ERWIN CHEMERINSKY

Today I had the privledge to meet someone who makes things happen in our nation. He was introduced as a man of brilliance and I beleive that to be true.
Most people as smart and important as this man, are usually not as down-to-earth nor as personable as he was today.

This man, who holds many titles, was amazing.

He is a law professor, a Supreme Court lawyer, and the Founding Dean of the University of California, Irvine's School of Law set to open August 2009.

He has his own page on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Chemerinsky

The things he was able to talk about, rattle off at the top of his head and explain without pausing were fascinating. He seemed to be a walking law encyclopedia with human depth. I could see sitting in a classroom listening to him and be disappointed when the class was over.

I am currently taking a law class, which many people think I am crazy to do, since my undergrad law class was very painful, but was probably one of my most favorite classes.
I am really enjoying the ideas of Communication law and I know I will use all of the things I am learning. In fact, I used some of the information this morning. It is facinating how things work in this nation and with the internet and communication changing the world, it will be exciting to be in the middle of all that change.
But for today, I was listening to a wealth of knowledge from someone who will change things through our courts and possibly be on the supreme court some day.
http://www.hpu.edu/index.cfm?section=News11305

This is the new law school. It features a new way of thinking. He actually wants the graduates to BE lawyers, not just think like one. His example was "would you want your doctor to THINK like a doctor or BE one?" http://www.law.uci.edu/profile_e_chemerinsky.html


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chemerinsky7-2008oct07,0,6051351.story

Based on what he has done, this school that hasn't even opened its doors to students, is rank 10th in the nation.
http://abajournal.com/news/new_uc_law_school_at_irvine_ranked_in_top_10/


Today we got to see what it might be like to hear this man explain why someone should get another chance. He is currently representing a Guantánamo Bay detainee. His arguement is not about whether this man is dangerous or should be detained, but more about that he needs a trial so we can find out.
He talked about issues being decided in the next few months by the 9 justices. It is wild how much power these decision have on our lives and yet most of America has no clue what is being heard on thier behalf.
Not only did he talk about the Supreme Court and all the things happening with it in the near future, the cases he is currently trying to have argued there, but he also humored questions from students who were not in law school.


It was an interesting conversation. I refer to it this way because I believe it was more than just a speech. I enjoyed it so much, I humored Robert by mentioning that the law school would be fun.

The TOOTH FAIRY is coming to town

This happy little face and the TOOTH in hand are no indication of the drama that led to this moment, and the one less than a week later.

If you were to drive by our house, or have the unfortunate opportunity to live near us, (and be home...which our neighbors were not)you would have called the police.

You might have heard screams of terror and pain coming from the bathroom that sounded as though someone were being stabbed to death.

The truth would have been less traumatizing and much less exciting to behold.

The truth was, the tooth fairy was coming to town AGAIN!

Last week, Sorenna's two front teeth became loose and one started to become painful during meals. She spent time wiggling them and was very excited about the chance for the tooth fairy to leave her money.

This excitement went away soon after because the pain was more than she had hoped.
She refused to wiggle the teeth and stopped eating because it hurt to much.
The only way to help her was to get the tooth out.
The first one was accidentally knocked out by her sisters while dancing. One good whack in the mouth and it fell right out.
Unfortunately, the next week another good pop in the mouth made the tooth, that wasn't as ready to come out, very loose.
This is where the story gets ugly.

Sorenna refused to touch it, but it was painful to look at and keeping her from talking, eating and at times drinking. This one was hanging on tight in one spot and made her very upset.
After listening to the whines of pain all day, I decided to do anything I could to get it out before bedtime.
I took her in the bathroom and made her look at how loose it was, and the fact that it could come out with little effort.
I laced dental floss where it was not attached and it was a very small space that she needed to break to get it out.
She went weak at the knees just holding the floss.

I tried to PAY her to yank the string in her mouth. She was thinking about it until she pulled and it was too much pain for her to do to herself.

This is the girl who quickly recovers from running full-out into a pillar, but this tooth was not coming out.

You might have heard things like "why are you trying to KILL ME??", or "I CAN'T BREATH!!!"
or at any time during the 15 minutes you could have heard HAIR RAISING SCREAMS!
All of which were coupled by me telling her to "just pull the tooth out!"

