For The Win!

Last week, I was frantically trying to find out more about Jonathan Safran Foer's new book. There was some hubbub because of Natalie Portman's article at Huff Post that it was the reason she became vegan. I have a phenomenal local bookstore a few blocks from my house that attracts some great authors (Richard Russo and even Alicia Silverstone and Andre Agassi). I was desperately searching for book talks by JSF. All my searching led me to his talk at the SF JCC that I attended before my red eye on Thursday and a contest to win his book. At the JCC, I purchased his new book and had it signed by him. Today, I awoke to an email saying that I won a copy of the book through a website. I've won very few things in my life, but amazingly, when I have won things, it's something I actually would buy (or did buy) myself.

I just started Eating Animals after finishing Shooting Stars, LeBron James's book about his amateur basketball career. I really enjoyed reading James (assisted by Buzz Bissinger, of Friday Night Lights fame) and I can't wait to recommend it to some of my athletes. I'll let you all know if I become a vegetarian or vegan after this book.

I Was There!

Yes, I am a proud member of Red Sox Nation. But, I don't hate good athletes. That's just not in my blood.

So, I was at the Yankees parade today. Sure, we were 30 people back, but I did recognize Mariano Rivera.

Look who else was there! Yeah, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys Bridget Kelly (?) performed at the end of the parade. I didn't see them with my eyes, but heard them - the size of the crowds was pretty crazy in NYC. It might have been enough to send a Red Sox fan to Bellevue, but I was totally high on East Coast fall weather. It seemed as it everyone in New York was in blue. As much as I don't like the Yankees, it's pretty cool to see the whole city come out and for all types of people to be happy about the same thing. I was not too impressed by the number of school children who were roaming the streets instead of being in class.

Pictures will be posted at some point soon.

Why My Sister Moved To Chicago

In case you aren't constantly refreshing my social networking page. I'm pretty sure this was the draw for Little Duds.

Photo ID

Today, I only had 40 minutes to give blood (it actually took 50 minutes with all the paperwork, but only 7 of blood-draining time...don't faint AS). The first thing they asked was, "Can I see your photo ID?" I work in a really, really, really small school. Everyone knows each other, so we don't carry around IDs. But the blood-mobile people do not know me. I didn't have time to run out to my car to get the ID, but I did have my yearbook from senior year in my bag (high school girls are obsessed with stuff like this and a few asked me to bring mine in).

I used my senior picture as my picture ID. Did I mention I'm 29 and 4/12 today?

Awesome.

It's Not Real

Okay, so Freaks and Geeks took place at William McKinley High School. So does the new show Glee (which is one of my new favorites, despite what I believe to be blatant misogynism).

What's the deal? Of course, the Internet had something to say about it:

William McKinley High School was the setting of Freaks and Geeks, it's nice to see that they are paying a tribute to that show.

posted on May 22 2009, 10:18:39

it's not the same school. glee is set in Lima, Oh. Freaks and Geeks is set in Michigan.

posted on May 24 2009, 11:10:02

I beleive [sic] William Mckinley High School is a common school name, as most TV sitcoms use it, kinda of like Oceanic Airlines, and 555-5555 etc, President Name High School although used in the real world is used for some reason in movies / tv shows, like east, west, north, etc

posted on May 26 2009, 16:46:01

Ummm...person #2...do you know that neither of them are actual schools? I love the attention to detail, though.

Big Day

Today...

I turned 29 and 4/12.

I voted (first in line, of course).

I donated blood for the first time.

When I was in high school, I was on acne medicine that required me to get my blood tested every month. On the first day I had to get blood drawn, I was waiting for my mom to pick me up. It was snowing that day and I decided to wait outside (I love the snow). I was outside for maybe 30 minutes and my doctor was only about five minutes away. Because I was still so cold when I got to the appointment, it took foooorrrrreeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrrr to fill the vial. My blood was just not flowing. I've never been good with medical procedures...don't touch my knees, neck, or stick things down my throat...but that sealed the deal on needles. Since then, I was a disaster when it came to getting blood drawn.

What made today different? After 29 and 4/12 years? Today, the blood drive was at my school and I had tons of encouragement and support from my colleagues and kids. Two colleagues came and sat with me and one of my students changed his appointment so he could get blood drawn with me at lunch (I think he has a crush on me...but all the 16 and 17 year old boys love me...it's just the ones my age that don't even notice I exist). I was so grateful they were there; I couldn't have done it without them.

It's amazing how much you can do with a community supporting you. I was thinking that I definitely wouldn't have donated if I had to go to a random place and sit around with strangers. I hope we have another next semester.

Funny Guys

A few weeks ago, I saw Mike Burbiglia in SF. You may recognize his humor if you listen to This American Life. Here are some things he said:

"...that guy hates second halves of sentences."

"Do you ever ask someone for directions and know from the first sentence that you're not going to use those directions? You thought you knew nothing, but this person knows less than nothing. You're dealing in negative integers of information."

"[in high school], you'd call anything gay. You'd call Geometry gay, which is one of the gayer maths."

I love all the math references!

Last night, I saw David Sedaris in San Jose. He read some new stories and diary entries. I hope those diary entries are in a book at some point. Sedaris will be coming out with a new book in about a year, which is most excellent news. He had the audience in stitches, so get excited for the book release. Here are my favorite lines of his:

About his upcoming book: "Its a book of fables because my morals are weak."

"For no reason in particular and every reason in general."

"His family aside, when would he have the time [to be gay]?"

"Sometimes things happen and I don't know what to do with my face." This describes my life in a nutshell.

