I'm In!

OK, I'm headed for grad school! I will be pursuing my Masters in Educational Technology at San Diego State University starting in August.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My Dad's not on this earth anymore, but he is certainly not forgotten. Today would have been his birthday. I miss him every day and I hope he knows how much he influenced me.

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
Proverbs 3:13-14

Howard Beasley Lawson, Jr.
1929-2005

Kayaking Adventure #2: Newport Beach, 6/25/08

Yes I know, my life jacket is not buckled correctly. I had unbuckled it to run to the car to get the camera, and then buckled it up again. Thank you, Bob, for snapping the picture!

Moving To a Room With a Sink

Same school, fourteen years. This is the fifth time I have packed up everything to move to a different classroom. My new room is really nice, and it will be the first time in fourteen years that I have had a SINK! The packing is all finished. My old room is a "portable" classroom and it is being dismantled and removed from my school site, to be replaced with another "portable" classroom. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but neither do a lot of things about public education...

When You Buy an Expensive Purse, They Give You a Bottle of Cold Water

Three years, I've had the same purse. It has served me well. I get very attached to my purses and I particularly liked this one. Everyone thought it was too small to hold anything but I never had a problem with that. I always figured if it didn't fit, I didn't want to carry it around. Anyway, after the purse had broken in three places (not bad after three years of daily use) it was time to buy a new one.

So off I went to the Brighton store at one of my least favorite places, the mall. Entering the mall, I am reminded how much I want to hurry up and get out of there. First of all, it is very noisy. Something about the acoustics, I guess, and the fact that it is so hot out and lots of people are escaping the heat at the air conditioned mall - oh, but wait, it's not called a mall here - I am in "The Shops at Mission Viejo."

I find the Brighton store on the directory and take a direct route there. Good news, they are having a sale! I notice that all of the clerks are dressed in head to toe Brighton. Oh my word, someone please hit me over the head if I ever do that. Anyway, after much consideration, I settle on a nice purse, a little bit bigger than my old one, and hand over my credit card at the counter (thank goodness I am getting airline miles for this one). 30% off makes a difference, but still, this is an expensive purse in my book. (Frugal daughter does not approve!) But I do the math this way: it will last me three years, so when I divide the price by three, it's pretty darn reasonable!

I have never shopped in a Brighton store before (the last purse was a gift) so I did not know that in addition to the lovely shopping bag I would be offered a bottle of cold water to take with me out of the store. Of course I said yes - gotta get my money's worth out of this one - and of course the water bottle had a Brighton label.

Toes, Swimming and Movie Tickets

Great way to start the summer: a spa pedicure. The nails are red, with a lovely white flower. It kind of reminds me of the white flower decal on my car. Got a theme going.

Another great way to start the summer: walk down to the ocean and jump in. Swim a little, get out and walk home. Way to cool off!

Another great way to get out of the heat: go to an air conditioned movie. Get Smart was funny and I loved it, but I'm not sure what to think of the teenager who sold me the ticket as a senior. That's never happened before! I did not walk up to the window and say "one senior." (That would be cheating, not unlike the teenagers who walk up and say "one child" when they should be paying more for the adult ticket!) I did walk up and say "one for Get Smart." Now I was right after my mother who bought a senior ticket, but did the girl even look at me? I would like to think not. Senior tickets, by the way, are for 60 and older at the Regency Theaters. Not 55, mind you, but 60! Tell me I don't look 60!!!

Please feel free to leave a comment and assure me of my youthful appearance...

Hot and Going to Get Hotter

Forecast Tomorrow for Laguna Beach:
High of 94º
Forecast Tomorrow for Keller, Texas:
High of 89º

The Reviews Are In! Students Love O'Connell's Work

Artist Jeff O'Connell as Jamoka Jack,
and Patron of the Arts Deborah Lawson as Clementine

"He did a very good job." - Erica S.

"A very good artist." - Maritza P.

"I bet it took like 6 hours to paint." - Yoseline C.

"I think he could be famous one day." - Cynthia B.

"Gold Rush Day wouldn't be complete without it." - Cody M.

"Keep up the work Jeff." - Alejandra M.

"Must be a famous artist." - Jessica S.

"I think he will become famous." - Kimberly G.

"I thought it was very creative." - Jennifer R.

"He's nice because he painted a great piece of art for students." - Kathleen S.

"The best painter in California." - Michael V.

"The best painter in the world." - Abner D.

The show has closed, but in case you missed them, these recent works by Los Angeles artist Jeff O'Connell will make another appearance for Gold Rush Day 2009.

Dwelt a Miner, Forty-Niner, and His Daughter, Clementine - in my car

Did you sing that title? In fourth grade we love that song. And now the miner, who we have named Jamoka Jack (after the character in By the Great Horn Spoon) and Clementine (from the song) are in my car on a layover from an art studio in LA to the gold diggings of the OC.

