The Great American Grease Escapade

I admit, this last trip was perhaps one of the higher stress 36-hour periods of travel I've had.

I flew from the Bay Area to Los Angeles International (LAX).  When I boarded the plane on Tuesday, my hair got caught in my computer case, so I set my computer case down on the jet bridge, not realizing there was grease lubrication on the floor, which got alllllll over my case. I blissfully get on the plane, and I notice that there is grease on my shirt. Initially, I think it was from the back of the tray table (because there was a decent-sized smear of grease on it from when I slid into my seat). So, I have blobs of grease on my shirt and a little (at that point) on my pants.

I wipe it off as best I can, and then I get off the plane and grab my case and my duffle. Being in the hinterlands of LAX, we need to take a shuttle to get to the main terminal. As I'm sitting on this shuttle, I look down and there is more grease on my pants. Like a LOT more. Peering down, I realize wait - it's on my computer case, which was resting in my lap. So, I notice at that point, there is more grease on me, a LOT on my case, and I figure out it's also on my duffle bag...grrr.  I'm starting to feel like people are looking at me, as I dab at this crap.  I go to the airline's luggage trouble people and they are mystified at how to help because it wasn't "wrecked or lost baggage", and I didn't get a claim from when I was ON the plane, and, then they finally give me a claim form.

At this point, I look like a grease monkey (and of course it smells all mechanical, too, and it was on my hands. Ick.)  I grab the claim form, take a picture of greasy me and the luggage room, and, very carefully, take my stuff, and go wait for the shuttle to the car rental place. Like FIFTY rental car vans go by, and I'm getting really angry, like smoking volcano angry.  I try to sneak onto a related shuttle, knowing it is around the corner from my car rental company, but since I was stupid and MENTIONED the other company, the guy would not let me on the shuttle. ("You're not a customer." No, but I COULD BE). Apparently fearing the wrath of people filing complaints, he follows me as I'm trying again on my phone to reach a human at my car rental place. I laser-eye the guy and say, "I need you to move away from me, now." "I was trying to help you!" (yeah, right....)  I was supposed to meet friends, and they are texting me "it's ok... breathe" because they didn't want to have to bail me out from the LAX jail or fish me out from the local hospital after I stroked out.

Finally, the rental car van shows up (about a minute and a half after the near-murder occurred). I stand in line at the rental car place, and I'm SUPPOSED to get a subcompact, but after the person notices my clothes (and my telling them I got grease on me from the flight) I end up getting a van (LMAO - I'm sure they didn't want me to get grease on the new rental cars they had.)  The shirt I was wearing which got grease on it had a VERY PROMINENT Giants logo. One of the rental car parking lot dudes motions to me to roll the window down. "Go Dodgers" Ha! Actually, we had a very fun and civil quick conversation!

THEN, I go over to Ross and, because I realllly packed light this time, I buy a new shirt and a pair of pants. And, tell the clerk I need to change into these clothes (which is obvious because of the grease all over my pants and the t-shirt...).  The cashier asked how it happened, and then he very, very carefully asks me if I'm perchance 55 or over. Heh. So, I tell him I am, and I get an instant discount, and I go change into my new clothes...and that was my TUESDAY!

Wednesday, after a three-hour presentation, I leave Camarillo to go back to LAX thinking, no problem, even if it does take 2 hours I'll still have about 1.5 hours to return the car and get through security (i have Pre).  So, of course, there is construction AND at least two accidents on the freeway, and it takes 2.5 hours. I get gas, where a nonofficial gas station employee regales me with how he meets nice travelers (and the two dollar tip I gave him was totally worth it because he knew where the GAS RELEASE was on the rental car.)  I return the car, and at least the shuttle only took TEN minutes to arrive...now I'm getting very anxious because I'm thinking, boy if I have to go to that other hinterlands terminal, I'll never make it.

I ask the representative guy at the American terminal how to get to Gate 151 (jeeeez - 151 plus gates~!!) and he tells me to go to the international terminal (next door), go to the back, up the escalator and through "x-ray." I'm doubtful, especially about my ability to faithfully reproduce his instructions, but I go ahead.  As I charge through the international terminal check-in section, I can SEE the plane at gate 151 through the glass window at the back! Now, I'm like,YAY! I'll make my flight. Except, since it's the international terminal, they only have Priority security, NOT Pre. So, this means the line is shorter, but it's the full, take off your shoes, clothes, wigs, falsies, etc... and  use the full body scan, which is way slower. And, the security lady says (at first) "this terminal doesn't HAVE Pre." I start to go to the other line, and think, honestly, maybe it'll take less time to go back to the first terminal, go through security and take the shuttle! I go back and ask her, do you know how long the line takes? And, she gestures me to the Priority line after all. (Phew).

