Relay for Life

Relay for Life

This Saturday, I'll be running/walking with a group of friends for a charity called Relay for Life.
Basically, it's a fundraiser and memorial set up by the American Cancer Society for those who have lost loved ones to cancer. 24 hours in Mountain View. Good cause.

You can visit the team website for our relay team.

Or you can sponsor Alinna and I by going to our website and making a payment by credit card, it's real simple.

There's more information on the websites too if you want to check it out. Please think about giving some money to a worthy cause!

Sorry... no Craigslist finds this morning. I gotta get to work. Last two weeks of school.

Gleanings from Hillsdale

Yesterday's Subbing

So yesterday, I subbed. Two stories from that experience...

1) One kid, African-American, the only one in the class, tried to act super-hard. Pushed kids around, made them do things for him by using scare tactics. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wanted to go up to the kid and say, "What's up, San Mateo. Six-five-oh, what... six-five-OH!"

2) One other kid, clearly wasn't doing work, but when I'd walk by and sit down with him to work on the assigned worksheet, he was clearly capable. Not a stupid kid. Just unmotivated to do work. We're working on a math problem and he stops, "Hey, I don't usually do work in this class. I usually just draw, and it's cool. Can I just do that?" Gotta hand it to the guy for being open and honest.

This week in fantasy baseball: Lost to Mike 4-5 (currently in 8th place)

The South Bay Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. Computer Desk $30 (San Jose)
2. Weber Grill $20 (Los Altos)
3. Wine cabinet/bar $75 (Menlo Park)
4. Kitchen Cart on wheels $20 (Palo Alto)
5. Iron Magazine Holder $15 (Sunnyvale)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Alinna and I have successfully gone through our first Mother's Day. Question for all you faithful bloggers out there... what do you do for Mother's Day when you have two mothers in the area? My mother in law in a stone's throw away and my own mother is an hour's drive away. Two mothers. What am I to do?

This year: Had Mother's Day dinner with the Satake family on Saturday night and had Mother's Day dinner with the Chiu family on Sunday night.

This week in fantasy baseball: Losing to Mike 4-5

The South Bay Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. Cedar Chest $50 (Saratoga)
2. Nightstand $60 (San Jose)
3. Pine Bunkbeds $50 (Los Gatos)
4. Kitchen Utility Table $30 (Santa Clara)
5. Armchair and Ottoman $50 (Santa Clara)
6. 10 Colorful Japanese Bamboo Coasters $5 (San Jose)
7. Smoker $60 (Sunnyvale)

Sad

Sad

This week in fantasy baseball: Losing to Mike 4-5

The South Bay Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. Pair of side tables $40 (Mountain View)
2. Retro Toy Storage Box $10 (San Jose)
3. Boudoir Bench $50 (Sunnyvale)
4. Portable Kitchen Island $60 (San Jose)
5. Bread Box $10 (San Jose)

Tagged

Tagged

1. Four Jobs:
a. Church planter
b. Warehouse stocker
c. Delivery guy
d. Substitute teacher

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier:
a. Hang out with Alinna
b. Snowboard
c. Bartending School
d. Learn to Speak Japanese

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. El Sobrante
b. Berkeley
c. Date
d. Alhambra

4. Four Countries I Have Been To:
a. Canada
b. Japan
c. Mexico
d. ...

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. Italy
b. United Kingdom
c. Germany
d. China

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. Tacos from the Taco Truck on Fair Oaks in Pasadena
b. 3 Tacos and a Cerveza from the Taco Stand in Tijuana for $2
c. Anything from when Alinna Goes on a Baking Binge
d. Anything on a Grill

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. Gmail
b. ESPN
c. Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
d. Craigslist

8. Four Software Applications I Cannot Live Without:
a. Firefox
b. Word
c. Excel
d. iCal

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. Fishing with Grandpa
b. Japan.
c. Jet Li's house!
d. Seeing Alinna walk down the aisle

10. I Tag....
a. slee
b. danny
c. superbruce
d. cal

This week in fantasy baseball: Losing to Mike 2-5

The South Bay Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. Pottery Barn Desk and Chair $50 (Los Gatos)
2. Black CD Tower $30 (Cupertino)
3. Small Drawer Units $50 (Mountain View)
4. 3 Steel Canisters $10 (Sunnyvale)
5. Honeywell Air Purifier $30 (San Jose)

Tired

Just Tired

A whirlwind of seemingly everything this last week. Finally have some time to just sit, be still, and not have to do something all the time. In honor of my day of doing nothing, I will not post anything profound. For all of you at work right now, also not wanting to do anything... have no fear, I looked around on Craiglist and found the picks for your enjoyment.