I sat calmly on the edge of the tub waiting for her to yank the string and hoping I wasn't going to be the one to do it.
Finally I decided to BRUSH her tooth.
I was able to convince her to push it with her tongue while I brushed it so she would not swallow it and it was hanging BACKWARDS in her mouth.
She finally pulled that tooth out and she now has the best smile ever!

I bet she eats 4 bowls of cereal in the morning and I will no longer have to cut her food into infant sized pieces!
AMEN!

Now where is that TOOTH FAIRY?.....She wants her money!

"A Ferry" to Remember

Ok, the title is kinda funny and you have to admit I am "on" with that one.

Today we went on the ferry called "The Boat". It is part of the bus system and super cheap. We did round trip around the southern tip of Oahu for $8. We drove to Barber's Point and did the 50 minutes to downtown's Aloha Tower. I can't say that it was the best adventure, but the girls LOVED IT!

Diamond Head is really cool from a distance.

We went to the Maritime Museum and saw a giant whale skeleton.

This is a giant pot to cook whales in and I thought it would be

funny for the girls to be cooked in the pot.

There were tons of these metal hula girls and Cannon wanted to hug every one of them.

The famous ALOHA tower and some Italian gelato makes a great ending to a fun adventure.

This was how happy the girls were to be on the return ferry. There were tons of people getting seasick and here are my girls having a party. I have to admit I felt like I was on a narrow Italian road speeding around narrow mountain roads, but I survived. I will not be giving the Ferry as an option for Sorenna's upcoming birthday outing. She would pick it in a second!

JUMBO GECKOS

Today Thorin went near the mailbox and a GIANT GECKO ran out. She freaked out a little because she was surprised. But after he came out of the box she was so excited. All the girls ran up and talked to it and they were happy to see a really big "pet" in our yard. We have lost a few inside pets lately and the girls were starting to think the geckos had all left. This was a nice treat.
This is the biggest one we have seen. I am sort of glad he is OUTSIDE. Being this big means there are tons of bugs. I am glad only little geckos have enough food in my house.

I really love these little guys. At first when my friends in California told me there would be geckos running on the walls and I would be happy about it, I have to admit...I was not thinking I would be!

I think they are so cool and the girls have named them. We lost Rose (that one died in the laundry room).
Flower is missing. She was the one over my bed. I think she had a crush on Robert because she left after he did.
I have seen a few petrified babies (about an inch long), but there are still gecko sounds (echoing clicking chirp) coming from inside the house so I know there a few left.
I love the color of this Big guy. He is neat. I was glad he stayed long enough for a few photos.
I wanted to share what "pets" the girls are playing with in Hawaii.

Here he is behind the mailbox. He is really big.

AMEN ....the TREE is GONE GONE GONE!

I am just SO excited I had to blog it.
Saturday March 21st I took down the CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

I know what you are thinking if this is the first you are hearing of my craziness. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER?

*******Read previous blogs to get a clue of the nightmare that has been my daily existence.

I will add a rundown of the lastest and greatest adventures that I can remember since January:

1. The ghost continues to annoy me. The shadows are getting a little mind numbing, the thump noises in the middle of the night are freaky and weird things that I still put up with are happening weekly.
The priest is coming soon!

2. I think I have active termites after all. They are coming this week to check it out AGAIN.

3. School started (for me and the girls) and we have huge projects and presentations due every week.

4. Thorin was having breathing problems (thought it was her heart or lungs)....still no idea why!

5. (Ok...there is always something with Sorenna)....but she showed me a HOLE in her thigh on Saturday morning....something bit her or put something IN her...but she had an infection at that point that ALMOST required surgery! (still might need it, but meds and prayer might work!!!???)

Those are the ones I can remember, as my brain has turned into an action oriented place. One thing after another and I have a fog in my head.

As you can see I haven't had much of a moment to focus on the tree and when I finally did think about it I REFUSED to spend my one free moment stressing about that stuff.
It had become a badge of humor. I almost had a tree disassembly party, but didn't have the time for that either.

I would rather spend the days that were free with my kids on hikes and walks. I think that means I have my priorities straight. I have the ability to turn OFF the "A" personality traits and enjoy life a bit more. YIPPEE!

SO, back to the tree. Even though I joked that the tree would still be up for Robert's R&R in August, I decided that the tree had to go before Easter. I was already shocked that I celebrated the start of LENT with a Christmas tree, but EASTER was a no-go!
Celebrating the birth and death of Christ in one house would be strange.

