Diet

Yesterday Sarah came over so my friend could fix her computer. He spent 3 hours doing what would have taken me all day to have done, at least that is what Sarah said. While we were waiting Sarah asked me for some ice cream. She knows I ALWAYS have ice cream. I guess I am kind of addicted! She asked if I had any "good" ice cream. She looked at what kind I had and she didn't like chocolate cluster ice cream. I asked her what "good" ice cream. She said she wanted Neapolitan. I said ok, if she could pronounce it right! She ended up pronouncing it correctly, so I drove to Safeway to buy ice cream. As I walked in I was struck with an idea, remember I'm random, I decided that I was going to start on my diet again. I think I know how to diet, I have done it before. In fact, I once lost 40 pounds, from 210 to 170. Now that I think back on it I was a little amusing, I went in for my annual medical check up and I seriously asked the doctor how to stop loosing weight. I was like a weight loss machine. I found the secret to loosing weight was to eat. Not a lot, but eat every 2 hours. I at something every 2 hours, so I was never really hungry. I tried to limit what I ate to 200 calories each time I ate. I found that to diet was a way of life. I bought exactly what I would eat each week. I didn't snack, and I didn't go places I would be tempted to eat out of my diet. I did cheat, sometimes. I remember the time I went to McDonald's and had a Big Mac. It was that big of a deal that 7 years later I remember that exact feeling. I guess I will do that again. I liked when I went in the gym and they asked me to take another picture because the picture they had taken when I signed up didn't look like me any more. I will try to post those to pictures on here when I post this blog. I just weight myself and I am 192, my doctor called me obese a few months ago! I will go to a party tonight, so I will start tomorrow. I will try to keep the readers up to date by posting my date every month. Wish me luck!

Randomness

Yesterday I did nothing. I played Settlers of Catan a few times on line, and learned how to use my new clothes steamer, and did some cleaning. It is fun to do nothing sometimes, allows you to get energized for the next few days. I wonder if we do the same for years too, do nothing for a few years to prepare us for the coming avalanche of things to do in the future... or have done in the past. One reason I liked Indiana Jones movies was it was constant action from beginning to end, you finish the movie looking at your watch and wondering where the time went. Sometimes years go that way, you look at the calendar and wonder where the months went. I guess I'm getting old when I realize that. If you have read a few of my writings you know that I go in random directions. I do that when I speak and teach too. I often try to change that, I try to do things in a methodical step by step direction. But, it goes "random" pretty quick. When I teach I know I should introduce the subject, then build on that step by step to get to a final goal ... but I go off on tangents pretty easily and I don't even know where it will end. It is the same when I write here. Today I thought I would write about how much I have affected people throughout their lives, without me even knowing about it. I was going to talk about how this blog affected my sister to write her blog, www.suesgene.blogspot.com. Then I started writing and thought about writing about how American adults play games and how few other countries have adults playing games with other adults and/or children. Then I thought about how I went through the day yesterday thinking about what I was going to write in my blog and decided to talk about how I got a new device no one ever showed me how to use and how we do things the same way our parents did, or teach the way our teachers did. As I was writing the two cats demanded my attention, one spilled open the silverware drawer and the other laid down on the keyboard and I was going to write about how things through our lives don't allow us to reach the goals we had thought we wanted, and instead we reach the goals that we really did want. As I was thinking about all those things I realized that I really wanted to write about my philosophy of being an Angel, and how I really don't want to be, but I couldn't find the Bible verse I wanted to quote. I guess those will all be topics for future writing, because I really want to write about all those topics! Today I just wanted to write about how random things go through our heads all at the same time. I took a class on using music in the classroom a few years ago. The teacher suggested we play music during the time students were doing seat work. Her rationale was that silence wasn't natural. In nature you have a lot of background noise. Either animal sounds, wind rustling the trees, crickets, waves, always something. So, she suggested that if you quietly play music while the students were studying in class their minds wouldn't wander so much. They could concentrate more on what they were doing, and instead of thinking about what they were going to have for lunch, or what their mother was going to yell at them for, or what they were going to write about when they got home they would be listening to the background music. Then she explained that the music you play should follow some criteria. Most important was it shouldn't have any words, or you would sing along with it instead of it just being background sound. The best music should be baroque music, because it is at the same rhythm as a resting heart. I thought maybe the best thing to play was those CDs (at the time I thought about tapes, tells you how long ago this class was) that have natural sounds, like ocean waves or forest sounds (but definitely not jungle music). I have done this in a few classes I have taught and it usually works well after the students get used to it. I have even had students complain when I stop doing it. See how random this writing goes, I had no idea I was going to talk about that today, I haven't thought about it for a long time. I wonder what I will write about tomorrow ...

Gift Giving ...

Today I took a friend downtown San Jose to go to the Tech Museum. She ended up staying there for 7 hours, and will go back again later because she didn't see it all. Then I took the cats to the vet to get their booster shots. I had a good day, sitting in the house and watching it rain outside! In the evening I took my daughters (I can't say "kids" any more) to the Outback Restaurant to use the gift certificate my mom gave us so we can have dinner together, THANKS MOM. It was a great gift and I was really happy when I received it. I have come to realize the best gift you can give someone is to appreciate it when you are given a gift. I wear a gold chain around my neck that my parents gave me when I was in college, they got it when they were in Saudi Arabia. It helps me remember them. On the chain I wear a pendant of the "lone cypress". It is there to remind me also ... of my ex-wife. I gave her the pendant for Christmas many years ago, and she threw it back at me telling me I was very cheap and she was angry that it wasn't bigger. I kept it, and wear it now to remember how important it is to appreciate any gift I get. My daughters often give their mom gifts, and they know that she will always take it back and get what she wants. I know how stressful it is for me to pick out a gift. I guess I could always get gift certificates, but to me that isn't as personal as a gift. But, if someone gives a personal gift, I think it is a little rude to take it back. I do see one exception, I gave my daughter a bottle of my favorite perfume this Christmas, just to have her remind me that I gave the SAME perfume last year to her! And she never wears it. I guess she doesn't want to smell good to old men!

Lines and lines and then more lines ...

