www.romanvenable.net:  Clark's Weblog



Monday, April 4, 2005
Backyard Bandits: The Arms Race Continues

Three years ago, I was feeling smarter than a squirel. Well, the squirrel's have caught up:

Time for another trip to the bird-feeder store....

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It is folly to punish your neighbor by fire when you live next door. --Publilius Syrus


Sunday, March 20, 2005
Searching for Bobby Fisher, Part Two?

To my delight and amazement, both Daniel (7) and Matthew (4) have learned to play chess! I started Daniel off with Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster, an absolutely first rate educational game to learn the basics. Although my intent was for Daniel to use it, Matthew also got into it! In what I hope will become a regular event, I played both of them at the same time on Saturday morning. In this photo, Matthew was playing white, and I was toast:

Saturday Morning Chess


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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. --Pablo Picasso


Tuesday, October 5, 2004
The 2005 Toyota Sienna. Batteries Included

We picked up our new 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited with All Wheel Drive last week. Wow. What a car. Leather, DVD navigation, rear view fish-eye camera when in reverse gear, rear seat entertainment system, moon roof, automatic side and rear hatch doors, laser cruise control, side curtain airbags front-to-back, and little hook dealy-bobs to hang grocery bags on. It came with wireless headphones for the boys and a remote for the rear seat system with batteries included. Wanna find the nearest McDonald's? No problem. Punch it up on the display.

It makes my 1998 Audi A4 2.8 quattro seem kind of, well, old. I mean, to back up I have to crane my head around and actually look back there. To dim my mirror I have to reach up to the mirror and flick that little switch. To go somewhere I haven't been before I have to have a paper map or have my wife tell me how to get there (I hate that most of all because I know she feels all superior with regard to her directional abilities anyway). The mini-van has way better cup holders, too (and way more of them)

There is one advantage to my car, though. It's paid for.

If you're in central Pennsylvania, give Bobby Rahal Toyota and Jake Mansfield a chance to earn your business.

2005 Sienna Image

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First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people. --Leo Rosten


Thursday, July 1, 2004
Ode to teachers everywhere

NPR's Morning Edition had a wonderful piece on how much teacher affect our children's lives in a piece titled 'Ms. Patel: 3rd Grade Teacher Extraordinaire':

Video highlights of a school year full of innovative projects and activities gave commentator Steve Twomey a better understanding of why his son had been so devoted to his class. Twomey says Ms. Patel's third-grade class in Montclair, N.J., was his son's reason for living.

And so it was for our oldest son who just finished his Kindergarten year with Mrs. B here in Hershey.

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Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism; the way you play it is free will. --Jawaharlal Nehru


Saturday, September 20, 2003
Reason No. 9 why a 20" Cinema Display is Good

The latest reason why a 20" Cinema Display is cool it that on a weekend morning, my three year-old, Matthew, can watch Max & Ruby in Quicktime Player on one half, and I can check the news and add to my blog on the other half of the display. That's what I call 'quality time'.

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I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. --Richard Feynman