Scared Green

Today I threw out everything in my makeup drawer and medicine cabinet, except for two things. I switched to green cleaning products about a year ago, but today I finally made the leap to cosmetics. I've been very conscious of evaluating the credibility of the websites and books I've been reading, trying to determine if they're legit or just based on paranoid tree-huggers.

There is some controversy, but it appears that many ingredients in lotions, creams, fragrances, hair products and other cosmetics have been linked to some pretty scary health conditions. Many of the ingredients are banned in other countries and controlled substances in cleaning products- so why would I slather them on my body? It was really hard to throw stuff away, since some things were new, and some things I've been using since I was 12. It's also pretty scary to try to find alternatives, as many natural cosmetics are more expensive. The worst offenders in my medicine cabinet for the hair products- a particularly painful discovery for me since I've spent the last several years trying in vain to straighten my God-given perm.

Anyways, if you're interested in learning more, check out this website: Skin Deep.

Also, here are some of the books/websites that have informed my thinking.

• The AutoImmune Epidemic
• Gorgeously Green
• Green This!
• Serve God, Save the Planet
  
• WebMD: Cosmetics Safety
  

Historic Day

I was really looking forward to seeing my students' reactions to the inauguration today. We broadcast it on a giant screen in the library. On normal days the time between 7:15am-9:15am is swamped, noisy, busy- organized chaos. When President Obama was sworn in, it was nearly silent. The most interesting part of the day occurred when the late bell rang during the middle of the President's speech. I had about 120 kids in the room and around 40 risked a tardy to stay and watch the rest of the speech. All of them were boys. Not one girl. I was really surprised (and saddened) by that. However, the boys that stayed warmed my heart because they were so engrossed and interested in the whole day. I did not vote for Obama, but I really enjoyed the reactions of my students and the historical significance of today. I wish I had thought to bring my camera.

New Year

My Resolutions for 2009

• Watch less TV. I canceled my DirecTV account today, so that makes this resolution REAL easy since now I only get 5 channels (not counting the Korean language channels).

• Pay down the car loan. I have a loan from a family member at an extremely low rate, but I hate owing my relative money. I don't have a set amount yet, but I want to pay off a lot more than I did in 2008.

• Get plugged in at church. I've been attending my new church for about 3 months and have been having trouble plugging in. However, I'll be attending my first small group meeting this Sunday, and have signed up to be a greeter twice a month. This should help.

• Create a second source of income. The tricky part is doing this without getting a second job. I've got a couple ideas I'm working on. More on this in the coming months...
  

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve at church

Tippy looking for presents on Christmas morning

Library Conference!

Wild and crazy times at the California School Library Association annual conference this past weekend. (I'm being sarcastic here). It's actually a great conference, and I enjoyed my second time attending. It's a prime opportunity for networking, brainstorming, and inspiration, but I was super sick and avoided talking to anyone lest I erupt in a coughing fit in their face. Also, Sudafed does not particularly help with brainstorming, inspiration, or staying awake.

One of the conference attendees posted a pic from a session I attended. You can see me in the second row. I remember when the girl took the picture and how I was thinking that I really needed to blow my nose.



I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving, since both my brother and I will be home at the same time. I'm also looking forward to a home-cooked meal!

What a Week

 It's been a crazy week.  I spent 4 days in Atlanta for my older brother's wedding.  It was one of best times I've ever had with that side of the family, and I'm so happy for my brother and new sister-in-law.  They live in a beautiful house, have made some wonderful friends, and are very good for each other. 

Here's a pic of the whole family.  

My brother, Paul, and his new wife, Yelina, leaving after the ceremony.

Finally, Cuban weddings never fail to entertain.  Here is my younger brother Mike, showing the bride's 68-year-old father how to do The Worm.



Election Day was my first day back.  I must say I was very moved by the historical significance of the entire day, even though I voted for McCain.  It was also really cool to hear my students talking so passionately about the election.  I heard supporters from each side, and the whole campus was abuzz the entire day.  It made me really hopeful that the next generation will not be politically apathetic.

