Planning and preparation

Today, Austin is on a field trip to Fraser Valley Gleaners, to help prepare vegetables to be dehydrated to make dried soup mix for the needy around the world.

He infrequently joins a group of his age-peers for an outing, so this is special and he was quite excited yesterday. Since we would be leaving the house around 7:15am, I asked him to take his shower before going to bed last night. He insisted that he much preferred to shower in the morning, so I warned him that I'd be waking him up at 6:30 to give him enough time. He requested, instead, that I wake him at 6:00 so he also has time to pack. And so it was agreed.

Around 8:45pm last night, I was mixing up a banana bread recipe so Austin could take it with him to share. Austin wanted to show me part of "Journey to the Edge of the Universe," and suggested that we could watch the movie together while the banana bread was baking. I countered that he really should be focussing on getting a good night's sleep and he pointed out that I need my sleep, too.

A moment later, however, he was busily rushing about the house, asking me questions like, "Where's my Oscar the Grouch shirt?" "Where's my backpack?" and otherwise collecting objects near the front door. We talked about his footwear and I tried to convince him to wear runners, but his runners are a size too small. If you don't know this about Austin, he likes to wear Crocs ... all seasons ... everywhere. Fraser Valley Gleaners had instructed our field trip coordinator to ensure the teen volunteers would be wearing close-toed shoes. I found their website this morning, and it specifically states, no "CROCS," but I didn't know this for sure, last night. Anyway, Austin agreed to pack his rain boots, so hopefully they'll be acceptable for today.

Something really significant took place in this flurry of activity. Austin planned and prepared ... on his own! He fully took control of making sure he packed what he needed, and he even covered self-care, including showering and planning what to eat and drink. He wanted to be sure that he would have enough to eat before leaving, to keep him from feeling hungry before noon (when they are scheduled to finish working). The only thing that appeared to be missing, was teeth-brushing, but hopefully he did that, anyway.

Austin prepared reminders and checklists and taped them to the fridge and the front door, and placed his bag packing list on top of his partially-packed backpack. To each checklist, he taped a pen which could be used to check off completed items. Here are photos of his lists and reminders:

"Eat Nana's apple sauce + bananas + cranberry juice + milk DO IT!!! (signed) Austin"

"Bag list:

Transformers packed ⧠

iPad packed ⧠

iPad charger packed ⧠

Phone packed ⧠

Spare clothes packed ⧠

Dreadwing packed ⧠

Encyclopedia packed ⧠

Are you wearing your proper clothes ⧠

Somno Pro ⧠"

"Did you do these things

Complete breakfast list ⧠

Shower ⧠

Bag list complete ⧠

Finish did you do these things list ⧠

If complete proceed to vehicle"

He was so excited this morning, that he woke up two hours early and was having his shower by 4am!

I'm really proud of Austin for being so organized and taking initiative. He thought about everything he would need to include an overnight at Nana & Papa's house. And this morning, when I was dropping him off to his ride, he even reminded me that he needed Nana and Papa's phone numbers in his phone.

Great job, Austin!!! I'll miss you today and tonight. Have a wonderful time.

Family analogy

Austin and I had a good talk tonight. We used a "talking sword," so we wouldn't interrupt one another. It's a plastic toy sword that we tossed across the living room to each other, when we switched speakers.

The conversation was about his learning, my hopes and dreams for him, and a few tangential topics.

At one point, he came up with an analogy I really liked.

"Mom, you should try to stop thinking about yourself and dad as two separate people, and start seeing you more as one. It's like you are a cloud looking down on a lake and thinking, 'You have more water than me," when the lake is getting it's water from you!"

This was his insightful feedback after I talked about how grateful I was that dad works so hard and has a really good job, and how much more we might be able to do and afford if I were also working.

Austin asked me who would look after him, Aidan and Aaron if both parents were working full-time. I told him someone else would, to which he promptly responded, "No. Because there's no river in this system. There's only a cloud, a lake and the air in between them." He says the air represents A1, A2, A3 and Iain.

