All for the right to not have to.....

Each and every year (well, except for last year), the first weekend in December finds the Math Department heading down to the Asilomar Conference Center on the Monterey Peninsula to attend the Northern California Mathematics Teachers' Conference. Tradition has it that we drive down Friday after school check in to the same motel and then have a wonderfully festive and expensive dinner on the Department's dime. After dinner we generally gather to play a game (Pictionary or Settlers) and then hit bed to get an early start to the day on Saturday.

Over the course of many years, my snoring has been foisted on any new male department member by making him my roommate. This year, I was to get my own room sparing every male the painful experience of my nocturnal sounds. Except this week a wrench was thrown into the works. One of my colleagues companion (this is a story in and of itself but since it's my blog and his story I can't tell it) will be joining us and so he is getting the single and I am going to have to share a room.

So what is the Math Department way to equitably decide who has to room with me? I posted on the whiteboard in the department room, a challenging extra credit problem I gave to my Honors Geometry classes that I didn't know how to do. Last person to solve it is my roommate. There was frantic scribbling all after lunch.

On an ironic note, the first person to give me the correct answer (I have the answer book but not the solutions manual) was a senior girl who was given the problem by another senior. She figured it out during her last period Neurobiology class.

Where are you on the political spectrum?

CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

So there you have it. Where are you? Take the 10 questions quiz here.

Slate's Green Challenge

As a diversion from the twice-yearly pain that is writing comments about each of my students, I have discovered podcasts and that led me to visit The Green Challenge at Slate.com.

Here's a result of my carbon footprint:

Your annual carbon emissions are 15,829.6 lbs.

That's equivalent to the emissions from 1.55 passenger cars.

Average carbon emissions per year, per person:
United States: 44,312
Qatar: 117,064
France: 13,668
India: 2,645
Kenya: 440

I think I may have underreported a couple things but I do know that I am on the low end of energy consumption living in a place where I don't have to air-condition and the fact that I don't fly on a plane more than twice a year. My taking BART to work a couple times a week is a big reducer as well. I'll try and follow the course of actions that the site suggests to reduce our carbon footprint by 20% over the next eight weeks.

It would have to be that one, of course...

This past Friday, the Head-Royce School Annual Fair went off without a hitch. This being the second year I have been the coordinator, there were fewer kinks and from the outside, appeared to go on seamlessly. But of course, I have some story to relay. This one just happens to involve another faculty member. It has become apparent that most of the run-ins I've had in my tenure at HRS (or even Lawrenceville for that matter) have been with other adults. It is partially a matter of two adults having to deal with each other and compromise which both find difficult because both are used to being the ultimate authority in the classroom and their word most frequently being the final word.

So, as usual, some background is needed. The crux of the fair is the activities and games that different clubs/classes/groups sponsor for the little kids. For many of these groups, it is their main fundraiser of the year or they donate their earnings to a worthy cause. Early in September, I posted a blank copy of a School Fair application on my website and blank copies on the board in the main hallway. I had a couple annoucements made at our twice weekly morning meeting over the past six weeks. The deadline (which is SO not enforced at HRS) was Friday October 13th which was the Friday before the Fair. Most groups followed the instructions and were assigned a space at the Fair. There were a couple stragglers, but by the Tuesday before the event, things were in place.

Then at 12:15PM Friday afternoon, just over five hours from the start of the Fair, a student comes in and asks me where their booth was located because she didn't see it posted on the map I created. I told her that I never received a form from her group and because there were no spots available that she was out of luck. After a bit of hemming and hawing, she went to locate the club member who was supposed to turn the form in. Twenty minutes later, the faculty advisor to this club asks if there is any special consideration I could give to this club. He says he signed the form and that would I be willing to let them into the Fair. I gave my standard, no form and no space reply. At that point, the tone of voice changed and the faculty member stated that we should probably speak in private and at that point I was told that this group (which didn't exist in the past or if they did it was under a different group name) had always been a participant at the Fair and that should be enough. I, like most human beings, when told that they should do something in that tone of voice will NEVER allow the other person to win and could not be persuaded to find that group a spot.

