Sloth: The Man with the Hammer

[Sloth the Enduring]

On December 19, 2016 at 6:55 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

Group of two with a magnifying glass and the sun, is scary. Just saying No I am quite looking forward to some of our experiments this coming year. I used to love science, even though later years chemistry was my stronger point. But the basics that we are doing next year is still great.

Halleluja! There's hope for my boys. Can I quote you on doing chores when they moan about it next time?

 

Love your Yoda hat!

 

Science is awesome, you're going to enjoy it. 

 

I'm just an ill-informed idiot on the Internet, but someone from Harvard put out a longitudinal study last year that backed up what I had noticed in my classroom.

 

On December 19, 2016 at 11:11 AM, LadyShello said:

 

We have a house full of books but I have a hard time getting my kids to touch them.  My son used to be an avid reader.  Now he's glued to his laptop.  My daughter hates reading although we did start reading Alice in Wonderland together and I make her read every other page to me.  We've let this habit fall by the wayside.  I think it's time to pick it up again.  

Isn't chores one of the main reasons for having kids?  Why would you not use them to do chores?

 

The nice thing about this correlation is that it doesn't even matter if the kids read them. Middle school boys have never been readers.  That's why comic books (and now manga and graphic novels) have been so valuable. 

 

My dad used to say, "Why have dwarves if they're not going to work."  However, he never actually made us do anything. 

 

On December 19, 2016 at 11:30 AM, Sylvaa said:

 

My kids go through stages with reading too. We have been pleasantly surprised with my 16 year old boy, who has gotten back into reading. There are some authors who are catering to this age group (although, the books are fairly violent - which may be a legitimate concern for some parents). 

 

Last night, my kids did extra chores without being asked. It was because they wanted McDonalds, but still.

 

Current middle school books are terrible too.  It's all about groups of kids killing each other. At least we've moved past books were the dog dies. 

 

On December 19, 2016 at 0:35 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I had no chores growing up, mom and dad both grew up hard and didn't want me to go through what they did. We did have a lot of books. I did well in school, but I was in my 30's before I had good Domestic Rangering Habits (to be precise they started last year when I came back to the boards).

 

Me either, for similar reasons. It took me until I was 28 to finally finish college (that could also be because the ADD didn't settle down until I was 26) and I'm still a slob. Me and the missus just had an argument about that this morning. 

 

On December 19, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Marauder said:

My daughter is a book fiend.  She spends all of her money on books.  My son only reads if its assigned and spends all his money on junk food.  Sigh.  They both have chores to contribute to the house and a list of other chores they can do for extra cash.  No extra chores get done this time of year because all the relatives send them cash.  LOL.

 

Nice. We've started doing a similar system.  Slothgirl spends her money right away on trinkets, junk, and candy and Slothboy saves it up and buys something big. 

 

On December 20, 2016 at 4:32 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

My husband had to build us an extra large bookcase last year for our books. Granted, we homeschool, so we have lots, and lots of books, but we have always loved books, real (physical) books, (on topics and not just stories), so we tend to buy books and not so many e-books. I also saw with the boys that they go through stages where they pull out books and we discuss the content, and other times where they would really rather look something up on Youtube and listen to a video on the topic. Or sometimes the one leads to the other, whichever way around.

Our boys have a minimum set of chores which they have to do, then other chores which I pay them for. This coming year we are going to expand on those as our home set up is changing, and they want to earn more money. They also have their regular scheduled sport during school term, but I'm giving them some extra pocket money for each extra set of training they do with me (this is also incentive to me to keep to the training, although I don't get paid).  BUT when they earn more money, I don't buy them any sweets, cooldrinks or extra toys, stuff. They must buy with their own money, and when it comes from their own pockets, they become Scrooges.

We also go through stages where I read extra to them at night, or during the day, and other times where we only read from their reading books. I think everything in life goes through phases.

 

Nice. Them having money is a great shortstop to having to buy them useless junk. 