This morning I transfered the boxes to the back storage room and there is a huge weight off my shoulders. I decorated the "art" room with some frames and moved some stuff.
I LOVE THAT ROOM!
I hope that this will give me a fresh start on the new year and stop the craziness.....MAYBE?

Rainforest Hike...chasing BOYS...OH MY!

Today we went on a hike. It was originally planned for last week but the rains were very hard and it would have been a bit dangerous for the little ones. We waited til the last minute to see if it was going to be clear enough to head out, and it was!

The day was beautiful. Funny thing about a small island, you would think with it being so small that if it was raining in your backyard and you saw nothing but clouds for as far as you could see, that it was raining everywhere. NOT!

The hike was wonderful. We had intended to go on the "stroller friendly" path and then tell the moms with small kids that the rainforest path was narrow and that they might want to come back and do it without the kids one day. Funny how your plans and plans of young kids, especially young BOYS, can change your perspective.

We started on the path and in a very short time the pace got faster. We were to the edge of the stroller path and the boys literally sprinted through to the rainforest area. My girls were adament about staying with the BOYS! I tried to tell them to hang back because it was narrow and there was to be NO running, but all fell to a deaf ear because I was too far back to be heard!

Cannon was sprinting with me to catch up to the clump of kids and her sisters to explain that we were now so far away from any other grown up that they were now stuck in the clump with me for my own peace of mind. I KNOW the moms behind me were thinking and worried whether thier kids were together or with someone at all.

I was amazed at some of the boys' happiness. One boy was chanting how he was FREE, FREE, there are no brothers I AM FREE!
I later found out that this was one of MY spouse's kids ( a mother of 5 boys) and I knew that she had an infant in a stroller and wasn't one of the moms meeting us at the end point!

AHHHH , how did that happen?

Well, I was so far up the mountain in the middle of a rainforest with 8 kids and was stuck waiting for the rest of the moms so someone could take him back down to his mom.

After the return and gathering of the original group, we went a little further up the path. The kids had such a great time and the view was awesome! Cannon (4yrs) was hanging with the group and never complained. She stepped into the stream, fell on a rock or two, got completely muddy and walked for a total of 3.5 hours. SHE NEVER COMPLAINED!
Everyone was shocked that she hiked the entire trail. This from a girl who was in a body brace for a year! I was really impressed!

Hawaii is awesome and the hike adventure was just one way GOD tells me I am where I am suppose to be right now.

Where else can you be next to a highway, looking at an ocean while standing IN a rainforest???
That was so cool!

It was a little hard to get photos while I was sprinting up the mountain, and the sun was fighting the dark tree areas for light, but I got a few good photos.

The end of the hike was wonderful! The girls were dirty and super happy.

HAWAII ROCKS!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

Today is my anniversary. Robert is in Iraq, but is in my heart in all the things that happen in my day.
Today Thorin wished me a Happy Anniversary. That is awesome to hear from your kids when they are young. It means that they took time out of "their" world to think of someone else.
I am very proud of the family we have created and how amazing they are even when times are hard.
I am very blessed to be an army wife and have a husband who is willing to fight for OUR freedoms. I just wish more people had passion in our nation and it wasn't in such a mess right now.
Greed, selfishness and hate are why we are here in this mess and I hope that the next generation of leaders have learned to WORK for the things they have, and don't have an entitlement mentality of our nation today.
GOD bless America, we need HIM more than ever.

Hikes and whale watching

This was an awesome day. We went on a hike with our FRG (family readiness group) and had a blast. The 2 mile hike was up the side of a cliff overlooking a lighthouse. I was thinking it was going to be like the ones on the east coast, but it was a tiny little thing at the bottom of the cliff.
The view was so beautiful. We could see 3 of the other islands from the top of the hill.
We looked for whales in the ocean from old WWII bunkers and the girls play "army girls" while we were up there.
We saw some whales splash and spout up, but no jumping that day.
We are buying binoculars for our next trip there. The whale migration is almost over so we have to go soon.
This island is full of history and we hope to see tons of it. Stay tuned to see what the Jean girls are doing next.

Girls ROCK and run!

My girls are so awesome!

We ran the Keiki (kid) Aloha run on Valentine's Day. It was a 1.5 mile run in Waikiki. We finished in 15 minutes.

