Elser Family Blog

Did ya’ll know you can go to your voting place after the polls close and find out the results of just your precinct? Sorta’ cool.. that is how local media does it on election night.. they literally drive around and tally the votes manually. Its the fastest way to get local results. You can see this was posted 7 minutes after the polls closed. (an hour ago!) I’m pretty sure this is a predominantly White precinct, so I would say this result is significant. It Bodes well for Barack. (however, the low turnout is not great.. the republican turnout in my area was a lot larger.)

Here was my contribution to the cause earlier in the day! Go Barack!

This was a serindipitous picture by Kathi.. they just happened to be up there in order of hight! These are Melinda and Rockwell’s friends.

We were playing with fireworks the other night.. Hannah wanted me to spell her name.

Yesterday morning, Rockwell was the star of his Preschool program! He played Zacchaeus . I don’t see him as a tax collector in real life though… 🙂 Click here for a rather long (4 minute) but well compressed (4meg) QuickTime video.
And while I was waiting to see the “show”, the rest of the kids sang some songs. Standard fair, until this one came up… Uhhh- Have I found one of the causes of our childhood obesity problem perhaps?? I should load this on youtube just to see the reaction! Click here.

[Warning! severe Parental bragging ahead]
We are so proud of all of our children. Every one of them did very well in school. Rockwell has mastered most all of his “requirements” and the teachers say he is a “joy to have in class”, Melinda got ALL A’s in 1st grade, including classroom conduct, and is also a “joy to have in class”, and Hannah has been asked to participate in the Duke Univerity TIP program for children scoring in the 95th percentile and above in standardized national testing. Hannah is currently scoring in the 97th percentile in language and math. Hannah has A’s and B’s this quarter, and has raised her overall average to a’s and b’s too. (That c in reading has moved up) She has also received a A in her advanced classes to. We asked her what she thought about the special classes, and she said they were “easier than regular classes”. I like to assume that means she is being challenged and is not bored.. that’s a good sign! (of course, she probably likes the more individual attention too.)
[/severe Parental bragging]
Ok, Im done…… for now! 🙂

This morning , Rockwell wouldn’t stop saying “The pit is full, how pitiful”

It was his favorite saying of the day, if repetition is any indicator..

Melinda wanted me to build a set of stilts for her today, so we went out to the garage and built just that. When she learns to use them, Ill take some pictures for U!

Rockwell received his 4K “report Card” this week.. Evidentially all the teachers just love him. 🙂

This last week, Melinda AND Rockwell learned to ride two wheel bikes. Both at just about the exact same time, Just like that. I didn’t have to push practice or anything.. Melinda just came to me and said “Dad, can you take the training wheels off of my bike please?”
I did, and she rode it, just like that. Weird.
BTW, is that a cool vintage Schwinn Pixie or what? I’ve had it for 20 years.. I found it in the garbage when I lived in Palatine, Ill. It blows the new bikes away. (Melinda calls it “My banana seat bike”)
(Click picture to watch small QuickTime movie.)

Same goes for Rockwell, except he cant start out himself (his legs don’t touch the ground) He just rode. weird. Not what I was expecting.

This is what I attribute the ability to… It’s a scooter that Melinda Rockwell helped me make.. (smile)
We cut apart an old bicycle, and welded a piece of metal to the middle, and viola.. a way for R and M to practice steering, but not have to actually ride! We made this scooter about a month ago, and they had both mastered it in a week or so.

First post of 2008! I just got back from the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. It was interesting. There were a LOT of new monitors, all flat screens, and not a single CRT in sight. RIP: the CRT, The las of the vacuum tubes.

Other than that, not really any really new technologies.

My personal Fav of the whole show? A simple GPS tracker, no screen, about half the size of a deck of cards. The cool thing? It works with the Google maps API… as long as your camera time and date is right, it will tell you right where you were standing when you took your pictures! you load your pictures onto your computer or most photo-sharing services, and load the data from the GPS unit, and with a small bit of code on your web page, you can have maps of where the photos were taken! I think that was trÈs cool.

I think I figured out why I have not posted as I used to.. it has to do with Google and their picture loading practices… I think I have solved it, so look for more frequent posts.

Speaking of pictures, here are a couple o neat pictures from Rockwell.
This one is called “Frog Magician”

This one is called “two guys talking blah blah blah”