Today was a great day, making it officially a great weekend!! Thursday bowling with the kids, Friday wrapping gifts then dinner with the kids, Saturday lunch with a couple of friends and then GAME NIGHT with the kids again!! (that was the highlight of the YEAR!), and then today a friend of mine made lunch for me (his cooking wasn't half bad). When I went to bed last night my plans were to meet some of my students at a sports bar to watch football, but I got a call at 9am to help a friend of mine take her brother's visiting family to the outlet mall and then at 11am to go over to Don's so he could fix me lunch. We had some soup and baked check, then went over to the sports bar, then I let him stay at my place while I went with another friend to help her take her family and her brother's family to the Gilroy Outlet Mall. I don't like to go shopping on normal days, this is the day after Christmas, EVERYONE was shopping. I didn't do shopping today, I was people watching. It was fun. I was trying to herd everyone together, and make sure no one got lost, and in the mean time I saw some really interesting things! Someone tell me why they were standing in line for 2 hours to get INTO the Coach Store. Then once they got in their and found something to buy (why do the most expensive stores have the least amount of merchandise on the floor?) there was another line, that took at least an hour, so they could buy something. Ok, I couldn't hold my laughter! Poor guys ... you know the men wouldn't wait for that unless the woman TOLD them they would! There was a line of about 50 people just to get something at Starbucks. There were lines in every store, not to get into other stores. I talked to some of the sales people, as I was waiting for the people I wasThe  with to wait in line! The sales people were cranky and tired and exhausted. Then there were lines for the bathroom, those are the worse. When I cornered the group in one store, everyone was standing in a line I went to one of my favorite stores, a kitchen gadget store. I love looking at the weird stuff they dream up to sell. Today I saw the most useless "gadget" I could imagine. I think they called it the "cake tester". You know how when you cook a cake you take a toothpick and poke it into the cake to see if it is cooked throughout? Well, this gadget was a stainless steel "toothpick" that you buy so you can stick it in a cake to see if it is done. Is that as useless as I think? Now I know why my mom needed 3 drawers for kitchen gadgets!! Can anyone tell me why some women wear skin tight pants and 6inch heels to walk around the outlet mall? And, where do some of these women get these shoes that are plaid, and why would they wear them? What about that man that was carrying his wife's umbrella for her while she was carrying the bags, but the umbrella wasn't over either one of them, it was over the bags between them? The best thing about going shopping is people watching, but then again I realize they are people watching me also!!

Happy Christmas

Today is Christmas. I went to lunch with two friends. I took my Chinese friend, Don, to try burritos at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I enjoy sharing things with him, he appreciates everything and is always fun. After I took Don home I went home and my kids came over. We played an old card game called Flinch. My siblings and I used to play Flinch at my grandmother's house when I was 9. We played with some real "characters". Besides my three siblings, I was the youngest, we played with Uncle John, Uncle Frank, and my grandmother. My father was in Korea for a year when we lived in Illinois. Uncle Frank was my mom's uncle, my great uncle. He used to do things like throw coins in the yard for the kids to run after, he was famous for eating anything on a sandwich. He would say, "it all ends up in the same place". Uncle John was my mother's brother. He was just a few years older than my mom, he was a lot of fun and we always enjoyed when he was around. He was going to college at the time we lived there, but came and visited often. He liked to have fun, like when we found an old parachute in the barn (they lived on a farm) and he hooked it up to the back bumper of his car and it almost ripped the bumper off. We would play Flinch often, it was fun to play with all the relatives. I won often, and they would all be upset and accuse me of cheating. The problem was, I didn't know how to cheat. The wouldn't accept that and just say I cheated. I didn't know how to increase my chances of winning by cheating. I won because I was lucky, not skill and not cheating. Today was fun, there was lots of laughter and yelling. Whenever we play games Jayne always wins. Today we played 3 games and Jayne won the first game. After that no one else cared who won as long as it wasn't Jayne. I laughed a lot because I knew exactly how Jayne felt. The kids didn't know why I was laughing, but any of my siblings would know. It is fun watching my kids grow up and overcome the same obstacles we had when we were young! Live is Good!!!

Memorable Christmas

Since I have been alone, since 2001, I have always had the same family tradition for Christmas Eve (except for one year). I always get together with my kids for Christmas Eve dinner and exchange gifts. One very fun time we had was when we all tried to teach Lindsey how to drive. She had just gotten her permit and we went over to a large parking lot near my office and she drove around the parking lot, and even spent about 5 minutes on the open road. It was a lot of fun and very memorable. The past few years we have been going to a Japanese restaurant where they cook at your table. It is fun and as the kids get older that time we spend together gets more and more valuable. I love my daughters very much and cherish every moment I get to be with one or all three of them. Our first year in Korea, when Jayne was 1, we lived in a very very small apartment. It was on the fifth floor of a walk up. It had no furniture and we sat and slept on the floor. That was ok since Koreans heat the floor and it was warm and cozy. I had some difficulties, it had no shower so I had to take sponge baths, on the unheated enclosed balcony where the toilet was. It had no water pressure in the morning until 10, so we had to fill pots with water the night before. Life was tough, but our family was together and we had some great times! I worked as a tutor for many hours a day, 7 days a week. Christmas didn't have any significance as a holiday so I was supposed to work. I did take that one day off. We had talked about what to get the kids for Christmas. We decided I would get things on Christmas eve at the underground market by the bus station. I worked that day until 9pm. I had picked up the gifts on the way to my last appointment. I got 2 big bags of toys and stuff. I took the subway home and walked home from the Songnae subway station. I walked up the 5 flights of stairs and finally got home around 10:30. The kids, Lindsey and Jayne, were asleep under the tree. They were waiting for Santa Claus. They were so cute. We put the gifts under the tree, next to the kids, very quietly. Then I SLAMMED the door and then opened it as the kids were waking up and yelled down the stairs, "Bye Santa, thanks for coming". Lindsey jumped up and bolted out the door and down the stairs. All the way she was yelling, "Santa, wait for me, wait for me!!". I was smiling and trying to hid my laugh. We spent the next 2 hours opening gifts and playing with the new toys. Thinking of that story always brings a smile to my face.

SSSssshhhhhhhh...

I am a secret shopper. If I told you what that means, I would have to kill you! ... Okay, that isn't quite true. If I told you what that means I would not be able to be a secret shopper in your shop. Today my assignment was to go to an electronic store and inquire about buying a camera. Then I must buy something worth at lease $25, and then bring it back in to the store and return it to the store. The company wants me to evaluate it's employees and the store itself. I have to go into the bathroom and comment on its cleanliness. I really believe a store can be evaluated by its bathroom. Today the men's room had no sign on the door, it had the velcro there to put the sign, but someone had taken down the sign. The bathroom wasn't really dirty, just not clean ... can a bathroom be attractive? Today I was supposed to "shop" for a camera. It was really a good opportunity for me since I am looking for a camera any way. I went to the camera section and had to wait for about 10 minutes until the other customer had been waited on. Sometimes I feel like yelling to the employee, "Hey, I'm evaluating you, I'm more important than that other person." I just quietly waited for the sales associate to finish and he came over to me. I asked him about a specific camera, and found the power attachment didn't work and I couldn't find out how it worked. I didn't mention that on my write up to the company. I had to choose one camera that I had asked about so I had them show me a camera under the glass counter. It was a camera I have been looking for so it was good. I asked the sales associate comparison questions with the other camera that was there. I talked to him about the cameras, and took some pictures using the two different cameras. The batteries worked on these cameras, and that is what I wrote the company about. After finishing with the camera section I had to buy something for $30 so I just looked at the shelves for that amount. A very nice girl came buy to help me choose the right item, and she put her sticker on it to show that she had helped me to pick the item. I almost told her not to worry about it, that I would be bringing the item back in and hour. She was nice and helpful, so I wrote about how helpful she was so the company would read her name on my store evaluation. It took me about 30 minutes to do the shopping, then another hour to write the evaluation, and I get paid $20 to do the job. I don't know how much that works out in a wage, but it is kind of fun, and makes me feel a little powerful. So, just don't tell anyone that I am doing this, and if you see me shopping in your store treat me with RESPECT! And, put that sign on the bathroom door and clean the bathroom.

