Remember Dark Shadows

For some reason I have always enjoyed horror shows. Dracula, Frankenstein, Psycho and the Exorcist are some shows involving the supernatural that kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. Last night I enjoyed a good round of Ghost Hunters International although I found it somewhat tame, but I am very excited about the upcoming Dark Shadows Movie that is schedules to come out in 2010. Let's take a little trip down memory lane when Bactine enjoyed popularity.

DARK SHADOWS EPISODE 1

Did you Drink Soda Today

I hardly drink soda but only because I love water and fruits so it hasn't been much of a problem. I notice when my son eats out though that he loves to order Pepsi and it has never really bothered me because he doesn't have the opportunity to do it often at home and he guzzles a lot of water.

Yet the statistics which I found at Mercola.com regarding soda consumption are not at all encouraging. here are some tidbits

• One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites.


• The average soda consumption among teenage males between ages 13 and 18 is three or more cans a day, and 10% drink seven or more cans a day.


• Of 13- to 18-year-old girls who drink the beverages, the average intake is more than two cans a day, and 10% of those teenagers drink more than five cans a day.


• For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.


• There is a direct link between tooth decay and soft drinks.


• Animal studies demonstrate that, a common ingredient in soda, can deplete bones of calcium.


• A 1994 Harvard study of bone fractures in teenage athletes found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures in 14-year-old girls.

I think I feel a lot better knowing I drink lots of water but you've been hearing some weird stories about the bottled ones too. Personally I boil my water and I lots of people I know have theirs filtered. So instead of reaching for soda today how about regulate filtered tap water.

It's Coconut Water not Coconut Milk

After what seemed like an unusually hot couple of days I did what I usually do when I get very thirsty and want something other than water - which I love by the way - I buy coconut water, yes water not milk.

Every few months, I post about the wonderful tropical fruits I enjoy especially during the summer months.

Now some people only know about the dry coconut and the hard meat inside. I've often marvelled at the fact that some people in Florida have the coconut palm trees and don't use the coconuts.

The water inside the coconut, known simply as coconut water is natural, refreshing, sweet (depending on the fruits maturity) and good for you. The water is almost clear and it has got loads of potassium and electrolytes. Sports drink lovers are welcome to try it. I'm told too (ahem by high school biology student) that its makeup is just like blood plasma. I haven't seen any scientific studies but I did see the Jackie Chan movie ;).

Now some of you may be wondering what is the difference between this and coconut milk. Coconut milk is derived from the coconut meat itself. When the coconut is mature the nut gets hard and the husk dry. Put small pieces of the coconut in the blender with water, grate it and voila, you get coconut milk and it looks like the white stuff too. That milk and the hard nut is what you use in your recipes but when the fruit is young that meat is think like gelatin and makes for a lovely snack.

So I bought 5 coconuts - not the mature one. I had my coconut vendor chop off the top like in the picture. When I got home I stuck a sharp knife in the top (look for the tender spot and it will be easy) and it filled my pitcher. Refreshing!

Next I opened the hole a bit more with the knife and then I grabbed a spoon and scooped out the meat which we call coconut jelly. Kids love this.

If you have friends with a coconut tree, tell them to try the water, just be careful with the knife. It's sad to make this go to waste and there must be a reason why the canned stuff is flying off the shelves in stores.

Get the Scoop on Going to College - Before and After

The Carnival of College Admissions goes live usually once per month and is up today. it includes some informative and thoughtful perspectives on a range of issues like fun stuff such as building will power, technology in the classroom, campus cuisine and heavy stuff like college drinking and fiscal responsibility. Oh and its all wrapped up in ice cream.



Those sweet people over at College Surfing Insider even bothered to include CEOmum. Thanks Dawn.

Define Expand

I'm sure Peter is an expert at SMS. In language, context is important even in math class.

Check out Peter's interpretation of "expand" on his math test.



He expanded alright.

















Source

Buying New Glasses

My son needs new glasses. He had a fancy pair with transition lenses. The child who at sixteen thinks he is cool hardly wears them, except of course when he is sitting at the back of the class. His reasoning: wearing them makes him dependent and his vision actually deteriorates. So why does he need new glasses?

