Here is a note from Melissa with more details on her upcoming art show. If you are reading this in the bay area I hope you can come by and support her!
John
Hi Friends,
I have some exciting news to share...
I've been painting a bunch since the summer (acrylic on canvas) and there is a gallery in San Jose that is going to show my stuff!
Finalized details with the owner today and here is the scoop --
Show is opening on Friday November 6th from 8PM-11PM and will stay up the month of November during regular hours
It is all my show to do with it what I will so I'm going to make it a fundraiser / awareness event for Refugee Transitions (www.reftrans.org) and donate any proceeds
Not a huge gallery but big enough that I have a lot of painting to do in two weeks in order to fill the space!
The gallery is part of a yoga studio. Here is the venue http://downtownyogashala.com/
It is part of an art event that San Jose puts on the first Friday of every month called "South First Fridays" http://www.southfirstfridays.com/. The idea is the city encourages people to come eat and drink downtown and then walk through the gallery district (along South First Street) so the number of people attending will kind of be dependent on the weather =).
So it is pretty exciting. Not sure where all of this is going. Maybe my first and only show, maybe the first of others! Should learn a lot about the art scene in San Jose through this experience and hopefully find a few new volunteers and make a little bit of money for Refugee Transitions!
Hope you can drop by for the show opening. Details are:
Friday, November 6th
8PM-11PM
Candlelight yoga before the show so drop into that if you can (6:30-8:00PM)
450 S First St., San Jose CA 95113
Parking at the San Jose Convention center will be validated
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
I guess I need to get it together, no pressure!...
I've noticed just recently that everyone in the family has been doing really well and I am starting to feel some pressure. What do I mean? Let's look at some examples.
Julia is taking violin, in an advanced book club and was selected into the GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) program at school.
Lea is the youngest swimmer in her pre-competitive class, reading at roughly two grade levels above 2nd grade, and nearly had the teach in tears during the parent-teacher conference because she is so wonderful to have in class.
As I've previously blogged about Nicolas is starting to read and having a great time in kindergarten and doing excellent in swimming.
And now Melissa has broken out too. In addition to winning the volunteer of the year award, she now has her first gallery show to exhibit her painting! She is on fire! (well not really of course because that would hurt). About 2 months ago she started to feel the passion and drive to start painting again (she has an art undergrad and near art graduate degree). Her event is on the 6th of November at the San Jose Art Walk which is designed to promote art in San Jose and occurs the first Friday of every month.
Well with everyone excelling I guess I need to figure out what my thing will be and I had better do it fast! No pressure!
Julia is taking violin, in an advanced book club and was selected into the GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) program at school.
Lea is the youngest swimmer in her pre-competitive class, reading at roughly two grade levels above 2nd grade, and nearly had the teach in tears during the parent-teacher conference because she is so wonderful to have in class.
As I've previously blogged about Nicolas is starting to read and having a great time in kindergarten and doing excellent in swimming.
And now Melissa has broken out too. In addition to winning the volunteer of the year award, she now has her first gallery show to exhibit her painting! She is on fire! (well not really of course because that would hurt). About 2 months ago she started to feel the passion and drive to start painting again (she has an art undergrad and near art graduate degree). Her event is on the 6th of November at the San Jose Art Walk which is designed to promote art in San Jose and occurs the first Friday of every month.
Well with everyone excelling I guess I need to figure out what my thing will be and I had better do it fast! No pressure!
solo weekend
Well it's autumn here in the valley, the trees are changing, the kids are focused on their Halloween costumes and Melissa is getting a well deserved break away this weekend with her friends, meaning I'm on point, solo, the lone ranger, el jefe etc.
Melissa and 5 friends are off to Mount Madonna retreat for a relaxing weekend and it sounds pretty nice (although not exactly my cup of tea).
This is from their website:
Melissa and 5 friends are off to Mount Madonna retreat for a relaxing weekend and it sounds pretty nice (although not exactly my cup of tea).
This is from their website:
"Mount Madonna Center is a conference and retreat center located on 355 acres of mountain-top redwood forest and grassland overlooking Monterey Bay, between Santa Cruz and Monterey, in Northern California. "
And judging from the picture on their website it should be pretty nice. I've got loads of things to do with the kids including catching up from my 4 day whirlwind trip to NYC and Washington DC, riding bikes, finishing costumes, buying pumpkins, watching movies, going to the park and more. We will have pleny of things to do and hopefully Melissa will have plenty of things not to do!
So while
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Little man taking big steps
This has been quite the year for Nicolas, he learned to ride his bike, lost his first teeth, started kindergarten and grew to where he has almost caught up to Lea!
He really likes drawing and has created some nice pictures lately as well.
One of the latest big steps Nicolas has taken has been in the area of reading and writing. We had his parent teach conference today and it was really quite exciting to see the progress he has made just since the beginning of the year.
Flashing back to summer Nicolas was continually frustrated because he didn't "get it" when reading. He would look a the words in the books and just make something up.
Well now is a completely different story. He has been reading at school and at home. We've been working through some of the Dick and Jane books originally used by Lea I think. Of course there are plenty of words he doesn't yet know but he gets the word boundaries and tries to sound out the letters of the words as best he can. His teach told us he was right where he should be in class. He is also trying to spell words out. For example he said to me last night: "Daddy, can you rub m-y b-a-c-k?" where he spelled my and back.
