What's everyone been up to? Are we having a summer bbq in August?

Fun Week

It was great spending the week with all of you.

I'm done!

I can't believe I made it! This school year is finally over. I don't have to deal with my incompetent principal and the whiny staff (for at least two months anyway). And...I think the school year ended just in time for the heat wave. I don't know about the rest of the teachers in the group...but in my district, intermediate schools don't have air conditioning. :-/

But on a more bright note...I just received my newest baby! A brand new 4Runner. I ordered it back in February and I picked it up on Tuesday. My TV also decided to quit last week Monday, so I had to buy a new one as well. So, now I'm the proud owner of a Samsung 46" LCD. Patrick is stoked because he bought a PSP3 to accompany the new TV. It's like Christmas come early and just in time for summer!

Well, that's about it from this end of the OC. I just wanted to give you all an update. :) Hope you all are doing well. I can't wait to see you all at the beach house.

xo

What's happening here???

I came across this story in the OC Register. Apparently a "Love Gram" note insinuating that "we all go down 2/22" was published in The Rebel Times. Approximately 1,400 students stayed home on Friday. The article states that the note "escaped the attention of the newspaper's advisers". I'll say it did!

Small World

So my media class was filming an elementary school variety show as a fundraiser tonight and guess what? Jake Vornholt was performing in a rock band with my neighbor. They were great. I got to say hi to Mark Vornholt and Mom too.

Freakin' small world isn't it? I'll post a picture up here in a few days.

Time for a break...

I know that some of you savvy computer people prolly know this already...but there's a new website called firebrand.com. This website features funny (and sometimes not so funny) commercials. If you have a minute (or two) check out the site. Type in "squirrel" or "swear jar"...you won't be disappointed.

P.S. Don't get sucked into the vortex of commercial haven...I was stuck there for an hour last night...I thought I was a goner.

Talega Blog

Corey is really letting me down. I keep checking back at the Talega blog to see what's going on and he hasn't posted since last October. This sucks. Corey - If you don't have anything else going on, you should come up here next Sunday night for Mock Trial Practice. We are doing a dress rehearsal at 6pm. It's not like you'll be busy writing a new entry for the Talega Blog.

I feel like I know Gil Rivera.

4% Total Commission
96% Sjon Dowell

Here's the Ladybug Fairy and Dorothy. Of course, no Dorothy costume would be complete without flying monkeys.

THE NEWEST JOE TORRE FAN CLUB AND THEIR LITTLE DODGERS DOG.

To Gnome Me is to Love me

In honor of his dad's aversion to fanciful garden creatures with big bellies, Owen dressed as a gnome for Halloween this year. Surprisingly, he even kept his beard on for the entire trip around the block. Too bad we will only be able to choose his costumes for another year, if that. Next year it's Mark's turn to dress him up.

If only every day were like this day...

I wish that I could get out of the concrete jungle more often, but I guess every few months will have to suffice. Patrick, Stephen, April (his wife), and I went to Lake Casitas for camping, fishing, canoeing, and an all-round jolly good time. We all played hookie from work on Friday, in the hopes that we wouldn't hit traffic. Patrick and I made it to the lake by noon, but we were greeted with high winds that docked all boats, big and small. We even had to change our lake-side camping spot because there was no shelter from the winds. I didn't even want to get out of the truck. Luckily, we found a spot nestled between some big rocks and huge trees. We only caught one fish each (nothing more than a fish stick), so I was thankful that we brought "back-up" dinners for both nights. I ate way too many roasted marshmallows and honey-roasted peanuts. But food cooked outdoors is a whole other type of cuisine. We had filet mignon wrapped in bacon our first night. Yum! I slept so well...except when I heard coyotes howling from somewhere behind my head. I thought it was kinda cool until it got eeriely quiet. That's when Patrick informed me that they must have already killed their prey. Nice. I waited until the sun way WAY up before I left the tent to go to the bathroom. The lake is pretty big...we didn't canoe as far as I'm sure Patrick wanted to go, but in whichever direction we attempted to paddle...the winds shifted so that we were paddling into the wind. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper...or rower...but once I caught my fish stick...and the sun started to set...things were once again good. Though we had a great time, I'm glad that my next trip with Patrick involves a room at Planet Hollywood in Vegas. I probably won't see or hear any coyotes, but I'm sure there'll be cougars abound. :)

Bora Bora Was Awesome!!

