Month: April 2012

Why Do We Work?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Working at the Production CompanyBack in the 1980s, when driving back from the San Fernando Valley to Brentwood, I was listening to KCRW when the song “Just a Waitress” came on the radio. I fell in love with the song, and eventually learned it came from the Stephen Schwartz musical “Working“. Eventually, I got a recording of the show from someone over Usenet, and fell in love with the music. I eventually saw the show sometime in the 1990s at PCPA Theatrefest in Solvang, and it holds a special niche in my musical favorites. So when I discovered that it was being done by a small theatre in Hollywood, I worked to squeeze it into the schedule. Thus, this afternoon found us at The Lex Theatre in Hollywood seeing The Production Company’s production of Stephen Schwartz’s “Working“.

For those who aren’t familiar with “Working“, it is based on one of the collections of oral histories done by Studs Terkel titled ” Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do“. In this book, Studs talked to lots of people and asked them about their jobs. Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso then took a number of these stories and wove them together into a musical quilt of people talking about their jobs, integrating music by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor, and lyrics by Schwartz, Carnelia, Grant, Taylor, and Susan Birkenhead. As you can see, this is a stellar collection of composers and lyricists, and “Working” has some of the best music around. There isn’t a through plot, although there is a message: people work for various reasons: for the money, for their family, and sometimes, just because they are proud of what they and want to leave some form of mark on the world. Since the original production, a few songs have become dated and were replaced: in particular, “Newsboy” was dropped, and “I’m Just Moving” was added.

This is also an ensemble show: often actors play multiple characters, depending on the song. This is especially true in a small theatre. The ensemble that The Production Company assembled was very strong — I only had a few quibbles. Going in alphabetical order… Lane Allison (Pam (Babe), Enid) not only come first alphabetically, but was my favorite of all the female actors in the cast. She was particuarly strong in the number “I’m Just Moving”. Not only did Lane have a strong singing voice, but her face was extremely expressive and she just seemed to radiate joy in the characters she protrayed. Michael D’Elia (Roberto, Mason soloist, Ralph) was particularly strong in “Un Mejor Dia Vendra” and as the soloist in “Mason”: he had a wonderful singing voice and was very expressive and moving. Margaret Dwyer (Roberta, Millwork Soloist, Heather) was generally good, although she didn’t quite have the right voice for “Millwork”, at least to my taste. However, her monologue as the hooker was wonderful. Harmony Goodman* (Kate, Grace, Sharon) was notable as the lead millworker in “Millworker”, and did a very good job with one of my favorite songs, “Just a Housewife”. Kurt Andrew Hansen* (Mike) was excellent in his numerous songs: he was great as the steelworker, did a wonderful job on “Fathers and Songs”, and was just a joy to watch in the ensemble. Randy Wade Kelley (Frank, Tom Charlie) was also notable during his monologue in “Fathers and Son”. Larry Lederman* (Al, Trucker) [who we’ve seen before in “Gypsy“] was great as “Lovin’ Al” and in other numerous small roles. Judy Nazemetz* was great as the teacher in “Nobody Tells Me How”, although she needed a bit more belt and bravado to pull off “It’s an Art” (she was playing more to the humorous side). Pamela Taylor (Amanda Maggie) [who we’ve seen before in “Blood Brothers“] was wonderful in all her numbers — she was particularly strong in “Cleanin’ Women” and her expressiveness. Lastly, Michael Zemenick* (Rex, Anthony, Joe) was very strong — both in acting (as the Mason) and in singing (in numbers such as “Joe” — a number I normally don’t like, but Zemenick made very good).

As I said, a strong ensemble. The production was directed by August Viverito, assisted by T L Kolman (who also was the producer), who did an excellent job of turning the actors into characters. I particularly noticed how he had the actors in the background moving in character during numbers (such as “It’s an Art”, among others). Choreography was by Nancy Dobbs Owen, who did an excellent job of meaningful movement in the small Lex theatre space. Musical direction was by Richard Berent, who played piano on stage, assisted by George “Drew” Derieux on guitar and John Harvey on percussion.

The set design did a wonderful job of making the show current, echoing the recent “occupy” movement and the battles against unions in Wisconsin. This design, which would have made Studs Turkel proud, was by the director, August Viverito. Lighting design was by Ric Zimmerman, and made good use of both conventional and LED lighting (although the latter tended to flicker as it came on). Customes were by Kelly Graham, and worked quite well. Christopher Carver and CB Spencer were the production stage managers.

