Category Archives: TV

May 25th – Losing Steam


Uh oh – I guess I should be impressed that I maintained my motivation to write in here every day for this long!

I was literally in bed before I remembered tonight.

Can you blame me? It’s Friday. It’s been an intense week. I left work after FINALLY training with my co-worker on her tasks about as late as we possibly could today. If anything at all goes wrong in this upgrade process this weekend and we cannot start testing until after 2pm Sunday, then I have to cover two systems. That’s fine – but I haven’t worked on a daily basis in the Asset Management side in several years and I really needed a refresher. I’ll be fine, but let’s all of us out there in internet land cross our fingers for a smooth process ok?

Meanwhile, after spending every night this week heading out *somewhere* I was just thrilled to get home and not have to go anywhere.

The problem is that I did have to write. Just studying the first module of the web business design class has reinforced to me how much the site AND the ebook need upgrades. To my dear friend who amusingly pointed out that having the read the word “pergola” in every other sentence was jarring – I agree! Thankfully the focus on heavily laden keyword articles for SEO placement is falling away. Now I get to write for CONTENT, simply placing the keywords in more naturally occurring places. I was fighting that all along so this will be much easier. But, it also means yet more re-writing. Argh!

So after a rather disappointing Bistro Meal package dinner of shrimp risotto, I got down to the business of improving the business. Two new website articles and the first chapter of the ebook are revamped and I’ve got the new chapter titles and approximate order of them assigned.

After all that I watched the season finale of Glee :-) Needed the total focus shift. I still love that show. It’s more of a guilty pleasure now and other’s have fallen off the trendy bandwagon (especially since some episodes did sink into silliness), but I still laugh and cry and smile and sing along with the songs. Kurt’s dad doing “Put a Ring On It”? Utterly, perfectly, touching and hysterical. Love those two characters and their interactions.

Anyhow – a moment of beauty – no pictures today. That would have meant I prepared! But, as I was typing away in the blissful silence of the house because all other occupants were gone…well THAT was a moment of beauty for sure. Then off in s distant corner of the room I heard a faint sound that is even more fabulous than silence.

It was Chip. Drinking water.

I could hear his kidneys continuing to heal with each exquisite lap of liquid.

Dream on my friends!

Skin This!


Anyone who knows me well will see right away that this is pretty much an out of character post topic for me. However, this should perhaps be proof as to just how serious this is. As the parent who watches all the CSI programs, Glee, Modern Family etc with her teen, you know that I don’t censor very much in this house. Normally the idea of blocking a channel or of (horrors!) signing a petition from the Parents Television Council would be so foreign to me. And yet….let me start you off with a few links to do just those things!

How to block channels with: Directv, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable & Cox Cable

Parents Television Council Petition – this petition is not ecifically about MTV or the Skins show, but it is about cable channel CHOICE which I have always supported. Especially since MTV seems to have gone the way of Playboy – I would really rather not have my cable fees go to pay them. I have the choice to pay Playboy or HBO and I’d like the same choice with MTV since they have decided to go down this path.

What path is this you may ask?

Well, it started with the TV shows “Teen Mom” (1 AND 2) and regressed to an even worse show called “16 and Pregnant”. Because hey – nothing says entertainment for your kids like glorifying teen pregnancy right?! Compare that to the shows I watch with my son. Let’s choose the one perhaps closest to the MTV shows – Glee. Now, if anyone has watched Glee you know that the show is so over the top as to be about as FAR from reality as you can imagine. After all, in the same episode when Kurt’s character comes out as gay, he also orchestrates a football play where the entire football team dances and sings to All The Single Ladies in order to distract the opposing team. Yeah, it worked of course, as did Kurt’s reprisals of the song as he approached the ball to kick the game winning extra point. CLEARLY a fantasy right? CLEARLY nothing close to what real life is like in high school! Plus, they are all actors in their 20s depicting these kids. And the character who was pregnant? She loses her spot on the cheer squad as well as many of her friends and is kicked out of her house. Perhaps not the most caring way to handle that scenario, but also far from glorifying it.

