donderdag 14 oktober 2010

donderdag 14 oktober 2010 Up at 4:11. I don't let myself go back to sleep. Turn on France 24. Dozens of follow-on strikes are still erupting around France, disrupting transport, schooling and services. Report - France Faces Prospect Of Fuel Shortage If Strike Continues. Rice and tofu for breakfast. Up to Kaladi for a cup of Jeremiah's incredible coffee. Walk up Belmont to The Redwood. (Enjoying the Capitol Hill neighborhood for a change.)

Back down Bellevue to my place. Shower. Turn on Stephanie Miller. Listen to an interview with Goldie Hawn about her foundation - MindUp. Walk up Westlake to work. 10 - One hour of planning time for Pam. The 6 Sea Otters play in the Bike Room. Tanja covers for Anne. 11 - Lunch prep for Sea Otters and Dolphins. 12 - Renee's lunch. I eat lunch with the 5 Starfish. They just eat their yogurt and go to sleep. 1 - Cristin's lunch. The kids keep sleeping. There's a lot of laundry to fold. 2 - Patty's lunch. They're working on NAEYC.

Charmaine sounds like she's really fed up with the paperwork. It boggles my mind. Listen to The World on my walk home. Nice drizzle. Oh! I get the Geo Quiz right! What is Spain’s 4th largest city? Seville. The city is the capital of the southern region of Andalusia. And just outside the old city center, there’s a neighborhood called Polígono San Pablo. The neighborhood’s just been transformed into a public art gallery of sorts. Check it out.

I love it. 30 artists from around the world gathered there last week to paint murals. They used drab apartment buildings, sidewalks, and old gray walls as their canvasses. Turn on KOMO News. Whew! Report about a heated exchange on The View today.

Report - Ground Zero Mosque Spurs Debate With Bill O'Reilly. Things get so heated between Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg on that the co-hosts walked off the set of the show. I check the HuffPo. I laugh out loud when I see the banner headline - Mavericks: Air Force DADT Enforcement Has Stopped, According To Official's E-Mail.

Like one commenter says: Nice...Matt Stone and Trey Parker must be delighted that their Cruise-is-gay meme has become immortal. That's the first thing that came to my mind. Watch some Hardball. Chili spaghetti for dinner. Watch Star Trek - Miri. Log Entry - "Captain's log, stardate 2713.5. In the distant reaches of our galaxy, we have made an astonishing discovery: Earth-type radio signals coming from a planet which apparently is an exact duplicate of the Earth. It seems impossible, but there it is."

The problem is that a plague struck this world and killed most of its people... except for some children Crazy kids!

woensdag 13 oktober 2010

woensdag 13 oktober 2010 Up at 1:48 am... and I don't know why. Play Star Trek - The Return Of The Archons. The Enterprise discovers a planet - Beta III - where the population act like zombies and obey the will of their unseen ruler, Landru. This episode marks one of four times Kirk is able to "talk a computer to death".

"Festival! Festival!" Switch to France 24. Live coverage of the rescues of the 33 miners who were trapped for 69 days underground in Chile's San Jose mine. Report - Tears And Cheers As Miners Reach The Surface. Chilean Health Minister Jaime Mañalich speaks about the condition of the miners. Turn on Stephanie Miller. Hal Sparks does a funny imitation of Chilean miner who doesn't want to come out... because he is an adulterer. See Hal Sparks with his back Zero 1 on YouTube - Zero 1 (with Hal Sparks) On Mike Bullard Show.

Red onion and blue cheese omelet for breakfast. Shower. Walk up to 9th and Westlake and take the streetcar the rest of the way to work. I'm with the 6 Starfish most of the day. 10 to 12 - Planning time for Christin. Michelle covers for Renee. We have an art project for them.

We have time for the choo-choos, too.

Michelle and I take them for a walk to the lake afterwards. It's another beautiful fall day. I eat my lunch with the kids. Do some diapers and go down for naps while Renee and Cristin take their lunch breaks. 2 - Patty's lunch. Alex wakes up way too early, but I rest with him on his mat. Later, we look at books. He seems to like When The Leaf Blew In.

Walk up to M Street Groceries to pick up some things. Drop off stuff at my place. Watch live coverage of the rescue of the trapped miners in Chile on KOMO. I get myself so involved in this story that I lose track of time. I need to go back to work for a Toddler Team meeting. Ride bike up in 20 minutes. The meeting is easy. We talk about Holiday procedures and stuff going on in our classrooms. Ride home again. I ride along with a runner who's quite fit... running at 8.5 miles-per-hour. Play Star Trek - What Are Little Girls Made Of? The USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, travels to the icy planet of Exo III to search for the exobiologist, Dr. Roger Korby. Korby discovers the secrets of an android duplicator. He makes a duplicate android version of Captain Kirk. How bizarre!

