Happy, Ratty New Year

Don't tell anyone, but the love of my life is a rat.

Well, maybe Mayumi is a mouse, but she is
definitely a rodent....

That being said- Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year 2008!

Mike, the Rat and the Kids

Give and Get this Holiday Season

As our children get older, we get dumber and they get smarter. Am not sure why or how that happens, but it definitely does happen. When a 10 year old tells you at the breakfast table that she doesn't need Christmas presents and that it would be better to give things or money to people who really need it- well, even Dad gets it.

So, we looked into it. I also had a chance encounter with one of my favorite projects in the world... First, thanks to Larry Magid for his column in the Mercury News- we thought it was a great idea:

Tech File: Sites help small investments make social impact

MICROLOANS A NEW WAY TO INVEST

By Larry Magid

Article Launched: 10/29/2007 01:36:31 AM PDT

An investment adviser suggested I diversify my portfolio with international holdings. But instead of buying an international mutual fund, I went to microplace.com to make a small investment in a group of Ghanaian businesses and thanks to kiva.org I now have an interest in a Bolivian pig farm.
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_7310562?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Both of the girls think this is a cool thing and we agreed that it would be a good way to invest their savings to help the world. ( See, I told you they were getting smarter than us! ) Well, Dad isn't slacking completely- he recently hooked up with one of the coolest gigs in the PR world, the gentleman who promotes the One Laptop Per Child initiative, SJ Klein. I got to play with the little green machine that our good friend Hector Ruiz and guiding guru Nicholas Negroponte has championed. It is a true paradigm shift.

This little thing CAN and - with our help- change the world for the better. So, as you think about what new gadget you want to give or get this holiday season, pause please, for just a moment and think about what you could give AND get. You can invest your money to help the developing world and/or you can buy a really cool laptop (yes, they DO have the handcrank and footcrank accessories) and one of those cool laptops will go to some child who REALLY needs the gift of such technology. Just seven days left in the campaign, so give the gift of giving early.

MB

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.

The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.

Triple Witching Hour

Triple Witching Hour

This month is my triple witching hour- two birthdays and an Anniversary. If I forget what happens the first week of October, I am truly a dead man. Last week, we started off the celebrations with Teresa's 14th birthday. (Yes, 14- she's in High School now- yikes!) Mayumi's bday was
on Friday and our 17th anniversary was Saturday.

In the image above, the two characters are discussing birthdays in Japanese with a Brazilian accent. The picture below features the Beirne Ladies slurping Ramen in Kyoto, Japan this summer.

The three Kanji (or "Chinese Characters") in the bottom right are read "TanJoBi" or "Birthday." The four characters above "Happy birthday" and elsewhere on the page, are read "O-MeDeTo" and mean "Congratulations."
Taken together, "OTanjobi Omedeto " means happy birthday.

Yo! Semite!

Yosemite National Park, July 2007

We have uploaded more than 600 pictures for Okaasan's trip to America 2007. These two are among the many that are now online in our Picasa family web photo album. You can see them all- and print or order prints if you want - here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/beirne.mike/2007OkaasanToIssho

Okaasan to Issho 2007

Ansel Adams country, bear country,
the valley where "some of them kill"
- also known as "Yosemite"


Our photo album now has several hundred pictures from our recent travels with Mayumi's mother ("Okaasan") to Southern California and Las Vegas / the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park.




You can find the photos here: (Okaasan to Issho 2007 on Picassa)

First LEGO League - N. Calif. State Championships 2007

The Nomads from Knowhere - "Against All Odds Award"

The pride of Almaden Preparatory School, the The Nomads from Knowhere excelled at the 2006 Northern California State Championships of First LEGO League (VIDEO)


The global robotics competition for youngsters, sponsored by the famed LEGO toy maker from Sweden, offered grade and middle school kids a grand challenge on a microscopic scale. Under the theme of "Nano Quest" students were inspried to create clever solutions to difficult problems and urged to "Explore Existing Science on the Nanotechnolgy Level."

The Nomads did very well in the first round regional competition, taking second place overall. Alas, second place wasn't good enough to qualify for the State tournament. Although there was a slight chance for the Nomads, the 64th seat in the N. Cal state tournament was awarded to an international team from Amman, Jordan.

So, while the 63 Bay Area and one Arabian team spent six weeks - including their winter vacations - fine tuning their robots and trying to obtain the holy grail - a perfect score- the Nomads finished their year knowing that the had done their best, but that they would not have any chance compete again this year.

Alas, world events shifted in the Nomads favor and the team from Jordan was denied entry into the United States. So, with barely 36 hours to go before the big day- the lads and lassy from Almaden Prep got the nod they had hoped for- a chance to go to State! Three team members were scheduled to sit for High School entrance exams that day, so the burden fell on the remaining two members to dust off their 'bot, re-learn their routines and try to maximize their scoring potential. In the end, strings were pulled and the entire Nomads team was on hand for the battle of the bots at San Jose City College.

With a brushed up 'bot and a few new tricks, the Nomads pulled off a truly gutsy performance. Though their scores didn't make it into the top three awards positions, ALL of their scores were near the top in EVERY catagory. The fact that the Nomads did so well on less than two days notice did not escape the judge's attention. Acknowledging their top level performance under tight time pressure, the judges gave the first award of tournament to the Nomads From Knowere, the Judge.s Award - "Against All Odds."

Nomads From Knowhere - 2007 First Lego League N. Calif. C'ships @ Yahoo! Video

Test post.
gomen, ne!