The Production Company’s “Working”  continues at the Lex Theatre until May 6. You can get tickets through Brown Paper Tickets; they may be available on Goldstar as well. It is well worth seeing.

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: The last weekend in April sees us out in Thousand Oaks for “Once Upon a Mattress” at Cabrillo; I may book tickets for “The Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse on that Sunday or perhaps the following weekend (heard it on LA Theatre Works and it sounds good). May begins with “Dames at Sea” at the Colony.  It also brings the senior dance show at Van Nuys HS, the Spring Railfest at Orange Empire, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at REP East, and it may also bring “Follies” at the Ahmanson. Oh, and May also has my daughter’s HS graduation. June is more open, but does feature both “Addams Family” and “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Pantages. As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Movin’ Out (2002 Original Broadway Cast): Goodnight Saigon

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Making the Right Decision

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You’re probably thinking this is another post about my daughter’s college decision. You would be wrong.

Yesterday, I spent the day being a judge at a fascinating competition at UCLA: the IEEE Student Chapter was holding an ethics competition. There were four teams — two from UCSD, one from UCLA, and one from UCI — that were presented with a situational case study, and had to determine what the correct course of action was. The purpose of the judges was to assess their presentation and conclusions, question their reasoning, and determine if it fit within the decision that came up in a similar situation presented to the National Board of Professional Engineers.

Fascinating concept, isn’t it.

You’re probably curious what the situation was. I’m not 100% sure I should share it, as it might be used in other competitions. Basically, it was a conflict of interest situation involving someone on leave from a company writing a request for proposal, and then assessing proposals in the same field. The four teams came up with differing conclusions, some for the right reasons, and some for the wrong reasons. The hardest part was the judging, for we had a team that came up with the right answer for the wrong reason, and a team that came up with the wrong answer, but had a good rationale basis for their position.

It was truly a fun day, and something I’d enjoy doing again. I thank the UCLA Chapter of the IEEE for inviting me.

 

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More College Musings

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First, if you haven’t read and commented on my post “Paying for College“, please do so. I want your opinion.

As you can guess by that post, college has been on my mind of late. Over lunch, I’d like to share with you a few articles and observations as to why that is:

A lot of articles of late have been talking about the impact that student loans are having on students. The Wall Street Journal has a good article on this. The article notes how the high level of student debt is affecting student credit ratings, preventing students from buying houses, getting married, and moving on with life. The article notes “Most students get little help from colleges in choosing loans or calculating payments. Most pre-loan counseling for government loans is done online, and many students pay only fleeting attention to documents from private lenders. Many borrowers “are very confused, and don’t have a good sense of what they’ve taken on,” says Deanne Loonin, an attorney for the National Consumer Law Center in Boston and head of its Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project. ” This was one of the reasons I asked my questions: I’m trying to figure out what is managable in terms of student (and parent) debt, and of the various debt instruments out there, how best to structure them. Thinking this out ahead of time should help in the long run.

Part of this problem, of course, occurs because of the “College Tax”. Huffington Post has a nice commentary on this. The “College Tax” is the amount of money the government decides you will be expected to pay for college based on your reported financial information. The more you earn and save for college, the higher your college tax will be.  That’s partially why I’m so focused on finances right now. Here’s a telling quote from the article: “If you had a good income the year before your student enters college, then the FAFSA form is going to assess you a higher college tax, even if you were unemployed the two previous years. If you scrimped and saved to set aside money to prepare to pay for college, the FAFSA raises the price and raids your assets, which might make you wonder why you didn’t just spend that money, since you’re going to lose it anyway. […] When it comes to college costs, the more a family saves, the more the college tax system will charge. In other words, it penalizes savings. This makes college tuition a fast-moving conveyer belt for those in the middle class, who cannot comfortably afford the listed tuition prices at most schools. Low-income families have a low college tax, and will receive financial assistance. High-income families have a high college tax, with the means to pay it. Those in the middle classes will find, however, that the more they hustle to meet the high price — by working more hours or saving more money — the higher the price goes, always out of reach. The financial aid system treats them like Tantalus, hopelessly trying to reach for a piece of fruit above or a drink of water below. These are the people who, ironically, sometimes earn too much to afford to send their child to the college of their choice, because they are considered too affluent to qualify for aid but do not make enough to pay the full price without taking a huge hit to their standard of living. ” The article is very good — but doesn’t make clear the one place where money isn’t seen by the FAFSA: retirement money that you can’t get too. The FAFSA algorithms are another reason for my post last night: I’m trying to figure out the best way to pull out the money to reduce the “College Tax” for next year (as I presume they reassess every year).

