anticipation
for the last few nights, when i go to lay my 3 year-old down for bed, he asks me to tell him a story. each night i get to start a story from scratch. it usually needs to involve a bear or a whale or a snake. the best part of the story is his anticipation of what's coming next.
first, he asks me if i will tell a story to him. when i answer him with the magic answer, his eyes light up and he lets out a sqeal of joy. he jumps into bed and lays on the far edge to leave plenty of room for me. tonight he tells me that the story needs to include a bear. so i get started with the first sentence, and the next ones flow out based on whatever i say first.
the thing i like the best is what he says after every sentence: "What happens next?" he says it with so much excitement - he's enthralled with the story.
i love that.
to be fascinated with something - complete excitement - is something children experience every day. the impossible is possible. imagination is king.
finalized
i gave my last final for the 2004-2005 school year on Monday. it still amazes me how many students just don't put an effort into their education. this quarter, i had some interesting students which will remain nameless. here are some tips if you take my class:
+ come to class. it is how you learn the material, and receive the grade.
+ be on time. wandering nomads walk in about an hour late all the time.
+ if you come to class late, let me know since i take roll early, and only one time.
+ don't listen to your headphones/music all class long.
+ don't go on myspace during my class.
+ turn off your cell phone.
+ don't answer a call in my class.
+ don't email me asking why your grade is horrible when you didn't turn in the assignments.
+ put some effort into your assignments. you only have to do them once - unless you fail the class.
+ if i cancel class ahead of time, don't show up. how many times do i need to remind you there's NO CLASS - seems like an easy thing to remember to me.
+ if you drop the class, make sure you
actually dropped the class.
+ if you didn't finish your final project, still show up to the final.
+ if you didn't finish your final project, let me know.
+ if your alarm clock doesn't go off, your project will still be considered late.
+ don't brag about how good your work is, and then turn in projects that suck butt.
that about covers it. it's not like these are hard to follow. i don't even start the class on time - i start it 15 minutes late.
is it just me? what is going on with kids these days? commom sense has left the building. peace out.
lego my legos
all i have to say is... yum. lego came out with a 3d modelling program. i wish i had this when i was a kid.
click here to get it.
swimming
I took the kids swimming today. Nothing out of the ordinary, we had the whole place to ourselves. After about an hour, some other kids showed up. The wierd thing was - they were wearing what looked like their pajamas.
I thought they were just checking out the pool - maybe visiting a relative that lives in the complex. Then, they all jumped in. Pajamas and all. We ended up leaving before they did, but they must have been swimming PJ style for about 2 hours.
I think they were muslim; they were definitely middle-eastern. I was thinking it had something to do with tradition, but it could have been just a lack of swimsuits. Who knows.
On a side note, Leighton was messing around in the hot tub. He started to walk down the steps, and lost his balance. He started to fall in and then all of a sudden he was all the way in the deepest part of the jacuzzi with no flotation device. Normally, he has a life jacket on, or like he had today, an innertube floaty. He is really a good swimmer when he has something that holds him up. He's never been swimming without any type of floaty before - and he's kind of freaking out. Amazingly, he is swimming and kicking and keeping his head up above water.
For the first time, he swam alone.
It was like the first time you throw your dog in the pool, and you're not sure if it can swim or not - but it shows you it can swim just fine.
I jumped in real quick, and with my digital camera in my other hand, I grabbed him. We all clapped for him for swimming for his first time.
An internet radio station recommendation
Every once in a while, I'll post a recommendation for sources of music and other stuff. One that I keep coming back to is
Radio Paradise. It's under the Alt/Modern Rock category in iTunes radio. They have several different quality streams depending on what you're listening on and where, which is great. They have a great selection of music and a very healthy forum on their web site for listener feedback. The station is entirely listener supported.
The couple that runs the station live in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains in a town called Paradise (thus the name, Radio Paradise). It is just north of Bishop off Highway 395. If you ever go to Mammoth, you drive right past it on the way. They spend half of the year on the Hawaiian island of Kauai too, and remotely run the radio station from their house there. So there's another connection to paradise.
Hopefully some day, we'll hear some
System Kid on there. I sent them a CD, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
adium
so after reading a blog on
Steve's site, i decided to try
Adium. its really cool. i recommend it - especially if you don't have a big screen. i was really suprised by how customizable it is. check it out:
your blinker is a broken record
so a few fellow bloggers like to complain about drivers that can't figure out how to merge with traffic, but i have a pet peeve that brings my brain to a boil every time - the unending blinker. it's one of my reoccurring vexations.
i was driving on the freeway and the guy in front of me in a late nineties ford ranger has his left turn signal on... forever. the problem with this is that i am the guy who really thinks he/she is
going to change lanes. i know, i know. i'm the lame one, right?
so this guy just keeps driving in front of me, and he's going a bit too slowly for me; i would like to pass him. i keep thinking he's going to change lanes, so i shouldn't pass him by with a swift burst of speed that my skills and automobile are amply capable of. i want to be considerate - but how long is this going to last? after, i would say, 3 miles... he actually
does change lanes.
see... i was right. i still hate it though.
stupid
never underestimate the stupidity of people. never. just when you think they can't possibly do something more, or be THAT STUPID - someone comes along that knocks them off the "stupid throne" and takes over.
Breaking an entering
My house was broken into 3 times when I was on vacation. If you know something - let me know.
Got Carolina on my mind
Our trip to North Carolina went smoothly. I had many reservations about the trip due to the people who were attending. We had a party of 10 that was flying across the country, including an infant (Jackson), an ancient (Grandpa Joe - he's 83), and an ignorant (Rita's sister Eva). Good news - there were no problems to report. We had a few close calls where we had to run across the state of Texas that they call an airport, but other than that, all went well. You try running when you're 83. 'nuf said.
There's nothing like spending the week on a beach. I didn't know that the Atlantic ocean was so warm there. It was between 80 and 85 degrees. The boys and I spent most of each day in the water. It was truly relaxing and enjoyable. I also had the opportunity to play a round of golf there. That was a mistake. I've felt uncomfortable before, but the humidity was killing me.I couldn't wait for it to be over. We also went pier fishing - Rita's brother Mark caught a whopper. Well, not quite. You'll see in the pictures below.
Overall, I can't say that i've had a more relaxing vacation since i went to Kauai, Hawaii
by myself. One actually
can have a good vacation with one's family. So there.
Click here to see the photos from the trip.
