Pictures
drorzel | January 24, 2011We've had three pretty decent snow storms here recently, which is nice. Unfortunately, the middle one included a good deal of ice, so we now have a thick layer of snow, covered by a half-inch of ice, with another several inches of snow on top of that. Which makes getting around quite the chore.
However, if you break out big pieces of the ice layer, you can stick them back into the ice so they stand upright, like the bony plates on the back of a stegosaurus. which is pretty neat:
Of course, the real highlight of going out to play in the snow is coming back inside where it's warm, then running…
drorzel | January 20, 2011There have been a bunch of times in the last couple of weeks where it was brought home how big SteelyKid has gotten compared to Kate, so this week, we have a Mommy-for-scale photo:
The stylish headband SteelyKid is sporting is from today's Tu B'Shevat celebration at the Jewish Community Center, where she goes to day care. (Learning a whole new set of holidays is an unexpected bonus of sending her there; happily, this one isn't major enough to close the JCC, which happens a lot...) The kids made these this week, and she's been talking about her band for a few days now, so she was very happy…
drorzel | January 6, 2011It's really flattering when your kids start to imitate you:
This is SteelyKid playing with the toy laptop she got for Christmas in her basement kitchen. Sadly, not only is she imitating her father's computer-addict tendencies, she's also copying my poor laptop-using posture. We'll have to work on that.
For the traditional Appa-for-scale photo, here she is a little bit earlier in the evening, showing Appa how the trains work:
Appa, having the power of flight, is disdainful of rail travel.
(I really need to do an Appa FAQ, to go with these posts, but the Avatar fan site link will suffice for…
drorzel | January 2, 2011I had vaguely meant to do a year-in-review post yesterday, like every other blogger running on the Gregorian calendar, but SteelyKid blew that plan to bits by refusing to take her nap until 2pm. It's also kind of difficult to say much of anything coherent about 2010. It was a good year in a lot of ways-- How to Teach Physics to Your Dog officially came out in 2009, but most of the stuff about it was in 2010, and I sold a second talking-to-the-dog book over the summer-- but there were also parts of it that sucked-- pretty much anything to do with politics prior to December, for example.
If I…
drorzel | December 30, 2010I nearly forgot to post tonight's Toddler Blogging photos, which would've been a Bad Thing, as you can tell from this picture. Toddler Blogging is Serious Business:
That's not the best Appa-for-scale picture, but I love the intense look on her face. This was taken in our spiffy, newly refinished basement, which is the new permanent home of SteelyKid's kitchen:
Here, she is holding forth on the virtues of chili powder. Appa's perched on the back of the futon we have down there, because he's not entirely convinced about her cooking.
You can get a better sense of the room, and the…
drorzel | December 28, 2010I'm slowly sifting through the Christmas pictures, many of which were rendered blurry by SteelyKid's constant motion, but there are some good shots in there:
This one shows her playing with the wooden train set she got from Grandma and Grandpa (the same gauge as the Thomas branded ones they have set up at Barnes & Noble stores, though without the price-doubling connection to a tv show, which is fine by us). She spent a bunch of time running the train around and over and under the bridge, which was really cute, as you can tell.
(This was taken before I got the fancy flash unit, if you're…
drorzel | December 27, 2010We caught only a glancing blow from the latest Snowpocalypse event, with maybe six inches of light, powdery snow. It's difficult to estimate depth, because it's so light and powdery, and very, very windy.
To give you an idea of the local conditions, here's a picture of the thistle-seed feeder hanging outside our front window:
What you see there is a couple of inches worth of snow that blew through the fine screen on the outside of the feeder, and piled up inside. The wind continues to howl 'round the outside of Chateau Steelypips, so while the roads are plenty clear enough for travel, I don'…
drorzel | December 26, 2010My big Christmas present this year was an external flash unit for my camera. Which means that, among the 354 (!!) pictures I took while at my parents' were a bunch playing with different flash settings. Why? These two pictures should give you the idea:
The first is taken with the flash angled straight ahead, and the second with the flash angled upward so it bounced off the ceiling first. I definitely think the second looks better-- there isn't the same glare off SteelyKid's forehead, and the background is illuminated more uniformly.
Both of these show SteelyKid watching "Rudolph the Red-…
drorzel | December 24, 2010Our final science-themed Christmas ornament is this Santa and friend:
What does walking a dog have to do with science? If you have to ask that, you're reading the wrong blog. Dog-walking is essential to science-- that's where we get some of our best ideas!
In a broader sense, this one can be said to represent the importance of maintaining some balance between science and the rest of your life. No matter how important the problem you are working on may be, your dog still needs walking, your kids need to be read to, and your family needs you to spend time with them. Especially at the holidays…
drorzel | December 23, 2010I foolishly neglected to get an Appa picture this morning, but I wouldn't want to deprive you of your cute toddler fix for the week. And, of course, it's important to get at least one picture of SteelyKid playing with her spiffy new kitchen out:
We gave this to her last night, and it was a huge hit. It's got a stove burner that lights up and makes noise when you put a pot or pan on it, an oven, a sink, a fridge, and a cordless phone. And a bunch of fake food.
