Wednesday, July 02, 2008

busy busy

wow… i haven’t posted in over a month!  things have been really crazy here on my end and i haven’t even been home to catch up on my tivo’d programs nor post anything online.

among the posts-i-have-wanted-to-do-but-have-yet-to-catch-up-on-and-therefore-don’t-think-i’ll-get-around-to-posting:

  • auntie oyie’s funeral - june 7
  • gigi’s graduation from loma linda - june 8
  • cheeno’s graduation from rcc nursing school - june 9
  • chs graduation - june 11
  • grove graduation - june 12
  • chs grad nite - june 12-13
  • forest falls with griffin & cole - june 14
  • rock climbing w glenn, kyoko, kuya chester, ate gemma, ryan, & riley for father’s day - june 15
  • wakeboardng at lake pyramid june 20-22
  • surfing & rock climbing (& lead climbing!) at point dume in malibu - june 29
  • biking w rita - june 30

yeah… it’s been a busy busy time.  hopefully i’ll get around to posting the pics i have (i barely took ‘em off my camera last night!)

at any rate, it’s been alotta fun being this active.  i’m finding energy i haven’t had in a while - no more coming home and watching tv and napping for me!  i’m keeping active, coaching volleyball after school for 3 hours every day, then being more active on the weekends.  i’m enjoying the natural high from all the activity, and i’m feeling really good right now!

it’s good stuff, man…

Posted by kgrp on 07/02 at 08:01 AM
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Friday, May 23, 2008

rain, snow, hail, & tornadoes?

our weather is CRAZY!

it was 105 degrees earlier this week.  really really really hot.

and then yesterday, it was cold and we had a freak storm, complete with snow in yucaipa, tornadoes (tornadoes? here on the west coast?! what!!) on the 215 past moreno valley, flash floods, and hail all over the place.

read the news about it here:  http://www.pe.com/localnews/morenovalley/stories/PE_News_Local_D_weather23.4024c7d.html?npc

my students have been telling me the rain is caused by “the curse of the orange show” and i could only find one discussion online about it, although everyone pretty much seems to accept that it’s true.  a curse?  really?  that’s weird…

anyways, this weird weather reminds me also of the earthquake machine i heard about recently. basically… the idea that there’s a machine that can generate earthquakes.  maybe there was some tornado/hail machine working yesterday...?

or for those of us raised in old school adventist traditions, this is a sign of the end times!

hahha… who knows why the weather is weird like this…

Posted by kgrp on 05/23 at 11:05 AM
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Thursday, May 01, 2008

student artwork

one of my students tagged his name onto a piece of paper and i took his sketch and inked it and colored it in after school was over… i used to do stuff like that in my notebooks… not as gangster as these drawings, but still, it was always some design or something or other.  usually colored in different shades of pencil or blue ink, since i never had colored pencils back then.  thinking about random designs on filler paper though… i haven’t done that in years!

the next day, he showed up with my name all graffitti’d on a piece of paper and i went ahead and colored that one in after school as well.  i posted it up behind my desk with all the other student artwork i have displayed and i guess it’s reminded me to start being creative again.  hopefully some good will come out of that! =)

Posted by kgrp on 05/01 at 10:13 PM
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

amex + 9 del taco tacos = 4 amc tickets

so in case you didn’t know, del taco celebrates taco tuesday with 3 tacos for a buck.  well… a buck-oh-nine.  for a meager $1.09 you can get 3 tacos, which in my case it means getting beans and onions and lettuce in 3 soft taco wrappers.  it’s really not greasy at all so i don’t feel so bad about getting bargain food.

anyways, when i walked into del taco today, i noticed a sign on the door that said “get 4 free movie tickets from american express.  ask inside how!”

so i made my dollar purchase and asked the lady how to get my 4 free movie tickets.  she pointed to the envelope at the bottom of the cash register, which had this printed on its side: 

purchase del taco 3 times with my american express card, mail in my receipts, and receive 4 free movie tickets.  and no price minimum on my purchases.  suh-weet!!!

i figured it out too - if i eat 3 tacos there next week, and then 3 more the week after, i will receive a total of 9 tacos and 4 movie tickets all for the grand total of $3.27 + tax. 

$3.27 plus tax!

i just love my reward cards =)

================================
update: i just figured out that regal cinemas = edwards theaters which is by far the better theater around here, so instead of amc, i can treat myself and a guest to 2 movies at the big screen at edwards.  i like =)

Posted by kgrp on 04/30 at 12:14 AM
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Monday, April 28, 2008

cleaning out my understairs

what is an understairs, you might ask?  well… the understairs is what i call the area beneath the staircase… sorta self-explanatory, except most people don’t have one.  i think most houses tuck some enclosed storage under the stairs or the stairs is right next to the garage and you have a diagonal wall hanging inside the garage itself, or something like that.  i’ve even seen 1/2 bathrooms tucked under there.  however, mine is different in that i have a very open staircase.  each individual stair stands alone, like so:

this open space has somewhat turned into a storage unit of sorts for us girls… we keep our water bottles there, our Christmas tree was there along with the pile of gifts and other holiday stuff.  a pile of bags that we keep just in case we need to use something stays nearby… and frankly, i just got sick of it all and decided i’m gonna stop being a lazy bum and i’m gonna clean up one part of my house every day.

