Teach to your audience

I just finished my class in San Francisco today. I teach people that want to be ESL teachers in countries outside the USA. This class was four students and only one really wants a teaching job in another country. She will teach in Mexico. The other students are not really going to look for jobs, they took the class either to help them with volunteer work or because they want to improve their own English. Usually the last Saturday I help my students write their resumes and how to find jobs and how to do interviews. This month I didn't do that since that isn't relevant to the students, the one student that will get a teaching job has been teaching for 11 years.

So, this month I scanned my flashcards so the people that want to do volunteer work have flashcards on their computers/ipads that they can use anywhere. I also changed what I taught this month to make sure everyone found different ways to help their students learn grammar and it will help my students too. Like always I emphasized, "you can't learn if you don't laugh!". Next week a new class that I will teach at UC Berkeley.  

My body hurts!

I stopped running for about 2 weeks. At first it was because my legs were hurting so much from my last race. I had run my fastest 5K and I think I hurt ligaments or something. Then I got so used to not hurting when I walk that it was nice. 2 days ago I started running daily again. I now run 3 miles every day (well at least for the last 3 days). I was thinking about it, a year ago  I couldn't run a mile, then I started doing the elliptical for 20  minutes a day then I increased it to 30 minutes a day. I then wanted to see if I could run, I used to walk on the treadmill years ago. I got up to running a mile at a time 3 - 4 times a week. Then I wanted to run 5K races so I would do 2 miles a day except when I got bored and only did a mile. This week I started to run 3 miles a day on the treadmill. So, my body always hurts. I keep trying to go faster because I am bored and want it over with! I guess if I am always trying to improve what I do then my body will always be changing and it will always hurt. Oh well, no pain no gain.

Addictions

I always wondered what the difference is between being addicted to something and really liking something. When I was in Korea for 7 years I realized that I sometimes craved beef a lot. I told people my stomach was full, but my mind thought something was missing. If I had a small piece of meat once a week I was ok. It is like many asian people are with rice. Many people I know have to eat some rice just to feel like they are satisfied. I joke with my kids, but it really is true, I am addicted to ice cream. When I get stressed or feel like something is missing I can eat ice cream and it satisfies me.

I am also addicted to reading, I stay up late reading because I can't stop, then when I wake up the next morning I regret having read for so long. Sometimes I am late to work, or another appointment because I would rather read than do what I'm supposed to. What are you addicted to?

Book or Movie

I have been listening to the Harry Potter books for the past couple of weeks and I really understand what is going on better in the book than in the movies. Some people think they should read the book before they see the movie, I think you should see the movie before reading the book.

Fog Belt

I stayed in Monterey, CA last night because I had to work in Salinas in the morning. After working at Alisal High I went back to Monterey to meet an old student of mine to talk to her about teaching in Taiwan. I think Taiwan is a fantastic country to work in and I am excited that she made the decision to work there. When I was in Monterey it was beautiful weather, about 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. It is one of those days that you feel blessed to be able to go to Monterey. I then drove home.

On my way home I had to drive through Marina, where I lived when I was in high school. As soon as I hit the city limits for Marina it was thick fog. The weather dropped 15 degrees and you couldn't see the ocean which was just on the other side of the sand dunes next to the road. After I left the city limits of Marina it was sunny and warm again. In fact when I got back to Sunnyvale, California it was 91 degrees and sunny. I almost bought a house in Marina when I moved back to California and now I am very glad I didn't. I couldn't believe that the fog was sandwiched between warm sunny areas. Can you imagine living where it doesn't have sun very often? Days like this I am glad where I live. I guess in the summer when it is over 100 degrees I will envy the people that live in Marina, but maybe not.

Good Divorce

 I have friends that are divorced and when they have a situation with their kids they meet and discuss what they should do about it. When they want to take a vacation and can't watch the kids they call each other and talk about it. Some friends when their kids have graduation or sporting events they sit next to each other. My divorce isn't that way. I think it goes back to when I first got divorced I didn't know how to handle it. My kids' mom would tell me to do something and I didn't always do it. It has gotten to be I haven't talked to her for five years, we have been divorced for ten. During high school and college graduations we sit on opposite sides of the stands, during sporting events I am told not to go when their mom goes (which isn't very often). I feel sorry for my kids that we don't have a "good divorce", but I think a "bad divorce" is better than a "bad marriage".

