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By Kyle, November 28, 2007 10:32 pm

Yes. This is a real photo. Yes. I took this photo myself. Yes. Someone from Barnes and Noble is seriously confused.

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By Kyle, November 24, 2007 11:52 am

Thanksgiving is over, Black Friday has passed, and I’m back in Los Angeles after a very relaxing break in Fresno (or near Fresno, I guess).  And for those of you who regularly read this blog on it’s actual website (as opposed to those of you who subscribe), have noticed a subtle (or not so subtle) change to the format! One of the amazing things about WordPress is that it allows me to change the style of the blog without changing the content! So as fall has now passed and the Christmas season has unofficially begun (yes, I know it’s not quite December 2nd yet), I’ve changed my blog’s theme to a Christmas theme! Even better, I’ve installed a live internet radio station (songs tagged “Christmas” from LastFM) in the upper left corner of the site!

It seems as though lately, I’ve been reflecting on how I’m much different than when I was younger. I can recall growing up and always thinking it a bit excessive when the Christmas music was brought ought so quickly after Thanksgiving. As I child, for some reason, it didn’t seem right to be rocking out with Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Vince Guaraldi while still digesting the turkey leftovers that would no doubt remain until December 8th or so. Now, for some reason, I find myself doing that exact thing all over again. In fact, it’s been years (wow, 7 already!) since my permanent residence has had a Christmas tree and I’m finding myself in the need to get one! Maybe it’s that I’m getting older, or maybe it’s just that I need something to compensate for the 65 degree weather of a Christmas Season!

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By Kyle, November 19, 2007 9:18 pm

One of the things that I’ve had to get used to in the 3+ years I’ve now lived in Los Angeles is the concept of tagging. While some are inclined to call it art, I am typically less so inclined. There have been numerous occasions when I’ve arrived at school in the morning to find spray-painted graffiti on the outsides of walls, buildings, stairwells, and even defacing some of our school murals. And although I’ve never experienced this myself, I’ve heard first-hand horror stories from some of my teacher friends about them returning to their room after a holiday or a sick day to find it all tagged up. Even the Mosaic truck, which we use to haul equipment to and from the various venues on Sundays is a target for taggers. Slowly, over the course of the past ten weeks, I’ve noticed that the truck arrives at the Mayan each week with more and more black, spray painted graffiti on the side.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Mayan last night, I found that some folks came up with a creative solution! Instead of trying to erase or clean the tagging, the truck was parked in the center of the parking lot with spotlights on it as two Mosaic artists painted their own designs and art over both sides of the truck, in effect, incorporating much of the graffiti that was already there!
While this was a very cool idea, I think I’d be more than a little freaked out if I came in next Monday to find the maintenance crew involved in a similar type of graffiti solution!

Anyway, only 12 more hours of school until Thanksgiving…not that I’m counting or anything!

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By Kyle, November 18, 2007 1:21 am

Today was a fun day. A friend of mine that I first met at Wheaton College was visiting Los Angeles to interview for Medical School residency at USC and so today I had the chance to hang out with her and two of her local friends from here in Southern California. After lunch in Pasadena, we drove up to Griffith Park and hung out the Griffith Observatory. This is one of the few places that I’ve always wanted to go to in Los Angeles but never had the chance to until today! (Click photo to enlarge!!!)

The only thing that confused me was the following sign-posts on what seemed to be the front door of the observatory.

Now I know that I’m no rocket scientist, but this seems like a surefire lose-lose situation. Are the local astronomers bored? Are they lazy? Are they intentionally trying to throw the general public into a sense of existential despair? Regardless, I still was able to have a fun day!

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By Kyle, November 14, 2007 4:59 pm

There are a few vows I made in my younger days that I am less-than-ashamed to admit to since have broken. As I recall, I vowed never to own a cell phone (broken December, 2003). I vowed never to become a teacher (broken July 2004). And probably most surprising of all, I vowed never to listen to NPR. As far as I knew growing up, an NPR radio station was a mind-numbing conglomerate of talk radio and analysis that would make even an accountant die of boredom. At least, such was the case of the NPR radio station in Syracuse, NY.

However, since moving to Los Angeles, I have learned that NPR radio stations can actually choose their own programming when not syndicating the news and talk. One such station, KCRW, based in Santa Monica, actually fills their non-NPR time with amazing new and independent music selections that range from folk to rock to alternative to latin to reggae and at times, to even a bit of classical. Suffice it to say, I really don’t have a reason to listen to any other station!

However, all of that was just background information for the real story. On Monday, I was listening to the aforementioned KCRW, specifically to a program called Morning Becomes Eclectic, and the host was giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the first five callers. Being so motivated, I called in, and won a pair of tickets to go and see K.T. Tunstall perform live Tuesday night. Yay! Anyway, to make what is now a really longer story slightly shorter, my buddy Kent (from Whittier) and I trekked up to the show last night which was pretty fun, although we were literally standing (not in line, but in front of the stage) for more than 3 hours. Yes, K.T. was great, but even better was the opening act, Teitur, an self-conscious Danish singer/songwriter who took us aback with his pristine vocals, awkward humor, and surprising chord progressions which seemed to come from out of nowhere!

As I we walked back to my car after the show, I realized how far I’ve come in teaching. To actually go out and do something fun on a school night is something I would have only dreamed about my first year!

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By Kyle, November 10, 2007 7:03 pm

Why am I all of a sudden in a Christmas mood?

Was it that festively decorated green and red corrugated cardboard cooler on my 6am Starbucks coffee cup Monday morning?

Is it the perpetual chill that has graced the air of Southern California which now makes wearing anything less than an Eskimo parka unbearable (yes, my blood has definitely thinned since moving out here)?