Speaking English

This morning I met a friend and had some coffee together. We talked about the importance of immigrants speaking English when they come to this country. After the coffee I went to teach at a company, engineers that come here for a few months and then return to Shanghai. The engineers come here and they work LONG days of 12 - 16 hours. They don't have transportation, so the company puts them in apartments that are walking distance to the office. They walk to the office, work long hours, then walk home and sleep. During the weekends they are often tired and just want to sleep, or don't have transportation to travel and see the area. The survive here, but barely. Then the company wonders why they have such a bad attitude when they allow the engineers to visit the USA. These engineers have good English skills, but they are hesitant to go out into the public. Even in the office they don't really have casual conversations with their English speaking coworkers. Talking with my friend reminded me of when my family returned back from Korea. Lindsey went to Korea when she was 3, and came back when she was in 5th grade. She spoke English before she went to Korea and spoke ok when she came back. Jayne was 1 when she went to Korea and didn't speak much, and came back when she was in 3rd grade, her English as very minimal. Sarah was born in Korea and didn't know more than 10 English words when she came to the US. When we arrived at San Francisco airport and the seat belt lights went off Sarah said something in Korean and the other two girls and their mother laughed. I asked what she said and I was told that Sarah said that now we were in the USA that they could only speak English. The reason it was so funny was because she was the one that didn't speak English, but she was adamant that they should speak ONLY English. When I was in the Army I lived in Huntsville, AL. When I was there I had a Boston Terrier and took the dog to dog shows around Alabama and Tennessee. It was fun and I met some great people. My dog did okay, but wasn't ever going to do very good, just okay. One of the men that I met, and I became good friends with was an old German man. He had a very nice german shepherd that did about as well as my dog in competitions. He and I started going to dog shows together in his old VW. As we drove to dog shows he began telling me about himself and his story was fantastic! He was a scientist in Nazi Germany during the Second World War. After the war he was riding his bike from southern Germany to his home in Hamburg in northern Germany. He stopped at his old friend's house on his way. His friend, Vincent Von Braun, was the "father of the V2 rocket". He was putting a team together and asked my friend if he wanted to go to the USA to help develop a rocket program. My friend said okay, and called his wife that he would be back in six months, since that was how long the contract was for. Von Braun was sitting next to my friend on the plane as it took off and said that it would be the last time they would see Germany. When asked why he said that in six months the families would be brought to the USA and they would end up settling there. The team developed the rockets that sent men to the moon. They ended up taking their families to Huntsville because it reminded the scientists of the mountainous Alps. When the families came to Alabama Von Braun called them all together and told them that they will only speak English from then on, no more German, even at home. So, that was that ...

Oxford Seminars class of December 2010

I haven't written in a while. I haven't been that busy, but didn't feel a passion to write. Yesterday I finished my last class of the year, in San Francisco. The December class was 14 students. This was a great bunch of students that all had a specific purpose for taking the class. I often have students that pay more than $1000 for the class and then they wonder what they will do after the class. I have had classes that 80% ended up going to their normal lives after taking my class. This class we had one girl that will leave right after Christmas to go to Chile (isn't it summer there in January?), one man will go to Japan and get married and live there for a year, one guy is on his way to Spain, and another woman is going to New Zealand. This class had one of the most beautiful women I have ever had in my class, she was going to go to the Philippines and teach, but plans change at the last minute. I was able to advise a couple of people where to go, I usually suggest Taiwan because it is warm in the winter, otherwise Korea is a great place. I spend 3 consecutive weekends, Saturday and Sunday 10 hours a day, trying to teach future teachers different ways to teach English in other countries. I try to show my students different ways to have exciting and interesting classes. I often tell them that their students can't learn if they can't laugh, so we spend a lot of time on different games that we can use to teach English and I try to give them experience in teaching classes. Rather than having them use most of the time reading during class, then discuss the reading; I have my students read for homework and then we discuss the reading during the class. With the extra time I give each student the opportunity to teach classes each day of our course and even try to bring in actual ESL students for them to teach. I am almost always amazed at the growth of my students, from the first class they teach to the practicum exercise that is like their final exam. I try to make my students realize that the class they use for their practicum can be used for the demonstration lesson they do when they attempt to get a job. I also have them dress in nice clothes so they feel like teachers. I feel over all my students get good experience in my class. This month we had a girl that had taken the first 2 weekends of the class with another instructor and then did her practicum with my class. It was interesting to see the difference between the way my students teach and others. My students are great!!

Is it LOVE ...

On Monday I drove to Lower Lake again, I really enjoy that drive and the schools there are nice. I was a little upset when I was there and the counselor was telling me some of the things the recruiters did. One recruiter parties with the students, another takes students to the office and tries to pressure them into signing paperwork to go into the military. The recruiter that works with me had been there the previous week and saying how he hates the area and how he hates visiting that school. It made me wonder why I go to the school, which is to help the recruiter to work well with the schools. Oh well, I must continue! After Lower Lake I drove to Ferndale, 4 hours north of Lower Lake. Tuesday I worked in Ferndale High, which has 34 seniors. It was a fun school and the students scored very high on the test. I drove back that day taking 100 pictures on the way, even though it was raining all the way (6 hours). Wednesday I worked at Dublin High then Deer Valley High. Those are huge schools that have more people in the senior class than the schools on the previous days have in their whole school. On my trip I stayed in a hotel and had nothing much to do so I was talking to a girl I know about a guy she had met a few months ago. She told me all the things she didn't like about him and could not understand anything she saw in him. Well, she said he was handsome and had a great job. She said she didn't like the way he treated her and never liked to do the things she liked. She likes to travel and he likes to stay home. She stopped seeing him for a few months, had a couple of other boyfriends in the mean time, then he called and she was excited to see him again. She asked me what was wrong with her and I said simply that she was in love. She asked why, and said there were many things she didn't like about him and really didn't like hanging out with him and I told her it sounded like they were married already. Why have the honeymoon period and just go straight to the period where you are comfortable with each other. In fact, isn't it true that we can't rationalize who we fall in love with? I think that when we find that person that we want to be with, but don't know why .... then isn't that love? Love is when we don't know why we want to be with a person, yet we will do anything to be with them. Am I wrong?