Shown above is the artist's sketch for these two nearly life-size figures with cut-out faces, for the kids to stand behind and look out through the hole. They are painted on heavy cardboard voting booths (they don't use those things for voting anymore). Folded up, they just barely fit in my car. They will be in use tomorrow at school to get the kids excited about Gold Rush Day which will be held on the last day of school, Wednesday. Everyone will get a chance to have their picture taken behind one or the other.

The finished product, which looks even better than the sketch, is the work of my favorite artist and good friend, Jeff O'Connell. Thank you, Jeff!

I went to the movies with 50 kids!

At my school, we told the kids that anyone who finished all the topics in Study Island before the STAR Test would be able to go on a special reward field trip. I had five students accomplish this, and they were excited to be the only fourth graders in the group - all the rest were fifth graders.

We met at In-N-Out Burger first, where everyone had a burger, fries and a soda. Then we walked to the movie theater, which meant going across the parking lot, entering the mall, and walking all the way through the mall to the other end where the theater was located. I was the designated leader of the group. After instructing everyone to be on their best behavior, use quiet voices, walk, don't touch, etc., I opened the door and led fifty 10- and 11-year-olds into the shoe department of Macy's, and from there, through the perfume department. No one tried to spray any perfume on us, thank goodness. We emerged from Macy's into the mall, and my immediate thought was: "I need to keep this group of mostly boys away from the Victoria's Secret window!" I mentally tried to picture which side of the mall had the Vicky See's store, and since I hardly ever go to the mall, I kind of thought I had a 50/50 chance.

OK, good thing, I turned out to be right. We arrived at the movie theater and while we certainly attracted some looks, all in all everyone was pretty good. The next 20 minutes was spent herding the kids to the snack counter and into the theater. Everyone was given a bag of popcorn and a soda. How on earth anyone could be hungry after just wolfing down a burger and fries was beyond me. But what really got to me was all the kids who had money with them, and after getting their free popcorn and soda, bought boxes of candy as well! No wonder we have a childhood obesity problem in this country...

The movie was really pretty cute and it was only when the credits rolled that I realized who did the voices - Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, and Jackie Chan. It was fun to see the kids have such a good time. We'll do it again next year.

The new iPhone - I am SO getting one!

Twice as fast, half the price. Coming July 11. Count me in.

7964 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, California

I had a mission yesterday, and it was to see the house in which my father lived when the 1930 census taker dropped by. The census taker noted that my father, who was 8 months old at the time, lived with his father and mother in a house located at 7964 West 4th Street in Los Angeles.

I happen to have a photograph taken of my father when he was approximately that age. He is that cute baby in the car. The two boys in front of the car, wearing leather football helmets I believe, are his cousins who are twins.

So I'm thinking that the house in the background of the picture could possibly be the house my father lived in, or it could be the one across the street since the car seems to be parked on the opposite side of the street. West 4th Street, it turns out, is one block off of Fairfax, and two blocks from the old Farmers Market and new Grove shopping center. Since this is Suzy's neighborhood, she had already scouted it out for me. This time we went together with the picture.

Things do change in 78 years, but it didn't take long to recognize that house in the picture. It is directly across the street from 7964 West 4th Street. So the photographer (probably my grandfather) was standing in front of their home to shoot the 3 boys. The house now has a tall hedge in front, but the distinctive roof line made it easy to recognize.



Walking up to the opening in the hedge in order to see the front of the house confirmed it - this is where the picture was taken!


We knocked on the door of the house in the picture, and the man who answered was completely unimpressed with the fact that we were standing there holding a picture of his home taken in 1929 or 1930. We decided to cross the street and knock on the door of the house that my father actually lived in. This man was much nicer and invited us in to show us around. He said that he had done exactly the same thing when he returned to the village in which he grew up, in Switzerland.

As we left Suzy took this picture of me in front of the house.

My dad would have gotten a kick out of my tracking down the house, one that I don't think he even remembered living in. I believe that shortly after the census taker came by, they moved to Brentwood. I think it's amazing that both houses are still standing and I'm glad they were not torn down.

The GRE: I did it!

It's nice to know that some part of my brain is actually functioning better than when I was 16 years old. My GRE Verbal score yesterday was higher than my SAT Verbal score was 37 years ago! How do I know my score already? Because the computer told me! Right after I finished the test. Strange, I know. The whole experience was strange. And you may have noticed that I have not mentioned my math score. Oh well, it was passable. I still have to wait to get the writing score, but I am not worried. It was that math that was so tortuous.

I took the test in an office building located three blocks from where I teach. I arrived early, signed in, and then wrote out in long-hand a statement to the effect that I would not cheat or disclose anything on the test. I left all my personal belongings in a locker out in the waiting room. I was allowed to bring my glasses in to the testing room, but nothing else. I signed in and had my picture taken after showing my drivers license. I was handed pencils and scratch paper. Then I was ushered into a room which had cubicles with computers. Each cubicle was monitored by a camera connected to the sign-in station. Everyone sitting in there was half my age, but I tried to ignore them.

