Sunday, March 26, 2023

Shirts for Skittles!

It's Destination Imagination time again. My daughter's team has once again qualified for Globals, which means fundraising for them and the other teams from our town. We've got a great selection of t-shirts on sale to help raise funds: 

"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time" - Leonard BernsteinWomen of Science 2023
Those are two I think would be of more general interest. We also have four shirts with more of a town-centric or in-joke feel:
Bedford 01730Bedford MA RetroBedford MADI Flag ThrowbackA Late Show at Night Logo
Please take a look at the shirts and buy some for yourself, your friends, and your families! If you can't buy shirts, share them on social media platforms! Links for sharing are available on the site: https://www.bonfire.com/store/bedford-ma-destination-imagination/

You can read more about the Bedford MADI program and our successful run at states this month on the Bedford Citizen!

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Doubts

I spoke in church today. Of course I talked about Bruno!

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Dr. Strange and the movie leaving madness

My daughter summed up my feelings about Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness when the credits rolled and she proclaimed "that was dumb." I felt let down and betrayed. For the past month we had overloaded on Marvel movies getting my younger two kids caught up so this could be their first MCU movie to watch in a theater. The trailers looked good, Spider Man No Way Home exceeded expectations, and I walked into the theater expecting to share something special with my children. I got this instead:

I have learned a bit of context in the week and a half since watching the film. My position has softened a bit. Elizabeth Olsen felt like the MCU had cost her too many opportunities and wanted out. The Scarlet Witch from the comics actually goes full crazy. The Darkhold has a rich history of corrupting users. Fans eager to see a "Marvel horror movie" looked to see Sam Raimi unleashed on the screen. If I had thought through it a bit more maybe I could have seen this coming, but I did not. 

My biggest complaint came from the treatment of Wanda. Instead of building off what she "learned" in WandaVision, this movie picks up like that series did not even happen (other than her two kids being the impetus for the entire plot). With little or no transition, she goes from triumphant and repentant hero to villain worse than Thanos. It felt a little tone deaf to take one of the few female Avengers still alive and make her the antagonist. Not just tone deaf: it sounded like a dog whistle to incels. 

I had other qualms besides Wanda's arc. The Illuminati seemed superfluously stupid. This group supposedly defeated Thanos, but then couldn't even go a few rounds with the Scarlet Witch? Reed Richards is the smartest man alive, but he doesn't realize he's hopelessly outgunned? Wanda goes insane using the Darkhold and becomes the bad guy, but Dr. Strange suffers only a weird growth in his forehead and no other consequences? The Wanda variant is not able to fight back and just lets her body get used? For that matter, Wanda and Xavier can't overcome the Darkhold together? 

I think a better exposition and maybe a clearer redemption may have helped with Wanda's story, but the movie would still be a mess. This is easily my least favorite Marvel show or movie so far. I'm saying this is even worse that Fantastic 4. I left wishing I had saved my "first Marvel movie with all my kids" token for Thor

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

My daughter, the illustrator

I'm excited and proud that the book my daughter illustrated is now available for purchase!

Moldyrocks and the Three Bears by Jared Koyle and illustrated by Ada Cooprider. 

While remaining true to aspects of the original story with beds, chairs, and porridge, this unique story offers a delightful twist to the classic tale—Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This is the story of three clever sisters, princesses, who discover that to preserve the kingdom they were forced to leave, they must defeat their own queen. Together, with magical stones from a mysterious hare, the sisters set out on a journey that will reveal their ultimate destiny. Along the way they are introduced to a glassmaker, a wood worker, and a rope maker. The sisters learn that by giving away something personal, they receive more in return. They must also lose their way before they can know the true direction they are to follow. Then, just as it seems the evil queen Moldyrocks will reign forever, the combined patience and ingenuity of friends and family saves the day.

Available for purchase from these fine retailers: 

Alpha Book Publisher: 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Google Books 

Google Play 



Saturday, February 27, 2021

Learning Python

 I stumbled across what appears to be a great resource for learning Python. It's been over a decade since I've known I need to learn Python. During that time I have taken a Coursera course and written a few scripts here and there, but I still do most of my Python programming by Googling and searching Stack Overflow. That works okay for occasional use, but I have recently found the need to make Python my daily driver. So I went in search of some solutions in the fall. 


I started by looking for something that I could use on my phone. Python Programming: Ultimate guide looked promising, but my enthusiasm for their app waned as I an into some technical difficulties. I should go back and revisit that, though. 

Eventually I found Python Morsels, and I think this is what I need in my life right now. I did the free month-long trial in the fall and I just signed up for a year. The site is created and maintained by Trey Hunner, a Python trainer for teams. I'm still fairly new on my journey there, and he just introduced a new "flexible mode," but the basic structure seems pretty well established. He gives an assignment, reference hints, automated verification, and follow-up discussions of the solutions. I highly recommend it.

The new "flexible mode" sets up a profile that can be made public. Mine's not that interesting, but I expect it will become more so over this next year!


3/11/21 Edit: I just noticed that Trey is a contributor to EditorConfig and his name is on a bunch of the plugins.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Goal setting

I spoke in the Lynnfield ward today. This is my third time speaking in that ward. Previously I spoke on citizenship in the ward and the restoration. Today I spoke on goal setting. It's a little different now that this is my assigned ward and so I know the congregation a lot better. Goal setting is something that has been on my mind a lot recently for a number of reasons, so I appreciated the opportunity to collect and organize my thoughts. I thought things came together okay, although my delivery had some bumps. I made the cardinal sin of going over time, which I felt bad about (especially since I actually had plenty of time). 

Hopefully somebody found the talk helpful. I used Wall-e as a framing device.
Image result for Wall-e



Here's the notes, but the formatting is off due to copying and pasting. I suggest you look at the Google doc instead.