Student Protests re: Immigration

NOTE: THIS POST IS NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT & THAT'S OK

I'm sure many of you saw the student protests here in Los Angeles this past week. Although as an attorney I am all in favor of the students' first amendment rights, the protests call out for me to ask these questions:

1. Do the students know the difference between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants?
(Because there is a fundamental difference. Most people oppose one set and not the other).

2. If you are proud to be in this country, then why are you waving the Mexican flag?

3. Why doesn't the school district bill the parents of the kids that were truant the $28/per pupil assessment that the district lost due to the students' absenteeism?

OK...........I'm off my soapbox now, but may have to get back on it if the protests start anew.

Countdown

I'm in my last 10 days until the Mrs. is due. We've got the house ready by moving the office furniture into the garage and creating a corner in the master bedroom for the office. All of which means, less space and I can't park my car in the garage. We're supposed to have some yard sale to sell the office furniture. Like the people that come to yard sales want to buy an oak rolltop desk?

I think we're ready for the impending arrival. Still am up in the air on names (with my last two kids, we had the names done prior to their entry), but I'm hoping that the old adage of "when you see the baby, you'll know the name" is still valid.

I'll check in soon after the birth---while I'm on the 3 am feeding shift.

Three's a Charm?

So after --

1. Bragging to everyone I know that I would not have another offspring (I have 2) unless I was the victim of blunt force trauma; and,

2. Getting a puppy for the family to satisfy the Mrs. desire for a young un' around the house; and

3. Starting to actually feel my age......

I found out that the Mrs. is expecting. I do not have a shovel blade sticking out of my head and we still have the dog AND I still feel old (even more so now knowing that my youngest one will be 5 when the new one comes along).

So just when I could carry on a conversation with my kids and try to relate to them and include them in "adult" activities, I am starting over.

I have until April to start rearranging the house before the baby is here---I'll need every last day. Although I am excited about our new addition, I can only hope that my trepidation over the impending arrival will be unfounded.

Vacation

It's that time of year when people are taking their vacation. Some of you like "Bruingirl" don't limit yourself to a vacation. Others, like "TwistofKate" go to exotic destinations like Wisconsin (that is a foreign country isn't it). Heck, even my dad, who hasn't been anywhere his whole life, went to France for 2 weeks.

So where is mi familia going this year? We are going to Mammoth. We had talked about going to Maui, but all the kids want to do is swim in a pool and for those of you with kids, we all know that vacations are for the kids, the parents are only along for the ride.

I am excited about going to Mammoth. We plan on fishing and taking the Gondola up to the top. We also plan to hike around. I am hoping that the kids will like it. I have only been to Mammoth in the winter, so it will be a new experience for us. Considering the place were staying has a pool, I know the kids will be happy.

Sugar Free Cereal?

So the family was at Bob's Big Boy over the weekend (not sure if the location in Burbank is the last remaining restaurant or not). The kids thought Bob was pretty cool with "Big Boy" on his chest.

Anywho, when we were seated, my daughter (who is 7) noticed a sugar "shaker" on the table and asked what it was. I remembered that nowadays they usually serve sugar (and sugar substitutes) in packets. We informed her that it was sugar. Seeing it reminded me of something from years gone by---which is the short focus of this post.

When I was growing up, my parents would not allow me to have "sugar" cereals. I could only have Corn Flakes, Cheerios, etc. I remember taking the sugar shaker however and adding a healthy dose of sugar to the cereals to make it sweeter. Ahhh, those were the days--skirting around my parents' mantra to make sure I had my sugar intake.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

With apologies, yet reverance to this classic Clint Eastwood movie...I bring you this Monday post. I have been meaning to write about this for awhile, but it has taken me the better part of a month to feel comfortable to put this on "paper."

The Bad
My family decided to spend the day at the beach with another family (we each have kids around the same age. Two kids around 7 years old and 2 around 4 1/2 years old). My wife has some nostalgia for Zuma tower 11 so we decided to meet there. After arriving there in record time from the Valley and marvelling at the 20 degree drop in tempature, we found our spot and spread out all the crap. I was determined to teach my chitlins about sand crabs, so we proceeded to find sand crabs and place them into a bucket.

