3rd Time is a Charm, Our Last Cancelled Day

Well, today was our last "day off" due to the Station Fire. This was a less eventful day. No more fires could be seen on the hillside thank goodness. The two pictures below are "before and after" shots of the hillside above school. In the first photo, which I posted two days ago, you can see the lush green hills as the fire was approaching from the other side. In the second photo, taken today, you can see that the hills have been turned completely gray. Hardly a plant was left standing. It is a bit hard to tell from these small images but if you click on them you can see it a bit better.

We are all very lucky to still have our houses and our school to return to. Others in this fire have been less fortunate. I think we are all excited to be returning to school and a bit of normal life.

Just for fun I have added a time lapse video that Laura and I made from our backyard. The news kept showing time lapse videos so I wanted to see if I could get some press with mine. So far I don't think it has been shown on any news stations but it has had a lot of views on Youtube. Check it out:

Day 2 Still Cancelled

Day two of school was another uneventful day... at the school site that is. Again, school was cancelled due to horrible air conditions, not to mention the fact that part of the hillside was still on fire, and many students were still evacuated from their homes. Laura and I decided to go down to school to check things out. You could still see smoke high in the hills above school.

Oh…we also learned how to order pizza when you are evacuated. The trick is that the pizza guy cannot get past the police and if you leave the evacuation area in your car, you cannot return.

In this picture you can see the pizza guy on the right. He pulled up and we thought, “Oh no! How will he deliver this pizza?” Well, just then, the guy who was in the black car in the middle (just to the right of the police car), honked his horn to get the attention of the pizza guy. That’s right, he drove his car right down to the police security line and waited for the pizza guy to bring his pizza to the intersection. I tell ya, that is creativity.

For more entertainment and clean air, Laura and I headed back down to Glendale today. This time we went to my favorite burger joint The Habit. Oh my goodness it is so good. I love the BBQ Bacon Char Burger…Yummy!!!

Also while we were out I picked up one of these babies. Now I am ready for the real "Day 1" whenever that may be…

Valley View at Night, a Spectacular Sight

Last night the hills behind Valley View were ablaze. This picture was taken at about 11:00 pm across the corner from Valley View. This was supposed to be the first official day of the school year but as you can see that did not happen. All of the fires in the background are actually control fires set by fire fighters. Check out this video for my first hand account of the evening:

An Interesting "First Day of School"

So today was the official first day of school. The only problem was that there were no students, no teachers, no books, no pencils, nothing. The reason is this

The Station Fire, which began last Wednesday as a small brush fire in La Canada has decided to burn the whole Angeles National Forest. This is a picture from the playground on Sunday afternoon. (I took this picture before hearing that I was not supposed to be there). The air quality is so bad that we just can't hold school. Currently, school has been cancelled for tomorrow as well. We hope to begin on Wednesday with our new classes. The fire could not keep me away. Today, my wife and I went to the school to see what was happening:

In this picture you can see the Valley View sign on the corner and plumes of smoke towering high above the playground. I did not go on campus this time. The police officer is there because the entire neighborhood north of this point is under evacuation orders from the city of Glendale. Those living way up the hill have been required to evacuate. We could not get past this police officer without an ID having the proper address. As I write this I would estimate that 1/4 t0 1/2 of our student population is under evacuation orders. This is because fire fighters are conducting controlled burns at the base of the hills above Valley View.

Since we could not go to work today (Laura works at Fremont Elementary), we went shopping at the Americana. Here is a picture of me at my new favorite place to get dessert:

Did you know that you can get an ice cream sandwich made out of any cookies you want with any ice cream you want? I was in heaven. My favorite thing to get when I am at any ballpark is the Tollhouse Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich. The Tollhouse Booth at the Americana is my new favorite place. This is peanut butter cup ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip pecan cookies. Yummy!!

What has been your experience during the school closures? How has the Station Fire affected your family?

LA Marathon

On Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day, I ran the LA Marathon for the second time in row. It was a great experience all the way from mile 1...



...to mile 26



The last 0.2 miles were the worst, but it was worth the hard work and effort.



Here is a great action shot of me at around 15 miles still going strong. After that was a different story.



Hey, look who came to see me run. My wife, Laura, and her parents drove their car and stopped to watched me run by about ten different times. Thank goodness for that cell phone I brought with me.



Here is some awesome footage that I shot myself at the halfway point (That is 13.1 miles into the race). I was right on pace and feeling good.




And then here I am after finishing the race not feeling so wonderful anymore. Notice the man in front of me who ran the whole thing barefoot.




I decided two years ago that I wanted to run the LA Marathon before I turned 30. I accomplished that goal three days before my 30th birthday. This year I wanted to run it again so I could say, "I run marathons." I hope to keep it up as long as my body allows me to. I takes about 16 weeks to train for a marathon, which adds up to hundreds of miles and hours just running week after week. It is not easy, and it hurts your feet really bad, but it is great to set a goal and to work hard in order to reach that goal.

Tell us about a goal you have set for yourself and the hard work it took to get there.

To view more pictures from the marathon click here.

Stranded on an Island

Over spring break, my best friend, Mike, and I went on a backpacking trip on Santa Cruz Island. This is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara. This is basically where Spanish Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was taken down by the Chumash.

Before going on the trip, the boating company that takes you to the island told us to bring extra food in case they couldn't pick us up.

This backpacking trip was planned to be a two-night trip. We would get there on Monday afternoon, hike 3.5 miles to the first campground, wake up early, hike 11 miles to the other side of the island, camp there, and then get picked up on Wednesday. Sounds great right?

Well, when we arrived on the east side of the island, after hiking over the tallest peak on the mountain, we found a note from the Ranger telling us that the boat could not come until Thursday. AHHHHHH!!!! We wanted to go home on Wednesday.

The reason was because the island was experiencing Gale Force winds. This means that the wind was blowing at about 50 miles per hour. Here is a video of Mike and I at the top of the mountain during these strong winds. You can really tell just how windy it was. Imaging hiking over a mountain with a big back pack on in Gale Force winds...not easy.






Here's another video that shows just how windy it was:



Here's what the ocean looked like:




And just a bonus... here's my "Jeff Corwin Moment" in search of the rare Santa Cruz Island Fox:



See what happens when you're totally bored?

Tell us about any Spring Break adventures you had.

Jerry Fixes His Injured Water Bottle

Everyday in our class, silly things happen. Sometimes they are words that I say or revolutionary object lessons that I try to use to teach a point. Most of the time, however, the silliness is brought on by the students themselves. Hard to believe right?

This is Jerry's water bottle. He informed me, after the morning bell, that his frozen water bottle had a hole in it. I asked him to take it over to the sink. Before I knew it he had come up with a brilliant idea that only he could think of. Jerry had gotten a band-aid out of the first-aid kit and used it to cover the hole...BRILLIANT!

Actually, Jerry soon learned that this quick-fix would not keep the water from dripping out of the tiny hole. Sorry Jerry, but you tried :)

The only thing better than Jerry's unique solution to this dilemma was Sharon's comment, (Which she made without displaying the proper "I have a comment" hand signal), "Eww now your water is going to taste like band-aid water!"

Band-aid water????

Sharon, is there something we need to know?

It is these silly moments that make coming to class every day worth it. Tell us about your favorite silly moment in Mr. Laing's class.