Here we are running...look at those girls. Thorin was racing ahead and circled back many times.
I ran the official Great Aloha Run on President's Day. It was a very nice 8.15 mile race through downtown and across town to the stadium where the Pro Bowl is played. The photo below shows the groups of military units (on far right in blue) running in formation. I ran with some of them at the end. It was a very peaceful beat with the chanting (cadence). I slowed a bit, but it was a nice way to finish the race.

This is my FRG leader for our G3 group. Her kids were cracking me UP! We were in downtown huddled in the cold winds at 5am making jokes about TV shows. People thought we were crazy homeless people. There are some certifiable ones down there!

Here is where MY humor started coming out after running so far. All my friends were saying YOU ROCK!..so that was my pose!

I am looking forward to doing this run with Robert next year and also to do this thing called SWAP ROMP! It is 5 miles in the slimey mud....and it gets in everything....every THING!

I am all over that next year. You have to be a team of 6 people, you have to stay together and finish together, you can't lose a shoe in the sludge or you are disqualified and it is SO FUN!

Look for those photos next year.

Things that go BUMP and break things in the night

I have been slightly busy with everything that life (and GOD) has thrown my way. I think I have been grabbing them and slam dunkin' them with awesome skill until the holidays hit.
That is when something went completely spastic and the axis of MY world tilted just a BIT.

I thought tackling the move with guys who were set on ruining EVERYTHING I owned was handled well.
I thought I handled myself with calmness when a woman ran smack into my car because she was literally in the BACK SEAT instead of looking forward.
I thought I handled it very well when the housing office here in Hawaii claimed there would be NO homes until October, after telling us we were good to go for July 4th weekend.
There of course was the fact that we got the house and shortly after hanging photos I was told to stop unpacking because of possible termite activity!

AGAIN...handled. We are still in our lovely home and nobody has fallen through the floor...yet!

Let's see.....what ELSE have I taken in stride????...let's check the list....

June:
*Movers destroy many things in front of us during our load up leaving Cali
*Some really dumb girl turns FULL body into her back seat while driving and barrels into my car a day before putting it on the boat for Hawaii.
*Told we would have a house July 4th week in historic homes (very nice ones).
ok those were noted!

July:
*Told week AFTER July 4th that there are NO homes for us in that area until OCTOBER (a lie) and the only house is a Cinderblock house that is really gross and not worth HALF of what we would be paying AND very small.
*Spent rest of month fighting system to prove the lie, looking for houses in case they stick us with the nasty one and dealing with living in a hotel.
*Girls start school in July-could not get schools to figure out placement and fought for gifted program and advanced placement for month.
*Got wrecked car off boat and start dealing with fixing it. New windshield first, then find bodyshop....OH and the replacement of the carseats that no stores on the island has in stock but no company is willing to ship to us either!
*FINALLY prove there are homes, get call at end of month for house opening soon.
*Start attending meeting and training to be leader in "family readiness group" FRG to help the families during the deployment.

August:
*sign for home
*get moving shipment. Things trashed and completely missing....spend next month TRYING to remember everything we owned after not seeing it for 2 months....still dealing with them for the $4000 claim for repairing and replacing stuff...need to call her Monday!
*accepted to grad school a semester early and registered so I can gradute before we move again (not easy at this school).
*unpacked boxes and started decorating.
*Find termite holes in window...during the repairs almost get kicked out of house because damages at very intense!...told them to patch and leave!!....too bad ...I am not leaving!

September:
*I started grad school and started new routine....babysitter at night, etc...
*very busy month with school(s) and robert leaving soon.
*had a little free time to enjoy hawaii.....did some fun stuff FINALLY!!

October:
*Sent Robert to Iraq and started having the NORMAL deployment adventures, everything that could have gone wrong while he was here waited until the day he left.

November:
*Complete blur of crazy storms and schoolwork!!! and of course all the unfinished things listed below..... the list is too long!

December:
*Freak storm of the century at beginning of the month wipes out houses, floods our area in the middle of the island and causes road damage to last months...missed final for class and had to do a make-up speech in a cubicle instead of a large classroom (one-on-one....don't recommend it unless it is a job interview!)
*Mother-in-law passed away the day after Christmas after a severe oxygen issue.
*Same day a few hours later a 15 hour blackout hits the entire island!
* spent next few days getting travel issues and Red Cross messages out to Robert in Iraq.