I'm sweating now...so, boarding was supposed to begin at 7:15 p.m., and I'm not even fully through the security gate by then. I finally pop out, fortunately, there was no special testing or anything... and I make haste to the gate, which was actually a little further down than I thought...I come huffing and puffing and still holding my luggage way out from me because of the residual grease (!).... announcing "I'm here!"

And I slide in at last call for the flight.  Whew. (Having learned my lesson, I did NOT set my luggage down on the jetway.)

Then, we sit on the tarmac. It's a bad sign when they give you pretzels BEFORE you take off (because you know you're going to be delayed). I inhaled those pretzels, begging for an extra bag, because I didn't have any time to get dinner. LOL.  We finally land only about 10 minutes later than we were supposed to.  So, anyway, that was my day Tuesday and Wednesday ...

So, the Season is Done

WINNING AND LOSING

I watched the clock tick down. I took a deep breath. Uh, oh, this time, they are not going to pull it out.

Dammit. OMG, I can't believe it. But, I have to believe it. It's right in front of my eyes.

Did I wear the wrong T-shirt? Can I just never watch a game with my son, or husband again (after all, they won every single time I watched without them.) That cut on my lip that I got from my chicken teriyaki burger on a hard roll, was it a bad sign?

No. I know as well as the next person that nothing I do, say, think, whatever can actually impact the games that I watch. But, it's such a strong feeling.

So, I see four sets of responses. I see some very bitter, very vitriolic fans of the opposition team saying incredibly horrible stuff. And, when I see that, I really wonder - why allow that bitterness to sap the sheer joy you should be feeling? That joy I was fortunate enough to experience last year when MY team won after 40 long years. I saw sheer joy. Shouts, fireworks, tears - the pleasure of being in a team t-shirt you say you will never take off. THAT'S the right kind of celebration. Being the bigger person in victory.

For the fans of my own team - we move from being stunned into SOMETHING.  For some, it's anger. Why the hell did that player not perform, why were players missing?  Were we truly not good enough? Or, did we suffer some legitimate barriers to winning? Like injuries to critical players.  Why was the officiating so controversial?

But, in the long run - I feel really, really grateful. Back in 2010, when the SF Giants were playing in the post-season, I was SO ANXIOUS that I felt ill, I felt like I couldn't watch. In the middle of that experience, I took stock of myself and said, you know what? That's crazy! It's "free" ball. My team got to play, and play, and play. And, it was so sweet when we won. I truly felt bad for the teams that fell along the way. The fans were sad AND they didn't get to watch their team play anymore.  So, this year, in a different sport, when things started to look pretty ugly in the conference finals, I had to say that same thing to myself again. One more game. I get to watch one more game.  And, my team this year allowed me to see them play as much as I could possibly watch. Oh, and actually I got to see them WIN more than any other team in history in the regular season, at a truly elite level of play. It was beautiful.

I'm not going to lie. I'd have LOVED to see my team win. And, I was accused recently of a little schadenfreude because I felt our lead player had not been treated respectfully by the opposing team's lead player, and therefore, wanted to see the other team lose. But I'm happy for the other team's fans, because I remember how happy I was when my favorite baseball team won, and I remember how it felt last year.

I want to compliment the team. I know they absolutely played their best. I played some competitive sports in high school and it is HARD when there is a lot of pressure - it doesn't matter how much you get paid, you can't simply erase those nerves or make a broken body perform.  My team is a young team. They'll be a lot of fun to watch next year. I'll see you then!

Common Core is beautiful

COMMON CORE IS A WONDERFUL THING

For people complaining about Common Core - Take the time to READ this!!

http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/

These are the ACTUAL STANDARDS. There is NOTHING WRONG with them.  The real issue is that certain instructors do NOT KNOW how to teach, and certain people are too lazy to do research before jumping on a bandwagon and complaining. So, if you are going to complain about presenting math concepts differently, at least do the research!! Oh, and be sure to recommend an alternate method THAT WORKS.

All students need to understand how to REASON. I work every day with people who can do "rote math" but CANNOT THINK reasonably. They can't look at a spreadsheet and see obvious errors. They can't figure out basic logic questions. They don't know how to do simple research. 

I've taken the time to do two things:  

First, because I passionately feel people should research what they opine on, I actually READ THE STANDARDS. Guess what, they make a lot of sense. 

