NNVMath Club's Last Practice Session Before The ARML Nationals

Song:  Dogs Of War

Group:  Pink Floyd

Today's last practice before the ARML nationals

involved a mock Power Round.

The group divides the problems among the team members...

some work together...some alone...

each must either solve a problem...

or resolve another's in order to verify their answer.

They must then write the answer, or the verification, on the board.

Alex writing his answer on the board

(he worked alone).

The groups usually had a designated board writer for their answers.

The members are hard at work.

They are preparing for intellectual combat...

they are preparing for mathematical war.

Although this is a new, and very young team...

they should do fine...

and at the very least...

they will get very valuable experience from each yearly competition...

in which they may apply to all successive ones.

This last meeting was also to run over last minute coordination 

of travel arrangements and the assignment of parental responsibilities

at the contest.

We are going to arrive a day early so Alex may have a good night's sleep

on the day of the competition.

We will also stay over an extra night after the 2nd (and last) day of the competition.

Our hotel is booked and we are ready to go in a couple of weeks.

After Alex's session...

we went back to the Nugget Casino to try a different restaurant.

We tried Rosie's Cafe.

This Cafe was on TV's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Alex tried the Catfish in cornbread coating

(a new food for Alex).

He liked it (he usually likes fish).

I have been wanting to try the "Awful Awful" burger.

This one was the center food of the TV segment.

While it wasn't bad...

it simply wasn't so... "Tasty Tasty"  :)

I had high hopes for this burger...

I was disappointed.

However, it is the price of trying new places.

 We shall continue our adventure regardless.

We will just chalk this up as one of the places in which we shall not return...

and so, the adventure continues.

P.S. - So what makes a good burger?

Two words...

FLAME BROILED.

Without it...

it is just another burger.

With it...

it has the potential for greatness.

Ok...

rant over  :)

A Middle Aged Man's Advice To Young Couples - II

Song:  New Horizons

Group:  Moody Blues


----------------

This advice is intended for young couples who
are thinking of starting a family.

It is general in nature...
and there are plenty of exceptions.

It is meant to give those who have time to steer their lives
in a direction they may not have considered...
a full look at their options...
that such important decisions need not be rushed.

-----------------

Always remember, once you decide to have children...
their lives must become the center of your life.

Should you not think so...
know that you are simply not ready to have children.

For young couples...
in order to not feel left out of life's other great experiences...
you must experience life together as a couple first.

Children won't cement a relationship.

That is not their function.

Before having children...
you should have a rock solid relationship already
(not that my wife and I never argue...
but we have no underlying regrets for having started a family...
it was what we had really wanted because the time was right...
we had lived our lives already).


Why?

Because your children deserve parents who can give their all to them.

How?

Know each other first.
Spend a few years of traveling and thoroughly enjoying each other's company...
explore the world together...make solid memories with each other.

Then, when you decide to have children...
you may commit yourself to your children without regret.

I was 40 years old when my wife and I decided to start a family.

We had already had our fun as a couple...
and I wanted to start a family.

Although my wife had wanted a family earlier...
I knew that both of us had to know that the time was right.

We had already seen some of Japan together...
and for our honeymoon
(we delayed it for a year so I could save up my vacation for an extra good one)...
we spent two weeks in Japan at her parents' house
(they showed us around their island of Shikoku...
and took us to Kyushu so I could meet my relatives from
my mother's side)...
and when we returned to the U.S. ...
we rested for a couple of days...
and then went on a 4 week motorcycle trip around the perimeter of the U.S. .

I ended up giving this motorcycle to my brother in law 

shortly after Alex was born ...

years later.

Although I loved riding it...

as my family depended on me for its economic survival...

I stopped all risky endeavors...

including any risky sports.

This mindset happens naturally when children come into the picture.
You naturally modify your life for their benefit.

We traveled along this basic route...
stopping along the way to enjoy famous sightseeing spots...
and eating in nice restaurants for dinner
(we had traveled approximately 10,000 miles on this trip).

We later had also taken long car journeys together.
One was a 10 day trip to Las Vegas...the Grand Canyon...
the Painted Desert...Meteor Crater...Arches National park...
Grand Tetons National park...
 North to Canada to see the Canadian rockies...
and on the way back...
Crater Lake.

