Google Home Page

The Google home page is really cool. If you guys have your own home page, try Google. It's fully customizable from the way it looks to the content you want to see.

When you first set up your page you get a lot of basic choices as to content and theme, but after you set the page's basic look, you can further customize it by clicking on "add stuff", which takes you to Google "gadgets".

My home page has a mapping link, links to my groups, weather reports for 3 cities, calendar & more. I know that sounds boring to you, but you can customize your page your way. For example, you can add fun stuff like daily cartoons and games. Try it.

Survivor Recap

I found the just concluded "Survivor China" really dull. It reminded me why I didn't watch it for a long time (I only watch it now because so many kids watch it), for in order to win, you almost have to lie and cheat.

I liked the editions where contestants like Terry, Yul, Ozzie and Yau-Man found honest ways to succeed. The China group started backstabbing and lying right at the beginning.

The only thing Survivor China had going for it were two really cool rewards; the visit to the Shaolin Temple (nobody gets to go there) and the meal on the Great Wall.

The next Survivor takes place in Micronesia and will be contested by long time fans of the shows and all-stars. Hope it's better than Survivor China.

"You're So Disrespectful"

I know this high school senior basketball player (not one of mine, thank goodness), who criticizes everyone on her team.

During practice, she calls time outs and uses them to tell everyone what she thinks they're doing wrong. When she is on the bench - a place where she spends a lot of time - she makes comments like "that was the worst play ever" about her own teammates.

A couple of days ago, she called one of her time outs in practice.

Everybody ignored her.

"You guys are so disrespectful!" she whined.

She's never learned that to be respected, you have to treat others with respect.

Sports are Supposed to be Fun: Don't Let Others Ruin It for You

I coach a girls high school basketball team.

We struggled a lot at the beginning of the season because most of our players didn't start playing basketball until they got to high school while most of the kids we play against started in elementary school. Our players have a very bad habit of dribbling the ball too much and not passing enough. We keep working though, and have shown steady improvement.

Last night, something magical happened. Our passing game started working and we got easy basket after easy basket. We won the game by 28 points.

Sadly, one of the girls, Andrea, didn't play very well. She even apologized to me during a time out. I told her is was okay and to relax and have some fun. I knew, however, that she wasn't worried about me being mad at her.

You see, Andrea's dad comes to every practice and every game. During practice and games, she looks at her dad every time she touches the ball. Her dad's instructions contradict mine, for he is only thinking about what she should do, while I am trying to teach the whole team to play together. She's confused, and it shows on the court. She'll get better with time, but I'm worried that she's not having any fun.

After the game, we decided to go have dinner together. Andrea got into the car with her dad, while 6 kids piled into my minivan. Just as we were about to leave, Andrea ran over to my car.

"Will somebody ride with me?" she asked, "that way my dad won't yell at me."

I hope your parents don't treat you like that.

Respect: It really does start with you!

So I've had this song about respect stuck in my head for two days....

How do you gain the respect of others?

Would You Rather Be Respected or Liked?

Yes, there is a difference.

There will be times when you find yourself in situations where you will have to make a choice between doing something because your friends want you to or not doing it because you think it's wrong.

When faced with such a choice, will you go along with your friends because you're worried they won't like you if you don't, or do you stand up for your beliefs and do what you think is right?

This can be a very difficult choice. By going against the crowd you may become the subject of ridicule, gossip and may become an outcast. But, if you go along with the crowd just to stay friends, you lose respect for yourself and lose the respect of your friends as well.

That's because your friends may start to see you as a pushover: someone who will do anything they ask just to be liked. They may start to use you.

On the other hand, if you respectfully stand up for your beliefs, your friends may be upset with you for awhile, but if they were really your friends, if they respect you, they will still be your friends. In fact, they will start to see you as someone who is honest, dependable, trustworthy, principled and honorable. They will see you as someone with integrity. Instead of losing respect for you, their respect for you will grow.

There's a word for people like this: Leader

Steady

The moral of the story of the tortoise and the hare is "slow and steady wins the race", right? So what is meant by that, exactly? Does it mean that you actually need to go slow in order to win a race? Obviously not.

The key is "steady", not slow. Come up with a plan that gives you the best chance of success, believe in it and stick to it. Don't get upset when things aren't going your way, and don't get too excited when things are working well. Stay focused. Steady.