It's not because his sight has gotten worse, nnno those fancy glasses, those high tech transition lenses have started to strip, to peel and of course to look real shabby, not to mention it's now difficult to see with all that peeling inside. So we went to the optician to see if anything could be done and they had never seen anything like it. Recommendation: Get a new pair.

Now the price of the fancy pair was consistent with the fanciness and we are not looking forward to the prospect of paying any more fancy prices. But the child is going off to school in September and he will need to see the board. Hence we are looking around for affordable eyeglasses that are cool enough for a teen. Zennioptical.com looks to be the best bet. To say they are affordable is an understatement as they start at eight bucks and they are stylish too with cute colors for kids like blue, purple, pink, silver, orange and fashionable frames ranging from plastic to stainless steel and rimless and half rim frames.

Now the thing is you order these glasses online so you must have your prescription ready. Sometimes though you prescription doesn't have the pupillary distance included, that is the distance between your pupils, but the optometrist will have this information so I'll just ask him.


I like these. I haven't placed the order yet but will let you know about my and his experience when I do.

Uprinting Custom Stickers Winner

The winner of our Uprinting Free Custom Stickers giveaway is Frantic Mummy.

This is what Frantic Mummy would do with the stickers:

I would love the stickers and would use them to promote a business I am starting. Lakes Area Mom Squad is a not-for-profit way for Mom-owned business market together in the form of free coupon packs in our community. We could use the stickers to pass the word and introduce the website for LAMS. My fingers and toes are crossed!

Now you can uncross them digits Frantic Mummy.

Thanks to all entrants. Hope to have more giveaways to offer soon, soon, soon.

AP Free Response

My son has graduated from high school and has been accepted to college so why did he bother to take AP's in his senior year? You see you get your college acceptances at the end of March or the beginning of April and you sit the AP's in May, by which date you are usually already in.

The fact is AP's aren't a requirement for college entry but since they are college level courses, colleges will offer credit for some courses if you score high, meaning a four or five - hence the name Advanced Placement. In some cases students might complete their college education earlier thus in the end it can save you money. Also everyone is doing it so in order to seem just as competitive others join in the fun too. Except that it costs a hefty fee in the first place ($86) and it requires more discipline than you'd wish to exercise in the last month of your senior year; also despite your best efforts you might get a result like fellow SITS member, K who is on her way to college but who is exasperated at The College Board. Here is where she gives, shall we say her "Free Response".

K ruminates on the consequences of her unexpectedly low score on Literature and Composition. If you'd like to have an idea of what K's exam was all about the questions are right here.

Bear in mind that K has until October to challenge her score by requesting that it be re-scored for a fee of $25. That applies to the multiple choice only.

Given K's performance in English previously I think she should have sat the test in her Junior year.

On another annoying note highlighted by K, The College Board does not allow you to access your scores online. You have two options: get them via phone at a charge of US$8 or wait for them in the mail.

Is it any wonder that teachers responded to this poll so strongly at the recent AP conference?



Let us hope that The College Board initiatives will include giving students this option too.

SMS or English as a Foreign Language

I have to admit to being slightly miffed about the contraction butchering of words in the English language. No, no I'm not talking about the shortened version of cannot (can't) or let us (let's) or even how did/how would (how'd). I mean those words, letters and symbols that have taken over in the name of instant communication or should I say IM and SMS. Sure I love emoticons and cute abbreviations and I'd like to think that I'm as hip and trendy as any other CEOmum, SAHM or WAHM, but when this landed in my email inbox today

"I tried to get ur email addy......i want to ask u if u could send me..... ...i will b offline"

I wondered whether something was wrong with me. This was from an adult who was asking me to forward some information. Although I have never written an email in said format I was quick on the draw having deciphered the lingo in a nanosecond, well maybe a second after my brief pause. No I didn't reply in kind I jut figured out what she meant. Of course it wasn't difficult just a bit unusual considering the source.

My knowledge of text speak isn't really that bad. I'm quite familiar with <3, and WTF. Last week with my son's help I improved adding SMH, SMDH and MEH to my vocabulary. To be fair some of them are acronyms to which we have grown accustomed and some are plain intuitive. For example, I'm sure you can figure out:

• OMGYG2BK
• SNAFU
• DIY
• HWK
• CYA
  
• C%L
• ?4U
  
• L8
• CU
  

But some are downright foreign.

