Watching Pat's Jam Session with His Students

tragic death of Amir Hassan - former camper

I was heartbroken to learn of the death of Amir Hassan. His mother has been charged with his murder and evidence indicates that he was suffocated and poisoned in his home.

He is remembered fondly by camp staff as being sweet, smart, and having a good sense of humor. He was always so well behaved and was immediately a favorite among the staff.

The photo is of me and Amir at Jake and Cat's wedding in July 2005. Not often do I run into campers at weddings and it is ever more rare that a seven year old is so well mannered and engaging around so many adults.

MEMORIAL FUND

The family has established a memorial fund with Wells Fargo Bank to assist with burial costs. Contributions can be sent to: 2601 C Blanding Ave. #155, Alameda, CA 94501. Checks can be made out to: In Memory of Amir Hassan. Account number: 8302418135

It is truly a sorrowful day . . .

Hanging with Geoff at Camp

It was fun to hand out with Geoff in Berkeley. Here is his site if you want more info RSVP Design

Beating the Skate Staff in the Best Lunch Competition

So I stopped by the skater staff lunch on Friday and found out that all the staff actually have time to make their lunch - darn good ones at that! I got tips from Gerald about how to shop for one person, and Gord told me how to make sure the tomato does not make the bread soggy. Steven extolled the values of using Tupperware - the collapsing kind. Apparently they often have lunch competitions: Best drink, desert, assortment, and presentation. My canned lunch drink is going head to head tomorrow. Hopefully I'll win on practicality and quickness.

getting ready for skate camp

This is the crunch time of the year for the repairs for the skate camp. The bay area winter weather does a number on the ramps over the years. The skate staff can't wait to get out there and skate on them so this great bay area weekend means construction!

UCB 2007 School Psychology Conference

Here is a great photo from the 2007 UC Berkeley School Psychology Conference on Child Psychopathology and Emotional Maladjustment in Schools. Pictured is the conference team and Dr. Randy W. Kamphaus from University of Georgia and Dr. Brent Duncan from Humboldt State University. The students did an excellent job pulling of a great event in the midst of all their course work!

Conference Prep with the Second Years

We had a blast tonight stuffing folders and sorting papers for the big conference tomorrow. A huge thank you to James' brother who got off a cross country flight and came straight from the airport to help us. I am sure he is as good of an ER doctor as he is a paper collater : ] We have the photos to prove it!

My weekend with a fish!

Had an amazing weekend with educators from around the world talking about fish for schools. The fun Steve and I had just can't be captured in a photo.

Fun and NAB 2007

Got to go to NAB this year to help a friend and ended up hanging out with some very cool video and podcast geeks. You know how much I love the social life so this was a stretch for my but they were all so kind and welcoming - I may have to reconsider my ban on late-night bar hopping if some of my new friends promise to come with : ]

Why I left Vox

As many of you know I started a blog on vox.com to try it out. It seemed interesting, great interface, and a cool ability to control each post and who reads it. You can limit readership by post so if I wanted to post my travel schedule for my family I could limit it to those people. As time went on I noticed the ads on VOX and I was not getting paid for those adds. I couldn't figure out how to control the RSS feed, add the bookmarking feature, etc. I have been working on a blog in blogger and find it easy to use with more features . . . so I made the switch.

The idea of this one-way method of communication is intriguing to me. It is like having friends with no social commitment. The older I get the more social settings can stress me out. Maybe it is because I love work so much!

Coyote Finds A Haven in Downtown Chicago Sandwich Shop

I could not believe this when my sister told me - I had to seek out a video. Apparently about ten coyotes are year are captured in downtown Chicago. What was he doing before he ran into the sub shop? Riding the 'L' through the loop? Taking in a Cubs game? Looking for the old Marshal Fields?

Visit to Chicago - the new nephew

We had a great visit in Chicago - my new (JD) is very cute. JD and Brian worked on rescuing my parents computer - an annual visit tradition. You can see JD's look of confusion as Brian tries to explain what Vista is just not ready for my parents' computer.

Fun with Friends at Film Festival in San Francisco

Two weeks ago we met up with our friend David who is Wallace in the short film My Name Is Wallace. It is a very cute movie that will hopefully make it to a full feature. David is pictured below with (from left to right) Ray, David, Gabe, and Justin. If you haven't see My Name is Wallace, time to find it playing at a film fest near you!