Example: Tiger Woods. Watch him and see what it means to be focused and determined. Tiger Woods never deviates from his game plan. He never really gets upset (yes, he might cuss when he makes a bad shot, but he forgets about it right away and focuses on the next shot) and he never gets really excited. In a sport which demands mental toughness, he will go down in history as the greatest golfer ever.

Reality TV example: TK and Rachel from the Amazing Race. One of the reasons this show is fun to watch is that you get to see normal people in stressful situations and see how they handle it. The teams that get stressed out and who's partners start yelling at each usually don't win. The partners that handle stress the best and support each other through good times and bad usually do well. This couple handles stress really well.

TK and Rachel stick to their plan. They don't get upset. They don't worry about what other teams are doing but focus only on what they are doing. Two episodes ago, they won a stage. When they were told, they were shocked. "We were so focused on what we were doing, we had no idea where everybody else was," said TK. They're a good example of how to handle stress and manage a relationship.

Waiting for Wii

A few nights ago, I went to dinner with my brother and his family. While there, he asked me, innocently: "Al, (see, even my brother calls me by nicknames - his is RD) how early do you usually get up?"

"I usually get up between 5:30 & 6," I said.

"Wow," my brother replied, "that's a lot earlier than me. Since you're up that early, would you do me a favor?"

Uh oh, I thought. "What?" I asked.

"Toys R Us is getting a shipment of 30 Wii's tomorrow morning," my brother responded,
"I want to get one for my kids. The store opens at 8, but they said I better get there by 6. Could you go there and wait in line at 6? I'll relieve you at 7."

"Okay," I agreed, reluctantly.

When I awoke the next morning, it was raining.

"There's no way anyone's going to stand in the rain at 6 am on Sunday morning for a stupid video game machine," I grumbled to myself.

But, a promise is a promise, so I got dressed and drove to San Rafael.

There was nobody on the road. Until I got the road to Toys R Us, that is.

When I turned onto Francisco Blvd, I suddenly found myself behind a row of cars.

"I hope they aren't going to Toys R Us," I thought.

They were.

I looked at the front of the store and saw a line of people waiting outside.

"I'll be darned (well, 'darned' isn't what I actually thought, but for the purposes of this post, it'll have to do...)!"

I parked my car and quickly, casually, trying not to look like I was hurrying, got in line.

The woman is front of me looked like she was camping out. She was sitting in a folding chair under a down comforter reading a book. As I got into line, she looked up, smiled and said: "Good morning! You're number 19."

Soon after, the manager of the store came outside.

"Good morning, everyone," he said, as if having a line outside his store at 6 am happened everyday, "is everyone here for a Wii?"

"What's a Wii?" someone cracked, "I'm here for a Tickle me Elmo!"

"The shipment is here," the manager continued, "but we only got 27. I need to do a head count."

A worried hush fell over the line.

I turned out to be number 21.

After his count the manager said, "okay, I'm going to trust you all to be civil. Everyone up to the guy in the green sweater is going to get a Wii. Only one per group, please. No saving spots for other groups, no cutting in line. If you're behind the guy in the sweater, you can wait to see if we miscounted, or you can go to Best Buy down the street. I heard they're getting 50, but they don't open until 10." Nobody left.

Once we knew we were okay, everyone started to relax. People started trading stories about how many places they'd been to to find a Wii. I didn't have any stories, so I just smiled and nodded a lot.

Then, my brother showed up.

He walked right up to me, said good morning and stood next to me in line. Conversation stopped.

I looked around. "Don't worry," I said, "we're only buying one."

People started talking again.

I ended staying until my brother actually got his Wii. While we waited, the rain stopped, the sun rose (nothing special-it rose over the freeway, afterall) and the store opened. We talked to all the people around us. Everyone was reasonably happy, for we'd all gone out of our way to do something nice for kids.

As he left the store, Wii in hand, my brother said: "Man, I hope the little brats appreciate this."

He had a big smile on his face as he said it.

Which Would You Rather Be?

Which would you rather be, respected or liked? What is the difference between the two? Is there a difference?

Courage

Kierstan was the name of one of the blackbelt candidates (see "Blackbelt" 11/20). I don't know her and have never met her, but after that day, I have a ton of respect for her.

