Home!

I'm home! Yay! This is my last big trip of the summer and I'll be excited to end all the traveling when I get back to Cali.

I have lots of fun planned for this trip: adventures in Maine to hit up my favorite spots in Wiscasset, Newport Folk Festival (both days!), really good seats for a Sox game, some time to enjoy my favorite parts of Boston, a Paw Sox game (AAA ball team), and then the family reunion in New Hampshire. I'm hitting up every state except Vermont (as planned so far). This is still the summer of supporting the economy, it seems, but I'm in recovery from a tough year as a 29 year old.

This is also the last time I'll be home until December. I was given the opportunity to stay at my school, work at 80% (manageable financially and very appealing emotionally), and have more time in California. While this is sad for me from a family perspective, it feels like the right thing to do otherwise. While I had found a job in Massachusetts, I never felt settled about the decision and I definitely was not excited to be leaving Cali. So, that's the big change of plans. It's not as exciting as some would hope, but I'm really excited. I get to stay in Cali, I'll have a little less work to do (maybe), and keep having gorgeous days to ride my bike. I need to make some commitments on the West Coast to get a little closer to happiness. I'm hoping those will include things like: temple, writing more letters, getting back to running, and finding more people who like running and bikes. I hope the 20% that I don't have to work can help with that.

Here's to the next year of taking advantage of both coasts while I'm on them.

It's Not What Happens, It's How It Happens

These words are those of Mr. Sharpe, my 12th grade English teacher (and one of my favorite teachers in all the world and the only one who ever told me that I should have confidence as a writer). The words came after he told us the summary of the plot of Hamlet. I remember feeling a little disappointed that he gave away the storyline. Up to that point, I had enjoyed most of the Shakespeare that I read and I was excited to dive into the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark.

But, Mr. Sharpe was dead-on right and I quote his words to my students to this day.

Fast forward. I was scratching my head about a month ago when I realized that I had booked a trip out of the country for nine days right in the middle of Le Tour de France, but planned to watch it all when I returned. I got off the plane last night and immediately warned NK, my nice friend who picked us up at a time that felt ever so late for us: "Do NOT tell me anything about the Tour de France!" He doesn't pay attention to Le Tour, but I had to make sure that he wouldn't let anything slip.

I should have told the same thing to the websites I visited this morning. I went to versus.com to watch the stages that I missed (yay for On Demand sports that you just pay for...it's about time!) and right on the front page was the winner. Ugh! Then to espn.com to check on the Sox (should have gone somewhere else) and there it was again. Double ugh!

Alas, I do not feel disappointment by knowing what happened in this year's Tour. I still do not quite know how it happened. So, please don't tell me how it happened. I was excited (sort of) as I watched Stage 12 when there was some action in the mountains and I thought I was about to see the how. But not yet. There is still suspense. For those who know my penchants, you know that Contador does not ring my cowbell. Maybe my buddy CKB can fix that distaste...or maybe not. There's just something about that cyclist (maybe something called Le Tour 2009) that rubs me the wrong way.

So, my friends. It's not what, it's how. And it makes the world that much more interesting to explore.

Five Words

A while back, the Webby Awards happened and winners were limited to five word acceptance speeches. Brilliant!

There are some great ones including Zach Galifianakis. I can't embed it here, but click on the link. But don't click if you don't like hearing expletives. I've been trying to think about what I would say in five words.

Generic: "Look, Ma! I won something!"

Or if it was for teaching/education: "Get involved in your schools."

Those are my lame attempts. What would you say?

And no, you're not crazy. I set up these posts to appear while I was in the Galapagos. I'll be home soon to write all about it. Hopefully in a timely fashion.

Windy, White, and Wonderful

Chi Town. My sister lives there now and I went for: my birthday, the 4th of July, and as the first family visitor. It was marvelous. I think I'll stick mostly to the photos and give a few captions. Mostly because I'm tired.

Under the El on Lake Street. I have just arrived and it was love at first sight for me and this city.

Matt Kearney was performing at the free Taste of Chicago concert. He was really great, loves Chicago, and walked on some chairs through the audience. Me and my sister's bf (aka Quad Cities) had a great time without my sister, but we missed her.

She arrived! L and I took a walk along Lake Michigan.

The older sister. Almost 30.

Our first order of business was a trek up the Hancock Tower. It's the third tallest building in the city, but it's right on the lake and there's a free audio tour. This one is a "must do" if you visit The White City.