On a fun note, check out my brother Peter's entry for the FreeCreditReport.com video contest.  Go to the contest's YouTube page and search for PBHolbert.  Give him a thumbs up to vote for him. You can vote once a day for the next two weeks.  Every time I watch it, I literally laugh out loud.

Misc.

Why is it that sitting and doing nothing all day makes us so tired? I attended a training today in Santa Clara. It wasn't too boring, and the availability of free wi-fi made the day pass more quickly. But I was exhausted at the end!

Luckily for me, a quick post-training trip to Ikea was just the pick-me-up I needed! I restrained myself and did not buy any furniture. However, I did walk away with the new 2009 catalog. Plenty of reading material to fuel my nesting lust for the next year.

Finally, I'm very excited about the new seasons of The Office and The Big Bang Theory.

Currently reading:
Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano
and
A Sense of Belonging: From Castro's Cuba to the U.S. Senate, One Man's Pursuit of the American Dream by Senator Mel Martinez

Junior-highers

Junior highers are awesome. I've had limited experiences with them in the past few years- mostly involving horribly overcrowded summer-school classrooms filled with remedial students. The past two weeks at my new job have given me a new appreciation for 6th-8th graders. Here's why:

1. They still want to please me. I asked some bored-looking junior high boys if they wanted to help me. They literally jumped up and down from excitement when I had them stamp books. Later I reprimanded a group of 7th grade girls for yelling in the hallway. Several of them came to me a few hours later and apologized for their behavior. And, on the same day, I asked some 6th graders to take their food out of the library. They apologized profusely and immediately put their food away. I had asked the same thing of a high school girl earlier that morning and she rolled her eyes at me.

2. They're holding on to that last ounce of innocence. I've over-heard a couple conversations where students have said something that could have been taken as a double-entendre. None of them realized it. I guess their minds are not quite in the gutter yet.

3. They're a lot easier to make laugh.

4. The boys still in the gross-out phase. One of them was super excited to show me his scab the other day. I won some gross-out points for myself when I showed him my loose knuckle.

Brother Bragging

You should definitely check out MTVu.com this weekend. It features my brother's band's HILARIOUS new video: Long Drive Home. There's also a mini-feature about their tour this summer. Unfortunately, you also have to watch the mini-feature about Miss Hooters International in order to see the Say No More feature. Oh well. Here's the video. The mini-feature is below.

Here's the mini feature.

California vs. Florida

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 15 years since I moved to California from Florida.

Things I Miss About Living in Florida

• Cuban food
• Sweet tea & Sonny's BBQ
  
• Lightning storms (when I'm safe inside)
• Seeing all the Dolphins games on TV
• Having my extended family close by
• 85 degree ocean water. In December.
• No income tax!
  

Things I Do Not Miss About Living in Florida

• Mosquitoes and lovebugs
• Humidity
• Lightning storms (when I'm NOT safe inside)
• Hurricanes
• Churches where it's still frowned upon for women to wear pants
• Skylines where the garbage dump hills are the tallest hills until Georgia
• Boring coastlines

Currently reading: Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Swim Update

Well, I'm struggling to improve my freestyle stroke, but apparently I have a perfect (albeit slow) breaststroke.  I like that one much better as it's much more peaceful (not a lot of splashing) and slower.  Also, it's harder and I feel like I'm getting a better workout.

Friday's lesson was canceled because of a problem with the water (ew). 

I'm really excited to watch the Olympics this year since my junior-year RA from Azusa Pacific, Bryan Clay, is a favorite for the decathalon.  Bryan won silver in the 2004 Olympics and I'm hoping he gets gold this year. 

This weekend: Winchester Mystery House with Megan and Jill and the San Jose Jazz fest!

Currently reading:
Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth

Swim Lesson, Day 1

I loved swimming when I was a kid.  I just hated swim lessons.  I couldn't float very well, and this was during the years of my coke-bottle glasses, so I was blind as a bat and often swam out of my lane or in the wrong direction (not kidding).  I remember locking myself in the bathroom at home before it was time to leave for the pool, crying and begging my mom not to make me go.  I also remember hanging onto the side of the pool during lessons, pretending I was asleep so the teacher wouldn't make me swim when it was my turn.  I don't know if she really thought I was asleep, or if she just didn't want to deal with me, but sometimes it worked!

