Tag Archives: John

November 26, 2010 · 6:07 pm

Black Friday, Lady Gaga, Moby Dick

We hosted a full house for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, including my parents, and brother Pete and his two kids, Lynda and Daniel, visiting from Southern California. The food and company were wonderful. Pete and kids stayed over and we all got up early for Black Friday shopping, to make our contribution to the economy. At 9 am this morning, the Oakridge Mall in San Jose was filling up but the Apple Store was packed because of their 1-day sale. John and Pete and I bought:

1 Apple iPad, for Pete
1 Apple wireless hub and some USB cables, for John and me
6 books: Alanna, In the Hand of the Goddess and Beka Cooper – Terrier by Tamora Pierce, and Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix, for Lynda
1 Giants t-shirt, for my Giving Tree boy
2 Giants magnets, one small for Lynda’s school locker and one large, for Pete’s car
3 posters: “Star Wars” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” for Daniel, and “Lady Gaga” for a friend who is a fan
1 Moby Dick book cover art tshirt, for me (I first saw it in the Signals catalog but it is made by a delightful company called Out of Print which “celebrates the world’s great stories through fashion”)
1 squishy rubber alien toy, for Daniel
1 package of colored wrist rubber bands, for Lynda

Then, we went home and ate leftovers.

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Geeks, John, Melville, San Jose

November 23, 2010 · 10:27 pm

Volunteer Thanksgiving Lunch

Over 100 people volunteer every month at Santa Maria Urban Ministry, distributing food to the hungry, teaching preschool, helping with homework and computers, giving family counseling, and (in due season) helping with taxes, along with other programs, as well as management and administrative duties. Last Saturday, after a dozen of us met at Britannia Arms to help move 700 Turkeys for the needy, all of the SMUM volunteers were invited to Thanksgiving lunch at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in San Jose. We had chow mein noodles and fried rice and turkey and ham and beans and green salad and fruit salad, and our favorite tres leches cake.

Most of the teams were represented and we enjoyed talking with people who work different shifts. John and I have been after-school homework and computer teachers for the last three years, Thursdays 4-6 pm with the Studio program. We know the Tuesday afternoon Studio teachers but we rarely see the food warehouse workers or the registration desk team or the ABC Playtime teachers.

Rev. Lawrence Robles (SMUM Executive Director) and his wife Carmen (Manager of the warehouse) and Alfonso Mendez (Office Manager) gave each volunteer a bookmark remembrance with their thanks for our service. Some people volunteer in so many roles at SMUM that they had trouble picking which group picture to join. SMUM is blessed by the support of the many generous people who donate money and food but most valuable of all, their time and talents, to support the transformation of our community.

Pictures from Brittania Arms’ “Brit Turkey Drive”:

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Tagged as Episcopal church, John, San Jose, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, SMUM

November 13, 2010 · 1:22 am

“Unstoppable” Improbable

John and Paul and I went to the movies tonight with San Jose’s Silicon Valley Lines Model Railroad Club to the opening showing of “Unstoppable” with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as a Railroad Engineer and Conductor trying to stop a runaway train. This movie is fun and very pretty – especially if you love fast trains and handsome men. However, the large number of unreasonable behaviors and professional errors in the story is highly improbable.

Here is the original story: “Pennsylvania man lived the drama that inspired ‘Unstoppable'”. Somewhat incensed by the reckless and bumbling behavior of the train handling personnel who caused the runaway in the movie, John came home and read to me from the “General Code of Operating Rules” of West Coast US railways:

1.0 General Responsibilities

1.1 Safety
Safety is the most important element in performing duties. Obeying the rules is essential to job safety and continued employment.

1.1.1 Maintaining a Safe Course
In case of doubt or uncertainty, take the safe course.

I think the club was rooting for the train to win.

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, News & Reviews

Tagged as John, Paul, San Jose

November 8, 2010 · 11:41 pm

Convention, Theology of Marriage

The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real here on California’s central coast, held its annual convention at St. Andrew’s, Saratoga two days ago. I have been a convention delegate for many years. This convention was short but very well managed. Our Bishop, the Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves, was President of the Convention. She lead us in worship and took care of business effectively, with charm, intelligence, and humor. My husband John and Rev. Stephenie Cooper ran the computers and projection system for the event, sitting behind the screen and only dashing out to vote as needed.

