Shivaum's ranting and raving

My Boy Scout Summer Camp Day 5

2011-07-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

-Day 5
I had waken up at 6:30 because I was exhausted. I was really tired from yesterday. It was also really hot over there. We went to breakfast hen they had pancakes. It was horrible. Everyone including me hated the pancakes. It was that bad. I wish they gave good food for once. That is why I was looking forward to the barbecue on Friday. They would have decent food. I just couldn't wait.When we finished breakfast we went to flags. It still was the same thing as usual. We came back to camp and had free time again. I was cleaning my tent because it was a mess. It took me the whole free time to do that. I went to E Sci and I did my homework the whole time. I finished it. It was easy. I had to to walk so much because all my TT classes were on the other side of camp. It was a tiring walk. I wished that my classes were closer together. The TT classes were really boring again. Even TTT was boring. We were folding flags. I really didn't like it. For lunch we had veggie patties. This was killing me. They had been giving this the whole week. I told myself can they give something better for once. Later, I went to Pottery. Today we were spinning the wheel. it was really fun. When we threw the clay on the wheel it splattered everyone.It was really fun. When I got back to camp I played cards. We pretty much did that the whole time. When we went to dinner we had bad stuff. I couldn't even tKe one bite it was that bad. We had flags after. This time we had won the stick it was amazing. We won the stick for cleanest campsite.It was worth it to clean my tent. I knew that we would win eventually. This was great so that we could decorate it. This was awesome. We came back to the campsite and had a campfire. It was really fun. We also we really cold during the night. Then when we finished the campfire we went to sleep.

My Boy Scout Summer Camp Day 4

2011-07-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

- Day 4

We all woke up at 5:00 because we had to get back to the other side of the lake before breakfast. It was so tired. I was exhausted. When we came back to the other side of the lake we went straight to breakfast. We had french toast. It was a decent breakfast surprisingly. I really liked it. We had flags after. It was still the same thing but raising the flags. We came back to camp for more free time. I went fishing. Still I caught nothing. It still was fun though. I also played some cards. We played a game called Kemps and also played Big 2. They were really fun games. I wish that we had so much free time for the whole day. But eventually had to go to class. I had E Sci again. We got our homework that day. We had to copy a timeline and write a 100 word essay. It was really easy. I finished in one day. It was that easy. After I had TTSC. We never got homework in this class. It was just requirements. This class was easy. We did more requirements. It was really boring. I also was tired from the canoe outpost. I was tired and it was boring. TTFC was also boring. There was nothing fun to do. In TTFC we were learning how to tie nots. I also made a lot off friends there. I was so happy it was over. We had TTT now. Today it was also fun. We had done fitness. We did a run, sit-ups, and pushups. It w hard but fun. After TTT we had lunch. It still was veggie patties. It was actually ok this time. I was cooking them for the vegetarians. I was really happy to get that requirement signed off. We had more free time. We we playing Big 2. It was a really fun game for everyone. I was pretty much playing that for the whole free time. When I went to pottery we did vocab. I was so sad. I hate vocab. I just went with it. When I came back from Pottery I was relieved that the long day was over. I just relax and played more cards. We went to dinner. I was expecting something bad. But we had amazing pasta. I loved it, I also got seconds. It was that good. I just came back to camp. We had relaxed, and I went to sleep.

My Boy Scout Summer Camp Day 3

2011-07-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

- Day 3

Again we woke up at 6:00 because we had the earlier breakfast. I was extremely tired. I couldn't wait to get back home. But the camp was really fun so far so I also wanted to stay there. They still had bad food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After breakfast we had more free time again. I didn't do much because I had nothing to do. I mostly played cards. Our SPL said that today we are going on the canoe outpost. The canoe outpost is where we canoe across the lake and sleep outside. So my first class is E Sci. I asked the teacher if the merit badge was hard but he said it was the easiest eagle required merit badge. So during this class we did vocabulary. It was so boring. The funny thing is that there was a guy who was always late so the teacher used to get really mad at him. The next class was TTSC. We only did requirements. It was not was not that fun.The next class was TTFC. It was also not that fun. After that we had TTT. I liked this the best because there were really fun activities. I couldn't wait until the next day. But I also was starving for lunch. Lunch was after 4th period. The lunch was again veggie patties. I got sick of them after only 2 days.We had a another big break after lunch because we were first shift lunch. So we had a lot of free time. After that we had our last period. I had Pottery for the last period. In our class we had a guy who's last name was Potter. It was funny because it is Potter y. When I came back to camp we had free time all the way until 5:00. It was only 3:00. I pretty much played cards for the whole time.I didn't do a lot for the free time. We had the same horrible veggie patties. It was so bad!!! After dinner we had flags. We had the same flags. But it still was really fun. When we came back to camp we had a lot of free time again. We went to the canoe outpost. We canoed across the lake to the other side. It was kinda fun. It took about a half hour. When we got to the other side of the lake we picked a spot to sleep. It was a pretty good spot. I really just was looking at the stars most the time. Then I went to sleep.

