Finally, starting to feel better.

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I am not 100% yet. I’m still using cough drops at a decent pace, but I can speak without it hurting, most of the time. I also am getting tired out a little faster than I should be. Such is life, I’m sure it’ll be all better soon enough.

Scrum Master jobs aren’t exactly plentiful out here right now. Personally, I’m thinking the local economy might be slowing a little. My father-in-law has been seeking employment for longer than I want to think of and the plethora of jobs that I was applying to last summer just aren’t there anymore. I am putting in for the ones I find though, and have gotten through the initial phone screen a couple of times even. Unfortunately it hasn’t gone past that yet.

As for writing. I received an “experience” for my birthday to help me figure out how to move this forward. Basically, a team of writers opened up their process for coming up with an idea and writing a novel to people who were interested enough to purchase it. Originally it was a KickStarter project but now the archives are available for sale on their site. They put themselves on a very tight time limit, 1 month. They then recorded all of their story meetings, published all of their drafts and edits as they went, talked about the process as it unfolded, and basically just let everyone see how the “sausage” was made. I feel like I’m not a bad writer, so for me it was all about seeing the process they use. As I finish that journey I am going to take what I can learn from it and try finding my own process. In fact, I’ve already started.

I’m working on writing short fiction, up to the 100-word stories now, to help hone my writing. I’m learning what schedule best balances writing and job-searching for me. I’m building a world to write in, and it’s not the world I originally though. Finally, I’m also poking into what it would take to do freelance writing for income until I build enough fiction to make money. Does all this mean I’m hanging up the IT hat? No. I’m still looking hard for that job as a Scrum Master, Software Project Manager, or Software Development Manager. There just aren’t a lot of them now and I’m not ready to write code for another 5 years. (Good thing too since DRC was 90% VB.Net and most places are C# or Java.)

I had originally hoped that by now, assuming I hadn’t been hired, I would be working on a novella and have some actual short stories published to this blog. Being sick for the last month has really slowed that wagon down though. Instead of letting that get to me I am moving forward. By the end of this month I anticipate having short stories on this blog and making good progress on a novella/novel. There is one wrench I’m seeing right now though. Due to the competitive market for the jobs I’m hoping for I am going to split some of my fiction writing time off and work to complete the Agile basics book I had envisioned two years ago. That isn’t just talk either. I have 3,500 words (11 pages) down already. Granted this is largely the copy from previous blog posts, but it’s in the right place to become a book.

With that I’ll leave you the last few short fiction stories I’ve done in case you don’t see them on Facebook.

55 word:

3/1/2016
“It all fit!”
That was an exaggeration really. The drive would not be comfortable. “More like it barely fits.”
“So this is it. The big dream coming true.”
“Maybe. I still have a long way to go.”
“You’ll make it though. You always do.”
After a hug I got in the car and drove off.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Not again. It’s getting hard to function with these constant interruptions.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Three days? A week? I don’t even know anymore.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
How did this happen anyhow? Why do I deserve this?
<Silence>
“Mr Cooper. The test is over. At the agreed $50 per hour you get $150.”

100 word:

3/7/2016

Sara was crying when she called. “Bridget? Are you busy?”
Of course I’m in the middle of an experiment, but I always have time to help a friend in need. “No, what’s up?”
“My grandma died last night. That’s why I wasn’t in school today.”
“The silly Grandma?”
“No. Grandma Hamilton. I, I didn’t know her as well.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“Dad said she was old and it was her time. We’re leaving tomorrow to see the rest of the family.”
“You can call me anytime you need to.”
“Thanks Bridget, I knew I could count on you.”

3/9/2016

Bridget burst into her shed clutching the package tight. She carefully cleared a space on the workbench before putting it down. She had been waiting for this since last time Grandpa took her to the science museum.
She opened the toolbox and got out the box cutter. She worked her way around the package, careful not to push the blade into the box. When she had all the tape cut she first put away the knife, then slowly opened the package.
There it was, her own soldering iron. This would bring her experiments to a whole new level, adding electricity.

Continued accountability.

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I am going to do my best to post here weekly as a way to force myself to make progress on both the job search and writing. For this week I am sick again. I believe this means I have been sick more than healthy since losing my job. Yay.

