Even though George Lucas didn’t like the latest episode, The Force Awakens, real die-hard fans like us loved it.  We have been fans since The New Hope made its debut back in 1977.  When The Phantom Menace opened in 1999, we waited in line at the theater for 8 hours and brought along our portable TV with VCR. Yes, remember those archaic devices? We plugged it in and watched the trilogy while sitting in beach chairs.  Soon, mobs of people stood and watched the 3 episodes with us. 

This time, we took it a step further.

In our home theater, we started the 17-hour marathon at 6:00 am and watched all 6 episodes starting with Episode 1.  We took 3 food breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and finished at 9:15 pm.  With Vader Taders, Sebulba Scrambles, and Skywalker Smoothies for breakfast, Chick-HAN SOLO-wich, Amidala Veggie Sticks, and Yoda Soda for lunch, Greedo Burritos, Dark Side Salsa, and Obi-Wan KEN-doments for dinner, and Wookie Cookies, Lando Light Saber Treats, and Princess Leia Popcorn for snacks, we were living the Star Wars dream! Then, we caravanned to the Scotts Valley Cinemax to watch The Force Awakens at 10:15 pm.  Was it worth it?  ABSOLUTELY! Watching 2 trilogies to relive the character and story development was instrumental in our complete appreciation for the 7^th episode’s “retro” storyline. 

No, I don’t own stock in Kelloggs! 

I just love sculpture; and edible sculpture is, well, over the top!

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

I could never understand how someone could actually love a rodent like a pet.  I have always loved big dogs.  We’ve had 3 golden retrievers: Nugget, MacGyver, and Indy (short for Indiana Jones), and Jaclyn’s dog Radar.  They were and continue to be an integral part of our lives.  Their loyalty and sweet personalities make them different from other kinds of pets.

Back in 1995, Pat Repperd, Jaclyn’s 1^st grade teacher, introduced behavior modification by bringing in 2 rats for a class lesson. The students took the rats home at night and on weekends, and they all became quite fond of these 4-legged creatures. 

Well, one thing lead to another, and the kids all received a lesson in procreation.  Voila!  10 baby rats were born right in the classroom.  Yuck!  Then Nicole begged me to take one of the rats as her own pet!  I don’t know how she talked me into it because I was terrified of the rodent. I never touched it or interacted with it ever. Nope!  Not me.

Nicole was wonderful with Aphrodite, her little rat.  She kept the cage clean and was responsible for everything from feeding her and filling her water bottle.  Nicole allowed her rat to crawl over her as she did her homework.  That was the only place the rat was allowed to roam outside of her cage. 

One afternoon, I went in to talk to Nicole while she was doing her homework in her bedroom.  I didn’t notice that Aphrodite was crawling around Nicole’s neck because Nicole had long, thick hair.  All of a sudden, I felt something jump on to the back of my neck.  I was completely startled and let out a blood curdling scream.  Nicole quickly grabbed Aphrodite off of my back and put her in the cage.  I had to leave Nicole’s room just to compose myself. 

A few minutes later, Nicole walked into my room and said, “I think there’s something wrong with Aphrodite, Mom.”  I told Nicole that she was fine but when she told me that Aphrodite wasn’t moving, I thought I should take a look at her.  When I walked into Nicole’s bedroom, I found a dead Aphrodite lying in her cage.  OMG!  I killed her! I actually scared her to death!  I felt awful and knew I had to do something.  So Nicole and I buried Aphrodite and built a little fence around her gravesite.  The ceremony was therapeutic for Nicole, and for me.

Who knew you could actually scare something to death?  Lesson learned. 

Sometimes it takes the fresh, untainted perspective of a teen to solve problems that government agencies and adults can’t.

One of my college advisory clients came up with a clever solution that solves 2 problems: (1) overflowing landfills and (2) people needing shoes.

After learning about our landfills actually filling up with nowhere to dump our tons of garbage, Nathan founded S.H.O.E. (Stop Hurting Our Environment) last year.

What’s really exciting is that Nathan didn’t get depressed or feel overwhelmed by this dilemma. Instead, he thought that if he could get people to donate all of their old shoes so that they don’t end up in the landfills, he could prevent tons of shoes from prematurely meeting their expiration dates. That’s coming from a 6-foot tall young man who has always outgrown his shoes before he could wear them out! Then he decided to donate these used shoes to people who could benefit from them.  And that’s how this brilliant model came to be.

With no experience in graphic design or website development, Nathan forged ahead to create his logo, fliers, and website. This wasn’t easy as he had to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and WordPress. I don’t think he knew what he was getting himself into but I am so proud of him for his determination to get each phase of his project done even while he played on the San Jose Junior Sharks hockey team.  He mastered using his Merit Planner because he had to juggle homework, project, and out-of-town hockey tournaments. 

So please support Nathan and take your old shoes to one of his collection sites.  You can drop off shoes at Merit Santa Cruz or Merit Cupertino.

Just think, he made it easy for us to give landfills a bit of relief and to donate shoes to those who need them. We need more kids like Nathan – kids who know that they can change the world one project at a time! Thanks Nathan!  

I feel sickened by this news. Australia’s federally-funded research agency, similar to our NASA in the United States, has cut 110 of 140 positions that handle atmosphere and oceans, and another 120 positions will be cut from the land and water program.

I’m in shock! Australia is GROUND ZERO for climate change!

With these climate scientists now working in fields that are unrelated to their training and expertise (climate change and CO2 reduction), who will create the climate models and offer solutions? What kind of message are they sending to their young scientists, and more importantly, what are they going to do when they face climate-caused devastation?

Looks like corporate greed is the culprit, yet again. Yup! Economist Clive Spash says, “Climate science becomes secondary to business; business comes first. The interests of the corporate sector, of the mining and resource extraction industry, are primary in Australia.”