My Boy Scout Summer Camp Day 2

2011-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

- Day 2

The next day I woke up at 6:00. Our troop had waken up earlier because we had 1st shift breakfast. The 2nd shift breakfast had to wake up later because they had later breakfast. I had a very comfortable sleep surprisingly. The breakfast was good. They had different kinds of cereal. They also had some hot chocolate it was really good too. When we finished breakfast we went to flags. That is when they raised the flag. During the evening they lower the flags. After flags we went back to camp. In camp it was our free time. I didn't do much during the time. I was just thinking about my classes. Eventually, we went to classes. The classes I took were Environmental Science(E Sci), Trail to Second Class(TTSC), Trail to First Class(TTFC), Trail to Tenderfoot(TTT), and Pottery. I stated them in order. E Sci is required for your Eagle Scout, but Pottery isn't. These classes were really tiring especially because it was hot outside. So I had to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. Between 4th and 5th period we had lunch. For lunch everyday the vegetarians had horrible veggie patties everyday. After lunch I went to pottery. Pottery was really fun. I had a lot of fun making pots. Then, I was glad the long day was over. So I came back to camp and someone said,"I caught a fish." My tent mate was going to cook it because he needed to do that for a requirement. I was as so amazed that they actually caught a fish in the lake. This was a big surprise to me and for everyone. The people in the dinning hall said they had to cover it with foil and put spices in it when it is cooking. When people ate it they said it was amazing. I didn't eat it because I am a vegetarian. I learned how to fish during this free time. I thought it would be really hard but it was really easy.When we went to dinner it still was really bad. I thought that they would eventually give something good. Today after dinner we made our own campfire with only our troop. In this one we roasted marshmallows. This was really fun. I ate a lot of s'mores. We pretty much did that until the night was over. This was a fun day I thought to myself.

My Boy Scout Summer Camp Day 1

2011-06-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

From June 19, 2011 to June 25, 2011 I went to a summer camp for boy scouts. The camp was called Camp Chawanakee. It was a 6 night trip, Sunday,Monday..... I just became a scout on June 13. It was my first summer camp. It was a really fun but tiring trip for everyone.
-Day 1
So we came to the church where all our boy scout meetings are. We got there at about 8:00 a.m. I went into my brothers friend's car. My brother didn't go because he had a different summer camp. It was a fun car ride we played a lot of games in the car ride. It was along one, it was 4 hours. I thought it would never end. When we took a stop I came out of the car and I almost fell down. My legs felt so good when I stood up. Then we came back in the car for 1 more hour it felt very long. When we arrived there I knew it was going to be a fun trip. So when we first got there we settled into our tents, unpacked everything, etc. After we did all that we took our swimmers test. In that there were two levels. A beginner level and a swimmer level. To get your beginner you had to swim 50 yard. To get your swimmer you has to swim 100 yards, 75 yards going forward and 25 yards we had to float. I had only got my beginner because I wasn't a good swimmer and the water was really cold. It was like only 50 degrees. After that we got to relax and do whatever we wanted to. It was a really fun first day. When we came to dinner I thought the food would be pretty good, but it was horrible. I didn't even finish half my plate. It was that bad! Then, after dinner we had flags where they had lowered the flags for the day. Later, we had went to the opening camp fire. It was a really warm campfire. All the staff did some skits. They were pretty good. Then, after the camp fire we went to sleep it was a tiring, but day.

How I Prevented A Robbery

2010-06-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last summer, I was at my house with my brother on a hot summer day. It was just like any other summer day. I got up at 10:00 am, which was really late for me. It was a slow but relaxing morning, as summer mornings should be. I was feeling quite lazy and was not motivated to do a whole lot. The neighborhood was already humming with activities. I could see the gardeners working on the lawns, some handy-men going about their jobs, kids riding on bikes and some folks on their daily run.
After a breakfast of pancakes and milk, I watched some TV, and then played some basketball outside with my brother.
I was losing 20 to 50 points because my brother is older and bigger than me. He kept blocking my shots. But I never gave up. It began to get hot, so we decided to go indoors to cool off.
I was now sitting by the kitchen table reading a book. The book was boring and I was looking outside when I saw a white car pull up in front of my neighbor’s house. At first I thought it was my neighbor’s car, but then realized it was not. It was a old beaten up white car and looked it did not belong to our neighborhood. Then I thought it could be a someone visiting my neighbor. But the car kept standing there for more than ten minutes and the driver did not get out. That was strange. I could see the person sitting inside and he wasn’t really doing anything, just sitting. I told my brother that there was a random car outside our neighbor’s house whose driver was not getting out. That did not interest him at all as he continued to do what he was going. I ignored it too. We were now playing the Big 2 game with cards and I was beating him this time.
As we continued to play cards, I got thirsty and decided to go get a drink of water from the kitchen. I can see my neighbor’s home from the kitchen window and took a look outside and the white car was still there. Both of us were now keeping an eye on it. We saw a man coming out with something wrapped up in a black garbage bag. I could tell that he was pretending to act as if that was normal, but he was sweating a lot and looked a bit nervous. My brother and I saw the man putting something in his car trunk and we noticed that it was a computer. We started discussing what we should do. We saw another guy come out with something again in a black garbage bag. We called my mom who told us that our neighbors were in Tahoe and we should call the cops just to be cautious. I told my brother that we should call the police to notify them of the strangers in the neighborhood. We had the local police number written down close to the phone so we did not have to hunt for the phone number. My brother is a Boy Scout, so he has learned how to be alert and be aware of his surroundings. He quickly took down the license plate of the white car which was a smart thing to do. We called the police.
When I was on the phone with the police, they asked me the address of where the robber was and I told them as I could clearly see the house number painted on the curb. Another question they asked me was if I could see the license plate and I said, “Yes” and I gave it to them. They wanted the make and color of the car. I told them it was a Toyota. They also asked for a description of the people and what they were wearing. I described the men as best as I could. The police officers thought this matched description a of robbers they were trying to arrest. The last question they asked me was what my name and address was. I spelled out my full name and home phone number and address. I was surprised to see the police arrive as I hung up. I went outside with my brother to tell them which house it was. I was pointing to the one across the street. The cops went inside the house and they searched the home. There were five cop cars that came. In one room they found the robbers. They were really scared. There were two men in all.
They were wearing black clothes and had black masks on their faces. The cops told the men to put their hands up. One of the men tried to run but tripped on a rock in the front yard, and found himself surround by police officers when he got up.
The cops stayed there for almost two hours chatting with the neighbors. They met us and asked us lots of questions. We were very excited and didn’t mind answering them so many times. They seemed to ask the same question in many different ways, but we were having too much fun for a boring summer day.
That evening, the whole neighborhood found out about our heroism, since someone posted an article about the robbery on our neighborhood discussion group. Lots of friends and neighbors stopped by to thank me. My neighbor even gave me a gift certificate to GAME STOP.
They knew we loved video games. The next week Saratoga News published an article about us and how we had prevented a robbery. We were very glad to have prevented a robbery and that was the highlight of our summer vacation.

My Trip To Connecticut

2010-06-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

On February 28th, 2010 my dad, my brother, and I flew to Connecticut to watch a college basketball game. We literally decided a couple days before to make that trip, with a mad scramble to purchase airline and game tickets. We left at midnight and were on a three and a half hour flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota from San Francisco. We changed flights and this next flight was a two and a half hour flight. It was 11AM by the time we landed in Connecticut at Bradley International Airport.

We got picked up by one of my dad’s friend who lived in Connecticut. We were finally at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) campus. It was huge with lots of tall buildings. We ate breakfast in the student cafeteria. After we ate breakfast we entered Gample Pavilion. Some students were painting themselves blue in the bathroom, later we saw them on TV too. Connecticut was playing Louisville.

The game started at 2pm with Connecticut going on 5-0 run. UCONN fans were charged up. Louisville called a timeout immediately. Close to the end of the 1st half it was 45-37, Connecticut ahead with 7.5 seconds left. Louisville went up the court and made a lucky three at the buzzer to make it 45-40. UCONN didn’t have a good second half, turned the ball over many times and let Louisville back into the game. Louisville at one point led by 7 points with 7 minutes left, but with pressure defense UCONN played themselves back into the game and actually led by 3 with 4 minutes left. The whole stadium was going crazy and it was very loud!

When there were 30 seconds left in the game, it was tied at 86. Louisville’s Edgar Sosa made a layup and Connecticut was now losing by 2. After the time out, we stood behind the Uconn band near the exit since we had to get out quickly as my dad’s friend was waiting to take us back to the airport. My dad said that if the game goes into overtime we were going to miss the flight. When Connecticut had the ball they missed a layup, turned the ball over, and sadly lost the game.

I was sad when we drove back to the airport. We made our flight. We arrived home at 11:30 pm tired, but it was still fun.

My Math Olymiad Tournement

2010-06-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

On April 3, 2010 our school participated in a Math Olympiad Tournament. This tournament had a team round and a individual round, but I am going to talk about the team round . The team round had teams from many school districts, including Saratoga’s which included 4th to 6th grade. Argonaut had two teams from 4th and 5th grade.

Argonaut’s 4th grade team included Dean, Lillian, Anthony, Hannah, and I. Dean was our leader. In the team round there were 10 question and 20 minutes to finish the questions. Each of us were assigned some questions from the 10. Once we finished our part, Dean checked all the questions from 1 through 10. We made a sheet so each of us could share answers and Dean could go over them. I think this was a good example of strategy and teamwork. After we finished our test we went over the solutions. We got one wrong, but we got 1st place because our individual round score mattered too and we did well with that. We couldn't believe we won over 6th graders. It was like a miracle win for Argonaut. We got a trophy, medals, and also a certificate. The 5th grade team from Argonaut was very good too. They got all ten correct but their individual scores was less then ours. It was a fun tournament! Our team was invited by Mr Chapman at the Friday assembly and congratulated too.

2010-06-14T17:04:00.002-07:00

2010-06-14T17:04:00.001-07:00

Diwali Performance

2009-10-27T12:21:00.001-07:00

Soccer Games

2009-10-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Our win!

2009-05-28T17:02:00.001-07:00

May 27., 2009

May 30, 2009

Shivaum Emcee

2009-03-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Humboldt Penguin

2008-12-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

Humboldt Penguins are also know as the Peruvian Penguins. They are found in South America. They live on rocky lands. They fly under water at 20 mph. They have good eye sight. They are social animals. They are white in the front and brown blackish in the back. They can breed any time of the year. They lay 1, 2 or 3 eggs with both parents. They live about 20 years in the wild

Ohlone Indians

2008-12-09T08:08:00.001-08:00

And the mild sore throat could be treated with any number of gargles including a decoction made from
Bull Nettle roots .
Treatments for Tuberculosis and pneumonia relied mainly on teas made from a number of plants including:
Nettles (roots),
Nettle fibres were used to make cordage. They were used
to make shirts, ropes

The Season Finale -

2008-12-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

My Reflections Entry

2008-11-24T21:58:00.001-08:00

I have been learning violin for 1 year and I mixed the songs I mostly like to make one nice song. It related to the theme WOW because I combined songs to make it a super good song.

5/7/2009 - This entry won the 2nd prize within Santa Clara County

Variety Show Skit

2008-05-31T18:50:00.001-07:00

There are three characters. The characters are Nikhil, Sam and Shivaum. Shivaum is going to tell how the skit works. Shivaum comes out scratching his head and says, "Where is the invisible chair?" Shivaum looks behind and say, "Oh, right here". Shivaum blows and dusts it off. Now, Shivaum sits on the invisible chair.

Nikhil comes and says, "Hi Shivaum". Shivaum says, "Hi". He says, "What are you doing Shivaum?". Shivaum says, "Sitting on the invisible chair". Nikhil says, "Can I join you?". "Sure", Shivaum says.

Sam comes and does a cart wheel. He says, "What are you doing?". They say, "Sitting on the invisible chair". "Can I join you guys?". Sam says. They say, "Sure". Sam blows the dust off the chair, but before he sits he says, "Wait this isn't the invisible chair". Shivaum and Nikhil say, "It's not?". Sam says, "No, its not. The invisible chair is over by Mr. Chapman". Then everyone fall down.

Hopefully the audience laughs.

Pasta Market

2008-05-31T18:49:00.001-07:00

Pasta Market is a restaurant where you can eat pretty good Pasta. I go there when it is my turn to pick the restaurant. I will never stop going to Pasta Market. I sometimes call Pasta Market, the Pasta Place. My favorite is Spaghetti with Sprite and Garlic Bread. You could sit outside or inside. My dad always orders the eggplant Parmesan, which looks like a Pizza but is kinda weird. I like to put a lot of cheese on my spaghetti.

My dad says he will take me to Pasta Market for a week everyday. He thinks I will get sick of Pasta Market.

My day out to watch the San Francisco Giants 5/10/08

2008-05-31T18:35:00.001-07:00

Today, I had a baseball game at Saratoga Little League.

After the game, I went to watch a San Francisco Giants game. It was convenient being on the Giants team as I didn't have to change my clothes. We drove down and parked in Parking Lot A. We then had to take the stairs upto the Oracle suite on the four floor.

We were finally inside the Giants Stadium, at&t park. They were playing against Philadelphia today. Everyone in the stadium was dressed in orange and black. Philadelphia got the first run - it was a home run. We then hit our first home run. Whenever we got a strike, the audience cheered.

