LA Peeps and My Introduction to the Wii

The ride ended Saturday June 10th at the VA Center in the Brentwood area of West Los Angeles. I spent the night at my friend Mel's condo which is located in the new hot spot, Downtown. Located a mere two blocks from the Staples Center, Mel's condo is in one of the myriad new high rise complexes being built around Los Angeles' historic downtown area. Hello, gentrification.

The next morning, I drove out to the San Gabriel Valley to have dim sum with my Aunt Ming, Uncle Shao, cousin Evelyn (a fellow teacher) and her husband Mark. I was told to make sure to get to my Aunt and Uncle's at 9:30AM in order to get to the very popular dim sum restaurant in time to line up outside to make sure we got a seat. Trust me, I didn't dare be late, and wasn't.

Myself (Oh my god, I am so looking like my Dad) and Aunt Ming

Myself and Uncle Shao

After dim sum, I attended the LA Dodger-Toronto Blue Jays game at Dodger Stadium with Evelyn and Mark. The hometown Dodgers got routed 11-5, but it was my first time to Dodger Stadium and the day was beautiful.

After the game, I met up with a former HRS student, who has joined the teaching ranks. She and her boyfriend cooked me dinner. A shout out to Gretchen W. and Jakob. The momentous event of the day, however, was my initiation to the world of the Nintendo Wii. I first got to try it out at Mark and Evelyn's before the game. But Gretchen and Jakob also had one. I must have spent a good hour playing it.

I HAVE TO HAVE ONE. It's impossible to truly describe it's allure, but just as it is with many things, the simplicity of the idea and the quality of the execution is what makes it so universally appealing. But for me, there is an added bonus. Since my accident, I haven't been able to play tennis because I am unable to run. With the Wii, I am able again to play tennis, albeit with a Wii remote, but the essence is the same. I had the BIGGEST grin on my face while I was playing it. I was so into it, I broke a sweat and they had to turn on the air conditioning.

The weeklong trek came to a close with a late night flight from LAX to SFO, but it was a great trip all around.

Aids/Lifecycle 6

This past week, I volunteered as a "roadie" for the San Francisco to Los Angeles Aids/Lifecycle bike ride. The ride lasts seven days and the riders cover 545 miles of the central California coast on their journey. This year 2,300 riders and 500 or so "roadies" (aka support staff) were a moving city for a week. The ride raised 11 million dollars for Aids research and support for those living with the disease. Although, I just finished the experience today and have yet to really have it sink in and fully process the experience, it was, if anything, to me a wonder of logistical majesty and beauty.

The riders started from the Cow Palace in San Francisco

I served on one of the two advance teams, which arrived at each site a day early to set up the tent grid (where the bikers would set up their tent) set-up tables and chairs for the dining tent and most glamourously, hang glow sticks in the port-a-potties to provide light in the night for those needing to use the facilities.

The Aids/Lifecycle Advance B team

Advance B unloading the tables and chairs truck. At each of our three sites we set up tables and chairs for 2,000 people.

Because we were on a two-day cycle, unlike the bikers and other roadies who moved to the new camp each day, our group hopscotched the Advance A team. They got to work at the sites on Day 1 (Santa Cruz), Day 3 (Paso Robles) and Day 5 (Lompoc). Our group set up the sites for Day 2 (King City), Day 4 (Santa Maria) and Day 6 (Ventura). Below, I've provided a sequence of shots that show the evolution (and de-evolution if there is such a word) of a site.

The empty tent grid at Preisker Park in Santa Maria, CA

The grid has been set. Notice the white stakes which hold placement cards for riders to find their tent spot.

Then the......

...circus....

...comes to town.

And just as quickly as it comes, it leaves. Note everyone is wearing red because Day 5 (the morning of this picture) is "Red Dress" day. And trust me, all sexes wear red dresses.

The tent grid. Cleaner than we found it. And it was off to Ventura.

Part of me found the work to be drudgery, but that's what I signed up for. Someone has to pick up trash and make sure the details are mapped out. But the most overwhelming feeling I got from this experience is that I REALLY REALLY want to do the ride itself. I want the feeling of elation and success that I saw so many of the riders come in with at the end of the day. So, we'll see if I can get the motivation up to do the training. Another issue is that the ride always occurs during the first week of June which is Finals/Graduation week at school. This year, I didn't proctor my final and had to miss graduation. It's a tough call, but we'll see what happens.

A bunch of us on the Advance B team were talking about doing the ride. One this is for sure, we have our jersey motto already picked out. It will read, "Last year we picked up after your asses. This year, we're watching them!". I might just have to ride next year to get to wear a jersey saying that.

