I simply cannot BELIEVE the blasphemy I am reading in this thread. Going WITHOUT coffee? Denying yourself the nectar of the gods? Are you INSANE woman????? Drink your coffee. Black like the beautiful men. Avoid the sugars and the milks. They spoil the deep richness of the elixir. Ignore the naysayers as they are poor ignorant souls who really do not know any better. Preach the gospel of the cawfee! Shout it from the rooftops! Do not be led astray by those "non-drinkers" who tout the virtues of the tea. They are trying to lead you down the dark path, sister. A path you do not want to know. Stay true to your love. Cawfee knows your soul and will keep you pure.

Eggs come pre-coated (direct from the bird) with "stuff" (sorry to be so technical on you) that you don't want to wash off. Here in Mexico I have never seen one single refrigerated egg. We keep ours in the oven as the fridge is tiny and full and the kitchen is outside. Sometimes we bring them inside the A/C if the weather gets too terribly hot. But we usually go through 18 in a week easy.

Two models had him headed right at us (actually, about 30km north of us) but he passed us by yesterday. I was glued to Master's blog all afternoon watching him batter Cuba and making sure he didn't head our way. Now we're watching two invests - 97 and 98, but this is normal for our summer. We watch the waves coming off the African coast, we watch the models, we get ready. We had a great practice run with Tropical Storm Dolly and while Gustavo was enormous and very very near to us, we were on the clean side and only had rain, thunder and wind.

actually, just the opposite. The boys go to bed sometime between 3-5am and the 6yo and I go to bed around 1am-2am. The 8yo goes to bed around midnight. Who us? Nightowls???

Aw, geez, I'm sorry. I've been sitting on the Masters blog all afternoon (checks clock) and evening just incase Gustavo decided to pull a punch and head towards us. GOM is Gulf of Mexico. We're on the Caribbean so I don't pay much attention to storms once they pass into the GOM so I'm not up on the shear there. CONUS is CONintentalUnitedStates. We're not there. :) TCHP is the Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential and takes into account many factors including the SST (sea surface temperatures). High TCHP is good for intensifying a hurricane. He will intensify but he will probably also stall but seriously, read Dr. Master's blog and decide from the information there. EWRC is EyeWall Replacement Cycle and it is a normal occurrence for hurricanes. Dean hit 2 EWRCs just before hitting us and he was a hammer. An EWRC will lessen the intensity of a hurricane but only slightly as, if it goes into an EWRC as a Cat 4 many times it will come out a Cat 5. We saw that over and over with Dean and Felix last year. There is hopeful speculation that he'll have a EWRC just before landing, but that is just speculation because you can't trust the cone of uncertainty until about 12 hours out. Last year we had planned to evacuate right into what would have been the eye of Dean as he originally was forecast to hit us directly on. We waited until 12 hours out and headed in the opposite direction (Cancun).

If I didn't have satellite internet, I'd look at it, but UTube videos are just too bandwidth-heavy for our connection. I'm sure I'd have found it funny as I used to love to watch the Daily Show.

It will not be a Cat 5 at landfall. After Cuba (where the eyewall was badly mangled - it is not going through an EWRC, as some are speculating) it will hit a loop current eddy and TCHP of very high values which will allow it to rapidly intensify, however shear will be high (for the Caribbean, but by then it is in the GOM and I don't pay much attention to storms approaching the CONUS; only the Caribbean, so that shear could be normal) and that will probably also knock it down a bit. Fortunately, it will then hit a cool current eddy which will also knock it down a bit. Gustavo has been a bit of a mystery since it was an invest. Keep an eye on Dr. Master's blog and completely ignore the weather channel. Also, ever since Jamaica, Gustavo has been tracking east of the NHC line. He is still tracking east. There is huge speculation still about what that means.

Considering that I disagree with just about everyone on this board (as a wavering radical unschooler :)) I'd be foolish to ignore anyone. The only place I ignore anyone is on Dr. Master's blog where I am looking for technical and speculative information when a hurricane is knocking on my front door. Right now Gustavo is immediately offshore and the northern bands are coming around us. So stupid people on his blog get my ignore because safety is more important than education. Well, for me. :) I have learned a LOT from people I disagree with and love to challenge my thoughts and assumptions.

I'll be 48 in less than a month and have recently lost 10 kilos (22 pounds). I started in mid-May and use the sparkpeople website to track food and exercise. I have attempted exercise in the past but never had weight loss until I used the sparkpeople site to track my food intake. As soon as I can get some running shoes I'll be moving from walking to running along my exercise path.

Thanks. The Cubans and those of us on the Yucatan peninsula are incredibly prepared (and have the advantage of not having the continental shelf of the CONUS) and I'm confident they are being taken care of. Unfortunately, they will be coming out of their shelters to absolute devastation. Gustavo was a Cat4 verging on Cat5 (HH flights found Cat 5 strength during their last flight) when it slammed into Cuba and I'm really feeling for them. Our power has been steady but hard rain takes out our internet so we've been up and down today but we had worse wind from TS Dolly. We are SO THANKFUL that Gustavo tracked east of his projected track instead of filling the Yucatan channel as he was originally projected or we'd be experiencing Cat 4 winds right now. Thinking of the Jamaicans, Dominicans and Haitians counting and mourning their dead, the Cubans wondering what will be left of their homes. This was about 3 hours ago:

FRACK! HE'S A CYLON!!!??? (we've only seen up to the end of Season 3 as we won't get access to Season 4 here until December, so remember back to the last episode of Season 3 - that is all we know)

We're on the "clean" side of Gustavo today and it is just windy and rainy with patches of clear sky. If you live in hurricane country and don't read Dr. Masters' blog, it is difficult to be well-informed. Here is Gustavo just a little while ago - we are at about 87W 20.5N

The rain and wind from the outer bands of Gustavo are just starting here in Mexico but Cuba is getting hammered. And hard. Keep them in your thoughts. Jamaica, Haiti and Dominican Republic have many dead already from this storm (and he wasn't a hurricane then).