January:
*In Cali for memorial and support. We really enjoyed seeing everyone, but not for the reason we were there.
*Girls missed 2 days of school (Sorenna's first days EVER!)
* Came back into a huge storm that shut down the schools across the entire state so the girls didn't start back until after the long weekend (1 month and 2 days after Christmas break started).
*CAME HOME TO AN ENTIRE HOUSE OF FURRY THINGS!!! Mold had taken over the house in 2 weeks...crazy stuff!
*Diagnosed with walking pneumonia and on meds for weeks....coughing.

Many crazy things have happened and continue to happen.


LIST of crazy things:
Fridge motor not working, computer monitor crashed, TV blew, microwave starts on its own, oven had a RAT fried in the back of it, washer broke and an HOUR after the repair guy leaves....the dryer tanked...oh and started to work again for NO reason....crazy!

SO, that brings me to my current issue, the ghost in my house.
I had thought it strange that everything was going haywire in my house from day one, but tried to brush it off as moving adventures. I tried to figure out why my house seemed to have a magnet for odd things.
At night I would see shadows move but chalked it up to angles of the cars going by, even if there wasn't one I heard or saw.
All these things were explainable in my head, but after the washer and dryer incident...NO WAY!
So, here's the story....
My neighbor came over a few weeks ago and wanted to wash laundry because hers had broken. I was perfectly fine with that. When the repair guy came out he told her the electrical part for the spin cycle was shot. He replaced it and all was well. We had thought that was an odd thing to break and I said ...out loud.....that I was happy mine was spinning.
OK, my ghost must have heard that.
My spin cycle quit working on Superbowl Sunday (days after hers was fixed).

I thought it was odd that the same piece broke. But there is more. The reason mine broke was not electrical. MY plastic piece that holds that electrical piece in place was SNAPPED off. This very thick piece of plastic is under the rim and very tight and not anywhere it can be snapped in half. It was a forced break!
The repair guy said it looked like I broke it off with a screwdriver. Why would anyone do that?
I told him the backyard was an ancient burial ground and that I might have a ghost...he said he wasn't sure about that and fixed the washer.
So, I thought it odd and my neighbor and I laughed about it.
But that same afternoon after only one load washed and dried....THE DRYER QUIT!
That was nuts. I was so mad....really mad!
I tried every setting, every heat, every section....all the combos to see if one would work. NOTHIN'!
I was talking to my friend and while I was explaining it, I did it all again...NOTHIN'!
I called DAN the appliance man and asked him to come back and explained it again....still doing the checks as I was speaking...still not believing it was broken....NOTHIN'!

I went to school and figured Dan would fix it the next day and I would be done...everything would have been new or repaired at that point.

Then when I got home from school that night and I was talking to the FRG leader on the phone and laughing about the crazy events....I told her my dryer was not working and all the things I had done to test it....I of course was "doing" them as I was explaining.....and the stupid thing STARTED!!!!
Ok, so now I am completely freaked out.
I did NOT cancel the appointment with Dan. I was thinking the thing was unsafe and a fire threat.
Dan comes and does a very complete check to include my NEW breaker box to see if that was the issue (Those were replaced New years eve).
Dan said "sometimes" ants will get in between the starter fuse and keep it from starting for a second....but not for minutes spread out across an hour!
He looked for a trail or a colony at this point,....and NOTHIN'!
I asked Dan how BIG the bug had to be to keep it from working that long.???
He said...NO CLUE!
THEN he said....you really might have a ghost!

Ok, so now I have the priest coming to bless the walls in the house and throw some holy water around and hopefully save me any more stress.

That said, I LOVE my house, I LOVE Hawai'i, I LOVE my college and our family is really happy!
Robert is in Iraq, but is very happy with the purpose of his tour there and his location.
When he comes HOME....he is coming to paradise...and I hope to have Jethro moved out and going to THE LIGHT!
Yes, I named him!
Can't scream at him if you don't have a name for him.
My neighbors have all had issues with the friendly visitors. One girl had a ghost who grabbed her kids legs.
NONE of her friends will come to her house. I don't blame them if there is grabbing involved!
She told them to leave and go to the light and all is well now.
My other neighbor sees the shadows too. Her house has a fence in the back, so she can't even see the cars passing, so there goes that reasoning.
I love walking my kids to school every morning, talking as we walk the mile. I love that it is tank top weather (normally) year round.
I LOVE my friends and neighbors and the organizations that do so many things to support deployments.
We saw High School Musical...the musical for free!
There is no reason to want to leave any time soon because I have replaced and repaired everything in my house at this point.

ALL is right in the world...and Jethro will hopefully relocate soon. :)