I'll post more in the next couple days about my other thoughts about the ride, but I wanted to give you all a sense of what I did this past week.

The One Tank of Gas a Month Challenge

Going green is the buzzword of the moment. Everywhere I go, and you too probably, I hear about recycling but more importantly, reducing my carbon footprint. You're probably going, yeah, yeah, been there heard that. So, I took on a challenge to use only one tank of gas during one 30-day period. So, starting April 27th, when I filled up the gas tank in the Subaru, I've only used 3/4 of the tank through today, May 28th.

How have I done it? Well, on Monday mornings, I'll drive into work with my bike. Throughout the week, I leave the car at school and then drive it home for the weekend. But, I've found that unless I'm leaving town or making a shopping run, I tend to ride public transportation here in the city. The key tool has been the ability to get NextMuni, a program that tells you how long until your bus comes, on my phone that makes taking the bus/streetcar a bearable option. The 5-Fulton and 31-Balboa are some of the buses that I've now ridden for the first time.

I'm not yet willing or can fathom the idea of getting rid of the car altogether, but I'm certainly going to try and reduce my insurance bill.

I secretly love Lindsay Lohan

I was talking to my sister on the phone yesterday as I was headed to see the movie, Georgia Rule. By the way, I was actually a little embarassed to be one of the only men in the theater for this "chick flick" on Mother's Day. But hey, 7 of the 20 screens at my favorite movieplex were showing Spider-Man 3 so the pickings were slim. And we know that my sandbox kind of skews me towards musicals and "sensitive" movies. Anyway, I digress.

My sister pointed out to me, upon my movie selection, that I must love Lindsay Lohan. She pointed out that I loved "The Parent Trap" and then I also did love "Mean Girls". She didn't mention that I was impressed with Lohan's performance in "Bobby" as well. Plus, I think Lohan has gotten a bum rap being all wrapped up in the Paris Hilton/Britney Spears crowd. I mean, can't we all see that she's just had her typical early adulthood problems be blown out of proportion by the press? Can't we all see that she is just a sweet young girl in need of true love and compassion? So, yes, for Lindsay she can do little wrong in my eyes. And her current tabloid news is simply jealousy on the parts of the press for her success.

Man, am I pathetic or what?

I Know What A Married Man Must Feel Like

In the Upper School Math Department, there are five men and our only female colleague Ms. S. To say that she is a good female influence on us five often crass, rarely sensitive to her or other female issues is a true understatement. We value and love her greatly. But that doesn't mean that we can do things like remember her birthday. Today was her birthday and none of us remembered until one of my colleagues overheard a student wishing her "Happy Birthday" in the hallway.

Minutes later, there we were, the five of us men in a semi-panic all having dropped the birthday ball on our only, and most valued female colleague. (Did I mention that she's five months pregnant, too?) It was I was one of those heterosexual married male characters on television who has forgotten his wife's birthday/anniversary and knows that he's in hot water. Or going to be because his wife will know that any gesture or gift that he comes up with will be seen as last minute and totally inauthentic.

So, I called in the big gun. I called her husband who came up with a swell idea that was something we could pull off. I'm not sure that irises are her favorite flower, but there definately is a backstory that came with it and so one of my colleagues went out and bought some irises. We all signed a heartfelt card of appreciation and well wishes. But I also confessed that we had totally forgotten her birthday. Honesty is the best policy, they say and the humor of the situation was part of what made it a funny moment.

But I can't assure you that we won't run into this situation again one year from now, though. You can't assume old dogs can learn new tricks.

"I drank myself single again"

Last night, my colleague Andrei F. invited me out to go and listen to some Bluegrass. We went to listen to The Mighty Crows out at a bar called The Riptide, way out at the self-proclaimed "end of the Western World" at 46th and Taraval. Those of you who are familiar with San Francisco geography know that Ocean Beach is a mere two blocks from this bar.

A theme you all might have picked up on is my love of Bluegrass music. Some of you may wonder how a Chinese-American like me would love this classically American (Appalachian/Southern more like it) type of music. But last night, I was witness to something even more mind-blowing. During the last set, the five guys of the band (three of then rotund sweaty white guys) invited up this young Asian-American girl to play the fiddle with them. Stop and picture what I'm describing. Five middle-aged white guys playing along with this Asian girl who is blowing the crowd away with her ability to play Bluegrass fiddle. It was a sight to behold.

Another highlight for the evening was when the band sang and played a song that had the tag line, which was suggested by a bar patron, "I drank my self single again". I mean, if that title isn't made for Bluegrass or country, then what is? If the Mighty Crows ever record that song, and it's good enough that they might, I will claim to have been there the night it was premiered at the Riptide in San Francisco.