One last observation: I’ve noticed that since Erin decided on UC Berkeley, my emotional tie to my alma mater, UCLA, has gotten stronger. I am going to be on campus tomorrow judging an IEEE Student Ethics competition, and I plan to pick up a “UCLA Alumni” sticker for my car. Watching Erin get ready to go off to college brings back memories of my college years.

Music: My Tennessee Mountain Home (Dolly Parton): The Wrong Direction Home

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Paying for College

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As you can guess by the picture, the decision has been made regarding which university for Erin. The intent to register goes in this week, followed shortly by the housing application (she likes the mini-suites in Units 1 or 2 best). The next question is: “How do we pay for this?”

Now, I’m not asking “Where do we come up with the money?” That’s a more private question. My question here is: Given the variety of funding sources available, how should we prioritize them and what should we take from where. Here are the funding sources as I see them, excluding any merit scholarship money we might get:

  • Student Savings. Savings accounts of the student, set aside in the student’s name for college.
  • Subsidized Federal Direct Student Loans. Loans where the government pays the interest while the student is in school; student begins repayment of accrued interest and principle six months after graduation. Current rate: 6.8%
  • Unsubsidized Federal Direct Student Loans. Similar to the above, except the student is responsible for all interest.
  • Savings Bonds. Mostly issued in the parents name, payable on death to the student, but can be gifted to the student.
  • California Scholarshare. Money accumulated in a 125(b) 529 account.
  • Parent Savings. Money the parents have in, essentially, cash or near cash accounts.
  • Parent Loans. Usually the Federal Direct Parent Plus Loans. Repayment starts 60 days after final loan disbursement for the year, although payments can be deferred while the student is in school. Interest accrues. Current rate: 7.9%.

Other factors to consider: Interest makes the overall cost of education more expensive, so a loan with a rate of 6.8% means that the school costs are 6.8% more than if you paid cash. If you can’t earn enough to cover that, you may be better off paying cash, if you have it. Further, there are origination fees of 1% for all Federal Direct Loans to students, and 4% for Direct Parent Plus loans. This makes loaned money more expensive.

Some additional factors: I know there is a tax write-off for tuition expenses, but I’m not sure how you get it. I know that student funds are “taxed” at a higher rate in the FAFSA form, so spending those down faster might mean more money in subsequent years. Savings bonds, if gifted, will probably be taxed at a lower rate; if they haven’t maxed out on interest, they are still earning good interest. Doing some level of student loans is a good thing — especially if you pay them off early — for it does wonders for the student’s credit rating. Also, if you pay them off quickly, the overall interest expense is lower (at least I believe student loans are simple interest and not amortized, like home loans). On the other hand, you don’t want to come out of the process saddling the student — or the parent — with excessive loans.

Here’s the ultimate question: given all these factors, what is the best approach to take in terms of what amounts to draw from what accounts. For example, the answer might be: The parent pays the maximum deductable tuition credit, and then turns to subsidized loans, paying them off that year. Scholarshare is used next, followed by Savings Bonds. Next is cash on hand from both parties, followed by unsubsidized loans. Now, that’s just a guess. I’m going to be asking my tax adviser on this, as well as the college planning folks, but I thought I would get your opinion as well. Those who have been recent students: What is the best approach?

 

 

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Rabbi John

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Last night, I learned of the passing early Wednesday morning of Rabbi John Sherwood, a dear friend.

I first met Rabbi John through my wife — she had been active at Temple Emet of Woodland Hills, and wanted John to officiate at our wedding. Over the years we talked many times — he was a regular contributor to my mailing list and the FAQ. He named our daughter. He was going to do her bat mitzvah until he got sick.

For the longest time, John’s spiritual home was Temple Emet of Woodland Hills. I don’t think he was the founding rabbi, but he was there for 23 years. Before that, I know he was a rabbi at North Valley Reform, which through mergers became our current congregation, Ahavat Shalom in Northridge. John remained at Emet until the merger with Shir Chadash to form the current congregation Kol Tikvah. At that time he retired and moved off to Ventura.