While I'm appreciative of the convenience, speed and money saving quality of these newfangled abbreviations and while I tend to be perspicacious particularly when it comes to the spoken word I was simply flummoxed by some of these chat words. I mean WTH (note absence of expletive) do these mean:

• 459
• 831
• OTTOMH
  
• NSISR
• NBFAB
  
• GIRL (it spells girl doesn't it?)
• WH5
• 9
  

I mean seriously, if the goal is speed then it justifies the shortcut, but if the reader takes forever to decipher the message then what is the point? Is communication taking place? Is it time to rise up in defense of the English language or to take out the funeral attire? Is this the beginning of the end?

You see, young people (under 30, 25 or 20?) are so comfortable with these informal expressions that they are now incorporating them at school. Yes, teachers report seeing them in essays and other written assignments and despite their objections, the trend is growing. Like me, teachers may have to resort to code crackers like online dictionaries and translators. Indeed in England and Scotland they have gone as far as to allow text language in exams much to the horror of some parents and the teachers too.

Yet the youngsters are quick remind of the dynamic nature of language, of the fact that in-house, spork, skort, pop-up and wannabe are of relatively recent vintage and this just expands not eclipses English as we know it. My teenage son doesn't believe that the English language is in jeopardy at all arguing that the text language comprises abbreviations and acronyms for which there will always be a place and it's a mechanism that levels the playing field helping all kids to communicate with their peers. There is some truth to that. How many of us hear the word scuba diving and recall the meaning of SCUBA? Further texting is not limited to English, there are SMS versions in German, Spanish and more, even Hebrew.

Yet I'm still not sure as I can't shake the feeling that this culture of shorthand writing seems to have taken over. Doesn't it just encourage laziness? No says my son. Think of the computer, the automobile and the dishwasher. You are capable of writing, walking and washing but you use the alternative when its appropriate. Kids can still write, spell and think but texting is just quicker and easier.

Well I have no statistics and it is somewhat off-putting that I'm already deemed old school but I haven't gotten into the habit of texting, I still enjoy a beautiful turn of phrase and a card or letter via snail mail, well that is just a pleasure.

Sex Ed in the 50's

I found this sex ed film from the 50's. I am struck by the fact that the high school coach plays the role that my mother played.

• Could he do that today in your kid's school?

• How involved were your parents in your sex education?

• How involved are you in alerting your kids to the changes in their bodies?

Also the kids are comparably naive to the high school freshmen of today. At what age will you start talking to your kids about sex? Thoughts?

More Children's Books

In my last post I was struck by the fact that most of the people who commented had never heard of English author, Enid Blyton, 11 August 1897 - 28 November 1968 Then I thought of another English author, J.K. Rowling and marveled at how times have changed. Aah the wonders of modern technology in the information age!

Then a comment by Carma about her love of Mad Magazine reminded me of another series I enjoyed, except I encountered these as a seventeen year old on my summer trip to France. I found a stack of these books in my assigned room, they were entitled Asterix and Obelix



In case you don't know, Asterix and Obelix is a French comic series about the star, Asterix and his rotund friend Obelix. They are Gauls whose exploits focus on fighting off Julius Caesar's forces who attempt repeatedly to occupy their little village. Magic potions, superhero abilities and wild boar feature often in this "band dessinée" which I read to enhance my understanding of french idioms.

Of course having left France I never saw those books in a bookstore again but one day I saw them in my library in English and can you guess what I did? That's right, I borrowed them for my son. As they are seemingly the precursor to the modern graphic novel it is no surprise that many adults love them too.

Books I Read as a Child

I took a pleasant trip down memory lane as my eyes caught sight of a very familiar and famous signature:


I spent many a holiday or weekend curled up with a book from one of her series, getting caught up with the antics and adventures of the Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Twins at St. Clare's. One of my favourite characters was George, a girl who objected to being called by her real name Georgina and whose father, the quintessential mad scientist, was not very tolerant of her and her cousins' antics.



These characters who played junior detectives didn't have costumes, or super powers and they certainly didn't morph into super heroes but they had secret passwords, a headquarters in the garden shed and smarts. Ginger beer was the drink of choice and holidays were spent outside solving mysteries and in the case of the twins, their life at boarding school was positively exciting. They introduced me to lacrosse. A game we certainly never played. All of this took place of course in the absence of video games, computers and the like. Aah the simple life.