Kierstan was the smallest of the three blackbelt candidates. She's 11, but looks like she's younger. She sailed through the first part of the test and wrote what I thought was the best essay of the three. But, she had trouble with the physical challenges.

The first challenge was board breaking. Kierstan went first. Each kick was preceded by about 30 seconds of mental preparation. Then, when she thought she was mentally ready, she tried to break the board. Her first three kicks failed. On her fourth attempt, she got frustrated and tried to kick the board three times in rapid succession. It didn't break.

"Stop!" ordered the teacher.

He called Kierstan over to him. He said, in a very soft voice; "I know you can do this. I've seen you do this. The question is, do you believe that you can do this? Sit down and think about it."

Kierstan sat down and started sobbing.

The other candidates took their turns. Each broke their board with little problem.

It was Kierstan's turn again.

Kierstan wiped her eyes and calmly stepped up to the board. She took a couple of practice kicks. She took her stance, bounced lightly on her feet, then kicked the board so hard that it blew apart.

The crowd cheered, but the test wasn't over.

Next was the sparring. Two 3 minute rounds of sparring against 5 adult opponents, then three 5 point matches against adults and finally two 5 point matches against the other candidates.

Kierstan was beaten badly by everyone.

She kept getting knocked out of the ring and off of her feet. Each time her turn ended, she went to her rest area and cried.

But she never gave up. Each time it was her turn again, she went back into the ring. Each time she was knocked down, she got back up. She took a solid kick to the head that knocked flat on her back. She got up. She took a blow to her chest that sent her flying about 3 feet. She got back up. It was an incredible display of courage.

After that, breaking the brick seemed easy.

When Kierstan was awarded her belt, the crowd gave her the loudest ovation.

I've never been so proud of someone I'd never met.

"I Want to Play"

When I first had this student in 3rd grade, it was obvious that she didn't like PE. For starters, she always had to go to the bathroom and it took 15 minutes for her to get there and back. Then, when she was in class, she always tried to hide from me and the rest of the class by going way off to the side of the activity or by standing just out of my line of sight.

I knew why she did this. It was she because was self conscious of her abilities compared to other students. She was a little embarrassed that she couldn't do what others could and was afraid that others would make fun of her. I always told her to do the best she could and that she would get better with practice, but it was how she was viewed by her classmates that really worried her.

Thankfully, many of her classmates were very supportive. Because she knew she had that support, she slowly began to participate more and, with her participation, her skills began to improve. This year, she is in 5th grade and she's totally changed.

During the soccer tournament, she found that she could play pretty good defense. In fact, an outstanding soccer playing classmate said to me (in the middle of a game, no less): "Mr T, I can't believe how much ______ has improved. I can't get around her. She's like a wall."

This week she's been working really hard at learning Lacrosse skills, skills which can be difficult for even the most accomplished athletes to learn. While practicing, she said to me: "Mr T, I used to hate PE. Now it's not so bad."

Then something happened.

During a game, a disagreement between two people suddenly blew up into an argument involving almost everyone in the game.

Two people tried to play peacemaker. Our student, who never gets involved in these things, was one of them.

Unfortunately, the peacemakers were shouted down. Our student started to cry.

I felt awful for not being there in time (I'd been watching the other game).

"Oh no," I thought. "After all the progress she's made, she's going to go back into her shell."

In the past, this would have done her in for a couple of days, so I went to her and asked her if she needed a break.

"NO!" she shouted, "I want to play..."

Is it Important to Win a Certain Way? Or is Any Win a Good Win?

This week's episode of the Amazing Race was won by a team which had already won twice before. This week, in a really close finish, they outran another team to the finish line. They won by about half a step after both teams sprinted what looked like about 100 yards.

As the teams talked to the race's announcer, the team that came in second complained that the winners had already won twice and that they should be willing to let other teams win once in awhile.

What do think about this? Should the winning team have let the other team win? If you won a race because another team let you, how would you feel about it?

Blackbelt

One of the 6th grade basketball players that I coach took her karate black belt test on Saturday. I got to see it.

The test took almost 4 hours and was extremely difficult. It would have been hard for adults, let alone 11 year olds. They had to demonstrate their form on kicks and punches, recite chants, answer questions and read their own essays in the middle of a crowded room in front of a panel of judges. After that, they had to break a board with their bare feet. Then they had to fight.