The West Wing

Back in Febraury, I decided to start watching the entire series of The West Wing, which ended its run just last May. Just this morning, I finally finished all seven seasons. It has been quite a journey with C.J. and the gang. What I found to be most interesting for me is the change in my attitude towards some of the main characters. At the start, I was a big fan of Josh but came to really find him abrasive and annoying. The reverse happened with Toby as I grew to really love the character and find him the most authentic. By far, the character I found most endearing was the Republican Associate White House Counsel from seasons 2 and 3, Ainsley. There was not nearly enough screentime for her.

Other factoids. This series finally allowed me to get over my dislike of the actress Teri Polo. For some reason, she always bugged me, but her portayal of First Lady Elect, Helen Santos made me a fan. After having watched some 140 or so episodes each clocked at 42 minutes, I began to have biorhythms set to where I was able to need to go to the bathroom right around the end of an episode. I appreciate the writers not ending the series with a big sentimental episode the would have generated tears. However, I do get a bit misty-eyed at the prospect of not having the Bartlet gang to hang with for an hour or two every day.

It's onward I guess, and I have started in on the series, Six Feet Under. Fisher family, here I come.

Thank God I've Been Preparing For This Moment

This morning, I got a call from my friends David C. and Thom B. in Florida asking me whether or not I had seen footage of the collapsed freeway that occurred in the the East Bay. I quickly jumped onto my computer and looked at the pictures and from the descriptions, it appeared that they weren't kidding. Then, I concluded that the collapsed freeway is the the overpass I drive over on my way to work. I have been driving on that stretch of freeway pictured above for the past decade, and well, it is no longer.

Somehow, I have was precient this year to start using my bike and BART to get to and from work. Over the past three months, I have started driving only once a week. I drive to work with my bike in the car on Monday and then bike and use BART until Thursday evening when I drive my car back across the bay to San Francisco.

Tomorrow morning will be the first weekday commute with the new traffic patterns. Usually I'm on the road and over the bridge by 7AM. I am going to leave an hour earlier tomorrow.

Tempting Friday the 13th

The last day of Spring Break was a blank page in my calender. I had nothing planned and got it in my head to go skydiving. Yes, you read that right. It's something that I've always said I wanted to try, so I found a company called Skydivesf up in central Sonoma County. I called my colleague Gene V. and he was game to go. So we were on our way.

I will say that the experience was a total rush and the only time that I really was apprehensive was on what seemed to be the interminable flight to 13,000 feet and that moment the door of the plane opened. I jumped in tandem strapped to my guide, Torsten, who was quite a character. I gained infinite confidence when I discovered this was jump number 10,291. If he hadn't had an accident, then statistically speaking, it wasn't going to happen on this day.

Upon landing, I was feeling a rush of adrenline unknown to me before. I had to sit on the ground for a few minutes. Gene also had a great time and got a video of his free fall, which he will give to the Physics teachers at school to use as a teaching aid. It was a glorious day.

The Visit of The Mom

SPRING BREAK!!!!! And Mom visits. It was a good visit and I only lost my temper with her once (ok, one and a half times). But the role of therapy in my life allowed me to identify why I things she said or did got me and then I was able (the fact that I recognized that it was my duty to was a big therapy learning moment aas well) tell her why I was frustrated.

"Mom, I don't care if you cut and freeze the strawberries" comes from the fact that when we got home from being out for the day I didn't really care what she did nor did I really want to make any decisions. I like having quiet time when I'm done with the day. Probably a good thing for me to tell the persons I date in the future.

One of the highlights of her visit was a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I also took her to see Jersey Boys, which she liked. And, well, you all know that I like it too.

That's My Alma Mater

From an article written by Patrick Mattimore in today's San Francisco Examiner on students' college rejection letters....

"Lots of schools are vying for the "most emphatic rejection" prize. Cornell University is leading the race, informing students in consecutive sentences that the electronic rejection they are reading will be confirmed in a following letter that will make the rejection official. We don't want you. Get it? We really don't want you. The "snuff out all hopes" double rejection strategy appears to be colleges' latest attempt to improve their U.S. News and World Report selectivity rating. Two rejections for the price of one. What tipped the scale in Cornell's favor is that they even include an invitation for you to visit their Web site to get information about applying to transfer to Cornell after your freshman year, so they can reject you again.

Mom and Dad were onto something...