Other times we took off for shorter day trips to the ocean...
 to the mountains...or to any other place that we had fancied
for that week.

Before I retired...
I got 3 days off every week...
and every other week...
I got 4 days off.

I also got 6 weeks of vacation a year
(which I could also save up for extra long vacations should I wish).

We used these free days to explore and enjoy the world around us...
to get to make our memories first...so when we started our family...
we would have already lived our lives as a couple...
and we could then dedicate ourselves to our future child wholeheartedly...
without personal regret.

Now...
don't get me wrong...
there are plenty of couples who decide to wait to see the world as a family
(you may also do this later after having enjoyed yourselves as a couple)...
others because of circumstance...decide to have a family early...
and are perfectly happy.

However...
I have seen plenty of others who had felt resentment...
not realizing the amount of dedication necessary to raise children...
to ensure their happiness.

Although I am very free spirited...
I am only so because I have things preplanned...
so I may enjoy them with a free heart.

When we became a family...
we went everywhere as a family.

We have never used a babysitter...
Alex was always with us.

Our main enjoyment was seeing our son's enjoyment.

Now...
while I am pretty impulsive with the small things in life...
with the major ones...
I plan them out years, or even decades, in advance.

Having a family is one of those extremely serious matters.

A child deserves to have a family that is financially stable...
and whose parents can devote themselves to his care.

In short...
enjoy yourself while still single...
it will make enjoyment with another even greater.

Enjoy yourselves as a couple...
it will vastly multiply your enjoyment when you have children.

When you don't feel that life has passed you by...
you are naturally happy inside...
and it will show once you have children.

Once you have given to yourselves...
you may more freely give to others.

A feeling of freedom from unfulfilled desires...
opens and enlarges the heart...
your wanderlust is sated...
your deepest desire is to then share your happiness
by being able to guide a young innocent life to one of great happiness.

--------------

I have also been prepping Alex in one of the greatest
choices in life he may eventually make...
the choosing of a mate
(Alex has always liked certain girls in his grade at school).

I have, of course, stressed that while one cannot control love...
one can control marriage.

Alex may end up meeting the right girl while at University...
and he may wish to get engaged...
but the well thought out path would be to put off marriage until
he has established himself in a profession.

 Hopefully, he will also heed my advice on enjoying life as a couple first...
before launching his family.

Alex's MAP Testing Math / Reading Comprehension Scores

Song:  Yet Another Movie

Group:  Pink Floyd

Alex's school is going through MAP

 (Measures Of Academic Progress)...for one week.  

Alex took the Math portion yesterday...

and the Reading Comprehension portion today.

He had greatly improved in both areas.

Tomorrow he will be taking the Science portion...

and on Monday...he will be taking the Language portion.

These tests are designed to see where the child tops out...

and in how much he has improved over his last test.

In Math (Alex's strongest area)...

He went above the accurate measuring threshold of even the 11th graders 

(above the 99th %).

He had scored 290.

Neither his raw score, nor his improvement over his last test...

had surprised us.

However, his steady improvement in Reading Comprehension 

gratified us greatly (Alex's weakest area).

Alex had scored 249...

which is in the 97th percentile of 7th graders...

and in the 92nd percentile of 11th graders.

We have been steadily working on Alex's 

Reading Comprehension on a daily basis.

Although his rate of improvement is less than in his strongest area (Math)...

it is to be expected.  He has still made a sizable gain in his weakest area...

and with our continued daily work with him in Reading Comprehension...

we fully expect that he will just keep improving.

Alex reads every day...

usually his AR books and then takes tests at school on them.

His mother reads selected books with him before bedtime...

and questions him on the salient points of the passages.

I have him read a portion of famous criminal cases...

and then read one witness testimony at a time for our daily discussion.

I have Alex play the opposite attorney of which ever witness affidavit 

is presented and to have him first, write down the salient points...

and then to present them as if he were addressing the jurors.

I will then play the opposing side...

and hope to initiate a debate.

Alex is getting a grasp of the legal system...

and while he is still new to the value of evidence...

and to, especially that of forensics...

he is learning them (I explain them as we go).