Retired, however, does not mean inactive. John was active through Ventura and on the web, officiating on cruises and doing all sorts of good work. We had been out of touch the last few years, alas, so I don’t have the latest details on what he had been doing.

The online obituary for John may be found here. I found a better summary of John’s career here:

Dr. John M. Sherwood is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emet of Woodland Hills, California, where he served as Senior Rabbi for twenty-two years. Early in his career, he was the first reform rabbi in western Canada, and taught in the religious studies department of the University of British Columbia. For six years he was an adjunct professor of pastoral studies at St. John’s Roman Catholic Seminary in Camarillo, California. A graduate of the Los Angeles Police Academy advanced chaplaincy course, he was a chaplain and crisis intervention counselor for the Department from 1982 to 1997. His colleagues elected him coordinator of the chaplain corps in 1995. He is a past president of the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, and the author of a high holy day prayer book and a number of creative haggadahs. He has written many articles on liturgy and the relationship of Jewish and Christian ceremonial observances. One of his favorite community projects was working with the priest-rabbi dialogue committee that is jointly sponsored by the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and the Archdiocese of Southern California. Upon his retirement from the pulpit, he qualified as a personal fitness trainer in order to develop a motivational program bringing mind, body and spirit together. His interest in computers has led him to pursuing intellectual interests all over the world through the Internet. He is a frequent respondent to the Union for Reform Judaism’s “Ask the Rabbi” web site, and that of Jewish.com, and a regular contributor to the Liberal Jewish Newsletter. When not following his academic pursuits, he enjoys travel with his wife, Dolores. These journeys, coupled with his passion for scenic photography, have led to the creation of his slide lecture series entitled “Judaism Around the World, from Budapest to Bangkok and Back.” His biography appears in the Marquis Who’s Who in Religion in America, as well as several other similar publications. Since moving to Oxnard, he has become a chaplain for the Ventura County Fire and Rescue Department, is a member and chairperson of both the Oxnard Clergy Association and the Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Association. He led the two organizations to joint sponsorship of a new program for the west county in interfaith education. He and his wife, Dolores served for three years as chair and vice-chair of the Oxnard City Sea Air Community Council, and as members at-large. He has been active in environmental causes, specifically the Save our Open space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) movement. He is also a professor for Elderhostel. He has served on the executive committee of a study group created by the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor John Flynn. The group is known as “Society Ecology Economy Ventura County Vision”. The Board of Supervisors also appointed him to the newly created County Election Finance Ethics Commission, of which his colleagues elected him vice chair, in which position he served for two years. He served for five years on the Institutional Review Board of St. John’s Regional Medical Center. In addition, he serves as co-chair of the Oxnard Police-Clergy Council. He is a member of the Oxnard Community Relations Commission. He is a recipient of the California Central Coast Anti-Defamation League Distinguished Community Service Award.

John gave me one piece of advice I’d like to share as part of this brief note. Back when we got married, we visited him at his house. His note with directions reminded us to stop and enjoy his beautiful rose bushes and their fragrance. I think of that note to this day when we walk by roses.

Rest well, John.

 

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Dance, Exploded, On Stage

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This has been a crazy weekend. I’ve already talked about the whirlwind trip to Cal, but I neglected to tell you how it started: a trip to the Pantages to see a dancing boy.

Our crazy day Saturday actually started with 8pm non-refundable, non-exchangable tickets at the Pantages; further, while we were seeing Billy Elliott at the Pantages, Erin was seeing American Idiot downtown with a friend. Add to this a dinner that was more expensive than I expected (but good), a back that was (and still is) acting up, and some other unnamed factors, and I wasn’t in the best of moods going in. So what did I think of the show? Pretty good, in spite of all that.

Billy Elliot: The Musical basically tells the same story as the original movie did: It is the story of a boy who discovers he loves ballet dancing, in the context of a hard-scrabble Northern England town where the life is coal mining, and that life has been thrown in limbo by the national strike of the coal miners against the UK government. So you have two parallel stories: a boy discovering dancing, and a town where there miners are facing the British police, hating Margaret Thatcher, and seeing the end of a way of life. They seem like incongruous stories, but somehow they work together, augmented by the music and the story. Luckily, the stage version featured a book by the author of the movie, Lee Hall, who also did the lyrics. The energetic music was by Sir Elton John.