It was the best vacation I've ever taken. I haven't been this relaxed in years.

I just call it as I see it...

Obviously, I'm back at work.

10 Years On. . .

It's hard to believe ten years have passed by so quickly. I remember vividly the moment I heard about her accident. I was with Anne at a John Williams concert at the Hollywood Bowl. A lot changes in a decade, doesn't it? A reminder to cherish every day.

Here are a couple of shots I took down the road at Kensington Palace today. A bit over the top I'd say but she is still revered by many here.

See you soon,

Sjon

Java Jitter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4y78gxev2I

The Last Frontier

Patrick and I just got home from our trip to Alaska. The trip was amazing, the ship was amazing, and the sites...well, they were absolutely breath-taking. From the gigantic city on the sea (The Golden Princess)...to the float plane over the glacier...through the forest on Haines Peninsula...along the salmon infested creek in Ketchikan...to the bright, yet quaint lights of the legislative building in Victoria...it was a trip to remember. The photo above is the South Sawyer Glacier as seen from our balcony. It may look like just a piece of ice, but it's really quite a site! I've never seen so many colors of blue. The icebergs floating by our ship did make me feel a bit apprehensive (Titanic, anyone?), but Patrick assured me that we had enough life boats. We saw a killer whale, some regular whales (they weren't wearing name tags), black bears, brown bears, and seals. I didn't see any moose, unless you count the guy wearing the moose costume outside of our ship as we disembarked in Skagway.

Oh, and if you all were thinking that there might be a lack of night life in Alaska...you'll be happy to know that Vegas has come serious competition...

Pics from the Big Bear camping trip

Here are the pictures I took at our Big Bear camping trip back in June. There are about 50 pics here in all and I have set up a permanent web site for them just like the 7/21 BBQ pictures. Eventually I will just create our own website that will include the blog and all the pictures I can get my hands on. Click on either picture, the word LINK down below or the permanent link on the right sidebar to go to the full web page. Once again - if you would like the originals of any of these pictures - just let me know.

Link

Pictures from the 7/21 BBQ

Click on the link to go to see the pictures from the BBQ

Link

How Rad is Abby?

She's throwing up gang signs!
And she knows she's all that!

Indulge me, please...

I know that some of you have already taken the Meyers-Briggs before...but I thought that if you all took this shortened version...then we could have some good conversation on the 21st. Sjon...you can simply email your results to one of us and we'll pass it along to the rest of the gang. Now, this isn't the full version, but it's a start. If you guys like, I can bring a full version of the test to the party.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

You don't need to print out the descriptors at the end, I'll bring my crib notes. I guess my psych degree may come in handy after all...

Le Tour de France

The Tour de France kicked off here in London yesterday which still seems a bit bizarre to me but nonetheless, it did. I had a great time watching the time trials.

I ran into my good friend Lance Armstrong and raced him up and down the streets. He was a bit bummed when I beat him across the finish line.

Hope you're all well. Lots happening here that could affect my career at Disney and my residence in London. I'll fill you all in later.

Sjon

July 21 Barbeque

We are on for the 21st at 1 p.m. Unless there are strong objections, we will be making barbeque ribs as the main course. We can also do some chicken for those not down with the swine.

Looking forward to seeing you all!!

-Clan Taylor

Deep Thoughts...

Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer.

As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint.

When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.

I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex.

He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."

Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.

We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with some whore he picked up in town.

Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done

I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties.

Come Back, Sjon, Come Back!

I saw this and thought of you.



When will you be returning to So Cal?

Hoop Time

Well gang, this is my last Friday of work for awhile. Yes, you can hate me or be slightly jealous of me, but don't get too excited. I still have 200 notebooks and nine projects to grade before Monday and then I have to input grades, bubble them, clean up my classroom, and then I get to check out for the summer.