One of the highlights of the convention for me was the very interesting presentation on the just-published Report  of  the Diocese  of  El  Camino  Real  Task  Force  on  the  Theology  of  Marriage . Four of the eight authors talked about their work, process, and findings. The authors are: The  Rev.  Dr.  Ernest  L.  Boyer ,  Jr. (Chair  of  the  Task  Force) , The  Rev.  Michael  Ferrito,   The  Rev.  Dr.  Caroline  J.  Addington  Hall,  The  Rev.  Fred  W.  Heard,  The  Rev.  Lawrence  Robles,  The  Rev.  Deacon  Judith  A.  Sato,  Dr.  Marilyn  Westerkamp,  and Mrs.  Julie  Zintsmaster. Even though the task force included men and women with a very wide range of opinions, they were able  to  identify  seven  theological statements of a Christian Marriage:

Christian Marriage is a vocation, a calling, a way of living
Christian Marriage is a covenant between two persons and God
Christian Marriage is an expression of human beings as the image of God, that is, an expression of God as Love and God as relationship through the Trinity
Christian Marriage is a call to discover what Christ meant when he asked us to seek Christ in others and to love one another
Christian Marriage is a physical embodiment of our spiritual reality
Christian Marriage is an expression of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation
Christian Marriage is a foundation for community and a Christian service in the world

To see more of John’s and my ECR convention photos in addition to those below, check out the diocesan web page.

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Tagged as Episcopal church, John, marriage, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Theology

November 6, 2010 · 10:11 pm

Homework Club Party

Communications got messed up, so John and Rev. Stephenie Cooper and Rev. Lawrence Robles and I held the Halloween party for the SMUM Studio after school program a week late. The kids wore their costumes on 28 October but we did not have the pizza celebration until 4 November. Twenty kids and two moms came – everyone had a good time and enjoyed their special treat.

I took the shells and sea glass all of the kids gathered during our Lover’s Cove field trip last summer and glued them to a frame. On the day of the party, I gave the Studio kids the frame with a picture of themselves standing in front of the ocean. It is now on the wall of the SMUM computer room.

We had planned to take the kids on three field trips last summer but the final trip had to be canceled. When I had to go to China on a business trip, there weren’t enough adults to supervise a swim trip to Raging Waters. After much discussion and voting by kids and teachers, we decided either to go ice skating in San Jose or on a trip to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. We held the final vote on Thursday and we are going to Alcatraz! We are still working details but we want to go before the new year.

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Tagged as John, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, SMUM

November 2, 2010 · 10:52 pm

Open Source Hardware – For Model Railroads

Some of the creators of the award-winning open source software for model trails called JMRI have just developed open source hardware called the Railroad Shield layout interface board. John Plocher is leading the hardware development, working with Bob Jacobsen and others on the openLCB software, providing interfaces to electronics for experiments in model train control.

This small computer board is clearly the product of Cal Berkeley fans. Blue in color, it will feature Blue and Gold LEDs. If you look closely, you will see printed onto each board such phrases as

Go Bears!
Model Railroading is Fun!
So it’s up with the Blue and Gold, down with the Red…

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Filed under News & Reviews

Tagged as John, University of California

October 31, 2010 · 3:55 pm

Smart Car Wrap

Since I bought my Smart car, I have been accessorizing it. So far, I have added

A dealer-installed iPhone 3 holder, charger, and microphone – resulting in much better sound quality for both phone calls and audio books
Smart’s “Smart Drive US v1.01” iPhone application – almost a complete waste of $9.99 – this software is in need of serious work by a competent usability engineer
Rubber floor mats
A red plastic crate to hold small stuff so that it does not slide around behind the seats
The “Kite Flight” design car wrap

I very much enjoy driving this car. The negatives are that it does not have much power and going over speed bumps or uneven pavement in a tiny car is rough. But my Smart Car is fun to drive – especially with the top down. It parks in tiny spots (like the half parking space otherwise taken up by someone’s trailer, and in the corners of lots with diagonal parking), and drives about 35 miles per gallon. There is enough room behind the two seats for the amount of stuff I usually carry to work (or two large bags of dog food). My 6′ 3″ tall husband (who bought me the wrap for my birthday) fits into the Smart Car comfortably. My teenage son Paul says my car embarrasses him.

Here are pictures of my car being wrapped this week: