Harry Potter Party

My daughter, Allison taught 4th grade last year. She promised the 5 students who had reached their reading goals at the end of the year that she would take them to the Harry Potter party at Hicklebees today and that they would get the new Harry Potter book as their prize for reaching their goals. Today 3 of the five were able to go. Julia, Duy and Tanya  went with Allison and me. It was lot of fun. We dressed up and there were games and prizes.  All three of them are avid readers. Duy is especially impressive. He came form Viet Nam and this was his first year of school in the United States. At the beginning of the year he could not read or write English at all. By the end of the year he  was almost at a fourth grade reading level and he reached his reading goal. All 5 kids and Allison and I are looking forward to reading the new book. I just talked to Allison. She said she is about half way through.

This was Allison’s last year teaching. She decided that although teaching has a lot of rewards it was not for her. She completed the two year Teach For America commitment and has accepted a new job that starts in August.  She will be working for Inside Track. She is hoping to be able to continue to volunteer at the school. I am very proud of what she achieved as a teacher.

Vacation

Duke and I leave on vacation tonight. We are flying to Chicago then driving up to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their lake house near Stone Lake, Wisconsin. From there we will drive to Manchester, Iowa to visit Duke’s  family, and then back to Chicago to fly home. It is quite a bit of driving but we love exploring and Wisconsin. Illinois, Iowa are a beautiful part of the country.  I don’t expect to be near a computer so won’t be blogging or answering email. I will be keeping my mind open for interesting and surprising tidbits to blog about when I get home. Have a great  Independence Day!

The Moon

Last night as I was driving home listening to the San Francisco Bay Area’s all jazz station KCSM they were playing all moon related songs. This week the full moon is hanging lower in the sky than any full moon since  June 1987, so the moon illusion is extra strong. The moon illusion is  about how the moon looks extra big when it is near the horizon. It is all explained here. What is fascinating is that it is all  something our eye creates not something a camera sees and no one is really sure what causes it.

Duke and I love admiring the moon so last night just before moonrise we went out to the Hayward shoreline away from the trees and buildings. We went for a walk. When the moon came up it was absolutely amazing. Not only did look big but there was some fog on the horizon so the moon was an amazing orange. Then as it rose it changed to butter yellow and then a creamy white.

Two Years

Two years ago today Duke and I were married. I’ve been thinking all day what I can say that won’t sound trite.  And I didn’t come up with anything. All I can say is I fell very very lucky and I can’t image being happier. So I guess I’ll be trite anyway. I wouldn’t have believed it but  🙂 Your dreams can come true it can happen to you!

Informational Interviews and Why I Blog

Last April I wrote a entry on my Sun Blog  about why I like to Blog. I want to add two things to that list based on my experience changing jobs and beginning to explore ways to get financial planning experience.

Blogging is a great way to reflect who you are to potential employers. When I first sent my resume to Intuit I also put the resume on my blog. In my cover letter I mentioned my blog. I know that the blog is not why I was hired but I know that my new boss read the blog and I think it helped me  market myself. I should note though that the purpose of the blog is not to market myself but because my blog reflects who I am it does in fact become a marketing tool.

Blogging helps you implement learn – teach – learn. I am a great believer in informational interviews. My daughters get sick of me urging them to set up informational interviews with  people who work in the fields they are interested in.  I’ve done a few informational interviews lately and I think blogging about them has been a great way to crystallize my learning.  Intuit talks about the idea of learn teach learn that is what blogging facilitates. First I learn something. Then I blog about it and as a result I learn more.