Upper Lake

This morning I have to be at a school at 8:30 in the morning. The school is almost 3 hours from my house and I always like to be there half an hour early so I drove up here last night. I don't usually make hotel reservations early because I like to see how close the hotel is to the school I'm visiting. On my way up here I check my GPS to see what hotel is near the school and with this school I saw only bed and breakfasts and motels that were not brand names. I have had bad experiences with hotels that were not brand names and I am not on vacation so bed and breakfasts are not what I want so I ended up staying about 20 minutes away, at the closest motel to the school. This Super 8 Motel is Upper Lake, California is wonderful. I have stayed here before, when I worked at Upper Lake High, and I was very pleased with it. When I stayed here before it was January and very cold. This is April and not so bad. I got here at 11pm, last time I got here at 1am, and there is always someone at the front desk that is very helpful and pleasant. This is going to be a good day! I haven't taken pictures in a long time, but I feel like today I will take lots of pictures!

Stopping on the Side of the Road

Today was a long day at work. I left the house at 7am to drive 3 hours to Fresno, worked there for an hour then drove 3 hours north to Sacramento, worked there for two hours and then drove 3 hours south and got home around 8:30. You ever sit at your desk at work and get tired so you just put your head down and take a 15 minute nap? Then when you get back to work you feel refreshed and have more energy! That is hard to do when you spend your work day driving. I was really tired driving home today and almost slept at the wheel a couple of times. I ended up just pulling to the side of the road and taking a 15 minute nap. I was worried that the trucks would rock the car too much, or the cops would come by and see if i needed help. No problems, I dozed off and then woke up refreshed and drove home safely! Today wasn't my best day at work.

Free Lunch!

 When I teach in San Francisco I usually teach at San Francisco State University. When I teach there the closest place to eat is Subway. Students often joke about me always eating at Subway. Sometimes go to other places, further away, but I like to stay close so I can relax rather than worry about parking when I return. I like Subway, it helps me loose weight and it is healthy and fast. I always ask my students to come with me for lunch, I think it is good for them to be able to ask personal questions about their future and it helps me know what specific things I can do during class to help each student. I have taught over 30 weekend classes and many times I eat lunch alone. Some classes eat together, but more classes eat separately. They do better if they spend lunch time together and get to know each other outside of the classroom.  This class is only 4 and one student has her fiance waiting around all day while she is at class. The other three students of the class have lunch with me.

 They really are fun and each is really different from the other. Yesterday I was getting my sandwich and one of the students just got a drink and was in front of me. As I brought my sandwich to the cashier the student said he would pay for my lunch. I have never had that happen before. I don't encourage that because I feel uncomfortable with other people paying for me. I said thank you to him and I really meant it. I really like the students in this class and I felt it would be childish of me not to allow him to pay for my meal. I want to make sure students don't feel they are obligated to buy me lunch and that is not why I ask them to eat with me. Sometimes I pay for their lunch, and that makes me feel good to do things like that so I figure that makes them to also. Having him pay for my meal yesterday really made me feel good, Thanks Moe! Today we went to Subway again as a group and as I was walking up to pay for my meal the other man in the class was in front of me and he paid for my sandwich. It left me speechless, and very happy. He didn't know that someone paid for my lunch yesterday and I was so thankful for him to do it. Like I said, I know it makes me feel good and I know it makes them to feel good to do something for others. Mohammad is really a great guy. His job takes him around the world into very isolated places and he is taking the class because he often spends two weeks in the remote area and he wants to do things for the villages while he is there. What a great guy!

