I remember when I was a kid, my parents would line us up against a blue backdrop and take angelic photos of my brother, sister and me. We would have actual halos over our heads as if we were little angels.
Well, that’s what it LOOKED like, but there were lots of tears, screaming, and threats required to pull off those cute little photos. Back in 1998, when we were taking photos of Nicole and Jaclyn for our holiday card, I actually captured a photo that really depicted what was happening during our photo shoot.
The girls were sitting on a miniature Japanese bridge ready for the photo shoot. Being 4 years older than Jaclyn, Nicole understood the routine and just wanted to get the photos taken. Jaclyn, of course, being 4 years younger, thought it would be amusing to irritate her big sister.
I couldn’t get a good photo because one of them either had their eyes closed or looked bored. So I told them that we were going to stay there until we got a decent photo for the family card. Yikes, that sounded way too familiar for me – I was beginning to sound like my parents!
Then as I waited for them to come around, I captured the perfect photo. The one that truly depicted the spirit of the session. Nicole grabbed Jaclyn’s face and squeezed it as hard as she could – notice the blood vessels popping out of the side of her neck? And at the same time, Jaclyn couldn’t let her big sister get the better of her so Jaclyn stuck her tongue out at Nicole! A picture really is worth a 1000 words! This is the funniest photo I’ve ever taken of them.
That year, I made enlargements of both photos and framed them.
Here’s the other photo, for comparison:
Creating the spirit of Christmas over the past 20 years, the girls and I have built over 30 ceramic structures for our Christmas Village.
We’ve made houses, churches, Santa’s Toy Factory, and Christmas trees. My favorite is a replica of Santa Cruz’s Town Clock. I set the time on each face of the clocks to be the exact birth time for Nicole (7:42) and Jaclyn (1:40).
We even added Chichen Itza and a model home!
Every year we look forward to adding something new!
Here’s another DIY gift idea for the holidays!
If you’re like me and you have a drawer full of old jewelry – some junk and others sentimental, here’s a solution that might work for you. I asked both of my daughters to give me their old jewelry and I’m going to surprise them with a unique memento.
I bought an inexpensive memory box frame, pulled out some velvet remnants from old costumes, and assembled piles of old jewelry in the shape of a heart. Then I hot-glued sentimental rings (their first gifts from me), travel pins that they collected from our travels around the world, and costume jewelry that they wore for dance competitions.
It’s a good way to clean out old jewelry boxes and create a work of art!
I got this idea from my friend Barbara Eastburn who commissioned her friend Rowena to make a Christmas tree using old watch faces:
As an educator, the SAT looks like it’s going to be a much better test. It will test the student’s ability to read, write and edit essays, and solve math problems.
Nervous? Unlike its predecessor, it’s going ask questions to test overall reading and math comprehension skills rather than asking specific questions for an answer to a particular word or phrase in an essay or the final solution to a math equation.
In other words, for reading, they’ll require that students actually read the whole passage to determine the author’s point of view; and for math, they’ll provide a word problem that the student needs to solve or a table/chart that the student needs to analyze. Makes sense, right? The good news is that they’re giving students over an hour for the reading sections; the bad news is that they’re giving the students over an hour for the reading sections. Huh? The reading is dense and students seem to struggle staying focused on the long reading sections, even with the extended time allowed.
The new reading section is similar to the ACT and follows the Common Core theme. The new SAT is not going to use ridiculously difficult vocabulary so students won’t have to memorize thousands of “SAT words” to prepare for the exam like in the past. That’s really good news! And best of all, they will stop docking that ¼ point for guessing. Finally!
Want to know more? Keep reading.
The reading passages will include reading in the sciences and the College Board will pull a science score from the math, reading, and writing sections. In other words, the new SAT won’t have an actual science section like the ACT but there will be a science score.
While there will be a writing section, the majority of the writing score will focus on finding grammar problems or better ways to write a phrase or sentence. The essay section now requires real evidence. In the old SAT, a student could write an essay and support it with fictitious facts. No more. The new essay is evidence-based.
The math section, however, is radically different from the ACT. It follows the Common Core philosophy of math fluency and comprehension. It is reading-heavy with big word problems. They’re testing fluency rather than solving equations.
