Riding the Rails

Yesterday, while we were still in Mesa I decided that it was time for a new adventure. Patti and I were in the Phoenix valley, and it was Sunday, so we went for a quick ride on the Metro Link Light Rail. Just to ride it! Hey, you have to take your Disney where you can (that'll only make sense if you know me). We rode it to Chase Field in downtown Phoenix, and then back into Mesa. We didn't even stop to take a look around. It was just a train ride, and as far as being a substitute for a Disney ride... well it was something to do.

Having done that, and ridden the light rail, I can honestly say that I don't need to do it again just for fun. On our way back during this adventure some woman let her water break right there on the train. SOME PEOPLE!!! I swear... can't people do that sort of thing at home? Her husband jumped off of the train and ran to get the car when we got to their "Park and Ride" location. He seemed motivated to get off the train. I guess he was embarrassed... Serves em' right!

On our way to town.

Patti, Danneel, and Lauren


Chase Field, Home of the Diamondbacks

GO D-BACKS!!!


A picture of the bank building that owns my house for 10 more years, and that is Downtown Phoenix in the background... I know... "It's a Small World" it ain't.

The train that delivered us from the 105 degree station right before things got messy.

Live Long and... Duh....

SPOILER ALERT

Nerd Alert

I went to the new Star Trek movie yesterday and well... ARRRRGGGHH!!! ALTERNATE REALITY!!! AGAIN??? First it was Bobby Ewing dying on Dallas, then coming back the next season, it all being someones dream. Ok I didn't watch much of Dallas and didn't care that much.Then it was alternate reality Fantasy Island, that died so hard that there was a movement in the force that made Obi Wan Kenobi break wind. Today it is an alternate reality Battlestar Galactica that doesn't even attempt to make up an advanced alien world. They shoot their planet shots on Earth using today's tech, clothing styles, and I guess cars (Starbuck has a Humvee). Oh and Starbuck is now a woman. Alternate reality Dukes of Hazzard where Boss Hogg is not short and fat, but is now Burt Reynolds, and Daisy Duke is..... well ok that one I can live with. Last night it was Star Trek... What's next alternate reality Green Acres? Arnold Ziffle is now a dog or a cow, Mrs. Douglas is now Brunette and, Mr. Haney is thin. Or alternate reality Gilligan's Island where they obviously vote Gilligan off of the island?

In Star Trek they have always made such a big deal about preserving the timeline. From exterminating the Borg that had infected the Earth, to saving the whales. Oh yeah and making sure that Edith Keeler must die. What the director and writer has forgotten is that in the Star Trek universe, time travel to fix things has been done before. Spock knows the mathematical calculations to fly in little circles around the sun at warp speed to go back in time. Then they could prevent Captain Nero from destroying the USS Kelvin, and Vulcan. Maybe even save Romulus... maybe. Or use the guardian of forever??? Didja forget about that one Spock? When you jumped through a big electric donut to keep the stoned Dr. McCoy from screwing up the timeline while he was having a bad trip.

Or and when Captain Picard went into the Nexus to fix the past. Maybe Spock could figure out how to do that. Just jump into an electric ribbon in space then fix everything. Picard did! Don't forget the Quantum Leap guy is now a part of the Star Trek universe... Heck get him to fix it! Or maybe... the destruction of Vulcan, the loss of his home planet upset Spock so much that he forgot that he could fix all of this. Well he is 200 years old, maybe he did forget!

(EASY TREB... Breath, it's not real... It's a movie based on a TV show from... 40 years ago).

Whew... Ok I'm back. Sorry I didn't mean to fly off. I was just a little distraught at them negating 40 years of MY LIFE... (Treb...) oops.. Sorry there I go again. Hey... it happens to all people, don't tell me it doesn't. Like you people who are sooooo into finding out what Edward and Bella do next. So cut me some slack.

Actually, I really enjoyed the movie. As a trekie, excuse me, trekker I can accept all of this because it makes for good stories, and breathed new life into an aging (and slightly stale) genre. I can separate the new from the old, and be fanatical about both. Don't expect me to be putting on ears or dressing up for movie premiers. I don't roll like that. However, I do like the stories and the characters that I grew up with. Kudos to J. J. Abrams.

Break what???

Jimmy Buffett SummerZcool Tour 2009

Tonight Danneel Patti and I went to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Phoenix. We had a blast! It was a great show and it went off without a hitch. Jimmy put on a dynamite concert! He played a bunch of his old favorites, standards, "songs you know by heart," and a few new ones that I have never heard. Oh yeah... and Yellow Submarine in an encore (that was really cool). The concert attracted quite a few hard partiers, that I hope got home okay, and a few I was really concerned about. Jimmy rocked the Cricket (formerly Desert Sky) Pavilion, with the help of the Coral Reefers, minus Michael Utley who was attending his daughter's graduation in Florida. However, they were able to carry on without the aid of their piano player. This is my third Buffett concert here. I went to "2001 A Beach Odyssey" tour, and "The Far Side of the World" tour in 2002. It is never a disappointment.

My Ticket

Shameless commercialism... Good slushies though.

Danneel, Patti, and I ready for the show

Getting a spot on the lawn

The show is about to start

Jimmy takes the stage

Volcano on the "Jumbo Tron"... and Jimmy.