New class in April

A new class started today. This class is only four people, and was supposed to be eight. Usually my San Francisco classes are large, this one is very small. Of the four people none is really looking for a job. Three are non-native speakers. One Korean lady is a student in a language school in San Jose. She has been here for 9 months with her two children and will go back to work as a computer engineer in three months. One man is from Turkey, he has been in the States for ten years and works in a store he owns in Monterey. He will go back to Turkey to work in his family business and might do some volunteer work to help his friends learn English. One man is from Malaysia, but just graduated from college in Switzerland. He works for his family company in Malaysia and travels around the world buying seeds. One girl is American and she will go live with her boyfriend in Mexico. She is an elementary teacher in Carmel and will do the same thing in Mexico. This will be an interesting class to see what I can teach them and what they can teach me. I have lots of questions about this class and hope to see if they will all get answered by the end of the three weekend class.

Vet

I took my cats to the vet today. I got the cats a year and a half ago because I thought it would be nice to have pets. I got two brothers because I was on the road a lot and thought they would keep each other company. I have always gone to the same vet and they always tell me the cats are gaining weight too fast. Simon is a little overweight and I thought Theodore was a little scrawny. They say Theodore is a perfect weight and suggested I put Simon on a special diet so he didn't gain any more weight. They want me to feed both the cats in different rooms so they don't eat each others' food. That isn't going to happen. My cats eat when they want not when I tell them too. Theodore is more active and adventurous and Simon is just waiting for a lap to leap into. I always think Theodore is like a dog because he will follow me around and always stay outside of arm reach. Simon is not seen until you sit down and he can jump into your lap, like the "ideal" cat.

 They compliment each other and I like both personalities at different times. Then the vet noticed a heart murmur in Simon and suggested we do an xray ($200) and a sonogram ($600) to make sure everything was ok. And I was advised to put Simon on a special diet and put him under medication. That isn't going to happen. When asked what would happen if the heart murmur was not treated I was told the cat would not live as long and quietly die in his sleep. As long as the cat isn't suffering I won't have it done, and if the cat starts to suffer I will probably have him put to sleep. It is a cat, not a child and I would rather have the money to spend on my child. Sorry if you disagree with me.

Financial Woes

This picture is my home before as it was being worked on, it has nothing to do with my financial woes, sorry if it worried anyone. Lots of people that know me tell me I work a lot. I often work seven days a week. I have a weekend job teaching for ten hours on Saturday and Sunday in addition to my weekday job. I only work three weekends at a time, but sometimes that three weekends is back to back. It is also why I sometimes run on two consecutive days, because that is the weekend I don't work. I enjoy my weekend job, but it gets very tiring to work so many days without a day off. I find that if I don't work on the weekends I sometimes get problems financially. I make a good salary in my full time job. I enjoy it very much and think I am making a difference to people's lives. I have had many jobs and careers in my life. I was an Army officer, I owned a small business, I taught English in Korea, I worked in the IT training industry. I also had many temporary jobs, I worked in a shipping department, I sold boxes to businesses, I even sold encyclopedias (I have said before I have found I am not a salesman.).

This week I had a financial problem. I haven't had the weekend job for the past 5 weekends and I haven't been miserly with my money so I thought I was in big problem. I thought my mortgage check would bounce. I checked my bank and realized the funds I thought were going to be deposited weren't going to make it in time. The funds were not deposited, so I thought I was going to have problems. When I have financial problems I think the whole world is going to come to an end. I don't see any way I can survive problems with money. Sometimes it feels like my life will come to an end if I get in trouble with money. I would rather live on the streets than have financial problems. I would rather be in a job I hate than not be able to meet my bills. I would rather work seven days a week, ten hours a day than not meet my financial responsibilities. When I decided to get divorced my biggest problem was my wife didn't work and I didn't make enough to support two households so I lived in my office for ten months so I could meet my financial obligations. I found something affordable and figured things out. I ended up living in a mobile home because I could afford to buy something and live alone. I was out of a job for 2 years and still required to make child support and alimony payments. People told me to go to court to reduce the amount I needed to pay, but does that mean the amount to support three children will be supported? So, I found ways to keep that up. It is why my debt is very high. I'm able to handle everything right now until the balance is disturbed. This time I KNEW I was in trouble, the bank balance showed a negative and I didn't expect it to be positive for a week, until my weekday job paid me. I looked into my bank account yesterday and found there was a positive balance. The bank recognized my problem and they helped me. I say it often, but I LOVE my bank. I have had several instances like this where the bank was able foresee my financial problems and help remedy them before they get out of control. Whenever I have financial problems I think about a phone call I made to my sister Sue after I got my paycheck. After I graduated college I joined the Army and I went to the East Coast where my sister lived. I can remember getting my first paycheck in a career job. I called Sue and asked her what I should do with all the money I made in one month as a Second Lieutenant. I was used to spending a very small amount every month when I was in college. I just didn't have any idea what to do with my whole paycheck of $650.