His mother had bought us our next court case book...

this time on famous Supreme Court cases.

I will have Alex refer to his books on the Constitution... 

and the Bill of Rights, to try to decide the validity

of the claimants' position or of the Supreme Court's decisions.

I will, of course, take the opposing side...

and we will enter into our debate from there...

portion by portion.

We do this on a daily basis to have Alex improve his Reading Comprehension...

and to improve his ability to rationally discuss issues in a group setting

through intelligent interjection and involved participation

(another formally weak area).

I have found that our debate sessions have improved all of these areas...

as he has to support his assertions using his critical reasoning skills.

I had initially attempted to use an online world news source for our

discussion issues...however, as I am sure most of you have noticed... 

the news doesn't report on all of the necessary information

 in order to come to a rational decision.  

It is also so frequently heavily biased...

and has so many inherent conflicting implications...

as to render it almost unusable.

I have found that using famous court cases to be a great way

to have a child exercise his critical reasoning skills.

This particular book is a starter

(we are discussing the Lindbergh kidnapping as of now).

I will be getting more in depth case studies for our future discussions.

I plan to intermingle our discussions with famous passages

of the teachings of the West's most famous Philosophers...

and we can then discuss the value and validity of each

(I will ask Alex to fully support all of his positions).

The ability for Alex to rationally discuss issues in group or individual settings...

to be able to fully support his assertions through effective recitation

of empirical supporting evidence and/or through the use of supported rationales... 

is going to be one of his most used skills in University...and in life.

As time goes on...

we will be increasing his studies in this extremely important area...

and it will be primarily through the above exercises 

(which will become increasingly more in depth)

that we shall constantly improve his weakest areas...

day by day.

Concept Of Looking Into The Future

Song:  Look Into The Future

Group:  Journey

To look into the future...

 is to have a concept of time...

of how limited it is for us...

and of how important it is to use ever so wisely.

It is to correctly place the greater value

on the long term over that of the short.

It is the desire to guide one's life on a grand adventure of self exploration...

of the inner drive to discover a prime passion in life...

to lay out an efficient and effective plan to fulfill that passion...

and to forego the pitfalls and false comfort points in life

which would derail you from that path.

While childhood is the time to do this...

often times in life, it is done in later stages.

Sometimes...

there are those who don't realize, until their death bed...

that they have deep regrets in life for not having discovered...

and followed, their passions in life...while there was still time.

Whether they had simply chosen a safe, but unremarkable path...

or had allowed others to dictate to them a later realized undesirable path...

this is frequently the number one regret in life...when faced with death

(as compiled from hundreds of dying hospice patients from an earlier
noted author who had been one of their caregivers in their last moments).

To not realize a life's passion...

 and the path to achieve it, while one is still young...

 is to fail at one of the prime objectives of youth.

To wander through life...

unaware that opportunities pass you by the more that time passes...

is to be a fool.

To never realize a prime passion...

or perhaps, even worse...

to realize it, and to forego the pursuit of it...
at least minimally during free time, or in retirement...
is to be a Grand Fool.

So...
what kind of fool am I?

I like to think of myself as a reformed partial fool.

You see...
although I had a deep passion in life early on...
being a samurai warrior or a medieval knight
 is simply not a viable occupation  :)

All through my early life...
I was a romantic fool
(I know some who know me will laugh at my use of the past tense :)

I had spent all of my early school years... daydreaming.

I was constantly (in my mind) living a life of high adventure...
of listening to great symphonies as I wandered the lands
in search of great adventures...
of slaying great beasts with my lance and sword...
of defeating opponents in life and death duels...
of rescuing princesses and saving kingdoms.

Of course...
as a result...
my grades all through K - 12...
were atrocious.

I had neither studied...
nor had I paid any attention while in class.

It was only after entering the Army that I had started to mature.

I was 17 years old...
and just two weeks out of High School that I had entered
Basic and Advanced Individual Training in the Army.

I went into the Army because, while I was immature...
I, at least, knew I was immature.

I knew I had to live out my wanderlust before I could even
attempt to pay any attention to my studies.

