This and That (Catching Up)

The first official week of summer has been jam-packed with fun and exciting events for our family. It's hard to know exactly where to begin. I've been good about updating this page, but this week summer school began, Summer Quarter at CSU-East Bay is underway, I'm tutoring, and basically, I'm swamped. So, if I can take about 10-15 minutes tonight, I can try to give you a snapshot of everything we've enjoyed lately.

THE ZOO
Last Friday was Will's birthday as you've read. We enjoyed our first trip to the zoo in a while. For the first time I brought my video camera. It's a nice JVC model and I'll tell you, the video camera is a great tool for enjoying the zoo. I played back some of the footage the next morning and it really gets right up close and personal with the animals. We were able to barely see a deer in the shade at one point and - bam! - I was suddenly right on top of it with the camera. So that will be a must-bring item in the future.

While the camera is a neat feature, narrration is something that I'm most likely going to forego. It's funny from time to time around the house with the little digital camera videos I shoot, but David Attenborough I am not! Luckily I learned this early on at our trip. We stopped where everyone stops first when you're at the Oakland Zoo: the flamingos. Only, thanks to my incredible zoom feature I zeroed in on a bird standing atop one leg and began describing the African Spoonbill as a flamingo. Just as I begin to wonder aloud why it's called a spoonbill, Claire says, "It's bill looks like a spoon." So basically, that was a wrap on the narrating. Still, I picked up some cool footage as I mentioned above. We didn't overstay at the zoo because we are now officially *members.* Yahoo! Look out, Planet Earth.

THE BALLGAME
Saturday night was our trip to the ballgame. Kenny and Krista arrived in town with Tyler and Shelby and brought them to their first MLB game. Ron and Kathi joined us as did LaVor, Kimberly, and Amy. It was Will's first ballgame, too! We had seats in the Plaza Reserved section which is above the outfield bleachers. Basically, it's no-man's-land. But for $9, you're right on top of the field, and with three kids under the age of 6 basically, it was probably the way to go.

The A's annual Beerfest took place prior to the game and so the thought of a wild crowd was a concern, but the only thing that could have possibly been a problem at all that night was that maybe it took the sun too long to go down. Seriously. Will was even given a special treat - an official baseball that a young fan gave to him when he learned it was Misters' first ballgame! So, the myths surrounding the dirty, awful bleachers were just that. I'm looking forward to many more, low-priced trips to the ballpark.

THE RACE
This was the eighth year I attended a NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway in the Sonoma Valley. Ron took me in 2001 with Kimberly and we watched from where the old wooden bleachers at the start/finish line were located. I've been back every year since.

In 2003 I wrote to the Director of Ticketing at then-Sears Point and inquired about obtaining pit passes. They seemed very elusive to the average race fan without a bazillion *connections.* (That's the subject for another posting, by the way. Why are people with connections so stingy? Am I the only one who isn't? Sharing means caring, people.)

Well, it turns out that Mr. Gary Phillips (said director) e-mailed me and basically hooked me up with race tickets and pit passes for that year's event. And, oh by the way, he's now Vice President and for the past six years, has mailed pit passes (this year four of them!) to me to enjoy while at the races.

Race day was sunny and beautiful. We were able to enjoy spending a great deal of time walking up and down pit road. We spent some time by the media center where pre-race inspections were going on. For a while we talked shop with NASCAR Official, Rick Walker. I met car owner, Jack Roush; drivers, Kurt Busch and Kyle Petty; Grand Marshall and Food Network star, Guy Fieri. And prior to arriving at the grandstand, we met and spoke with ESPN's NASCAR guru, Marty Smith. He was totally cool and down-to-earth and just very genuine. We were impressed with him!

Kyle Busch - NASCAR's newest *bad boy* dominated the race and earned his 5th victory in 16 races this season. My main man, Jeff Gordon, wound up finishing in 3rd place and moving up three spots in the standings, to 6th overall heading into next week's event in New Hampshire. All in all, the race was LOTS of fun as usual. I'm looking forward to my 9th event next year. The kicker - I've yet to meet Gary Phillips!

WILL's B-DAY (Union City)
After getting summer school started from 8-12 on Monday (I'm teaching Science again), we drove to Union City to spend time with Kenny and Krista and their kids before they left for Disneyland today. We celebrated Will's birthday. The kids went with Ron up the street to the park and played. Kari made a DELICIOUS spaghetti dinner for the 14 of us! Bravo!

Will opened up some new presents including an assortment of cute outfits, a puzzle, and some other fun things. Claire opened an early b-day gift from Kenny and Krista ( a cute skirt!). We also celebrated Kenny's graduation and finished the night with cake and ice cream!

SUMMER QUARTER
My last Tier I class to get my Administrative Credentials is this summer, on top of summer school. It's a pretty tough class, too, but it's online. This is the only week we're having face-to-face sessions (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). It's Finance and Human Resources for Equity. And let me tell you, reading and studying finance is not exactly *fun.* No, not my cup of tea whatsoever. I think this will probably be (next to the School Law class last Winter) the toughest of my classes this year.

The teacher is my Masters program director for the Fall, Michael Fanning. From what I gathered on Tuesday at our first class, he's going to make learning about finance about as (what's the term?) *user-friendly* as possible. From what I've read in the text, the real learning comes on-the-job. I would tend to agree with that based on my experience last fall when I spent two weeks as the Acting Principal. And furthermore, as a teacher, I can tell you that the Credential program didn't nearly train me for the job as much as just being in a classroom with kids did.

Shoot, in my first week of teaching, the attacks on the World Trade Centers took place. Talk about a baptism by fire. I'm sure my day was nothing compared to those who lost their lives or were directly affected, but as far as my own experience that day is concerned, there was no training program or class I took to deal with that.

So, like anything else, I am just going to apply myself to studying and learning about finance as it relates to being in the role of a school principal, and go from there. Even my current principal, Lisa, is offering to hash things out with me next fall. So I appreciate her offer and know that despite my lack of awareness now, I have to start somewhere and I'll get it in the end! I am a finisher.

WHAT'S NEXT?
It's only June 25. I am going to be tutoring Will and Maddy, and possibly Will's sister, this July. I'm not tutoring at all in August.

Summer school runs through the end of July (Mon-Thur, 8-12).

My CSU class is online and I basically just have to complete my assignments and homework by August 15. I'm on my own, there.

Kari's walk is just around the corner (July 12-13). She is still training.

I really need to be more diligent about hitting the gym. I'm getting over there once a week. I need to make that about 2-3, but we're down to 1 car which makes it tricky. Still, it's a lousy excuse.

Our trip to the Magic Kingdom is about 42-43 days away. Woo-hoo!

That's all for now.

Cheers!

Alex