I am doing OK with 55 word stories. When I actually decide to write some they come out. Nobody has left feedback, but that’s fine. I have struggled with twitter stories. 140 characters is tough. My goal is novellas and novels, so I think I’m ok with that though. I bet many published authors would struggle with twitter stories.

I was planning to start 100 word stories this week, but I was also expecting to be healthy enough to write every day. I honestly barely got through a video yesterday during the day. It hasn’t been fun. I think the 100 word stories I will post to the blog, so twitter followers will see them.

I continue pursuing Scrum Master and Software Development Manager/Project Manager positions. Nothing new to report there though. When I get through the videos I think I’ll split my writing between a non-fiction Scrum book I have planned and fiction. I feel having a Scrum book published would be a big boost for the job search, especially if I can do it well.

That’s all for now. I need to go see if this is strep or just a random virus. Especially since this is round 2.

2 weeks in.

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Adam here again. When I left you a couple of weeks ago I was standing at a desk in our loft having recently been laid off. I was working a job search with a more strategic plan than before and splitting time to try out writing as well.

Shortly after that I had to take the desk down to sitting again. I found that while I can write and even read standing, I cannot do video’s very well at all. I have some video classes I am working through related to writing and it just wasn’t working. I think it was Wednesday I brought it to sitting, timing how long it took. (About 10 minutes from full standing to sitting with everything put away.)

It turned out to be very good that I set it to sitting as Thursday I came down with some sort of bug. I was basically out of it until this Thursday. I tried to get back into some semblance of order Tuesday, but it really just exhausted me mentally and emotionally with Wednesday really not being a good day. Even still today (Friday) I am coughing, have a sore throat, and am not fully recovered.

I am moving forward though. One of the writers I have looked to for some ideas on moving that part forward talks about doing really short writing to help hone skills. The idea is that short stories need to have a beginning, middle, and end just as novels do. To help get better at telling a full story in a short time she challenges people to try writing extremely short stories. I have started with twitter stories. These are tough, 140 characters is barely 3 sentences.

She also mentions doing Micro and Flash Fiction. 55 word stories and 100 word stories. I’ve started on the 55 word stories and am looking at doing twitter and 55 word stories for a few days before adding 100 word stories. Interestingly she suggests the 100 word stories are harder than the 55 word ones. Apparently the little extra freedom to flesh out a story is also enough to create a tension in keeping it short enough.

55 words each is to short for me to make posts here of those stories. I will post them to Facebook though. If you’ve read this far then please feel free to help out by providing feedback on stories I post to Facebook. Ultimately over the next few weeks I hope to build skill doing various random short fiction while going through some classes before I start my larger world-building.

The vision is that world-building will result in linked short stories, novellas, and actual novels. Most of that writing will stay behind closed doors as the collection builds. I don’t want to start releasing there until there are a decent number of short stories and at least three finished novella’s. I am getting ahead of myself though, it’ll probably be no earlier than April for any of that, and that’s assuming things don’t change around here.

Today I’ll close out with letting you know there are three new 55 word stories being posted to Facebook and I might get some Twitter ones done too.

TWB 73 – Wake up fast.

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Monday I had to sneak into Cecila’s room and kiss her goodbye before I left. Apparently I “always wake her up” so when she didn’t see me leave Friday it was a problem. The kids got to go outside for recess at school. Well, Gideon did. Cecilia didn’t have recess today. The whole half day K thing means she only gets it a few times a week. Last week they were stuck inside a few times and Gideon’s teacher said it was noticeable. I got home in time for the kids to start some free choice time, which meant they were both on their tablets. After dinner and some one on one time Gideon picked Ruff Ruff Tweet and Dave for a show.
I read Cecilia a story about the most fabulous doll in the world, or something along those lines. Gideon wanted to hear about Horton and his egg hatching abilities.

Tuesday Heather had her mom meeting in the evening. I got home in time to see Cecilia and Heather playing with Cecilia’s engineering set and Gideon get mad when his timer on the tablet ran out. We were finally able to calm everyone down for dinner and after nighttime routine was done we watched Mutt and Stuff or whatever that weird guy with the dogs show is. Well, the kids watched it. I didn’t. Gideon had brought Harold and the Purple Crayon home from the school library and Cecilia picked Gideon’s How To Train A Dragon 2 book. I suspect Gideon helped her out some.