We had hoped to reveal this to her at the same time as the refinished basement (where it will be living permanently), but alas, the…
drorzel | December 23, 2010Next up in our series of science-themed Christmas ornaments are these two dinosaurs:
Why? Because dinosaurs are awesome. Seriously, do you really need to ask?
drorzel | December 22, 2010Next up in our series of science-themed Christmas ornaments is this squirrel:
A reminder that you can't trust those furry little bastards...
What do squirrels have to do with science? As Emmy (and any other dog) will tell you, squirrels are representatives of all that is evil and twisted. And, unfortunately, science is just as plagued by evil hucksters as any other human endeavor. There are evil squirrels all over the place, telling you that quantum measurement lets you think your way to immortality, or nonsensical phony quantum states are the key to infinite free energy, or any of a…
drorzel | December 21, 2010Continuing our series of science-themed Christmas tree ornaments, we have this cute pair of reading bears:
"But wait," you say, "reading isn't a science!" Ah, but while reading itself may not be a science, science is nothing without the scientific literature. The really essential step in the process of science is the communication of scientific results to others. That's what allows future scientists to "stand on the shoulders of giants," to borrow a phrase from Newton, using past results as the basis for future experiments. Reading the results of others is absolutely essential to science.…
drorzel | December 20, 2010We didn't do a Christmas tree last year, because we figured SteelyKid wasn't yet old enough to be safe around it. We put one up this year, though, and she's been very grown-up and careful around it, so all is well.
The return of the Chateau Steelypips Christmas tree means I can also revive a sort-of tradition here, namely the posting of pictures of ornaments with explanations of how they're really about SCIENCE! (say that last word a la thomas Dolby for the full effect). We'll start with an easy one:
This is a shiny green ball with a big ring around it. As this clearly isn't one of the…
drorzel | December 16, 2010SteelyKid has started to demonstrate a real flair for decoration, which she proudly shows off here:
That's Appa decked out with the three bead necklaces we have for SteelyKid to play with. She tends to take the longest one, the white beads, and wrap it behind her so she has one loop over each arm. She refers to this as her "backpack," and we have a few pictures of her dressed up like this. tonight, She decided Appa needed the backpack which didn't work out so well, given the disparity in size. So he got the smallest (red) necklace as a belt/ backpack thing, and the other two wrapped around…
drorzel | December 16, 2010I'm very pleased to announce that the Uncertain Principles Person of the Year for 2010 is... SteelyKid:
Why do I say this? Well...
First, as lots of people will tell you, we're all citizen journalists now. Which means that I'm every bit as entitled to declare a person of the year as Time magazine is.
Second, everything in Chateau Steelypips revolves around her, so she is clearly the most important and influential person here.
Third, she's way cuter than Mark Zuckerberg. Granted, I don't have a picture of Mark Zuckerberg wearing a napkin as a hat for direct comparison, but I like my odds on…
drorzel | December 9, 2010SteelyKid is off spending a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's, so this week's picture was actually taken early Wednesday morning:
The early hour accounts for both the pacifier (she wasn't willing to give it up yet) and the frizzy hair (bed-head toddler!). I'm pretty sure she hasn't grown measurably since yesterday, though.
This photo is in honor of SteelyKid's sporting activities, as part of the SoccerTots program. Several weeks ago, before the time change, I was lamenting the fact that cold weather and early sunsets were going to make it harder to tire SteelyKid out by letting her run around…
drorzel | December 7, 2010Today is the official release date for the paperback edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, so I wanted to write up something cool about quantum physics to mark the occasion. I looked around the house for inspiration, and most of what we have lying around the house is SteelyKid's toys. Thus, I will now explain the physics of quantum teleportation using SteelyKid's toys:
"Wait, wait, wait... You're not seriously planning to explain something quantum without me, are you?"
"I could hardly expect to get away with that, could I. No, I'm happy to have your contributions-- the book is about…
drorzel | December 2, 2010SteelyKid decided she needed to put on her Christmas outfit earlier tonight, and her day care class at the Jewish Community Center has begun celebrating Chanukah, so it seemed like a good night for a festive holiday Toddler Blogging picture, with some bonus Feats of Strength:
Look! SteelyKid can lift a sky-bison all by herself!
A second photo, with a slightly clearer view of her Christmas outfit:
Joking aside, happy holidays to everybody who's celebrating some sort of holiday at this time of year. And, you know, the rest of you just have a nice day.
drorzel | November 25, 2010Today is Thanksgiving, and while we're not doing the full glutton thing until Saturday (it's more convenient for family members to travel up here then), it's still a good time to reflect on the things we're thankful for. Right at the top of the list, of course, is SteelyKid, who is bright, curious, generally cheerful, and speaking in more or less complete sentences these days, as seen here:
She's sternly instructing Kate is not to knock over the Lego blocks on the desk shelf. Emmy is saying "Dude, I can't believe you guys let this puppy boss you around like this."
Of course, after a busy…