 

30 minutes ago, x Valkyrie x said:

Hey Sloth, I've caught up on this page of posts! Just wanted to pop in and say hi and keep up the good work! (Also, I had chores as a kid, and I am and always have been a bit of a slob...but I read good! (I know, I read well))

 

Hi!  Thanks. Good will become official soon and well will be listed in the dictionary as archaic. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I thought I saw you in the hospital hallways last night at work. There was a boy who could have been Slothboy's age, and a couple that could have been you and Mrs. Sloth. He even had the same beard you have. I actually stood there a second after they went past and considered stopping them to confirm, but then realized my brain was seeing the similarities and assuming it was you. The guy was a little too frail to have been you, but it was weird for me there for a second.

[The Most Loathed]

17 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Cyndi won't watch Sci-fi with me   

Barring extremely strange and rare exceptions, this used to be the case for us as well. The fact that Laura watches them with me now actually has nothing to do with me and everything to do with her boss. He loves Sci-Fi moves, the more cheesy action, the better. He talked, at work, about one of the joys of his life is when the family is out of the house renting a cheesy sci-fi flick and watching the whole thing. Later when he asked a few coworkers to go to a Marvel movie premier (I forget which one now) she was super excited and we went and it was great. I guarantee that if I had asked I would have just gotten an eye roll. 

Regardless, I'll take little gifts like that in all their forms. So now, thanks to her boss, she gets excited about movies and going to the theater. I'm happy to go along for the ride.

[DJtrippyT]

On 12/18/2016 at 1:50 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

 

You're my style icon brother.

 

I love this picture of you.

 

 

[EricMN]

5 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

On 12/19/2016 at 10:01 AM, EricMN said:

Nanu, nanu.

Hah. You're still the master. You're also the first person to recognize the shirt and I've been wearing it pretty much constantly since I got it. 

 

Mind-boggling. There have to be other old nerds somewhere.

 

 

[Shello]

I'm a nerd but I'm not old.  

Spoiler

Mork from Ork right?

 

[Marauder]

16 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

 

I love this picture of you.

 

 

 

Me too. I think it's the naughty smile.

[peelout]

OK, I confess.  I love the picture too. lol

 

Actually, something about it reminds me of Bad Santa.

 

Edit:  Yippeeeee.  I finally got a gif to show up.

[Sylvaa]

Jumping on the awesome pic bandwagon.

 

You can teach me science biology anytime. 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

A quick training update: I've ridden the trainer everydAy since whenever I posted last. 45+ minutes. Still focusing on leg speed, currently at about 84 rpm.

I have not done my half-ass yoga, nor have I done any BW stuff. All I want to do is ride my bike, even if it's just on the trainer. I'm going to regret this later.

Sorry about the double post; Tapatalk is being a jerk.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Merry Christmas nerds.  If you don't celebrate it, I hope you're enjoying your day off from society with lots of gaming. 

 

Just in case you haven't seen this yet. 

 

It's almost 8:00 and I'm still waiting for the kids to wake up. I've been up since 4:00...

 

12/23/16 Friday - we went downtown to see the Christmas displays and have lunch (Mrs. Sloth loves eating lunch downtown).  It was nice. It took all day, I ended up not training.

 

12/24/16 Saturday - Christmas Eve.  I had an early morning appointment to donate platelets. I did a quick rows and curls workout to make sure I had good veins. I finished with a set of 100 curls on an empty bar. It gave me a good pump, but sweet baby Jesus do my biceps hurt today, I could seriously cry. I forgot about mass (we're C&E Christians), so I forgot to make time for the trainer. We had a friend over who didn't have a place to go for Christmas Eve dinner.  He's unemployed because he's going through cancer... Church was nice though; I find comfort in the Catholic rituals even though they changed the wording a few years ago (still throws me off).

 

 

[Mrs Van]

You made our day with Chewbakka's song I hope the kids are up by now and enjoying Christmas day with you.