We are getting rain and wind from Gustavo just starting now. Cuba is getting hammered. Please think of the Cubanos and keep them in your thoughts today.

I personally think (but I'm an unschooler whose kids love unschooling but I would have preferred a Classic education as a kid) that as long as YOU are learning and the kids, on a daily (or weekly) basis say, "I didn't know that!", you are doing well. Right now we're are reading a lot about Japan's history and we have daily, "I didn't know THAT’S" :) As long as I keep hearing that or seeing the spark of understanding something new in my kids eyes or simply MYSELF learning something new as I read it to them, I know I'm on the right track.

Why not try the Belize border? Our Belize/MX border is the most sticky fingered of all our (Mexican) borders, but very safe. I'm guessing you could try the Tikal route if you're over towards MX/Guate. I'm thinking of you today; we have riots in Chetumal over teachers strikes, but these are almost SOP in this country.

Gustavo will be passing by us tomorrow and today we had pretty high winds in anticipation of him. During hurricane season (June to December here) we have Dr. Master's site as our homepage. (pretty much :)) Read his blog - it might give you better insight. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1049&tstamp=200808 Once you follow the link, read previous blogs also to gain a better understanding.

Yup, we boarded up for Dolly and got ready for Fay too. But in the Caribbean, we're always on alert. We evacuated for Dean and were still somewhat prepared from Dean for Felix. (2007) Gustavo is moving very slowly (like Wilma, who sat off our coast for 36 hours) so we're taking preps very slowly. Unless he heads directly for us, we'll just board up and move all the outside stuff (our kitchen and diningroom are outside) into rubbermaid tubs. It helps me to have a plan. Do you have a plan for getting stuff ready?

I thought you guys might enjoy a local (to me) thread on hurricane preparations. Some of it is humorous and some is practical. :) http://intheroo.com/playa-del-carmen-forums/locals-talk/1759-whats-your-hurricane-prep-list.html

We do LOTS of math but my kids would never know it. We make up scenarios in our heads, we divide food up so everyone gets a fair piece, we figure out distances, we double and 1/2 recipes, we weigh and figure prices in the supermarket, we pay for stuff and figure our change ahead of time and are constantly converting dollars to/from pesos. In our family, age 12 is a good time to start formal math study and so far, they seem to have no problem doing so.

My 12yo started reading a 10 - due to Runescape. It just never interested him before. Right now he is in his room reading "The Land I Lost" (about Vietnam) because he found it "interesting". My 14yo started reading at 7 - I remember when he started he could read "neighbor" but stumbled at "and". :) Within 6 months he was reading Harry Potter.

I suppose there are those who would consider my kids trainwrecks but I've never met actual trainwrecks. My boys (14 and 12) are just starting their first dip into formal math. They have an understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, fractions, decimals and even algebra simply from living life. They are having absolutely NO trouble with the math (TT7) thus far, however, and every new concept they approach is immediately absorbed and makes perfect sense to them. That tells me that they are ready to absorb this stuff. The 14yo might have been ready at 12 but I really don't think he was ready maturity wise. He really has to believe in the process and is very resistant to formal academics. Both boys were writing letters and numbers backwards a couple weeks ago but expressed interest in cursive and are now copying Shakespeare sonnets and printing beautifully. So far, they have dipped into cursive but aren't interested enough to pursue it. The 6yo LOVES cursive however, and is always asking for another worksheet to work on. We have always had a very rich literate life and while the girls (8 and 6) aren't yet reading I'm not worried in the least. But I'm sure there are those who would consider them trainwrecks for that. I have always read a LOT to the kids; we have Sonlight literature and I read a lot from the Gutenberg project literature; we have always read a minimum of 2 hours a day to the kids. They are always drawing, creating with clay, creating homes and cities with cardboard and other "trash" materials and this year we're going to do painting and pastel work. So, since my kids aren't right at school level, (althought the 14yo reads at a college-level and the 12yo reads at a highschool level) I'm sure many would consider them trainwrecks but I'm confident that they'll end up where they should be in their own time.

I was mostly responding to your point that loving learning was a fallacy and in our family it is not. But we don't force academics and have found the kids have decent common sense and will challenge themselves to do more when we bring the topic up for discussion. But they've always been treated this way - we trust them to make good decisions and generally, they do.

Keep an eye on Dr. Master's blog. I've been watching this storm since it was an invest off the African coast, but living on the Yucatan peninsula, that is SOP for us from June-December. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html Decide your evacuation point (we are still making plans for evacuation because these guys can turn at any moment) and make your hurricane preparations. You should already have a plan and list put together; just get working on it.

I think this is true if you're completely managing what and how they learn, but it hasn't proven at all true with my kids. They LOVE learning and doing and yes, the boys are even loving multiplication. But we wait until they are ready for the material and find they learn it really quickly. I also refuse to force "learning" on a child - it isn't worth the time and they don't retain the information. But so far, we haven't ground through anything and the kids are still loving learning.