70% of the math questions are word problems in the new SAT. The “no calculator” section has more long division and multiplying decimals, which can be difficult for students who are used to using their calculator for simple math. The new SAT is all about algebra (both Alg 1 and Alg 2) and has very little geometry (only 1 or 2 problems), but it does have statistics. The goal for the new SAT is to test more applied math concepts. The ACT has all of the algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
As a college advisor, the new SAT is worrisome because many students don’t have strong critical reading skills and most students don’t like math word problems. So if you are a good reader with good comprehension skills, the new SAT might be a good fit.
On the other hand, if you are a quick reader and can handle doing more problems in a shorter period of time, then the ACT might be a better fit. In the next few years, all of the colleges will determine which portions of the SAT and ACT that they’ll use in making admissions decisions. My bet is that the new SAT will be revered as a better signifier of success in college than the ACT or the old SAT.
The first new SAT will be offered in March 2016, but the scores won’t be available until after the May exam. The College Board will use both the March and the May exams to create the new curve. That said, don’t take the March test because you won’t get your results in time to help you prepare for the next sitting. Everyone is expecting twice as many students to take the ACT in 2016 as a result.
I recommend that juniors take the January 2016 SAT (the old version) because it’s a test we understand. Take the ACT to see how you score, and then take the new SAT in May or June. You’ll still have plenty of time to prepare for the fall 2016 SAT and ACT test dates.
We’re getting close to Christmas, so this is the last entry in my “Building an Eco Xmas Tree” series. If you’re going to make your own, now’s the time!
I have more photos to share of the building process. These were taken last year when Mckenzie Beck helped me build my Eco Xmas Tree as she modeled for my new book, Simply Gorgeous Braids.
If you need detailed instructions on how to build your OWN Eco Xmas tree, check out The Eco Xmas Tree on Amazon! Only $6.99 for the Kindle version!
Today’s guest post is by Joe Jordan. Joe worked in the atmospheric and space sciences for decades at NASA’s Ames Research Center (Bay Area), before teaching at Cabrillo College and in the meteorology/climate, mathematics, and environmental sciences departments at San Jose State University. In addition, he has done science media work (especially radio), and leads occasional public outings featuring astronomy/stargazing and “physics in nature”.
The recent Paris climate agreement was significant in that most of the world (almost 200 countries) agreed to something! But, alas, it was insignificant in that what they agreed on is almost nothing compared to what we need now.
Scientific fact is that even if the whole world completely stops emitting carbon right now (i.e., a 100% cut), the average global atmospheric temperature will not be going down anytime soon (we’re talking centuries to millennia). Voluntary promises to limit national emissions and global temperature rise amount to a kind of wishing exercise, absent the kind of economic incentives that would be provided by a steeply increasing price on carbon. See the advocacy work of Citizens’ Climate Lobby for extensive presentation and discussion of this highly valuable concept (CCL’s version is known as “fee and dividend”, which harnesses market forces in a revenue-neutral way with no increase in the size of government).
It’s great to be devoting some new funding to deployment of renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.) in the developing world, but we really need to “up the ante” on this, planet-wide, by an order of magnitude (i.e., factor of ten). We need a quick yet deep “makeover” of energy infrastructure everywhere, but the Paris agreement doesn’t provide real clues on how that’s to happen. Again, governments must squarely face the necessity to make carbon-burning more and more expensive, in order to keep fossil fuels in the ground so renewables at last have a real chance to flourish.
Furthermore, we need to not only halt all or most carbon emissions as soon as is superhumanly possible, but actually start extracting carbon from the atmosphere, in a big way. Nobody has yet shown how to do this in a way that’s anywhere near feasible economically or ecologically — but it’s an extremely important as well as potentially exciting (and even lucrative) project that people need to get on their radar screens. The more we can do now (and soon) to develop a much more advanced, sophisticated energy landscape (befitting a life form that fancies itself as “intelligent”), the less suffering will be experienced by the future generations to whom so much of this blog series is devoted.
It’s not whether the glass is half full or half empty anymore; it’s how to turn off the water because the glass is overflowing…
With the holidays amidst the chaos that ensues with shorter days and unpredictable weather, I’m hearing that everyone is feeling stressed out and in survival mode. Students arrive without their books and parents forget appointments. Yup, even me. I showed up at a doctor’s appointment that I had cancelled the week before; I had completely forgot that I had rescheduled it and didn’t erase the original appointment. Oops! I couldn’t believe that happened to ME! I’m the one who organizes everybody else!