I just had to show you more views from The Hancock. We chose the most perfectly clear day to be up above it all. Seriously...how gorgeous!

Our next stop was XOCO. Quad Cities met us at the Rick Bayless joint (apparently he's famous from Top Chef) and it was one of the more yummy restaurants I've been to. I will go back.

View from the Architecture Boat Tour (which I kept wanting to call an archaeological tour) on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. This is the boat on which everyone thought we were drunk. We weren't...we just thought it would be more fun with some applause and appreciation for our tour guide and all of Chicago.

Going through the lock. Lake Michigan here we come!

The view of the city from The Lake. That Ferris Wheel is not the original from the World's Fair of 1893, but it commemorates that one that had cars that held 6o people each!

Another gorgeous view...and lots of tall building in sight.

The El over the trestle bridge.

I have a few "must-visits" in any city. One of them is Whole Foods. This Who Fo in Lincoln Park was HUGE. It had: a wine bar, another bar, a riverside patio, and an escalator just for your cart, right next to the one for humans.

Another mecca - Patagonia. I love how they hang their pants! They were a really cool store. They sell shoes (rare), have a bike rack in the store, and have a wall of fame/shame where every employee writes how they got to work...for all to see. Bikes are EVERYWHERE in Chicago!

July 3rd...my birthday...the Cubs won. Thanks guys! Check the "W" flag for the win that is flying at about 10 o'clock from the clock above the scoreboard.

Here I am as a 30-year old. My yearly documentation of my existence. This was a great birthday. I don't think my name was on the scoreboard like it was when I was 11 (? at Broncos Stadium), but we couldn't see it, so I'll pretend it was.

We had a divine birthday dinner at Boka. It was yummy and pretty. Look how our starters came...fried polenta with a kind of hummus on the bottom and foie gras on the top. It was my birthday remember.

A few years ago, the Sears Tower became the Willis Tower (as the Willis company was now the largest company in the building) and they built these cool glass boxes that stick out from the building. They were awesome! It's about $15 to get up to the top and it was crowded there on July 4th. I liked the Hancock views more, so if you can only do one, do the Hancock. But, being in the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and learning how cigarettes relate to the design is worth it. Besides, we had already been disappointed by the Buckingham Fountain (it didn't do its thing on the hour that the guidebook said) and there were so many people at The Taste. We needed something cool to end the day.

July 5th, at the Bean. I need to go back to get some more cool pictures of this thing. Anish Kapoor is the artist who did this and if you ever get to see an exhibit of his stuff (as I did a few summers ago at the ICA in Boston), do it!

I was lured in to Garrett's Popcorn by the smell, even though my sister really doesn't like it. I just had to try it (to compare to the stuff she brought back from her last working week in Indianapolis). The popular thing in this part of the world is the Caramel & Cheese Mix. It's so tasty (but Visz is right...Indy beats Garrett's)! As you can see, it's very, very messy.

July 4th at the Buckingham Fountain was a bust. But July 5th, it was raging. Every hour on the hour, the fountain does this (see above) for 20 minutes. We almost gave up after three failed attempts to see it on the 4th, but I'm glad we stuck with it and went back on the 5th.

And it felt so good to cool off in the spray! Thanks to quick-drying Patagucc clothes, I was presentable again in no time.

Here's the little sis and her namesake at the Famed Art Institute. She's so cute!

We got in for free because a woman offered us tickets at the door - she said she got four tickets from the library and the one friend who was going to join her couldn't show up. Bonus!

Do you think they'll loan this cool thing to me for my math classroom?

Sweet hologram. L & Quad Cities try to figure it out.

So serious.

Indian style.

The girl that Cameron stares at in "Ferris Bueller." If you do the Art Institute, I suggest Lonely Planet's Express Tour. Lots of the art has moved around, but the docents will help you find them and you get to see the best of the best.

My last night in Chi Town was at Second City for a comedy/improv show. We were in the front row. This meant that both L and I were involved in the show. L played the part of a mother in a skit and the cast sang a song about me being a teacher. My favorite part of the song was when they said I didn't look like I could be more than 20. Thanks, Second City!

We thought it was so funny!

I didn't get a picture, nor would I post one if I did, but this blank space is left blank for a "Chocolate Shake" from Wieners Circle. If you must know, read here or watch the last 8 minutes of "Pandora's Box" from the first season of the This American Life television show. My friends from work were in town for a conference and they came to see me and we were treated to a chocolate shake. I guess my trip to Chicago became complete at that moment.

