Project Open Hand -- Grocery Center

My 10 advisees, who are rising 10th graders at LWHS, will be required this upcoming academic year to find an organization and volunteer for 40+ hours during the school year.  In solidarity, as well as to walk the talk, I decided this summer that I would start and do the same.  First, it's hard to get people to call you back.  I went to a couple websites, sent a couple emails and in one case talked to the volunteer coordinator at an organization....and nothing. Once you get in and set up, I will say that it's hard to give of your time in a way that feels worthwhile. I found an organization that has once a month work nights where they prepare backpacks to give out to homeless kids. There I was cleaning previously owned bags, to get them to as new as possible, and I was making up little ziploc bags of 8 Q-Tips each.  For a couple hours, it's ok, but I would rather be out working with the homeless themselves.  But finally, I found Project Open Hand

They have four programs.  Everyday, throughout about 15 locations in the city, they provide a hot lunch for seniors.  They prepare meals, most are frozen for distribution but many are delivered hot each evening for those who can't get out of there homes.  They also provide supplemental groceries for many who are ill or who's doctors believe they need additional nutrition each day.  The amount of food a person can get would be the equivalent of one solid meal a day.

Project Open Hand is located at 730 Polk Street.

I have signed up for a shift every Saturday afternoon from 12:30-16:00

Clients arrive in the waiting area.  They check-in, get a number and slip and then fill out their order.

Some qualify for the frozen pre-made meals.  The choices vary every week.  There are also Diabetic, non-Dairy and Vegetarian options.

All of them will get get this slip and they fill it out in the waiting area.  I've learned the difference between my proteins.....

...and beans and grains.

The protein and produce options vary each week. 

Once a client is done and their number is called, that's where myself and the other volunteers come in.  We take their slip and go back and "shop" for them.

Frozen meals case

Here's what a frozen meal looks like.

When it comes to produce, we do the best we can to get them the best.  The apples this week, not so good, but the oranges were excellent. Last week there was bok choy, this week, cauliflower.

The beans and grains section.

Here's the size of the bag of beans and grains.

Shopping! We usually get about 100 clients that come through during a Saturday afternoon shift.

Once finished, we wheel up to the counter and unload the items and the client bags them themselves.  If they brought their own bags, they can enter a raffle to win a free shopping trip.

Off to the side of the grocery center is the warehouse.  Here a volunteer is bagging broccoli into bags that clients get.

This type of service works for me.  There is just enough interaction with the people whom I'm serving plus there is the satisfaction of a finite task.  I get handed a slip, I go through, pick out what items are asked for and then I get to give the client something that helps them with their daily lives.  I'm going to keep this up all academic year.

Summer Golf in San Francisco

I brought my golf clubs back down from Seattle and purchased a San Francisco Resident Golf card and have been out golfing this summer.  The course nearest to my house is a 9-holer called Gleneagles.

Being on the southeastern side of the city, it has views of the Bay at times.

But most of the time you are looking south towards San Bruno Mountain. 

The course is built on a slope, and because there is so little glass, balls end up far away from where you expect.

When I played there, I got to play with a Mom and her daughter, who was playing her first round ever.

Gleneagles also has an 18-hole foot golf course set up.  On all the flat holes, there were all these random flags and plastic holes.  It took me a while to figure out what was going on.

Next stop, Harding Park.  This course is the crown jewel of the San Francisco public golf system.  It's fantastically maintained, with lush grass and decent greens.

Harding Park is about a mile from the famed Olympic Club and has the same feel, but it's public. In fact, Harding Park will host the 2020 PGA Championship.

Harding Park is mostly flat and it's best holes are on the back side that are right along the bluff of Lake Merced.

In the far northwest corner of the city is Lincoln Park Golf Course, which has great ocean views.  The condition of the fairways are spotty, but the greens are in fantastic shape.  This picture shows holes 3,4 and 5 which are located in a small valley.

The Lincoln Park course plays around the Palace of Legion of Honor.

There are great views of the Richmond District.  It's a short course, par 68 with most par 4's between 260 and 380 yards.

The glamour hole is #17 which plays with a view of The Golden Gate Bridge.  Too bad the fog hadn't lifted when I played.

The 17th hole.....with the Baker Beach to the left and the Presidio in the far distance.