This week in fantasy baseball: Beat Ted 6-4 (still in 9th place)

The South Bay Craiglist Finds of the Day
1. Magazine Rack $3 (Cupertino)
2. Antique Tool Box $25 (Mountain View)
3. Table $20 (Mountain View)
4. Iron and Wood Magazine Rack $15 (Mountain View)
5. Cherry Bookshelf & Cherry Computer Desk with Hutch $50/$75 (Cupertino)
6. End table $45 (Mountain View)
7. Antique Steamer Trunk $50 (Campbell)
8. 3-Seat Couch $89 (Santa Clara)
9. Oak Wine Rack $20 (San Jose)
10. Modern Storage Bench $90 (Palo Alto)

The Best High Schools

Newsweek's Best High School Rankings

After being directed to the website from Bob's blog, I started searching around for schools I recognized. The top 1000 public high schools in the nation. That's a lot of high schools. I combed through the first 500 and after seeing Hickville, Nebraska a few times and Yockle, Kansas as cities housing some of the top high schools, I started to gain false hope that a high school from the WCCUSD would get in. I saw Albany High in the list. Surely, El Cerrito isn't that far away from Albany. But I was wrong. My dreams of seeing my high school there... dashed.

For those of you who don't want to bother with clicking the hyperlink above, here's how Newsweek ranked the schools:

By dividing the number of AP and IB tests taken at a school by the number of graduating seniors, we can measure how committed the school is to helping kids take college-level courses.

With that as the measure of excellence, it's no wonder the WCCUSD didn't crack the top 1000. I took 3 AP tests over the course of my high school career at El Cerrito: Calculus AB, English (the non-lit version), and US History. It wasn't until I went to Cal that my eyes were opened to the world of college freshmen coming in with 100 million AP units. And there I was, naively thinking that the only AP tests out there were Calculus, English, Biology, US History, European History, Spanish, and French. Blast you Hickville, Nebraska and your AP Tractor Pull!

This week in fantasy baseball: Beating Ted 7-3

The Craigslist South Bay Finds of the Day
1. Walnut Computer Desk $50 (Mountain View)
2. Pottery Barn Chairs Set of 5 $50 (Los Gatos)
3. Spanish Style Table with Set of 6 Chairs $80 (Los Gatos)
4. Crate & Barrel Dinnerware Set Service for 6 $30 (Campbell)
5. Baker's Rack $35 (San Jose)
6. Eureka Bagless Vacuum $25 (Menlo Park)
7. Iron Magazine Rack $30 (Menlo Park)

The World of MySpace

The Nebulous World of MySpace

Not to sound completely anti-social, but what's the point of MySpace? I asked the same thing about Friendster a while back and decided not to join in. I guess I just don't get it. Are people looking to hook up through it? Cyber-stalk? A few weeks back, Dean was over and he was telling me about the virtues of Friendster. He asked me if there was anybody from high school I wanted to check up on. I just drew a blank. Maybe I just don't care? I don't know. I feel like an old man hollering with his gums saying, "What's been all this hootin' and hollerin' about MySpace?"

This week in fantasy baseball: Beating Ted 6-4

The South Bay Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. 4 Drawer Dresser $40 (Cupertino)
2. Nightstand $60 (San Jose)
3. Nightstand $25 (Sunnyvale)
4. Charcoal BBQ/Smoker $10 (San Jose)
5. Humidifier $15 (Mountain View)

First Day at School... Again

I don't know how many times I've said this now, but today was my first day at school, as a substitute teacher. Yes, I am officially employed by the San Mateo Unified High School District. Today was an assignment at Burlingame High. Generally, a very well-behaved set of classes. You could say that I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of incidents, but not too much. The biggest incident was probably showing up 30-minutes late for first period. (Note: I hate the city of Burlingame... the place makes no sense to me) I ended up driving around Burlingame for about an hour. Why? Because Google maps directed me to turn at a street that wasn't marked.

So around and around I went, looking for a street sign that didn't exist. I started wandering around the general vicinity, found a set of buildings that could be a high school, got excited, and drove in that general direction only to find that it wasn't Burlingame High but San Mateo High. Wrong high school. I ended up finding the high school after calling the Burlingame High office. Good thing I had their phone number.

Afterward, Alinna asked me how it went. I got the feeling like she was glad and a bit disappointed at the same time. Glad that the kids didn't give me a hard time and possibly disappointed because the kids didn't give me a hard time. I think I lucked out this time though. No way all the classes are going to be like this one.

The week in fantasy baseball: Beat Dong 5-4 (currently in 9th place)

The Craigslist Finds of the Day
1. Black computer desk with stool $40 (San Jose)
2. Kids' table, chairs, storage bench, lamp $50 (San Jose)
3. Wardrobe closet $20 (San Jose)
4. Cherry Wood Boudoir Bench $25 (Mountain View)
5. Large Weber BBQ $10 (Mountain View)
6. Bathroom Wall Shelf $3 (San Jose)
7. Smoker/Grill $75 (San Jose)
8. Zojirushi Hot Water Pot $30 (Santa Clara)