That’s when I read this and it all started to make sense to me:
“It’s like having water poured into a glass continuously all day long, so whatever was there at the top has to spill out as the new water comes down. We’re constantly losing the information that’s just come in — we’re constantly replacing it, and there’s no place to hold what you’ve already gotten. It makes for a very superficial experience; you’ve only got whatever’s in your mind at the moment. And it’s hard for people to metabolize and make sense of the information because there’s so much coming at them and they’re so drawn to it. You end up feeling overwhelmed because what you have is an endless amount of facts without a way of connecting them into a meaningful story.”
– Tony Schwartz,”The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working”
We have too much going on. PERIOD. Back in the day, we used to call it “Sensory Overload.” And that was when we played loud music while walking at the same time. Today, we have access to more information than we could ever learn and more movies than we could ever watch in a lifetime. In addition, we need to keep up with the Joneses using social media that pours even more useless information into our overflowing glasses. That’s why we can’t take in more information and can’t remember simple things, like removing an appointment from our calendars…
Young adults and teens tell me that they have no short-term memory. Huh? This is really a problem. Memory issues used to effect the elderly, but every day I see kids having lapses that they shouldn’t have in their youth. Their glasses, too, are overflowing with useless memorization of facts for rote AP classes at school, and with texting and indulging in superficial conversations using overused expressions with abbreviations that make communication a stretch at best.
We need to stop and pour out some of that water in our glasses. Turn off stimulation. Connect with our friends and family. Then we can savor interesting information and process it. By doing this, we can commit thoughts to our long-term memory.
So, slow down, choose what it important to you and do just that over the holidays!
Today’s post is by Jonathan Williams, an Exercise and Fitness Specialist from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Kinesiology. He is also the co-founder and president of Silicon Valley Applied Biomechanics (SVAB).
The new year is upon us, and many people are setting weight loss goals. Aside from buying a gym membership, a large number of people will be looking towards running and walking as a means of burning calories. There is a certain freedom of putting on your shoes and heading out the door for a run or walk. You don’t need much; a pair of shoes and maybe an iPod, making it very simple and convenient.
However, did you know that when your foot strikes the ground, you could be loading your body with up to 3 times your own body weight? With the additional weight gained during the holidays, this leaves many people in a precarious situation of wanting to lose weight, but potentially hurting their knees in the process. So what can be done to help keep your knees safe? There are two avenues to consider: changing how you make contact with the ground, and or changing your footwear. Traditionally, we have been told that when running we first make contact with the ground with our heel. In fact, the majority of the running shoe industry promotes this ideology and bases their shoe technology on this assumption. Shoes that have pronation or supination control, more padding in the heel, gel technologies, and air cushions are all designed to reduce the impact forces when you make contact with your heel. However, there is a large body of research that indicates that this assumption may not be entirely true. In response to this research, companies like New Balance and Vibram have designed minimalist shoes that promote a different kind of foot striking pattern called fore‐foot striking technique. This pattern avoids a heel strike altogether, which in turn eliminates the need for extra material underneath the heel, thus reducing weight. Controversy arises when companies (such as Nike and Adidas) conduct their own research showing that running with minimalist shoes actually increases knee pain when running. This is true, if you do not change how you make contact with the ground, which they did not instruct their research participants to do. If you are still heel-striking, and take away the cushion under the heel, then yes you will get more knee pain as you are increasing the impact forces. However, if you change the way you make contact with the ground, you can indeed reduce the amount of impact. Retraining for the average runner who is heel-striking is a process that can take a good amount of time and effort, and is met with much resistance from traditional running ideologists. So, what should you consider when choosing to take up running to lose weight next year? Am I a heel-striker? Do I want to remain a heel-striker, or would I consider retraining? If you are invested in the traditional heel-striking ideology, then by all means keep a large pad under your heel as you will experience large impact forces when you make contact with the ground. However, if you are interested in reducing impact forces on the body, then you may want to consider retraining your running pattern to a fore-foot striking technique. When you actually buy a pair of New Balance shoes, you will actually see a warning label that states you should retrain how you run before using their minimalist shoe, and there is information on their website about how to do so. I think most people purchasing new products in general will tear the labels off and just start using it, like other clothing items, and then have a bad experience with the product. Here are a couple of quick tips for those who are interested in retraining their running pattern:- Land with your foot under your hip. This will reduce the tendency to land on your heel.