The first matches had each candidate (there were 3) go against 6 adult blackbelts in a row for about 30 seconds each. After that, they had 3 individual matches against the adults in which the first person to get 5 points won (contestants got 1 point for landing a blow to the opponents body, 2 points for a blow to the head). After that, the contestants fought each other and after that, they had to break bricks with their bare feet.

All three contestants were exhausted at the end, but this was as much a test of courage and willpower as it was about skill.

In a very moving and powerful ceremony, all three kids got their blackbelt. The last thing the teacher said to the kids was "this is just the beginning. You are teachers now. It is your job to share your knowledge with all of the new students, no matter how young or old they may be."

All in all, this was one of the coolest, most inspiring events I've ever seen.

Wildlife

So, there's this creek I cross everyday on my way to school. I've often paused to watch and listen to it when I cross it; there's something soothing about the sight and sound of running water. It was never anything special, really, just a pleasant interlude. Then, last year, things changed.

First, a tree on a sandbar in the middle of the creek was cut down, creating open air above the creek. Then, some kids used bricks and rocks to build dam next to the sandbar, turning that part of the creek into a little pond. The sleepy little creek came to life.

Last spring I started to see birds in the creek that I'd never seen there before. Mallards. Egrets. A Great Blue Heron. A pair of Common Mergansers. A Green Heron. And, swooping through the trees and down the creek, an Osprey.

In August I noticed a bunch of tiny ripples on the water's surface as I walked by. I stopped to see what caused them. Trout! I'd never seen anything but tadpoles and water skeeters in the creek before, but now there were trout! Hundreds of tiny fingerling trout, plus one that was about 6 inches long. Cool. I started to checking on them everyday, hoping for rain that would raise the level of the pond enough to allow the fish to go out to sea. Most of them never made it.

The birds discovered the trout too. First it was just a pair of mallards, but one day I counted 15 mallards in the pond (this begs the question: can ducks communicate?). The egrets and herons came back too.

Now, as I cross the creek, I'm likely to see a pair of mallards and an egret or two. On the surface of the creek there is nary a ripple to be seen. I hope the rains came early enough to allow at least a few of the fish to escape.

You Know You've Been Accepted When...

I never know how 3rd graders are going to react to me. 3rd grade is the first time most of them have me for PE, so at the beginning of the year they're not quite sure what to make of me.

Like when I tell them a story for the first time, they don't realize that it's supposed to be funny so they don't laugh because they don't know that it's okay to do so.

I want kids to be comfortable with me so they aren't afraid to fail or make mistakes; I try to create an atmosphere where kids willingly try new things, fear of failure limits that willingness.

Anyway, I know kids are comfortable with me when:

A mom I've never met before tells me that her 3rd grade daughter, who never liked PE before, really enjoys my class.

When another kid who doesn't like PE does a report on Survivor (PE style).

Or when a girl who never says anything in class sees me in the hallway and says "Hi Mr. T, I mean, hi Suzy."

Or when a third grader walks up to me on the playground and asks "can I have a play date with you?" ......

Long Rope Jumping

I'm teaching the 3rd grade long rope jumping this week. I started most of the kids with just jumping in with the rope turning both backward and forward, then progressed to simple tricks. Got me thinking about how 5th graders might include rope jumping into their rhythmic routines.

So, check out these videos:

youtube.com/watch?v=R_lsgj7Nl8c
youtube.com/watch?v=bnChvpipSps

And, in case you think jump rope is just for kids, watch this professional boxer:

youtube.com/watch?v=MdgXgjCaus4

In Defense of the Minivan

I drive a minivan.
I also drive a coupe (really fun, really fast), but the vehicle I drive for most everyday purposes is the van. It's really versatile and actually fun to drive.
A couple of you visited me awhile back (btw - not really a good idea to drop in on adults without advance notice) and when they found out I had the van, one said: "that's a woman's car."
I got the van because it can carry 7 people, all their luggage and my basketball stuff comfortably. You can also remove all the back seats and carry tons of cargo (see "FUNdraising").
Now, I know how people judge others by the cars they drive, but I don't really care, because the van is the best vehicle around for hauling people. The first time I took my team up to Reno for a basketball tournament, one girl got in, saw how much room was inside, saw the dvd player and said: "Coach, I like it. This car is sooo uncool, that it's cool."