[Sloth the Enduring]

On December 21, 2016 at 8:42 AM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I thought I saw you in the hospital hallways last night at work. There was a boy who could have been Slothboy's age, and a couple that could have been you and Mrs. Sloth. He even had the same beard you have. I actually stood there a second after they went past and considered stopping them to confirm, but then realized my brain was seeing the similarities and assuming it was you. The guy was a little too frail to have been you, but it was weird for me there for a second.

 

I hear ear this sort of thing surprisingly often.  I must look generic. The missus wants me to shave the beard...

 

The original plan for break was to go down to Texas for a quick road trip.  One day I'll make it down to the land of tacos,  keep keeping an eye out for me. 

 

On December 21, 2016 at 8:44 AM, The Most Loathed said:

Barring extremely strange and rare exceptions, this used to be the case for us as well. The fact that Laura watches them with me now actually has nothing to do with me and everything to do with her boss. He loves Sci-Fi moves, the more cheesy action, the better. He talked, at work, about one of the joys of his life is when the family is out of the house renting a cheesy sci-fi flick and watching the whole thing. Later when he asked a few coworkers to go to a Marvel movie premier (I forget which one now) she was super excited and we went and it was great. I guarantee that if I had asked I would have just gotten an eye roll. 

Regardless, I'll take little gifts like that in all their forms. So now, thanks to her boss, she gets excited about movies and going to the theater. I'm happy to go along for the ride.

 

Thats nice. I've just learned to enjoy going to movi s by myself - I don't have to share the popcorn. 

 

On December 21, 2016 at 2:18 PM, DJtrippyT said:

 

I love this picture of you.

 

 

 

Awww, thanks.  

 

On December 21, 2016 at 2:22 PM, EricMN said:

 

Mind-boggling. There have to be other old nerds somewhere.

 

 

 

It was a bright flash in the pan, not an enduring legacy, people's brains have moved on. 

 

On December 21, 2016 at 2:30 PM, LadyShello said:

I'm a nerd but I'm not old.  

  Reveal hidden contents

Mork from Ork right?

 

 

You're a younglings to me at any rate. 

 

On December 22, 2016 at 6:59 AM, Marauder said:

 

Me too. I think it's the naughty smile.

 

 

On December 22, 2016 at 7:54 AM, peelout said:

OK, I confess.  I love the picture too. lol

 

Actually, something about it reminds me of Bad Santa.

 

Edit:  Yippeeeee.  I finally got a gif to show up.

 

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.  Bad Santa sounds like the kind of thing I'd like. 

 

On December 22, 2016 at 9:23 AM, Sylvaa said:

Jumping on the awesome pic bandwagon.

 

You can teach me science biology anytime. 

 

 

*blush*

 

On December 25, 2016 at 9:47 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

You made our day with Chewbakka's song I hope the kids are up by now and enjoying Christmas day with you.

 

Then my work here is done.

 

Everyone got up just as I finished posting. I was expecting the kids to get up at 5:00, had I known they would sleep in I would have gone back to bed. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

12/25/16 Sunday - Christmas

 

it was a good day.  After we opened presents for the immediate family we had some downtime where we mostly built Legos.  I gave Slothgirl an Ewok hat which she still hasn't taken off except to shower. Weird kid. There were far fewer presents than normal under the tree, which was fine since we have a lot of stuff already, but after more than a decade Mrs. Sloth finally figured out that I bought the extra present for myself.  We went to my dad's later and ate the traditional burnt prime rib (Tank would be appalled). 

 

There was turmoil involving Step-Sloth's girlfriend. She has some serious anxieties. She was practically apoplectic riding in the war rig because it was raining (I hate our modern weather patterns).  I'm assuming there are some other mental health issues too.    I stayed out of it all. 

 

No training. 

 

12/26/16 Monday - National use your gift card and exchange your stuff day. 

 

The storm, the dripping roof from the storm, fireworks, and step-sloth and his girlfriend's drunken antics meant that no one got any sleep.  We had a groggy day.  When I got tired of the kids being grumpy with each other I took them and a friend to the indoor park. 