Friends

Today I taught again in San Francisco. I did much better and my students were great! I really think every class gets better. I invited some guys from France to come to my class today, with some guys from China so my students had some actual ESL students to teach. The classes they taught were very good, and the visitors had a great time, that they will never forget. Isn't it interesting how quick we can make friends, but does it really last. We all have many friends over the years, but what happens to them. I wonder how things like Facebook and email will affect the way we keep in touch with friends in the future. Sam Retherford was my best friend from 6th - 8th grade. We were always together, he picked me up every morning and we walked to school together. He lived across from me and we were in Boy Scouts together. Everything that happened to me I would run over to his house and talk to him about. Whenever he had nothing to do he would come over to my house and we would do "nothing" together. Sam moved when we went into 9th grade, his father was transferred to Washington state. Of course we both said we would keep in touch, and we probably sent a letter within the first week. Who am I kidding, neither of us tried to keep in touch, even though we did have telephones even that long ago. Life went on without Sam, I went to high school, graduated, went to college, majored in Elementary Education and ROTC. In the summer after my junior year I went to ROTC summer camp. The first day we had to go on a bus and get our uniforms and I was sitting next to a guy from another school. We talked about where we went to college and where we went to high school. We talked about what we would like to do in the Army. We got in line and he was in front of me. We got our uniforms and then went to pick up our name tags, the guy I had been talking to on the bus picked up his name tag and it said "RETHERFORD". I told him that I used to have a friend named Retherford, and his first name was Sam. He told me his first name was Sam. Then we realized that we were best friends when we were young. It felt so strange and we couldn't even understand that we were the same people, but it was true. In the 6 weeks of summer camp Sam and I built our friendship up again. We were together often and found out everything that had gone on since we had last met. When the summer camp was over we said good bye, and of course told each other we would keep in touch. And of course, we both went back to our colleges and didn't keep in touch. I went into the Army, got my training in Alabama, went to Germany, and then back to Alabama for more training then was assigned to Alabama for a few years. During my time in Alabama I had to go on a business trip to Washington. I was in a meeting and I noticed a familiar face in the same meeting. Sam was there. He had joined the Army, gone to training in Indiana, gone to South Carolina, the back to Indiana for more training, then was in Washington. He had gotten married and we promised to keep in touch. We didn't. A few years later I was sent to Korea. I was a commander and often got paperwork from the General's office. The General never signs his own correspondence. I don't even have to write the next part, but, the signature on the General's correspondence was Sam Retherford. I called him and we met once. We laughed about the way we always ran into each other. About 15 years later I had access to military email addresses and found Sam Retherford was listed. I emailed him and said hi, he emailed back and said he lived near Washington D.C. and if I was ever in the area I should let him know. That hasn't happened yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if sometime Sam and I crossed paths.

Twentieth Class

Today was day 3 of my Oxford Seminars class. I should be able to do this class in an outstanding manner. Today was not the best day :(. I was in cruise control all day. I feel like the students didn't get their money's worth today. The truth is that it was a good class, the students have shown how much they have learned and come along. The students did a better job today in teaching their classes than I did. Isn't that what a teacher wants, to have their students do better than they do? I am proud of my class of teachers, they ROCK. After class I went to my first professional hockey game with David, Jonathon, and Elaine. I am so happy to have gone with them. Without the great company the game would have really been boring, but instead the game was fun!

Willits High School

Today I went to Willits High School. This school is on Highway 101, just on the side of the freeway. It is was an older school up in the mountains in a small town. When I went into the school I thought it must be exactly like the school my mom went to. In fact, the counselor that was showing me around mentioned the school hadn't really been updated since the 1920s. It was fun to walk around the school and think about the thousands of kids that have graduated from that little school. I hope I made a positive impression on the students I talked to.

Diversity

Today I drove 3 hours north to Potter Valley High School. This was a great little school that was attached to the middle school and elementary school. The senior class was 20 kids, the whole high school was 80. They had grown up with each other, knowing each other since kindergarten. The interesting thing about the school was the lack of diversity. I saw one Asian, and that was the computer teacher. I saw 7 Hispanics and they were walking home together so it seemed like they were from the same family. I can't imagine growing up like that. One reason I like the high school my kids attend was because of the diversity. I remember living in Korea and they were proud of their homogeneous society. But what happens when there isn't diversity is that you fear what you don't know. You don't learn to understand other's points of view and your whole life is narrow. My oldest daughter liked her uniqueness (being the only American at the whole school) and took advantage of it. I remember when she was in third grade she decided to have her ears pierced since the Korean kids couldn't do that. She told me that she was American so the school said it was ok for her to pierce her ears. The whole family went to the beauty parlor for Lindsey to get her ears pierced. On the way, Lindsey convinced her younger sister to do it also. I wasn't sure it that was the best idea, but Lindsey has always been very persuasive. So, when we got to the beauty parlor guess who was the first to get their ears pierced, Jayne of course. Lindsey suggested that Jayne go first, and guaranteed to Jayne it wasn't going to hurt. I can still see the lady using that "gun" to pierce the first ear, as soon as the first ear was pierced Lindsey asked Jayne if it hurt. Jayne looked at Lindsey and her eyes watered and ONE tear fell down her cheek. That was enough for Lindsey, she got up and walked out the door. I stretched my arm out and pulled Lindsey back in. By that time Jayne's second ear was done and I put Lindsey up on the chair. It was so funny then to hear Jayne convince Lindsey it didn't hurt much. They both walked home that day with their ears pierced.

I can also remember when I was in first grade we lived in East Orange, New Jersey. My best friend was black, but I didn't realize he was black, if that makes any sense. I grew up with my father in the army so race was never anything I identified with. I can remember one day going to the bus stop and some "big kids" were picking on me. They were asking me why I had a black friend. I seriously didn't know what they were talking about. I got hit at the bus stop that day and I can remember going home crying. when my mom asked me what happened I told her I didn't know. I told her I got hit and I didn't understand why. She then told me what the kids were upset about, but I really didn't understand. I'm glad I grew up with many kinds of diversity.

Good Dad, Bad Dad

Yesterday I was really busy, I started in San Francisco meeting with someone that wanted to join the National Guard, then I had to drive to San Francisco State University, then I had to drive to Livermore High School (where the sign in front of the school said "no horse riding"), then I had to drive to Santa Clara High School for a school site meeting, then I attended a few minutes of the sports award banquet (Sarah got All League!), then I had to go meet some more people that want to join the National Guard in San Jose. This morning I went to Alisal High School in Salinas then drove to my mom's house in Monterey then drove to North Salinas High School ... then drove back to Santa Clara High School to pick up Sarah at school. Tomorrow I'm on my way to Potter Valley High School which is a 3 hour drive north. I picked up some audio books tonight for tomorrow's drive and next week's marathon.

Today in Salinas I worked with SFC Davila. I really like him and have much respect for him. He and I spent time between  the two schools talking. I asked him if he was going to retire soon and he told me he was looking for a job to get after he retired, and if he found a job that he wanted, then he would retire. He has four young kids and I asked him how he could keep the long hours with his kids so young. SFC Davila (Filipe) lives about 2 hours from his office. He often works until 10 or 11 pm and then is often in his office around 8 or 9am. How he keeps up these hours I don't know, but the fire in his eyes shows he really enjoys his job. I asked him about his kids and whether he feels he is being fair to them by working such long hours. He told me his father used to beat him ... not just hit him, but beat him. He told me he really loves his dad and always has. I asked him if he was like a battered wife who blames herself for getting her husband upset at her. Filipe told me he never blamed himself when his dad beat him, but always loved him because he was his dad. It started me thinking about what kind of dad I am/was. A friend of mine told me I was a great dad today when he heard I had Sarah at my house until 9 tonight and then took her home. I think most of us dads compare ourselves to our own dads. I think we can not do that, because our dads are from a different generation (isn't that the definition of a generation...). What makes a good dad? Filipe thinks it is giving his kids things that he wasn't able to have when he was growing up. I think it has to do with how much personal time we give our kids. I feel a little sad that I can't give my kids more "things", and for many years I couldn't give them my personal time. Even though I haven't lived with my kids for many years I have made a point of living close to the kids. I have often done things for myself instead of for my kids. I wish I could have my kids live with me all their lives, but I had to make some tough decisions a few years ago. I thought it would be better for the girls to live with their mom, then their dad. I thought it would be best for the three sisters to grow up together, rather than be separated. I am very proud of my kids and feel they will have successful lives. I don't know if that has to do with me being a good dad, or their mom being a good mom, or a combination of the two, or in spite of mom and dad! Good job kids!