It is exciting and sad for us to see him grow up. He continues to grow and thrive and he is such a fun loving little boy that everyone loves to be around him!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Living the outbreak movie?
over the last couple of years there have been several "rogue" disease related movies including the movie "Outbreak" in 1996. For some reason I have this strange feeling that I am living in the movie when it comes to the current situation with Swine flu.
It seems to have had a lot of attention earlier in the year and then things died down during the summer as other activities distracted the news services. Most of the news seemed impersonal taking place in foreign countries or places not near me. But, then lately I've started to hear more and more about it on a personal level including someone at work being diagnosed with it.
At the same time, and quite quietly in my opinion, things have started to heat up around here to the point that major institutions like churches are change policies (no hand shakes from greeters, no shared bread for communion etc.) and Santa Clara county has declared an H1N1 emergency. You can read more by clicking here. In Santa Clara county alone there have been 155 hospitalizations an 8 deaths!
Now I don't want to be alarmist but it certainly does seem to be real and creeping up on us right in our back yard. We have tried to be diligent with the kids regarding washing their hands at school and at home and so far (touch wood) things have been ok. They also had their seasonal flu shot however I was listening to NPR the other day and there has been some report in Canada which apparently seems to indicate that if you have had a seasonal flu shot you might be more susceptible to H1N1! Another twist in the movie plot!
Watch this space and wash those hands!
It seems to have had a lot of attention earlier in the year and then things died down during the summer as other activities distracted the news services. Most of the news seemed impersonal taking place in foreign countries or places not near me. But, then lately I've started to hear more and more about it on a personal level including someone at work being diagnosed with it.
At the same time, and quite quietly in my opinion, things have started to heat up around here to the point that major institutions like churches are change policies (no hand shakes from greeters, no shared bread for communion etc.) and Santa Clara county has declared an H1N1 emergency. You can read more by clicking here. In Santa Clara county alone there have been 155 hospitalizations an 8 deaths!
Now I don't want to be alarmist but it certainly does seem to be real and creeping up on us right in our back yard. We have tried to be diligent with the kids regarding washing their hands at school and at home and so far (touch wood) things have been ok. They also had their seasonal flu shot however I was listening to NPR the other day and there has been some report in Canada which apparently seems to indicate that if you have had a seasonal flu shot you might be more susceptible to H1N1! Another twist in the movie plot!
Watch this space and wash those hands!
Finished!!!
I happy to report that I successfully finished the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon today!!
Admittedly my time wasn't stellar but given the back and hip problems I have had in the previous 3 weeks I am pretty happy with the result. We (me and 12000+ of my closest friends) had perfect weather for the run with a start temperature of the low 50's with perfect clear sky's.
My bib # was 5562 and you can check my splits (times at various intervals) online by clicking here. You can clearly see how I started off well but slowed down significantly towards the end. The main reason for that was my hips started hurting again as they had on my last really long 12 mile run. I think that I have figured out that it has something to do with either my shoes or my stride in general because it hurt more when I ran off of the crown (curved part) of the road. I had to stop and walk briefly a few times to try and let the pain die down but I was determined to finish. In fact I never really got tired on the race. No fatigue, no problems with my back, no blisters, nada except for my hips and I really tried to take it easy once they did and I am sure that helped.
The race itself was incredibly well organized. There were ample water stations, medical stations if needed and clear directions on what to do before and after the race.
I'm going to continue to run through the winter but keep my distances short until I can get to a running specialist to evaluate my stride.
I'm really happy to have completed this goal. I think I have also determined that I really don't need to do a marathon, the thought of turning around after 13.1 miles and doing it again does not appeal to me. I think my next big challenge will be a triathlon sometime next summer.
Until then I'll take it pretty easy!
Admittedly my time wasn't stellar but given the back and hip problems I have had in the previous 3 weeks I am pretty happy with the result. We (me and 12000+ of my closest friends) had perfect weather for the run with a start temperature of the low 50's with perfect clear sky's.
My bib # was 5562 and you can check my splits (times at various intervals) online by clicking here. You can clearly see how I started off well but slowed down significantly towards the end. The main reason for that was my hips started hurting again as they had on my last really long 12 mile run. I think that I have figured out that it has something to do with either my shoes or my stride in general because it hurt more when I ran off of the crown (curved part) of the road. I had to stop and walk briefly a few times to try and let the pain die down but I was determined to finish. In fact I never really got tired on the race. No fatigue, no problems with my back, no blisters, nada except for my hips and I really tried to take it easy once they did and I am sure that helped.
The race itself was incredibly well organized. There were ample water stations, medical stations if needed and clear directions on what to do before and after the race.
I'm going to continue to run through the winter but keep my distances short until I can get to a running specialist to evaluate my stride.
I'm really happy to have completed this goal. I think I have also determined that I really don't need to do a marathon, the thought of turning around after 13.1 miles and doing it again does not appeal to me. I think my next big challenge will be a triathlon sometime next summer.
Until then I'll take it pretty easy!
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