Brief update: Haven't been running in weeks because my life just won't let me. If there's one success for me right now, it's that my total "still to deal with email" count is down to I haven't forgotten about the October mix, but the new iTunes won't let me create playlists with songs I haven't bought yet. Which means it hasn't been as easy to remind myself of the songs I liked that month. Do they know they are killing their business? I am like free advertising?!?! Oh well...I'm still trying to find a work-around, so hopefully I'll have an October/November mix.

I'm going to see Jonathan Safran Foer on Thursday night before I catch a plane to NYC. JSF is my favorite author...if you haven't read Everything Is Illuminated or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I could not recommend them more highly. He has a new non-fiction book out called Eating Animals which apparently has turned Natalie Portman vegan.

Cross your fingers that there won't be a World Series parade for me to pout about while I'm in the Big Apple.

Bring It All Back

I had a great day in Sonoma this weekend...and after taking a picture each hour to share with you, my computer decided to delete them from my camera without downloading them. Imagine fall in Sonoma and you'll get the idea.

Here's a video that gave me goosebumps. I can't wait to see the movie so I can relive my life one year ago (when HBO lets us poor people at it).

See Ya, SIGG

Just in case you didn't know (I've been surprised how many people haven't heard...but then again, I didn't hear that all these T-Mobile customers lost their contacts or something like that)...Sigg bottles contain BPA. You have until Oct 31 to deal with this...take them back to where you bought it (not sure if you need a receipt) or send them back to Sigg. If you're lucky like me, you have a store nearby (Sports Basement for me) that will just take the bottles back.

You see...I never was into Siggs. Here's why...an email exchange between SIGG and a a friend of a friend of a...something. These emails are from March 2007.

From Sigg:

I am not aware of any major changes to our liner in the last 2 years as you mention – I’d be interested in seeing the reports you are referring to.While the ingredients of the SIGG liner are proprietary, I can tell you that our bottles are tested frequently in Quality Control as well as in independent laboratories. In all the tests, SIGG bottles show no migration of chemicals, no trace of BPA. SIGGs are safe and I believe are the best reusable water bottles on the market.

From customer:
Thank you - my question was not about migration of BPA, the question was whether BPA is used in the liner. No one seems to respond to that - is there any information you can provide?

From SIGG:
It’s a proprietary formula – I’ve been told best on earth – exclusively manufactured for bottles. It is a competitive advantage for SIGG and therefore the ingredients are kept confidential.
But isn’t the real issue to ensure that what you and your family are drinking is free of any chemicals. I know the issues surrounding polycarbonate #7 (Lexan) have to do with the problems these containers have with migration of the materials, chemicals. On the other hand, numerous research studies show SIGGs are leach-free.

I want to call attention to a few things. One, I am not trying to flame SIGG. They have attempted to make a good product and been successful, most obviously with their branding. For some reasons, I do not wish this to be the complete downfall of the brand, but really? They refused to answer the questions posed by this consumer. That's number two. They are treating this customer as if she has no intelligence. What a shame.

As a result of these emails back in 2007, I had no interest in supporting this company. If they couldn't say they were BPA free, I didn't want one. I do not appreciate things that sound like lawyer-ese anyway in these situations. SIGG could have been the ones to make their reputation. Well, I guess they did this. They now have a reputation of being untrustworthy.

So, I have not been too jazzed about them, but, I got one in an emergency while I was traveling (that is, I didn't have a bottle). I liked that it didn't seem to dent as easily so I got another for school (since the Kleen Kanteen I have got so dented on the job that it wouldn't even stand up straight it was so dented). Then I got a third as a gift.

Then the BPA scandal. I was officially done. I had given them a chance and they failed. So, I took my three bottles to Sports Basement and they told me I could exchange them for three bottles of any brand that I desired. So three more Kleen Kanteens for me! At least Sports Basement knows how to take care of its customers.

Soggy Cobwebs and Heavy Feet

Biblical rain, my friends. And I couldn't be happier. I love the rain. Love, love, love it.

Buuuuutttt....there are some reasons why I Can't Stand The Rain:

1. I can't put my laundry on the line. Thankfully, I didn't this weekend (because I knew the rain was coming) so my laundry is almost dry, rather than being sopping wet.

2. My goal to get back on the bike this week is not looking good.

3. No offense, but I really dislike Halloween decorations beyond a pumpkin...and soggy cobwebs really make me gag. Of course yuppie Silicon Valley is now adorned in very, very soggy cobwebs. One way to stay skinny...

4. Running long distances is fun in the rain because you can feel like a bad a**, but today my shoes became very, very water-logged and as a result, felt very, very heavy for my last mile of eight.

5. Our nice landscaping at school washed away...I guess the landscapers didn't get the drainage right and so there's mulch floating on a small pond of water. Oh and our school's roof leaks!

6. My kids don't know what I'm doing when I sing "Blame It On The Rain." (Does anyone think this is a tragedy...or at least a tragedy that you can't buy the song sung by Milli Vanilli on iTunes?)

But I still love the rain because it makes California a little more real and a little less perfect.

Shout outs:

1. Newark Mayor Cory Booker. He was on my favorite radio program last week (On Point) and on my run today, I was completely hanging on every word he said. He is completely inspiring, even if he is a politician (he does go out with police in the middle of the night to talk to drug dealers). Two sound bites that I'm sure should be attributed to someone else, but seem completely relevant to the job I try to do every day. I am going to watch "Street Fight" about his first run for office. And apparently everyone already knows about him, but I didn't and he could make me move to Newark. JK!

Quotes:

"If you want the results that other people aren't getting, you have to be willing to do the things that other people aren't doing."

"You cannot let your inability to do everything undermine your determination to do something."

2. The NYC PS 22 Chorus...rocking "Run This Town." These kids are in 4th grade?!?!