About a half hour later, a member of the group who is one of my favorite students, asked if there was anything I could do. I found them a spot, which was located behind another building that wouldn't have my foot traffic, but I accomodated them.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon and I am tallying up the earnings of each of the booths. Most of the groups counted their tickets and so it was a matter of jotting down the amounts. There were a couple groups for which I had to count tickets. I posted the earnings of each group and submitted the values to the Business Office so the groups could be credited that amount.

An hour after I posted the earnings list. Guess who comes by to ask what happened to that groups earnings. F*** Why of all the groups could I not anywhere find an amount for that group? Did I not transfer it from my written notes onto the word processing document. Of course that sheet with my written notes was gone. And I had recycled all the bags of tickets earlier in the day. Of all the groups that I could have forgotten, it had to be this one.

So, tomorrow, I have to face the music and confess to the faculty advisor of that group that I don't have a record of how much that group earned. Damn.....

Ernie and Michigan's 6th Congressional District Part II

My friend Peter S. sent me this email today after having read my previous entry about my admiration for my friend Dave F's partner for running against a longtime incumbent congressmen, Fred Upton, from Michigan's 6th Congressional District, which takes in the Southwest corner of the state. Here's the contents of Peter's email:

Hey, you forgot the 3 most important details in your post about Fred Upton.

1. My family moved to Washington DC when my Dad went to work for David Stockman as his Deputy Director of Management. Stockman left that House seat to take the OMB job.

2. My Dad is pretty friendly with Upton.

3. I worked for Fred Upton for 3 days. I got an unpaid internship in his office the Summer of '88 after I graduated high school. It was stultifying. I got a call after several days from the Great Falls Village Green Preschool asking if I'd take a job there -- and that they'd pay me extra if I drove the school for field trips. Done! Driving the school bus was great!

I demand an addendum to the blog post!

What connection between myself and this district might come up next?

What a soon to be talking child sounds like on email

Longtime readers will certainly remember the brouhaha that I caused around the holidays last year when I had my flip out over my friends' small children. In my list of rant items, I definitively stated that I found it quite annoying and not in the least charming when my friend put their "not yet talking but definately making noises" toddler on the phone to "say hello."

So yesterday I got an email from my dear friend Catherine V-S and she got me with the following:

"L would like to type--is this that awful equivalent of putting the kid on the phone--he's asking for a turn though--so here he is.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjjjjjddddddddddddssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
j555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll


lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll;vvvvvvbbbbbbvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvhkhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh;;.k;//////////"


All I can do is laugh and admit that I'm never going to win this one.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Music Festival

The frequency of my postings to the blog this fall has been low and that has mostly to do the return to the daily/weekly rhythm of being back in school. Add to that the fact that I am doing the same things, for instance planning the school fair, that I've written about in years past, hasn't given me much to write or expound on. Keeping this blog has given me pause to realize that I need to shake up life a bit and do things that expose me to new things or learn about new things. That's why there is the flurry of woodworking home improvement projects. Yesterday, I decided that since I've always loved Bluegrass music (not exactly something you would expect from an Asian-American guy who grew up in the Pacific Northwest) and brave the enormous crowds to attend the free of cost The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival held on the Speedway Meadow of Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco. The reason why it is free of cost to all of us who attended is well documented in this story on NPR. The weather for the three day event was perfect (remember that the best months of weather in San Francisco are September and October) and attendance this year was estimated at 350,000. My friend Jason L. and I heeded the suggestion of taking public transportation and arrived around 3PM Sunday afternoon. There were five different stages, each with a separate lineup of performers. Jason and I found a nice spot on top of the Southern ridge that rises above Speedway Meadow. The headline act of the festival (and from what I gather each of the previous five festivals) was Emmylou Harris. Thanks to Jason and the two sisters who sat behind us for giving me the reasons why having Emmylou's presence at the festival was so significant. During the three and a half hours at the festival, we heard two other bluegrass bands in addition to Harris.

It's ironic that for a self-proclaimed "music really doesn't interest or resonate with me" person that I've gone to two concerts in the past two weeks. I'll attribute it to the "growth" I'm working on and expanding the things about which I can blog.

