Off the Top

Today, I am bragging about B.  He expressed a strong desire to learn to program, so I dug up and installed Microsoft Small Basic.  It looks like a sweet little IDE for kids.  Every programmer’s first ever program, and often his first a new language, must simply print the message “Hello World.”  Some even consider it bad luck to do otherwise.  So it was an occasion to be remembered, yeah celebrated, when he ran his own first program and showed me “Hello World.”  Now into his second day, he is learning to draw with the turtle, just like I did.  He has a few years head start.

J says, “80% is mediocracy.”

Lately asked by an associate to justify my request, I responded, “of whom much is asked, much will be required.”

Prompted by a recent post on the art of manliness blog, I asked two of my boys, “What two things should a man always carry with him?”  They responded, 1. A pocket knife, and 2. A handkerchief.  …good work boys!  I added that depending on whom you ask, the third essential is either a handgun or a safety pin.

Some Photos

A friend and I watched the new Sherlock Holmes together.  It was just as enjoyable as the first and about as good as a sequel could be — enough of the first to give you the taste you want, yet enough freshness too.  About this film, however, one thing stood out — the relationship between the Holmes and Watson characters.  In this film, the pair enjoyed a friendship, a brotherhood, a bond that I dare say most men today wish they could have, but don’t know how to find it.  Furthermore, this bond was portrayed in a way that you rarely see in popular media.  To wit, in a way that was warm, wholesome, and uplifting.  It was not overplayed.  It was definitely not belittled.  In fact, the character of the friendship buttressed the entire story line and I walked away with a notion that I need to do more to nurture my masculine friendships.

It is a proud day in a father’s life when his youngest son picks out a film to watch with friends, and the film that his son chooses is The Great Escape.

There is important news from this weekend.  I achieved my goal — to receive a complex aircraft endorsement by the end of 2011.  The endorsement took about ten hours of instruction in a Piper Arrow II (PA-28R-200).  We could justifiably gripe a bit about the glide ratio of the Arrow, but it is a forgiving, enjoyable, and I think capable cross-country machine.  Next step…a real cross-country flight!