But the MTV shows are “Reality TV”. Now, have I watched them? Heck no! I have no interested in seeing that! Technically, I lived it, so no, I don’t need to see it. Also? Why is that entertaining?

Now, I am damn lucky that my boy has no interest in this channel up to this point. I’ve seen him channel surf and thankfully MTV is not amongst his selections. And you know what? It wont be. I blocked it. The final straw is the new shows Skins.

Quite frankly I only had a vague notion about this show before. But then my friend Stefanie wrote this post over on the SDMomfia site.  Go read it please. I’ll wait……

Eye opening eh?

Did you click on her link to the TV show’s website? Because I agree with her that we should NOT “check it out” and give them ratings. But you should check out that website.

Let me share with you which part of it disgusted ME the most – it’s called the Where It Went Down section:

Description of the purpose of the section

Overview map of where it went down

See those little symbols? Imagine the most R-rated translation of those symbols as you can (aimed at teens remember!). It’s worse. If you can’t handle explicit language, I’m sorry, but I felt like this needed to be exposed for what’s happening here. And remember – this is a TV show starring underage kids, aimed AT underage kids. So you can imagine the ages of the people reporting in on this section.

After the main map loads on the front page of the site, it starts scrolling through these postings. I did not have to click any link to see these

Also, as they scroll, you can click for details. No sign up necessary. No controls on content for age.

Sure, those top level entries seem innocuous. Disturbing, but not horrifying right? So, as I said, anyone visiting the site can go ahead and click for details on any of these listings. So I clicked on one titled “Invisible Condoms” This is where it gets graphic:

No sign in required to see this. No proof of age. Just one click away on a website for a TV show aimed at OUR TEENS on a channel geared for OUR TEENS

Pretty shocking eh?

Now some may say that raising a stink only makes it more desirable for our kids. I know. But this tv show and this website cannot just be wished away. Where is the line when parents say “No More!”

Well, this is my line. MTV is blocked. Which makes me so sad. I grew up on this channel. Back when they were, you know, MUSIC television. I pulled all nighters watching videos just for fun. Have they always pushed the envelope? Sure, but before it was under the guise of bringing music and new artists to people’s attention. This has nothing to do with art. Or music. Or entertainment!

This is about showing kids that you can gain fame by being bad. That it’s cool and hip and fun – damn the consequences! And not just with a fictional show starring teens about teens. But with interactive programs like Where it Went Down that ENCOURAGES them to misbehave and then REPORT it!

Line crossed. Line drawn. No more “I want my MTV”. Now it’s “Skin THIS and BLOCK my MTV!”

Glee stars GQ photo shoot – eh?


So apparently there is some raging debate going on about the photo shoot that three of the stars of Glee did for GQ

Bear in mind here, that the ladies are both 24 and the gent is 28. ADULTS here folks. ADULTS! Fully capable of choosing what they do.

According to this article though, The Parents Television Council has formally complained about the photo shoot. Beyond the fact that I almost never agree with any sort of Parents Council type group (you know where those sticks are, right?), I have another couple of points to add to the fact that those actors are, well, actors and also – ADULTS!

  1. Glee is a family show only if you consider it to be for middle schoolers and up. It’s not, and never has been and never was intended to be a G rated family show. It’s pretty much borderline on the PG rating some episodes (hello – Finn experiencing premature ejaculation in a hot tub and then believing that’s how Quinn got pregnant?!!) As the article I linked to indicates, the creator of the show has always been open about the adult content. So, as a parent, if you are allowing your kids to watch this show without being totally aware of what they will see/hear, then the problem lies with you – not these photos!
  2. Is GQ a family magazine??? Not the last time I checked! So please, Parents Television Council – please tell me why you are so concerned about little Billy or Betty seeing these photos? I mean, the raunchiest of them are INSIDE the magazine. The cover is tame by today’s standards. Unless mommy or daddy buys this magazine and then shows them to the kiddies, I just don’t see how THEY would even see it. So again – the responsibility here lies with….say it with me now – THE PARENTS!