I ate a hot dog, peanuts, pizza, garlic fries. I drank coke. It was good.
I played on the computer inside the room with my brother.
We watched the Pistons play on the TV too.

I loved the game.

Star Testing 5/4/08

2008-05-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Star testing week at school is when we have to take a test. This test is about what we learnt over the school year. You take this test in the month of May. In 2nd grade you have star testing for 3 days. In 3rd grade you have it everyday. Each day you have Math and English. My dad got me a lot of books. There were five books. One particular bad book at one hundred forty seven pages. There were two big books.

I was a bit nervous at the start of the test. I know I got a question wrong in Math. It was a fraction question. My mom told my teacher that I got one wrong. I hope I did good in the star test. I want to get 600 out of 600 in Math. I would like to get advanced in English too. Mrs. Greene kept looking at my answer. I thought I could get 600 out of 600 in both the tests.

St. Patrick's day Leprechaun Trap

2008-05-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's day is an Irish holiday. it sometimes is called St. Paddy day. The St. Patrick's day parade was first held in Boston in 1737. In 2006, half a million people came to the parade. The traditional meal on St. Patrick's day is corned beef and cabbage. To celebrate, people drink Irish beer, Irish Whiskey, Irish coffee and also wear green clothes. Those who are caught not wearing green can be pinched. Many basketball teams were Kelly green hats on this day. Clovers celebrate St. Patrick's day.

Here is a video of the St. Patrick's day parade in Dublin Ireland

For my school project, I built a Leprechaun trap. I was pretty excited about it. I got up and ate my regular oatmeal that morning. When I was dropped off to schoool, I ran to my class and put the trap on the back table as Mrs. Greene had asked us to. The first bell ran. We kept looking at the Leprechaun trap. Five minutes later the second bell rang. Nathon and I passed out the day math. During Math, we made our own playground. You could work with a partner. Nathon was my partner. We had two pages and we made a lot of stuff, but I kept thinking about the Leprechaun trap.

How did I build the Leprechaun trap?
===================================

Barry Bonds

2008-05-30T23:21:00.000-07:00

Bonds after break Hank Aaron's record

Barry Bonds plays baseball for San Francisco Giants. He hit 762 home runs and holds the world record. Bonds went to Arizona State University. In 1986, he was drafted by Pittsburg Pirates. In 1993, he started playing for the Giants in San Francisco. His salary for 2005 season was $22 million. On August 7th, 2007 Bonds hit the 756th home run to break Hank Aaaron's home run record. Today his home run record of ??? is unbroken.

Check out the video of the 756th home run.

Mexico Cruise 12/10/07

2008-05-30T23:16:00.001-07:00

Mexico is the fourteeenth largest country in the world. It is our neighbor to the south. The language they speak is spanish. I have been to Mexico when I was two years old. I had gone to Puerto Vallarta. During Christmas Holidays, I am going on a cruise to Mexico. This is my second visit to Mexico. This time it is on a cruise ship though. The cruise ship will stop at Los Cabos. This city is at the tip of the Baja California in the Baja Peninsula. A peninsula means it is surrounded by water on all three sides. This tourist town has lovely beaches. It will be fun.

Check out the video of the cruise ship Carnival Elation.

Well...I did go on that vacation. This was a cruise ship called Carnival Elation. It was huge. There were 2300 passengers in the ship and 900 crew members. The ship was 855 feet long and weighed 70,000 tonnes. The maximum speed was 31 knots, but the ship traveled at 18 knots (1 knot is 1.15 miles). The cruise ship had cabins, restaurants. They also have kids club called Camp Carnival where you can play video games, air hockey, Foos Ball and other kids activities. There was lot of food in the cruise ship. I really enjoyed eating Pasta. I also enjoyed sitting in the jacuzzi in the open air deck. I also enjoyed playing miniature golf. This was a fun trip.This is the famous arc of Los Cabos at Lover's Beach. We saw it from the cruise ship and also from up close while sailing to the snorkeling area.

Bouncing Ball experiment

2008-05-30T23:14:00.001-07:00

In this experiment we bounce two balls together. The bounciness of the ball is elasticity. When you drop the balls together, the potential energy of ball #1 is transformed into Kinetic energy when it hits the ground. The ball #2 gets more energy because it already has potential energy. But ball #2 also uses the kinetic energyfrom ball #1 that already hit the ground. So you will see ball #2 fly in the air. Watch out here it comes!

Oil Spill in San Francisco (11/14/08)

2008-05-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

Video of the oil spill

On November 7th last week, a container ship carrying oil hit the bay bridge in San Francisco. Some oil started spilling. 58,000 gallons of oil was spilled by this ship. Many birds and sea mammals died because of the oil spill. Some San Francisco beaches are still closed because of the oil spill. California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency after the oil spill.