I also realized that the old G.I. bill would pay for my University
after I had gotten out (and it had...and I did graduate).

Anyway...
it was during Basic Training that I really started to
look into the future.

It was precisely this song...Look Into The Future...
(one of my favorites)...which had played over and over
in my head during our long early morning runs in Basic Training.

Basic Training, for me, was a great adventure.

I loved every minute of it.
I knew that I had to search for my passions in life...
and for a way to achieve them...
and in order to do this...
I had to get to know myself by going all out in life...
to not hold back because of fear or pain.

As this song played to me...
the steady rhythm of our pounding boots in the pitch black of the early morning
had matched the rhythm of this song
(and through the most beautiful sunrises I have ever witnessed...
a mesmerizing blend of violets, reds, greens and blues...all giving way to yellows...
everything seemed to be in synch with this song...even the heavens.
Of course...I was matching the music in my head to what I was seeing...
but the effect was still magical :)


All during our runs...
I would be looking at the sky with a smile on my face.
I knew that by looking into the future...I would find my answers.

My goal for the next 4 years...
was to not only discover a prime passion...
something which made me deeply happy no matter
the circumstances of my immediate surroundings...
 it was also to leave childhood behind and to become a man
through the acceptance of challenges without hesitation...
to learn the essence of courage and endurance in the face of fear and pain.

During Basic Training...
I was at a crossroads...
one that would have far reaching effects on my direction in life...
should I have chosen to take the path afforded me by the Army.

I was asked to forgo my initial commitment to the Army of 4 years...
and to instead...attend USMAPS...
 a Military Prep School (in the case for the Army)...
for West Point.

The ONLY reason I was being asked was because of my
initial military test scores (ASVAB).

Had they considered my abysmal grades all throughout my
earlier school years...or had they known of my lack of maturity...
I would not have been considered.

I knew that common sense will only get you so far in life...
and that I greatly lacked in the academic background and
the study habits necessary to succeed in such an environment...
and especially the lack of will to sit in classrooms for endless hours.

I was still greatly immature...and I knew it.

For me to have accepted would have been a grave mistake for the Army...
 and for me.

Only after maturing in the Army did I regret not having studied
much more than I had while still young.

Still, I had made up my mind that I would put myself through University
after I got out.  However, to not have been ready in life to take advantage
of a life changing opportunity because I had lacked appropriate foresight
much earlier in life...is what had stung so much.

This brings me to a very important point.

Although I had looked to the future early in life...
it was of an unrealistic future...
there simply isn't a great market for...
 Dragon Slayers or Wandering Warriors :)

I was passionate about an unrealizable path.

Truly looking into the future involves...
finding a true (and plausible) dream...
a viable path to the realization of that dream...
and being able to synch it to your other goals in life...
as well as being able to make it a monetarily viable option
(absolutely necessary if having a family is also a desire)...
and doing it while young enough to reach it in a timely manner.

This brings me to another crossroads in my life
in which I had to take a realistic look at my goals...
and to put them into synch with my other desires...
or to forgo them.

After graduating from University...
I worked in Japan for 1 year.

I had met my, later to be, wife there.

After I had gotten back to the U.S. ...
I went on a job hunt and I had found, what I initially
had envisioned as, a temporary job until
I secured one in which I had a passion for.

After a few years...
my future wife had visited
and started attending a college in my city.

After years of her going back to Japan...
and returning to visit...
I was faced with the crossroads of life once more.

I was then self studying to be an Airline Pilot...
while awaiting an opening in an academy.

As I was still single at the time...
although I had researched the Regionals...
factored in the time necessary to work my way up to being
a viable candidate for the Major Airlines
(which is in no way guaranteed)...
and how very little money is made as a Regional Pilot for quite some time
in their careers...and the fact that I was already in my thirties...
I knew that the only way I could do it was to remain single
for many years as I lived frugally.

At this point in my, then career, I was making very good money
(many times what a Regional Pilot would make for many years
...and even where the regional pilots topped out at...
I was still making much more)...
and had I great benefits...
including retiring at a very young age with full retirement.

This was a job in which I could raise a family on.

I knew I would eventually want a family.

Would I have taken the Airline Academy path...
I would have had to forego having a family
(while I could live in bare conditions...
I wouldn't drag a family into that existence).

Had I had greater foresight...
I would have seen it as my path in Elementary School...
and certainly by High School...
and worked relentlessly toward it.

No excuse...
I had failed to do that.

Although I had made the right choice of staying with, my then, career...
and having a wonderful son...
I wouldn't have been in that position in the first place
had I looked realistically at my future as a child...
had reversed planned my future starting from my dream...
working back and plotting the path and all of the requirements
involved and conquering all of the necessary objectives
 to achievement of that goal.

In the end...
(thankfully)
I had chosen the long term over the short.

I had chosen to have...
a good woman...one who had become an excellent mother...
an absolutely beautiful and pure hearted son...
a comfortable retirement in which I may spend lots of time
with my son while I am still relatively young...
and the time to pursue my other passions in retirement...
and for the rest of my life.

It is because of my son, Alex, that I had a renewed sense
of faith in the potential for goodness, pureness...
and selflessness in humans.

It was through his inherent...
sweet and kind heart... compassion...
 innocent and pure thoughts and actions...
love of life and of all those in it...
that had given me one of my greatest passions...
 the guidance of Alex...
of being one of his great teachers and guides in life.


My son, Alex, is the greatest love of my life...
and it is because of him...
that I may die without regrets.



So...
while I am a reformed partial fool...
and my life is so very great now...
the far greater path is to realize your passions early on...
by realistically looking into the future...
and pursuing it with whole hearted abandonment.

The real trick is to get a child to look into the future in the first place.

What we have done with our son...
besides giving him the love of learning through
Positive Reinforcement:


  Instilling A Sense Of Time

To truly know this...
 is to know the great beauty, yet the great fragility of life...
and the certainty of death...
forever more...forever more
(sorry Poe :)

To have him understand that life is relatively short...
and that we have but one shot at it...
instills a sense of urgency...
a sense of commitment...
of enjoying his trek...
yet striving to reach the peak of his chosen mountain in a timely manner...
so he may enjoy the expansive views from the top...
before the sun sets.

We have shown examples of this in all life forms...
plants, animals, and people.

I constantly reinforce that it is not death that should be feared
 (barring unnatural and preventable causes)...
but it is in not having lived your life well.

Life is something which should be lived
running toward goals and driven through passion...
and not running from it through fear.

I have also stressed the basic timeline of life...
in years...and in achievements.

As Alex, and I, love to eat...
I have often used the metaphor of a great feast
to that of living life to the fullest.


Only through great planning is the feast well laid out and timed...
and is the meal anticipated with great yearning.

Only through its proper preparation is the food delicious...
and is it savored and greatly remembered.

Only through the effort necessary to prepare this feast...
that dessert may be enjoyed...
the appetite sated...
 and the person is ready to leave the table...
all without any other desire...
but to sleep.


-----------------


The Establishment Of Cause And Effect


We have constantly reinforced that life is the result...
not of providence or of destiny...but of choice...
of what he does or does not do...

not merely what he thinks...
but what he applies...

not merely through the amount of effort...
but through the positive results...

that reality is transitory and malleable...
that our dreams can be made into our new reality
through efficient and effective planning...
through properly guided effort...
 as driven through passion.


I have discussed with Alex...
my failures in life, and how he may do things differently...
of how he may start correctly from the beginning.

I have shown him examples of people who...
either through their poor decisions or their lack of decisions...
have ended up destitute...drug dependent...extremely unhappy...
and because they consistently choose short term thrills
over long term happiness...
how they are keeping themselves imprisoned...
while the whole time...
the key to their cell is in their pocket.

However, most of our reinforcement consists of
 positive examples of those who have led exemplary lives...
the ones who have lived their lives well.

We have pointed out their paths to a great life...
and how he may also reach great happiness in life...
by following their lead.


-----------------



By Having Him Play To His Strengths



The path to excellence in a child's strengths...
is the same for the conquering of his deficits.

By concentrating on what not to do in life...
is to take the mind off of what to do correctly.