Wednesday Heather and I had small group after dinner. Turns out we don’t need to leave as early as we did. Even trying to stretch it out the drive is barely 5 minutes. Heather’s parents came up to watch the kids while we were gone and everything seemed to go just fine. They were playing board games when we left but I’m sure they watched a show and had stories. They managed to both be asleep by the time we got there, but Cecilia was probably just barely asleep at that time.

Thursday was a fairly normal day, until there was an announcement over the loudspeaker during parent pick-up time of trick-or-treating at the High School that night. Suddenly the kids had a new activity they wanted to do. It resulted in the kids taking showers and eating with some haste so we could go to the High School for the trick or treating event. It took the place of a show and the kids enjoyed it. The High Schoolers seemed to enjoy putting it on as well. They both got two stories. I’m not sure what the stories were though.

Friday I forgot to bring my potluck contribution to work, and I got out of the house a little late. I got out of work late and there were three accidents on the route home. I also had to stop at Costco. It was a long day for me, but the kids had a fun day with Halloween parties at school and everything. We watched a little America’s Got Talent, the first results show, and then Amazing Race. Gideon had me read him Olivia goes to Venice while Cecilia had both of us read her Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique. I think Heather read Gideon Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Saturday started with some food prep. We had swimming lessons in the morning and took the kids to Home Depot’s Halloween event after. It was a tight schedule. Instead of church we did Trick or Treating, and Heather got to take the kids for essentially the first time. In this neighborhood a lot of people left their candy on the front step while taking their kids around. For us – I stayed home while they took the kids. When they got back Gideon and Cecilia spent some time handing out glow-sticks. Gideon also came in and asked me how to spell “just.” turns out he was making a sign for our bucket. They both played in the front yard handing out glow-sticks and throwing around the ones I accidentally activated trying to put the little bracelet connectors on them. Eventually we told them they had to either come in and start a show or keep playing and not get a show. We really didn’t mind either choice, but it was theirs to make. Gideon played a little longer but they both ended up watching the show. Cecilia picked Mutt and Stuff. No stories as it was quite late.

Sunday we went to church in the morning. It was a little rough getting out, even after the time change. This difficulty is part of why we generally do Saturday night. After church was a park, back for a meeting, and then the library. We finally got library cards at the local library. The kids stayed in the car for the next stop, a grocery store. No, not alone. I was with them. We got home and they wanted to play outside for a bit. As we were looking at likely the last 70’s Sunday for a while we let them. Dinner was not a bad experience and the kids started their show a little early. Gideon picked something. For stories Cecilia had me read her the Fancy Nancy she got from the local library while Heather read her the Strawberry Shortcake from the same. Gideon had me read him the Lego City book from there, but that was after a time of being very sad about the sponsor child he’s had moving out of the sponsorship program (Compassion International) due to a positive life change. It’s hard to explain that this is a good thing to an emotional 6 & 1/2 year old.

Real-time update.

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As many of the people who actually read this blog know I have recently been laid off. Something you may not know is that I did horrible at updates to the TWB posts during January and so far in February. I made posts for around 4 of them, but they are all blank. I will try to fill in some I think, but I won’t hold myself to too much. In the end I may just skip a bunch of them.

Home Standing Desk

All standing, all the time.

One of the things I did at my job was install a self-made stand-up desk. It was an arrangement that lent itself easily to sitting or standing with a quick change between the two available. I brought the materials home and have set it up here now. Unfortunately the easy to convert option was unavailable here. Changing it back and forth is not hard, but it’s a good 5 minute job as opposed to 30 seconds. 5 minutes might not sound like a lot, but in this case it is. Just as 1 minute is nothing, unless you’re planking with proper form for the first time.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sitting can be bad for a person, especially over time. Thing is, I’m getting tired of standing. The monitor on the left is tall enough that it creates a tenancy to tilt my head up a little resulting in a sore neck. Of course, that monitor needs replacement anyhow, but I digress. The mat I’m standing on is actually two anti-fatigue kitchen mats and an entryway carpet strip. I generally stand there barefoot, shifting and pacing away. At the end of the day, I need to stand the same way for any gaming or video watching I do as well. I figure in another week or two I’ll make it over “the hump” and not be bothered by the standing, but for now it’s getting old. (I’ve made the transition before, but always where I could take sitting breaks easily every few hours.)