But since it's nearing the end of school, it's time for the kids to jump through all of the appropriate hoops. My students have to take the district benchmark today. It's a 33 question test which covers the last three units I supposedly taught them in the past 10 weeks. Now, I don't put too much stock (no, make that I don't put ANY stock) into the district benchmark test because some schools and even one teacher at my school actively cheats by giving the students the test questions as review either the night before or even prior to giving the test ON THAT DAY. So...my students are "competing" against other students whose teachers have acted unethically. But that's neither here nor there. I just can't believe how many tests my students have to take...there's my unit test and the district benchmark for World History...but then there's the benchmark for math, English...and then I'm sure they also have to take the end of the unit tests for those classes as well. How many hoops does a 7th grader have to jump through in order to move onto the 8th grade? Too many to count...waaaaaaayyyyyyy too many to count. Okay, I'm done bitching. I don't know why I care so much. They certainly don't pay me enough to care this much...

It's a SAD day...

Broadway performer and television personality, Charles Nelson Reilly, 76, died last Friday in Los Angeles due to complications from pneumonia after being sick for more than a year. Reilly, who was well-known for his over-the-top appearances on the Tonight Show and game shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares in the 1970s and 80s, began his career on Broadway in 1962 in the role of Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He won a Tony Award for this role. Later, Reilly was nominated for Tony Awards again for playing Cornelius in Hello, Dolly! and in 1997 for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of The Gin Game. His last work was an autobiographical one-man show called Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly which was made into a feature film The Life of Reilly in 2006. Reilly is survived by his partner Patrick Hughes. No memorial plans have been announced.

Hey Party People.
Ain't it time to plan the summer BBQ?
We need dates and a place!

ETA:
Place has been decided as the TAYLOR'S.
Date needed!
Please vote for July 14th or 21st

Let's Go Camping

In late June or early July the Lutes family wants to go camping. We're thinking park your car and pitch your tent as opposed to backpacking (you know, with the kids and all). We've scoped out a few campsites in the Big Bear area and would like to reserve something for a midweek dealybob.

We just want to take your temperature (pick your orifice) about who might like to go.

We have a few tents and accoutrements so betweeen all of us we might be able to rustle up some extra gear for the have-nots.

Those of us with kids will probably be mostly campground bound (and up in the night and changing diapers, etc., whatnot, and so forth). The non-child-laden people should be warned. But I think we could have a good time. We are looking at spots with nearby showers, bathrooms, etc. so the city-lubers need not be too worried.

So, who's in? Anyone? Beuller?

May Trip Cancelled

Greetings from Zurich!

I'm sorry my schedule didn't allow time to see you all last week in LA. I was in town to design a new forecasting tool for our division and we were busy day and night. The good news is that we made progress but the bad news is that my IT guys need more than a month to move the project along so I cancelled my follow up workshop in May.

At this point it looks like I won't be back until July or August. I'll let y'all know the details as soon as the itinerary is locked.

Hope all of you are well and the new parents are getting some sleep.

