The Last Science Fair

I'm starting to realize that the theme of this blog is "transitions," and once I open it up to the public again, hopefully that will resonate with many people.

Transitions, large and small. It's hard in the moment to appreciate them; we tend to deny they are occurring or become over-emotional, in ways that may seem silly to anyone not living through that moment with you.

It's all just life, after all.

Today was my last middle school science fair, as a parent. That may not seem like such a big deal, and in fact it is not.

But, in context, I was visiting the school to see my youngest child's "invention." And two days ago she found out she has been assigned by the City to a high school she did not want to attend, where no one she know attends, and has until very recently, in the words of her brothers, been considered a "ghetto" school.

Ugh.

Problem is, in this city, if you lack resources, you don't have many options once the bureaucrats decide where your child is to go.

Maybe there will be an upside, I hope. Maybe this will turn out to be okay.

But for now, all I can do is view my daughter's science invention, which turns out to be a better (or at least a more beautiful) cat scratcher.

Julia loves cats. She loves art.

Of course, she designed an artistic cat scratcher. Here are some photos:

Spring Correction

Though not technically the first day of spring, it felt like it here today, as the sun warmed up our yards, plum blossoms dropped, and the leaves opened n the trees. Birds, bees, butterflies were suddenly everywhere.

A song was in the air; spring's song.

Part of that music is baseball, as the Giants' season is barely two weeks away. My youngest son can't wait; he and I watched a recap of last year's magical arc. Could they win a third world series in four years?

Unlikely, but they've got almost all of their players back fro last year's team.

Tomorrow we should find out where my youngest daughter will attend high school.

Tonight the boys are here for the night, watching their TV series "The Walking Dead." I'll drive them to school in the morning before heading to a business lunch in San Jose. Their lunches are packed and ready to go.

The lunches I send with my kids are a family joke -- I almost always put in way too much food of many different types. When I try to figure out why, I think back to my own childhood, and my parents' stories of the Depression, and how they didn't always have enough to eat.

We were raised to eat everything on our plate, and leave nothing to waste. I'm not sure how this translates into my over-stuffing of the kids' lunches or even if it does.

Much of life seems random but every now again a bit of clarity emerges. Recently, in conversations with various friends, I've taken some decisions about how I'm going to proceed with my working life. It's a change of direction, one i will document somewhat here.

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