Anyhow, back to the job loss. I am currently back in the search. I’m primarily looking for Scrum Master or Agile/IT/IS Project Manager positions. I’m also interested in managing/leading a software development or other IS/IT team. I am approaching the job hunt a little differently this time. I am leaning heavily on “Manage Your Job Search” by Johanna Rothman for the technical/procedural aspects. I’ll post a review of it over at OurAgileJourney.com later. From a more abstract standpoint I’m trying to approach it a little less fervently than I did before. The pace I attempted to maintain last summer was ultimately unsustainable and causing me much more stress than I should have allowed it to.

To help force this new approach I am also splitting my time with trying to ramp up my writing. I have a few classes/books I have been slowly looking at that I know have time to kick into high gear. I am going to approach it as a part-time job versus as a hobby during the search, with the search itself being my other part-time job. For now the fruits of this will be seen here, Facebook, and Twitter.

That’s all for now. I should be loading the kids up to go to the park and I still need a shower. On the bright side, Cecilia isn’t ready and looks like she wants to ruin the park trip altogether.

TWB 72 – Rachel rhymes with wedding

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Monday the kids were back to school. Gideon wasn’t getting up as I headed out the door, but he must have made it to class and back since I didn’t get any frantic calls about doctor visits. I made it home before the rest of them got back from playing at a park and we enjoyed dinner together after which we tried to get the kids helping out with cleanup. Gideon and I ran his butterbraid orders to the cub scout pack volunteer in charge of it and he picked Wild Kratz for a nighttime show. I missed my nightly writing assignments this week and as such don’t remember the details on stories. I’m also not 100% on the shows, but they’re probably right.

Tuesday the drive in to work was bad. The drive home was ok, but not great. I offered a deal to the kids. What if I left before they woke up but got home earlier? I was able to get them to agree to trying it out. After dinner Cecilia picked PJ Heros.

Wednesday I left early. Cecilia had slept on the floor and I saw her head poking in between the shades and the glass of the window to see me leave. I’m fairly certain the garage door opening about 2 feet below her head woke her up. So, Heather got to deal with Cecilia being up early. It turned out to work OK though. The drive wasn’t any good though. It was a rainy morning and the drive actually took a little longer than normal, even though I left a good 20 minutes earlier. I made sure to leave at 4 though. I couldn’t have the first day of the experiment show me getting home as late, or later than, usual. I played with Gideon some when I got home and after dinner he stuck with Wild Kratz.

Thursday the drive wasn’t much better in the morning. It was raining again, even harder. No kiddos showed up in the window this time. I had to stop at Costco on the way home this time. When I got home early this time Cecilia got to spend extra time with me. Cecilia decided on Bubble Guppies.

Friday we all watched Amazing Race. The day started with Cecilia again peeking out to see me leave. This time the drive is what I was going for with the earlier leaving time. It was basically effortless. I didn’t leave as early as I would’ve liked to come home though. When I did get home the kids were playing Wii U after having spent some time playing outside at a friend’s house. We had dinner while watching America’s Got Talent. Well, Heather and I watched. The kids had gotten their tablets after I got home and were not exactly engrossed in the show. They, or Gideon anyway, did pay more attention to Amazing Race. I attribute this to the time on their games having run out. We each read one story to one child and they fell asleep very fast after that.

Saturday Gideon picked Wild Kratz.

Sunday Cecilia picked Mutt and Stuff or something. It wasn’t very good even as kids shows go.

TWB 71 – Don’t you want to be a special Mario?

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night the kids were with Grandma and Grandpa. We don’t know a ton about what went on and how things went. We figure it was likely a bit of a rough week as there was a migraine shuffling around the household.

Thursday the kids were back home. I don’t remember who picked a show or what it was. I do know Gideon had me read to him from Eerie Elementary. I’m not sure what Cecilia had me read.

Friday Heather took the day off work. I had hoped to get home a little early, but things didn’t work out that way. We ended the day with Amazing Race as has become our Friday tradition for now. It didn’t really stick out to us, but Cecilia was less into it and more ready for bed than usual.

