Newfangled Dad

It's been awhile and the blog has been sitting, collecting dust. But it's back for a special project! Starting in 2018, I did a photo collection with my daughter where she showed a new facial expression of the day. It was fun and she ended up receiving a book of the 65 photos as a gift for her 8th birthday recently. Now, her older brother (9) wants a creative activity with dad and we came up with what you see launching today. I've had the idea for awhile that it would be fun to listen to some of the best music ever recorded and get the reaction of kids who have never heard it. He had the idea to add artwork. Please enjoy as we explore Rolling Stone' s list starting today with #500. #500 "Shop Around"

Today's song is "Shop Around" by Smokey Robinson Motown's 1st record to sell 1 million copies. Also the 1st Motown song in the Top 5.  This is how we picture the song. Can you follow the lines with the song? This is what we heard:  Kinda vibrate-y. Shakey. Right after that it explodes and all the music is there. It stays loud and at one part gets quiet and goes right back up and does that a couple of times before the song ends. The song is kind of “hyper.” This is how I drew the picture: I drew my picture to match the way I heard the song. The blue is the sudden explosion at the beginning and the red and yellow lines represent how it stayed. Green zigzags are the low parts. The yellow line on the right side of the page is low to high.

My daughter--my youngest--goes to kindergarten this fall. It's the end of the Daddy Era and there has been some pushback. For those of you reading along for awhile, you'll remember that in the new year I began to dip my toes in the job market. The cliche is true that trying to find a full-time job becomes a full-time job. I haven't been quite to that level yet; it's more of a casual browsing and applying for positions that interest me. "No, we don't want you to work!" has been the refrain from my kids. As luck would have it, I've managed to find a part-time gig a few days per week at a local non-profit which manages the historic preservation of a few of Chicago's architectural treasures. My museum background and living a few streets over from two of the properties has been a temporary benefit for both sides. It lets me collect a paycheck for a few hours without jumping into the deep end of the work pool. I get to educate the public, be involved...

The corner of Greenfield and Forest is currently one of the few remaining uncontrolled intersections in Oak Park. No stop signs from any direction. It's a residential T intersection that dead-ends into a large park, is one block north of a school, and is frequently congested with event parking for baseball/soccer games. The only crosswalk is the older style (faded) parallel bars. The walkways coming out of the park slope downward towards the street and don't feature any markings, ADA-compliant texture, etc.. The route features about 1,600 cars per day (800-1200 is typical for a residential street in the village) with speeds of 30 mph as drivers cut-through the neighborhood from major roads. What to do? The resident petition last night was for upgrading to an all-way stop. But there have been no crashes at the intersection in the last 3 years or in the village-wide traffic study from a decade ago. As I've discussed before on the blog, stop signs may be the cheap/obvious ...

I was approached by the folks at  Education.com  about possibly doing an activity of theirs as a guest post. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way.) It's a kinda cool science experiment to do with your kids and I'm all for that. Enjoy! Activity: Amazing Aerodynamics With a button, string and a stopwatch, children can see, hear and measure  aerodynamics  in action! In this energy transfer activity, your child will compare the spin duration of a button strung on different kinds of string. Two key elements of the  scientific method  are introduced: how to record results of an experiment on a data chart and how to use data to support a conclusion. Grade Third Grade Subject Science Physical Science What You Need: Flat button with 2 holes 5-10 kinds of string (thread, yarn, fishing line, kite string, dental floss, waxed thread, twine, etc.) Measuring tape Stopwatch Paper and pen What You Do: Ask your child to ...

I decided to try Oak Park's new "locally sourced, authentically French" eatery--called Léa--for lunch today. It's a great concept, but was a bit of a rough experience. When you walk into the restaurant, the line was almost out the door. (A great problem to have!) In the end, it would have been a benefit to have someone greeting guests and explaining both the process and that they were struggling. There are rows of menu cards on the wall, very artistic/rustic and cute, which are divided into 3 rows. Sandwiches on top. Salads in the middle. Tartines and kids meals on the bottom. There are quiches of the day and soups. Plus a little case of bakery items. Making your way to the registers, there are computers for self-serve order input...something I'd rather not have seen. Each meal comes with sides, different bread types, etc. and it's just easier to tell a cashier. Plus, one of the ongoing problems was that you're asked to take a number from the counter a...

As always, please note that I'm just one of 7 voices... Parking Study W e had the rare opportunity to meet with our Board liaison, Trustee Tucker, at last night's commission meeting. It's helpful to get immediate feedback on our work, but usually there is a simultaneous board meeting he must attend. As part of a discussion about hiring a consultant, there needed to be a conversation about the Transportation Commission's role and appetite for more work relating to the Board's ongoing parking study. We already have a lot on our plate, but we've agreed to hold a few extra meetings. Especially with regard to seeking more public input on parking. Not to mention that we needed to be able to see eye-to-eye about the goals and anticipated outcomes of the parking study.  I'm still deeply skeptical about that part.  My own personal skepticism is not the timeline (it's refreshingly quick for Oak Park) nor the process itself. Rather, I think the process is putt...