Consequently, I never was a strong swimmer.  This never really bothered me much since I rarely went in the water as I got older.  I've had issues with my back and feet since I was pretty young, and doctors always recommended swimming to help it.  But I never gave it serious thought since Salinas has gross pools and cold weather.  Then two years ago, my uncle drowned in the off the coast of Florida.

My uncle had serious health issues that contributed to his drowning (and he wasn't wearing a life jacket), but that's when I started to seriously think about becoming a stronger swimmer.  I still wasn't willing to brave the Salinas pools, but when I saw that a pool near my apartment in San Jose was offering a two-week session at a decent price, I signed up.

I was a little nervous, worried that I would utterly humiliate myself.  But my fears disappeared once the other student (it's just two of us) stated that he could never figure out how to breathe through his NOSE while swimming.  At least I know that when you take a breath, you use your MOUTH!  I actually enjoyed the class, and the instructor really gave me some great things to work on.  Apparently I've been kicking underwater my whole life, but you're supposed to have your legs at least break the surface.  Who knew?  Also, I guess my arm sort of stops mid-air when I take a breath.  Ha- I'm sure that's funny to watch.  So I'm working on keeping my arms moving continuously.

I'm already sore from one lesson, but it's a good sore!  I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.  My goal for the class is to be able to swim a decent enough freestyle that I could join a gym and go for lap swim without looking like a total klutz.  We'll see...

July update

It's been about a month since I last posted so I figured I'd post a brief update.

I've been working at my new job for about a month now. It's been nice to start during the summer school session so I can ease into things. Most of my colleagues are on summer vacation, so I've only met a few people but they are all very helpful and very welcoming. One of my (three! woo hoo!) assistants worked with me during my first week on the job. After that, she went on her summer break along with my other two assistants. I'm sure I've spent a lot of time figuring out answers to questions they could have told me, but their absence has given me the chance to ask questions of other staff and faculty and get to know them better.

I'm still checking out local churches. I spent the last two weekends in Salinas since my grandmother was visiting, so I'm looking forward to getting back to visiting churches here in San Jose. I found one I really like, but it's about a 30-minute drive. I'm not sure how involved I could get with a place that far away. Hopefully I can find another one that's a little closer.

I know I promised pics of the apartment, but I'm still trying to save a bit more money before I furnish the rest of it. I still have unpacked boxes and blank walls. I'm working on it...

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks since I'll be having visits from a few friends and my brother and the band will be in town for a show.

Oh, and I finally got the book I blogged about awhile ago: The Dumbest Generation. Couldn't make it through the first half. Too boring- just a bunch of summaries of research studies. I guess I fit the author's stereotype of people under the age of 30 with a short attention span. :)

Currently reading:
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez

Pennies or Plastic?

AT&T wants their money. Today I received a bill from them for a whopping $0.04. Yes, you read that correctly- 4 cents. Apparently, they over-credited me way back in February and they want what is rightfully theirs. They are willing to spend $0.42 in postage plus ink and paper in order to get their $0.04 from me.

I'm debating between sending them four pennies in the mail or using my credit card (and making them eat the credit card fees all companies pay). Help me decide by voting in the poll below

It's a good week

It’s a big week for me and my family.

On Saturday, I found an apartment in San Jose. It’s a beautiful one-bedroom apartment and less than two miles from work, so I’m super stoked about it. Can you say walk-in closet?! It also has a washer/dryer inside, so for the first time in two years I won’t have to haul my laundry down the stairs to a Laundromat or my parents’ house. (Good thing, because my apartment is on the 3^rd floor and there are no elevators!).