today, as my inaugural day at ‘keeping house’, i decided to rid the house of all storage items under the staircase.  i might end up turning it into a reading nook or something, but the first step was to clean it.  see?  (photo courtesy of my phone… so it’s not the best quality)

the only thing that is still there is the water bottles… mostly cuz i don’t know where else they will go.  i might just invent a curtain or something so they can be there without being seen… also, i will have to hang the mirror on another day, since i don’t have the tools or materials.  the most important thing, though, was that i cleaned it and vacuumed it and i’m happy =)

as for my project for tomorrow, i think i might tackle the linen closet, which closely resembled the storage unit of understairs.  both hallways will be clean!!

i like my new get-things-done attitude! =) let’s hope now that i’ve told the whole internet i’ll be accountable to you and keep it up!!

Posted by kgrp on 04/28 at 06:40 PM
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

interwrite pads for school!!

when kat was my roommate i was always amazed/impressed with her wacom tablet and her ability to use a pen and tablet and draw on photoshop…

now that i’m a teacher in an underperforming school, we have an extra budget for improving teaching, and we just bought several similar tableats, called interwrite learning tablets, for the math classrooms.  connected with the lcd projector on my computer, it’s almost like taking my overhead projector all over the classroom, all the while reducing the glare, and increasing portability which means i can have a constant eye on my students.

what i mean is, i can take the tablet and walk all around the classroom.  i’m not tied to the overhead projector nor the white board.  i can be amongst the students and monitor them and get instant feedback, and also give instant feedback to students as they’re taking notes.  and anything i write can show up on the projector!

when i’m done doing notes, i can save the file and print it out for students that were absent, so they can have the notes and examples available to them at any time. potentially, i can even respond to student’s emails when they’re absent, and i can attach the notes.  coolio.

mostly though, i’m just happy that i’m not tied to the front of the classroom.  the students will mourn my newfound mobility because they won’t be able to text anymore while i’m not looking!

now if i can only get some practice at writing on a blank tablet....

i suppose i’ll have to practice here at home!  let’s see how well this thing works with photoshop!! =) =) =)

Posted by kgrp on 04/23 at 05:11 PM
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

the bachelorettes meet again...

i’ve never really had girl friends all my life… i was more of a tomboy, and even though my friend group had girls in it, and i’d have a female best friend, i have always been one of the boys.  i guess it’s because i’m the type that makes friends through activities - like volleyball, basketball, playing pool, poker, and anything else active.  and also cuz the girls i grew up with just liked to gossip and i didn’t like being pulled into all of that.

i remember guys asking me if i had any girl friends i could recommend to them and i’d have trouble thinking of someone…

i’d call up my boys when i didn’t have anything to do and ask them to play sports or board games or come over to eat… and any girl firends i had were always with their boyfriend or lived out of town.

and that’s why i can say without a doubt that living with the GT bachelorettes was a life changing experience.  i ended up with 3 sisters and we shared shoes, clothes, and relationship advice.  it wasn’t always the easiest living like that, possibly because all of us had only grown up with one brother each.  but perhaps that’s also why we were able to bond so well with each other.

now that we’re all living apart, we former roommates get together and have mini-reunions as close to once-a-month as possible.  it’s sorta nice to have a group like this that can come together and share where we are in life.

the last time we met was at Christmas when we exchanged gifts.  i think we charmed the rest of the groups around us - everyone around us was laughing and in good cheer and having fun watching us take pictures with each other and exclaim loudly over all our gifts.

this time around, though, we tried to get a booth table on the side but they stuck us in the middle of the restaurant!  2 tables for the 4 of us - and 6 dishes!  hahahaha.... man-oh-man you shoulda seen the looks we got all night long.  and it wasn’t Christmas so all the other tables had no idea why we were in such a good mood or why our table was filled with raucous laughter!

here’s kat and shelia on the other side of the table

and a picture of me with rita on our side

we ordered a ton of food (see how it takes up both tables?)

and then santa claus rayme showed up at the end of dinner bringing gifts!

we remind me of my parents’ get-togethers - we’re loud, we laugh, and we take forever to leave a restaurant!!  here we are outside the door still talking outside the restaurant

and then we moved to hang out next to kathy’s car still talking, and playing with her skateboard.  seriously.  just like my parents would do. talk near door, migrate to outside the door, migrate to outside the cars, migrate to inside the cars but talking with the windows rolled down… hahahhaha…

we finally decided dessert would be at the 7-eleven across the street, where we saw this sign that aptly described us =)

and we bought one container of ice cream and split it between all of us, eating in the parking lot.  you’da thunk we were all high school kids hanging out there on the skateboard scarfing down one shared container between the 5 of us =) the guy at 7-eleven was eyeing us warily - we couldn’t tell what he was thinking about seeing the 5 of us walk in the way we did!!

as usual we hung out for quite a while and i totally enjoyed =) it’s really nice to have girl friends i can count on!!

Posted by kgrp on 04/22 at 04:58 PM
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