FUNdraising

This Sunday my high school basketball team held a yard sale as a fundraiser. It was, as these girls like to say, h$#lla fun. First you should know that these San Francisco teenagers are really different from Mill Valley kids - many of them have never been out of California and many of them had never seen a yard sale before. Anyways, we had tons of stuff to sell, but the stuff we thought would sell didn't, and lots of the junkiest stuff did. Weird. We also baked cookies (sold out) and had a car wash at the same time.
Couple of the girls turned out to be really good at haggling and others were great advertisers. All in all a fun day because it was a new experience for many; they never knew how much a bunch of stuff they didn't want anymore could be worth to others.
I brought 8 boxes of books & computer games, golf clubs, softball bats, clothes, a guitar and two reclining chairs complete with ottomans. Try carrying all that in an SUV.

Cha Cha Slide

Has anyone seen the McDonald's commercial set to the Cha Cha Slide? Hilarious.

Survivor

Survivor has been weird this season. None of the players is really likable, like Yao-Man or Yul, and the challenges are dull, so the whole show is kind of boring. Hasn't been predictable though, with a couple of players purposely losing a challenge a couple of weeks ago without telling their teammates and how you can't tell who is going to vote for who in tribal council.
One thing that's always interesting to me is the final comments made by the player just voted off.
This week, it was John-Robert, a guy I thought was just awful: rude, lazy, full of himself. He was the only guy in camp that didn't know that James has both immunity idols, so he spent a whole night looking for one. Pretty funny. Anyway, after he got voted out, he said something like: "I hoped to stay around longer, but everybody knew I was the strongest player, so I guess they felt they had to get rid of me."
Note to John-Robert: No, John-Robert, you're wrong. They only kept you around for your vote. Once they didn't need it any more, they dumped you because you're a jerk and not as smart as you think you are.

We, Not Me / Zero Zero

Had my first high school basketball practice on Monday. Six of the players showed up with "We not Me" written on their shoes. They did it because they wanted to emphasize teamwork. Last season we had a very selfish player (no longer on the team) who kind of spoiled it for everyone.

I thought this was really cool, so I told this story to some of my PE classes. Since then, several of you have written the same thing on your shoes.

Last night I told my high school players how you reacted to my story, and how things they did could inspire younger kids. Then I told them a story about some of you:

One really good, unselfish 5th grade team scored a goal within the first 2 minutes of a game. Before the next kickoff, the captain told her team: "Zero - zero".

When I told her it was 1-0, she said, "No, Mr. T. We have to stay focused. We have to play like it's 0-0"

Cool, huh?

Also cool was when, after the team had a big lead, the captain said, "Okay, from now on we have to shoot from outside the box."

My high school kids were impressed.

Memory Triggers

The other day, as I was walking down the street, I heard a song that I hadn't heard in years. The song was "Hold Your Head Up" by Argent, and it brought back this flood of memories of my summer orientation visit to U.C Davis back in 1972. In my mind's eye I could see the buildings, smell the smells, feel the sun on my skin...

Smells also trigger memories for me. There are certain smells that trigger memories of faraway places that I've visited, like Hong Kong or Japan.

Do you guys have any memory triggers?

The Fire

Back in the 80's, I got really tired of the 5 am - 5 pm grind of running a business, so we sold it and I took a break. I used my time off to help one of my friends set up his electrician business.

Starting up a business can be hard, because it takes a while to find customers, which means that the business isn't making much money. Meanwhile, the business has expenses such as rent and payroll. So, in order to help my friend keep his expenses low, I learned how to do electrical work and did some jobs with him. I only got paid if the job made a profit.

Anyway, one day we got a call to re-wire a house. The house was in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco, which is the area between Golden Gate Park, the San Francisco Zoo and Ocean Beach. It's the flattest part of SF, so it gets the most fog and the most wind. This particular house was 2 blocks from the beach.

When we arrived on the job, we found a two story building with the main living space on the top floor and a garage on the first floor. There was also an illegal apartment, known as an in-law, in the back of the garage. The front of the building consisted of a garage door and a doorway on the ground floor with windows on the second floor. The doorway was protected by a steel gate.

