Junior TSA Screener

IMG_6255
Originally uploaded by saracarl

Wrong in so many ways, but it amused Miss J -- and anything that makes getting through the airport easier is to be appreciated.

This was in the Denver airport -- we've never been offered stickers before, and I don't know if any other airport is doing this.

More laugh out loud (geek) fun than I've had in a long time

From xkcd, which will suck an hours of your day if you let it....

Sleepless in America, continued.

On the feet of my recent research into sleeplessness in children, I ran across this fascinating article in New York Magazine about how lack of sleep affects our children. I know I have a tendency to paranoia, but this is pretty convincing.

Convinced by the mountain of studies, a handful of school districts around the nation are starting school later in the morning. The best known of these is in Edina, Minnesota, an affluent suburb of Minneapolis, where the high school start time was changed from 7:25 a.m. to 8:30. The results were startling. In the year preceding the time change, math and verbal SAT scores for the top 10 percent of Edina’s students averaged 1288. A year later, the top 10 percent averaged 1500, an increase that couldn’t be attributed to any other variable. “Truly flabbergasting,” said Brian O’Reilly, the College Board’s executive director for SAT Program Relations, on hearing the results.

Also a great word for describing that hour between when a kid should be in bed and when they actually are -- "the Slush Hour":

Long before children become overscheduled high schoolers gunning for college, parents start making trade-offs between their kids’ sleep and their other needs. This is especially true in the last hour of a child’s day, a time zone let’s call “the Slush Hour.” The Slush Hour is both a rush to sleep and a slush fund of potential time, sort of a petty-cash drawer from which we withdraw ten-minute increments. During the Slush Hour, children should be in bed, but there are so many competing priorities. As a result, sleep is treated much like the national debt—What’s another half-hour on the bill? We’re surviving; kids can, too.

I went to the market...

My sister created this awesome abecedary for J, entirely of pictures taken in Turkish markets. Check it out!

Turkish Supper Club

Ben and I hosted our supper club yesterday, for a dinner with the intended theme of "Turkish Delight." Since one of the members of the club is actually Turkish, Ben modified the theme to be "Tourist Turkish" -- covering our bases in case we delivered an inauthentic meal. During our preparation, Ben formulated a guideline for ethnic dinners -- when trading off between authentic or yummy, choose yummy. So our borek, mentioned below, had considerably more feta in it than we got in Turkey.

So -- here is the menu and recipes for Turkish night at the Brumfield's:

Mezzes:
cigarette borek(fried pasty with feta cheese in it)
yogurt dip (hidari/haydari) served with olives, cucumber slices and radish flowers
kisir (turkish tabouleh, basically) served with pita wedges
fish sandwiches (one of the istanbul street foods, served on the banks of the Bosphorus. Basically, grilled fish on a roll. Cristi didn't let Ben buy any -- "soviet era heavy metals" -- but it flung such a craving on him that we've had them for dinner many times since we returned.

Soup:
Red Lentil Soup

Salad:
lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers w/pomegranate dressing

Mains:
Kofte (someplace between a meatball and a hamburger, flavored with cumin and other spices)
Rice Pilaf
Manti (really small ravioli like pasta)

Dessert:
Rice Pudding (Sutlac)

Credits: Picture above and many of our recipes came from the fabulous TurkishCookbook.com. Check it out -- lots of wonderful recipes.

KTRU for Josh

From Jila Bakker:

The folks at KTRU (Rice radio) have agreed to set aside a block of time to play some songs that remind us all of Josh. I’m not sure how many they will play-that’s entirely up to the DJ. We have already forwarded them some song suggestions, but if anyone has a specific request, please forward it to me and I will pass it along to the DJ, Claire Hein, who is working with us.

For those in the greater Houston area, KTRU is broadcast at 91.7 FM. For those outside of Houston, KTRU can be heard online at:

http://bang.rice.edu/

It also seems likely that we will be able to get a recording of the broadcast from KTRU. Please let me know if you are interested, and I will see if I can get you a copy. As an aside, the FCC rules governing KTRU don’t allow them to specifically say that the songs are for a named individual. Unfortunately, this means that they will not mention Josh by name. However, I know that certain songs will say “Josh” loud and clear to those of us who love him.

(if you don't have her email and would like to recommend something let me know)

?!

Young children find it especially difficult to separate appearance from reality. When psychologists show a young child a squirrel, and then shave it and paint it so that it looks like a raccoon, the child will say that it is now a raccoon. They are so swayed by appearance that they forget that the squirrel is still there beneath the shaved and painted exterior.

--From Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty by Nancy Etcoff

Hard work, being a psychologist, with all that squirrel shaving and painting.