Scooped

I was once told that this house in my neighborhood was a drug house.  I have no idea if that is true, but it definitely had an odd collection of junk on the porch and no upkeep at all.

Then one day the junk was gone.

It looked like someone was doing some work on it.

Before I could figure it out I saw an article in the local paper, 

which wrote that it was part of a television show called Vintage Flip.

As I was riding by today I could see that the filming had started.

I am looking forward to watching the whole process.  Stay tuned!

A Full Day

For the fifth year we are a friendship family for teachers staying in town for six weeks.  For a refresher you can read about previous years here.   Our teacher from Nicaragua had a birthday yesterday and to celebrate we took a train downtown to explore.

 We started with a walk on Olvera Street, which reminded N. of home, but on a smaller scale.

A woman was a driving an empty bus (neither thing would be seen in Nicaragua, I was told) that took us to Disney Concert Hall and The Broad.

This was definitely not like home!  The Broad was not open (always closed Monday, but most places were closed because of the national holiday), but we enjoyed walking around.

We walked through Grand Park, across this seal, and around city hall.

Lunch was in Grand Central Market and I had my first iced latte.  

The paper said it was the best in the country, but I have no basis for comparison

After lunch we took another bus around Little Tokyo, but then took a train

to USC

 and Exposition Park.

We walked around both places and took a quick peek inside the science museum, which was open.

If had known I would have planned differently.  Next time.

We were finally worn out (it probably didn't help that it was 93ºF/34ºC) so we enjoyed two air-conditioned trains back to Union Station and caught the train back to Claremont.

When you come visit we can do these things, too!

Little victory

The wonderful cartoonist Keith Knight has illustrated a whole series of Life's Little Victories.

"Life’s Little Victories are the tiny little daily occurrences that we should take a moment to celebrate.  I suggest a fist or two in the air, and shouting “YES!!”

I did not pump my fist in the air, but I did say it was my good thing of the day.

For months I have been looking at these two socks, waiting for their partners to appear.  Yesterday A. pulled a sock from the bottom his backpack and now there is only one little sock waiting patiently.

Never a dull moment

Possibly more interesting than baseball statistics (because it doesn't involve people earning millions of dollars) are weather statistics.  I currently check Weather Underground and sometimes dmi.dk

Rain in July and September meant the weather section, which measures precipitation from July1 to June 30, showed rainfall significantly higher than average.

from Sept. 29, 2015

Oops, change that.  Measured rainfall from July through June.  Looking at yesterday's paper I saw that the numbers were almost back to zero.

from Oct. 6, 2015

Nothing is without controversy.  "Ideologies clash as weather service realigns the annual rainfall calendar," reads the headline from a July 2, 2015 L.A. Times article.  For 130 years rainfall in southern California was measured from July through June because when there isn't much rainfall it is good time to make a switch.  But starting in October makes sense in notthern California because runoff is nothing but a trickle in September.  Let the new record keeping begin!

Grand opening!

Over two years ago D. packed up his office,  his building was demolished, and the new building began to grow.  Read about it here and here.  That time line does not include meetings spent choosing an architectural firm, sharing with the firm what the departments needed, and negotiating other aspects.

But the end is here!  D. is in his new office and this past weekend was the grand opening, which coincided with the college's Founders Day celebration.  My friend and fellow blogger posted some great pictures on her new blog.  I have (quite) a few, too.

Of course there were speeches.

Instead of a ribbon cutting President Oxtoby released the bowling balls,
which smashed the atom.

The making of the spirograph

These were made by D.

Notice anything special about the room numbers?

Outside were more activities.  This spun like a merry-go-round and the kids
were supposed roll the ball to each other.  What do you think will happen?

What will happen when two people push off together but their swings have different lengths?

Upstairs the math department had people playing with hexaflexagons, Rubik's cubes, and prisms.

In the basement there were 3D printer demonstrations, laser printing, lab tours,
and a bowling broken during the trial phase of the atom smashing.

The circus club did demonstrations.
This guy is amazing!

A student shared his electronic Rubik's cube made for electronics class.

Another student project demonstrated waves.

 Of course there was swag.

A four-color rocket pen

A 3D-printed die - I heard that one student tried to make weighted dice.

There were so many happy people going through the building all afternoon.  Let's hope the same is true for many years to come.

Mini post

Today is the day I have been waiting for since April 5.

Other people like to watch lots of movies or maybe play endless games of Candy Crush and Words with Friends.  I like to save pre-season predictions and compare them to the final standings.

Good thing the sports writers are not making their money this way!

They did predict that Cleveland would finish third in their division, which they did. 

If the Cubs go on to win the World Series then Cleveland will have the longest drought in baseball.  But I can take it because I am from Cleveland, which is statistically the most cursed sports city in the U.S., which was determined mathematically by the New York Times.  Boston didn't even make the top ten so I didn't have to feel bad about Cleveland sweeping their baseball team at the end of the season, allowing Cleveland to answer my annual prayers ("Please let this be the year that Cleveland finishes above .500).

Yes, it is trivial, but it is a pleasant way to pass time and play with numbers.  As my younger sister (from another city that did not make the list of cursed sports cities) said today, only 150 days until spring training.

Good luck this time

I am trying to be nice to myself.  When I get to the library, pick up my books from the reservation shelf, and stand in line only to realize I didn't bring my wallet, I try to hear the message, "It's not what you meant to do, but accidents happen."  When I wait patiently at the wrong gate so long I miss my flight I try to think, "Well, at least you won't make that mistake again."  And I am grateful for the person at the airport who rebooked us and said, "It happens all day long."

On the other hand, sometimes things go well.  I looked at the weather forecast and I believed it.

We had a wonderful breakfast here on Saturday morning, but on Saturday night I took down the decorations.  Normally I run on Sunday morning but I figured nothing would happen if I went out on Saturday instead (except for almost getting mixed up with a big cross-country meet).

I woke up to the sound of rain and was happy.