poor time management

i'm sitting in my classroom right now. i realized that i didn't do all the things i wanted to get done today. why? because i've been "wasting" time. i've probably spent more time talking to people and catching up than doing work for my classroom. oh well. i guess this means i'll be staying late for the next 3 days. sigh. but, it was so nice chatting with my friends/co-workers. i sure missed them this summer.

jarbling temporary substitute

with jessica and tim married and currently in europe on their honeymoon, the jarblings are few. but luckily, there are other folks to fill in the time until the yees return to the states.

earlier today, i had lunch with may & jon, and karen (my dad's cousin) & her hubby bryan. after dim sum, we stopped by costco and then went over to may & john's to hang out and play cranium. we decided on boys against girls. the girls were clearly winning when we were presented with the following datahead question:

selectaquest: which woman was the first to appear on a US postage stamp?

• a. susan b. anthony
• b. betsy ross
• c. martha washington
• d. queen isabella of spain

as we're discussing the possible answers, these are the things that come up:

may: who's susan b. anthony?
karen: she's on the dollar coin
me: uh...i think she's an author?

[the guys look aghast that we do not know who she is... in my defense, i knew she was an important historical figure, but i just couldn't remember why...]

karen: betsy ross...isn't she a singer?
the rest of us: ahahahahahaha...
me: she sewed the first us flag...
jon: you mean diana ross.

obviously, we didn't get the question right. then later, karen was reading a word worm card for the guys. it was a lexicon card and the guys had to decipher the definition of the word canard. so karen is reading the card and she begins reading the first possible definition: illicit lover. this is only hilarious because she reads it as "ill-lick-it lover" and the guys are like, "what the heck is that? and since i'm reading over her shoulder, i burst out laughing and she hands me the card to read the remaining choices.

[edit - additional details from bryan]

It was even funnier when the girls drew a card that required singing. The girls decided Karen was going to act it out. After I handed the card to Karen, I said in a girly voice, "Who the heck is that?" Then a few moments later we heard karen cry out, "Who the heck is that?"

The next best moment was the girls drew another singing card. We all knew it was a famous singer or band, but than Karen asked for a rules clarification, and asked if she can just pretend to be the animal. May was like, "Animal? You choose The Monkees or something?"

I should also point out that soon after Steph left, the guys quickly tied it all up :)

blackberry geek

i am so proud of myself right now. i figured out how to set up my blackberry to be used as a modem for my laptop when i can't pick up a wireless signal. :D

i'm sitting at the autoshop office working away on my laptop with internet connection. yay!

good luck? doubt it.

yesterday, i went to a concert at the troubadour. the detroit cobras (a band i'd never heard of until gus invited me to go) played, with two opening acts before them. before heading out to the troubadour, we ate ramen at kinchans on sawtelle. on the walk back, susan noticed something on my left shoulder and tried to brush it off, only to realize that it was bird poo. i got pooped on by a bird! gus said it meant good luck (according to jewish grandmothers). already, i was skeptical of this supposed good fortune to come.

the first act was a band called the willowz (because pluralizations with "z" give you more street cred?). i didn't like them much on-stage. i got home and listened to some stuff on their myspace and liked it better, probably because i could actually hear and understand. my peeve is when i don't find the live music more enjoyable than studio cd. i thought they were somewhere from the south or middle america, but turns out they're from anaheim. hmm...i wonder where they picked up the accents...and their "rockstar" affectations, which were kinda...not that cool.

next up was dan sartain. i couldn't understand a thing he was singing either, but i liked him and his pseudo-rockabilly guitar-stylings. but the time he was done, it was close to 11. throughout though, i think i blanked out into sleep for short moments.

and then it was the cobras. i liked them, despite not being able to understand anything. on the way out, gus said they must have had problems with the sound at the troubadour. makes sense...i don't think my hearing is that bad.

some photos:

new things!

with jessica & tim getting married this weekend, we've finally come to terms that she's moved out. and in doing so, is taking her old rotary phone (which i'll not miss - do you know how impossible it is to call any sort of customer service with a rotary phone?) and her vacuum (also will not miss as it doesn't actually vacuum much up). basically, we'll just miss her. :)

so, susan and i needed a new vacuum. last night, before watching bourne ultimatum, i stopped by target to buy a new pink-ish bissell. behold the beauty...



and today, susan caved and bought a flat panel LCD 37" TV. i *heart* it. a lot - as does she.



watching movies and TV will be that much more exciting now!

updated photos

i uploaded a whole mess of photos dating back to january. this is what i do on vacation. :)

click here.

also...i finally got to see:

• live free or die hard - excellent.
• becoming jane - the somewhat fictionalized back story to pride and prejudice, which i love in any form, be it the BBC 5hr mini-series, the 2+hr keira knightley/matthew macfadyen remake (which i watched today), the original book, bridget jones's diary (and sequel), bride & prejudice (the bollywood version), and all other homages to one of the most beloved jane austen books. who doesn't love mr. darcy?
  
• harry potter & the order of the phoenix - good, but not as good as the book. read people.
• bourne ultimatum - awesome, but now i must go and read the books.

poisoned! false alarm

i think i've been food poisoned. boo.

ok, i may have jumped the gun on that one. i feel a little better now.

holy sandwich, batman!

the title of the post makes no sense, except to say that i had a deliciously good sandwich at a schlotzsky's deli in bakersfield on saturday. that, and my love of batman. before saturday, i'd never been to a schlotzsky's, and had only heard of them.



that's us posing in front of the food court directory. the verdict - schlotzsky's makes one darn good sandwich. and what's more, i just discovered that there's 3 in oregon! only one of them is near the portland area. i also realized that i've driven by it many times and never realized it was "the schlotzsky's" that's been talked about. oooh...i should tell my brothers about it, as they would LOVE it.

a few more photos here.

on this fun day trip, it was also discovered that mj doesn't dislike all chinese food, just the stuff she's eaten up until this point (except dim sum). molly's parents treated us to dinner at their friend's restaurant. for me, it was almost like being home and eating my parents' place, except not awkward because it isn't my parents' place. it's a weird thing i have about eating at my parents' restaurant.

racism and injustice in america

i just got this e-mail from one of my advisors from UCLA.

Dear friend,

I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1979-226266

Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1979-226266

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1979-226266

Thanks.

----------------------------------------------------

i was stunned when i read this, yet not surprised - which maybe is the tragedy. please help the "jena six" by speaking up, signing up, and notifying everyone you know.

please don't think that because this isn't happening to you that it doesn't have anything to do with you. it has everything to do with you because it could happen to you if we do nothing. where there is hate, intolerance, cruelty, racism, injustice, and inequality, we have a duty to do everything we can to fight against it.

let us not be silent.

all shook up...literally

i'm pretty sure i just sat through a super brief mini-earthquake. things were shaking. stinkin' los angeles. i was momentarily freaked that it was going to get bigger, but it stopped. good grief.

wonder

His timing is always perfect.

almost over

my time at home is pretty much over. it went by amazingly fast, though that was probably due to having friends visit and going on a whirlwind tour of the pacific northwest. there's lots to blog and pictures to post, but i'll save that for later.

i am proud to say that i finished reading the last harry potter book.

lots of full circles.