I really like this analogy, and it's even growing on me, as it hits me on new levels. We talked about how clouds hold more water than we can easily imagine (remembering the podcast we listened to on the boat). We had listened to a short recording of "How much do hurricane's weigh?" from NPR's Krulwich on Science.

The Making of the Fittest

The Making of the Fittest DVD (HHMI). A trilogy of short films revealing the evolutionary process in action:

Natural Selection and Adaptation:

The rock pocket mouse. A very good example of Darwin’s theory. This video took place in New Mexico. Scientists did a study on these mice that had adapted to life on black lava flows against a bare desert. The lava flow is about 1,000 years old.

Predators of the mice are owls, rattlesnakes, foxes, hawks, jackals and coyotes. Most of these predators rely primarily on sight to catch their prey.

There was a black mutation in the gene and that mutation wasn't weeded out because of the background they were on, so the mutation spread. The mice with the normal (light-coloured) fur gene died out, and the ones with the black fur did not.

It was interesting that the black fur appeared only on the mice backs and heads, not on their bellies. The dark fur was not needed on their bellies, in order for the population to survive.

The scientists explained that, if the mutation gave the mice a 1% advantage of survival on the dark lava flows, it would take 1,000 years for 95% of the population to have dark fur. A 10% advantage would cause an evolutionary change in a population, within 100 years.

The Birth and Death of Genes:

On December 26, 1927, a Norwegian expedition (Norvegia) to Bouvet Island, an island at the edge of Antarctica, discovered a scaleless fish, later named crocodile fish or ice fish.

This was a very intriguing and special genetic discovery. The ice fish almost looks like an albino fish, crocodile-like. This fish has no red blood cells, because of a genetic mutation. The fish looks weird and disgusting. Its skin is translucent and it’s possible to see its brain and heart and optic nerves through its skin. This is primarily because the fish has no scales.

With no red blood cells or hemoglobin (the protein that delivers oxygen to the cells of the body), scientists wondered how blood could flow in the ice fish. The ice fish can survive without hemoglobin because of the high oxygen content in the frigid waters in which it lives.

Art Devries discovered antifreeze proteins in the 1990s, in fish that live in waters with a temperature of -1.8 degrees celsius. These proteins resulted from an accidental mutation of the ancestral genes.

Natural Selection in Humans:

This video highlighted the work of Tony Allison, who studied the connection between sickle cell disease and malaria in Kenya.

Dr. Allison took many blood samples across Kenya and detailed maps showed the correlation between sickle cell disease and malaria, near Lake Victoria and the coast. Sickle cell disease appeared in very low frequencies in the high country of Nairobi, where malaria is not a problem.

We learned the meanings of homozygous and heterozygous. Tony Allison explained that genes are lined up on chromosomes and humans have pairs of them, with the exception of the sex chromosomes. The chromosomes can be the same or different. If they are the same, they are homozygous and if they are different, they are heterozygous.

It was discovered that carriers of the sickle cell gene, were seemingly protected from malaria. The sickle cell mutation compromises the ability of the parasite to reproduce. Protection from malaria comes at the cost of more sickle cell disease in the population.

Tony Allison believes this proves that human evolution is taking place in our living population. And this is evidence that environment is the catalyst, rather than genetics alone.

Presidential Debate #3

This morning, Austin and I watched the third presidential debate. This debate topic was foreign policy and was mediated by Bob Schieffer.

Following are some of Austin's observations:

1. Romney describes Russia as a geopolitical foe. This led us to look up the definition of geopolitics: "a combination of political and geographic factors relating to something." Austin feels that labelling Russia as a geopolitical foe is not a very good way of making them an ally.

2. Austin thought the funniest part of the debate was when Obama responded to Romney's accusation that navy spending was too low ("our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917 ... The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to 285. We’re headed down to the — to the low 200s if we go through with sequestration..."). Obama: "Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets (laughter)... We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines." This was a bit condescending of Obama, but Austin found it humorous. And, according to the transcript, so did the audience, who had taken a vow of silence (oops!).

We looked up the meaning of sequestration: "The action of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met."