Korby will select a colony where he can begin carefully manufacturing android replacements. He believes he can create a superior android civilization, and he plans to prove it. (Insert evil scientist laugh here.) "Bwah ha ha ha!" Watch some Rachel Maddow. She has an fascinating and moving interview with an active serviceman who is hiding his homosexuality to avoid prosecution under "Don't Ask Don't Tell." What a strain on his life and his loved ones. Report - Serving In Secret Under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Not ready for bed yet. Watch episode of Star Trek TNG - Conundrum. After the crew's memories are mysteriously erased, the computer records indicate that the Federation is at war with the Lysians, and that the Enterprise has been ordered to attack their command center. It's a good amnesia story. I love it when they fire their phasers on the Satarran invader.

dinsdag 12 oktober 2010

dinsdag 12 oktober 2010 The clanging of the radiator wakes me up at 12:40. Play Star Trek The Next Generation - Unification.

I almost fall back to sleep, and there's another clang. Turn on France 24. France is getting ready for another general strike. It looks like a big, BIG deal. Report - Students Join Mass Pension Protests Across France.
Rice, tofu and beet salad for breakfast. Up to Kaladi for some of Jeremiah's marvelous coffee. Walk over to First Hill Plaza. No business at Zeena's. Back to my place to shower. Listen to Stephanie Miller. The last hour makes me laugh so hard. Singer/Actress/Comedian Julie Brown joins them in studio to tell us about her new album - Smell The Glamour. Big Clown Pants? Wow! Walk up Westlake to work. 10 to 12 - Planning time for Patty... and Michelle says, "I'm here forever." Yay! We take the 6 Seahorses for a walk to see the Mercer Corridor Construction. Construction until 2013.

Some of the kids shout, "Big truck! Big truck!"

A lot of geese are munching on the grass. There's a lot of goose poop.

The geese are tame. We get a close look at them... and visa-versa.

We pass through the fountains... without getting wet.

Alice cherishes a dandelion that she found.

I'm extra for a little bit. I eat my lunch with the Starfish. They're tired and go down early for naps. 1 - Michelle's lunch. The Seahorses are going down for naps. I thought that we wore them out. It takes a while, but they're all asleep by 1:30. 2 - Patty's lunch. Michelle and I hang out and watch the kids sleep. Walk up to Whole Foods to get a couple things. Drop off stuff at home. Walk down to Westlake Center to experience the commotion. Ah! The sunshines on Nordstrom's.

Back at my place. Play the podcast of today's Weekday - Fifty Years Of Change For Women. What an interesting show. Author, Gail Collins, the first female editorial page editor for the New York Times, takes a comprehensive look at what made it all possible, from politics to family. She expresses concern for The Working Family. President Richard Nixon vetoed the bill for The Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1972. That was probably our last chance to do anything to help working families who need quality child care... Now, it's "FEND FOR YOURSELVES!" You losers. Left-over burrito for dinner. Play Star Trek - The Conscience Of The King. A traveling Shakespearean actor, Anton Karidian, may actually be Kodos the Executioner of the doomed Earth colony of Tarsus IV.

The title of this episode is a reference to the line from Hamlet: "The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (Act 2; Scene 2) This episode shares many plot elements with the play: A leader's troubled conscience, his crimes being exposed during a play, and a daughter going insane (or more so, in Lenore's case) after the accidental killing of her father.

maandag 11 oktober 2010

maandag 11 oktober 2010 Up at 2:44. Turn on France 24. Chinese authorities are acting like meanies again. Report - Wife Of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Placed Under House Arrest. Rest in bed listening to the news. Rice and fried egg for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. They talk about recent news about anti-gay bullying. Such a sad story - Teenager Justin Aaberg Killed Himself Over Gay Bullying.

