You know it is SUMMER when...

Tiny Dancer and Mrs Dancer sit in front of you at a concert in the park!
Notice... they are subdued.

You lay in your mom's lap at a concert in the park.

Scrapes and bruises=SUMMER

Concerts in the park.

The line at Big Dipper rivals the line at the main Post Office.

Homegrown strawberries.

The snows starts to melt off of the Mission Mountains.

Round 1 goes to...

At the risk of sounding un-American, I am not a highly political person.  Don't misunderstand me, I possess strong opinions, however, I abhor bumper-sticker-in-your-face-screaming-match politics.  I understand politics and the vital role that it plays in our system government, yet I find politics frustrating.  Honestly, I dread the upcoming election.  The caveat to the previous statements... I am a political news junkie!

That brings me to the Supreme Courts decision to uphold The Affordable Care Act... I am somewhat shocked by the decision, especially Justice John Edwards siding with the majority.  I didn't see that coming!  The most interesting aspect of the decision focuses on the questions the decision generates: What of the suits that 25 states filed?  Is the personal mandate a tax?  Will the Federal trump the state?  Funding?

Among all of the fall out and countless political pundit rambling, I realize this is how our government functions.  Thank you Founding Fathers!  Our system of government works, whether or not we agree with the current ruling.

Above any political identity I consider myself a humanitarian.

The discussions that we engage in over the next days, weeks, and months are long overdue.   Does our healthcare system function for the citizenry?  Is healthcare a right reserved for those of means?  Do we care?

Discussion is at the heart of American politics and our system of government.  I think that round one goes to the American people.

Ode to Mrs Johnson

I graduated High School in 1993... yep, a day or two ago.   The beloved overhead projector and film strips typified the height of technology. When I was in 5th grade good behavior was rewarded with turning the film strip.  What a reward!

My 9th grade Algebra I teacher was Mrs Johnson.  She hailed from North Carolina and spoke with a soft southern drawl.  She was the master of the overhead projector.  Everyday she sat beside it and worked endless Algebra sets.  The acetate was on a roll at the front of the projector.  Of course, the roller squeaked.   She commonly used the entire roll during a class period.

The overhead bettered the standard practice of assigning problem sets for students to work (read, pretend to work while not understanding) independently.

Mrs Johnson's style enabled us students to work along with her and ask questions at critical times of misunderstanding.  Mrs Johnson and her overhead companion demystified the FOIL  method for me and legions of  less than enthusiastic math students.

I wonder whether Mrs Johnson rolled with the tech times or if she utilized the overhead projector until her retiring day. 

Here is a toast to Mrs Johnson, tech goddess of her day!

Oh, How we love fondue!

Yeah, yeah, cheesy title.... ohhh, I am on a roll.  We made fondue last night and it was delicious!  The Boys thought that it was great fun to spear their nibbles with a fondue fork.  I have a picky cheese eater in residence and even HE  thought it was delicious.

I will admit that the cheese was lumpier than I hoped for.  I have this problem--- I think that everything I do should be perfect the first time.  Yeah, I am not a realist!:)  Besides that hiccup I would make this again.  I  planned on serving pears, but my local grocery store was out, so we used apples.

Techie Talk

Tech... yes to some it is a four letter word to be avoided at all costs.  To me however, tech is fun, fascinating, and sometimes frustrating.

The first real piece of tech that I owned was the original Sony Walkman, circa 1984.  My Walkman was complete with a purse like strap for easy carrying.  I wore mine cross-body, all the rage for 9 year old girls.  To complete the ensemble I had the original earphones...  That Walkman gave me a sense of freedom.  I know that it sounds somewhat silly to equate a Walkman with freedom, but for my young alter ego the freedom to listen to Micheal Jackson's Thriller  outside was the embodiment of liberty.

Moving through my life I never shied away from tech.  Sometimes I have found tech unbelievably frustrating.  I speak of WordPerfect....  To this day I don't know how that program made money!!!  F10, shift F7, F8!  Ugghh, I am having terrible flashbacks to high school and my senior project paper.

I like tech to be intuitive and user friendly.  I will push buttons and experiment until I get a device or program to do what I want it to do--- until I reach a breaking point, more or less my frustration threshold.  I am a patient person by nature, so my frustration threshold is pretty high.  WordPerfect tried my patience, any kind of code that I have to write: FRUSTRATION, binary: confusion and frustration.

I am amazed at the tech developments in my life.  Amazing!  I don't have a home phone because I don't need one.  I talk and see my sister in Pennsylvania through Skype.  I text, email, share... you name it and I can probably do it through technology.

I am lucky enough to be married to a tech Geek and due to biology I gave birth to two tech Geeks.  So our family of four owns: 3 laptops, 2 desktops, 3 ipods, 1 generic MP3 player (Yeah, I am that kind of mom.  The kind that doesn't think you need an ipod until you can help purchase one!), 2 ipads, 1 smartphone, 2 dumbphones, and various other gizmos.

As a busy mom, wife, and student I try and use all tech to my advantage!  I don't need or want to lug around a knapsack full of books!  I LOVE, love e-textbooks!  I love Dropbox, my laptop, my ipad, Cozi family calendar (I can text alerts... what mom wouldn't love that!) and ipad apps.  The list could and does go on and on, but I think I made my point!

I admit that I can fall into a rut, tech or otherwise.  It is a challenge for me to stay current.  I like what I like and I tend to stick with the tried and true.  

Red Bird

  I love going to Red Bird on Monday night!  Great food and great company!  We had Champagne fondue. 

Summertime!

Ahhhhh... naps in the Summertime!