Saving a piece of my childhood

Turtleback Mountain, Orcas Island, WA (Photo Credit Seattle Times)

Many great childhood memories I have took place on Orcas Island, a group of idyllic islands in the Northwestern corner or Washington State (and for that matter the Lower 48 of United States). First off, the humorous part would have to be the picture of a bunch of Asian-American families travelling en masse to a beachfront chunk of land on Deer Point of Orcas Island. My family as well as the group of families that formed to social community in which I grew up would go up camping at least three times every summer. The amenities were few, a rundown trailer, an outhouse and a spigot with running water. The rest of the seven acres, which was owned by my parents and two other families, was overrun with nature. But the fact that we owned half of the beach of a small cove was amazing, and only as an adult do I truly understand how special it was. I say was because the land was sold by the three families in the mid-90's to someone who contacted my parents and their fellow co-owners and offered up an ungodly amount of money to buy it and so my parents and et. al. sold it. This was a tragedy most devastating to the six children of the owners. We six still mourn the loss.

Our families would set up tents and we children would play on the beach, dig up crabs, skip rocks, attempt every summer to climb just a bit further out towards the tip of the cove and watch the fog roll in and out to reveal or hide the "disappearing islands" offshore. We would all go to Moran State Park and get driven to the top of Mount Constitution and then hike (or in many cases run) down the mountain to Cascade Lake where our parents were waiting for us. Our parents would play set up folding tables to play Mah-Jongg (picture my mother and her friends playing Mah-Jongg amidst the towering trees of Orcas Island) into the night time hours. We would BBQ traditional camping food but it was always served with traditional Chinese dishes that our Mom's could pack up in a cooler. And somehow, I remember us always having fireworks. Certainly we were up there on 4th of July and that made sense for fireworks, but we were always setting off fireworks, so we must have brought them every single visit.

As you can tell, I speak of these childhood camping trips to Orcas Island with great fondness. The memories are even more treasured now that the land is no longer in the hands our either my parents or their friends. That's why this story about saving Turtleback Mountain from development struck a chord with me. The Seattle based Medina Foundation has put up the large swath of undeveloped land, currently privately held, up for sale. But in an act of generosity, conservation groups have been given the opportunity to but it first before developers. At $18.5 million dollars, the land could be preserved undeveloped and opened to the public for hiking and general enjoyment. Please consider a donation to the San Juan Preservation Trust. At the site, you can specifically designate your funds toward saving Turtleback Mountain. With a gift of $150 or more, you will receive a Gary Larson (of the Far Side) designed T-Shirt that references saving Turtleback Mountain. I've got my T-Shirt coming.

My most enthusiastic participant wins

The latest word I ask those who leave voicemail messages for me is SYNTHESIZE. For some reason, mostly coincidental, the first person to call me and get my outgoing message with the new word is Joe H. of Greenbrae, CA. He's always in the running for the victory, but as I look back at the winners, he has yet to win, but does have a number of honorable mentions. Well, this week, there was no doubt, he cleverly used the word and trounced all other participants. Here's his message...

I wanted to let you know that my plants are doing wonderfully. The light has been just right this year so the photosynthesis has caused my plants to really bud out" -- Joe H.

Alas, I must report that I am terminating the game as the participation rate has dropped precipitously since its inception in August. So, unless, I hear a groundswell of disappointment over the ending of the game, it is what it is. Thanks to all of you who left me a message with the word of the week whenever it was. I enjoyed your efforts.

Well guess who showed up?

These past few weeks, I have been the beneficiary of my friend Hans' wife's illness. Because she hasn't been feeling well, I've been to a SF Fringe Festival play and last night, to the Tom Petty concert at UC-Berkeley's Greek Theater I have been in and around the Berkeley campus and must have driven right by the Greek many times, but I had no idea that it was this beautiful amphitheater in this grove of trees that I've always wondered why it hadn't been cleared for some building. Now I know why.

Oh, and what about the concert itself? Can I go on about how nice it is to be able to sit outside on a Saturday evening as the sun is going down in the Greek and watching the sunset over the Bay through the trees? It's life in California at its best. Petty was entertaining and I actually recognized about half of the songs he performed, but alas, he didn't do Wildflowers, which is a favorite of mine. Oh, and about half way through, Stevie Nicks showed up and performed along side Petty for a couple songs and for the encore. Definately very cool, and unexpected.

I actually know someone who is running for Congress

I am a political junkie and so I think it's totally cool that I actually know a person who is actually a major party candidate for the United States House of Representatives. Granted, it's a tenuous connection, but it is a connection.

If you happen to be reading this and are a consitutent of Michigan's 6th Congressional District, which encompasses the Southwestern corner of the state, I urge you to check out the candidacy of Democrat Kim Clark. His opponent is Republican Congressman Fred Upton, first elected in 1986, and is a the grandson of the one of the founders of Whirlpool. Congressmen Upton, according to the analysis of his voting record, is a moderate Republican.

You are probably wondering how do I know the candidate? A couple summers back, on my two month roadtrip across the country, I spent three weeks in Chicago and became friends with Kim's partner, Dave F. and that is the connection. According to every prognosticator and election guru, Kim's chances or victory are slim to none. But I applaud him for taking the risk and partcipating in the political system we enjoy.

On a totally random note, the 6th District of Michigan was once represented by a congressman named David Stockman. This is the David Stockman who became Ronald Reagan's Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the one who spearheaded the ideas of Supply-Side Economics, which lead to the huge budget deficits of the 1980's. A little history with our posting today, eh?

The bridesmaid becomes the bride

Congratulations to Tim A. or Princeton, NJ for winning the most recent message contest. You all will remember how Tim was runner-up the at the end of first round and his honorable mention. This time, Tim outclassed the field by using the word STAMPEDE in gerund form and in a context that was seamless. The winning message.....

"Hello there, I was calling to return your message and even though you aren't answering I hope there aren't children STAMPEDING all around you." -Tim A.

A surprise phone call and an even better message

The word of the week was DETERIORATE. Before I reveal the winner and their message, I have noticed a dropoff in participation rate of those who have called and left messages when I first began the contest. Those who are experiencing the challenge for the first time are nearly always game to try and leave great messages, or the attempts are hilarious themselves. So a charge to those who have tapered in their enthusiasm to forge on and continue. It's a little brain stretching and improvising that provides much happiness and humor in my day.

Our winner is Emily D. formerly of Berkeley, Santa Barbara and now Boulder, CO. She was in my advising group during my first three years at HRS and, like many of the class of 2001, has managed to keep in contact and move from student to peer. Here is the winning message:

"Hey Chen, I'm calling to chat, as I have appointed you my lifetime advisor. I was wondering if you had any pearls of wisdom on hot to help me manage my money after college before I deteriorate my funds." -- Emily D. (Sept. 2006)

A note on how long a word stays as "the word". When I listen to the messages there are times when I hear one and it simply strikes me as "the one" and at that point, I'll change to a new word. Usually, it takes about a week for "the one" to reveal itself, but for deteriorate, it was about two weeks. I think I have a winner on the first day with the newest word. You'll find out soon enough.

A bigger project

After the success of the flowerboxes from this summer, I decided that it was time to tackle the bookcases that I had been thinking about building in the front room, which I now use as both my office and what, in the olden days, was called a drawing room. For those of you who have been to my home, you'll remember that there was a decorative non-working fireplace against one of the walls. At first I was going to take the fireplace out, but then decided to build AROUND the fireplace. I thought it would breakup the monotony of a wall of shelves. Here's the result:

Like I said last year when I installed the french doors, moulding and trim hide all mistakes and "non-traditional" methods. I'll now add a fresh coat of paint to that list.

Survivor: Cook Islands

Ok, so I have to admit that I think the current Survivor set up is certainly a ratings ploy (there are four tribes that are separated into racial groups), but a part of me is totally rooting for the Asian-Americans to kick butt, especially in the physical challenges. You know if one of the challenges was something academic, there would be no questions who the money would be on. And what happened the first week? The Asian-American tribe (Puka Puka) won the immunity challenge. If you want to be totally entertained, read this this article, The Tribe Has Spoken that was in the San Francisco Chronicle. It had me howling, while bringing up some interesting points of view.

