Frenzied Daddy

The guy who writes FoxTrot is cutting back to a weekend-only schedule. He thinks he’s going to find something else to do and get out of the house. I’ve always liked FoxTrot, and of course I empathized with the youngest child, even though I am the oldest and don’t have an annoying sister.

In this strip (from 12/17/2006), I’m sure his inspiration were these cookie cutters; or maybe great minds just think alike.

Let’s say, for sake of argument, that I have a $900 credit card bill. (this one, the whole thing is $900, not a monthly payment, mmkay?). I want to pay it off in 2007, and I want to pay it in even amounts over the course of the year. My first thought was “hmm, pay the remaining balance divided by the number of months left in the year.” And that works ok, except for compounded interest. Look at “try one” on this spreadsheet. The interest is calculated as 0.04*the remaining balance after the payment is made. The first column is how much the payment would be, how much interest I’d pay that month, and the remaining balance. The payment amount keeps going up!

Well, so much for that. So in my second attempt, I used the average of the interest gains and added it to the payment. The payment amounts go up a little bit (close enough for me) and then go down a little bit. That happens because my interest adjustment is the average of the interests, and some of them are below average and some above. But it doesn’t hit 0 in December. And the difference is enough that it doesn’t look like a rounding error to me. So… what gives? And I’m sure there’s a more mathematical approach to solve this; anyone care to share it?

One of the developers in our daily meeting yesterday announced that he had found the perfect present for my kids, well, “for kids” and I am the only developer with kids. He steered us toward the shocking roulette. He had been given one for Christmas, and had played roulette seven or eight times. He thought it was the “best toy ever.”

I laughed. I literally laughed out loud. For several minutes. Because it’s totally a guy toy- and I have girls. My girls might try it once, but I’m pretty sure that after getting shocked once they’d be done. The developer got shocked four times. Yeah, I’m being sexist and over-generalizing, but … I think girl kids are smarter and don’t like getting nearly electrocuted.

When I was a kid, long after I had outgrown the belief in Santa “the jolly old man who brought presents in a sack,” my dad would insist that Santa was real. Because otherwise, “how could we afford Christmas?” This was a man who would rather buy one more present for his kids than a Christmas Tree.
This year, I got a Christmas card addressed to me, personally (All the others were “family of…” or “Mr and Mrs…” or all of us enumerated on the line.) It was from a good friend I haven’t spoken to in about ten years (really, since college). Inside was a check large enough to pay for all the “santa” presents under our tree. Totally unexpected; totally out of the blue.
Thanks Santa Rich.
This was sat next to the Fred Meyer Gift Card we got from another friend we haven’t heard from in about six years; since we stopped playing in the SCA and she got married. (Well, they got married; they were both our friends; she’s the one who called me though. ). This paid for some of Xmas Dinner. Thanks Santa Cassea.

I like ham. I like it as a meat dish and I like it as an ingredient; one of my favorite meals is macaroni and cheese with ham. And I have to admit, there are things I put above the environment in my general life; I don’t do a great job sorting out the recycling, I drive like a maniac … I’m kind of a “sunday environmentalist.” Well, as much as one can be in Portland anyway.

So reading this article was apalling. I entertain the fantasy that all meat critters are humanely raised by little 4-H kids, named Bossy (even the pigs) and fed with the rest of the family. And then, in the quiet of the night, the critter is silently euthanized and cut up for parts to feed me and my family. It’s sterilized and placed into little plastic baggies, so I don’t even have to think about the soft brown cow-eyes while I barbecue the ribs.

I eat hot dogs and sausages too. And bologna. But this story kinda put the kibosh on my kebobs for awhile.

The Good

Miss B scored the highest of her class in a geography bee, sending her to the school-level round. She bounced out quickly, but the taste of success seems to have stuck in her mouth like milkfat from real whipped cream on an iced mocha. Also, Lindsey at the Jantzen Beach Barnes and Noble was terrific- she remembered us, what we were looking for, and then when she found something else, she tracked us down and showed it to us. Initiative and enthusiasm; something you don’t see every day this season.

(venting below…)
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She can’t decide which she likes better: Cute Overload or Things that Make You Go Aah. What do you guys think?

Ok, now I’ll apologize. I’m sorry I haven’t written more.

Anyway; it’s been a pretty rough month. But people are pitching in to help us; we got a stack of food from some good friends, my mothers brought over some chicken and some bread, and a check for some cash to pay bills while Mrs B recovered. And Mrs B’s parents sent a check too. It feels weird to be 37 and asking your parents for money, but it’d feel even weirder to be out on the street panhandling.

Speaking of “on the street,” (how did you like that segue?), Mrs B’s sister M and her Boyfriend (D) have lent us a car. It’s one of our biggest hassles; Mrs B works about twenty miles down I-5, Miss B’s school is about 20 minutes from home. With one car, I’d be driving around somewhere near three or four hours a day. With a second car, we save time and gas money. Most people, when they lend a car, would lend a clunker with a rusted out floor. Not M and D; this car is a bright yellow, sleek neon with tinted windows and bucket seats. It’s pretty awesome.