Sharp Park Golf Course is a SF Municipal Golf Course located along the ocean in Pacifica.  In the fog belt, I played on a glorious afternoon.  This is the 12th hole, which plays right at Point Mori on the left.

Sharp Park's claim to fame is that it was designed by Alistair MacKenzie, the same architect as Augusta National and Cypress Point.  The 13th hole plays right at the single tree on Milagra Ridge.

Just over the right berm is Sharp Park beach.  Sharp Park, I thought was a 9 hole course, but it's a full 6,100 yard 18 hole course.  Flat, but in decent condition.

Just like all the SF courses, it has those great Cypress trees.  The trees here are strategically placed.  They get in the way more often that you would think.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Now that Onions is working, he doesn't often get two days off in a row. Thanks to 4th of July, we were able to leave after he got off work on the 2nd and headed up to Lassen National Park, to continue our tour of parks and beautiful places. Our first stop was the Cinder Cone, in the far Northeast Corner of the park.

It's a mile or so hike from the trailhead to the base of the cone and then there is a path up to the top.

From the rim of the cone, you can see the park's namesake, Lassen Peak.

But there is ALSO a crater, we didn't descend down into it, though.

From the top of Cinder Cone, the base is surrounded by dunes, which have these amazing colored spots.

From rim, you can also see the extent of the lava fields.

The hike to and from Cinder Cone is right along the edge of the lava fields.

So, this Costco Chicken had been sitting in our refrigerator for almost a week and we finally ate it post hike.  It's probably the most well traveled Costco Chicken ever.

After Cinder Cone, we drove back through the main part of the park.  Here's a reflection of Lassen Peak on Manzanita Lake.

Of course, Onions reads all the signs.....

.....and this is the reason I can't get him to consider camping.  AARGH!!

The south side of Lassen Peak, less snow on the mountain, but at the base, a melting lake.  It was a perfect time to see the lake and snow/ice as it was breaking and melting.

The bummer of the visit to Lassen Peak is that the famed hydrothermal/volcanic area called Bumpass Hell was closed.  This is looking down at what we could have hiked to.  Next time....but I have a feeling we aren't going to make a special trip.  Lassen, after places like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon just didn't compare.

This Box Has Been Sitting Around for Seven Years

This last week of June 2016, I attended a professional development conference on teaching Algebra through more visuals at Head-Royce.  On the last day, the class moved into a room and I noticed this box sitting on the shelf.  That pink sticker....looked familiar.

Upon closer inspection....oh my.  That's my box.  413 is the room that I was assigned in the new building the last year I taught at Head-Royce, so this box was packed in 2008 when we were moving.

Papers and files, to be expected.

But I had old tests from 2002!  And before I started putting grades in an Excel Spreadsheet, I had grade/attendance logs for the years 2000-06.

I just tossed most papers into recycling, but for some reason, this tattered piece of paper stuck out.  Ahhh, you former students know HOW MUCH I LOVE (sarcasm) study day!

I Actually Look Like I Know What I'm Doing

This past school year, around February, my morning bus stop to school moved 100 feet south.  Not that big a deal, except now my bus stop, at which I stand at 615AM is not in front of a "former auto body shop turned into Crossfit gym." All spring, I would watch these people at 6AM running and being dedicated enough to be working out at 6AM. I always wondered what this was all about.  Therefore, once school got out, I worked up the nerve to walk in when it was in session and check it out.  Next thing I know, I've signed up for the introductory series of three workouts to assess my fitness level.  Turns out....not so great.  Stamina and cardio is decent (thanks swimming!) but my range of motion and flexibility is terrible.  So my trainer, Sean, and I have been working on the goal of getting me flexible enough, as well as learn a lot of the exercises and lifting skills, to get in a regular class.  So far, eight sessions in, I'm much more flexible and look at these pictures.  I'm actually lifting barbells and kettle bells. So it turns out my rotational balance is good (thanks golf) but I have a hard time with squats and backwards movement that requires balance (gotta up my yoga!).

My workouts have been three times a week at 930AM (after I drop Onions off at work) for just over an hour.  I start by rowing 1,000 meter, then flexibility stretching, spending 20-30 minutes on learning technique (sumo dead lift...it's the only name I can remember right now, among others) and then ending with a cardio workout interspersed with sit ups, pushups or goblet squats.  It's fun, and I'm having a blast.