iFLY

Being held down so I don't fly away!

Tonight I went to a wind tunnel. iFly in San Francisco Bay is in Union City. 8 of us were going in the same class and we were introduced to the wind tunnel and taught how to fly. I didn't fly very well, but I had a wonderful time. I thought I would be scared to fly, but it was the opposite. Instead of being scared I was excited and wanted to go again.

Going round and round.

I would highly suggest this experience to anyone. It is a little expensive, but I feel it is worth it.

Running on the Bay!

Early this morning I ran another 5K. This one was local, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. This was a very good run. It was very fun to see the bay next to where I was running. Since I ran yesterday I was hurting before I even started. This race weekend was easier than the back to back races I did earlier in the year. I feel happy that I have kept this up for 8 months. I have 4 more months to do 2 races a month.

San Francisco was across the Bay!

Back to Running ... again.

Running next to the ocean.

I got up early today and drove to Pacifica to run a 5K. I was there early because I hadn't registered previously. The posting on the internet told me that same day registration was going to be at a building, but when I got there no one was in that building. I went to where the race was to start and a table was there to register. Of course, by the time I got there the parking wasn't easy. All was good, and I got registered around 8:20. I walked around for a while. They had booths set up which were fun to browse. When I registered they told me they had a warm up thing at a stage and they weren't sure where the race started.

Everyone waiting for race to start.

There were LOTS of dogs and baby strollers. The dogs were attacking each other and just making a lot of noise. The race was supposed to start at 9am, but no one knew where it was starting from. Ten minutes after 9 a few ladies were walking around telling everyone the warm up was going to begin at the stage. When I went to the stage nothing was going on. At twenty after I went back to the stage and there were 3 ladies leading a warm up, and all the dogs were barking at each other and it just felt weird. Finally they figured out where the race was going to start and we went over there.

Waiting to start.

We finally started and lots of people ran in front of the dog and stroller crowd. I haven't run a race in a month and I have only run once or twice a week all month. For six month I prided myself on being able to run the 5K without walking, even if it wasn't fast. I can't do that any more. I run the total faster, but walk. I'm not happy about it and I hope I can run the whole race again by the end of the year.

Running along the ocean.

This race was nice. It was cold and foggy, in many people were wearing heavy coats and sweats.  The run was nice, the trail was very picturesque and there weren't many hills. Some little kids ran past me which was kind of humiliating, but not too bad. I run for me, not for others. As the group was starting a car was pulling out of a driveway and drove quickly past all the runners. If I had an egg I would have thrown it at the car.

Car driving in the middle of the runners.

I run again tomorrow so hopefully things will be better!

The finish line!

Changes ... some are good, some aren't...

2008 Chevy Malibu

Today I got my car back from being repaired after an accident. It has been in the body shop for 10 days. While it was in the shop I was thinking about buying a new car. My car has almost 100,000 miles on it and I thought it was a good time to buy a new car. I have been shopping for cars for 2 weeks and found out that I really like the car I have now. I have a Chevy Malibu. I drove a new Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion, Nissan Accord, Mercedes 250, and a Cadillac SRX. Of all the cars I have driven I didn't see a reason to get a new car. My car looks good and it is comfortable. None of the cars have that much better gas mileage. I realize I am happy with the vehicle I have and I am happy to have my car back. I drove a rental Hundai Sonata while mine was being repaired and I was happy with the way it looked, but not happy with the ride.

Rabbit outside!

Bedtime!