Second, I've discussed common core with ACTUAL teachers, all of whom I'VE spoken to support it. The consistent comment that I hear is "I think Common Core is fine, but I go to school with (or work with) teaching students who don't understand it."  We should realize that lack of comprehension does NOT invalidate a concept!!  The second comment I hear is "it's fine, but developing curriculum to teach it is HARD." Well, I have to be honest and say, I don't understand why all teachers are having to reinvent the wheel. There should be shared curriculum that is available to teachers to be modified for their circumstances.  Difficulty does not invalidate a concept.

Math problems that ask for estimates ask for rounded numbers. That's because it is an estimate NOT the precise answer. The skill being developed is to know that your answer is REASONABLE. So, parents should NOT get hung up that their child is being asked to give a NON-PRECISE number. And, that their child is TOLD it's wrong if they didn't follow the instructions.  Following instructions is a critical part of being successful in life.

Math problems that ask students to use GROUPING are to ensure that they understand what they are doing when they are performing rote functions. Teachers have used objects to convey this principle FOREVER. It's not wrong.

Homework that requires a student to use a SPECIFIC METHOD is being done for a purpose. If you don't understand that purpose, check with the teacher - they should be able to explain this to you, but inform yourself BEFORE you waste your child's teacher's valuable and limited time. They work very hard.

Here is an example. The problem on the bottom left gives you a number. But, do you actually understand what that represents? The other pictures give you the same information, but actually show, in a graphical method, what the answer means.  It's fine to use the numerical method once you understand what it represents.

The reason I'm so passionate about this is that we deprive ourselves of new, novel, creative and valuable resources when we unthinkingly resist CHANGE. I'm not always in favor of change for change's sake. But, change can be amazingly helpful and beautiful. Take the time to experience it and value it.

Postscript

*(My soon to be daughter-in-law has shared these images of material that's supplied to help teachers instruct students. I think this is awesome!)

Thoughts on being female and inequality

I'm an opinionated person. Talkative and opinionated. That's just who I am. Where this becomes complicated is when you add in my gender. I'm female. A woman.

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. Things were very much in flux, societally. My mom got a college degree and she worked and I don't think I fully realized that this wasn't the norm at the time, although things were transitioning more towards that being acceptable and common. When I was in high school, I was one of those "unique" individuals who floated from clique to clique, fitting in with jocks (I played sports), stoners (I took drafting), nerds, brainiacs (I was in a few more advanced classes), and, with racially diverse groups. So, it didn't really occur to me that there were things, or professions I couldn't do unless I wasn't SMART enough to do them or MOTIVATED enough to do them. I guess I was influenced by the televised views of bra-burning women and understood the point, but not maybe fully the circumstances, because I was already benefitting from their actions. And, the actions of many dedicated and strong women before them.

Both of my grandmothers were extremely smart, but not allowed by the circumstances of their times to achieve their full potential, although my fraternal grandmother did end up relatively highly placed in a branch bank. What a pity. Society doesn't really get what it's losing by shutting out half its talented potential workforce.

When I was in college, in the stone age, we had a career center which was dominated by racks of pamphlets with information on careers. To this day, I can clearly remember reading a pamphlet on being an accountant, which was what I was focusing on at the time. And, there it was. "If you are a woman, you might not want to enter into this profession, because it is male dominated." RIGHT IN THE PAMPHLET. I grabbed them, marched up to the front desk and tossed them down. "You might want to replace these, because this isn't correct and it ISN'T RIGHT." At the time, many of my accounting classes already had more women in them than men. But, the true point is, your gender in that profession makes ZERO DIFFERENCE in your ability to do the work, unless - and, here's the kicker, you are treated differently because of it.

When I graduated and got a job as an auditor, I encountered old men who called me honey (and worse). I stood up for myself and told them directly that it was inappropriate. I thought it was changing and improving. Being young and naive - I really thought, you know, it's great to live right now. Look at all the improvements. Things are looking up. Young women will be able to do jobs they want to do - if they are SMART enough and MOTIVATED enough. Well, today, nearly 40 years later, as hard as people have worked, I don't really have that feeling quite as much.

It's so important to raise young women to feel empowered. But, that can't be accomplished by just your family. It needs to be family, community, schools, businesses and the media. We clearly aren't there yet. Especially in the media. I have three sons, no daughters. When my kids were still in high school, it would annoy me to no end to see young women take what I considered to be the "fluffy" options, easier math, bowing out of "icky" science work, giggling over clothing, cheerleading. And, I would get mad over the manipulations of guys and the clothing choices. But, what's the role model they see? How many TV shows and movies have there been in the 80s and 90s and still today that emphasize the desirability of ditziness? Showing guys fawning over cute, but vacuous girls.

When I see this I INTERNALLY SCREAM "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD WE WORKED TO MAKE IT SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!"

