Lily Project

Team 4 rocks!

When I first started at the Academy, I was asked to host a team for the Lily Project. A project where students from the prestigious Lily Bunka Academy of Art in Mito, Japan and AAU students work together for a weekend building some design project.

"Sure." I said, head still spinning.
Well, this weekend was the event. I had a blast today. It was my incredible treat and pleasure to work with everyone in "Team 4" to build a gift of hope.

I would love to tell you about all the wonderful things we did, but I am tired. Hopefully, some of the Team 4 students will come to this post and leave comments about their experience!?

Until then, feel free to enjoy the Flickr Set; it tells the story beautifully. And, our credo:

Our gift is a gift of hope
to all the people of earth.

Our earth is a beautiful place.
However, we are not taking care of it.
It's a BIG problem.
But, we can do something about it.

We have many wonderful people on earth.
However, too many of them are hungry.
It is a BIG problem.

The problems are big.
However, the solutions are small.

If every one of us gave just a little.

a little time.
a little work.
a little money.
a little thought.

then we can solve these BIG problems.

That is our gift of Hope to you.

The W that finally was

Fly the Flag

Go Cubs! Congrats. See you (on TV) in Chicago next weekend!

L is for LOSER

L is for LOSER

I stand corrected, the Cubs and Brewers are showing that is another letter that matters more.

Roasted pimentos on baguettes

Roasted pimentos on baguettes

Yum. One of the wonderful things we saw this morning at the Farmer's Market were all the peppers. We grabbed a pimento which I roasted in the oven (see more on Flickr) and served on a fresh baguette.

We think this farmer's market is going to be a Sunday morning tradition (as it is for many Marin peeps).

Cher Bebe!

Both 5

Too, too sweet.

one of the advantages...

On Friday, I witnessed a murder as the system and open enrollment killed an hour+ of my time. However, I went citiploring afterwards. Being faculty at an art school means I have access to a pretty unique library. AAU's library stocks graphic novels, as there is an illustration department. I checked out a book I had heard a lot about, but don't know if I would ever purchase: Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar. It is a collection of his Heartbreak Soup stories from his Love and Rocket's comics. It is this wonderful examination of a small fictional Mexican village/town through the stories and personalities of its inhabitants. Through getting to know these particular people in a small community you suddenly awaken to your own innate human motivations and the peculiarities of society throughout the world, a la Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio or even Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.

: (

What counts...

W is for Gabriel's Wharf

Well, it ain't been pretty. But the Cubs and Tigers continue to get the most important stat and the Brewers failed.

Cubs - I love this plan of stockpiling all your homeruns for the end of the season. By my calculation we have a good 36 or so sitting around for October, well done.

LSU - Sloppy weather made it difficult for me to get a firsthand view of your speed. However two things. 1) we have how many running backs? It has been hard enough remembering the names of my 100 or so students, now I have to add like 15 potential ground touchdowners? 2) Thank you for executing the perfect trick play against Steve Spurrier - that healed some pain.

Well done Tigers, nice to have a ranked SEC death valley day victory.

Sports, sports, sports...

Avery stroller

Cubs - 1.5 games up in the division to Milwaukee. The last three Cubs opponents are relatively weak on paper (Pirates, Marlins and Reds), while Brewers have some tough opponents (Braves, Cardinals and Padres) ... but Cubs are on the road a lot ... Brewers will have home town crew helping them out. Should be really exciting! Avery has her fingers crossed. So does Ian.

LSU v South Carolina. A ranked SEC opponent. Big time. LSU plays the Gamecocks well, but Spurrier horribly ... the most exciting thing about this game: it is nationally broadcast on network! This means even my lame bunny-eared TV can pick-up this game. Woo-Hoo. Day game at Tiger Stadium has me nervous... Let's get charged up though!

NFL. I'm still not there yet. I keep a pretty casual eye on the NFL until MLB is over.

Home sports participation will be limited. Sam and Mary are both ill.
(Which makes it a great time for good spectator sports!)

This Naruto thing...

So, remember how like only last month I was telling you how Sam and I are getting into Naruto? Well, yeah. It is a full-fledged mind occupation now.

Sam is on book 15 and I am just finishing 14 (I am trying to keep up with him.) The story is really enjoyable. I never quite got into Harry Potter. I enjoyed reading the first two books, but the third was just so-so to me ... and I couldn't get through book #4. Mary and Sam devoured the stories, and I enjoy going to the movies with them.