The outside of the building looked fine, but once we entered, you could see that it had had a fire.

It was obvious that the fire had started in the in-law and had spread upward. It didn't seem like the fire was too serious, because the frame of the building was still intact. The inside of the house was like a skeleton; all of the sheetrock covering the walls was gone and the frame of the house was exposed. Before the walls could be re-covered, the wiring had to be replaced. That was our job. We also had to reconnect the house to the power line coming from the street.

It was a simple job. All we had to do was run new wire, put in new switches, plugs and a new circuit breaker box. We didn't have to drill holes or anything. It took us two days.

The first day we ran all the wire and put in all the plugs and switches. All that remained was to install the new breaker box in the garage and bring power in from the street. This was a one man job, so only I went back on the second day.

The second day was a typical summer day in the Sunset: cold, foggy, windy. I arrived at about 9 am and went to work.

While I was in the garage hanging the breaker box and connecting all the new wires to it, I thought I heard footsteps coming from upstairs. It sounded like two people, a child and an adult. It sounded like the child was running, and the adult was chasing it.

I knew I was alone at the site and that it was windy, so I thought I was just imagining things.

Minutes later, I heard the footsteps again, only this time they were going in the opposite direction.

I upstairs to see if anyone was there. Nothing. I went back to work.

I heard the footsteps going back across the room.

I went back upstairs. Nothing.

I went out into the street and looked at the houses next door. It seemed like no one was home in either house.

I looked at the fog and listened to the wind and told myself that it was just my imagination. I went back to work.

The job took about 4 hours. Every few minutes throughout that period, I heard footsteps running back and forth across the floor above me. I tried to ignore it, but at the end of the day, I was thoroughly rattled and couldn't wait to leave.

Two days later, my friend and I went back to the house to meet the contractor so that he could check our work and pay us.

After we were finished walking through the house, I asked him what had happened there.

He gave us kind of a funny look and said: "Didn't you know? Sad story. Real tragedy."

"The tenant in the basement left something on the stove," he went on, "whatever it was caught fire. Fire spread to the wall above the stove and through the garage. All in all, not much damage, but lots of smoke. Unfortunately, the two people upstairs couldn't get out because most of the smoke went straight up the stairwell and they didn't have a key to the gate. They died from smoke inhalation."

"Who were they?" I asked.

"A two year old boy and his grandmother."

The Amazing Race

Yeah, yeah, I know. A PE teacher encouraging couch potato like activities. This time it's the Amazing Race, 11 sets of partners in a race around the world. I've always liked this one because you get to see parts of the world you normally wouldn't see (the non-touristy parts). The racers use local customs as competitions; things like alligator wrestling, or mosaic building. Ultimately, it's the contestants who make the show interesting, so the quality ("watchability"?) of the show depends on whether or not you like any of the contestants. Worth a look, though. 8 pm Sundays on CBS

Things That Go Bump in the Night . . .

Part II: Another Story in the "Spirit" of Halloween

Why my dad believes in ghosts:

My dad enlisted and served with one of his best friends, a guy named Richard Tung. My dad now believes that Mr. Tung was some kind of medium. Read these stories and decide for yourself.

Both my dad and Tung were sent to basic flight training at Randolph, Texas. They couldn't get a nonstop flight to Texas, and since they were recruits, they had to wait a long time between connecting flights.

While waiting in the terminal of some sleepy airbase in New Mexico, Tung suddenly nudged my dad and pointed.

"Gwai," he said (Gwai is the Chinese word for ghost).

My dad looked where Tung was pointing and saw what looked like a wisp of smoke drifting across the room, except this wisp had a face and was wearing a very old fashioned dress.

After the war, Tung rented an old 2 story house in San Francisco. My dad helped him move in.

The first thing they heard upon entering the house on moving day was the sound of water running. It was coming from the upstairs bathroom.

Tung went upstairs, opened the bathroom door and shut off the water. Then he and my dad went outside to get more stuff to bring into the house.

When they returned, the water was running again.

Tung went upstairs and found the bathroom door closed.

He opened the door, shut off the water, and came back downstairs.

As he waited, my dad went into the kitchen, unpacked a glass and got himself some tap water.

Tung came into the kitchen and told my dad what happened. They looked at each other, shrugged, then went outside to get some more boxes.