Tchüs

Weekend Get-away

This past weekend, Patrick and I opted to head east to Arizona for some sunshine, fresh air, and hopefully, lots of fish! The trip Friday morning started out damp which could have definitely dampened my spirits, had Patrick not pointed out that the storm clouds were blowing in a different direction AWAY from Alamo Lake (Az). After driving through a rather boring view of the desert in California, we came upon a much more aesthetically pleasing sight of the Arizona desert. We arrived at Alamo Lake around 4PM and quickly set up camp so that we could head down to the lake to fish. Well, the fish weren't biting at the time, but a burro was snorting at us, so after taking a few pictures of "him"...I turned my attention to the beautiful sunset. I think that all too often we get caught up in the stressors of every day life, and we need to make the time to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. This was the perfect get-away. The weather was beautiful (thunderstorms were supposed to come Friday night, but there was nothin' but the howling winds, which, of course, I did not hear seeing that I'm a sound sleeper!). Saturday we fished for 8 1/2 hours. I caught four large mouth bass...Patrick caught one (no, I'm not counting!!!) But we were fishing for crappie and bluegill, but those were not to be found anywhere. Good thing that I packed a "back-up" dinner. Sunday morning, we paused to take the second pic with the view from our camp. It was another beautiful day. After packing up, Patrick and I headed back down to the lake. We fished for another five hours...but both of us were shut out. Oh, there were plenty of "hits" on our lines, but we landed nothing. But it wasn't a complete loss...we canoed into the coves and mini-canyons of Alamo Lake. It was absolutely breathtaking. We saw wild burros, a coyote, tons of quail, two bats, a few hawks, vultures galore, some weird duck species with a mohawk...and the clincher...a bald eagle soaring right above our canoe. Oh, and I saw a dead crappie. This was an awesome weekend getaway. I'm sunburned, sore from canoeing...but happy that I caught some fish...and refreshed to begin a new week. Is it summer yet?

Owen Andrew Switzer

Hello -

Kat and I have been so busy that we haven't been able to post here yet. Owen says thanks for all the calls, cards and love. Here are a few of his latest pictures. You can click on his name at the top of this post to visit Owen's website. He has a bunch of pictures there and has even been publishing his own blog. Happy Rabbit Eggs Day to everyone!

Link

Island Fever

I need to get off this island so I'll be coming home on May 19th. Hopefully I can meet the newest editions to the group.

À bientôt

Fun @ Skool

I've been waiting for the day when Mark and I would be able to park right next to the "rookie" history teacher, Jimmy. As part of his initiation into our history department we decided that as soon as we had the opportunity that we were going to pin his truck in...there would be NO way for him to get into his truck. He would be stuck.

Well...it took us over a year and a half...but the time had finally come. Jimmy was tutoring after school as Mark and I hatched our scheme. Jimmy had parked his truck in front of his room...Mark's and my rooms both flanked Jimmy's...we were hoping that he would see us pinning his truck in...but knowing that he was tutoring...he couldn't leave his kids...we were hoping for that "helpless" kind of moment. We even had our other colleague, Hau, directing us...

Jimmy was oblivious. Mark and I had to park and repark and repark our trucks again. Hau was toggling between the two of us, making sure that we didn't hit anything. Jimmy was clueless. Apparently, he was busy trying to teach the kids or something. As soon as the deed was done...Mark and I high-tailed it to my room to watch the drama unfold. It was 3:15...tutoring was over. We could hear Jimmy closing his windows. My windows were open...so we heard Jimmy's boisterous laughter...I ran to get my digital camera. We waited quietly in my room...thinking that Jimmy would come over to tell us that the joke was over and that he appreciated being initiated as our favorite "rookie" history teacher. But alas, our hopes were dashed as we heard Jimmy's Flowmaster revving in the parking lot!!!

We ran out of my back door to find Jimmy inside of his truck. He was attempting to back out...BY HIMSELF! Mark and I flagged him down...how did he get in his truck? There was NO visible room as even I had to climb over my passenger seat just to get out of my truck. At this time, the four of us are doubled over in laughter as we realized that our rookie was pretty darn smart...he broke into his own truck and climbed through the back window. We were had...but I got a picture of it anyway. :) My friends...I wish that EVERY work day could be this fun. The moral of the story? Don't park between two friends...because if you don't have a back window to break in to...well, then basically, you're shit out of luck.

Bull!

Olé!!!

Had a great time in Spain this last week. I went to my first bullfight and had excellent Paella. In Valencia, it is currently Fiesta de Fallas where everyday there are fireworks at 2PM (when most people take lunch) and the town creates beautiful papier maché statues up to 75 feet high for competition and then burns them at the end of the month. Some of these can cost upwards of $750k so no cheap bonfire. All good fun.

Brunch with the Bunch

It's always too short of a time when we do get a chance to get together. I had a blast...nothing beats good food, good friends, and good conversation. Thank you, Maureen and Dave for hosting...and to everyone else, it was so good to see you! Can't wait for the next shindig.

xo,
C