Professional

Today I decided to have some of my pictured printed to update the pictures on my walls. I decided to print the pictures then take them to get matted and framed. I have never done that to my pictures before, usually just put them in 8X10 frames and put them on the wall. I have a couple of pictures that I really like. One thing no one knows is that when I lived in Germany I took many pictures and I sold a few. I was surprised that people wanted to buy them, after all they could take the same pictures and I didn't have that great of a camera, but some of my friends and some people I had never met before requested I sell my pictures. I always wondered if I should have tried more, or taken a class on how to take great pictures. Today, I got the same kind of feeling. When I went to pick up the pictures I had printed, the man working at the photo place asked me if I was a professional. I asked him what he meant and he told me that their policy was that a professional had to sign release statements not to hold the store responsible for printing problems. I told him I wasn't a professional photographer, and he asked me if that was true. I asked him why he thought I was selling my pictures, he said that the pictures I had sent were so good I should think about selling them. Well, we will see if I can sell them now! (they look a lot better in print than on the computer)

Bodies

Yesterday I took my youngest daughter, Sarah, to see the VITAL HUMAN BODY. This was a display at the Tech Museum of bodies of real people (dead of course) that they showed the muscles, bones, and organs. I had heard the controversies of this exhibit for a long time how the bodies were gotten from China and people were not sure how the government may obtained the bodies. I had never really wanted to see this exhibit, but Sarah needed to go for extra credit. After getting to the tech museum we walked around for 20 minutes and found other people walking also trying to find the entrance for that one exhibit. We had to walk out of the building go around the corner and enter another door. We were looking for so long there ended up being a group of 10 to 15 people together. After we got into the exhibit it was interesting to see the bodies and how they had the skin off and showed the muscle and the organs and the tendons and all the other parts of the body under the skin. Sarah had a paper to fill out so I just walked around. Truthfully, I got a little sick to my stomach thinking that these were real people and they were filleted to demonstrate how the body worked. Sarah took about an hour to fill out the pages,sometimes asking for my help. I was very glad to leave that exhibit area. It made me think of the first time I had seen a dead body. When I was a freshman in college I was going to my geology class, which as in the science building. As I was walking down the hall I saw a huge wooden box sitting next to a door. I peeked in the box and there was a cadaver. It was the first time I had seen a dead body. It was a greenish gray color, but I didn't see the eye color. I was traumatized. I went to class, and then went back to my dorm room. I couldn't get the sight out of my head. I wanted to forget, but couldn't. I thought of that for years, how could they just leave a cadaver in the hall way, you never know when a freshman might walk by and look in the box!!!

Crying Babies

Today I was supposed to drive up highway 101 with a friend, but the friend cancelled and I ended up driving to Napa and took some pictures. I then met all three of my daughters and we went to the movies. Unstoppable was GREAT!! At the movies there was a little baby outside in the hallway crying. Wow, I am glad I don't have to do that again. The third baby, Sarah, was great, she didn't cry often and never very long. The other two were not so good. Sometimes they would cry for hours, and sometimes if they were hungry or if they were cold and sometimes just because they were bored. When my oldest daughter, Lindsey was one year old when they went to Korea the first time and my wife wanted to show her family the new baby. Lindsey cried all the way. My wife knew that the way to stop the baby from crying was to walk with the baby in her arms. So, she walked up and down the aisle of the plane all the way to Korea. I always joked that she walked to Korea. When we took Lindsey and Jayne to Korea to go live there for a few years I wanted to put alcohol in their milk so they would sleep all the way.We didn't, but it sure was tempting. Come to think of it we went to Korea with a one year old baby, and came back 7 years later with a 3 year old baby. Which is worse, to sit in a plane with a crying baby behind you or sit in a movie theater with a crying baby behind you?

Traditions Come and Go

Today is Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving! I was planning on joining my sister's husband's family with my kids as we have over the past 2 years, but things didn't work out. Since my plans were changed this morning at 7am I didn't have time to cook turkey. I just stayed home alone (if I can be alone with 2 cats) and watched football and thanksgiving specials on TV. My day was nice. In the past when my kids didn't come over at all I would cook a turkey for myself and then eat leftovers for a long time. It was funny that one of the things everyone looked forward to was my turkey soup. For many years I have bought 4 turkeys before Thanksgiving. I originally started this because my freezer was always empty. I had read that a full freezer used less electricity than a full one, so I figured if turkeys were only $5 each during Thanksgiving it would make sense to fill up my freezer with frozen turkey. I at one then put three in my freezer. I had one around Christmas time, one in the spring and one in the summer. It was funny because I often forgot to eat the last one until a few weeks before Thanksgiving, so I had to cook the last one to make room for the next year's turkeys. It got to be a habit ... or was it a tradition? Everyone that knows me has heard of my little tradition. I would have turkey at the strangest times of the year. Fourth of July turkey dinner. Turkey for my birthday. Valentine's Day turkey. My youngest daughter got to the point of asking me when I was going to make soup yet. She would tell her friends that I made the best soup, and she would always want more. It made me feel special. I started making chicken soup, using the same spices to make it taste like turkey... that is a little funny, making the chicken soup taste like turkey soup! I have been doing this for 6 or 7 years. Even when I didn't eat at my house for Thanksgiving these past two years I bought 3 turkeys just to put in my freezer. This year was different. I went to buy the turkeys and found out the price has gone up, from $5 to $8. This is still cheap compared to $30 which is the normal price. But, it lost its spirit this year. So, the tradition is over. This year I had peanut butter and jelly for Thanksgiving dinner because I hadn't had enough notice to buy a turkey and thaw it for the 3 days before Thanksgiving. I wonder if I have just stated a new tradition, back to being alone for Thanksgiving and now eating peanut butter and jelly.

How to say nothing in five pages!

Today I drove to pick up my daughter to bring her home from Thanksgiving weekend. I had to rendezvous with the girl that was driving her up from San Diego. The friend was driving to Lodi, near Sacramento, so I met them in Los Banos (that means "the toilet" in Spanish) which is a town about an hour from where I live. Because it was a long drive I listened to another audio book. Today's book was Plato and a Platypus Walked into a Bar. This book tried to describe philosophy using jokes. The one I remember the most was an optimist say the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, and a realist says the glass is two times too big. Listening to this book made me think about writing college papers, when I was asked to write a five page paper to explain something that I could discuss in half a page. Fluff was necessary to expand the paper to meet the requirement. Listening to this book seemed like the author wanted to tell some jokes and he needed a medium, so he compared them to philosophy. It was really a boring book to listen to, except for the jokes. As I was listening to the boring book and all the fluff I was thinking about a paper I wrote for Art History in college. I have never liked Art, not only because I have never been very good at it (you can ask my mom about the horse that looked like a llama), but also because I don't understand it. When we studied abstract art we were told to get an abstract picture from the library and take it home. We were supposed to live with the picture for a week and then write a five page paper that described the picture and what it was supposed to represent. I went to the library and got a picture that I thought was getting an abstract picture. It wasn't wild, just a picture of a house and the door was open and there was water right outside the door. So it looked like a house was floating on a lake. I thought it was abstract because a house can't float on a lake. I put the picture on the wall, for a week, and then wrote the paper. I wrote five pages on this simple concept, and I thought I was doing a good job. I was sure that I understood the assignment, so I fluffed up the paper and wrote about how this picture made me feel like I was in a floating house and felt free of all earthly encumbrances when I looked at the picture. When I got this paper back I got a "C-". I was surprised and asked the teacher why I got such a bad grade. The teacher scowled at me and said, "that was a picture of a house with the door open and water outside, not anything more". She caught me writing a five page paper about nothing! Do you think I did that again? You're right, it didn't keep me from fluffing more papers ... like the guy that wrote the book!