Saturday Cecilia was sick and stayed home in jammies all day. That means she missed her first swimming lesson. Gideon on the other hand made it to his. I had to take him as Cecilia was in a mode of wanting Mom. After spending a large chunk of the day watching America’s Got Talent we finally made it to the “Live Shows.” Instead of starting them Gideon and I went to church. After that Heather finally got to leave the house as I was starting to feel sick from lack of food and Cecilia needed someone to go get crackers. I stayed home with the kids and had dinner while Heather ran to the store. Cecilia fell asleep while Heather was gone, but woke back up when she got home. Cecilia had no story and her show was kind of Dirty Jobs which she fell asleep watching. Gideon got to watch the first episode of Star Wars Rebels. 14 more episodes or so and we can start watching them together as he’ll be caught up.

Sunday Cecilia was better. The kids started the day playing with Alexa which drives Heather crazy. After that they spent some time doing crafts, a decision they made on their own.This lasted essentially until lunchtime when everyone settled down, kind of, to watch the Broncos game. I headed out to a store after but the kids kept more or less watching. They also got toys and played in the room the game was on. We ended the night with some America’s Got Talent followed by Cecilia picking PJ Heros or something like that for a nighttime show. I read Give a Cat a Cupcake to Cecilia and a chapter from Eerie Elementary for Gideon.

TWB 70 – Even people in tornado’s.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night the kids were with Grandma and Grandpa. We don’t know a ton about what went on and how things went. We do know Gideon got stung by a bee, two spots I believe. Turns out he isn’t allergic to them.

Thursday the kids were back home. They got home a little on the later side. We watched America’s Got Talent together before I believe Gideon picked Wild Kratts. We also read stories with the kids. I believe it was Encyclopedia Brown and I Love You Forever for Gideon and Cecilia respectively.

Friday we watched Amazing Race as a family. Cecilia doesn’t like this one as much as America’s Got Talent, but we made it through. We also don’t do stories or a kids nighttime show on these days.

Saturday we went for a morning bike ride as a family. Gideon struggled with it a little more than usual, but I think there was more incline as well. We had a picnic Lunch before the ride and went straight to church after. Cecilia wanted to see a Paw Patrol after dinner.

Sunday morning we went to a fall festival. Cecilia didn’t last long in the Corn Maze until she was done with it. This was a little strange as she hasn’t had trouble with a Corn Maze before, and that was one of the primary reasons we spent money on tickets for the four of us.  We spent some time with the kids playing on the playground there, as well as taking a short wagon ride to the pumpkin patch and back. The highlight for the kids was really the ride on pedal karts. We learned a little of the layout and will have a better plan of attack if we decide to try again next year. After that it was lunch at Heather’s grandparents where we dropped Gideon off followed by a long drive to drop Cecilia off at Heather’s parent’s. This was the start of another four days without the kids around the house, the second half of their two-week fall break.

TWB 69 – I’m a wackadoodler.

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Monday Cecilia didn’t want to wake up. I didn’t blame her though. My job requires a lot more interaction with people than I am used to from previous positions. As a poster introvert this tends to result in me being emotionally and mentally exhausted by the end of the week. This is partially from the actual knowledge work but also, more than you might think, due to the forced interaction with other people. Being as much of an introvert as I am I need the downtime away from interacting with people to recharge. Due to the family gathering and wedding I didn’t get much rest from people. When all was said and done the kids finished the day with a show and stories. I’m pretty sure the show was Paw Patrol.
Gideon had an Encyclopedia Brown story still ready and Cecilia, I don’t remember for sure what she had. Barbie and the Secret Door maybe?

Tuesday we went to the book fair at the school right after dinner. We like to encourage reading in the kids by picking out books at the book fairs and in the book orders that come home throughout the year. We did get back late and started Gideon’s choice of Wild Kratzz as he was coming down the stairs. Cecilia made it before the show got in full swing, but missed the pre-show roll that PBS has on it.
Gideon had each of us read him a new book from the book fair. Cecilia wanted her library book which was supposed to be returned last Thursday but was going back the next morning.

Wednesday started like any other day. It was the kids last day before fall break though. They also got to have Grandma come up to stay for a few days. This allows Heather to still work without us paying for the program at the school. When I got home I had Cecilia help order her Booster Seat now that she’s big enough. This is going to make moving the kids between different cars much than their current car seats. That said, their current ones, especially hers, aren’t actually all that hard to move around. The kids grandma showed up after dinner and we took Gideon to conferences. The last 5 minutes were for him to tell us how things are going. We got home and immediately started a nighttime show Cecilia picked (Paw Patrol, go figure) after which Grandma read to both kids, I read to Gideon, and Heather read to Cecilia.