- Take shorter strides, but more frequent strides. This may lead people to think that you will run slower, and at first you may. However, you can indeed run as fast or faster with a fore‐foot strike by increasing the stride frequency. Think about a sprinter “running on his/her toes” and simply reduce the speed. Also, you do not need to exaggerate the lifted heel as this may overstress the calf muscles.
- Listen to your feet. If you hear loud footsteps, you are probably creating large impact forces. At first it may feel like you are “tip toeing” but in general the more quiet your feet are, the less impact you are creating.
- Take your time to retrain. The process can be a bit humbling as you may need to reduce your overall mileage when changing how you run. This is because you are using different muscle patterns than you may be used to when heel-striking. Run a short distance (50‐100 strides) then walk to recovery, and repeat.
References:
Bonacci, J., Saunders, P.U., Hicks, A., Rantalainen, T., Vicenzino, B. T., & Spratford, W. (2013). Running in a minimalist and lightweight shoe is not the same as running barefoot: a biomechanical study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(6), 387-392.
Cheung, R. T. H., & Davis, I. S. (2011). Landing Pattern Modification to Improve Patellofemoral Pain In Runners: A Case Series. Journal Of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 41(12), 914–‐919. doi:10.2519/jospt.2011.3771
Noehren, B., Scholz, D., Davis, I. (2011). The Effect of real time gait re–‐training on hip kinematics, pain and function in subjects with patellofemoral pain syndrome. British Journal Of Sports Medicine,(41),691–696.doi:10.1136/bjsm.2009.069112
Jonathan Williams is an Exercise and Fitness Specialist from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Kinesiology. Co-founder and president of Silicon Valley Applied Biomechanics (SVAB), a local nonprofit organization. A recipient of the Dean’s Scholar Award and best Senior Movement Project in the Kinesiology Department, he graduated with Cum Laude Honors. He has experience as a licensed amateur mixed martial artists competing in the octagon. Regularly volunteers services at local high schools, and local running events. Researcher at SJSU’s biomechanics lab with fore-foot running expert James Kao Ph.D., with a focus on reducing disabilities caused by knee pain.
- Bachelors of Science Kinesiology
- Personal Training from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
- National Counsel on Strength and Fitness (NCSF)
- TRX Suspension Training
- National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association (NESTA)
Quote from Dafne Ocana
“I never knew anything about fore-foot running until I started training with Jon, but I really wished I would have known before. His insight and knowledge about how to properly run and the mistakes I was making have made my running better, even with an ACL tear. I’m more aware about hill striking when I jog and when I focus on fore-foot running I notice better endurance and a more enjoyable run. At first it takes a little to get used to and it’s kind of weird, but it really makes a difference.”
Even when you’ve been married for 30+ years, sometimes you learn something about your significant other when you least expect it.
My husband Rob will be retiring on Dec 30th, and his staff hosted his retirement party on Friday. As he received COMMENDATIONS from the Board of Supervisors for creating and implementing environmental programs throughout the County. Jaclyn and I both glanced at each other with astonishment. She leaned over to me and asked, “Did you know all of this?”
While we knew that he founded the California Product Stewardship Council, a nonprofit organization, and that he pulled together 15 cities and the County to cooperate on initiatives, we didn’t know the battles he fought to make it all happen. Neither Jaclyn nor I understood the magnitude of his accomplishments until we stood there with his colleagues and heard their fascinating stories.
The story I loved hearing the most was from his grad school professor, Bruce Olszewski. First, he teased Rob because he always sat up front and enthusiastically raised his hand – like an over achiever in grade school – even though Bruce never called on him. Then, Bruce admitted that most people and even professors are good at giving lip service but when it comes down to initiating and implementing change, Rob is one of the few people to actually do the things that professors talk about in class.
As the guests shared their stories about Rob’s no-holds-barred approach to changing environmental policies in California, I realized that they were really sincere in their appreciation for his leadership when they presented a commendation from the Board of Supervisors for his service and prepared a resolution to the Board of Supervisors to ask that Rob be granted a special provision to work as a consultant immediately after he retires.
Jaclyn and I were so proud to see how his innovative solutions to environmental problems were so appreciated by his colleagues, city officials, the Board of Supervisors, and his staff. It’s amazing to see that you never stop learning about your significant other… Looking forward to what his next chapter will bring!