I know, I sound harsh, but these sorts of things always make me laugh at the absurdity of it all. Seems to me people are being much to quick to get their hot pink panties in a wad :-)

Blog Post of the week with bonus (we love Twitter) edition


Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

May you be blessed with good weather and the time to enjoy some of the beauty around you. Remember to give thanks and honor those who have served and given the ultimate sacrifice for all we treasure here.

As my political friends pointed out – nice timing for taking a giant step towards repealing Dont Ask Dont Tell – just before a weekend when we honor those who’ve served & died. Don’t kid yourself that they were all straight eh? :-)

Well, there was lots of big finales on TV this week, but the one show that call all my friend’s attention was not even a season finale yet. Glee busted out probably it’s best episode of its short run – and there wasn’t even any Sue Sylvester in it! No, what made this episode an instant classic for many of us was one, critical scene. No, not even a song, but a fantastic rant by one character on behalf of another.

Erica dedicated a post just to this episode along with video of The Scene. I think she summarizes it certainly much better than I can :-)   BGAI Together – He is my son (with special video clip from Glee)

She is right that if you have a heart, you will need a tissue.

The bonus blog post of the week is more personal – plus it has to do with Adam Lambert which makes it automatically glittery  :-)

Making a Teen Girls’ Dream Come True unfolded last night over Twitter.  My connection to Debbie is through DailyKos. I have never met her, but we have mutual friends who I have met. Clearly we all don’t tweet about just one topic though. Debbie has mentioned her niece’s love of Adam before and I’ve mentioned to her that I can relate! But then that switched from fun banter to – hey, she’ll be back in CA when Adam is in Orange County and where can I maybe get tickets for her? Well, I knew from experience that the initial online sales had been almost impossible through. The scalpers got nearly everything and were now re-selling the originally reasonably price seats for double. I got lucky because I had connections to someone who DID get through and grabbed tickets at face value. But I also knew there were still a few folks out there with extras so when Debbie asked, I immediately thought of swan2029 who has been on my Adam buddy list for a few months now and had face value tickets. Well, as you can see from Deb’s post, the hookup worked!

So now when I drive up to Orange County on July 28th, here is who I will be meeting or going with:

  1. My son (MM who has been completely corrupted with my Adam adoration)
  2. One of my young buddies from the Padres blog, who also has a love of Adam will be riding along
  3. Meeting Jan & Kathleen there (Fantasy Spring, Jan originally from American Idol tour stop)
  4. Meeting Swan2029 (might meet her before that actually as now there is a San Diego date & she’s driving in to get tickets onsite)
  5. Meeting a gal from Malaysia who I chat with a lot on twitter
  6. Meeting the lady from the Adam fan site who sold me my son’s ticket.
  7. Meeting Deb’s niece & whoever brings her to the concert.

All people who (other than my son & Padres pal) – I would NEVER have met if not for Adam Lambert! Crazy huh?

Priceless moments thanks to Glee


Oh, if only you had been on a fly on the wall at my house or in my car this week :-)

Tuesday brought me much musical joy as Volume 3 of the Glee collection was released on iTunes. I promptly downloaded it and made a CD. I had been particularly eager to hear Chris Colfer’s rendition of Everything’s Coming Up Roses – or, in Glee’s version – Everything’s Coming Up Kurt (Hummel). It had been such a powerful moment in last week’s episode and the CD version is fabulous too. I had it on repeat in the car on the way home that night. So I walked in still singing it too myself. DS2 looked at me and asked what I was singing. I said “hang on” and then put the CD in the PC (best speakers in the house outside of DS1′s room) and blasted it. He immediately recognized it “Oh, Kurt’s song!” and was toe tapping and along with me. That was followed by Dream On which was done in this weeks’ show. It’s a great back to back set. (shoot, the whole CD is their best yet & I have not stopped listening to it but I digress..) We both got up to sing along with that one and then Safety Dance came on and we were dancing away. Yes, my 13 year old sang and danced with me in the middle of the house. How sweet is that? But wait, there’s more!