What makes this production is the dancing. In particular, the dancing of the young Billy. This effort is so strenuous that there are four Billys that rotate over the various performances. “Our” Billy was Zach Manske, a 12 year old from Minnesota who did a remarkable job in full-on ballet sequences, as well as the expressive “Angry Dance”, remarkable tap numbers. You name it, this boy could dance it.

Another remarkable performer was the actress that played Mrs. Wilkinson, Leah Hocking. Hocking had a remarkable singing voice: clear and strong. She could also dance and act quite well. This came out from the start during her first number, “Shine”.

Few other characters “shine” individually. Cameron Clifford, who was “our” Michael, did a wonderful job as the cross-dressing lad who was Billy’s best friend. Michael’s signature song, “Expressing Yourself”, is perhaps the underlying theme of the show: do what you love, be yourself. The number is a remarkable transformation and a joy to watch.

The other interesting transformation in the show is achieved by Rich Hebert, playing Dad. Here the transformation is in the character, who goes from being a strong union miner with appropriate stereotypes to one who is 100% behind his son’s ballet. Hebert plays this well.

As for the rest of the cast: it is so large, and the numbers have such an ensemble effort that it is difficult to pick people out. This was also made difficult by a number of substitutions during the show. The remainder of the cast was: Patti Perkins (Grandma), Cullen R. Titmas (Tony), Joel Blum (George), Samanta Blaire Cutler (Debbie), Kat Hennessey (Mum, Ensemble), Maximilien A. Baud (Older Billy, Scottish Dancer, Ensemble), Job Christenson (Mr. Braithwaite, Accordion Specialty, Ensemble, u/s Big Davey), Mitch Poulos (Big Davey, Ensemble, u/s Dad, u/s George), Madison Barnes (Ballet Girl, u/s Debbie), Michael Biren (Swing, Fight Captain, Dance Captain), Damien Brett (Ensemble, Postman, u/s Mr. Braithwaite), Sasha Ely-Judkins (Ensemble, Lesley, u/s Mrs. Wilkinson, u/s Mom), Tim Funnell (Scab, Posh Dad, Ensemble), Richard Gatta (Swing), Susan Haefner (Ensemble, Clipboard Lady, u/s Mrs. Wilkinson, u/s Mum, u/s Grandma), Regan Mason Haley (Tracey Atkinson), Christopher M. Howard (Ensemble, u/s Older Billy/Scottish Dancer), Patrick Lavallee (Ensemble, Acro Captain), Alison Levenberg (Dance Captain, Swing, Resident Choreographer), Kent M. Lewis (Swing), David Light (Ensemble, Pit Official, u/s Tony), Rebecca Marlowe (Swing, u/s Debbie), Morgan Martin (Ballet Girl), Joel Newsome (Ensemble, Mr. Wilkinson, u/s George, u/s Big Davey, u/s Scab/Posh Dad), Jeffrey Pew (Ensemble, u/s Tony, u/s Scab/Posh Dad), Matthew Prescott (u/s Older Billy/Scottish Dancer, Resident Choreographer), Jillian Rees-Brown (Ensemble, u/s Grandma), Vanessa Russo (Swing), Brionna Trilling (Ballet Girl, u/s Small Boy), Genai Veal (Ballet Girl), Lexi Viernes (Ballet Girl), Olivia Wang (Ballet Girl), Thad Turner Wilson (Ensemble, u/s Mr. Braithwaite), Natalie Wisdom (Swing), Danielle Victoria Znutas (Ballet Girl), Jeremy Zorek (Small Boy). Also deserving credit, although we didn’t see them, are the Billys and Michaels that didn’t play this performance: Ty Forhan, Kylend Hetherington, and J. P. Viernes as the alternate Billys, and Jacob Zelonky as the alternate Michael.  As you can see: a large cast, which (due to the large number of children) has a large number of understudies and swings that go on at the last minute–sometimes during intermission!