Now, fishermen are not allowed to fish for crabs. The crabs have bad oil on them and we cannot eat them. Fishermen cannot make money now. Sea-birds cannot fly as their wings have oil on them and they cannot flap their wings. Also, water now sticks to them and makes them cold. The oil and water increases their weight and they sink in the water. 1500 people and 53 ship are trying to save these bird and sea animals.

The worst oil spill ever was in Alaska with over 10 million gallons of oil spilled. The effect of this oil spill is felt even today in Alaska

Daylight Savings Time (in short DST)

2008-05-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

When the clock falls back by one hour in fall, and springs ahead by one hour in spring, that is DST. Germany started using DST in 1916. America started using DST in 1918. DST means we are saving daylight. This started during summer to enjoy the long hours of sunlight. In summer, due to DST, we enjoy a longer day, as the sunset happens one hour later than it would. When we get home in the evening, we turn on the electricity later and thus we save energy. My parents had to reset the clocks by hand before, but now clocks automatically change time. Recently, President Bush pushed back time change in Fall by a week, and in spring by 3 weeks. DST has some good points and some bad points. Farmers don't like it but stores do love it.

Aruba - Hidden Paradise

2008-05-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Aruba is an island nation in Central America. It is 17 miles from Venezuela in South America. Aruba was a colony of Holland until August 1985. Gold was discovered in Aruba in 1800 and later oil. Once the gold and oil was exhausted, the economy is now dependent on tourism. Tourists from all the over the world USA, Holland and South America visit Aruba. Aruba is famous for its white sandy beaches and dry tropical weather. Aruba is only 19 mile long and 6 miles wide. We saw Aruba in less than a day. The rest of the time we spent by the pool and the beaches. You could walk almost 300 yards into the ocean. I only walked 20 yards. My vacation was fun.

Are you Smarter than a 5th grader? 1/22/2008

2008-05-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

It is a show on TV and also a hand-held game that you can buy from Target. It is also
a game on Nintendo DS.

If you are on TV with this game - you get money. There are many levels.
You start with $1000. If you keep answering correctly and get above $25,000 even if
you lose then you get $25,000. Otherwise you get $0.
iYou can win a maximum of $1,000,000.
Even rocket scientists have not won $1,000,000 on TV.

My brother won $1,000,000 on the hand-held game. It is a fun game!

Alphonso Mangoes

2008-05-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Alphonso is a mango which is the king of all mangoes (and Mangoe is the king of all fruits). It is the most expensive mango and is found in the western part of India. Last year, these mangoes were allowed to be imported into the United States for the very first time. We can make candies and smoothies with these mangoes. Eating a mango helps fix liver problems. It is very high in Vitamin C. It can help me increase my appetite. Mangoe season is very short, it starts in April and ends in May. I ate one on Monday, it was delicious.

Studying effects of daily pollutants on plants

2008-05-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Purpose :
To see the how different things help the plant grow

Description
I wanted to test whether oil, water, fertilizer, salt water, coke and Detergent helps or does not help the plant grow.

Hypothesis
I thought coke would help the plant grow the most because it has lots of sugar
I thought the oil would not help because I did an i-search on the oil spill in San Francisco. That oil spill did lots of bad things.

History of Plants
Over 3,000 million years ago, there was no oxygen on earth. Appeared the Blue-green algae which lived in the sea and can still be found in the water today. The air was made out of carbon dioxide only back then (no Oxygen).
Later after a few million years, some new plants starting breathing the Carbondioxide and released oxygen.

Discovery of PhotoSynthesis
In 1649, Jan Baptista Van Helmont did the first biological experiment in which the ingredients were measured accurately and applied on a willow tree (very similar to my experiment)
In 1772, Joseph Preistly, the British man who received the recognition of discovering oxygen, found that a piece from a mint plants could restore the air in a container with a burning candle
In 1796, Ingenhousz suggested that this process of photosynthesis causes carbon dioxide to split into carbon and oxygen. Then the oxygen is released as a gas.
In 1804 German scientist, Julius Mayer, showed that the energy of sunlight is captured in photosynthesis.

What is Photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis provides us with most of the oxygen we need in order to breathe. We, in turn, exhale the carbon dioxide needed by plants.
Photosynthesis is a process in which green plants use energy from the sun to transform water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and organic compounds. It is one example of how people and plants are dependent on each other in sustaining life.

Procedure
I labeled the plants and kept them in separate containers.
In each plant I put the labeled thingy
E.g if it was labeled coke I put a little bit of coke in it.
I made sure I put the labeled thingy into the plant everyday, at pretty much the same time.
I did this for 2 weeks.
After 2 weeks, I left it out in the rain and sun to see what happens for another 4 weeks.

