A Gift From Jesse

Today Lisa and I went to the New Cov Children's planning & evaluation meeting. The meeting was good but any time you make me sit in the same chair for 6 hours, it can never be great. Near the end of the meeting, Jesse was furiously working on something. The highlight of the day was when he leaned over and gave me this hand drawn piece of artwork. I was totally awestruck. He obviously valued our participation in this meeting more than I ever imagined. If you would like to bid on this piece of Jesse Caron original artwork, click here.

Chuck Norris Friday

Backyard Stuff

About 4 summers ago we dug and installed our pond. Ever since then, we are amazed every spring and summer by the creatures it attracts. Today I went outside and found a new bullfrog. We already have a grand-daddy bullfrog but the little guy is new. I keep waiting for ducks to show up. Some friends who have a pond get ducks every winter. Once you get them, they keep coming back.

Ridin with The Lose

The Lose picked me up at 5:00am and we were on the mountain by 6:00. (It was actually cold at 4,000 feet) We got our ride in and were headed back home by 7:20. It was kind of like that old Army adverstisment... we do more before breakfast than most people do all day. Time for a nap.

First Swim Meet

Last night the kids swam in their first swim meet. They had a ton of fun and it was so much fun to see them swim. I think they both inherited a water gene from me. They really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Chuck Norris Friday

Haircut

For months now, the wifey has been encouraging me to let my hair grow. I have complied but enough is enough. As cool as Albert Einstein's hair was... it was time for me to get a haircut. Here is how it came out. Thank's Lisa for running the trimmers.

Indy Ver. 1

My church, New Covenant Community Church is doing an Indiana Jones based theme this year. Here is the early release of the tralier to promote it. Corbett Loving plays Indy.

Father's Day

Yesterday my family made my day super special. Our pals The Cameron's came over for dinner. It was Cajun night at the Weaver's. On the menu, Jambalaya, Tchoupitoulas, Cornbread, and Corned Beef Hash. While the wives cooked up all that good grub, Mr. Cameron sat and explained the finer points of Basketball to me as we watched the NBA playoffs. It really is played a lot like water polo.

Bathroom Humor

Two weekends ago when were were in Moraga, we went to this BBQ place. It is called "Back Forty" and it was pretty good. We had to wait about an hour to get seated but it was worth the wait. While we were waiting, things got pretty silly. If you are a guy, you have probably seen when they install a frame over the urinal and then put today's sports page in that frame? This place went one step better. They put a TV in that frame and were showing a California Angels game. It made us both think of Uncle Steve so we took a picture. I finally got around to taking the picture off of my phone so enjoy.

Chuck Norris Friday

Chuck Norris once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger by yelling "bang."

Master's National Championship

Every year on the first weekend of June, old fat guys who still play water polo gather somewere (usually in California) to relive the glory days. This year we didn't do as well as we have done in previous years. We placed 5th in the nation. Yeah, that sounds cool but there were only 6 teams in our over 40 age group. I guess being over 40 and still playing makes everyone winners. If you base this weekend on win/loss we were not up to our best but if you base it on getting together with old friends and having fun; we won gold. Here are some pictures Lisa was nice enough to take.

Shooting and scoring on the breakaway. Thank to Bryan for the nice pass right in my hand.

Photo-op after the game. Rich & Rick took advantage of the "op."

USA VS Australia

Last weekend I was up in Moraga playing water polo. USA Water Polo arranged an exhibition match with Australia to help both teams earn money for their trip to China. The boy and I attended and I tried out my new camera.

Team USA's Tony Azevedo shooting one of his 3 goals. He was voted the best water polo player in the world just after the 2004 Olympics.

Australia making a field block on USA. These guys shoot hard. Notice how the water has turned to mist where it hit the Australian's hand.

Former Gold medalist, Coach Terry Schroeder in the huddle with the men's Olympic team.

Fun Project

I just finished a really quick turn around project that was really fun. I always like doing stuff for kids or youth because you can do all kinds of edgy stuff. Thanks to Pat Callahan for all of the sweet flourishes. Check it out.

A reason to teach

It is that time of year, everyone around Sunnyside land is gearing up for the end of the school year. Seniors are paying off those lost textbooks and library fines, freshmen are going around begging for a better grade. I love this time of year.

Today an ex-student of mine who is now graduating came by to give me a card and say thanks. I really didn't understand at first since I have not had her in class for 3 years. I have seen her around school and once wrote a recommendation for a scholarship but that is it. Well she came by to tell me that during her year in my class she decided that she loved Science. She had not liked the subject in middle school but I changed her mind. She has been accepted to Chapman University in Monterey and she is going to major in Marine Biology. That made my whole year.

Upcoming Weekend

I am super excited about this coming weekend. I play water polo for the Central Valley Water Polo Club, a local masters water polo team. We have a team of 40 + year old's and we have been training for this weekend twice a week since January. This weekend we are headed up to Moraga for the Master's National Championships.

Water polo is a strange sport. Mainstream sports like football, baseball and basketball are so popular in comparison to water polo; there are literally thousands if not tens of thousands of master's age competitors. Water polo only has a few hundred in the United States. This makes for something interesting. If you play water polo after college, you will very likely come into contact with ex-Olympians. This weekend, one of the teams we may come up against is "The Olympic Club." This is a very elite water polo club. To join... you guessed it; you must have previously played in the Olympics or played for the National Team. If you follow water polo, you know that in 1984 The US team won the gold and in 1988 silver. Yeah, you guessed it; those guys are now in the 40 + bracket. Wish us luck.

One more thing I am excited about is that right in the middle of our tournament; the US Olympic team is playing an exhibition game against the Australian team and I have my ticket. Expect pictures from that one to appear here soon.