The GRE is a computer adapted test. The computer asks you a question. If you get it right, it asks you a harder question. If you get it wrong, it asks you an easier question. The harder the question, the more it is weighted into your score. It is timed, of course. Pacing yourself against the time ticking down in the corner of the screen is critical, and it makes it very nerve-wracking.

A thought occurred to me as I was taking the test that I was really glad not to be one of those 20-something stressed out people in there. They are probably thinking this is their LIFE, man! Grad school, or else what? There was a young woman in the bathroom before I started who had obviously had a meltdown and possibly been sick. She was patting wet paper towels on her face. Thanks to Suzanne's pep talk driving to the test, I had asked myself going in - if I did not do well on the test, then what's the worst that could happen? Maybe I don't get into the particular master's program I wanted, but I still get to go on doing what I have been doing, which I basically enjoy very much and get paid decently for doing. This silly test is not going to be life-changing for me, but maybe it is for some of these poor people! I am glad to be past that stage of life, let me tell you.

Back to the test, the writing section came first. Two analytical essays to write. The first one gave a choice of two prompts. Both of them have to do with the arts. OK, I'm good there. After writing maybe three paragraphs, I finally notice that there is no spell check on this computer! Duh, it's a test... Oh well, I did win the school spelling bee in the 7th grade. The second essay is the argument essay, where you analyze the reasoning in an argument. Now this one was weird. It had to do with men fainting at the dentist and targeting advertising to them. I hope I did not just violate that secrecy agreement I signed. Anyway, I finished each essay with less than a minute to spare.

Next came the quantitative analysis section. Not having taken an actual math class for oh, nearly four decades, this is the part where I seriously question why I am putting myself through this torture. The fact that I wound up getting the score I did amazes me. Maybe I got lucky on some of my guesses, thanks to the "Lucky" shirt I was wearing. On to the verbal reasoning: sentence completion, analogies, antonyms and reading comprehension. I know I'm doing well because I get a really hard passage to read about African-American imagist poets and jazz, and before I know it, it's over! Wrong, it's not over, it says "proceed to the next test." Oh yeah I forgot, one of the sections was experimental and wasn't scored. Which means I am doing some section all over again, with different questions of course. Sure enough, it's the damn math, but hey, I survived it once, I can do it again.

Seeing my scores at the end, I want to shout out and jump up and down, but there are other people still testing so I restrain myself. Finally walking out of there is a great feeling! Huge weight off shoulders and all. Never have to do that again. Thank you, Lord. Time to celebrate!

Duet Failed!

This is what I was up to tonight instead of studying for the GRE. My prep book said not to study the night before, so I didn't. I went to a party. This was a teacher party, and the music teacher was there, and he brought along a karaoke set-up. We spent much of the night making fools of ourselves. After you choose a song and sing it, you get a score, apparently based on how well you sang the notes on pitch at the right time. When you sing a duet, you each get a score.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be! You have to really pay attention to the words running across the screen, coming in at the right time, and a little arrow tells you whether you are sharp or flat.

We were rolling on the floor after a particularly difficult performance of "Respect" by Aretha Franklin. There were two vocal lines, one the melody (Aretha) and the other, the back-up vocals (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me). The screen kept telling us we were not doing well. Suddenly the whole thing stopped and the screen flashed "Duet Failed," which sent everyone into howls of laughter.

Later in the evening I tried "Respect" one more time, and the system did not crash, so I guess I redeemed myself. It was all a great distraction from thinking about the GRE, which is, by the way, tomorrow.

Wish me luck. I will be glad to have it over with. If I don't do well, I guess I can start going to karaoke bars instead of graduate school.

I Love Google Earth!

Thanks to Google Earth, I can "fly" to where Daughter #1 lives:

and I can pretend to go there:


For a techie like me, it's kinda fun...

But actually going there would be way better!

If you don't have Google Earth, you should definitely download it, for FREE!

How Does the Mother Bird Do It?

She sits on those eggs, feeds the babies, teaches them to fly, and then they fly away! Doesn't she get sad? I am so sad, even as I am happy, for they do fly.

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about. ~ Angela Schwindt

Showing Off Laguna

Out-of-town friends + great weather = A chance to show off Laguna Beach, the old hometown.

What better way to come to Laguna than by train! The Amtrak Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano was right on time, and we walked across the tracks to a delightful brunch at Ramos House. Then we headed up to Laguna for a walk at the Montage park, where the tide was way out and the tidepools were incredible. Sea urchins, sea anemones, sea stars, crabs, mussels, fish. We talked to the kayak guy at the beach (that will be later this month) and then headed into town.

The usual cute shops, the real wooden boardwalk, the lifeguard tower that is no longer used but great for a photo op - how quickly one forgets the charms of one's own hometown. Finished up with drinks and treats at Cafe Zinc, and headed back to the train station where Amtrak wasn't quite on time, but that just gave us more time to chat.

Finally the train pulled in and we waved goodbye! Thanks, Carolyn - for hopping on the train, and Suzanne for driving the 405 .