When they returned, the water was running again.

This time, they both went upstairs. They found the bathroom door closed again.

They opened the door and shut off the water.

As they walked down the stairs, the bathroom door slammed shut. Seconds later, the water started running again.

Both men ran back upstairs. They opened the bathroom door, shut off the water, then searched the upstairs rooms for an open window or something else that might have caused a draft strong enough to close the door. They found nothing.

They went downstairs and started to go back outside, but as they passed the kitchen, Tung stopped.

"Let's get the h&*% out of here," he said, pointing.

My dad's glass had been put back into the box.

A Story for Halloween

My Dad is what is known as a straight arrow. He doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs. He was a boy scout and a fighter pilot. He doesn't have much of an imagination and is usually all business. If you knew him, you wouldn't think that he was the type of person who believes in ghosts or UFOs (flying saucers). But he does.

Here's why he believes in UFOs:

My dad joined the US Air Force, then known as the Army Air Corps, near the end of World War II. He became a fighter pilot and remained in the Air Force after the war ended.

Since most fighter pilots were no longer needed, my dad started to fly transport planes (big planes which carried cargo). Some of his flights took place at night.

One night, my dad was flying something called an RD-4 from Los Angeles to Marin. He was flying over the ocean near the Marin Headlands when he looked out his window and saw an orange ball just off the plane's wing. He nudged his co-pilot, a guy named Rice.

"What's that?" my dad asked.

"I don't know," said Rice, "Maybe it's a jet."

"Can't be a jet," my dad replied, "it doesn't have running lights, it's too close and it looks like a ball..."

Just as Rice was about to reply, the ball flashed from orange to white. It was so bright that both pilots had to shield their eyes. Then, the ball pulsed back to orange, then to white again.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it dropped straight down, made a sharp right turn, flew towards the hills, made a sharp left turn, flew along the hills then went straight up and disappeared into the night.

"@#$%!" shouted my dad, "Ever see a jet fly like that?"

"I don't know what the %$#@ that was," said Rice, "but it wasn't a jet."

"Should we call it in?" asked my dad.

"And say what?" said Rice, "that we saw a white ball that can turn on dime and fly a million miles an hour? They'll never let us fly again!"

They never called it in, but the next day people kept asking my dad what happened to him.

That's because both he and Rice had sunburned faces.

The Pump

You set out on a week long journey across the desert. You are alone and on foot. On the fourth day, you run out of water. You keep going because you are closer to your destination than to your starting point, but you know that, if you don't find water soon, you will die of thirst.
On the morning of the fifth day, you stumble upon an old wooden shed. Inside, you find an old fashioned mechanical water pump. You try it. Nothing happens.
You look around the shed an find a small bottle of water. It isn't enough to get you across the desert, but you think: "maybe if I'm really careful..."
Then you read the label on the bottle. It says: "Primer. The pump is connected to a well which can give you all the water you need, but it needs to be primed in order to work. There is just enough water in this bottle to prime the pump. Use it wisely.
What do you do and why?

A Perfect Day...

Today I had a perfect day; a day where everything I did was really satisfying and with a couple of nice surprises, too.
Won't bore you with details but got me thinking: what's your idea of a perfect day? When's the last time you had one?

Disaster Drill solutions

There are no right or wrong answers to this really, as long as you keep these goals in mind: do everything you can to save the victims without putting your team in unnecessary danger.

Now, that said, there are a few things to keep in mind while analyzing the situation:

1. You have a very limited amount of time because:

• the building is very unstable due to the earthquake
• earthquakes are usually followed by aftershocks
• there is the possibility of a fire or explosion due to a gas leak

2. You know that there are 2 victims
3. You are carrying a stretcher and a radio
4. There are 2 search and rescue teams

When you found the first victim, you discovered that, even though seriously injured, she was stable, meaning she wasn't going to get any worse. That meant it was reasonably safe to call the fireman in charge (aka FIC), notify him of the victim's location, and continue your search for the second victim. If a backup team was available, the FIC could've send it directly to the 1st victim's location.

In this scenario, the only other team available was the team searching the ground floor, so a decision needed to be made: should the FIC pull the second team off of its search and send it to the known location of a victim?

