Nap time
It's a common sight in a preschool classroom, and even in some kindergarten and first grade rooms. Rubber mats rolled out on the floor and children lying down. Some are asleep while others are relaxing, but a few are fidgeting. It's nap time in the class and everyone must rest.
I remember the week I spent in a daycare program when I was four. To be exact, I only remember the nap times. I was a precocious child when it came to naps and had quite taking them by the time I was two, according to my mother.
That 45 minute break in the day, where we laid on the floor in a darkened room, was hard for me. So hard I remember it clearly some 32 years later. My son also stopped napping young, but fortunately he was never exposed to the forced nap of preschool.
Not all preschools handle nap time the same way. More are moving toward a quiet time where children are encouraged to lay down for a few minutes and listen to a song or story, something that at least stimulates the mind.
Those that don't fall asleep are allowed to look through books or color quietly at their mats. A few preschools are exceptionally observant, and separate the non-nappers from the nappers as they notice the pattern over the first few weeks of each year.
While I do advocate for a quiet time in school during the early years, the forced naps of my childhood really need to be done away with. Not all children nap, nor should they. Forcing these children to lie down and do nothing can feel like torture to a young kid.
It can also be torture to a family if a non-napper does fall asleep. I know my non-nappers would be unable to fall asleep until late at night and it would throw off their entire sleep schedule if they did happen to catch some midday ZZZ's.
Preparing for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and you may be wondering how this holiday arrived so quickly. Life is like that. It just keeps going faster and faster, and the thought of having Thanksgiving dinner at your home might be a thought that scares you.
If you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner, you will need to prepare your house. This will take time and effort, and there are ways to make this easier. One of the best ways is to ask your guests for help. This doesn’t mean that they will come to your house and help you clean, but it does mean that they will bring food and drinks with them. If you have less to cook and prepare, you can focus more on getting your home ready.
Not only will you have to clean your home, but you might be interested in decorating your table so that it looks festive. This may mean deciding what dishes to use and what dishes to serve the food in. All of this takes work, but if this is all you have to focus on, it will not be nearly as bad.
One way to get this done is to make a list of your guests and make a list of the food items you would like to have. You might want to offer to make the turkey and other meats if necessary, but you could ask the guests to bring the rest. Don’t forget side dishes, salads, drinks and desserts. All of these things are important components of Thanksgiving.
Why do some people hate pit bulls?
Over the years, my opinions about pit bulls have evolved. Years ago, when the media started to tarnish the breed’s reputation, I didn’t know any different. I mistakenly thought pit bulls were naturally aggressive to humans. As I learned more, I learned that they were supposed to be bred to be very non-aggressive with people, and for awhile, they were considered America’s nanny dog.
Also, over the years, I became better educated about dog behavior and training, so I better understand the influence good homes can have on dogs. I’ve had dog-reactive dogs, and I have learned how to manage them so that they aren’t a danger to other people’s pets. I realize not everyone has that background.
I’m still puzzled though, by people who hate pit bulls in way that seems, quite honestly, unbalanced. An article on the Stubby Dog website by Ms. Telemansic provides some insight into that.
She explores the relationship that fear and negativity can have on people’s outlook. Taking a negative perspective can become a habit, as can taking a positive perspective. She also discusses the tendency some people have to be driven by retribution, rather than resolution, and how this can affect how they relate to the world.
I hope this article makes it out to a wider audience, an audience who might be genuinely afraid of pit bulls, or who might feel revengeful for any imagined wrongs done be a member of the breed.
Mindless revenge against an entire breed won’t solve any problems. Thoughtfully thinking through situations and formulating resolutions can.
Rush Limbaugh's dark night of the soul
Obama's victory by a thread has sent Rush Limbaugh into a tailspin. He truly believed that it would be a Republican landslide. Even in the face of clear polling data, he believed in the landslide. And in the wake of Election Day, we find Rush in an existential crisis.
Supporting local organizations
When your children are involved in various activities, they will commonly be selling things to raise money. My daughters have both gone through this many times, and lately I am learning just to pass these opportunities by.
