Stefan's Sweet Sixteen

Today our son Stefan turned 16. Wow, they really do grow up fast. Or at least they get big, since I can't really say he's completely grown up yet.

When I was 16, I got a (used) car for my birthday. Stefan is getting a better video camera for his. He's not that interested in learning to drive, which is fine with us. In about a year my car will be paid off and it's a top ten safe car for teenagers so we'll revisit the driving thing. Most of his friends will be learning to drive by then and he'll probably be more interested in getting his license. If not, that's okay.

I paid extra to expedite the shipping of the camera, but it's not here yet. We did get the new fisheye lens and he's thrilled with it. He had me take a picture with it on the old camera so he could show all his friends.

We're taking Stefan and a bunch of his friends to Dallas to skateboard on Saturday. They will ride the DART rail, which is a big thing for these small town kids. On the way back we will stop for pizza. Stefan's eager to film with the new camera.

I'm working on a couple of slide shows but so far the browser crashes every time I try to load it here, or else Blogger refuses to save it. I've been trying for three days. I'm going to post the slide show separately, if possible. We'll see.

Stefan Through the Years

Raynaud's Syndrome

NOTE: Update at the bottom.
About three weeks ago I picked Stefan up at school. He'd waited outside for about 20 minutes, and as usual, he hadn't bothered with a coat. It was a chilly and very windy day. He got in the car and I was very shocked to see his purple hands and forearms--MUCH worse than the photo above. He actually had dark splotches that were almost black, much like a corpse with lividity. I was planning on driving straight to the ER but by the time we were driving out of the lot his hands were pinking up.

Raynaud's is apparently what happens when the body overreacts to cold and shuts off circulation to your hands or feet. The purple color comes from lack of oxygen. It's rare to have serious complications, but it can lead to gangrene and amputation if the blood flow is not restored. It can also damage your circulatory system in severe cases.

Primary Raynaud's is just Raynaud's by itself, without a underlying disease. The best site we found online was at Mayo. Secondary Raynaud's is secondary to arthritis or Sjogrens or something else. Stefan's been to the doctor to rule out secondary Raynaud's.

Now Stefan has some gloves, another hat, and new thermal shirts to wear skateboarding. We had to get lined pants for gym as well. He alarmed the nurse so much when he got cold in P.E. and his hands turned blue that she called me in the middle of class. I went to the school on my lunch break and took him a hoodie to wear in gym. Usually hoodies aren't allowed, but they made a temporary exception.

Oddly enough, the nurse told me she had recently researched Raynaud's because three other students and a teacher had come in with the same thing. She went on to add that Stefan's case was by far the worst.

Update 02/09/2011:  My son was taking a medication during the time he had trouble with Raynaud's. While my son was on the medication it became known that it could cause problems with cold temperature.  His doctor took him off it and no more Raynaud's, at least not a dangerous level.  His hands get cool but he doesn't turn colors since quiting the medication.

Skating in the Moonlight

This is Stefan's latest video. He took some of the video and edited all of it. It is my favorite so far. Stefan is the skater in the gray thermal, second-to-last.


kidzone sesh from stefan neal on Vimeo.

It's a New Year

It's another new year and I've decided that the thing I most want to do this year is get my beading stuff organized. Right now I seem to have stuff in every room in the house and I'm tired of it. I'm cleaning out a room and making a studio out of it. It's not as big as I need so I shall have to be ruthless in getting rid of stuff.

The other thing I want to do it learn some new jewelry making skills. I want to improve my wire work and my work with Art Clay.

We had a busy holiday traveling around. We had Christmas in two places, Christmas Eve in another, and two family reunions.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the gatherings.




Here is my son Stefan sleeping at the family reunion for my paternal grandmother's family. We had this reunion the weekend after Christmas. He also slept at the family reunion for my paternal grandfather's family. It was two weekends before Christmas. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture then. He's growing so fast it's hard to keep him both full of food and awake.




We had Christmas at my Mom and Dad's the Sunday before Christmas. That was the day that nearly everyone could get there. Here is my niece Sarah with my mother.