Things get crazy in The Bronx, too. Report from NY1 = Eight Arraigned In Anti-Gay Bronx Attacks. Shower. Streetcar to work. 10 - Breaks for Kechelle, Olivia and Lynette. Lynette is back! 11 - Jessica's lunch. I do the lunch prep while Lynette does circle time. The 6 Dolphins want to steal the felt board. 12 - Upstairs to the Sunshine Kids for Kechelle's lunch. Only three kids. I eat my lunch with the kids. Potty time is easy, too. 1 - Tanja's lunch. She's subbing for Pam. Andy is covering for Anne's lunch. The 7 Sea Otters sleep. It's mostly a quiet hour. Ellen wakes up sad, though. I take her to the Bike Room. 2 - Patty's lunch. The 6 Seahorses sleep. Walk up to Capitol Hill to Cal Anderson Park. Nice Fall day. #10 to d'town. Listen to The World. I like the story of Russia's Inflatable Tanks. Watch the VIDEO. Watch Star Trek - Assignment Earth. Burrito for dinner. Watch Star Trek The Next Generation - Descent, Part 1 and Part 2. It starts with Data who is playing cards with Dr. Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. They engage in a conversation about the curvature of space time and the "apple story". Professor Stephen Hawking appears as himself. He remains the only person to have done so in any Star Trek episode

The sons of Soong have joined together, and together we will destroy the Federation.

zondag 10 oktober 2010

zondag 10 oktober 2010 Up at 8:37. Play some Hall & Oates music videos. Maneater, Method Of Modern Love, Adult Education... Fun Stuff. Enjoy how Daryl Hall is harassed by the kids in Family Man.

And Sara Smile. "It's you and me forever!" Turn on KUOW for A Prairie Home Companion. Dreaming a little of Ada, Ohio. Hot times for a 3-year-old.

O-H-I-O!

Wow! According to WCPO, it's 86° F. Watch Encounter at Farpoint: Parts One and Two. Then Where No Man Has Gone Before. Gary Mitchell is transformed by the galaxy's edge into a powerful psionic being, endangering the ship, crew and beyond.

#71 bus tunnel to Uwajimaya to get some Ozeki, orange chicken and chicken fried rice. #101 back to my place.

zaterdag 9 oktober 2010

zaterdag 9 oktober 2010 I can't sleep in. Up at 3:35. Have a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon - Silicon Avatar, Matter Of Time, Time's Arrow Part 1 & 2.

"Looks like the missus booted you out in the middle of the night!"

"Ah. I understand the source of your misperception, but this is not sleepwear, and I do not have a 'missus.' "

Turn on France 24. Sad report about violence on Uzbeks by Kyrgyz. Reporters - Kyrgyzstan, A Country On The Edge. Walk down to Whole Foods to get a few things. It's a little drizzly today. Turn on The Hawaii Radio Connection. Play some music videos. Sesame noodles and tofu for dinner.

vrijdag 8 oktober 2010

vrijdag 8 oktober 2010 Up at 3:34. Turn on France 24,. Top story - Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo Wins 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. I guess that he's on his 4th prison term until 2020. The Nobel Institute makes a good choice.

But the Chinese government is furious. Marie Callendar's Shrimp Scampi for breakfast.

Turn on Stephanie Miller. Good interview with journalist Dana Milbank about his new book - Tears Of A Clown: Glenn Beck and the Teabagging of America. Dana is a funny guy. Oh! I found her It Gets Better vid.

Shower. Streetcar to work. It's drizzling a little. 10 - Open space for disinfecting door knobs, then breaks for Elaine, Toni and Patty. 11 - Charmaine's lunch. The 5 Seahorses do a paint project out on the deck. I notice that Alice likes blue.

The Seahorses go in for lunch early. So, I join them. 12 - Renee's lunch. Only 4 Starfish. Cristin has gone home with a bad back. They eat their lunch. I'm alone with the four. Toby takes a while to go to sleep, but he's tired. Patty helps me with Anvi and Piper. Wow! They're asleep by 12:30. Thanks Patty. What a miracle. When Renee comes back, I go home early. With such low numbers, I'm no longer needed. Streetcar to d'town. Crave some Mae Phim Thai. Get some Swimming Rama.

Walk up through Occidental up to the Int'l District Station enjoying the upper 60s and partial sunshine filtering through the leaves. Catch a train to d'town. Drop off stuff. Turn on The World on KUOW. I love this story - The Belgium Brand. Beer! Let's visit Beer Planet.

Listen to NPR News. Oy! Bad tech news. It's in your airports, your coffee shops and your libraries: "Free Public WiFi." Report - The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi' The network has spread across the country thanks to an old Windows XP bug. Watch Star Trek The Next Generation - The Nth Degree.

After an encounter with a mysterious alien probe, Lieutenant Barclay begins to exhibit signs of profound intelligence, ultimately hooking himself into the ship's computer and hurling the Enterprise into apparent danger.

"Incredible! Production of neurotransmitters [in your brain] have jumped over 500%! I could not even guess your IQ level now."

"Probably somewhere between 1200 and 1450."

- Beverly Crusher and Reginald Barclay