From NPR:

April 2nd, 2007 -- "Letters from Ernest Hemingway to singer Marlene Dietrich have been unveiled at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. Tom Putnam, the library's director, tells Steve Inskeep the correspondence suggest a flirtatious (but platonic) relationship between the two celebrities."

For those of you who still haven't clued into the signifigance of this posting, this would have been a filial love in the Chen household. You can listen to the story here.

Proof that children love me (and yes it's reciprocated!)

The transcript of a conversation between my friend and colleague Kelly B. was emailed to me the day after I ran into Kelly, her husband and their two-year old son Blake. We tooled along West Portal while I pushed Blake in his toy motorcycle. Apparently, I've made (and have made for awhile now) quite an impression on the young lad.

"i wanna see ernie"

"you wanna see ernie?"

"yeah, ernie push it"

"ernie pushed your motorcycle?"

"yeah. ernie shorts on!"

Panama Pictures (Slightly Delayed)

The skyline of Panama City which lies on the Pacific Ocean and faces south

The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal

These "mules" are small locamotives run along the side of the ships and keep the boats centered with guide wires.

Nikolas, Kristin S., myself holding Peter at the Panama Canal

Fort Clayton (where Kristin's family lives and no longer an active military fort) as seen from the Miraflores Locks

The Guari Guari restaurant in Bocas del Toro, where I had the great $14 six course meal and where I slept in the......

.....the hammock

The view from Cerra Punta

Looking west into the Cerra Punta valley and Costa Rica beyond from the highest point along the Sendero Los Quetzales.

Who is this?

A view from along the Sendero Los Quetzales.

This picture I found on my camera.......the couple who returned my camera to me. A testament to the fact that good things in the world can happen.

There are good people in the world

Read the following email I got from an employee of Continental Airlines:

Dear Mr. Chen;

A couple has written in that they met with a man named Ernie in Boquete recently, and he left a camera in their car. They originally met the man on flight 875 on February 17, sitting next to them on their flight. There were two men with the name Ernest on that flight, so I am writing to both Ernest’s’ to ask if it was you, and if so, may I give them your full name and mailing address so they may return the camera? They would like to send the camera to him, and asked me to assist in locating the correct person.

Guess who just got his lost camera back? Pictures to be posted soon. Thanks to the Robinsons of Olympia, WA for making the effort to get my camera back to me!!

"The Lives of Others"

As a reward to myself for finishing my 79 student reports by noon today, I went to go see the German film The Lives of Others. For me, a movie rarely lives up to its hype, but this one blew my mind. It easily moves into one of my top three movies ever. I can't tell you how well it was written and acted, but more importantly it so displayed in full view the pain and suffering of living in a totalitarian state. Thank whatever higher power that I was lucky enough to be born in 1970 in a democratic country and not behind the Iron Curtain. Talk about winning the life lottery on that front. This film won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

What was really excellent for me is that all those years of high school German is still rattling around in my head. I was able to recognize some of the basic German that I heard and is a testament to the fact that if we learned things as kids, even if we don't use them, they are there and able to be recalled at the drop of a hat.

PS: By the way, to finish up the last post.......we got our candidate!

Cliffhanger

One of my Math Department colleagues has decided to pursue graduate school studies and so we've had to start a search for a replacement. The name of a veteran teacher at a school in San Francisco who lives in the East Bay and has two children under 5 was looking to reduce her commute by working at a school closer to home. This candidate already has an offer in hand from our rival school in the area.

She came to visit us on Thursday and our Headmaster apparently hand delivered an offer and contract Saturday morning. Also on Saturday afternoon, the school held a celebration of Math and had NPR Math Guy Keith Devlin speak about the history of mathematics ability. The candidate showed up.

Will we win or will the other guys win. I could analyze the pros and cons but I don't think it serves any purpose. Keep your fingers crossed.

123

Ok, so Peter S. gets major cool points for sending me a link to try and name as many countries that belong to the United Nations as possible in 10 minutes. Out of 192, I got 123. Try and beat me. Here's the link to United Nations Country Quiz. Let me know how you do!

I Wanna Be In A Boy Band

When one reflects upon being gay I think of all the stereotypes I don't fit but then the ones that I do. The gaydar for me goes off when I reveal how much I LOVE musicals. Today, I saw the 2006 Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys. Watching the "Four Seasons" on stage and seeing how cool it must be to perform with a group of guys on stage is something that all of a sudden something I wanted to get up and do myself. Not sure that I'm going to act on it but know that when I get the soundtrack, I'll be trying out the moves here in the privacy of my own home!!

I must, however, end by mentioning something that crossed my mind. In the year 2030, will be be watching musicals called something to the effect of "The Boys of the Backstreet"?