Cat Gas

Today I spent most of my day teaching high schools students in San Jose about careers. All of the students today were studying to go in the medical field, so I slanted my talk to medical careers. One thing we talk about is how our interests should be in line with our work. We talk about 6 different interest codes and today we looked at all the different occupations in the medical field and how the different interest codes can all have jobs in the medical field. Even the interest codes that deals with working with your hands and working out doors has a medical field, either EMT or a physical therapist. I had a good day at work until the afternoon when I was teaching math and I had to tell one guy that I didn't think he would be able to join the military because he would never be able to pass the test. I have never done that before, squashed someone's dream ... but I would rather tell him now then have him waste his time trying to do something that he will not be able to do. I gave him another road to his dream, so maybe that was good! I suggested he take college classes for a semester, get 15 units, and then apply again. I suggested he take a Math class.

My two cats keep me learning different things. Tonight I googled the strangest question, "do cats fart?". I know that they must, but I just wanted to see what I could find. What do you think the answer is? Well, this is the problem, I have 2 cats, and sometimes I am just sitting in my chair and one all of a sudden I smell what smells like cat poop. I used to spend 10 or 15 minutes looking for a "secret pile" that I figured the cats didn't make it to the litter box in time. I then realized that I could never find the pile, and the stench would only stya around for about 5 minutes before dissipating. I realized that the one cat, Simon, would be sitting on the cat thing near my chair and must be farting. It is a terrible smell that almost drives me out of the room. It happens every night, or maybe every other night. I would be so embarrassed if I was that cat. I hope he learns to leave the room when it happens, or maybe he comes in the room when he knows he is going to fart. Life has many lessons when you have cats! What's next?

November Oxford Class

This month's class was interesting and fun. Last month was 4 students this month was 10. I haven't had such a big class in a long time. The students were eager to learn and showed a lot of growth over the month. What the nice thing is that they learned to lean on each other and helped each other through the final class. This class seemed a little difficult at first, so much diversity, but at the end, there was no diversity, everyone had one goal, to be successful as a teacher. They all had their own way of doing things, but each had a little of my style. It felt good to know that I could influence them and they will always carry a little piece of me with them when they go to Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Taiwan, France, Czech Republic, and maybe Ghana. 3 students didn't know exactly what they would teach even on Wednesday. They emailed me and asked for my advice. I pointed them in a direction and they took it from there. They don't know how realistic that is until they go overseas and find out that they have to come up with 4-6 classes every day, 5 days a week. It isn't always easy, and I think my students have found resources on line and within themselves to give their students great classes and keep themselves, and their students entertained! Good luck Ashley, Deborah, Usman, Daniel, Maddy, James, Abe, Long, Art, and Kate!

Sleep and Dreams

Yesterday I drove from home to Santa Barbara then sat in a meeting went to dinner. This morning I had to be in a meeting at 9am, finished at 11am, then have to wait around till 4pm to get my picture taken with my coworkers, go to a fancy dinner, then drive home and will get home around 1am. Tomorrow is a big day for my students and I have to be "up" for them to do their best and get confidence in themselves.

When I travel I usually listen to audio books. I drive a lot so I listen to a lot of books, usually a mystery novel or a war book, something that will make me forget I am driving and makes me want to stay in the car longer. This drive I decided to do something a little different. I decided to listen to Dreams by Sigmond Freud. It was only 5 discs, but I could only listen to 2 before it realized I couldn't concentrate on what the book was saying and my driving. I was very interested in the book, I think I need to sit down and read it. It was interesting to hear how they did experiments when someone was sleeping and they pinched his neck, and he dreamed of a shot ... I would have waken up and been upset! One time they dropped some water on a guy's shirt, and he dreamed he was he had run a long distance and was all sweaty ... how many of us would have waken up because of the water? Or it reminded me of putting a sleeping person's hand in warm water and making them pee all over themselves. Ok, parts of this book I think were crazy, I really think a lot of this is some guy rambling on to think of things to write about. How many of us really remember our dreams, and can tell others what we dream. My part I will remember the best was when they were really talking about sleep. The book talked about the importance of sleep. It is not just a time to rest your body, but to rest your mind. Sometimes when I have stressful jobs I take the time to close my office door, or lay down in bed for just 15 minutes, complete silence and as dark as I can, just to rest my mind. When I teach people that want to be teachers I tell them to take a 10 min break and be by themselves, away from all students, and just NOT be a teacher for a while. I know no one listens to me and they have to find out on their own. As I was listening I was thinking about when I was in college and often went to be early, my roommate tried to change my habit and had me listen to John Denver as I was in bed ... didn't change me! I think wondered if sleep balanced out in the end, If you sleep early when you are young, are you more adept to sleep late when you were older, and vice versa? Are you only allowed so much waking hours and when you max those out do you die? I love to sleep, and don't like getting up! You know the saying, "Do you live to eat, or eat to live"? I have another saying (I am starting today), "Do you live to sleep, or sleep to live"?

Private schools

Today the major thing I did was go to a meeting with people from all the military services. We talked about recruiting in schools. It is very interesting to hear all the services talk about how hard it is to get into the service now. If you want to go into the army is fairly easy. If you want to go into the Air Force you must wait at least a year. If you want to go if the Navy is almost impossible because they don't meet many people, you need people to go into the seals and some nuclear engineers. The Coast Guard takes your name and they might call you. The Marines are also not in need of so many people. The funny thing is all of these people are working for recruiters. So the question is what should the recruiters do when the services don't need any people? The recruiters have a saying, make mission go fishing. But the problem right now is they have not reduced the requirement, mission, that the recruiter has to bring two people in each month. So what is the recruiter supposed to do when the services are not accepting people? This is so stupid! These days their mission is fishing. I'm glad my job is to work with schools and not to do recruiting, or I would never be able to go fishing! Oh, I want to go fishing next weekend, I hope I can find someone to go fishing with me.

Yesterday I went to a private school in Santa Rosa. I was so impressed with this private school and the kids there were polite. I think I'm supposed to say that about private school children, but the truth is that the kids were more disruptive than some public schools, and some continuation schools that I've been to recently. I think schools are starting to get a bad rap, just because kids go to public schools doesn't mean that they are any worse or better than people that go to private schools. I went to a public school, most of my friends went to public schools, so the best people I know have gone to public schools! When I go to private schools the only exception is there wearing uniforms. That's it. It's Monday and Tuesday I went to an occupational school in San Jose. The kids there, the teachers there and the staff there were great. Every one of the kids that I met at that school were very polite, and they made me feel happy to be there. The counselor I was working with worked three times as hard as any other teacher saying for a long time. You could tell that she really was concerned about the future of the kids in the school. My kids go to public school, in fact these days I work very closely with the administration school and some of the teachers and I'm very proud of the school they go to. I wish people would quit giving schools such a bad reputation, just because there are some people that don't want to be at the school doesn't mean that all of the children that go to that school don't want to be there. I think my kids are getting a great education, learning how to be good adults, and being prepared for life in their public school. I understand why some parents want their kids to go to private schools especially if they want them to go to a religious school but I don't think it's needed for everyone. When we start comparing our education system to other countries we are not taking into consideration that those other countries have different education systems. We are comparing all of our children, including the ones that don't want to be in school, with kids in other countries the only one to go to college. We don't compare our kids in school to the average kids in school and other countries. I'm not saying everything is great in our schools, but I disagree with those people that think everything in our schools is bad.