3. Austin thought Romney said, "When I'm President of the United States," too often, as though it's going to happen.

4. Romney stated, "Well, my strategy’s pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture." Austin: "He doesn't know who the bad guys are."

5. Austin feels that Obama could have done better. He spent too much effort focussing on Romney.

6. An example of China not playing by the trade rules (Romney): "I was with one company that makes valves in — in process industries. And they said, look, we were — we were having some valves coming in that — that were broken, and we had to repair them under warranty. And we looked them up, and — and they had our serial number on them. And then we noticed that — that there was more than one with that same serial number. They were counterfeit products being made overseas with the same serial number as a U.S. company, the same packaging. These were being sold into our market and around the world as if they were made by the U.S. competitor."

Austin: "This is proof of how bad China's trade practices are."

I mentioned FIPA to Austin, with a brief description of the Canada-China trade agreement set to be put into place this Halloween. Austin's response: "Really bad idea."

Presidential Debate #2

Austin and I watched the second presidential debate, yesterday. I can't find links that still work, displaying the facts or comments ... too bad.

It was so entertaining for me to spend this time with Austin. With this debate, ABC News flashed timely facts and platform (Republican or Democrat) statements on the screen. Every time words appeared at the bottom of the screen, Austin paused the debate and read aloud the statements. It took us 3 1/2 hours to watch the full 90-minute debate.

Here are a few snippets of Austin's perspective on the performance:

1. Regarding Romney's push to decentralize government and give more power to the states and small business (employers): "Romney could probably sit in his presidential office, eating muffins for four years. He could take the credit if his agenda succeeds, and blame the states and the employers if it fails."

2. On women's fair pay: "Romney presented himself as the "Golden Hero." Austin observed that Romney tends to boast about himself.

3. Austin is very conscious of manipulative language: ie. "Obama doubled the deficit." Doubled from what? $2,000? Or $2 trillion? Big difference.

4. Quoting Romney (about Obama): "He's great as a speaker ... Describing his plans ..." 
Austin: "Funny! He's describing himself, except he doesn't describe his plans. He's got a slick tongue, that guy."

5. Paraphrasing Romney: "If you bring your kids here illegally and we catch you, we'll put your kid in the army." Ugh!
This was how Austin responded when Romney said this: "The kids of those that came here illegally, those kids, I think, should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the United States and military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident."

Vice-presidential Debate

This morning, Austin and I watched the replay of the Vice-Presidential Debate in the U.S. 2012 election race.

Joe Biden and Paul Ryan faced off, discussing foreign policy, tax strategy and Medicare, among other subjects.

Austin and I enjoyed this debate more than the first presidential debate. At one point, Austin expressed that he wished Joe Biden were running for President - he likes him the best of all four players in this race. Being the eldest, Austin feels he can trust him most.

Austin learned the definition of "sanctions": threatened penalties for disobeying a law or rule. In the context of Iran, I explained that the U.S. has imposed sanctions to prevent Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons.

Biden was arguing that the sanctions currently in place are crippling Iran. Ryan argued that Iran is getting closer and closer to having nuclear weapons and more sanctions need to be imposed. Biden scoffed at this suggestion, explaining that the U.S. Administration knows that Iran doesn't presently have nuclear weapons and that they would definitely know if they did.

I think Biden did a great job of turning things around for the Obama team, after a less-than-stellar performance by the President in the first debate. How can anyone resist that contagious smile of his?

Austin prefers Joe Biden out of all four debaters - he says he wishes Biden were running for President.

Bike repairs

Skye showed Austin a few things about bike maintenance when he received his new bike in April. About a week ago, Austin had a chance to share some of what he'd learned, with Aidan.

Aidan's bike needed a new front wheel. Austin showed Aidan how to remove his wheel, remove the tire and inner tube, place the tire and inner tube on the replacement wheel, then re-install the wheel. Austin remembered that the tube needed to be fully deflated before removing it from the wheel rim.

Austin is quite a good teacher and Aidan was able to complete the repair on his own.