My Observation
In the first week the plant with coke and oil were doing pretty good
But at the very end -
The plant in which I poured only water did the best. It has grown the most and is doing well.
Oil did the 2nd best.
Fertilizer did OK – it will survive
The plants in which I put Coke, Detergent and Salt-water died. They have fungus on them now

Why was salt harmful?
Salt affects plant growth mainly through:
The sodium in salt is poisonous for the plant
With salt water the plants cannot drink much water, known as water stress and
They also miss out drinking some minerals particularly potassium that is needed for them.

Early signs of salt water damage
(a) darker leaves than the normal color of bluish-green,
(b) smaller leaves and
(c) stems with shorter spaces between leaf nodes.

Detergent / Oil / Fertilizer / Coke impact on plants
The impact of oil is inconclusive.
We probably put too much fertilizer and that burnt out the plant. But I think it may come back as it is still alive.
Plants don’t like coke
Detergent is released out in the environment so should not be harmful. But I am surprised that the plant died.

What would I do differently?
I would like to do this experiment in summer when there is more sunlight and then my experiment results might be different.
I would like to measure the oxygen that plants release – in specific conditions.
I would like to use different level of quantities. For example in 3 sets of plants, use 1 TBSP, 2 TBSP and 3 TBSP of Coke every day.

My Conclusions
Water is good for plants.
Coke, salt water and detergent water was quite harmful to plants
We should treat our environment with care.

Halloween imported into America

2008-05-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Halloween came to America from Ireland and England. Halloween is believed to be the time for magic. It was believed that spirits walk on earth on the day of Halloween, that is why we dress up in costumes to be like them. Long ago, to protect children from evil spirits, salt was sprinkled on their hair. Halloween costumes were sold in American in 1930s and kids started trick or treating in the 1950s. Stores now make a lot of money during Halloween. There are lots of scary shows and movies during Halloween. I watched a scary show . I really enjoy Halloween specially the trick or treat part.

Mars is pretty close -

2008-05-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun. Mars is pretty close to earth now. It will be this close again in 2016 when we are in 11th grade. It is actually 55 million miles away from. This is not nearly as close as in 2003, when Mars came within 35 million miles, the closest it would come for 60,000 years. When Mars gets close to earth it is called Mars opposition and the US Space agency, NASA launches Mars rovers to go land and explore Mars. The Mars Rover called Mars Phoenix is traveling to Mars and will get there in May 2008. Mars can be seen in the eastern sky all of December. On December 23rd, we have a full moon and Mars will be directly below the moon all the way through January 2nd. Make sure you check it out on that day. It will look like a red diamond in the sky. We plan to go to Foothill College observatory to check it out on Friday, just like we did in 2003 when I was two years old

Spring 3/25/2008

2008-05-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

The weather warms up and we find flowers all over.
Snow begins to melt and we have streams that overflow.
When the cold arctic air crashes against the warmer air from the south.
we can have tornadoes.
The Pacific and Atlantic ocean also get hurricanes.

Cultures all over the world celebrate the arrival of Spring.
Easter, is one way to celebrate spring.
In India, they celebrate with the festival of colors called Holi.
Some cultures celebrate Nowruz.
I helped my dad plant daffodils, tulips and other bulbs in our garden and they
are now blooming. We planted them in thanksgiving and have waited a long time for
them to emerge from the ground.

March Madness 03/18/2008

2008-05-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Is March Mad? A month cannot be mad, can it? “Good Point”, I say.

ESPN thinks it is truly madness! They mean with the college basketball NCAA tournament, where 65 teams get picked out of more than 300 to play for the college basketball championship. There are four zone, East, West, Midwest, South with 16 teams in each zone.

California has the most teams in the 2008 NCAA tournament, a total of six. UCLA, Stanford, UC Berkeley, USC, San Diego, St. Marys. We have final four tickets this year. My brother and I are going to war to figure out who gets to go with my dad.

I like UCONN and Georgetown the most. I think UCLA will win the championship. My brother thinks it is North Carolina. But he is wrong!

My upcoming trip to Hawaii 03/30/08

2008-05-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

The state of Hawii is the 50 th state - became part of USA in 1959.
It is made up of hundreds of islands.
The eight major islands are
Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe,
Maui, and Hawaii or Big Island.
We are going for spring break to Kauai and Big Island.

On Big Island, we will see volcanoes that have already exploded and
we will walk on the hot lava.

On Kauai, we will see a Water Fall, we will go snorkeling at a beach
and also check out a mini Grand Canyon.
We will also see a Spouting Horn that throws out salty surf with a groaning sound.
The legend is that it is a giant sea lizard trapped that is crying.
Maybe, I might see the giant sea lizard.

