2010 Birthday CD

I know it's getting silly to continue making birthday CDs for my sister since most younger people listen to their music on mp3 players, but I went ahead and made a 2010 version anyway:

1) Poker Face: Lady Gaga
2) That's Not My Name: The Ting Tings
3) Part-Time Lover: Stevie Wonder
4) I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near): Michael McDonald - my guess for my sister's favorite on this year's disc. Almost as good as "What a Fool Believes" in my opinion, and that's saying something
5) Flathead: The Fratellis
6) Meet Me Halfway: Black Eyed Peas
7) I Just Called to Say I Love You: Stevie Wonder
8) Blame It On the Boogie: The Jacksons
9) A-Punk: Vampire Weekend
10) Mandolin Rain: Bruce Hornsby - thanks for reminding me of it, blind guy from last season's American Idol!
11) She Wolf: Shakira - I'm pretty sure she's dancing around with SF's North Beach neighborhood and Coit Tower in the background in the video, yes?
12) Sugalumps: Flight of the Conchords - hee hee!
13) Hometown Glory: Adele - her voice is so cool; this track is very touching and has a haunting feeling to it
14) Rosanna: Toto
15) Tootsee Roll: 69 Boyz - this one is last so my sister doesn't have to skip it; I'm sure she'll be too embarrassed to listen to the whole thing. There is some nostalgia there though, and its ridiculous-ness makes me laugh and laugh.

Funny Clothes

I've started a tradition of giving my husband a funny/weird t-shirt for Christmas. This year's was the "Captain Canada" one below left. He has already worn it more times than a related one I got awhile back, which as a Canadian he is embarrassed to wear (I guess it is a slam):

Because I didn't have many good birthday ideas for him this year, I also gave him this shirt in October--hee hee!:











These all came from bustedtees.com, and there are lots more that are hilarious (and some that might offend--don't say I didn't warn you). A few other favorites:

Conan is totally getting a raw deal:









Wouldn't it be scandalous if someone wore this to a ward function?:











This cheeky one comes in child sizes too:











There are even some for board game lovers:

SF Public School Saga

When we moved to San Francisco, I never thought we'd have a kindergartner here. But 1st Brother turns 5 this August, so lately I've had to face facts. A big part of me is uncomfortable with private schools--I just don't feel I belong in that world--and the $20,000 per year tuition plus additional fundraising pressure I've heard about doesn't make me feel open-minded.

That leaves public schools, but it's not as simple as enrolling your child in the school down the street. Apparently because of discrimination lawsuits awhile back, kids in SF can attend any school in the district. But parents have to figure out which ones they like through school tours and other research, apply and list their top 7 choices, then hope for the best. SF tries to get a good mix of kids based on the primary language a child speaks, if they qualify for public housing and free lunch, how much preschool they've had, and if they live in the neighborhood of the requested school. The application also asks for the child's race and parents' educational background, but they supposedly don't factor these things in.

Some parents are willing to drive their kids across the City to school, but I'm not one of them. So the 5 tours I did were at nearby schools. Overall, I was encouraged. I felt really great about 2 of the schools (Yick Wo and Jean Parker if you want to know); the other 3 seemed okay. It's nice in some ways to have options. There are schools that start as early as 7:50 or as late as 9:30 (by the way, kindergarten here is a full 6-hour day. When I asked if half-day kindergarten existed in the district, the 2 principals questioned looked at me like I was speaking Greek). If you don't gel with a principal or don't like the focus or feel of a school, you can potentially go somewhere else without moving.

BUT, I can get fighting mad thinking about the amount of money it must take to administer this lottery system, not to mention the hours spent on tours (and the $63 ticket I got for a parking meter that was expired for 7 minutes while on my final tour). If you'd like to feel really enraged and helpless, read this SF Weekly article from about a month ago titled, "The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S." After reading it, I wanted to go down to City Hall and spin around with my fists held out, hitting anyone I came across.

Anyhoo, the actual classes I visited and teachers I observed in San Francisco's public schools seemed decent. If it ends up that we're still here next fall, I think we could have a good experience. We find out our school assignment in mid-March.

8 months

-Has started sitting up on his own pretty well and is hanging in the high chair now

-Is eating greater quantities of baby food but is confused about puffs and Cheerios. He can pick them up but flails around for awhile then drops them and usually spits them out when we put them in his mouth

-Thought the New Years' snappers 1st Brother popped were hilarious. Also loves coughing and spitting noises and makes lots of them himself

-Is really into smacking surfaces--tables, his chest, my arm, etc.

-Does a fair amount of bah-bah, da-da, ma-ma babbling, which is really great because we can pretend he's referencing us