Day -4 : Economics, Lego iMovies and more!

So much for Thursday being the day we "really get ready for our trip" -- we had a completely full day, and only in the last hour of the day (literally from 11 pm to 12 am) did we get anything done to prepare us for Monday's departure.

The day started with Nick going to TA computers at Blach. After the short drive to Blach, I went to Peets for my daily obligatory medium, triple nonfat latte (the drink of champions). After getting my daily dose of caffeine, I spent an hour or so discussing the economy with a banking colleague of mine. Needless to say we are ALL feeling the effects of the skyrocketing price of oil as it is affecting everything in our oil-based economy, especially commodities. I don't think the run up in commodity prices is going to stop any time soon, and commodity-linked investments may make sense in the short run as inflation is definitely "in the system." Whoever we put in the White House this year will hopefully focus on a *real* energy policy that will make our economy less dependent on foreign oil and less dependent on oil overall. Okay enough politics.

After the economic policy discourse with my friend, I went back to Blach to see Nick and May in action in the classroom. Wow, what a pair! There was a buzz in the air as the kids worked at their computers (all iMacs), learning how to develop stop motion animation movies from Legos. If you have never seen these movies, please go check out a couple on YouTube -- they are phenomenal! Nick showed me his favorite Lego movie on YouTube -- Grease (Summer Lovin'). Check it out - very fun to watch and absolutely amazing how nice a job they do with Legos! Below are Nick's Indiana Jones stop motion animation Lego movies:

Indiana Jones Part I

Indiana Jones Part II

Indiana Jones Part III

What do you think? I think they are pretty awesome for a 13 year old kid who just learned how to do this 2-3 weeks ago! Proud of you, Nick!

Lots more to say about the day -- soccer camp for disadvantaged kids, the Voskuil departure, installing the Stowaway box, ambulance in our neighborhood) but I am falling asleep at the keyboard and Jake and I have an early morning baseball game tomorrow (4th of July tourney in San Bruno http://sanbrunopeeweebaseball.org/tournament/index.html). Will have to wait until tomorrow after the games...

Goodnight,

Brian