Naruto and his fellow ninja classmates would totally kick those little magicians' butts. In true Joseph Campbell fashion, the story has several familiar themes regarding a hero coming of age. I really dig getting to discuss the evolving plot lines and character development with Sam. He's pretty keen into what is happening.

I've also been surprised how easily I am able to go from the "backwards reading" of manga to regular ole Western-style with no problems. I'm always concerned my brain is just going to give up on any new pop culture.

Just chilling

Just chilling

Phew.

My brain is tired. This teaching thing is taking a bit out of me. I have had some great experiences to start off my teaching career. Today, it occurred to me that I have a new career. When I think about the direction of my professional life, it is suddenly very different.

Mary had her first evening of training. I am so happy for her ... and all the wonderful kids that get to share in her spirit. We are all lucky.

Sam ... well geesh, Sam is doing fabulous. He is in his room right now with Stefen and Nick watching Simpsons and sword-fighting ... and laughing... lots of laughing.

All's good. fyi.

Hawk Hill and Black Sand Beach

Family Bridge shot

This afternoon, we headed out to Hawk Hill to do some raptor viewing, since the Golden Gate gets some great raptors (especially the Red Tailed Hawk) this time of year. I learned the birds prefer to fly over land than water. When they head south for the winter, the bay and the Pacific funnel them to the gate. Cool, huh?

We also found a new beach on our drive down from Hawk Hill towards Point Bonita. Black Sand Beach. It is a steep path down (and of course back up), but the beach is sunny with nice soft sand and fun surf. It is also clothing optional, so we got naked (not really ... but I need something to spice up the blog!)

FOTOFUNw/FLICKR (I'm up to 1,000+ photos on flickr ... wow, this is so much better than photo albums.)

The babies are home.

"Avery, wake up. We're on camera dude." (I think I got that right... Ian on the right, Avery on the left? Let me know if I'm wrong, please.)

Sarah, Eric, Avery and Ian are home and learning their new home... learning about sleepless life with two mouths to feed. Everyone is doing well ... having the normal trials and tribulations of parenthood and all. A healthy family, which is great news!

Follow the growth of the babies on the family blog and Flickr.

The incredible thing about all this is during this time, Eric is managing to beat me in the semifinals of our Fantasy Baseball league (barring some great luck on my part) ... on his way to his 2nd championship in 3 years? Hmmmm.

Friday afternoon adventure

Nicholas, Stephan and Sam stop for a sec.

Mary wrote about the great time we had yesterday. So I won't.

But I did post some more pics. I no longer wonder why everyone goes to Stinson. Huge beach, relatively close, shower + bathrooms ... I get it now.

Saturday Morning

Saturday Morning

Green onion and tomato omelet and wheat toast + Miles Davis + California sunshine...

Remember this kid?

Sam in Chicago

When we pulled out the "old camera" we found a couple of "old pictures" from Chicago on it. This quite possibly may be the last time Sam cut his hair...

And Mary's bulbs in the background. I wonder how they did this year??? Good times.

Sam skimboarding

Sam skimboarding 2

Although we lost one camera to the sea, we fortunately still have another. Mary did not let the sneaker waves' desire for cameras stop her from grabbing some great shots of Sam skim boarding at Stinson Beach on Labor Day. This is a great set: good light (thank you Northern California), good photographer (thank you Mary) and great energy (thank you Sam).

Friday mornings

DSC01585

What will I do with my Friday mornings? M-Th my official day starts at noon ... but, the mornings are about getting Sam out the door with what he needs ... getting me washed and ready to go. Pretty much once Sam and Mary have peeled away, I head out the door to the car park for my 50 minute bus commute into the city. Then I spend the morning in my office, prepping, grading, making sure I am informed about current things in the industry, etc. Then it is teaching time. After class, I tie-up loose ends and head out again. Then it is home stuff.

But Fridays ... no class. Sure, I'll have tons of school work that I'll do throughout the weekend.

Friday mornings, I'm going to go Flickr traveling though the world, I think. Today I went to Hong Kong.

Tuckered out...

Sarah Ian sleeping

Here are Sarah and Ian sleeping in the hospital room. Eric has recently put some pictures up on Flickr. (Thanks bro.) It sounds like everyone is doing quite well. I am so glad that the delivery was safe and successful. Sarah, thank you very, very much for the past 9 months.

I can't wait to meet Ian and Avery asap! Geesh, three more weeks.