Then there was the Magical Faraway Tree series
starring a huge magic tree in an enchanted wood. I made a point of buying these for my son and wasn't slightly surprised to see that the characters had changed. Oh he would have loved the original set, but those were written long, long ago in the 1940's.

My American friends didn't know these books when I was a little girl and I wonder whether much has changed. I did a little search and found them at Amazon but quite a few were "out of stock" - still in demand I guess.

I was thrilled however to find that there was a tv version of the Famous Five Series. I guess I had grown up by then. :) . Take a look, but I'd really love it if you could find the book. If I am successful I might even host an Enid Blyton giveaway.

That SAT Sentence Completion

My son is helping kids with their SAT prep and SSAT prep. That's his summer job, and he has been expressing surprise at the problems the students have been having with vocabulary. It is true English is a tricky language, just check out the video below, but that is particularly so for those persons for whom it is a foreign language. If English is your native language you may have the homonyms and heteronyms down pat but the English language comprises a lot of words - some say around one quarter of a million, the most of comparable languages - and so you may be a bit intimidated when faced with the prospect of learning more.

The SAT critical reading includes a section called Sentence Completion. You have to complete the sentence by filling in one or two blanks. Here are some examples:

1. ___________by nature, John spoke rarely, even to his own family.
   
   (a) garrulous
   (b) equivocal
   (c) taciturn
   (d) arrogant
   (e) gregarious
   
   
2. The intellectual flexibility inherent in a multicultural nation has been________in classrooms where emphasis on British-American literature has not reflected the cultural_______of our country.
   
   (a) eradicated - unanimity
   (b) encouraged - aspirations
   (c) stifled - diversity
   (d) thwarted - uniformity
   (e) inculcated - divide

I'd love if you would try it out by leaving your answers in your comments :D.

Many students have difficulty with this section because their vocabulary is just not well developed. These words aren't "hard" but some consider them "bigger" than the words they are accustomed to use in normal conversation. Hello, these are everyday words for people who are considered "educated". So don't leave school without them.

Want some ideas on how to expand your vocabulary?

• Read. I cannot emphasize this enough. Read widely: science fiction, periodicals, newspapers, murder mysteries and more. When you read and discover that you don't know a word, stop and consult a dictionary. If you don't have access to one write down the word to research later and if you don't have a note pad underline the word and check it out later. It is an advantage to learn words through reading as you see the word in context which helps you to understand it more.


• Play Word Games. Yes I believe in engaging in fun activities to help to educate. Scrabble, crosswords and word puzzle books are sources you may consider.


• Learn and Use a New Word everyday. You can commit to looking up a new word or you can register with Wordsmith.org or a similar site to get your word -a -day via email. Some words this week were panalopy, somnolent, defenestrate. If you are reading this and don't know the meanings then grab that dictionary or open a new tab and head to dictionary.com.
  


• Make a Word List. Each time you learn a new word add it to your list. along with the definition and an example of usage. You may even add synonyms and antonyms. Keep the list so that you can consult it regularly. It is not necessary or recommended to make a long list at once as that can become overwhelming and counter-productive. Go slow. Try to use the words you learn and this will help you to remember them.

CEOmum's First Giveaway - Free Custom Stickers

I'm so thrilled to be able to offer my loyal readers the opportunity to enter CEOmum's first ever giveaway.

CEOmum's sponsor Uprinting, the sticker printing experts will be offering one of you, 250 printed custom stickers

Some of you are so insanely creative, I know you are just going to love this, because you get to be the designer. I lean more towards the practical side than the creative myself but I came up with my own CEOmum design. You can do better than me I'm sure and you can blow your competition out of the water with your one of a kind hot promotional sticker on envelops, cards, folders or even your kids lunch box.



So what do you have to do to enter to win you own imaginative unique one of a kind stickers to promote your business? Remember they can be any size between 2.75 x 2.75" to 11 x 17".

It's simple, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling us how you would use 250 custom stickers. That's mandatory. You don't have to follow or twitter or anything else, but if you do you'll get a bonus entry :D for each follow. Just let me know.