Being a 13 year old sport loving boy, DS2 is naturally rather reluctant in his Gleek status. He cops to it in certain settings, but plays it cool otherwise. Of course, he always makes sure he is sitting with me when it comes on Tuesday nights AND he makes sure that I save the DVR of it when he is with his dad. It’s kind of how he is about Adam Lambert too. He rolls his eyes at me, but then ques up the CD in the car and sings along to every song :-)

Last night we went to work out together. This in itself has been a lot of fun and something I really love having him do with me. They love having him there and the trainer is really good about making sure he starts off slow with weights, but then pushes him aerobically because he can handle it. I’m hoping this will be some good prep for the training he will have to go through in the summer for high school football. It’s good for me too because having him there makes me push myself a little harder to show him that his 45 year old mom can kick his butt at some of the exercises (for now!)

On the way back last night since Glee was on the car stereo he requested Kurt – and then he pushed RPT so that we were listening and singing along 3 times in a row. Then he released the RPT and Dream On blasted just as we pulled into the garage. He puts his hand out and says “Do NOT turn off the car!” and we sat there in the garage, in the dark, singing and drumming and air guitaring to Dream On.

Can you just go ahead and freeze that moment in time for me forever?

YouTube – Sue’s Corner – “Sneaky gays”


Adam Lambert sent this out on his twitter feed last night. “Jane Lynch is genius!!” was his comment. He’s got that right. If you have not yet checked out Glee – you must! Season 2 starts on April 13th and the Sue Sylvester character is precisely why you need to watch. This clip is classic.

Enough Ranting – here’s some sunshine for you


Before I lose my status as Little Miss Sunshine, here are a few things from the last couple of weeks that made me smile:

  • Spring has sprung! It’s warm enough to open windows and with the star jasmine in full bloom the whole house ends up smelling just fabulous! Stepping into the backyard to water the plants or re-fill the bottomless pit that is the bird feeder is an olfactory version of heaven right now.
  • SportsBoy & I did enjoy being around our old pop warner friends on Saturday. We are particularly happy that we do *not* have to participate in any of the usual team formation drama. He knows exactly where he will be next fall & I am not responsible for voting on coaches or rosters. Yay!!
  • Less than 30 days (April 13th) to Glee!!!
  • New Saturday trainer. I was scared about the switch. I was so happy & comfortable with the previous guy & my two previous classes last year with the new guy were *intense* and I had not been able to crack through his crusty exterior. He’s still a ton harder than the previous guy, but I’ve now seen his softer side and gotten his sense of humor to spring out so I am at least having fun while I feel like my lungs are going to burst. Seriously – if you live in San Diego you cannot beat this deal! $10 per one hour workout with a group that hovers between 5-10 other people. I know a few people who still belong to a gym, but come and train with us at least one class per week (which is all I have time to do).  And yes, I said it was tough – BUT – they also do a great job catering to different abilities. I’ve been at it for almost a year now so I deserve some ass kicking. They will gladly assist with a gentle transition from couch potato status. Contact them here. You will NOT regret it. And if you come to the Saturday class you can watch me trip over myself & utterly fail at jump rope.
  • New high schools that opened in the past 10 years make me very happy. We went last night for the first mandatory meeting for incoming freshman registration at SB’s school of choice. Which also happens to be where his brother went 11 years ago. Back then, I remember the gym being overflowing with people. Jammed to the rafters, shoulder to shoulder on the benches, standing in all available areas. I think the incoming freshman class was well over 1000. Last night, the gym was quite comfortably *maybe* 2/3 full. The principal said the incoming class would probably land at around 600-650. Meanwhile, instead of portable buildings, there is now a beautiful new two story building of classrooms. Since 2000, one public high school and one private have opened in the area. Which makes this current version seem so much smaller & easier to navigate. That, and everything being on the internet!  All forms are online, the counselors have a great web site & are easily accessible via email. Night & day for a parent I tell ya!
  • I actually sat through all of American Idol last night AND a couple of the gals made me sit up and pay attention and a couple others were quite pleasant. And no one completely stunk! My favorites are Siobhan & Crystal. The girls really should come out ahead this season. No guy was a stand out in my eyes at all. *Maybe* 16 year old Aaron who has a very nice voice. But those two girls really owned the stage & were original with really strong vocals. I’m not invested enough to care who gets the boot, but I may at least watch the performances after they record on the DVR.
  • Finally – two authors I’ve enjoyed. Robert Ludlum who I know is well known for his International Espionage type novels. Well written, not too complicated that you lose track of things as they twist around and an overall sense that the hero is firmly in control. I like that. I mean, in general you KNOW the good guys will prevail, but I like that it’s pretty clear in Ludlum’s books that they are never totally in the dark out of control. Just my preference. A pleasant surprise has been Janet Evanovich. I’m reading out of order since this is book #6 in the Stephanie Plum series (I do have #7 to read right after) but this is the first of her books I am picking up. I *will* go back and read the others! This girl has me laughing out loud constantly! Stephanie is seriously the funniest heroine I’ve ever met in a book. I’m not even done & I know I will read all the rest next year. If you haven’t already picked up one of her books – do it now. It will be nothing but snort out loud fun, I promise.