I am going to be a NERT

No, No, not NERD (I already am one of those) but I have started the training to be on my Neighborhood Emergency Response Team. The program grew out of the chaos in the Marina District here in San Francisco after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck. There were so many people willing to help and the SF Fire Department recognized that. Out of that tragedy the SF NERT was launched. This program to train residents to know what to do to take care of themselves and their families and subsequently go out into their local areas and aid others. Over the course of six three hour sessions, we will learn:

•How to prepare before it happens
•What to do when the earth starts to shake
•Basic Disaster Skills
•Natural gas, water and electrical controls, why, when and how to shut them off
•Types of fire, and using extinguishers to put it out
•Hazardous Materials awareness in the home, on the road, and all around you
•Disaster Medicine
•Health considerations for the rescuer
•Opening airways
•Stopping bleeding and shock position
•S.T.A.R.T. triage
•Minor injuries and burns
•Light Search and Rescue
•Different types of construction and where to look for damage
•How to classify damaged buildings
•Building marking system
•Interior search patterns
•Lifting heavy objects and mechanical advantage
•Victim carries
•Team Organization and Management
•City Disaster Plan and where the NERTs fit
•NERT Incident Command System, managing the disaster
•Disaster Psychology
•Terrorism and NERT
•Extinguishing fires
•Triaging and treating moulaged victims
•Extricating a victim trapped by heavy timbers
•Interior search for reported missing persons
•Exterior building damage assessment

Wow, that's a ton. But the coolest thing is that upon completing the course, I will receive my own yellow hardhat that identifies me as a NERT. I'm a NERT.

You never know what you're going to get

The word of the week was PANACHE, which seemed to fluster more than a few callers. Most of the messages used the word to describe something (or me) as having flair/verve/elan. However, once again Joe H. of Greenbrae, CA gets special mention for using PANACHE as describing a hat with ornamental feathers or a plume.

But the winner this week is John H. or San Francisco who informed me that Panache Choclatier was his chocolate store of choice when he lived in Kansas City, MO. And we have a winner.....

The new word has been recorded on my outgoing message and is ready to go. Have fun!

They must have done their research

The first day of school in August is one of total logistics. It's a bit easier for advisors who don't advise freshman because all of our students already know the ropes and our role is simply to collect forms, distribute forms and make sure we ourselves get our picture taken. It was this last task that threw me off today because instead of sitting on a box and looking at the camera, the photo company now has each and every person KNEELING and then having their hands gripping metal bars at chest height. Yeah, that's what I thought too. I think the shock of this new method for posing just might cause our photos to be even worse than normal. But, as I said, the company must have done tests and research and found that kneeling is the way to go.

A new skill for my resume

PICKLING

Our first winner

Those of you who call me have, for the past six months, heard a very somber sounding outgoing message from me. Last week, my friend Carlos P. said that enough was enough and that it must be changed. Therefore, I have recorded a new outgoing message that has a much more chipper sounding me, but I've also added a bit of a twist. I've instituted, for those who choose to participate, a little contest in which the caller must leave a message and use a word of my choosing. Our word this first week was TURBULENT.

I must applaud my friends and those who called me as 75% went along and successfully used the word correctly in the message. My Mom, however, when she heard the new outgoing message, thought she had dialed the wrong number.

I hope to be disciplined about posting a transcript of the winning message here on the blog. This weeks winner is David C. of Casselberry, FL.

"Oh the turbulent and tumultuous times we live in. My kitty was at the vet getting a bath this morning. She had such a turbulent experience that the vet said please don't bring her back as we will not bathe her"

I must however, include the message left by Tim A. of Princeton, NJ who didn't use turbulent, but went his own way to leave this witty message.

"The state flower of Indiana is the peony. The state bird is the cardinal. And the state..........what would you call Ernie......you're a bit like a stalker. So the Indiana state stalker is Ernie"

Honorable mention must go to Joe H. or Greenbrae, CA for using the adjective and noun form of the work turbulent. One must also go to Carlos P. of Santa Cruz, CA for using the word morose in conjunction with turbulent.