So far so good (so why the "bad"---be patient, it's coming), the other family arrived and the Mrs. decided to use the restrooms. When she comes back, I look up and ask her where my 4 year old son is. She thought he was with me. Well, he was with me at one point, but I thought he went with her. We look one way and look the other---no sign of my offspring. My first thought--if he's in the ocean, he's dead. He can't swim and the riptide was pretty strong that day. Not sure why I wasn't worried about him being kidnapped by Michael Jackson or one his merry men, but all I could think about was the ocean.....forboding, endless.

After making sure my friend's wife watched the other three kids, the Mrs. and I approached a lifeguard to inform them about our son. My friend is checking the bathrooms. I am running on the beach towards Zuma 12 looking for him. The Mrs. heads to the lifeguard tower at Zuma 12 to tell the lifeguard about my son. He picks up the phone to tell the other lifeguards about my son and tells the Mrs. that he has at Zuma 9.

We run as fast as we can to Zuma 9. I didn't realize how far it is between the two towers. After we all calm down, my son tells us that he was playing in the water's edge, got knocked down and got back up and looked for the umbrella. Not seeing it, he proceeded down the shoreline when we were probably less than a 100 feet in the other direction.

I have never felt such despair in my life. I kept thinking that he had disappeared on my watch. How could I live that down. So that was the bad.

The Good
After leaving the beach, we went back to the Valley, happy that we were leaving with as many of us as we came with. The Mrs. and I went to a concert at the Orange County Fair that evening. This was the first concert we had been to in a long time, but it was fun and the bands were good. Even though they looked old, I had to remind myself that "old" is a relative term. The fact that the bands were at the height of their popularity in the 1980's, that was my era, musically speaking.

The Ugly
Although redundant, it took us over 2 1/2 hours to get from the Valley to Costa Mesa. Both the 405 and the 5 had accidents on them and given the earlier events of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was sit in traffic. I have learned that because I take the train to work during the weekday, I have little tolerance for traffic on the weekends. I know, I picked a great place to live if I have traffic hangups.

A life lesson to be had from each of these sections, I'm sure. Hopefully, I can forget about temporarily losing my offspring.....

A Friday Tail

In honor of my neighbor, Kate, http://www.twistofkate.blogspot.com, I bring you today's entry. So after Kate came over to show me and the Mrs. her new hair color, she informed us that in the gutter across the street from us there appeared to be a tail of a cat. I asked her how she could be so sure.

Anywho, being the lawyer that I am and not actually taking anybody's word for it, I decided to investigate the "tail." Well, sure enough, that's what it was---it was almost like a lizard's tail, you know how a lizard can lose its tail as a defense. Now I have never heard of a cat having such lizard like defenses and without having seen the cat that was once attached to the tail, I don't understand how the two became separated.

My main concern is that we live in a residential part of the city-I can't imagine any wild animals running through the neighborhood, but you never know. Guess I'll have to keep a better eye on my beagle pup to make sure he doesn't meet the same fate (like I'd ever let him roam in the street without me).

It certainly was a bizarre sight and if the tail is still in the gutter upon my return home from work, I'll attempt a first for this blog------posting a picture, so you can all share in my tale through a visual of the tail.............

Commuting

I'm finally getting around to posting again. Not sure why such a delay in between-I'll just have to chalk it up to good ol' procrastination.

I consider myself something of a rarity in SoCal. What sets me apart you ask? What makes me special?

I live in the Valley and work downtown. It's about a 30 mile commute, but for those of you who don't live in SoCal, mileage means nothing. The real way to measure a commute in SoCal is by the time it takes and my 30 mile commute takes at least an hour each way (Enough of this background).

Instead of driving, I take the train from the Valley to Downtown and then hop onto the subway to get to work. Is it any quicker than driving? No, but I drive 5 miles to the train station and can sleep, read, etc on the train to work. I know you people outside of SoCal think, so what? You take mass transit, no big deal.

Let me tell you, it is a big deal. I love my car like everyone else here. In fact, I feel like some of my freedom is taken away because my car isn't at work. However, the chance to avoid having to sit in traffic twice a day makes it worth it.

Now am I advocating that everyone try mass transit? Not a chance. It makes sense in some parts of the country, but not necessarily here.

My point?? Not sure, but just thought you should know that at least one person in SoCal uses mass transit.