Every time a child has a fundraiser, he will begin asking everyone he knows to buy things. If the child is your own child it may seem like the thing you should do as his or her parent, but is this really necessary. The items they are selling are usually very expensive and they might even be things you don’t really need.
My daughter attends a private school and the school is constantly having fundraisers. I already spend over $5,000 a year to send her to this school and I really don’t have a lot of extra money for these things. This week alone, she has come home asking me to buy her a yo-yo that her school is selling, as well as books from the Book Fair her school is hosting. While both of these things are useful, I wasn’t sure if I should dish out more money just to let her have these things.
I do understand that her school needs the extra funds and therefore I am often inclined to help out by making purchases, but sometimes I have just had enough. While it is good to support organizations that you like, there comes a time when enough is enough. For me, I think I have reached that point this school year and it’s only November.
Penne pasta and smoked sausage
I had some smoked sausage in the house and decided to try a new recipe to use this ingredient. I was not real pleased with the results however, my husband really liked this. This is an easy recipe and requires common ingredients you may already have on hand, but it is definitely not a recipe I would make if I were expecting company over.
Here is a list of the ingredients needed for this recipe:
- 2 c. penne pasta, uncooked
- 1 lb. fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into ¼-inch slices
- 1 ½ c. milk
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- 1 ½ c. cheddar french-fried onions, divided
- ½ c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ c. cheddar cheese, shredded
To make this recipe, begin by cooking the pasta according to the directions on the package. While this is cooking, drain the sausage slices in a skillet for around 5 minutes and then drain.
Take a large bowl, and mix together the soup and milk. Add ½ of the french-fried onions, ¼ c. mozzarella cheese and ¼ c. cheddar cheese. Stir together well and then add the sausage. Finally, add the pasta to this mixture and place it in a greased 13 x 9 pan. Cover the dish and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until it is hot and bubbly. Top with the remaining onions and cheeses and return to the oven, uncovered, for an additional five minutes or until the cheese is melted and the onions are golden brown.
Mike Zunino Behind the Plate - the Johnny Bench Comp, 1
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Don't freak out, LrKrBoi29 my friend. We're not saying that Mike Zunino, or any player in the next (say) thousand years, is going to outplay #5. We are saying that when we got our first look at Zunino, from the CF camera, that Zunino reminded us of Bench, more than he reminded us of any player.
By "remind" I mean that Zunino "caused me to think of someone or somebody else." The somebody else that Zunino caused me to think of was John Bench. (Sparky Anderson called him that.)
Here's why Zunino's defense caused me to think of Johnny Bench ...
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Scouting Report. John Mayo's full scouting report, bottom-of-the-monitor version: "Outstanding bat speed and loft. Natural leader behind the plate, very agile."
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Receiving. Zunino sets up with those super-closed knees, like he's hiding the signs from the ... pitcher. John Bench did this. (Bench, as a 19-year-old rookie, paused behind the plate for a long time when Willie Mays came up to the plate. Finally Bench said, "As soon as you're done looking, Willie, I'm ready to give the sign." Mays was peeking out of the corner of his eye.)
John, and Mike, set up on their toes, knees almost touching, shoulders hanging as loose as shower curtains, as though they could crouch there comfortably for approximately one presidential campaign. This despite the fact that John, and Mike, were linebacker-sized men. You're talking about 220-lb. men* who have better strength-to-weight ratio than the 180-lb. men around them. I doubt that middle infielders could get out of a squat position like Zunino can.
(One time Alex Johnson crashed into Bench at home plate; Johnson crumpled on the ground, was helped off and was asked later "Where does it hurt?" Johnson's reply, "Everywhere but the roof of my mouth." Bench flipped the ball back to the pitcher. Mike Zunino is that way: huge, lineman-class thighs, thick abdomen, shoulders, you know what I mean.)
Zunino sets up exceptionally low, hand way forward, head forward, and then tilts the glove up... somehow creating an un-strained impression. See this old Johnny Bench vid.
When they receive the ball they do it with a little decisive nod, "That's correct, pitcher," and the ump calls strike. There is a sureness to Zunino's catch of the ball that is opposed to (say) Montero's battle with the pitch and Jaso's tenuous competence. It is simply a pleasure to watch Zunino receive the ball, much more so than even Dan Wilson's receiving of the ball. You know how it's a pleasure to watch Franklin Gutierrez track down a fly ball? It's a pleasure to watch Zunino catch a pitch -- more so than anybody I've seen since, oh.... lemme think. 1979?
You'll see.
NEXT
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Mike Zunino Behind the Plate - Johnny Bench Comp, 2
Agility. Inside Pitch used to talk constantly about a catcher's feet. It's what got ex-hockey-goalie Dan Wilson his job in the big leagues.
First of all, Johnny Bench (the young Bench; later he sat up more) would take that casual, comfortable, super-low crouch with loose shoulders and then when he stood up out of it, it was as if he weighed only 160 lbs. Zunino's like that: he weighs 220, but he rises up out of his crouch much more easily than John Jaso does.
A lefty pitcher threw a slider to a LH batter in, what, the 8th inning of the AFL Rising Stars game, and the pitcher yanked it way outside. The ball short-hopped about one foot outside Zunino's left shin guard. This is a ball that has about a 70% chance of going by Miguel Olivo or Jesus Montero, that nasty little super-short hop right outside the foot.
Zunino simply tilted his entire body wayyyyyyyy left, so that his legs were in a Yoga "runner's pose" position, scooped it, and immediately skidded his right leg over on his shin while keeping his chest protector square to the pitcher and his spine pointed directly up. Absolutely picture-perfect aikido movement: Top half sitting on a tractor motionless, bottom half scurrying around lightly.
When Zunino moves, he moves his weight, not just his hands. He moves himself. He doesn't grab. He blends.
What else that was aiki there: Zunino, after easily short-hopping it, bent his head over his vertical spine, touching the palm of his glove directly to his belly button, cradling the ball like a baby.
Wish we had a picture. In real time it was eye-popping; in slo-mo it was 3rd dan aikido. It's not just blocking a ball; it's the graceful, friendly interaction with the incoming energy that I loved. Mike Zunino just flat enjoys catching.
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Arm. I didn't get a chance to see Zunino throw the ball down to second base. That's like saying you went to see Ted Williams hit, and he didn't swing at anything. Ah, well. Into every life a little rain must fall.
When Zunino caught a pitch and flipped the ball back to the pitcher, loose shoulders, "I'm too overqualified for this task; couldn't we get the umpire to do it?," it caused me to think of John Bench. One thing, though, the return throws were all over the place; Greg Maddux would have replaced Zunino mid-game.
Zunino used an interesting motion to throw down to 3B after a strikeout; it was a quarterback's throwing motion. 1-2 step up in the pocket and then ... if you want a description of what the throw looked like, well ... go watch a quarterback throw. Left elbow high, pause at the top, shoulders perpendicular for a poster pose, lean head forward a little, SSNNAPP, right foot comes through, yada yada.
Bench used to enjoy showing off his arm on the last throw of the pitcher's warmup before the inning. He liked to throw hard, took extra chances to zing the ball somewhere.
NEXT
Mike Zunino Behind the Plate - the Johnny Bench Comp, 3
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Field Generalship. Some things in sports can't be conveyed with words (though Dr. D is willing to take a thousand of them trying). Go ahead: describe, in a word picture, Randy Johnson's menace factor. Use words to describe the color, shape, and texture of Ichiro's focus.
Neither can words capture Johnny Bench's casual physical dominance of a baseball game. Whoever else was on a baseball field, it was Bench's world and the other players just lived in it. He had a quarterback-style body language, like Tom Brady I'd say .... head contemptuously on a swivel, surveying the diamond in front of him, slowly scanning the park like a shark scanning a lagoon.
Zunino's the same. In the 8th (IIRC) he caught two strike threes. The first one, he nodded, well of course, stood up and tossed the ball down to third with an air of inevitability .... this paragraph isn't doing the job. Ah well. The called strike to end the inning, BOOM batter's dead, Zunino gets up like you do during a commercial to grab a soda, heading back into the dugout he hinges his forearm at the elbow and resignedly quick-rolls the ball back to the mound. This game is such a bore...
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Batting. That's another article. Dr. D wasn't disappointed :- )
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Fast Track. On the broadcast they gushed, "There are people who think that Zunino is going to come as fast as any bod ee in this game," taking about 15 syllables for the last four words. Translation: Zunino -- Dr. D's earlier sniggering notwithstanding -- is probably playing for a job next March.
Like we said earlier, if Zunino arrives in a YEAR, actually in June of 2014 to start the clock later, he's up with Posey and Weiters... But. He gets to camp and there is an ex-catcher running the ballclub, who is going to watch Zunino move around behind the plate and think THAT'S WHAT PRO CATCHERS DO! And then we will see just how self-disciplined the Mariners' brass is....
Managing a player's arb eligibility is one thing, but ... it's only one thing. Life is complicated and there are 100 variables interacting with each other like slider bars on an EQ deck. It could be that the things that held Dustin Ackley back, those things will get outweighed by the need to Get On With It! ::pinkfloyd:: in terms of developing a young pitching staff. Which is more important? That is precisely the kind of question on which bloggers can't even presume to hold discussions with people like Jack Zduriencik and Eric Wedge.
Watching Zunino catch, it was a reminder to me how much pitchers loved to throw to Johnny Bench. Most sabermigos hate the very concept of CERA; nobody has ever explained why. Bill James has demonstrated that even if CERA existed in reality, you probably wouldn't be able to capture it with measurements...
As a youth coach, I consider it axiomatic that whatever makes an athlete happy, improves performance. If you play basketball, you know all about the effect of optimism and confidence on your shot. Watching Zunino work the pitchers and umps I found myself wondering how a pitcher could AVOID throwing better to Zunino than to somebody else.
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I don't say Zunino is Johnny Bench. I do say, this guy is a difference-maker defensively. Eyes slideways.
Cheers,
Dr D
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Reading Pile: 11/7/12
Storm Dogs #1- I’ve always felt that Doug Braithwaite has been one of those unsung creators in the industry who deserved a little bit more attention. After his collaboration with Alex Ross on the Justice title, it seemed that Ross learned a thing or two about layouts and Braithwaite was inspired to flip his style into something more painterly. The results are clean, technically solid, and very eye catching. David Hine has been more miss than hit for me, but I’ve always thought his scripting was solid. This was an intriguing first issue that feels a little bit influenced by Serenity and Avatar, but it has a lot of room for development and I’m looking forward to what they bring to the table. It’s twenty-two pages of story for $3.50, which isn’t the best price point but here are no ads and again, it’s a more painterly art style so I feel you got more bang for your buck. A-
Avenging Spider-Man #14- It would seem that Cullen Bunn has the same love for comic dinosaurs that I have, considering he utilized Stegron over on Captain America &Hawkeye and is now giving us a fun feature with Devil Dinosaur. Gabriele Dell’Otto gives us a beautiful cover, and while his interiors aren’t quite as eye catching they are solid and dynamic. I do think it’s funny that Spider-Man apparently has no problem killing dinosaurs, but Dan Slott gave us the whole ‘no one dies’ spiel. Either dinosaurs don’t count (and considering how much a science nerd Parker is that’s kinda odd), or Bunn/Dell’Otto didn’t get the memo. Either way, still a fun issue despite the crappy $3.99 price point for only twenty pages of story. B
Colder #1- I really like Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra did some amazing work on Rex Mundi. His style looks to have gotten even sharper and it’s a treat to look at this book. The story is a little slow to start, but it does give you plenty of mystery to maintain your interest. You get twenty-four pages of story for $3.99, which is ok but not ideal. Ferreyra’s art makes up for that, but the story definitely need to really amp up in the next issue if they plan to maintain that price point. B+
Avengers #33- Already an artistic switch on a single storyline. Considering how fast they are rushing these issues out that’s not a surprise, and I do actually like the Dodson artwork, but I think it’s just silly and obnoxious. C