well, the GPS unit can confirm mom’s lack of directional sense.

Snow Sculpting
No winter is complete without at least a few snow people to decorate the yard after a storm. The girls get more creative every year with the details of their creations. And for my 11-year-old, eyelashes on her snow people are a must.

Winter is not a season all families anticipate with the kind of relish my family does, but with a little creative thinking, there is an outdoor adventure suited to everyone's tastes.

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, December 2009

Update on DARPA Red Balloons, MIT won

Just in case anyone was wondering, the MIT team found all 10 DARPA red balloons yesterday and did it in 9 hours. Part of this team's approach was similar to other teams - networking on social media sites and suggesting friends tell friends, etc. to find the balloons. But MIT also had this at work for them...

How do you rule out the dishonest reports of spotting the balloons? This is one of the most interesting parts to the challenge! We will use sophisticated algorithms from the field of network science and complex systems theories along with machine learning algorithms to identify valid submissions.

Well, when you're MIT, you've got that kind of know-how and clearly, it was a helpful tool for them. I'm sure the DARPA folks will be very interested in learning more about it when they interview the team about their strategies.

During the day yesterday I was checking in with Twitter via my BlackBerry. L. and I read a couple of reports that there might be a balloon in Portland, Maine, so after G.'s photography show at MeCA, we drove around Portland (and then the Maine Mall) to check things out. It turned out that there was a balloon in "Portland," it just happened to be on the other coast.

We also saw reports of sightings in Rhode Island and Albany, NY, and several other places around the country that turned out to be false. Today I found a map on the DARPA site that correctly identified all the balloon locations, some of which I never saw mentioned on the web at all yesterday.


The team I was part of, I Spy A Red Balloon, was out of Georgia Tech and they came up with eight of the ten balloon locations by the end of last night. Had their been a balloon in the Portland (Maine) area I would have reported it both to I Spy team as well as the 10 Balloonies team (the Geocacher's team). My family has been playing the geocaching game for a few years so of course we were going to share with them too (I wasn't aware they had a team until after we had joined the Georgia Tech folks).

The geocaching team had pledged to donate their winnings (DARPA was giving $40,000 to team for finding all 10 balloons first) to charity as well as an additional $10,000 from Groundspeak (the folks behind geocaching.com). It turns out that even though the 10 Balloonies team didn't win the challenge, they're still donating their $10,000 pledge to charity anyway. I knew there was a reason I like geocaching and the people I've met playing the game.

But it turns out with this challenge that it wasn't the bleeding hearts interested in supporting charity that won. MIT's team split the winnings among their team's members. I am curious if this played a role in putting them over-the-top in collecting all the balloon locations. Capitalist America is this country's bread and butter mentality (as sad as this makes me) and it's possible that piece could have tipped the scales in their team's favor.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I couldn't help but wonder about the DARPA motivations in hosting this challenge and saw this reported on CNN.com today:

Johanna Jones, a spokeswoman for DARPA, said the hunt was designed in part to give the military new ideas on ways to operate in a range of situations, from natural disasters to combat.

The agency said it plans to meet with teams to discuss their approaches and strategies used to build networks, collect information, and participate in the contest.

I have mixed feelings about this because of course I want our troops to find the best ways to stay safe when faced with potential combat issues and glad they have the DARPA folks to help them figure this out. But it's still gives me a chill to think about it (yes, I need to get with the reality of the world program but still, one can hope to be naive about some of these things).

DARPA published a press release (it's in .pdf format) when it announced MIT as the winner:

"The Challenge has captured the imagination of people around the world, is rich with scientific intrigue, and, we hope, is part of a growing 'renaissance of wonder' throughout the nation," said DARPA director, Dr. Regina E. Dugan.

“DARPA salutes the MIT team for successfully completing this complex task less than 9 hours after balloon launch.”

DARPA announced the Network Challenge to mark the 40th anniversary of the ARPANet, pre-cursor to today’s Internet, to explore how broad-scope problems can be tackled using social networking tools. The Challenge explores basic research issues such as mobilization, collaboration, and trust in diverse social networking constructs and could serve to fuel innovation across a wide spectrum of applications.

DARPA plans to meet with teams to review the approaches and strategies used to build networks, collect information, and participate in the Challenge.

DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). The Agency manages and directs research and development projects for DoD and pursues research and technology where the risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances in support of military missions.

“We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic.” -- E. Merrill Root

Overall, yesterday was a mixed bag of results. But when looked at from the perspective of large-scale, national connectivity, it was an interesting exercise in the influence of social networking. Yet, it also offered another lesson that viral networking does not always provide accurate information. Sifting through misinformation to find the real stuff requires some really smart people writing some really sophisticated machine learning algorithms. We social networkers play our part but I'm not sure we'll ever be the star players of the team.