My son was fortunate enough to get to take an independent studies class at a university where they were in a lab with a bunch of cool stuff to work with (including a 3-D printer). The university was studying how students learn when allowed to "graze." My son was deeply disappointed that the females in that class, with some exceptions, did not take it seriously at all. I wondered at why that was. I know personally that those young women were every bit as talented and competent as the young men. Why did they treat this opportunity that way?

Is it wrong to want to be cute? To wear make-up or suggestive clothing? No. Girls and women should be free to dress the way they want and to not be judged as a whole on that. But, I think the reality is that we ARE judged based on that. Sigh. I just don't know what the answer is. All I can say right now is, if you are a parent, you probably have the best opportunity to communicate with your daughters about this issue. Clearly tell them the need to really pay attention to the messages given to them and be strong enough (or, <wink> in my case maybe oblivious enough) to know that the limits don't have to apply. Be an advocate for yourself, and just maybe, you'll be advocating for those who follow.

What Makes a Show Worth Watching?

My husband and I had a rousing discussion about feelings provoked by USA Network's new show “Colony.” (When he figured out I was plying him for a blog entry, his comment: “Oh God, you’re sucking me dry!”)

The premise of Colony (based on the pilot) is that aliens have landed and are using humankind as a form of slave labor. There is a resistance and there are collaborators. I watched the pilot and what struck me about this is just how many of these shows there have been lately. Hubby and I discussed just a partial list of these type of shows and what makes them desirable to watch, rather than boring, trite and predictable. We decided that most of these stories can be categorized as extermination or assimilation tales. Here are thoughts on a few.

Colony – only the pilot episode of this has aired. Even so, it’s at risk of falling into a very trite storyline. I will say that by the end of the pilot, I did enjoy it (and wasn’t driven away by any one character or actor).  I like Peter Jacobson, in particular, because of his pragmatic sliminess. When polled about which side I would choose, I, of course, chose collaborator.

Syfy Network's Childhood’s End – this was unique in that the entities we originally assume are the overlords are actually subjugated creatures themselves. I found it personally fascinating to find that a creature deliberately shown as a satanic entity to evoke immediate feelings of hatred (Karellen) ended up being a rather sympathetic character itself. (That was really the only reason I watched the whole thing). One element that made this engaging was that we weren’t quite sure if this was an assimilation or an extermination story. Bravo, Arthur C. Clarke.

Syfy Network's Dominion – discussing Dominion really got us excited. Definitely an extermination storyline. We discussed the reluctant hero and the fact that perhaps season two was stronger because it wasn’t quite as focused on the reluctant hero. Rather, season two focused on a whole bunch of characters who were impacted by the reluctant hero, as well as the internal dynamics of surviving settlements.

TNT Network's Falling Skies – this was an extermination story. Hubby felt this one ended up being the same old story, so he found it boring. “Even though you come from the stars, you can’t seem to wipe us out. (rubs his chin) But, the big machine was really cool.”  I wasn’t engaged enough, so I didn’t continue watching.

ABC Network's "V" – amazingly, there have been several incarnations of this (in Lady Grantham’s terms “with numbing regularity”). It’s surprising to me that this has been remade since earlier versions have been panned. Reboots are risky because if you didn’t like the first (or the second) you’re definitely unwilling to go along for the ride. I think the acting in the later version was stronger, but ultimately – it ended up being stilted with a standard storyline and mostly mundane acting.

Fox Network's Alien Nation (although out of my current time period of shows) was actually great. This was reverse assimilation. I think it was fascinating because at the time, it was a very novel show and I loved the cast.  Part of the novelty was the concept of an alien race that wasn’t out to eliminate or subjugate, but rather to become one with the planet’s inhabitants. This was a story on multiple levels.

An honorable mention goes to a show which doesn’t quite fit the framework - Amazon Network's “Man in the High Castle.”  Leave it to Philip K. Dick to come up with a premise which is novel but not quite novel (there have been several stories involving alternate timelines, in which the Nazis are the victors). But, what’s unique in his story is that you really have trouble figuring out what the ultimate story is. Is this just an “alternate timeline” or are there multiple timelines that people can cross or is it just in one person’s head? THAT made it fascinating. That and really excellent Nazi uniforms! The acting was top notch, as well.

Do you have a favorite genre in the assimilation or extermination arena? What makes a show worth watching? For me, it’s a story with a unique twist that doesn’t take forever to get to, as well as terrific acting. Doesn’t take a name brand, but there should be talent. Great ensembles with chemistry help. I also enjoy shows which assume the audience is intelligent and can figure out what is going on.