I am looking forward to my spring break trip to Hawaii.

Full Moon 5/20/2008

2008-05-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Full Moon

Full moon is on May 20^th, which is today. The full moon appears once every 29.53 days. At full moon the earth is between the moon and the sun; at new moon the moon is between the sun and the earth.

Some calendars of the world are lunar, that is based on when the moon is full.

The new moon rises at sunrise and is visible in the sky all day. The full moon rises at sunset and is visible most of the night. It is not visible during the daytime.

Full moon makes bad things happen. That is called the Lunar Effect. The full moon is supposed to cause strange behavior. This has been proven by studies. People gain and lose weight depending on whether the moon is full or new. When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined. At these times, the high tides are very high and the low tides are very low.

Sometimes, in one month, we can have two full moons. That is called a BLUE MOON. Which month may skip having the full moon? Can anyone tell? The correct answer is February, because when it has 28 days, the full moon creeps into March. The next February that will not have the full moon is in 2018.

Can we have three full moons in the same month? No way!

Corals 4/22/2008

2008-05-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

Coral are found in the sea. They are marine organisms.

They first appeared 542 million years ago.

Some forms of coral become hard as they ooze out calcium carbonate.

The hard rocks that we find in the ocean are fossils of such marine organisms.

Such hard rocks together can form an island on its own. Corals can alter their skeletons to match the chemistry of the seawater – the only known animal to do this. A natural bridge we saw in Aruba was made out of coral. Coral reefs are important breeding and feeding grounds for many ocean species. They also protect the shore. We use coral to make natural tiles for homes.

All about coins 10/11/2007

2008-05-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

A penny is worth ONE cent. A penny has the picture of Abraham Lincoln.

A nickel is worth FIVE cents. This one has the picture of Thomas Jefferson.

A dime is worth TEN cents. A picture of Franklin D. Roosevelt is on the front of the dime.

A quarter is worth TWENTY-FIVE cents. A picture of George Washington is on the front of the quarter. A picture of the bald eagle is on the back of the quarter

The story of Wartortle - by Shivaum Kumar

2007-07-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

One hot summer day Wartortle and his friend Bob the sea turtle decided to have a race because each said that they were the fastest. The race was to start at the beach and end at Wartortle's home under the sea. The race was one mile and it was going to start in four days.

Wartortle trained everyday and would swim from place to place instead of riding on a whale like he usually did. Bob thoughts he was the fastest and didn't need to train. Finally, the day of the race arrived.

Wartortle's friend Bowser called out the start. "GO!", he said, and the race started. With all the training Wartortle had done, he sped ahead, but his friend caught up and wasn't far behind. Luckily, since Wartortle trained and was faster, he won.

At the end everyone knew that Wartortle was the fastest turtle of the sea.

My trip to Stanford

2007-06-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

One day, my brother went to Stanford. My brother got a key there to open his door. My dad said, "Wow, you have a key". He had to carry the key around on his neck, all the time. My brother, my dad and myself checked out the room. After, we went to eat lunch. My brother and I ate some Indian food. Then we went to this place when they talk about Stanford. My brother then went to learn. They kept calling people's classes. My brother was the first one to go.

We walked to the car and when we were in the car, I was playing gameboy, until we got home. It was a long drive. I would like to go to Stanford as it will be fun. When I am in 3rd grade, I will be in Stanford. Maybe, my brother and I will be in Stanford together, that will be fun. Unlocking the doors, having your own side of the bed, own drawers, own drinks, doing work that might be fun. I might be in Stanford in 12th grade, only if I have good grades, right? I would very much want to go to Stanford. I am only in 2nd grade summer school right now, while my brother is in summer school at Stanford for 3 weeks.

Super Dog

2007-05-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

One day there was a dog. His name is Super Dog. He is a hero.

A family lost their cat and Super Dog found it. The family was happy. Super Dog could fly and was he super strong. He saved a airplane from falling. He also fight bad guys. He look like a funny dog to me. He do not like bones. He do not even sleep. Sometimes, when he is flying he falls asleep and he stops flying and lands on a building. He help people from fire. I mean like sometimes he sleeps on the building.

One day, he wore a hat and it was windy. So his hat flew away and landed on a building. The people on the building took and throw it away. It landed on the dog head. Super Dog said, “It is raining hats today. Everyday it will be raining hats. Now everybody will get hats on their heads"

A house was on fire and Super Dog didn’t see it. Then he heard some won say HELP, HELP. Super Dog flew to the house on fire. He went inside and he saw a kid. He saved the kid.

The kid and Super Dog lived happily every after.