Thanks, L, for making this trip happen. She got all the tickets and was the best travel agent I could ask for. She also forced me to make this trip happen, something that I wanted to do, but just wasn't committing to for a while. I was ambivalent or nervous or something about turning 30, but once the day got closer, I realized how little I liked being 29. So, thanks Visz for making me do this. I think it's the best birthday I've ever had. Maybe we'll have to make it a tradition.

Day 1 in Quito

Hello from the Southern Hemisphere! I believe this is the first time I´ve been down here. Despite the fact that it´s only $1 USD an hour to be on the Internet, I will make it quick. In fact, Í´ll just copy the email I sent to my parents. Sorry for any awkward punctuation. This is a Spanish language computer I´m on.

Hey Fam,

GL and I have arrived and we are having a great time in Quito. We got to our hotel at about 1am (after about an hour delay in Miami), slept a bit, and then got right to work. Today, we diid the Lonely Planet walking tour of Old Town and saw a lot of churches and plazas. We also planned the next two days. Tomorrow, we´ll take a bus to Otovalo (sp?) to go the famous Saturday market there and on Sunday we´re going with the Biking Dutchman tour group to a volcano (Cotopaxi) where we will hike up and mountain bike down (we think). It it very cool here and we just had a downpour. Thank goodness I packed my rain jacket at the last second.

Just wanted you to know that we are safe and enjoying our time here already. We will hang out in Quito on Monday, but don´t have firm plans for our hours that day. We´re hoping for some guinea pig (totally kosher, right?) and ceviche (no shrimp, of course). I don´t plan on getting sick from food here, so we have to keep an eye on what´s in our food. Or at least I do.

¨California Gurls¨ just came on the radio in this internet cafe. Who knew they were listening to this song here too! If I have time, I´ll touch base on Monday before we fly to the islands.

m

Data...Animated

Very cool animated infographic about "Waiting For Superman," the new Davis Guggenheim (Inconvenient Truth) documentary about public eduation. My school is in the movie, so you should see it. But at the least, I love data and someone knows how to make it look cool.

TakePart: Participant Media - Waiting For 'Superman' - Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

Bachelorette Pictures Take Two

Maybe this will work...

Bachelorette VIP

We were extremely lucky to be sitting adjacent to a bachelorette party on our flight to Miami. There were about six or eight young women wearing lanyards declaring them to be "Bachelorette VIPs." On the lanyard was a task card (is that just a teacher term?) with a list of dares, including but not limited to: get a guy to buy you a shot, get a guy to buy you a round, get a guy to give you a kiss, get a guy to show you his boxers, and slow dance with a dorky guy (I had to ask to see the VIP pass). Added by the flight attendants was "kiss the pilot, aka Captain Mike." The fight crew also checked off the guy kissing the bachelorette  and gave the group a bottle of wine. And, as you can see, Captain Mike was passing out his email address and hoping for Facebook friends. I am only posting these pictures so you have an idea of the age difference. The picture that I did not get was the co-pilot trying to get his 'mate to 'right the plane.'

GL and I decided that if by some apocalyptic event we to end up in the bride's veil, if you will, we would have stopped just short of sitting on Captain Mike's lap and giving him a kiss. Yeah... 

We also realized that you can have a bachelorette party whenever you want in your single life and are considering this for our next adventure.

Supper Club: Solstice Edition

This spring, Supper Club started here in Cali. Just a group of friends and a monthly reservation at some awesome restaurant. In June (on the Solstice), a few of us went to Sushi Ran in Sausalito. I have only liked sushi since I was in my mid-20s, so I can't say that I've tasted it all, but this was THE BEST! It was gormet sushi and it was amazing.

And just look how beautiful.

I was so excited to dig in.

If anyone wants to visit me in California, I will take you to Sushi Ran. It's worth the gorgeous drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Off They Go!

Oh...has it really been a month since graduation? It was a whirlwind for me. I was busy packing up my professional life and helping kids pass Statistics. I was one of the five faculty who spoke at graduation and then I snuck out early to catch a flight to Daytona.

Here I am, telling stories of junior year.

Here are some of the kiddos.

My Statistics Student of the Year and me.

One of my students who I taught as a junior and two periods a day as a senior. We've become really close and I'm going to miss her.

AB is sad...

And then I was crying. Not the most flattering, but I love my kids and I'm going to miss them.