Miser family update, three cheers and many states edition.

Wow, well life continues to be super rich and full in the Miser Family.  Where even to start?

Well, I guess it's not much of a surprise when I think about it, but my only birth child, I-daughter, has finally come out as a thespian.  I guess I should have seen it all along, given how she hung out in high school with the drama kids, and given how she's always dressing in costume.   And now, she's found her tribe with the cast and crew of our local theater's production of Hunchback.  The teenage sopranos have labeled her a "choir mom".   She's simultaneously loving being in the show, dreading the end of the run next week, and hoping for the chance to do something like this again.  I'm so, so proud of her.

And speaking of proud, I'm definitely launching metaphorical brag booster rockets for K-daughter as well.   She's landed a job that keeps stretching her and teaching her new skills, and she seems to be rockin' it.  She sent me this text late in the week:

I bar tended last night with my own section. (Half of the bar) it wasn't planned, but my bar manager called off all the other bar tenders to see if I could do it. Apparently I crushed it and even got a $30 tip on a $45 bill

What I appreciate even more is how incredibly supportive and encouraging her boss is.  This text below is not only feel-good, but the geeky side of me appreciates that it's also an awesome example of great management technique:

[Geek aside: notice the public encouragement, the naming of specific skills like lemons and service tickets, the call out to interpersonal skills, and also the encouragement to take on new challenges like handling a rush.   Even if this note weren't about my own kid, I'd want my kid to work with a boss like this.]

N-son had a moment of more personal-to-me pride.   I came home one day to find this pile of papers on the dining room table.  

What is this? I asked.   

Oh, it's some stupid credit card offer.  They just want me to waste all my money, said N-son.  

Even if that assessment isn't technically 100% correct, I'm really glad that I seem to have indoctrinated him in a healthy wariness of easy credit.  And I'm pleased as punch that he's earning money by watching his niece A-daughter, while K-daughter works her Saturday evening shifts.  During the week, I'm also a bit swelled up over getting the chance to volunteer with him at our local soup kitchen, where he seems to really know his way around "pulling meat" from the freezer and the variety of chopping knives.   

My husband has gone far in a completely different sense; on Tuesday he rode his bicycle from our home to Philadelphia (about 80 miles), and on Wednesday he rode from Philly to New York City, where he did laps around Central Park with one of his NYT editor friends, just so he could get some exercise, I guess.   On Thursday, he did a bit more recreational riding with his buddy before heading out on his bike for Long Island. From there, on Friday he cheated by taking the ferry instead of biking across the Thames river.  But once across, he biked to Rhode Island.  I presume that today he successfully biked the rest of the tiny distance (only 60 miles, I think) to Boston, where the Ig-Nobel picnic is happening.  

As for me, in spite of (or maybe even because of) the distance from my husband, I've had a marvelous math week.  My summer research student is wrapping up her work and bangin' out the LaTeX files.   I've almost finished up the draft of the second (!) paper I'm hoping to send out this summer.  And I started teaching a summer class for bright high-school students from underserved communities; it's an awesome class for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that I get to teach and do NO GRADING.  Everyone should be so lucky every once in a while.  

And that's the news from the Miser family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.