NBC Sports needs to wake up & Do It Live!!


Dear NBC Sports,

You see that image up there? It’s the Breaking News feed on Twitter. It has 1.6+ MILLION followers. I can guarantee you that a significant portion of those followers (like, me for instance) live on the West Coast. The Pacific Time Zone. Why should this matter to you? Well, think about where the Winter Olympics are this year for a minute. What time zone? Yes, yes, that’s right, Vancouver is on the WEST Coast! Of North America! Which means it is in the Pacific Time Zone! Pretty cool huh?! All of us California sports lovers are just THRILLED that this huge event is taking place in OUR time zone! For once, we can see it live!!

Right?

RIGHT?

Oh you are kidding me! No? NO?! You are still forcing us to watch Previously Recorded events??! Freaking TAPE DELAY on our OWN coast?! Are you NUTS? Or, are you just mired in 1994? Do you not have one  clue about the internet?  Have you not heard of Twitter?

Oh wait – I think you HAVE:

Let’s see, I took that snapshot at 5:27pm Pacific Time. Your broadcast of the men’s 5000 meter speed skating event just NOW showed the final heat with Hedrick missing the podium and Kramer sealing the Gold. Look at that teensy font at the bottom left – You know what that says?

about 3 hours ago

That’s right – THREE hours ago you sent that tweet. So that anyone following your twitter feed would know who won. You also have an NBCOlympics twitter account which ALSO sent those results out three hours ago. You are advertising it for people to follow for all the up to date Olympic announcements. Brilliant! Except that you are SPOILING YOUR OWN SHOWS!! So basically we here on the west coast should follow you guys, but then not look? Now, sure that one only has 50,000 followers. Not the 1.6 million that Breaking News has. But hey, I have BREAKING News for you too: Their feed also tweeted results all day! LIVE!

Do I even need to cover internet sites? Like you OWN? Also with real time results and…pictures..and VIDEO?!

So what’s the point of this rant? The point is that we here on the West Coast would like to see these events LIVE!! Especially the Big Ones! Like the Opening Ceremony for instance. My east coast friends were having a roaring good time last night commenting on the Ceremony (which was pretty darn moving & visually beautiful), while I sat here watching….Entertainment Tonight? Because the west coast got it all two hours later. By then, even though we all already knew it would be Gretzky lighting the torch, we already KNEW it for sure! WHY WHY WHY? When will you TV big wigs learn that people will tune in because of the EVENT, not the time it is broadcast.