Here's my husband Ralph with his mother.

Stefan and Colby skateboarding in downtown Dallas

Stefan is crazy about skating in downtown Dallas so we took him and a couple of his friends this afternoon. The first three tricks are Colby and the fourth one is Stefan.

Ralph and I went to Fry's and Half-Price Books a did a little shopping while we were waiting on them.

The Brain Machine

Here are Stefan and I trying out the Brain Machine at Maker Faire. These photos were taken by maltman23 (Mitch Altman). There are lots of photos of people trying out the Brain Machine at Altman's Flickr site, as well as pics of people building their own Brain Machine. Altman is the inventor of the Brain Machine and also the TV-B-Gone, a really souped up universal remote control which will turn off any TV, including those annoying public area TV's.

Ralph made one of the Brain Machines at the Faire. If I understand what Ralph said, Altman recorded himself while meditating, converted it to digital sound and light, and made the Brain Machine to guide the brain through the various levels of brain wave activity that a person meditating achieves. Ralph has been hogging them since we got back so I haven't really had a chance to try them much yet. They do seem relaxing though.

More Pictures from Maker Faire

I'll have to look up what this "ride" is called. Right now I'll just call it Big Wheel. When I get Stefan to show me how to process videos I'll put up a video of this. It was moving down the sidewalk when I took this. Below is a close up. Yes, there are people in the center.



This is a moving inter-active sculpture. There are little music boxes riveted all over the outside. When you turn the crank on the tiny music box, the music is amplified by the shape of the sculpture. Stefan is in the middle here.



Here's a better shot of the detail and Stefan.




This is a second sculpture. This one has large strings across the top.

This painting was done in dust on the back windshield.

Detail of the painting.

Maker Faire Austin Art Cars

We went to Maker Faire last weekend in Austin and had a blast. I took 100 pictures, many of which will make their way to this blog, or to my blogs on Metal Chik. These are some of the art cars shown there. The first one is the Yarn Car. I've seen a lot of pictures of it on Flickr so it must have been a favorite with a lot of people. We talked to the owner who said he used acrylic yarn. He had driven it down from Dallas.




I really liked this VW. The decor is mosaic work and it was very well done.


This car looks kind of like a post apocalyptic armored bug.

Here is the Brick Car. There are 870 pounds of brick all over the car.

Two views of the Camera Van are shown here. Stefan is looking at one of the many video screens in the first one, and Ralph and Stefan are inspecting the vehicle in the second picture. The Camera Van is by Harrod Blank. Here's what the promotional info says about it: "An interactive Art Car that was inspired by an actual dream, the Camera Van has the ability to capture the amazed reactions of people who see it for the first time. Of the 2,500 cameras mounted to the van, six are functional Canons that shoot print film, and two are operational video cameras that transmit live images to the giant "filmstrip" composed of four TV monitors on the passenger side of the vehicle. One of the best-known Art Cars in the world, the Camera Van has toured the US, England, Germany, and Canada capturing shocked expressions in over 5,000 photos."

This one is kind of humorous.

Here is a car being decorated at the faire. This is an interactive art car build sponsored by HEYA. This HEYA project was made possible by Toyota and was hosted by HEYA and Harrod Blank.

Lake Tenkiller

We visited with relatives over the Labor Day holiday at Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma. We had a really great time visiting, boating, and sightseeing. There were deer everywhere. Being on the lake in the hills reminded me of where I grew up. My son tried knee boarding and driving the boat for the first time. I wanted to get some more pictures but it is next to impossible to take pictures in a moving boat.

First Day of High School

My 14-year-old son has started ninth grade and high school. It doesn't seem possible. Next, he'll be driving. Yikes! He's had a good start this week and seems to appreciate the extra freedom high school students get compared to middle school.

What a difference a haircut makes.

Here's my fourteen year old son. He'd been growing his hair out for a while and has spent the summer skateboarding. I suggested he get a haircut kind of like Owen Wilson's and he agreed. Here's the result. His hair was still damp from the wet cut when I took this. I think he looks great.

He went to skateboarding camp in July and finished second in the tournament.