Sun is Shining and the Weather is Sweet

Full Disclosure:  When I first got this tweet from Mark Lunque I was totally not into it.  I am not a fan of chain mail type things.  Probably has something to do with sending a few people $10 in the mail as a teenager with the expectation of receiving over a thousand dollars back over the course of the next few months...didn't happen and I ended up feeling like this.  Fortunately the positive power of twitter kept my interest and I realized this is something cool that should not be wasted.  Thanks Mark!

11 Random facts about myself

1)  I grew up in the Napa Valley (where I live now...fun!) and my father was a hot air balloon pilot. 

2)  I am 1/2 Mexican, 1/2 Italian, All awesome...though I speak WAY better Italian (I can get myself out of a jam in Spanish if I need to), I pride myself on being able to leverage the awesomeness that is embedded in each of those extremely divergent cultures (read: sarcasm...seriously Italians are just European Mexicans).  

3)  In college I was a door to door salesman and during the summers I worked in Louisville KY, Des Moines IA, and Johnstown PA.

4)  I knew what my son's name would be by my sophomore year in high school...which is random because most HS boys don't think about that kind of stuff.

5)  I love music and I sing all the time despite my lack of a good singing voice, which makes it hard for anyone within earshot.

6)  Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Mint n Chip.

7)  I am a Christian and love it...which I only added because when people find out I am christian they are like "Really?"...which either means I am pretty awesome at being a christian or pretty terrible.  #notsure

8)  I am a painfully insecure writer...I worry about people reading my ideas and thinking them to be lame.  Ironic if you have ever been in a meeting with me #italktoomuch

9)  I was fully grown by 7th grade (6'1'')...have you ever been around middle school boys, tiny.

10)  I have a huge crush on NPR and I would love to take it out for a nice white wine/seafood dinner maybe a after dinner cocktail, and then see what happens.

11)  I usually sometimes tell jokes just to laugh at them myself (see random fact number 10) even if I know I will be the only one laughing.  I also think a careful application of strikethroughs is one of the highest forms of internet wit.  Also nothing beats a good Dumb and Dumber hyperlink...see intro.

Questions from Mark

1. Are you the oldest, middle, or youngest child? 

Middle, and live up to the part.  #helper

2. On New Year's Eve, do you watch the ball drop or are you in bed by 10:00 pm?

 Not big on new years (which is weird because I am a huge fan of low stakes kissing/make-out sessions ;)...Still I watch it drop, despite the fact that I could easily spend my life going to sleep by 9:30.

3. What is your dream job?

NapaLearns EdTech Coordinator...I seriously giggle to myself every time I get my pay stub and it has nothing to do with the size of the numbers on the check and everything to do with the challenging, creative, and meaningful work it allows me access to...and they Pay me for it.

4. Who is your best friend and how did you meet?

I have been super close friends with the same 8 dudes since we were in middle school, we are still very close... They are all the hilarious/adventurous/sharingtheweird, loves of my life!

5. Have you ever met anyone famous? Desribe the encounter

I got to have dinner with Eric Mazur (my mancrush/eduhero) in September, which was fun because I had followed and tried to emulate his work for the previous two years.  The best part is that I totally crashed a cocktail session with him and some other people I 'sort of knew' and ended up joining them for a bad@$$ evening sharing ideas. #couragematters

6. What was the last book you finished reading?

2013 included:  'To Sell is Human', 'Drive', 'A whole New Mind', 'Outliers', 'What the Dog Saw', 'David and Goliath', 'Blink', 'Susan Cain: Quiet' (the actual answer), Kaines, Hayek', 'The Company', 'The Wizard: Tesla",  ''Mindset', 'Unbroken', '11-22-63', 'Good to Great', 1 John, 1 Corinthians

I'm not bragging...I have no time to "read" as I do it at a painfully slow pace.  I only generated this list to say that Audiobooks rule and if you hear yourself saying "wish I had more time to read, but I don't" please consider joining audible.com

7. You could have dinner with three people from your PLN, who do you invite?

No brainer...#TeamNorthBay (6 is more than 3 though I think of us as a collective "Hive Mind of Amazing") doing backyard style hangout at Adam Welcome's house.  We have been talking up this one for months and I am confident that it will happen some day...and it will be glorious.

8. Would you rather attend a sporting event or concert? If you selected a sporting event, who is playing and what venue is hosting. If you selected a concert, who is performing?

I have been to a crapload of both, and at it's peak, there is something beautiful about following a team all season long (Oakland A's Season Ticket Holders) and being there when those special moments happen.  Something to do with "being an invested part of something" that sports offer, and that concerts don't (as much).  That being said, if it were random free tickets:  Concert.

9. Android or Apple?

Frick...prob Android, though the camera on my nexus4 absolutely sucks!  Slow auto focus = lots of pictures like this

10. If you could spend one day doing whatever you want, how do you spend your day?

Golf with my 5 year old...don't care where, though our home course is surrounded by vineyards  which is pretty cool.  Preferably with one of our friends w kids that golf.  BTW I love the fact that I get to live my answer to this question 2 or 3 times a week!

11. Why did you choose to be an educator? Who has been your greatest influence?

I kind of fell into the job and my greatest influence was easily my X-wife, who is a bad@$$ educator herself and in my early years supported and taught me a lot.  Thanks Sarah!  I want to stay an educator because of how cool the job is, lots of opportunity to do meaningful work in creative ways.  

Bloggers:  Most of the peeps I follow are already on this so I will take this chance to learn some fun things about the #TUtechparty as wells a few peeps I want to start to work with more. 

 **Katy Foster**

Brady Mitchell

Bobby Ruth

Debra Carnes

Patty Wyman

Angelene Warnock

Kendall Shomura

Karin Hatton

Monica Ready

Johnathan Dunsworth
Brad Fisher



SHHS Physics...Start here

11 Questions for you all to answer (tweet me when you are done, I am stoked to see what you guys put down)

1)  Best moment of 2014?
2)  What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
3) Besides Christmas, favorite holiday...why?
4)  Outline your #bestdayever??
5) What did you learn over last summer?
6)  What was the last book you finished reading?
7)  Best gift you ever gave someone?
8)  Share something charming/weird about your family
9) What is your best personal gift/quality/strength?
10) What is one of  your weaknesses, things you need to overcome to be successful?
11)  If you could have dinner with any two people, who would it be...why?

Here is your Task

1. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions created for you