On the Road Again

Yesterday I drove home sick and slept in bed for 20 hours. I got up and could finally eat, I hate when I am hungry but can't eat! After I got up I realized I didn't have to cancel my appointment for tomorrow morning and started making plans for my trip. I had thought it was a 2 hour drive and then found out it was a 3.5 hour drive and I have to be there at 9:30 so I have to leave my house at 6. If I do that then I will be wearing myself out again, rather than do that I drove tonight and am staying in a hotel near the place I am need to be in the morning. I am going to a small town called Avenal and their is no hotel in the town. Well, there is, but it is the Avenal Motel and from the experience I had on Monday night in a non-brand name hotel I wasn't going to trust that. Tonight I am staying in one of those little towns on I5 that is designed for truckers to stop at.

I wasn't confident if this was a good idea, but after getting here I was pleasantly surprised. I think this place is great. The room is big, it is quiet, and has a very nice tv and a great bathroom. I am happy here and will stay here again when I have to be in this area early in the morning again. The drive down here was beautiful. The grass is green for the first time in a long time and the clouds were fantastic. There was even a bright rainbow on my drive. I am happy to be on the road again!

Miserable day

I couldn't get to sleep last night. My feet were freezing and I just felt cold. I kept thinking I should get up and turn on the heater, but I didn't want to be cold more. After a while I relaxed a little more and then my feet warmed up and I was able to sleep ok. Because I didn't need to be anywhere until 1pm I stayed in bed till 10 then got dressed and left the hotel. I really felt sick and miserable. My stomach was turning over and making lots of noise. I felt a little warm and just felt bad. I was 4 hours from home and couldn't imagine working in a high school today. I called the person I was going to work with and asked him if he could handle things without me and he said he could and I started home about 11. Driving 4 hours isn't fun when you feel miserable. I turned the radio off and concentrated on not falling asleep. I had to stop twice to throw up and finally got home. I took everything out of the car, put it all on the floor at the foot of the bed and crawled into bed. 2 hours later I woke up and realize my clothes were on, so I took off my belt. I went back to sleep. 2 hours later I woke up and changed into my pajamas and went back to bed. An hour later I got up and decided that I needed to eat something so I found some cake in my fridge and got some milk. That is all I have eaten today. I'm ready to sleep again. UGHHHH

Mistakes ...

Tonight I'm staying in Redding, California. I was asked to come a day early so I could help the recruiters in this area. Turns out the recruiters didn't show up, so I only worked with one rather than the 5 that I was going to work with. I try to stay in less expensive motels so I can keep the expenses down and don't have to request permission to go. I made a mistake today at staying at a non-chain motel. This place has a good floor plan, but it is closer to the freeway then I thought. Then I got into the room and the bathroom is really old and yucky, the floor creaks and the rug is yucky, and the bed is comfortable, but the sheets and bedspread are yuck. Even the tv remote control doesn't work. I don't like to complain to the management so I will just put up with the problems and be sure to never stay here again. Like I said, the bed is comfortable and I think I will sleep good tonight!  

Happy Easter

Today is Easter 2012. My birthday is sometimes on Easter, and it is always near Easter. I like this holiday because it is Spring. I also often think of the songs at church, makes me smile to remember those church songs. I woke up today and didn't have any plans. I was going to stay in bed til noon and then clean the house and get ready for my long trip this week. I got a call from a friend that asked me come watch her daughter while she goes for a run. I watched the daughter, who I really like, for an hour while her mom went for a 5 mile run (I can't imagine doing that for no reason), we went to the playground and she ran around and played with the other kids. Then the three of us went to lunch, I decided to forget about my diet for the day. We then went for a bike ride, so I got my 3 miles in today, but by bike. I had a good day. When I got home I cleaned my house and did laundry. I prepared for my trip tomorrow.