(this is the first posting I tried to do using my microphone and me speaking while the computer types what I say!)

Long Drives

Today I drove to a school 3 hours away. I was supposed to go to another school that was 5 and a half hours, but someone did that for me. I enjoy driving long distances, people ask me why I ask and I realize I just don't think about it. When I drive I listen to a book and I don't even realize the time is going by. Sometimes I get someplace on time and stay in the card to listen to a little more of the story. I also travel with a camera and often stop to take pictures of interesting things. Even if nothing is interesting it is around I like to take pictures of normal life things and say it is interesting. Today I took pictures of some trees that were changing colors and then as I was driving up to the Golden Gate Bridge the fog was rolling in and it was so wonderful to watch. I was able to take pictures where there was no fog, then the next pictures the fog was thick. A helicopter even flew by, first over the bridge then turned around and was over  the bridge again. I enjoyed the drive today and look forward to the next long drive. Let me know if you want to see more pictures!!

Classrooms with a Purpose

For the past two days I have been teaching students about careers in the San Jose Central County Occupational Center (CCOC). I had never heard or known about this center before last week. 35 high schools from Santa Clara County send students to this center to learn many occupations from vet assistant, diesel mechanic, air conditioning, among many other skills including website design and animation. I have been working with some very dedicated people in the school. I expected the students to be rude and unruly. In fact they have been the most polite students in any I have been to. I expected the equipment to be old and the teaching methods to be boring. The teachers really care and seem to be up to date on teaching methods and knowledgeable about the latest technology. My experience at this school site was fantastic. I have worked with 8 classes already and will be working with 16 more. The counselor that I am working directly with has bitten off more than she was ready for. She thought she would offer this opportunity to the students and maybe 20 or 30 students would want to take advantage of this. As she let the faculty know what this offered students they signed up their classes and instead of 20 or 30 she tested over 300 students. That caused her many hours of more work, even though she had other things to do. I admire people like that. She is truly affecting lives and putting others before herself. Sometimes I think about the fact that you can give so much of yourself that you hurt yourself more than you help others. I have gotten in trouble over my life because people misunderstood my reasons for doing things. In Korea I used to live on the fifth floor with no elevator. It was the top of the stairs, and there was one other apartment at the same floor next to us. New neighbors were moving in and I was watching people take stuff off of a truck and walking it up the stairs. I realized I was just sitting and watching them and so I went downstairs and picked up something and walked it up the stairs. I dropped it off in the apartment and went down to get another box. I did that for about half an hour without saying a word since I don't speak Korean. I asked my wife to explain to them what i was doing, just being neighborly, and she yelled at me that I was stupid and being "so American". She told me that me helping strangers wasn't polite in Korea and I should stop immediately. I stopped, realizing that if I had kept helping them I would be doing the opposite of what I was attempting. Sometimes helping others can be counter productive!

Teaching ESL

This weekend I spent the days teaching for Oxford Seminars. I teach a course to certify my students to teach English in other countries. This month I have 10 students in my class. A wide variety of students, in age and background. I have fun showing them how to teach, then watching them attempt to teach a class ... watching them make mistakes in choosing what to teach, mistakes in their own English, mistakes in how to write on the white board, mistakes in how long a time it takes to teach the lesson they want ... etc. I enjoy watching my students grow in their ability and their confidence. As they gain knowledge and experience they become better and better. The little mistakes eventually get ironed out and things are smooth after a while. I look forward to hearing about their job search and then them getting jobs. One of my students from last month had 3 job offers from 3 different countries and had to decide where he wanted to go. When my students go overseas it is like a little part of me. I have taught 19 classes and have sent about 200 students to other countries to teach English. If each of those teachers have a hundred students in the time in another country I have affected over 20,000 students. That is amazing!!

I'm a Veteran

I was an Army officer from 1979 - 1988. My mother and sister, Betsy, pinned my gold bars on me in December 1978. My father was in Saudi Arabia so he couldn't be there, I will always be sad about that. In January my sister, Sue, and I drove from California to Maryland where I went to my initial schooling at Aberdeen Proving Grounds for three months then I went to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama for six months to finish my training as a Missile Maintenance Officer. I was trained in managing soldiers that repaired missile systems that were in the army. These included TOW and Dragon (pocket rockets for tanks), Chaparral and Vulcan (for aircraft), HAWK and Nike Hercules (high altitude aircraft), and Pershing and MLRS (used by the artillery). I also had to be trained in nuclear weapons because two of those systems were used to carry nukes. Most of the maintenance was on the electronics so the people that worked for me were very highly skilled and some of them had to go to school for up to a year. By the time I was sent to Kitzengen, Germany I had already been an officer for nine months where most officers had been in training for only three or four months. When I got to Germany I found out that the position I had been sent to Germany, and gone through all the advanced training, for had been postponed for two years. That meant essentially I had no job in Germany. I was "excess" and that meant I was available for every job no one else wanted to do. I remember my first week at the job they told me to, "...answer the phone and answer any question that comes up, that is the way to learn what is done around here." I was totally frustrated. I learned to change the paper in the copy machine (which was a new style and had a roll of paper and then a razor blade would cut the paper), I was in charge of ensuring all the back lights of the trucks had been upgraded to the larger size, I rode on a helicopter every day for two weeks carrying an empty box (except sometimes the box had cookies for some of the men in the field) because I was an officer and it gave credibility to using the helicopter. I started to understand the Army way. I was "excess" for a year then and a half and then they sent me to the unit I was supposed to go to and I did a job that I was actually trained for. After 6 months there I was sent to a new job in Wuerzburg (where, in fact, I was born). I really enjoyed my new job and I worked for the General Staff. It was a real experience because when we went to the field I was on duty from 10pm - 6am. What that really meant was when the general slept I sat in the command tent and kept his seat warm. I made sure the maps were up to date when the general came back in the morning and answered questions when requested. Really, I didn't do much because there were many senior sergeants there that told me what I should do (usually what I shouldn't do). It was interesting for me since I was a maintenance officer and had never been taught about infantry. I still laugh thinking of the time a colonel came into the tent at 2am looking for the officer in charge. By then I was a FIRST Lieutenant and I hurried over to him. He saw that I was a maintenance officer and only a Lieutenant and he started yelling at me, and then at the senior sergeant that he was a colonel and wanted to talk to the person in charge. I sheepishly said I was the senior officer for the night shift and asked him if I could help him. He yelled more and I told him if he wanted me to I could wake the general. The HE sheepishly said that wasn't necessary. He told me his problems and I helped him with the solution and he went away. I didn't have to wake the general. Six months before I left Germany I was given another job and had additional training on the first M1 tanks in Germany. After Germany I was sent for morning training in Alabama. After the one year of training I stayed in Huntsville, Alabama for another 3 years where I was in charge of writing evaluation tests for new equipment the Army wanted to buy. Many years later I saw the Army had the forklifts I had helped to write the evaluation test for. I also worked on testing the Sgt York which was a new weapon they were going to put in the Army to shoot down aircraft. While I was there they had the only six systems the army had to test. I remember hearing the news on the radio that they had decided not to buy Sgt York for the Army then I walked to the windows overlooking the systems and there were soldiers walking over to the six Sgt Yorks and turning them off and locking them. I also did some preliminary work on Directed Energy Weapons Systems (DEWS). I was asked to write an article on it and I did and it was published. After Alabama I was sent to Korea. In Korea I spent 2 months at the headquarters and then went to the missile maintenance company and was the commander. After Korea I went to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas and was there for two years until I got out of the Army.