Teaching

Full House

So, my first week of teaching ended yesterday. Today, I walked into a classroom and the faces were familiar. It was a beautiful thing. I even learned all their names... by class #2. Woo-Hoo. I gave myself a gold star.

I get to hang out with really great students ... over 90 of them every week. Mostly excited, curious, fun and fabulous listeners.

I made the right choice. I truly love what I do so far. Now, all I have to do is see if I am good at it. I did have a student tell me "I was really dreading this class, but now I am excited about it." That rocks. Teaching the Marketing Strategies course at an art school is rather intimidating... I know they are walking in with the mindset that this class is a "miserable prereq." But, I aim to change that notion... we'll see. I actually think it'll be a piece of cake.

Say what you will about Macs

Photo 9

... but they are fun toys, if not great machines. As a college instructor at an art school, I had to get a Mac. It is fun learning a different thing ... seeing what all the fuss is about.

I think Sam and I will enjoy it. See here.

BABIES!!

Hey everyone,

Sorry about the delayed posting. After Eric called this morning, I had to rush to catch the bus, prep for class and then teach... I just talked to Eric again and

Sarah is doing great, the babies are doing great, Eric is doing great!

10:06AM - Avery Mae Maddux was born 6 lbs 3oz, 19"
10:08AM - Ian James Maddux entered the world just under 6 lbs and 19" (a bit longer than his sister though)

Word is Avery looks like Sarah and Ian like Eric. I am so happy and proud of them all!! I can't wait to meet them.

Let the celebrations begin!

Love you guys - Cam

LSU 48 - Virginia Tech 7

Instantly understandable indeed.

ESPN Graphic

Sam @ school

Good news. Sam is part of the GoUp Club!

...

Uh, I don't think it really means anything. or that it existed beyond this single class period. Just that he got a number that rounded up for this particular exercise. I captured this pic from Sam's class website.

Today, Mary heard Sam's hair may be distracting. That he keeps it in front of his eyes. His teacher suggested he may need to cut it.

I think she may be a vampire. Vampires prefer to see both eyes of their prey. Windows into the soul and all that. Vampire Hunters keep their eyes hidden. I am going to recommend Sam bring some garlic to class to test this theory out.

Just in case.

pic found here.

today I professed

Wow. Seriously, wow.

Today I taught my first class of Marketing Strategies and loved it. The students were fun, intelligent, curious ... awake...

This is quite a lovely thing. I am tremendously happy with my decision to start this teaching thing ... I hope my students agree.

OK, I'm going to go write some notes about memories of the first class before I forget.

Again, thanks for all the support! (and the picture)

a text-based platform for a bit.

Bad news everyone. My friend Pablo and his sister Amelia are in town for the weekend and we took them to Tennessee Valley Beach. Well, that's the good news. The bad part is while Mary was trying to snap a photo of us climbing on rocks (these rocks specifically) she got attacked by a sneaker wave. She had her back turned to the ocean and the waves were not even touching her heels. Suddenly a wave comes crashing on her.

I watch.

The water is up to her knees before I even blink. She starts to push her camera-wielding hand downwards.

I wonder, "Why is she doing that... Camera should go up."

Suddenly, I notice the wave is knocking her down she is crumbling in the ocean and the water is now up to her shoulders.

I wonder if I am about to lose my wife.

Fortunately, the wave pulled back and today I am just writing about a salt-water fried camera (but hopefully not memory card) and not Mary's visit to Davy Jones Locker.

We are contemplating buying the same camera used (because it really was a rocking camera) or maybe something else. Who knows? Any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!

We also just bought a new car. The Volvo is a long story for another post. We will hopefully rid ourselves of that nightmare on Tuesday with little damage. But we got a little 1991 Camry for around Marin (what we were hoping the Volvo would be). This time we bought from a neighbor around the corner and feel much better about the whole thing. It seems perfect for what we need.

What else? Oh yeah. I am no longer working two jobs! Down to just the one. Prepping for teaching. I am really, really excited and looking forward to focusing my energies on that. Thank you everyone for the support; it has meant a lot to me.

Sorry about not posting. We have been remarkably busy with Sam starting school (which he is enjoying this year), Mary looking at other possibilities, leaving Haggin, starting Academy... busy, busy, busy. I am regularly waking up at 3am thinking about all the stuff. Not bad, just lots to be thinking about, you know?

Anyway, things should get back to normal and in a pattern within a couple weeks. Thanks for visiting.