Happy Easter

Happy Easter
Happy Easter to all of you who are Christian. I join with you in sharing this day of joy when our Savior rose from the dead.

I would also wish the Jews among the readers a joyful Purim festival. This weekend,
Friday to Sunday, happens only once a millennium. There are five major religious observances over the weekend.

Amber the Stylist & Natalie the Receptionist
Amber was at the salon before I got there on Friday. I arrived early because the traffic was lighter than I thought it would be. Sometimes, traffic flows with you in Los Angeles.

I really enjoyed the shampoo and short neck massage Amber gave me. She even used warm water in her spray bottle so I would not be bothered by the cold water. That was very thoughtful of her.

I did like the haircut she gave me. I liked it more than I liked the photos she took of me. I was planning to update my photos that I have scattered around the Internet; like in my Blogger.com profile section, for example. I was unable to pose properly for the image I want to post. I suppose that I am being overly picky about how I look.

I did have a chance to see Natalie the Receptionist as well on Friday. She had just returned from a business trip and I think was a little jet lagged for the early morning hour that I was there.

Natalie also got her hair cut much shorter than I have ever seen it since the last time I was at the salon. I think she has been growing it longer ever since I first met her. It is now about eight or nine inches shorter. I am beginning to like and enjoy the new Natalie look. I think it fits her well now.

Obviously, this is an older photo of Natalie.

School
My Saturday class went well for me. I had more students in class on Saturday than on the previous week. This is always good with the administration. I do think I am going to lose two or three students from the roster for non-attendance. I can’t force students to come to class; it is there money after all and they can choose to spend it or waste it as they wish.

I spent a perfectly wonderful Spring Sunday afternoon grading papers. I think I may run out of red ink in my pen before the term is over. Some of the students have not learned how to write in common English yet.

It seems as if some of my students may have lifted some of their homework assignment directly from someone else’s writing. One of the common clues is the language used is very proper and the vocabulary is uncommon. The papers are not how the students speak in class when we are talking about a discussion. For example, I do not know many twenty years who would use the word “antagonist” in a sentence.

Most of my writing students failed to follow my suggestion about having their papers proof read prior to submission. The lack of proof reading showed in the poorer papers.

I did manage to make a mess on my online grade books when I tried to correct some incorrect entries. I will be spending some time with the Associate Dean on Monday. I am hopeful that he can solve my problems relatively quickly and without too much trouble.

Full and Fair Disclosure
I obviously like my friend Renee’s painting style. I should point out that I own two large oil or acrylic on canvas and five small water color paintings. I think I have wall space or I can make wall space for some more of her works.

I did feel guilty, to a certain extent, about Amber the Stylist having to get up early two days in a row.

Merit the Server
I went to El Gringo on Thursday for my dinner as usual. No surprises there for any regular reader of the blog. Unfortunately, Merit was working at the Hermosa Beach El Gringo that night. Alana the Busser was there and she was very friendly with me. By that, I mean she spent some time talking to me, more so than she usually does.

Merit’s working in Hermosa Beach presented me with a quandary. I had stopped by Giuliano’s Delicatessen to pick up a chocolate éclair for Merit because Merit loves chocolates. I know the éclair wouldn’t keep that long in the refrigerator at home, especially with Doug, who loves the Giuliano’s éclairs, around. I could see him inhaling in a matter of minutes.

I thought of the shark in JAWS at that moment.

In the end, I think I did the right thing. I drove to the Hermosa Beach El Gringo and surprised Merit with the éclair. I suppose that I will find out how she liked it in two weeks when I am back to my regular Thursday evening meal pattern.

Visitors
We had another good week for visitors. We had visitors from Canada [16], Spain [2], Singapore [2], France [3], Malaysia [2], Japan [11], Texas [5], Mexico [4], United Kingdom [7], Australia [6], Czech Republic, Italy, Philippines, Belgium [2], Iran [3], Hong Kong, Greece, United Arab Emirates [3], Germany [7], Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Sweden [2], Portugal, Thailand, Korea, Ireland, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait.

This week was the first time that the blog has had a visitor from Uzbekistan. I hope you return to the blog when you have time.

We had an off week for visitors who stayed around for a longer period of time. We had one visitor who stayed for 18 minutes, one who stayed for 14 minutes and two who stayed for 11 eleven minutes.

I do appreciate all of you who took time to cycle through the Internet to visit my blog. If you enjoy the blog, be sure to mention it to your friends.

Woman of the Moment Encore
I am thinking about changing the Woman of the Moment Encore section sometime this week. I will be shifting from Eiko Koike to Sunisa Kim. This should be an easy change for everyone to make. In the meantime, we will make do with Eiko Koike.





Programming Note
I may not have a blog posting tomorrow. I think I will be spending a lot of time with the school’s online grade book system and getting my courses set up properly.

Life happens and we all make adjustments.


Be well and stay happy.