Ideal Woman

I have been single for a long time, and sometimes I wonder what I'm looking for in a woman. Looks, brains, personality? I have never really thought about it, i just figured I would know when I met the girl. Why should I make a list when the woman I meet won't necessarily meet all the things I list. Of course I want a woman that I'm attracted to. I don't think she has to be the most beautiful woman I meet, because then I would worry about her whenever she meets another man. I would like a smart woman, but if she is smarter than me it would feel uncomfortable. Book smart is a little important, but more important is worldly and street smart. I agree that opposites attract and I would like a woman that has experiences that I don't and can open my eyes to new things, and is excited to learn new things from me. I need this "ideal woman" to want to do things, and want to do a variety of things. I think the most important thing is that I can talk to her for hours and not even realize that hours are going by. Even the most beautiful woman becomes normal after a while, when she is always around, but if the conversation can go on for hours it is the most important thing. I don't mind if she agrees with my way of thinking as long as she is open to listening to other ways of thinking. Does this woman exist and will I ever meet her?

Support the Troops!

Today I dropped off my car and picked up my work car at the National Guard armory. I was talking to the sergeant that is always there that takes care of the building daily. I was asking him about the people I saw get on the bus last week, and their cars parked at the armory. He said they were in southern California for 2 more weeks finishing their training. They will come back and have 2 weeks then go to Texas and get issued their equipment and do some more training then come back for a week and then go to Afghanistan. I asked when the unit will go and he said they would be leaving for Afghanistan about December 15. I said it was too bad that they couldn't wait until after Christmas. He said many of the soldiers thought the same thing until the commander reminded them that they would be gone for exactly a year. If they leave before Christmas then they will come back before Christmas. I thought about what I would rather do, and I agree with their thinking. It made me think of the some of the Christmases I spent overseas in the Army. My first Christmas I can remember in Germany all the families got together to sing around the community Christmas Tree. It was great, they had a ceremony and the families all tried to make the soldiers feel less lonely. I was an officer, so I had to support the families efforts to make the people feel less lonely. I felt worse, I had to put on this facade to make everyone think I was happy when inside I was crying. I was happy when it got dark, because I could allow my tears to flow. I felt so depressed, and couldn't let anyone know! I remember when I was a company commander in Korea and it was Christmas. Again, I had to make everyone forget they were alone in Korea and that they all had family, each other, and support each other. I got a party together with the senior sergeants and the junior officers. I made an appearance at the party and then left. I knew that no one could be comfortable if I was around, since I was the senior officer. I left the party and went downtown. I remember it very vividly in my mind right now. I walked downtown, it was very very cold and snow, just like Christmas is supposed to be. I was walking around downtown and there was a cute little white church. I stopped outside and listened as the church choir was practicing for the midnight service. I couldn't understand the words, but I remember they were singing the Korean version of Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful. I can remember standing outside that little church and listening. I wanted to walk in, but didn't know if it was ok, so I stood outside! I stood there crying, thinking about the first Christmas in Germany, and how I was just as lonely as I was that night 6 years previously. I hope I am never that lonely again, and I hope I can prevent people from having that feeling also!

Goals

Today I worked in Salinas. I visited two schools, Salinas High and Alvarez High. I worked with 8 students in each school and I enjoyed working with them. How difficult is it for kids to decide what they will do after high school? The young people that I worked with today were really interested in planning their futures. Usually I work with kids that have no idea what they want to do, they have had one goal for 12 years, to finish high school. After they do that it is like a vacuum where there is a complete void of any goals. I think life is about goals, and then more goals. If goals are ever achieved then you don't have any future goals. We need to always have something to reach for, whether it is a new job, getting a better car, improving our relationships, or making a relationship. What is your goal?

You can't learn if you can't laugh

I started a new class today. I teach people that want to go overseas and teach ESL. I always tell my students that there are three things that are important for a successful class. First is Variety, second is team building, and third is laughter. You need to vary the things you teach in class, and the style you teach. If you use games to teach one day, the next day you need to have more conversation, then the next day you need to give lecture. If you always do the same thing then students get bored. I tell them about the time I taught in Korea and every Friday was game day. Students enjoyed it and I had fun teaching. Then one month I decided to have a Game MONTH. I had a variety of games we played every day for a month. Word games and other language games. Everyone got bored, they begged me to teach a lesson. Team building is essential for ESL classes. The students need to understand that they can take a risk without the rest of the students criticizing them or laughing at them. I talk about how the class needs to be a cocoon and feel safe to the whole class. I teach them how to do icebreakers and how important it is for the class to learn each others' names. Building a team is very important. Students must respect each other, at least during the class time. If a student feels that they are safe taking a risk they will attempt to speak English. Then the important thing is to keep the class relaxed and try to reduce the stress. If a student stresses they close their mind a little. Think about cramming right before a test and how short term what you learn stays with you. I believe if you get the students to laugh they remember things longer. They open their minds and allow more information to enter their minds. How is the best way to learn numbers, memorize the numbers, or play "go fish" and play with the numbers.

Well, the cats are dancing on the keyboard so I need to wrap this up!

Learning Styles

Today was a busy day ... I went to a school to see if I was supposed to be there today or tomorrow, of course that means I was supposed to be there tomorrow, no problem. Then I drove over to Gavilan College and met with a friend for a little while, really a guy I work with but he is someone I really enjoy being around. I then went to tutor a young man that needs to pass this test before he gets kicked out of the house and then to Westmont High School to talk to the students about careers and then helped two more people study. Then, go home to spend some time with Simon and Theodore.

Working with these three guys really brings home the fact that we all learn in different ways. I start off with them emphasizing that I started at a 52 and increased my score to 96 (maximum of 99) by studying the way I teach them. Of the three guys I worked with today the first guy has no patience and just wants to know what the answer is, after he knows the answer he wants to work backwards and know how I got it. I like working with him because he is very quick at understanding how things work, even though he doesn't like to go through each step. The second guy wants me to go step by step, he takes very detailed notes and repeats everything until he understands each step. The third guy can look at a problem and just knows the answer, he doesn't even know how he knows the answer but 80% of the time it is correct, which is about the same for the other two styles. It is fun to work with different kinds of learners it keeps it from getting boring. And ... I always tell my class of teachers, "you must laugh to learn!".

It is taking longer to write these nightly blogs since Simon has decided that if he seems me on the keyboard he should be on it too!