This is what life is like when you’re raising three brilliant designers/engineers (ages 8, 6, and 3): Legos scattered everywhere, K’Nex pieces burying themselves in the carpeting, Mindstorms pieces being strung together to form impromptu necklaces. I’m loving every minute of it (well, except for stepping on stray pieces).

Summer is here in full force! I’ve been enjoying my time off quite a lot, trying to make the most of the legendary teacher holiday. Much swimming, reading, and playing with the kids has ensued.

I decided, for one thing, that it was just too hot for hair anymore:

Also, our garage had gotten pretty out of hand. Lots of different projects had left it pretty poor shape, as you can see below:

Before:

I spent the better part of an afternoon working on cleaning it up, and it’s in much better shape now:

After:

I still have quite a bit of work to do (notice the left-side countertop, for example) but it’s getting closer. I can’t stand working in a disorganized, messy environment, so it’s got to have some kind of order imposed on it!

Off now to cook dinner and take the kids swimming. Happy summer!

I heard an interview today that mentioned what Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, is attempting to do about the state of health care in the United States. I haven’t gotten a chance to read too much about his plans, but my understaning is that they involve using readily available technology to update the system and radically increasing the availability of health care. Sounds pretty good so far.

After I heard that interview, which was on NPR’s “Money Matters” show, I searched around a little and came across this interview with Grove, which mentions more about his thoughts about the world. It’s an interesting read:

http://msnbci.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061103_994417.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_more+of+today’s+top+stories

A couple of pieces stood out for me:

“Grove: This is an ancient belief of mine: You get what you measure. None of them (Congress) measure contributions to the practical solution of a handful of problems.

Interviewer: How would you measure something like that?

Grove: We know how to measure it. You can measure the number of uninsured. Let’s say it’s a number like 46 million the year you go to Congress, and say you want to tackle it. At the end of the second year of Congress, it should be down to 40 (million), then down to 30 (million).”

Also, this:

“Interviewer: You’ve mentioned declining tech graduates and the need to reform education many times in the past. Anything there that needs changing today?

Andy Grove: The state of vocational education in this country is abysmal. Vocational education, job training, and retraining doesn’t exist. A well-organized federal program would lubricate the Schumpeterian engine. ”

As someone who’s spent the last 14 months working toward the chance to get involved in technology education in the public schools, it’s good to see someone in Grove’s position acknowledge this issue, and speak out about its importance.