Do you have any idea how much impact would be removed from the iconic “Do you believe in miracles?!” call of the 1980 hockey game if half the world had already tweeted & facebook & blogged about it??!!

Mary Lou Retton bouncing into Bela Karoli’s arms & into gymnastics history would have been all over You Tube before we saw it live here (even though it freaking HAPPENED here!).

I know, it’s a real challenge when the games are on another continent almost a full day ahead of our time zones.

I know, because I got my ass up at 5am back in 1994 to watch (live) the gold medal hockey match between Sweden and Canada in Norway. Because the EVENT was what drew me in.

So really NBC Sports, give your viewers some credit here. Give us some RESPECT. It is 2010. There are literally dozens of ways that the results will get to our eyes well before your hideously out dated Previously Recorded Broadcasts. It is taking away a ton of the joy of sitting down to watch these events.

Do it live NBC. Do it live. Because the rest of the world already is.

Super Bowl ad reactions on Twitter


I discovered a new element to twitter. It’s a great way to gauge reactions to big events. Kind of like a grand social science experiment. The Super Bowl was the perfect example. I think only about 5 of the 200+ who I follow did not watch it. All those who did were certainly tweeting about it! And it was not the game that was so interesting; it was the reactions to the ads. Of course, a large number of people who tune in ARE only tuning in to see the ads. It’s an annual commercial campaign launching platform as much as it is a sporting event. People want to be able to talk around the proverbial water cooler at work the next day about the hopefully funny commercials.

Well, I don’t need no stinking water cooler because I got my reactions in real time and it was fascinating!

First of all, I watched the game with another mom and her 13 year old son so what we had was two 40 something moms and the two 13 year old boys. In our situation I can tell we were pretty much ALL reacting more like 13 year olds J We laughed at just about *everything* and took offense to nothing too deeply. Oh sure, there was awkward silence at the GoDaddy ads and the Focus on the Family ads, quite a bit of bemused looks at the Budweiser commercials (Clydesdales excluded – we loved those), and we split on the Denny’s chicken ads (moms were turned off, boys rolled over laughing). Mostly though, we laughed out loud a lot. Especially at the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda. That was a real “hit” in many ways!

Certainly the company which overall did the best job at advertising their product was Doritos. At least all of their commercials centered on actually eating the chips (in very creative ways of course!) Many others (like GoDaddy) told you nothing much about what they were selling and were simply trying to generate a buzz so that you would check them out later. And yes, I did notice the overall trend in the ads making marriage out to be some horrible situation. Bridgestone sure pushed that one across with the “Your tires or you wife (life)!” add. I don’t have a hugely feminist way of reading into things, but even I cringed at that one! Yeah, women/wives are disposable. Nice.

On twitter, that feminist slant was rampant! People started calling it “woman hating CBS!” Well, I don’t blame CBS – they just accepted the nice payments on the ad time. And yes, they did insert themselves somewhat into that frame by rejecting an ad depicting gay men and then allowing the Focus on the Family ads (after adamantly stating they don’t allow ‘advocacy’ ads during the SuperBowl). Still, this was a Madison Avenue trend to bash women and marriage across all product lines. Media folks noticed it, political writers commented on it, and just everyday fans made note of it. I’d say of the folks I follow that close to 80% commented on the anti-marriage nature of the ads. Someone even said that they will make SURE their next sets of tires are anything BUT Bridgestone. I’d say that’s a pretty large “miss” in terms of that marketing strategy.

The funniest thing to see though was the one or two dissenting reactions. I’d see this whole slew of “oh, that was lame!” posts and then one “Hah! Funniest ad so far!”  I even noticed a pattern as it ended up being the same 2 people who were the outliers in their reactions and hysterically always ended up posting a little later than the ‘crowd’! It made for some fun reading for me as I started to try and predict how those two people would react to each ad :-) And I honestly cannot think of anything, on the surface, that greatly differentiates those two people from everyone else in my twitter feed. It’s just one of those fascinating sides of humanity that some of us can see life from such a different perspective.