Is it the fact that I now have to decide whether walking into pretty much any commercial establishment is worth the risk of being barraged with the constant stream of generic Christmas muzak?

But perhaps, most of all, what’s putting me in the Christmas mood already is the fact that after an extremely extended length of time at school, I’m experiencing my first three-day weekend since September. Not only that, it gets better! This coming week is short due to the Monday holiday. Next week is short due to Thanksgiving! And then the following three weeks before Christmas will go fast as in the midst of them, I’ve planned at field trip to UCLA, an LAUSD Unit 1 Assessment Success Party (basically, an after-school pizza/movie party for my kids who scored “proficient” or “advanced” on the first district unit assessment this year), two minimum days (glorified half-days), consummated by the annual faculty Christmas party!

Anyway, I’d better quit now before I get too far ahead of myself!

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By Kyle, November 7, 2007 1:58 pm

Monday I was sick. Tuesday I was sick. And instead of telling you the latest news myself, I’ll let the godfather of soul do it for me :)

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By Kyle, November 6, 2007 4:56 pm

Today is Election Day! However, unless you live in the states of Mississippi or Kentucky, or in one of a handful of major urban cities (like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, or Baltimore), you probably didn’t have a whole lot of soul-searching to do in the preceding months up to this election. Fortunately for us, we have the whole next year to do just that as the Race for 2008 seems more and more like following a dramatic sports season!

Out here in Los Angeles, the media blitz about every aspect of these candidates is at a level to leave the average voter completely overwhelmed when thinking about next November. I know that for the past 8 years I’ve always wished there a Candidate vs. Issue grid. Imagine, if you will, a vertical list of major issues joined by a horizontal list of the candidates. In the middle would be a grid of each candidate’s position on each issue. Sadly, as far as I no, no chart such as this exists.

However, Minnesota Public Radio, has developed a Select-a-Candidate quiz, which asks you what your feeling is about certain issues, and how significant you feel those issues are. After answering about 10-12 questions, it gives you an index of candidates who tend to agree with you with their previously given positions. The point is not to tell you who to vote for, but “to help you think about your positions and then introduce you to the candidates”. What is very cool about this site is that as new issues are talked about among the candidates, they are subsequently added to the quiz. For example, I took this quiz about 2 months ago and unfortunately, there were zero positions on education I could choose. Now education is addressed! Finally.

Anyway, this was fairly interesting to me, especially given the fact that I’m home recovering from being ill right now, and the writers’ strike means that there’s actually nothing good on TV :(

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By Kyle, November 5, 2007 4:53 pm

I’m sick. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I do know that it came swiftly last night, and yet somehow I was foolhardy enough to go into school today. Bad idea. 2nd Period was really tough (today was an “even” day with only periods 2, 4, and 6)…my body ached, my focus was lost, and my energy was nowhere in sight (this was a stark difference from my usual classroom antics which sometimes include flailing my arms wildly around while teaching about inequalities). Even though I told my kids that if I looked a bit pale, it’s not just because I’m white, but because I’m under the weather. Anyway, 2nd period came and went and I’m less than convinced that the kids learned what I had hoped.

Anyway, luckily 4th period is my conference period, which is the one period I don’t have a class. I was able to lay out on a nice long couch in the teachers’ lounge and grab a few winks. I was able to do this, but unfortunately, this did little to avail things. By the beginning of lunch (which I skipped) I was seriously contemplating leaving school early and going home. However, I didn’t feel like finding two other teachers to cover a 108 minute class. And for some reason, I had a feeling that my 6th period students would persevere despite their teacher being a walking zombie.

The make an already long story slightly shorter, my 6th period kids came in and I was seated (something I never do) at the front of the class with my PC projected on the screen as well as a wireless mouse, a keyboard, and a bell. For the next 108 minutes, the students did an amazing job of learning the lesson (solving inequalities), working individually, and working in partners as I did not speak a single word out loud for the entire class period. Most of them thought it was fairly interesting to see how a teacher could communicate with them silently for so long, and I was grateful to my kids, for I found myself feeling slightly better by the end of the class period.

Anyway, that’s all for me for now…I’m headed to bed early tonight to recoup and hopefully get back on track with things tomorrow!

P.S. In the meantime, I don’t really know how to feel about Los Angeles’ new acquisition. Joe Torre, the former Yankee manager is coming to the helm with the Dodgers for the next three years. Now if only ownership would put some of that money towards actual talent on the field, the Dodgers might actually get somewhere.

P.P.S. For those of you who are either math geeks, science geeks, or music geeks, the following is a fairly interesting video. Apparently, someone with way too much time on their hands actually wired two Tesla coils to play at different frequencies and in synchronization. The result is an almost baroque-ish in nature rendition of an otherwise very romantic piece!

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By Kyle, November 3, 2007 12:47 pm

What I’m doing right now:

• I’m eating lunch at Panda Express (fortune -  You have a captivating style all your own).
• Importing Credo by Penderecki into my iTunes library.
• Wondering how well my students did on their first LAUSD Unit assessment.
• Sulking over the fact that as soon as I finish writing this post, I’m spending the next 5 or so hours of my life planning out Unit 2.
• Excited about the fact that I get to hang out at the LA Central Library to do my planning.
• Curious about the fact that upon walking up to the library, a HUGE film crew was blocking the entire front fountain area filming an upcoming movie apparently called Hotel for Dogs (coming 2009).
• Wondering why in the world anyone would make a movie called Hotel for Dogs. (The plot synopsis on IMDB says “Two kids secretly take in nine stray dogs at a vacant house.”) I don’t know….family comedy?….sounds like a serious health code violation to me!