By concentrating on the strengths of a child...
the passion for life and learning...
the daily study habits...
the learning of deferred gratification...
of long term over the short...
coupled with success in his strengths...
forms the winning pattern for him to achieve any goals.

He will realize that a winning pattern in one area applies to all.

Alex used to have great difficulty in reading comprehension...
especially in areas involving motives of others.

By consistent and incremental daily studying...
he has gone on to improve greatly in this area.

His pride grows with each improvement
because he already knows the taste of victory
in the areas of his strengths...
and he has the confidence that the same formula for winning...
is the same formula for overcoming any deficits...
that it just takes a little longer.


--------------------


Giving Him Viable Options For Future Professions


By opening a child's eyes to possible professions...
especially ones which are a play to his strengths...
he will start dreaming of his potential life with starry, yet, realistic eyes...
he will begin to look into the future...
with great gusto...
with great hope.

Surround your child with the greats of his chosen passion...
give him the paths they had taken...
map out how his life may also follow that same path...
constantly feed the flame of his passions by exposure
to the professionals of his path...
and of examples of the great happiness they exude...
in how they lead their lives...
and in the necessary lifestyle to lead
in order to achieve what they had achieved.


--------------------


As I have said time and again...
it is DRIVE
that is the single greatest determining factor of success in humans.

Through these fundamental concepts...
the stage for drive shall be set...
for once they have a true passion...
a true goal to reach...
a viable path to its achievement...
there will be no stopping them...
and you will have achieved one of the greatest goals of any parent...
the ignition of your child's main thrusters of his great rocket ship to the stars.

Alex Celebrating His Mother's Special Day

Song:  1 Hour Epic Orchestral Montage

Alex started the day by making this Mother's Day card

(Alex is giving his mother a bouquet of flowers in his picture).

Alex did some studying...

and then we went sitting at a nearby fishing pond

(we caught no fish...therefore...we just sat :)

We just traveled for 15 minutes to Crystal Peaks Park...

in the town of Verdi...

which is just West of Reno.

We only stayed for a couple of hours.

As this is our 4th time out and we have yet to catch any fish...

I must conclude that...

there are no fish!

Ok...

perhaps I must read up on how to be a better fisherman :)

I, of course, have been turning our lack of results into a lesson for life...

that of patience  :)

The park is next to the Truckee river.

We departed with enough time for Alex to do his Sunday weight training at home...

and to grab a shower...and then we were off to a new restaurant 

that his mother had chosen for Mother's Day.

His mother had chosen a newly opened Sushi restaurant in downtown Reno.

It offers dining inside or outside on the lanai with a view of the Truckee river.

As it was a little windy...we elected to eat inside.

Sunday through Thursday...it stays open until 10 PM.

On Fridays and Saturdays...it is open until 1 AM!

We had given our name...

and we had to wait for 20 minutes.

Alex patiently waited for our name to come up on the list...

while his iPad kept him busy.

The Truckee River flows through the center of Reno.

Their appetizers were excellent.

These were crab stuffed mushrooms...

and all of the crab they served was real crab!

Alex had eaten the crab cakes

(which were delicious).

They had taken out the attachment points and had cut the mussels

in half for easy eating.

Alex tried 5 different types of food today...

the crab hand roll...Maguro...Tekka Maki...the Mickey (right most pieces)

(he still won't try the Unagi - the center pieces in the photo)

and the 5th and final one...

we had to really convince him to try...

however, he finally relented and tried...

the Strawberry Parfait

(Ok...no begging or pleading necessary :)

We plan to eat outside on our next visit.

His mother had a good time.

She always works very hard in her research 

for ways of improving Alex's opportunities in life.

She is also halfway through an online University level Coursera course

on neurotransmitters and their effects on 

impulsive / compulsive behavior...

along with ADHD and other 

non neuro typical states of being.

She claims that this course allows her to understand ME more!  :) :) :)

Alex has less than 3 weeks until the national ARML competition.

He is preparing himself for it everyday.

He says he can hardly wait for our trip to Las Vegas for the competition.

Alex is so unique in his bright outlook in life.

Everything in life is beautiful to him...

and he is always looking forward to the future.

THAT is the way to live life...

by looking into the future

(I will explain myself in my next article).