Vanessa tells the story of Z

 

Zee turns 1

Wow, what a great day. Cake, tubs of ice cream, friends, gifts, swimming, and many water balloons hurled at unsuspecting youngsters. 

A view of Lake Powell

 

Vanessa provides Zee with some good lovin' 

A great visit home

We had a breathtaking trip home and as always we wish we had additional time. We felt a bit like global nomads as we stayed with various family, friends, Uncles, Aunts, and cousins but it was great to see them – and even greater that they made such an effort to care for us (even giving up their own beds – that was much appreciated Shayne, Efrain, Ted, and Maggie). In each place we were surrounded by lots of love and Zee along with Vanessa and I enjoyed all the extra attention we were extended. (To view a plethora of photos from the trip click here)

We spent our first few days staying with our good friends and making reconnaissance missions to see Vanessa’s step mom, my sister and Zee’s cousins before heading up North to spend a few days with my parents in beautiful Prescott. After eating the best homemade Mexican food at the Eagles Nest (aka my parents place) in the Southwest we then made our way North to Lake Powell.

We spent about four days on a house boat on beautiful Lake Powell which spans Arizona and Utah. What a magical place. There were ten of us on the large boat equipped with stove, kitchen, appliances and A/C. It was even equipped with a slide on the back of the boat which provided lots of entertainment. My brother-in-law also had his ski boat which made for some pretty amazing wake boarding at sunset. We explored canyons, swam, and relaxed. Our last night on the lake was interesting as a storm blew in and gave our boat pretty good shaking. The boat radio was quite busy as fellow boaters radioed in for help as they were knocked into rocks by the strong winds in the dark of night. Mayday was the word of the night. Fortunately for us we had anchored in well and suffered no damage. It was a great way to spend a week with family in one of the most attractive places in the world.

After our boat ride we caught some shut-eye at my parents nest in Prescott, AZ and stopped by to visit Vanessa’s sister and brother-in-law which included more of Zee’s cousins before continuing on to Mule Creek, New Mexico, a small town near the AZ border with a population of about 100 people. Billy the Kid, of Western gun fighter fame, used to hide out here and his little shack still stands and is within walking distance of Vanessa’s parents abode. It is a very quiet and picturesque place with not much to do but relax in a hammock, read, hike, and watch the hummingbirds feed (just what the body needed). We were joined there by Vanessa’s brother and wife and their son Ryder from San Francisco who is not much younger than Zee. It was nice to for the boys to catch up We threw a nice pre-party for Zee’s upcoming 1st year old birthday this Sunday

After the trip we drove back to Phoenix where we stayed with Vanessa’s good friend who is planning on getting married in December (which means we will be back) and they had lots to talk about in regards to the big day. Our final day was spent at my sister’s house and my parents, and Uncle Max came down to visit. Zee was passed from one loving relative to the other and he wore an adult sized grin the entire day. The day was filled with lots of coffee, great food, family and interesting conversation – the kind of days I long for.

Did I tell you we even went house hunting??? More later.

No Longer a Baby

Where does the time go? Our little Zee will no longer be a litte baby after August 6th. Yep, he's on his way to toddler land. It's funny how I look at Zee's growth and it suddeny dawns on me how fast I am ageing. Ahhh, come on wisdom, where are ya?

We had a wonderful time while back in the US and a pre-party was in order given we had to jump on the big bird home before Zee's actual big day. Zee was surrounded by an abundance of love and good times. It was great for him to spend quality time with his grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. We plan on having a pool party on Sunday for his big day with lots of cake and tubs of ice cream. Click here if you want to see a plethora of additional pics.

Here in Arizona with our friends

Zee and Colin share some good times together.

A run in the Jungle

Yes, I am alive and well. The jungle run was fantastic. We started in the jungles outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday June 3rd at 7:30 AM and finished in the dark of night at 8:00 PM. One of my team mates had to drop out due to extreme dehydration, heart arrhythmias, and slurring of words (mostly obscenities) at a check point around 5 hours. We spent the last 7 hours picking off other teams trying to make up for lost time. It was the type of run you would hope for - Leeches, blood, mud, rivers, tumbles and spills, more blood, plenty of rain, and extreme exhaustion. I’m hooked. More to follow later…

Nigel and Shirine Wed!

 
Our dear friends, Nigel and Shirine got married this weekend in Bali! The ceremony was gorgeous and the party that followed... divine! 

The Happy Newlyweds

  

Not to be outdone by daddy, Zee also sports a Batik for the wedding

  

Breakdancer in the HOUSE

  

I always love a good boogie!

  

Genius baby learns to read and make own food at 9 months!

 
Zee gets really into his bedtime reading. I caught him studying up on dietary recommendations and recipes for applesauce. After a few minutes of study he remarked, without looking up from the text, "Hey mom, I don't think I'm getting enough Vitamin A!" 

GQ Junior

 
The latest fashion for the 'under one' set this season is a striped onesie. Accessories include sockies, plastic bibs and baseball hats. 

Hey good lookin'

  

Busy, Busy, Busy

Ok all, I feel very bad because I have not had the time to update the blog. I feel like I am disappointing my readers and therefore my readership is going down and may never return. I have not provided you an update on Vanessa’s birthday or on Zee’s new found love…yep he’s discovered the mirror and he loves himself. Vanessa and Zee are doing great. I may have to have Vanessa take over for a bit but she is as crazy busy as myself.