Panama Part 4:Houston, We Have A Problem

The high of finishing the Quetzales trail was extended the next morning when Jeff took his family and I out to one of the Smithsonian's research plots. We took a small hike (part of it on the same trail that the first isthmus crossers used some 500 years ago) to a ridge that looked like any other forested site in Panama. However, upon closer inspection, one would see the trees were of different species laid out in a specific grid and tagged with an identifcation marker. Jeff's work down here is to coordinate and keep running the many reforestation studies and projects that are being done here in the tropics. The goal is to find out what combination of species, planted in what order will produce the quickest biomass growth as well as provide attractive habitat for native fauna.

A great deal of reforestation is done with monocultures of trees such as mahogany (African) or teak (Asian) which grow quickly, are monetarily valuable and serve as a vehicle for carbon sequestration, but aren't necessarily a long term viable solution since monocultures are more susceptible to disease and these trees will eventually be harvested.

For example tree A is known to have roots that are quite efficient at turning decaying organic material into nitrogen which is needed in soil for other flora to use. However does tree A grow more quickly when it has a great deal of direct sunlight or if it provided shade cover from another tree? To find out two saplings of tree A were planted three years ago. One is still standing in the open and the other had a fast growing large canopy tree planted adjacent to provide shade. These are the kinds of experiments that Jeff is doing throughout Panama. He's got another cool study coming up on watersheds and how they retain water and disburse it depending on percentage of forestation. It's the scientific process in action.

After saying goodbye to Kristin and her family (big shout out to the hospitality from their family) I arrived at Tocumen International to check in for my routine flight back to Oakland via Houston. The agent at the desk couldn't find my reservation until he discovered that I had booked my return for 3/24/07 and not 2/24/07.

Oops.

With a $100 change fee, I was rebooked on standby for the two flights. I got on the flight from Panama City to Houston without a problem. I even got an aisle seat. But at that point, my luck had run out. Upon arriving in Houston, I get to the gate for the flight for Oakland and I am told that the flight is in an oversold situation. The agents are already looking for passengers to voluntarily take a flight the next day. They were already up to $500 dollar vouchers. I wasn't getting on this flight.

And for the gods to rub it in my face, this flight to Oakland had on it a fellow math colleague and his girlfriend, a fellow 6th grade teacher and his wife and lastly, a former student mine and his parents. All of them had confirmed seats. So as they boarded, I headed out to the taxi stand to take a cab to go get a hotel.

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. A shout out to my friend Thom B. (of NASCAR fame last summer) who has officially become my gay tour guide to cities in the American South. I called Thom in Orlando and he pointed me to the right part of town to go to enjoy the rest of my evening. There was no point in staying near the airport because the first two flights on Sunday to Oakland (or San Francisco or San Jose) was booked and I was given a seat on the 6PM Sunday evening flight. A $55 (Houston is a big spread out place, people) cab ride to the Best Western downtown was followed by checking out the scene at Westheimer and Montrose. I have to say that I did enjoying the big country music playing pool hall/sports bar that I got to go for an hour before bed. As I've said before, places with lots of real estate (unlike NYC and SF) have these large open spaces to open welcoming gathering places. They also give better service. The coke that I ordered was massive. For the same price in SF I would get enough coke to finish off in one large gulp.

Sunday morning, I changed plans. I decided to take a cab to the other Houston Airport (Hobby) and rented a car and drove down to the Johnson Space Center to take a tour. It was the best $18 I spent in Texas. On the tram tour, we saw Mission Control (unfortunately there wasn't a shuttle in space at the moment so the place was empty) but we did see people in the Mission Control for the International Space Station since there are three astronauts living up there at the moment. On the tram tour, we also saw the building where astronauts train to do all those things they do in space, like work the robotic arm. And no, there was no mention of the woman who tried off her romantic counterpart. There was also no mention of diapers.

The highlight (or perhaps lowlight) of the visit to the Space Center was the fact that I took a shot at landing the space shuttle on the simulator and crashed it four times. And I was on the novice level where all I had to do was take care of the altitude and nose pitch. The simulator stabilized the side-to-side pitch for me. And let me tell you, the simulator was quite sassy in its analysis of my failures!!!

If I had had more time, the Houston Rodeo was just starting its week long run in the new Reliant Stadium. I drove by it because it is located right next to the Astrodome, which I wanted to see. I'm surprised it hasn't yet been demolished considering the newer Kingdome in Seattle already has been.

The car was dropped off at Houston-Bush Intercontinental (Enterprise daily rental $19.99 what a deal) and my flight home was non-eventful. The lesson? Make sure you double check how you book your flights!!