 Tomorrow I drive to Redding, CA, a 6 hour drive. Tuesday I teach in Palo Cedra, CA. After I teach there I will drive 6 hours south (rather than drive 4 hours home then 4 hours the next day) to Bakersfield, CA. I will work there for a day then the next day go north one hour to teach in Avenal, CA. I finally return home on Thursday afternoon. I am hoping I get the "itch" to take lots of pictures. I'm looking forward to my week!

I have a Butt!

A few years ago a girl told me I had no butt. I asked her if that was a good thing and she said girls like butts on guys as much as guys like butts on girls! Hmmmm, I never thought of it that way. It reminded me of when I discovered butts in high school. I remember there was a girl I thought was pretty, but when I tried to figure out why I thought she was pretty I couldn't figure it out. Her face wasn't the reason, her body wasn't the reason, her personality ... well, I really didn't like the way the girl treated me ... so, I realized I had discovered butts! Ever since that girl told me many years ago that I didn't have a butt I have become conscience of it. This week I discovered I had a butt. Not a big butt, but a shapely butt. I figure it has grown because of my running. I like this and will try to continue developing my butt. Then I thought about girls' butts. Do girls develop butts because of running? Some girls have BIG butts, if I run a lot will my butt get HUGE? Maybe I should change to walking, and walk the 5Ks so my butt doesn't get too big. I need to ponder this a little more. (I hope you are laughing as you read this as much as I was laughing as I wrote this, but ... it does make sense!)

I ran another 5K today. This was my second of the month, eighth of the year. I ran the fastest time I have ever done today, 31:45. My fastest time before was 33:30 and that was a few months ago. I have also decided to loose my 10 extra pounds now. I will watch what I eat and run every day. Lets see if I can do it!

No MORE!

I started going to COSTCO again 2 months ago, after having not gone for about 5 years. When I go I try to only buy what I really need, it is easy to buy things from COSTCO you wouldn't buy otherwise. I can spend hundreds of dollars because I really like the things COSTCO carries, maybe that is why I stopped going for a long time. I usually buy breakfast food, cat food and litter, soft drinks, turkey burgers, and some kind of dinner I can cook in the micro wave. Today I decided I was no longer going to drink soft drinks. I have been drinking diet soft drinks for many many years. I usually drink Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi. Today I bought tea to drink instead of soft drinks. I bought it in bottles I can take with me. I haven't tried this, ever! I will try this for a month and see what happens. When I go to McDonald's I will order iced tea instead of Diet Coke. When I go out for dinner I will drink water or a beer instead of Diet Coke (ok, maybe that isn't the best choice). You have to understand how bad it has gotten for me, I often leave my house before 6:30am because of my job. I bought a breakfast burrito so I can microwave it while I am getting dressed and take it with me. Since I am usually in a hurry I just take a can of soda with me since it is easy to take out of the fridge and bring with me. So, no more soft drink, instead I bought bottles of chocolate milk that I don't need to refrigerate and I can just take with me. The tea bottles I will refill when I run out, I think I will even do that with the milk bottles, but I will make sure to wash them completely. I think that with this going on I am ready to start the next part of my diet. I will start running more and watch what I eat! I want to get down to 170, I'm at 180 right now.

Tomorrow morning I will run another 5K, in Cupertino, CA. I will first take Sarah to her softball tournament at 7am, then watch them practice and then play the beginning of their game. The game starts at 8 and I need to start running at 9, so I will watch 15 minutes before I drive over and do the run. This run will be fun because they close the streets and I will be running in down streets I often drive. It won't be so much fun because they won't keep good time and I will not have that good of time running. The man I talked to today when I registered was surprised there were so many people registered, around 300. That isn't very many compared to many of the runs I have made, but it is twice as many as have run in Cupertino's races before. So, I will sleep early today and wake up early tomorrow.