 

No training.

 

12/27/16 Tuesday

 

I brought the foster pug in to the vet.  He got fixed and had 11 teeth pulled. Hoarders apparently aren't very good about taking care of their dog's dental hygiene. I went to the dentist too.  No teeth were pulled.  

 

Training: I got back on the trainer for 45 minutes. We watched Attack of the Clones because Slothboy.

 

[Marauder]

Your life is so much more interesting than mine.  

 

Weird kids are the best kind. I'm sorry you've been outed on the self gifting. 

 

So is the war rig a topless car? Or was it just the rain?  Probably best to stay out of it. Good call. 

 

Poor pug. 

[Mrs Van]

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I brought the foster pug in to the vet.  He got fixed and had 11 teeth pulled. Hoarders apparently aren't very good about taking care of their dog's dental hygiene. I went to the dentist too.  No teeth were pulled.

Ah shame, glad he is in a better situation and ouch for those teeth. And then glad you got to the dentist and yah! no teeth pulled!

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I stayed out of it all. 

Let it go... let it go... out the window and no bother to you...

[Xena]

Glad girlfriend of step-sloth was able to inject a little drama into your holiday. Makes you treasure everyone else that much more ;-)

[tcw295]

On 12/27/2016 at 9:23 PM, Marauder said:

Your life is so much more interesting than mine.  

 

Is it weird that I thought the same thing?


All possibilities considered, looks like a nice low drama christmas.

 ...I got an AT-AT with a dead mouse stuffed into it as a present.

[DJtrippyT]

On 12/28/2016 at 0:12 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

I gave Slothgirl an Ewok hat which she still hasn't taken off except to shower. 

 

bitterly jealous. I didn't get anything nearly that cool.

[Sloth the Enduring]

New Year's update. I spent much of the last week in sloth and gluttony. Little training happened. Somewhere in there I got a massage for my achey, breakey back. I got a young guy and I was his very first client ever. He did alright, but he needs to work on his patter. He told me I have a desk body as he tried to loosen up my upper back.

I'm not complaining, because it's a blessing for me, but two weeks off is too long for my students. There was a serious regression in positive school behaviors.

My New Year's resolution is to be more like Joe Dirt. If you haven't seen the original movie yet, go watch right now. He's a genuinely positive, good person. I need to be more like that.

I registered for the big races that I'll do:

4/18 Hammer Race

6/3 Borah Epic (37 mile mountain bike race)

7/29 6 Hours of Wausau (Mountain bike)

9/? Chequemegon Fat Tire Fest (40 mile mountain/gravel bike race)

10/7 Hammer Race

There are other races I'll do, but these are the ones I'm focusing on.

I think my back is solid enough to start shovelglove again. Current plan is

M/W/F Shovelglove

T/Th/Sa/Su Biking, mostly on trainer, I'll likely not ride all four days.

[The Most Loathed]

If you want a more experienced massage therapist in town, my guy is over by Loring Park and is really good.

[jstanlick]

34 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I think my back is solid enough to start shovelglove again

This is good news! Glad to see all of the races listed out as well.

[Mrs Van]

Haha, took my mind a bit to change those dates around. That is an impressive list of races.

I'll have to book Joe Dirt at our video shop. Have no idea what it is about. Good luck with the training and back to school. May you have "good school behaviour" especially on your first day from the kids, but on all the other days as well.

[Mrs Van]

Ok, you already started! Hope the school behaviours improves dramatically from now on. The boys and I start next Monday, the public schools here start Wednesday/Thursday, as December is usually the longest holiday for us. Our new school year starts now, where yours start August, doesn't it?

[Lightning]

Well if you're going to swing a hammer around I must follow! 

 

That's an impressive list of races.  Did you do anything special to get your back ready for shovelglove and all that biking?  I have lower back issues and my racing bike seems to aggravate it.  I'd love to be able to do a couple of 30 milers with my husband this summer.