Completing the performance aspect are the creative leads. The production was directed by Stephen Daldry, with Julian Webber and Justin Martin as Associate Directors, Steven Minning as Supervising Resident Director, and Christopher Schilder as Resident Director. The direction was good, although at times the dialect made things difficult to understand. Choreography was by Peter Darling, with Kathryn Dunn (Associate Choreographer), Mary Giattino (Assistant Choreographer), Sean Maurice Kelly (Resident Choreographer), Alison Levenberg (Resident Choreographer), and Matthew Prescott (Resident Choreographer), and numerous dance, fight, and acrobatic captains. The dancing was the strong point of this show: there were remarkable ballets, remarkable tap sequences, and remarkable choreographed movements (especially in numbers such as “Solidarity”, where the ballet girls are intermixed with the striking miners).Joel Rosen was Production Stage Manager; Melissa Chacon was Stage Manager, and Brian D. Gold and Jenifer A. Shenker were Assistant Stage Managers.

Turning to the technical: the set was designed by Ian McNeil: it is perhaps my only complaint with the show. To work with the various tour stages, it uses a border to shrink the wide Pantages stage, and then uses techniques to reduce the height of the stage during many numbers. This gives a cramped feeling that made it harder to watch things. Design supervision was by Edward Pierce. Lighting was by Rick Fisher (assisted by associate lighting designer Kristina Kloss and Daniel Walker) and was effective for the task. The sound design by Paul Arditti (assisted by Tony Smolenski IV, associate sound designer) was good (with good sound effects), but was hampered by the built-in sound dampening of the Pantages theatre that turns everything into muddied noise–this was especially a problem for the Northern England dialects, which are difficult to understand to begin with. Costumes were by Nicky Gillibrand (assisted by Claire Murphy and Rachel Attridge, associate costume designers in the UK and US, respectively)–they conveyed the time period quite well. Wigs and hair design were by Bernie Ardia.

Musical Supervision was by Martin Koch and David Chase. Susan Draus was music director and conductor.

“Billy Elliot: The Musical” continues through May 13. Hint: Go to the box office and get the $25 seats if they are available. They were on the side and perfectly acceptable, and if you go to the box office you don’t have to pay Ticketmaster extortion fees.

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: Next weekend brings student-directed plays at Van Nuys HS (Erin is in one of them), plus I’m judging an ethics competitation at UCLA, and hoping to book tickets for the new production of “Working” at The Production Company in Hollywood (haven’t seen the show in years, opens 3/16). The last weekend in April sees us out in Thousand Oaks for “Once Upon a Mattress” at Cabrillo; I’m also hoping to book tickets for “The Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse on that Sunday (heard it on LA Theatre Works and it sounds good). May begins with “Dames at Sea” at the Colony.  It also brings the senior dance show at Van Nuys HS, the Spring Railfest at Orange Empire, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at REP East, and it may also bring “Follies” at the Ahmanson. Oh, and May also has my daughter’s HS graduation. June is more open, but does feature both “Addams Family” and “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Pantages. As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Barbra Streisand … and other Musical Instruments (Barbra Streisand): The World is a Concerto / Make Your Own Kind of Music / Concerto for Instruments and Appliances

 

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In Which A Decision Is Confirmed…

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Looks like I’m going to have to make a Cal (UC Berkeley) userpic.

Yup. Today we did our whirlwind visit of Berkeley. Left Northridge around 3am, going up US 101 because I-5 was closed due to snow. Arrived at Berkeley around 11am. A friend of Karen’s from HS Science Camp days, Professor Alex Filippenko of the Astronomy Dept (who’s brother also works at the Ranch) arranged for Bianna Mullen to give us a tour of campus. We walked around campus. We saw wonderful buildings, learned about even more wonderful programs, saw students covered in paint (it was evidently some Hindu holiday where you throw paint at each other) and saw dormitories. More importantly, Erin fell in love with the campus and its programs, even more so than she did with Reed. So I’m going to be a Cal Dad, and she’s going to Berkeley!

We left campus around 3pm, had dinner in Santa Nella, and arrived home around 10am via I-5, which showed no trace of snow.

 

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Some Link Stew to End The Week

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What a week! From making a decision regarding Erin’s college (UC Berkeley, meaning a whirlwind one-day trip to visit the campus tomorrow), to a last-minute birthday dinner for my mother-in-law, to my back going out and being beat up by a chiropractor, to learning this morning that my step-mother had a small stroke (don’t worry; my understanding is that the prognosis is a full recovery) — it’s been a roller-coaster ride. Add to this having a load of material to review at work, and I didn’t get much chance to catch up on the news. Still, I saved a few items of note:

Music: Debbie Does Dallas (2002 Original Off-Broadway Cast): The Tennis Court

 

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