Today I also got a new laptop. I got a 14" Acer Aspire to replace my 15.6" Toshiba. Nobody believed that I had to warm up my laptop for an hour before it would turn on. I felt embarrassed trying to turn on my computer and it not turning on. I was hoping my company would supply me with a laptop, like my old company did, but I am told that since the military gives me a laptop my company won't, even though the military computer isn't useful and it won't start when I turn it on until I put in 30 numbers. I like the smaller size of this laptop and the speed is faster. Lots of things I like about this laptop. I liked many things about my other laptop, which is only 1.5 years old. My older laptop still works very good. One of my friends that is a computer expert says my problem is systematic of a cracked motherboard. A motherboard would be as expensive as buying a new computer. I am really really happy with my new computer for many reasons. I think it will make my life easier. Now I have to spend time setting up my new computer.
All week I have been debating on how important it is to keep my promise to myself on running 2 5K races a month. I have one weekend left to run, so I will have to run on Saturday and Sunday. I have already signed up and paid for the Sunday run, the only close Saturday run is in Oakland where I will have to run the same path I ran before. I don't enjoy that run ... I guess I should go to bed to be able to run in the morning.

Richmond High School

Front of school.

Today I visited Richmond High School. Richmond is INFAMOUS in this area for having much violence. I have been to other areas of Northern California and have met kids from Richmond and their parents sent them to live with their grandparents so they don't have to go to Richmond High.

Church across the street.

 I try to find good things about a high school when I go there so I can compliment the people I meet about it. I know this is a bad area so I was expecting the school to be built like a prison, to keep the bad guys out. A school needs to feel like a safe environment so kids can relax and find a way out of the area. This school was like a prison, a high security prison. When I tried to park I found the visitor parking lot had only 5 spaces, and all other cars were locked behind a gate.

Stores across the street.

Since there was no place to park I had to park on the street, after I waited behind a car that was waiting for the gate to open to park with the other cars. After I parked I looked around and realized the school was in a neighborhood I wouldn't want to walk down the street. There were stores across the street that had 3 or 4 security guards walking around outside. There was a church across the street and it didn't look too inviting. I don't mean to be negative, but I was very sad to see where this school was. Looking at the school it looked like a prison, no windows and barriers all around. Trash on the lawn, and not a well kept lawn. I always look at schools and wonder if I would want my daughter going to this school. I think if I lived in the area that my daughter would have to go to this school she would be living in Monterey with my Mom! Walking in the school felt strange. I know it is the first week of school, but most schools have lots of inviting things for the new Freshmen.

Street across from the school.

This looked like an abandoned hallway that led to the office. In the office it seemed like complete pandemonium. There were 5 people working in the office, only one was helping the 2 people at the desk. I walked in and there was a lady behind me. As I waited for those two to be helped 2 students walked in, pushed me to the side and demanded to get passes so they could get home. I waited while they were helped. When I asked where the Career Center was the lady didn't know, and neither did anyone else there, so she looked in the directory and found out. She pointed me in a direction. I asked if she would like me to sign in. She said, "oh yea". She didn't worry about the VISITOR stickers next to her. I went in the direction she pointed and my heart started racing and as I walked in the hallways.

Hallway coming into school.

Some students were wandering around and they just looked scary. I asked a couple where the career center was and no one knew. I saw a teacher in an empty classroom and asked him, and he said he didn't know. I got an idea that not many people went to the career center. I walked past one classroom and the teacher asked, "What is 1 times 4", and no one answered. He said, "Come on students, think." Okay, I needed to get finished with this school quickly. I finally found the Career Center in the back of the last hall.

Career Center!

The counselor there was very negative and didn't understand why I would visit their school. Well, she doesn't have to wonder that any more ... she won't see me until next year.
After I spent the morning in Richmond I had some business in Palo Alto, near Stanford. These two cities are about an hour away from each other by car ... a lifetime by reality!

Palo Alto street near school.

School in Palo Alto.

August Class

My daughter teaching a class.

This month's class is over. My daughter Lindsey was in the class and that made it very emotional for me. Children are often different with friends than family, and parents don't often get the chance to see their kids in a different environment. My daughter made me proud. She was a kind and thoughtful person that put other people first. She allowed me to teach her what I know and learned well from me. I was able to see a test she did for the class and I was impressed with how much she had learned.

Eric explaining that hamsters are mean.