Tuesday is a big day for my brother and Say No More. Their album, What You Thought You Knew, is making its in-store debut. That’s right- you can now walk into Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Sam Goody, FYE, Borders (I don't know why two of these stores says the album has explicit lyrics- it does not) and buy their album. If you want one you better go get one before I go buy them all. If you see me walking around Best Buy showing the album to everyone in the store (“That’s my brother!”), you’ll know why.

And finally, Wednesday is my parents’ 25^th wedding anniversary. That’s a big deal these says and worth mentioning.

Are We Part of the "Dumbest Generation?"

This morning, an article posted on School Library Journal.com caught my eye. The author, school library guru (and one of my professional heroines) Joyce Valenza , talks about a book reviewed in today’s New York Times. Like the Valenza, I have not read or even seen the book, but the title has made me think. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), by Mark Bauerlein, apparently discusses how today’s young people are “dumbed-down” and superficial, largely due to all the technology in which they are fluent. While conceding that "social networking enforces some negative behaviors," Valenza counters Bauerlein's ideas in what I think is a spot-on analysis of technology and youth culture. I think anyone who works with youth (educators or otherwise) will appreciate what she has to say. Read her article at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/890026489.html?nid=3714

Here comes the part where I will get on my school librarian soapbox. If you’re not a librarian, teacher, or someone who’s interested in teaching methods, you could probably stop reading now! Bauerlein’s claims only illustrate the need for professional, certified school librarians who teach information literacy (to both students and teachers). The technological tools themselves are not the problem ; rather, it is the way in which they are used. Students who spend hours upon hours randomly searching the internet do so because they have not been taught how to utilize tools that will search and deliver the content for them. Teens who only use MySpace and Facebook for social purposes do so because they haven’t been shown its other uses. This is why it’s such a tragedy that many of California’s school librarians recently received pinkslips. Like it or not, technology is now part of our culture now, and students need guides to help them make sense of it and use it in productive ways.

The good news is that there ARE young people out there who are becoming increasingly fluent in information literacy and are using technology for purposes other than mindless chatting. Since I’m under age 30 (and apparently can’t be trusted, according to the book’s title), I guess I am a part of this group. For example, I did not stumble across Valenza’s article this morning by going to the School Library Journal page. It was delivered to me via my RSS feed that I access in IGoogle. I have several feeds, all delivering me the content I want, without having to visit every individual blog site. Another example is the hundreds of students who get their homework assignments sent to them on their MySpace, Facebook or RSS feeds from their teachers. Or students who post book reviews on YouTube and their blogs, and more. I’d be interested if Bauerlein investigated the thousands of teachers and students who are using social networking technology in wonderful, educational ways before he wrote his book. I guess I should read it!

Two Best Moments

Two favorite work moments this month:

1. A few weeks ago a girl looked at what I was wearing and said, "Ms. Gonzalez, I wish I had your closet." Yes!

2. Today, one of the funniest students I have ever met brought me a printed-out list of her Christmas wish list. She made several dozen copies and hung them up all over campus. Her list included an Easy Bake Oven, an IPod, Candy Land, and $54,000 BMW. Apparently she did this last year and some people actually bought her some of the items. Too funny.

Currently watching : Hope Floats Release date: 14 January, 2003

4 Reasons Star Trek Rules

1. Where else can you be entertained by stories actually based on scientific theory? I understood the basic theory behind time travel by age 10.

2. Ultimate female empowerment- all the chicks on Star Trek are hot AND smart.

3. With all the TV series and movies, you can almost always find something Star Trek to watch on TV.

4. Two words: Captain Picard

I'm particularly enjoying reruns of Star Trek: Enterprise. I don't remember all the episodes like I do Next Generation. Please spare me all the emails & comments pointing out my nerdiness in this blog.

Another Shameless Commercial

Download my brother's band's new song, Long Drive Home. They just put a free single on their MySpace page. Just make sure you still buy the rest of the album when it comes out on Oct 30th. :)

Get the free single from the MySpace player at the Say No More MySpace page.

Currently reading : Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia By Elizabeth Gilbert

It's only September...

and my neighbors have their Christmas tree up. Am not kidding.

Currently reading : The Story of Ferdinand By Munro Leaf Release date: 01 January, 1936