Hump day- March 29, 2017
Hump day!
What is hump day? It’s Wednesday. The hump to your work week. 2 days down and 2 days to go. On hump days I will be sharing articles, videos, or other form of entertainment. It will include links to other posts I have liked throughout the week. Some are parenting articles, others are personal finance ones, and occasionally there will be a random funny article. Enjoy!
On this date
In 1795 Ludwig von Beethoven had his debut as a pianist in Vienna. Now I have a love hate relationship with Ludwig. As a freshman I decided to try my hand at music. Now I have no musical talent, training, or natural understanding of it. I play no instruments and can’t carry a note. So why 18 year old me thought it was a good idea to take a music class I will never know.
So I signed up. It was a nice class. We read his biography and listened to some beautiful pieces. Then came the exam. First was a listening exam. It went something like this…listen to this piece and tell me what symphony this is and what sonata? Sounds easy right? Well not for me. It was the first time I failed a test. The written test was easier as it was memorization, but somehow I had missed when the exam date was and showed up woefully unprepared.
Needless to say, 2 months in to my freshman semester I was earning a failing grade in my “easy” class. I met with the professor and she helped me through the semester. In some ways she took pity on me for not being musically talented.
At the end of the day, I now have a profound respect and love for Beethoven. I want my son to grow up listening to him, but my wife tell’s me Mozart has been shown to be better for kids. I find no proof of this though. Some even argue that the whole idea is a sham. Still I figure it can’t be bad for him to listen to some music, whatever type it may be. So we will persist, along with some rockabilly, bluegrass, rock, classic rock, top 40, etc.
Hump day parenting
“Why you should praise less, sleep more, and tell one little lie to raise well-adjusted kids” care of Andy Hinds on Fatherly. Andy breaks down some key points from the book “Nurture Shock” .
Here are the 4 main points with details in the linked article.
- Praise your kids efforts, not their natural genius.
- Let kids sleep.
- Affluent white parents are screwing up their kids.
- Kids lie.
Hump day finances
We are 3 months into the year. While the Gregorian new year has passed us, the Persian New year (Nowruz) just occurred. Let ESI Money motivate you with “Three simple money resolutions to help you prosper in 2017.” Simple yes. Important yes. Take a read and refocus for the next 9 months.
Hump day randomness
Here is a nice article about Curious George and Ether. Yes, our favorite monkey dabbled in sniffing. Why you might ask would someone write about drugs in a children’s book, Dan Katter spells it out for you.
Final thoughts
As spring is upon us and daylight savings time allows for longer days, consider what outside activities you can do. Hike, walk, camp, run, fish. Whatever you may enjoy just get outside.