How could this happen to a country that already has extensive deserts, variable annual rainfall, and big problems with water supply? When are the Australians and everyone around the world going to wake up and work together to drastically reduce CO2 in the atmosphere? (Hint: HYDROGEN can be the answer – see this video Kids4Hydrogen made)

I am surprised that a few corporate giants have the power to mislead the masses and that most people still have their heads in the sand.  Actively addressing climate change is something we need to have done YESTERDAY.  It’s time we wake up!

Source: Scientific American

Now that most college application deadlines have passed, you’re probably wondering what you’ll be doing with all of your free time.  

After all, you’ve spent every free moment writing essays, completing applications, requesting letters of recommendation, and putting together portfolios or videos (art, film, and dance students) for the past 4 months!

And to think you did all of the above while taking a full load of classes your senior year.  Wow! Pat yourself on the back!

Before senioritis sets in, here are 5 things you can, and should, do to make sure your applications receive the best reviews:

1. Check your emails.  I know you’re receiving a ridiculous number of emails each day but pay attention to the ones from the colleges you’ve applied to.  If they’re missing something that you know you’ve submitted, it is YOUR responsibility to resend it.  So do check to see what they’re asking for.
2. Create portals.  If your colleges allow you to set up portals, do it!  You’ll be able to see where you are in the application review process and be up to date on anything they’re missing.  You’ll also see when they’re planning Admit Days where you get to meet other students who have been admitted for Fall 2016.
3. Email them with updates.  If you did a project, this is a great opportunity for you to give them an update.  Tell them the good news that’s taken place since you submitted your application.  You could even create an event to create more news! J
4. Organize a college tour of the colleges you’ve been accepted to.  Schedule this during spring break or on weekends before May 1^st. Try to set up an overnight at your top colleges so you can really get a feel for the college life.
5. Apply for outside scholarships.  While you’re on a roll with all of your essays, you probably can reuse some of the essays if the prompts are similar.  Check with your high school counselor to see what scholarships they think might work for you.  Ask your parents if their employers have scholarships available.

When you’re done with these 5 tips, then it’s time to enjoy the rest of your senior year.  You’ll have until May 1^st to decide where you’re going to college next year.  But, don’t forget: keep your grades up or you might lose your college admissions offers! 

So you can relax… to a certain extent!

While I appreciated China’s ban on families having more than one child to take a bold step towards reducing over population, this policy has created a society of only children. 

When the government dictated that a family can have only one offspring, couples often did unthinkable things to ensure that their one child could carry on their family name.  If having a male child guarantees that the family name will live on and that this male child will be able to take care of them in their retirement better than a girl, then aborting and giving girls up for adoption became the thing to do.

But now, 37 years after the ban, China has 30 million more men than women. 

Talk about taking a decent plan to reduce over-population and really messing it up for cultural purposes.  When China had the largest population that was growing out of control, they set up a plan that actually did reduce their population growth.  Instead of finding another solution to balance the sexes today, China recently announced that they are lifting the ban on the one-child policy. Oh NO!!!

While I was in China last week, I talked with many people in Beijing who said that this new policy probably wouldn’t change things. 

Young couples are busy with their careers and don’t want to have several children.  The cost of raising and educating children is so high that they don’t have the funds to take care of both their children and their parents, too.

Chinese youth will be faced with the problems of a “sandwich generation” – those couples who have to care for their own children as well as both sets of parents.

Now that there is a shortage of women in China, maybe families will see the benefits of raising girls.  Hopefully they’ll see that a society of mostly men doesn’t work, and that young Chinese female professionals and entrepreneurs are soaring to the top. Yes, women can support a family and many out earn their male counterparts.

So hopefully with the lift on the one-child ban, Chinese families will continue to have just one child and appreciate having both boys and girls!

I was grateful that the subway had English directions and enjoyed using their very efficient transportation system. 

Some of their signs were hilarious.  Check these out!

Nobody likes to throw up, but I take that to a new level.  I’d rather die than to throw up!

I’ve traveled around the world and I have only gotten really sick in Mexico, Vietnam, and India. 

Even when I know not to drink their water or eat food from street vendors, I still seemed to fall prey to something.  In Mexico, it was the water used to wash vegetables, and in Vietnam, it was carbon monoxide poisoning from a rickshaw ride in traffic.  In India, it was from the filth and polluted puddles that I had to navigate in 100+ degree weather.

My student and friend Sean Linkletter told me not to drink the water or buy any food from street vendors in Beijing.  He told me that the street vendors get their cooking oil from the sewers! 

Say what?

They try to save money any way they can and oil from the sewer must be less expensive than oil from the store. After hearing that, I just imagined the sewer oil as I passed by the vendors and quickly lost my appetite.

So I’m still not really sure what got me in Beijing but I got violently sick for 5 hours and was bedridden for 30.

We missed the Great Wall and a second dinner with Sean no thanks to food poisoning.  And worse, I was miserable.

The only thing that could make me that sick had to be something I ate and I only ate at our Swiss hotel and in 5-star restaurants in Beijing.  Rob and I ate the same things each day but he didn’t get sick. 

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have eaten the eggs sunny-side up.  After all, it’s like eating a half-cooked egg.  I don’t think I’ll ever eat eggs sunny-side up again.

While I survived the trip, I now have 4 countries that I’m scared to return to…

Armed with N-95 face masks, we lucked out because the air quality in Beijing was good until the day we left. 

As we flew out of Beijing, the pollution was so thick you could barely see across the street. 

Our hotel had a high tech gym with a clean-air system to ensure our good health as we exercised each morning.  The air was so pure that it was invigorating to workout. 

But outside, people still wore their masks, even on days that were relatively clear.

Views from our room at the Swissotel.  

Smoggy photo from plane below…