The DARPA Red Balloon Network Challenge

I admit at the outset of this blog entry that I am a geek and find the sociology of technology fascinating. I'm not a 'gamer' in the traditional sense of computer video games but activities/challenges that involve technology and the outdoors are periodically on my To Do list. From my family's many geocaching adventures to the GLOBE at Night Campaign to the mapping research project we did last year with Audubon and UMaine Vernal pool project, I'm interested in technology-based citizen science projects of all sorts.

So now that you know my quirky-ness (which is hardly news if you regularly read this blog), you'll understand why I'm really interested in following the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - they're the think tank who started the internet as a military communication project for the DoD) Red Balloon Network Challenge.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that will explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems.

The challenge is to be the first to submit the locations of 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roads.

All balloons are scheduled to go on display at all locations at 10:00 AM (ET) until approximately 4:00 PM (local time) on Saturday, December 5, 2009. The launches will occur simultaneously across the country. Balloons will come down at approximately 4:00 PM.

A $40,000 cash prize will be awarded to the first entrant to submit the latitude and longitude of all ten balloons.

Should weather or technical difficulties arise with the balloons during the day, the display at an individual location may be delayed until Sunday, December 6, 2009, or later, depending on conditions.

The balloons will fly for approximately 6 hours on the East Coast and 9 hours on the West Coast.

Here's a link to a radio interview with a team leader about the DARPA Challenge

What really strikes me about this project is not only the various approaches people are taking to complete the challenge - connecting on social networking sites like Facebook and TWitter to techies writing scripts to detect chatter on the web of sightings and collect locations - but also what this information will actually reveal about the American public. I guess it would be helpful for the government to better understand how quickly, and effectively, the American population can mobilize and communicate something found in public view, with accurate GPS coordinates, to the masses (it's not like 1947 in Roswell for the government these days).

By the end of the weekend, the challenge should be over and the implications of how it came together for that team should be very educational. Since I work and blog in the social networking sphere, I'm well-aware of its influence over my own personal collection of news and information on a daily basis. I guess by tracking this DARPA challenge, I'm also getting a nice justification for my job as a blogger and content producer for a social networking website.

I decided to join a team for the challenge on the off-chance there is a balloon placed in Maine. I'm not holding out much hope of that but figured that the I Spy A Red Balloon team was working toward a good cause (on the chance they win, the cash prize will be donated to the American Red Cross) and it was an easy way for me to participate and track the progress of balloon sightings on Saturday.

And a final thought about this weekend's challenge... Anyone want to bet how many TV news stations will play, or reference, this little diddy from the 80s once the challenge begins?



Actually nix that, it's a sucker bet.

Hiking Pondicherry Park Trails in Bridgton

We did some geocaching last week with friends new to the game and ended up in Bridgton at some well-marked and very family-friendly hiking trails. There were quite a few geocaches on that trail system and the kids had no trouble finding a couple of the hidden treasures.

The kids especially enjoyed the wooden cut-out shaped trail markers in place of the usual colored blazes. The trail developers did a great job with these details and made this easy-to-navigate looping trail system really appeal to children.

Trail: Pondicherry Park Trails
Nearest Town: Bridgton
Trail head: We parked at Bridgton hospital (N 44° 02.795 W 070° 42.788) and crossed the street to the trails. Parking in this lot to hike trails is permitted.
Elevation Gain: less than 100 feet (a few very small hills)
Mileage: approx. 2.8 miles with another trail in progress
Difficulty: Easy, manageable for young children because of looping trail options
Note-able: The trail blazes/markers are wooden cutouts with different shapes and colors to identify trails. All the kids commented on how much they liked these markers, especially the "yellow birdie" on the Pondicherry Loop. The Stonewall Loop trail was identified with a reddish leaf cut-out and the Willett Brook Trail was a green turtle. Also, the stone fireplace on the Willett Brook Trail was a special treat for the kids to explore.
Other: The Loon Echo Trust has been responsible for coordinating this trail project, which was opened about a year ago.

The map below is not a complete trail map but we managed to find two geocaches with our crew of five kids (the youngest was 4 years old) and leave the trail system with even the youngest kids begging to do more hiking to find geocaches.

Pondicherry Park Trails

The boardwalks (aka "bridges) on this trail system were a hit with the kids.

The signs corresponded with the trail blazes (wooden cut-out shapes) along the trees on this trail system.

The kids enjoyed exploring the old fireplace on the Willett Brook Trail.

The highlight on our adventure was, of course, the discovery of a couple of geocaches.

And if you're looking for a nice picnic spot in Bridgton, you should check out Moose Pond (It's off Route 302 shortly before the turn-off to Shawnee Peak. GPS coordinates - N 44° 03.949 W 070° 48.349). We had a lovely late-fall outdoor lunch at the picnic tables there (with roof overhead that keep the benches relatively dry).