The FIC could decide on the basis of the names of the missing. Knowing the names of the missing gives the FIC a good idea of where to look for them, for that information would let him figure out where they normally would have been at the time of the earthquake. If the second victim would normally be on the second floor, the FIC would send the ground floor search team to rescue the first victim and tell the your team to continue its search. For the purposes of this discussion, let's say that that is what happened.

Your discovery of the second victim just as part of the building collapsed made things much more complicated. Your decision here would be based on your background and training.

If you are just someone who works in the building and who volunteered for the search and rescue team, you would follow the FIC's instructions and get out of the building asap. You've already saved one victim, so you've done a good job and don't want to put anyone else in danger, like your team, or anyone who might have to come and rescue you.

On the other hand, if you were a member of a highly trained search and rescue team like those that work for the fire or sherriff's departments, you've been trained to determine how much danger you are in. If you decide that your end of the building is stable enough, you may try to continue your rescue effort. You might even call the other team and tell them to come back in and help you after they've safely removed the first victim from the building. As a person who was specially trained for this job, you'd be willing to put yourself at greater risk in order to save another person's life, especially if that person were a child.

Survivor

Do any of you guys watch Survivor?

If so, what did you think of the last two episodes?
Like last week's decision by one team to purposely lose the challenge?
And this week's decision by the other team to give James one immunity idol and tell him where the second one was?
And finally, how the whole plan blew up?
Wasn't that food challenge disgusting (for you non-watchers, contestants had to eat chicken hearts, eels, baby turtles including shell, chicken fetuses and 1000 year old eggs)? I thought so, and I'm Chinese!

Disaster Drill continued...

After finding the victim, you determine that her injuries are not life-threatening and decide to continue your search. You call the fireman in charge, make sure the victim is stable and as comfortable as possible, assure her that you will be back for her, and move on. Down the hall, you discover another victim.
This time, the victim looks like he's been hit on the head for he is unconcious. He is also bleeding and worst of all, is partially buried under a huge pile of debris. As you are deciding what to do, you hear part of the building collapse, but it sounds like it's on the end farthest from you. Then, the radio comes on and the fireman in charge says "All personel must get out of the building immediately!"
What do you do?

Disaster Drill

Hypothetical situation: You are a member of one of the two search and rescue teams sent to a building damaged in an earthquake. There are three people on each team. The teams are equipped with a radio, a first aid kit, a stretcher and a crowbar for moving debris.
When you arrive on the scene, you discover that the two story building is in such bad shape that it is about to collapse. You can also smell gas. The fireman in charge tells you that there are two people missing. Your job is to find them and bring them out of the building. The fireman also says that the building is going to fall down any minute and that, to guarantee your team's safety, you must get in and out of the building as quickly as possible.
Your team is sent to search the second story. The other team searches the ground floor. You quickly find one of the missing people. She seems to have a back injury and a broken leg. She is also in shock. She obviously needs to be carried out. What do you do?

Kid Nation

Don't know how you or your parents feel about TV, but there's this show called Kid Nation on Wednesday nights that I've been watching and which might be fun to talk about. It's a reality show about 40 kids who spent 40 days in a "ghost town" and are left to govern themselves. It's been interesting to me because you get to see the different ways kids handle responsibility, make decisions and communicate. Ties into some of the things we talk about in class. The show is on Wednesday nights at 8 pm on CBS. Check it out if you can.

Tinikling, anyone?

Did you guys have fun with Tinikling?

It was fun for me to watch. I was surprised at what a good workout it was.

I think I'm going to use it with my basketball teams, cuz it looks like it would help with quickness and jumping ability.


The steps we did were only the beginning. I'll show you more this week, but if you want to see some video on Tinikiling, check these out:


youtube.com/watch?v=T7gScrUXoq8


youtube.com/watch?v=HP9nslxAAUk


youtube.com/watch?v=9LhsWFyHDow


Mr T

Welcome!

Hi Guys!


Welcome to my blog. This is a work in progress, so bear with me...


Ever wish we could continue talking about the subjects that are brought up in PE? Well here's your chance!


Here are links to recently discussed topics:


Orienteering: us.orienteering.org


Brain eating amoeba: msnbc.msn.com/id/21034344


Superbug: msnbc.msn.com/id/19403351


I look forward to hearing from you,


Mr T