Conchy Tonkin' at "Key West"

Some More of Jimmy

Jimmy on the acoustic A Pirate Looking at 40 (again)

Off the Coast of Carolina

Breaking down the stage for Las Vegas tomorrow night

Cricket Pavillion Covered in Garbage

Setlist

Hot Hot Hot

1 Lage Nom Ai

2 Stars On The Water

3 SummerZcool (No Michael Utley)

4 It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (with Professor McAnally)

5 Manana

6 Conky Tonkin' (with Nadirah on vocals)

7 Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

8 Volcano

9 Cheeseburger In Paradise

10 Come Monday (with the Beach Band)

11 Son Of A Son Of A Sailor

12 Brown Eyed Girl

13 One Particular Harbour

14 A Lot to Drink About

Recess from SummerZcool

15 My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink And I Don’t Love Jesus (Jimmy on uke with Mac on guitar)

16 I Heard I Was In Town

17 Last Mango In Paris

18 I Feel Like Goin’ Surfing in a Hurricane

19 Southern Cross

20 Coast Of Carolina

21 Rhumba Man

22 A Pirate Looks At Forty (Jimmy solo)

23 Gypsies In The Palace

24 Margaritaville (with the lost verse)

25 Fins

First Encore:

26 We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About

Band Intros:

Tina Gullickson, Nadirah Shakoor, Ralph MacDonald, Peter Mayer, Doyle Grisham, Mac MacAnally, Roger Guth, Jim Mayer, Robert Greenidge, John Lovell

27 Yellow Submarine

Second Encore:

28 Tin Cup Chalice

Whew...

What a week...

We started this week with a closed school, so Patti and I went to Central on Sunday evening and called every one of the students from Central. We had one confirmed case of the "swine flu" in the district, so the state department of education made out whole district shut down. Holy cow what a mess! We did have Monday - Wednesday off. I used the time to finish writing my final paper in my counseling class, and study for my final exam in my reading class. I turned in my paper Tuesday night, and when I went to take my online exam, I saw that I had misread the deadline. The testing window had closed. IN A PANIC, I called Dr. Harvey and she happily reset the test window. Thanks Dr. Harvey!

On Wednesday the State DOE determined that they had prematurely shut us down, and so Patti and I called all of the students again. Thursday I spent the entire afternoon doing addendum meetings to transition all of my 6th graders to 7th grade. I took my final Thursday afternoon. Today I went to Tombstone, Arizona with the 5th grade, we had a great time.

In the morning... I am going to sleep in!

Here is a link to the school blog about our Tombstone trip.

http://centrallordsburg.blogspot.com/2009/05/5th-grade-field-trip-tombstone.html

We're Closed ~or~ Swine Not

It's a 2918!!!

Well folks we have a little swine flu (er... H1N1) problem in our district. I think it is one confirmed case, but we're not taking any chances. Today Patti and I called all of the parents of students for Central school. I guess all of the secretaies in the district were doing the same in all of the other schools, but Patti had a little help from me. The district is going to be cleaning all of the schools in the meantime.

Well anyway, the school is closed for a week... I hope we don't end up extending our year into the summer.

All Good Things...

They say “a thing of beauty is a joy forever," I wish that were so. Penny Park was a thing a beauty, and a good thing, but "all good things must come to an end" or so they say. I remember we would take youth groups over to the park site when it was being built so that they could help with its construction. The community of Silver City pitched in, and built something nice for the children. It was not only for the kids, but it was a family park. We would take students to Silver City on a field trip, and often no matter what they went up for, going to Penny Park was on the agenda. It had an amphitheater, and gazebos. It had the most beautiful wooden playground that a person could imagine. It was treasure.
Unfortunately the fact that it was made of wood made it vulnerable to fire. I looked at it a long time ago thinking “if only it could last," but I also, being negative, predicted that its days were numbered, and eventually it would burn. I HATE having been proven right. I know I should not have thought in such negative terms, and I will work on that, but seeing our park in ruins doesn’t go far toward helping me shed that negative light. Call it mourning…
I hope with all of my heart that the town of Silver City rebuilds it just like it was, but with security measures in place.

http://pennypark.org/

The news report about the fire

SILVER CITY — The state fire marshal's office has been called in to help with the investigation of Saturday's fire that burned a large portion of Penny Park, authorities said.
"It appears it may have been caused by fireworks," police chief Ed Reynolds said.
No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was provided.
The fire was called in about 2 a.m. by a police officer who saw the fire and smoke from a hilltop.
"We are working every possible angle on this fire," said Milo Lambert, Silver City fire marshal. "We have called in the state fire marshal and we expect them to be here anytime." The police department also is conducting an investigation.
Firefighters had the fire out by about 4 p.m., authorities said.
Lambert praised firefighters for saving the amphitheater and other nearby structures. "The fire was so hot it melted those plastic slides over there (yards from the fire)," he said.
Police had to coordinate traffic control into the afternoon as people drove by to see the damage.
A grassroots effort began about 10 years ago to build the park, with volunteers and businesses giving of their time and materials. Wood was a prominent feature in the construction.
While officially called Community Built Park, it was dubbed Penny Park because children brought their loose change to school to donate to the cause.
A crowd of people, including many who helped build the park, gathered Saturday, some visibly shaken and crying.
"I raised my son here," said Janet Wright, who had tears running down her face. She and others had already begun to collect donations to help rebuild the park. "It helps me not to be so emotional," she said. "I love this park ... it's hard to talk about it."
Doug Shoaf was among those who helped build the park, which featured. "I put in all this for the kids. You should have seen all the people here working on this."
Members of the Silver Sam's RV Club were also looking over the damage Saturday. "We had RVs parked here when we were building it and someone stayed here so no one would steal the tools or building materials," said Sally Lucero. "We helped build this from the beginning. It is so sad, my grandkids come here."
Earlier this year the group overseeing the park disbanded and turned ownership over to the town.
"The park is covered by insurance," town manager Alex Brown said. "To what extent we don't know. We will have to wait until we meet with the insurance people on Monday."

SMILE

HAPPY SECRETARY'S DAY

HAPPY EARTH DAY

SMILE!

Hope this counteracts the creepiness of my last post...