I'm depressed tonight :(

I had dinner with my daughters tonight. All three were together this week and I was happy because we were able to have dinner together. We had fun, Sarah drove us to the restaurant which was fun because she is just starting to drive and she used to be driven around by her sisters when they had their permit. They joked with Sarah, and everyone had advice for her and driving. It was great being together with all three again. Dinner was like it is always with them, and they were in good spirits and joked about how Dad would eat anything they didn't. I haven't been that happy in a long time, it is nice to have them together. Not everything that happened, and was said was a high, but it was exciting to have them all together. I don't know how often more that will happen with them starting to have their own lives and graduating for college and getting careers.

So, you may ask, why am I depressed tonight? Because I took them to their house after dinner and then came back to my home. Going from a high to a normal feels like going from normal to a low! I am very happy I was able to see them tonight. I am glad they are happy in their lives. I feel like I am successful if they are happy and eventually successful in what they want to do. I guess the reason you get depressed is you were once happy and want to be that way again. Isn't that why people use drugs? They use drugs because they want to be as happy as they were at one time. I don't need drugs, I have my kids to make me happy when I get "down". Some people say they are, "high on life", I sometimes think I am, "high on my kids"! Thanks Sarah, Jayne, and Lindsey!

health care reform is to health care as sub-prime mortgages are to finance

I have been listening to a book that explains the finance melt-down of 2008. As I listen to what happens it is very similar to what is happening with health care reform (Obamacare). It sounds like what happened was many people in the government wanted to find ways that the poor, or less advantaged could afford to buy a house. The government encouraged loaning institutions to make loans to people that usually couldn't qualify for home loans. To afford these loans the loaning institutions would turn around and sell these loans to other people that would sell the loans to others. It got to be that the important thing was to have loans, not if the people could pay off the loans. So, it turns out that the companies would make money if they made loans, not if the people that bought the house paid off the loan. I don't understand what happened in the stock market, all they really worried about was if they could make a small percentage in the sale of the loan, and they sold millions of loans, then they could make much money. The focus was no longer on the housing market, but the focus was on the loan market. If houses could be sold, and refinanced then the stock market would make more money.

 Eventually the money was lost because there was no real money, it was just selling toothpicks that were worthless, because the loans were worthless because they could not be paid. Now the government is only thinking about making sure everyone has health insurance, rather than thinking what that health insurance can buy. It will start being that the health insurance is the asset, not the health of people. The government isn't going to change anything in the health industry, just make sure everyone has health insurance. The industry will start changing what is covered by health insurance and some things will only be available if you have independent insurance. It is a house of cards, that has no foundation, no financing. Where the extra money comes from is not ensured. It is a great attempt at helping the disadvantaged, but rather than trying to go around the system, a way has to be made to change the system.

Living alone

I live alone with 2 cats, if I come home or not no one knows. I work alone, I travel a lot so no one really knows where I am when I work. This can be a great life, or can be a lonely life. It all depends how I want to look at it. Today I left my house at 6:30 to drive to go to a small school in Oakdale, CA. I worked there for an hour then I drove to Berkeley. I visited a couple of schools there and then I worked at UC Berkeley at night. What if I don't go home? What if I decide to drive to Reno after I finish working? Who would know? It is nice to have this kind of freedom, but it would also be nice to have someone ask me what time I would be home. I often wonder if I really want to live with someone, I wonder what it is like to have someone there when I go, or when I leave. I wonder what it is like to have to wait for someone to finish in the bathroom before I could go, or would ask what to have for dinner. I have lived with people most of my life. When my kids live with me I really enjoy it. I guess I have realized to enjoy what I have rather than complain what I don't have. Be happy, don't worry things will change again!

I ran another 5K in Morgan Hill, CA last Sunday, April 1. I was happy about this because my daughter, Lindsey ran with me. I like when Lindsey runs with me. This time she ran the whole thing rather than run and walk like she usually does. About half way she passed me. She ran faster than she, or I had ever run the 5K. I did one of my fastest time, and was 2 minutes behind Lindsey. I will try to do another race this weekend. I need to do it!!