This class was like every class, full of diverse characters! We had 2 Korean girls that were learning to teach ESL when they go back to their country. A couple of students had just gotten their MAs and want to go teach overseas before they start their careers. One lady was a minister in the local jail and wants to set up an ESL program, I may even help her set it up. One student is planning on moving to Viet Nam and set up a school, I tried to explain to him running a school is a business decision not an educational decision.

MinJi will leave for Korea in 2 days.

A couple of students don't have a BA and were worried about how that will affect their possibilities of employment. I told them all it really does is limit their choices. One of them took the initiative while in my class and put his resume on line to look for a job. He was contacted last Monday by a kindergarten in Beijing. He was offered a job and will leave this Thursday. He will start teaching next week, 2 weeks after receiving the job. He now believes me that in this profession getting the job isn't the problem. I am happy for him and he is very excited.

Class picture.

This was a great group of students and I know I have made a difference in the world by teaching them. Next month I teach back in Berkeley look forward to see what those students will be like. I already know I will be teaching back in San Jose in October, but I don't know about October yet.

Students acting like they are trees!

I am debating with myself if I should continue my running. If I want to keep doing two races a month I will have to run next weekend on Saturday and Sunday and then the following weekend on Saturday and Sunday. I know if I don't run this weekend then I will stop my running regimen and I don't really think that is a good idea. Wish me luck in maintaining my promise of running two 5K races a month!!

iDon't like the iPhone

My first phone

iDon't like the iPhone. iDon't understand why so many people like it except many people think it is the only smart phone. I have had a regular, non-smart phone for a long time. Last year I finally broke down and got a Win 7 phone. At first I didn't like it because it was not an iPhone. I got used to it and it was useful to me ... but, I kept thinking, it wasn't an iPhone.

In Monterey in 2003.

A week ago I got an iPhone because it WAS an iPhone. Then I found out I couldn't open Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) documents. Then I found out I couldn't text as easily hands free. I had to push buttons to text, not just speak into my bluetooth. My Win 7 phone would speak the text messages to me automatically and then I could speak into my bluetooth and say "send" and the phone would send the message. The iPhone has great apps, but I found out I never used them. The iPhone has Siri and I could just tell it to do things and it would do them. I felt like I was part of the BIG group when I had iPhone. Next month I will give my iPhone to my daughter and I will get another Win 7 phone. If you have an iPhone and love it then GREAT, I'm happy for you. If you don't have an iPhone then don't just presume it is the best thing just because everyone else has one. It feels good not to do something only because everyone does it. I feel young again!!

Cute little house.

Pet Insurance

2010

I have two cats and one of the got sick this week. I kept putting off taking the cat to the vet because I don't want to spend a lot of money on my cats. The vet I take my cats to make me feel bad if I don't want to get the best for the cats. They want me to buy their expensive food for the cats. They heard a heart murmur in one of the cats and wanted to get an x-ray and MRI to find the exact problems. After they found the problem the would know what special diet I would need to get the cat so he could live a long life. Those tests would cost $800 and no telling what the special diet would cost.

When I first got Simon and Theodore.

My cats are simple, I put food and water down for them all the time and I come and go. I clean the litter box 3 times a week and keep it clean. I buy the least expensive food in bulk and they are usually happy. 2 nights ago I had a dream that I had a little puppy and I had to put it to sleep because the vet bills were getting to be too much. The little puppy died a horrible death and the insides came out his mouth. I felt bad after the dream and realized I needed to take the cat to the vet. For the past 3 nights the cat has been retching and vomiting about every 2 or 3 hours. I knew something was wrong and hoped it wouldn't be too expensive taking the cat to the vet. I took them both, so the other one could get his rabies shot. The sick one was really quiet when there. They couldn't find any problems and the cat didn't have a fever so they decided to give it an x-ray, $200. They didn't see anything in the stomach, but noticed an inflammation in the lungs. The vet called me and she thinks the cat has asthma. What! So, they gave me some medicine and told me to bring the cat back in 10 days. How much should I pay for  a cat to stay healthy. Pet insurance would help. I wouldn't mind paying $10 a month for the cat to go to the vet when sick. But, a vet makes money by doing procedures to animals. I don't see my cats as children, they are cats. They are also mammals and you can't just throw them down the toilet like a fish. I am not going to pay for special food the next 7 years for a cat. I hope the cat doesn't have asthma, and in fact it hasn't wheezed or had convulsions since it came back. Am I a bad guy for not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars a month of my cats?

