So I’m a lazy bum, but I need to use the Tab key quite a bit. (And why on God’s green Earth can’t manufacturers make a keypad with both a backspace and tab key on it? I can’t be the only one who does numeric data entry in Excel, can I?) I’m using a Microsoft Trackball Explorer (which I am very disappointed is off the market nowadays, because it fits my hand very well) and I decided to configure one of the buttons (specifically the “Top left button”) to pass a Tab keystroke.

There’s no IntelliPoint command on the list to pass a Tab, but there is one to pass a specific keystroke. Of course, that won’t allow me to tell it to pass a Tab command. Grr…

Maybe this is already obvious to you, but it felt like an inspiration to me: I set up the button to queue a Macro, created a macro (named “Tab” of course), and inserted the special action “Tab” into the macro. Save, OK, and an Apply later, and the button on my trackball passes the Tab command perfectly.

Hooray! (And this felt far better than the only results I could track down via Google, all of which involved hacking the registry.)

So, my oldest boy (now six) has started Kindergarten. Actually, I’m amazed at how many people have said “I wish my parents had kept me back a year.” He is attending class at Harvest Valley Elementary, which actually seems a good-sized school in the Romoland School District. (Frankly, I’m amazed there are enough kids in the area to support one school, let alone the four in the district.)

Getting him registered for Kindergarten was more tricky than I’d expected; in retrospect it makes perfect sense, but at no time does the district or school reach out to you first. They are totally ignorant of the existence of your child prior to initial school registration… so much for “Big Brother is Watching” or having your kid “forced” to go to school, I guess.

I was dismayed though, with the little information I had once the registration process was complete. I had located the school website on my own, which is where I found the registration paperwork in the first place. At no other time have I heard the school website mentioned. After getting the registration paperwork filed, I was given two single sheet letters, one telling me about the (apparently new) Principal, and the other indicating that school started the following Tuesday, and that Kindergarten orientation was Wednesday night.

Okay, orientation, that sounds good… except that orientation did not include any information on which teacher my child would have, the room he would be in, any of the specifics I had expected. I was informed of the detailed list of critical information my child would have to demonstrate competency over by the end of the year, including a 41 word vocabulary list and lengthy lists of vaguely worded objectives. As much as I appreciate details on what will be expected academically, this part of the process felt unsatisfactory to me.

Well, on Friday a postcard arrived, indicating who my boys teacher and room would be, and reminding that class started on Tuesday at 8. That was, predictably, an emotional morning; first kid off to school for the first time. At that time, there was no chance to see much of anything in the school or classroom, and no time to speak with the instructor. It was much too hectic an environment for thinking, let alone talking. Apparently it was also too hectic an environment to mention when class let out, as that was not mentioned, nor was it listed in the packet of papers from the school. One message to the school office resulted in two calls back, one saying that class ended at 10:30, the other at noon. (Turns out the latter was correct.)

That morning I was given a large packet of paperwork, with many fields to sign and date. I did not expect that, as a parent of a Kindergarten child, I would have to indicate the terms under which a 3rd through 5th grader might be expelled for sexual harassment. (Take a moment, and think about that last clause. Yeah.) The next day saw an even thicker packet of information, finally giving details like a map of the school and calendar. (Finally I had written confirmation that the day runs from 8 to 12.) I was surprised to note that virtually every Wednesday was a minimum day, at Harvest Valley. That doesn’t matter for the Kindergarten classes, but will sure matter for next year.

So, perusing the web site I saw that Back to School Night will be on a Thursday at 5:30. Okay, so I’ll have to arrange to get off work early, no problem… until dropping off the boy this morning I saw the sign outside the school office saying that Back to School Night starts at 5 PM.

I really don’t know which is worse: The school giving no information, or the school giving conflicting information. I also have to wonder if Palomar College (where I work in Academic Technology) gives their incoming students a similarly troubling first experience. I hope not, but I expect so.

On the commute home tonight my mind was doing one of those unfocused association things; disecting phrases and thoughts and putting them together in different ways. Often songs from the playlist will spark something, but I think what kicked off this chain was a simple window sticker in another car:

“Faith. Hope. Love.”

Fair enough… and the greatest of these is love. This reminded me of a quote from a church newletter I read:

“Remember, God loves you and so do I.”

Truth be told, there are people I can’t bring myself to tolerate, let alone love. So… I’m going to suggest this:

“Jesus loves you; if I don’t, that says far more about me than about you.”

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
–I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference.

I’ve always wondered about The Road Not Taken, because of what seems to me a begged question; where am I going?

If it doesn’t matter where you are going, then certainly, take the road less travelled. If, however, you want to get to a specific place… take the road that leads there. I realize this is overly literal, but I don’t feel it strains the analogy too much.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
–I took the one going my way,
and that has gotten me where I was going.”

So Daniel, my four-year-old, picked out a cool gift for me this Christmas: a Pi T-shirt.

Now, I like the shirt, and I like that he knew I would enjoy it. But most of all, I loved when he sat down with me and explained what the shirt meant. The conversation went something like this:

ME: Daniel, I really like the shirt you got me for Christmas. Thank you!
DANIEL: Yeah. That’s pi.
ME: I know. It’s really cool.
DANIEL: Pi is a number made up of a whole bunch of numbers.
ME: Yes, it’s a number between three and four. Do you know what it means?
DANIEL: It’s a number that tells you how big a circle is.

Now, I don’t know about you, but… I think that’s an incredible answer to “what is pi?” for someone who is four.

My wife and I decided we wanted to get a Wii for Christmas this year; if you aren’t groaning or laughing yet, you obviously haven’t been shopping for a Wii since the start of November. Anyway, my holiday quest for a Wii ended last night, in a GameCrazy.

Congratulate me on my new Xbox 360.

Nintendo, I love your games (Zelda rocks!), your interoperability (the GameBoy Advance/GameCube connection is still kinda cool), and your innovation (the motion controls of the Wii are amazing). But I wanted some new video game choices this year, and I just wasn’t able to get them from you. Maybe next year.

I felt a good deal better about my decision to go 360 when, just during the time I spent in line to check out at GameCrazy, half a dozen other people stopped by the store specifically to ask if there were any Wii in stock… I was not alone, clearly. (For anyone in the Hemet, CA area there is a rumor that the San Jacinto GameCrazy will save a Wii for you at the store when the shipment comes in if you purchase an extended warranty. But you have to inquire in person… or so I’m told.) Best of luck to all those other searchers; I’ll be at home playing Assassin’s Creed and Bioshock.

Apparently I was defrauded by the apartment complex I lived in several years back. It looks like for the last eleven months I lived in the Archstone “Club Pacifica” complex in Escondido, CA they were deliberately overcharging for water.

Huh.

Looks like I’ll be getting a settlement in the thirty dollar range. Sweet.