Thursday the kids had to get up early even though they had no school. It was dentist day for them.I got home pretty late due to stopping at the store on the way. We watched some Amazing Race while eating dinner. Before long it was bedtime. Gideon wanted to watch Wild Kratz after which Heather’s mom and I read to him. Heather and her mom read to Cecilia.

Friday the nighttime show was Amazing Race time delayed enough so we didn’t have to watch commercials. They each got one story, Gideon from me and Cecilia from Heather.

Saturday Gideon and I went to his first Cub Scout camp-out. One of the pack leaders has a large property nearby. A 1.5 mile drive, and even less straight-line. It took place there and he had a wonderful time. He helped with setting the tent up and getting stuff to the tent from the car. He got to shoot a BB gun, probably the high point of the night, and showed me that he’s definitely gotten the introverted tendencies of his mother and I as well as her penchant for going to bed early.He did have a wonderful time though. I hear Cecilia had a good night with Heather as well.

Sunday morning Gideon helped get packed, but I did the tent without him while he had breakfast with the pack. He got to shoot a bow and arrow, again a high point of his day I’m sure. We re-joined Heather and Cecilia around 10AM, so not long into the day.We went for a hike as a family and dropped Cecilia off at Great Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the night. Then we did a long drive from there down to bring Gideon to Heather’s parents place. Her parents re helping out with the kids 2 week break so we could save money on day care.

TWB 68 – I’m too cold for clothes.

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Monday I took Gideon to his first Cub Scout Den meeting. He was a little bummed out by the whole experience as we did an activity in the book which was interviewing and writing, versus an outdoor play style activity. He still is excited to do scouts though. I think he was just expecting the meeting to go a little differently than it did. We got home in time to catch the end of Cecilia’s Paw Patrol pick.

Tuesday I got home a little late from work after a day of meetings. This was actually a bit of a problem as Heather had a “Moms Next” meeting. It’s basically the follow-on to MOPS I guess. She ended up having to leave within minutes of my arrival, and the kids had not been all that keen on hurrying up and eating before she left. After she was gone we did manage to eat and go to the nearby park for a few minutes. Gideon picked Blaze for the nighttime show, and they each brought a book to read together as the three of us on our bed.

Wednesday I got home a touch late due to interviewing for a new team member, but it wasn’t too bad. It was a pretty normal night from what I remember and nothing really sticks out. Cecilia picked Paw Patrol again.

Thursday Gideon had a walking field trip around the neighborhood. He was a little bummed that Heather didn’t join them for lunch at the local park, but she couldn’t due to having dedicated time to their fun run the week before. He picked Blaze for a bedtime show.

Friday the kids had the day off school. Cecilia had tried to convince me that I couldn’t go to work the next day, but she unfortunately didn’t come out of that discussion the victor. Their grandparents came to watch them so Heather didn’t have to either take the time off or try to get them to have a decent day while she was working. The day ended very late, with the kids doing a wonderful job of spending 3 hours at Kohl’s (where I joined them after work) followed by a stop at Target before going to a restaurant for a late dinner. No show or stories, but then they were pretty much dead tired by the time we got home anyhow.

Saturday we tried to get a simple chore done around the house. This didn’t work very well for some reason. It was a simple put clothes away form a basket chore but it didn’t play out that way. They spent their time playing with each other and not finishing, so they didn’t get to do much for the day outside of the previously committed plans. That included a birthday party for Gideon and a family get together at a nearby aunts house for all of us.

Sunday we had a wedding to attend. We went to church in the morning since the previous days schedule interfered with our usual Saturday night service. After that we tried to get everyone showered and changed. We finished in time, took a family picture or two, and headed out for the wedding. There were some outdoor games there so the kids had fun after the service, and didn’t get to bored during the service. (It was a nice wedding, but they’re young kids.) We got home just in time for a show before bed with some very tired kids. Cecilia started to freak out at Gideon’s choice of Ninjago, so I quickly put her in our room with Paw Patrol instead. After stories we did take a little time to see the eclipse. Due to lat/long, terrain, time, and tired kids we didn’t see any discernible movement of the Earth’s shadow, but we did see the moon essentially at totality.