What Goes in Must Come Out

To show you all that these contests are real, here's some photos of Anthony enjoying his prize:

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

And we have a winner for Baby Bunsen Burners' 2nd Contest!

Congratulations to recruiter Anthony Hsu, and the recruitee, Andy Tien.

As per the contest, both will receive a special Science related prize, most likely from Think Geek, which has many awesome things.

What I need from the contest winners is for you to email me* your shipping addresses so that I can send you your prize. Since I know people are all over the place this summer, send me whatever address you'll be at for the next two weeks or so, or else you may never get it.

Also, once you get your prize, if you could take a picture of yourself enjoying your prize, I would like to post it on the blog. Thanks.

*There's a Send Message feature through my blogger profile. Try use this.

Baby Bunsen Burners Contest the Second

I feel like hosting another contest. So here it is:

Ba da da da!

I want more followers. As of now I have seven (7), which is sad. I would like more. The first person to recruit another Follower (I'm like a cult leader. Quick, everyone drink the special punch before the rocket ship moves on from behind the moon) will win the prize. I'll even give a prize to the 8th Follower.

Here's the rules:
-The new recruit must be a real person, not an additional account you create. I'm smart, I can tell if you're doing this.
-You must provide proof that you're responsible for the recruitment, such as an email transcription, a recorded phone call, etc.
-In the event of a tie (such that I cannot tell who recruited a new Follower first), I will give the prize to whomever recruits more people.

Again, the prize for the winner is negotiable, and will be discussed upon completion of the task, but I think some sort of science toy (like magnetic Buckyballs) would be appropriate.

Have at it people. Father Sakimoto will be pleased.

The Prize for Baby Bunsen Burners' First Contest

Here's the promised prize for finding me the requested video.

*EDIT: Video Removed*

So I like this contest idea. I think I will be having more of them. Keep checking back. I think future prizes will involve some kind of science toy, since most people like toys, and everyone loves science. Or something along those lines.

Tuesdays Are Marginally Better Than Mondays

Congrats! to fellow Champion of the Blogosphere, Angela, for winning Baby Bunsen Burners' first contest by finding a video of the Supernanny episode I specified in the previous post. Links to the video are posted in the comments section. From what I've watched of the episode, the children have gotten better, if only slightly. I get little pangs of anxiety watching that video, because that's exactly what my days are like.

Today we covered cells. Relying on my limited knowledge of microbio from Bio Honors (again, Liem FTW), I explained the difference between animal cells and plant cells, as well as salient features of each. The main experiment was looking at various cells under the microscope, and having the kids sketching what they see.

Here are some of the samples we looked at: onion skin (dyed with green food coloring. Bah, who needs expensive iodine?), some pollen, a feather, the petal from this small yellow flower, a leaf, Plumeria flower petal, and my cheek cells.

Overall the lesson went rather well. The images turned out great, and the kids were fascinated by the samples. I remember doing a similar exercise in 7th grade (Mrs. Nishimoto. She had a chinchilla that didn't like boys), and some of those images are firmly implanted in my memory. Hopefully some of these slides will stick with the kids as they progress through their respective educations.

In other news, here's today's shirt-pocket:

The inventory stands at: two mechanical pencils, a ball point pen, a pack of microscope slides, a pack of microscope slide covers, a Plumeria flower, a kukui nut, a list of people who don't get recess that day, a note saying one of my students went to the healthroom for a sore stomache, and my ID.

So here's the thing about that shirt. I bought that shirt sometime in the latter end of elementary school. Elementary school?! Surely you must be kidding, Mr. Sakimoto. Ah, but here's the thing about me. I have apparently always been a huge and adorable, but mainly huge, child. After a weekend of cleaning, at the intersection of Memory Lane and Reminiscing Road I came across picture albums from my misguided youth. Such gems as these:

Yes, that is me, the kid who's two heads taller and twice as wide as everybody else. I'm pretty sure we were all the same age. So after reviewing this evidence, I don't find it particularly surprising that a shirt from elementary school still fits.

Tomorrow, we will attempt to look at fingerprints and examine salient features. My single hope is that we don't make a mess. But that's pretty ambitious. So I hope for a day free of pee and poo accidents.

Baby Bunsen Burners Contest

I hereby announce my First Contest to my loyal readership (all three of you). I recently found out that two of my darling students (the brother-brother terrors of N--- and A--) are somewhat famous. Their family was featured on an episode of The Supernanny a few years ago, a show where some British woman comes and tells parents how to deal with their rotten devil-spawn children. I really want to see this episode. I believe it's Season 3 Episode 7 (The Smith Family). I really want to know how bad this family is and if they've improved any over the last few years.

The contest is: the first person to find a video of the episode and make it available to me (a working link to a streaming video is fine), will win the prize.

"What's the prize?" one might ask. Well, aside from my undying gratitude and a whole slew of congratulatory statements directed in your general direction, I'm prepared to offer something more tangible. I haven't decided what it is, but it will be awesome. It could be something as cold and impersonal as cash-money, or something as heart-warming and adorable (read: free) as a personalized video of all my kids saying hello to you. Details can be discussed upon delivery of the video.

I suppose there's no time limit to this contest, but the sooner the better. And please, no Rick-rolling*, we're all too old for that type of thing. If you do, Ten Points from Hufflepuff! I don't care which House you're in, Hufflepuff had it coming, with their kind heartedness and general glee.

So, with that, let the games begin. I'm serious people. Scour the internet! Find me that video! Bring me Peter Pan! Sorry, wandered off topic a bit there.

*or as my good friend, Max, calls it: Rick-a-rolling.