Also if you come up with a new idea as to how to use the stickers you can leave another comment and of course you will get a bonus entry for each comment left with new ideas. Make sure your contact information is available. If it's not, drop me an email so I know how to get in touch with you. The contest will end on Friday July 17, 2009 at 12midnight EST. The winner will be announced on Monday, July 20, 2009.

Uprinting regrets that the contest will be open only to US and Canadian residents, also shipping is not included. Further the winner's designs must not be obscene or offensive and can be used by Uprinting as examples for promotional purposes. NOTE these will be examples only, they won't be printed or distributed commercially.

Judith Hill Can Blow

If you watched the Michael Jackson memorial and wondered who was that lovely lady singing lead on "Heal the World". It was Judith Hill. This is her official website.

Listen to her again.




Source:Rollingstone.com

Experience Travel Abroad

When I was in high school I had the opportunity to travel to France through the American Field Service (AFS) Program on a summer abroad program. I spent two months with a family who opened their home to me. They fed me, did my laundry, took me on road trips around France and gave me accommodation free of charge. The experience was so positive I wished that I had opted to spend the year and so I have always encouraged students to seek and grab all such opportunities.

The experience helped me in several ways, for eg:

• Being fully immersed in a non-English speaking country (especially when your hosts don't speak English pretty much forced me to find creative ways to communicate even though I was studying the language at school. Certain phrases just escape the text books.
  
  
• Since I was taking French at school I found that my comprehension improved significantly even though my speaking ability didn't develop as quickly.
  
  
• As to the speaking I didn't become fluent but my accent and my pronunciation (oh that sexy french "U") became decidedly less anglicized.
  
  
• My exposure to foreign cultures helped me to appreciate differences, embrace unusual lifestyles and become more open to and accepting of people. It is true that les Francais ne se baignent pas aussi souvent que nous and they have no problem with that. Hey we had a pool! More interestingly, my host family bred dogs and raced and showed them. It was different, exciting and unfamiliar to see the extent to which the dogs were a part of the family.
  
  
• Living away for two months, I had to eat and grilled chicken was not a typical meal. It was interesting to hear the teenagers say how they loved their meat "almost raw" - not a problem as they were willing to apply more heat for me; but frog legs and fish roe weren't typical dinner fare in my home, neither was wine for that matter. Yes I lost some weight.
  
  
• I learned to articulate on matters related to my background, family, country and culture in general. In other words I learned to represent my country in a positive way.
  
  
• I made lifelong friends with whom I am communicating more now - thanks to modern technology - that I did when I just returned home.
  
  

Overall it was a fantastic experience that I thoroughly enjoyed and so I recommend these programs. However one caveat is that the program should be accredited. Make sure that you do your homework and if possible get feedback from previous beneficiaries.

In the video, President JFK is addressing AFS students, so you see that program has pedigree.

Tree for U

Courtesy of Paul

Weekly Wrap Up

Joining in the weekly wrap up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. That name alone is a treasure but in addition her posts are very engaging - no "unsocialized" at all. I will therefore be adding her to my blogroll.

This week was the start of my new gym program. The great thing about it is that my gym allows us to take our teenagers (from age 14) along for free. That has thrilled son no end who at 6'2" and weighing around 170 thinks he is "jacked" and knowing of all things related to the human body. Oh lord a couple years of high school Biology and he is an expert on gym training.

In other news well you know I redesigned this blog, joined twitter and I plan to be posting more often. This of course should be possible since I got my new contact lenses yesterday. Suddenly I had found myself imitating old librarians, looking over my glasses or holding pages at arms length. Ah age.

Work of course continued to annoy but I made progress in a matter that seemed headed for endless delay.

Then today my son started his summer job. It seems that he reads this blog or learned something from his last two years of SAT and college prep as he is teaching critical reading and writing to kids who hope to go to college in the States. Yay, he's earning by doing something useful!!

New Look

Well as you can see, I am trying something new. I've been learning about Css and java script and all those esoteric phrases that just roll off the lips of computer lovers. This design is by falconhive.com

I am still tweaking and fixing and taking advice and inviting feedback. the problem is I lost all my haloscan comments and worse I procrastinated about starting my twitter account and look what happened! She even spells it like me.

So finally I am on twitter @Ceomummy.

To the right I have placed a section for a feature video. I will try to update it regularly to highlight online learning and matters related.

Since it is summer though and my son is home I am taking it slow.