I am swamped and I hoping to climb out of this deep trench soon. I have eighty presentations to grade and I am organizing a “speak in” tomorrow with about six speakers. They will speak on prescient issues of the 21st Century (e.g. environment, human rights, science and technology, etc). My students are beginning their last unit and I want them to get an idea of what is going on from people in the trenches and just how scary this world of ours is looking. My students will have to research a topic in a group and present their issue at the end of seven weeks. It should be an interesting. I will try to post some significant visuals soon and hopefully provide more interesting news soon…..time, time, time.

Zee and Mommy are all smiles 

New Look

You may have noticed an addition to the blog. I have included a site from www.last.fm think you will enjoy it. Basically you are able to enter a band or artist you enjoy and this site will put together a compilation of similar artists for your streaming pleasure. It is a great way for you to get some exposure to some less well known but exciting groups out there for free. Create your own radio station with songs you really want to hear. You will see the last five songs that I am listening to. If you refresh you will see new songs if I am listening at that moment. I have eclectic taste. We can even link up. My call name is Grubstaker if you want to look me up and connect. A special thanks to Mkinzer for sharing this site. Enjoy!

A Stellar Day

I love great days! Today was one of them. I had taught my students/kids about Command and Market economies but I wanted to figure out a way for them to apply this knowledge to the real world. This crazy world of globalization in which you pick up the phone to order a Dell Inspiron notebook computer from Tennessee and the person who answers the phone is located in Bangalore, India, who then sends the order to Penang, Malaysia that manages the ‘just in time’ processing orders. The microprocessor comes from the Philippines, the memory from Korea owned by a Taiwanese company, the graphics card from China…..until you get your computer assembled from parts from over 400 suppliers throughout the world in less than a week. A world in which, according to the book “The World IS Flat” by Thomas Friedman “No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s. (Border skirmishes and civil wars don’t count, because McDonald’s usually served both sides”.

I ended up creating a tribunal/role play that dealt with the issues of ‘sustainable’ development and ethical trade. The scenario was a fictional multinational toy factory located in the US that was getting bad press because the factory workers located in China were striking for higher wages and better working conditions. The students were put in five groups: Toy Store executives in the US who contracted out manufacturing of their toys to factory owners in China, factory owners in China (the suppliers who manufacture the toys and hire low wage employees), the Chinese government, all rural women factory workers (who earned lower than minimum wage, worked 72 hours a week, had compulsory overtime, and lived 30 women to a room with little to no ventilation). The last group was an International Foundation for Ethical sourcing that had been hired to bring all the groups to together to resolve the issue of the factory workers striking for better wages and working conditions as well as to reduce the blowback for the company. These students acted as the mediators/judges/arbitrators. I told them they had to resolve the dispute of the factory workers on strike because the strikes were spreading throughout China and threatened the economic and political stability of China. This was all based on a real case study. I watched in amazement how the students reacted.

To cut to the chase the students loved the lesson and although they had learned the benefits of a market economy they also gained a better understanding of the other side of market economy that is often overlooked. The issue of TNCs locating to countries of the South because wages are lower, unions are weak, and environmental standards are low and not strictly enforced. The fight to get the lowest price on goods and the highest profit margin which may have negative affects on the workers.

The students were able to see how this idea of globalization is playing out. The demands were heated, fingers were pointed, bribes were attempted, and death threats made (just like in real life) and learning happened. They could see how hard it was to maintain codes of conduct, pay fair wages, and still make everyone happen in an ever changing world and in a country that wants more multinationals to boost the economy but walks a tight rope on how the command side for fear of losing the market side to other countries.

I had several students stay after class to ask me why people stay in jobs they don’t like or in which they mistreat people. I love it when it they question. I love it when they are engaged. These students of mine who will be running businesses of their own, be leaders of countries, making policy….it’s a good thing. One of my students asked me why these workers who mistreat people just don’t leave their jobs? I asked her what she thought. Another student chimed in to help her out and said because they are paid a lot of money and if they leave the job they probably wont find a job that pays the same amount. I ask if being paid a lot is the most important thing. I see blank stares and heads start to move from side to side. "You know," I say, "I used to have a job that paid very well and I wasn't passionate about it. Now I am a teacher. Do you think I get paid a lot?" That was a no brainer. "No, Mr. Dickey we know teachers don't make a lot of money." "But do you think I'm happy?" "Yeah, you're happy and I think that is more important than making money because you feel better and don't hurt people," my normally shy student replies. "I agree with you," I tell her. " These factory owners could always quit and do economics, " she says. When I ask her what she means she tells to me they can trade online like her. She says she has made a great sum of money e-trading on the Internet. She explains that economics is all she has known. Her parents are economists and since she has been a small child economics are all they talk about at home. Even her grandmother trades online. She says the problems we discuss are often talked about at home and apply to buying stocks. Did I mention she is in the eighth grade? Another student asks me if the workers at our school are treated fairly. Another student from a class I had earlier in the day quickly reports that the workers are quite happy and said they make a fair wage….she smiles and says she has already walked around and asked them. Did I tell you I love my job!