After all that though, you know what image really is stuck in my mind this morning?

Drew Brees with son after winning the Super Bowl

Oh yeah – Count me amongst the Who Dat nation :-) Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and to the city of New Orleans. You are back baby! In grand, championship style.

From Kindergarden to High School in 3.2 seconds


*** This was the post I was in the middle of writing last week before..well..stuff happened ***

This month began the High School open enrollment period in Sports Boy’s school district. Yep. High. School. Even though I am pretty sure that picture above was taken yesterday.

Or, the reality could be that all those visible teeth in that photo are long gone.

Since Music Man went to school, the district has grown by leaps and bounds and has made some significant changes to their enrollment process. For one thing, there are 4 schools, and for another, there is open enrollment. No forcing you into a school according to your address. Of course, the deep irony here is that while MM would have *greatly* benefited from such choices an originally out of boundary school, SB – with all of this opened up to him – has been laser focused since he had all those baby teeth to go to the very school we are geographically closest too anyway.  After all, his brother went there, and there is football. He’s spent every Aug-Nov since he was 7 on the practice and stadium fields. It’s what he knows.

Still, I tried to make sure HE was sure.

Me: “So do you want to visit the other schools?”

SB: “No. Just sign me up for TPHS & we’ll go to their night”

Me: “But you should probably check them out at least”

SB: “Do they have football?”

Me: “Just LCC”

SB: “That’s a dirty word! TPHS!”

Me: “Well, what about CCA? A lot of your friends will most likely go there because they can play baseball easier there since it’s so hard to break into the lineup at TPHS”

SB: “No football. TPHS!”

You get the gist of it. Even if it means never playing a down and battling guys 3 times his size…well..FOOTBALL!

So we only went on one night – TPHS. It’s changed a lot since MM went there. Added buildings and such. The gym looked the same though – tons and tons of athletic award flags streamed down from the banners crossing over all sports male & female that you could think of. Given that I am the one who tagged with the name Sports Boy, I guess it would seem appropriate for him to go there! After the initial assembly in the gym, there were break out sessions with the various academic departments and the athletic director. He chose to visit the Math, History and Language departments in addition to athletics. Another benefit to this school is that we know a couple of the teachers so again, familiarity is nice. Is it odd that I wanted to stay in the History room? Seriously I was listening to the description of the classes and I *really* want to take some of those classes! Art History, Government & yes, even AP European which I already took in high school but would LOVE to take again!! SB is developing a similar affinity for History – he was even reading his 8th grade US history book JUST FOR FUN the other night! For languages the little maniac wants to take Japanese! Not Spanish which is the norm around here and would provide ample opportunities for him to practice AND would be easy for him to learn…no..Japanese! I gotta admit the young lady teaching the classes was quite the spit fire and is very enthusiastic about her work. She grew up in Japan and has a heavy accent when she speaks English but she was quite funny and entertaining & quite clearly knows her stuff. She will blend in the culture and history as she teaches too. Academically he will be well served and they are on a block schedule similar to what he’s had in middle school which makes homework planning much easier.

Then there is sports. Now, just for a moment, let’s flash to a TV show shall we? As I’ve mentioned a few times, SB and I were fanatical about Glee. Well, MusicMan has recently discovered this gem and has been catching up on all the episodes online. We’ve even watched a couple of our favorites with him. Well, about 5 minutes into the athletic director’s little talk – at the moment when she was getting a wee bit puffed up and proud of the school’s accomplishments since she’s been there – just as she said “Well, I think we ARE the best in the county” my mind went right here:

Yep – she had just a wee bit of Sue Sylvester going on! Didn’t hurt that she is a middle aged lady with short hair either. She’s a much nicer lady though – I promise! And not the cheer coach, but the tennis coach instead.

I wonder if they’ll notice me stuffed into his backpack in history class?