I'm a Republican!

Heise Hot Springs.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and if you live around here you think everything loves President Obama and if you don't you are really not smart. I get so tired of people thinking if you are a certain party you must agree with everything they say. I have always been a Republican, but I don't agree with the Republican party about abortion, I think it should be up to the woman. I don't agree with a few things the Republican Party says, but I do believe that the government isn't the answer to everyone's problems. I really disliked the "Republican" view a few years ago that some lady that was on life support shouldn't be allowed to be taken off, even if the family wanted to. I don't think the government should micro-manage everything about our lives. I get tired of this constant fighting with political parties.

flower on the side of road.

I tell my daughters if they want to know what people really think about politics then have them tell you something bad about the political party they support. No one is perfect, when they tell me President Obama is great I ask them to tell me something he isn't so good at. If they can't tell me then I know they are speaking from emotion not from evaluating the facts. When the Obama became president he proposed a plan to have everything do something to support the government. Either join the military or join a government organization that either teaches in the inner-city, helps feed the country, or doing something to support the government. The Republican Party tried to say that Obama was trying to raise an organization that would be used to support the Democratic Party. That was so stupid!

Truck of hay on freeway.

A few years before, and as long as I can remember, the Republicans suggested everyone do something to help the country. They recommended exactly what the new Democratic president just suggested. But, if the Democrats suggest it then it is bad ... and if the Republicans suggest it then it is good. That is stupid! The Republican running for president announced his vice president nominee. The Democrats jumped all over him because this man wanted to revamp the Medicare system. The Democrats say that the change will take away people's medical system. If you listen to what they say they think it is the worst thing that was every suggested. If you look at what changes will be made to the Medicare system is you will have the choice of keeping the present system or having the system the Congress has! For the past 4 years the Democrats have been wanting to change people's health system to what Congress has, and now they argue that this system will kill people and take something away from people.

National Guard truck!

It turns out the Democrats will not agree with ANYTHING the Republicans suggest for the only reason that it was suggested by the Republicans. The Republicans won't won't anything suggested by the Democrats because it wasn't suggested by the Republicans. Something is wrong here and no one will face the fact. I am worried about the country. If you look at a map of the country you see the Democrat states are in the northeast and west coast. The middle of the country is mostly Republican. What will happen?

Sarah pictures

Sarah in a jeep.

Grizzly

A few weeks ago I was on vacation with Sarah, my youngest daughter, my mom, and sister. I like to take pictures while I am out and about. Sometimes the people with me get annoyed because I often stop and take pictures. These days Sarah is practice driving so I get to take pictures while she is driving. During out vacation Sarah picked up the camera while I was driving and took some pictures. I was impressed with some of her pictures. I would happily give my camera to her when she wants. Now I need to learn to pose as well as she does!

Elk

I hope she learns to enjoy taking pictures as much as I do so I can observe the things she does throughout her life.

Me trying to golf.

Sarah trying to golf.

Car Accident

My car after accident.

Last week I got into a car accident. It is interesting that your life can be changed in an instant. I was driving to the gym, which I did get to, and wasn't really in a hurry. When I get to the light that I have to turn at it was turning yellow, so I hurried through it.  I was just around the turn as I saw the car that was waiting to make a U turn, that I was driving in front of, to start moving forward. I was hoping he would let me get out of his way, but he didn't. He drove into the side of my car. He only had to move about a yard forward and he was in my side. He told me he had a green light and I didn't say anything. I just thought if he had driven into someone in a crosswalk if he would have said the same thing. If he had a green light does it give him the right to hit me?

Other car after the accident.

I stopped in the middle of traffic and made sure no one was hurt then moved my car to the side of the street. The other driver wasn't going to move his car, even though it was rush hour traffic and many people were waiting to turn behind him. He was ready to argue with me on the street that it was my fault and he didn't move until there was a green light. I didn't say anything. I just realized that I didn't hit him with my car, and he ran into the side of my car starting at the back door. Why didn't he see me? Why did he go? Did he think he could just run into me if he wanted? AAGGGGHHHHH!! I was so frustrated, but experience tells me I can't argue with people, they add together what they want and they will come to the conclusion they want to.

The culprit intersection!

My insurance company is very good and even other insurance companies tell me they don't like to disagree with my company. To fix my car will cost $4000. It has 98,000 miles on it. I will have to soon replace the struts and shocks soon. I will have to get new tires in the next year. I can purchase a new car and make the same payments I make now. I guess I have some decisions to make.

Happiness

Fruit stand in Gilroy, CA

Think of all the essays you have read about what makes a person happy. What is the "secret" of a happy life? Last weekend I taught the first weekend of a three weekend class for people that want to teach English in other countries. We had a great class with 11 students. I also invite guests to come that are ESL students that my class students can practice teaching. It is a lot of fun and makes me feel good that I am helping people get jobs and I am sending teachers out into the world that will help improve their students' lives. I got home yesterday and I was a little depressed. I couldn't really understand why I was depressed yesterday, I had a good day, spent the time day with good people that were excited and appreciated my help.

Low water at the resevoir.

I wasn't happy, and I didn't know why. I think one problem is going from a high to a low, the extremes are not good for me. This month my daughter, Lindsey, is in my class. She went home early because she was a little sick. I worried about that all during the second half of the class. But, while she was in class I was really happy because I got to share my skills with my daughter. I knew that she would be a better teacher when she goes to Korea because she would gain the knowledge I could give her from my experience. That makes me happy. I think what is important is helping others improve their life. Whether it is a spouse or a child of yours, or a friend or a stranger, what makes a life worth living is improving someone's life. You can improve your life by making a difference in the world.

Cow in Gilroy!

Happiness is hard to reach if you do it for yourself. When I feel down I think about things I can do to improve other lives, which will improve mine, but letting me know the world is a little better from what I have done. Tomorrow I will go to Sacramento and work with a couple of people that want to improve their lives, and I have a unique talent to help them. I will then go to Berkeley and talk to people about my weekend class to see if they need what I can give them. Today Sarah and I went to get her paper signed so she can play sports this year. We then went to the store to get school supplies because school starts next week. Then she came over and just hung out at my house for a couple of hours. I wonder if my kids know that just spending time with them is what makes me happy!

Haircut Factory

Snake River, Idaho

Yesterday I went to Fresno for work. It was a nice drive and I had a good time. I have been needing a haircut for a while so when I got back into San Jose I stopped at my favorite haircut place. The place I like going for haircuts would seem like a bad decision. It reminds me of one of those eating places that looks terrible and run down, but has the best food. This place is set up just like a factory. It charges $6 for a haircut and usually has 8 - 15 people working there (I don't know if they would be called barbers or hair salon workers. The clientele is various occupations, usually construction workers, mothers with children, or dish washers.

I like seeing this flower on the side of the road

 I am usually the only one in there with a tie, or wears a tie for work. I don't mind paying $25 for a haircut. I often pay $15. I have found that the best haircut that I can get costs $6. Should I not go there because I don't pay enough? Should I not go there because of their clientele? This is the only place I have found that when I tell them I want a "trim" they don't try to change my hairstyle. Most places try to style it different and make it shorter than I want. This place trims my hair to be only shorter than it was and keep it looking the same. So ... they cut it the way I want it, it only costs $6, and it only takes 5 minutes! Doesn't that sound like the best of all worlds? I will continue to go there and I might just go more often!

Beauty can be found in many parts of nature.