Selling Paintings

I have some paintings on Craigslist:

Oh No Snow White!
20X24
Mixed Media
$75

Lonely Star

19X25

Acrylic

$30

Caution Zombies Ahead
30X26
Mixed Media
$75

Please contact me if you have any questions about the paintings.

Educating for the Future

by Southbanksteve

I am a product of the education system here in the United States and I listen to program after program on NPR only to realize the system does not benefit the children anymore.


Billions of dollars go into the US school system and unless a student is from a wealthy family or apart of a wealthy school, chances are he/she will have a severe lack in basic education.


California spends, on average, about $8,887 per student, this is about $260,000 going into the class room, $68,000, on average, goes to the teacher where is the rest of the money going?


When teachers buy their own supplies, work 70+ work weeks, have to pay off a master's degree where is the money to help they be paid for their time and energy in the classroom?  


Even though California is one of the lowest in paying per student in the public schools, a quarter of a million is still a huge chunk of change and if the teachers aren't getting it who is?


Obviously it's the infrastructure filled with janitors, secretaries, administrators, who take up most of the funding.  I'm not saying schools do not need infrastructure, however, it is far from streamlined considering how teachers have to buy simple school supplies like paper.


This is a monstrous problem in the system and I truly believe no one wants to deal with it.  charter schools can be better, but not always, however the greatest difference between a charter school and a public one is if the charter fails it's shut down, but if the public school is failing it receives more money.


How does that make any sense?  It sounds like an absent father who throws money at problems rather than go to the root of the issue.  I'm not saying looking into the school system will be easy, but it looks like the whole body needs a therapist.

by Stroble, David

Root causes for the issues pop up everywhere; teachers, money, parents, students the government, but I think we need to dig deeper to an older issue.  Placing similar age groups together, learning the same subject at the same time, different classrooms or no, has not  proven to be an effective teaching practice, honestly it is an experiment.  


To go to a more recent time, the 1950s, schools trained college bound students and blue collar workers on different tracks, but with the manufacturing leaving the US to countries like China this system is no longer valid.


The roots of the educational system are flawed and unless we rip out the old dying roots the system will just try to grow again leaving the education of the future no better than before.

Kitten Rescue

My friend found Olive on the side of the road and he couldn't keep her because his landlord doesn't allow pets.


I cannot help but save an animal since the time my two cats went missing in 2009.  I guess I will become the crazy cat lady when I'm old.


Immediately after I took her in I gave her a flea bath and combed out her fur.  She was infested with fleas and very skinny.  Thankfully she was eating solid kitten food, but she still wasn't pooping on her own.


Honestly I think every parent should go through a kitten fostering just to have a taste of what you go through with a real baby.  For about a week I would wake up every 3-4 hours to feed her and help pee/poop her.  When she finally did poop on my shirt on the second day I sighed with relief.


After about one week I took her to her first vet appointment.  Dr. McCall saw her for no charge and estimated she was about 4 weeks old at the time of the visit.  He was a wonderful vet who used his vast knowledge to encourage me to be as natural as possible.  I already had two cats and I try to buy organic and such for them, but it's nice to have a vet who agrees.

Batman and Olive

My boyfriend and I were unsure if we were going to keep Olive; three cats in a 650 sq. foot space can be pretty crowded.  This was until Batman, our medium haired black cat, literally adopted Olive like a single dad.  After this my boyfriend and I knew they were meant to be.

Right now Olive is about two months old and happily growing up in our house, chasing her tail like the cutie pie she is.  My other cat Anya stays relatively stoic when it comes to Olive, but I think Olive is growing on her.  

Sometimes I think magick just tends to find you in the most mundane places.  Seeing a living being grow up under your feet makes me feel like I'm watching creation happen before my eyes.  On a simpler note, Olive is just too cute not to love.


I have adopted many cats in my life, some by sheer want, others fell into my lap.  If you can adopt please do and if you ever have an opportunity to save a life, please try.


Have you ever rescued an animal?  If so, what was your experience?

Take a Bike, Start Late

Traffic is an issue for many workers who travel far for work and some companies have offered their employees flexible working hours along with working days at home.

I know there are some people who use public transportation and vehicles likes bikes and even though it is a great way to lessen a person's carbon imprint, I know it really sucks waking up at 5 AM to wake up for work.

view from my work

I was thinking it would be a great idea to suggest to employers already implementing the stay at home policy to suggest a special policy for people who do use public transportation or ride a bike to work to have a different starting time.  Not only would it help with traffic, but the more people who use the public transportation system the better it can improve.

I really hate having to drive up to work for about thirty miles to my nanny job up in the hills.  The family lives away from every near by city and has a fantastic view, but it guzzles gas.

I rode of public transportation for four years and I know the system isn't perfect, but the system is also flawed because how we set up are cities is for an ear based on cars.

In the future I imagine a world full of light rails, high speed trains and cities built around these.  I cannot understand California's resistance to a high speed rail, if we don't start now it will only cost us more money.  I really can't stand people who cannot look to the future and only think of themselves.

Boiling in California

I know I'm spoiled because I live in California and the weather usually stays under 80 degrees, but when it rises above the 80 mark I become miserable.

I do not own an air conditioner, both of my employers do not own air conditioners and I'm stuck with one crappy fan to keep me cool.  I feel awful for my plants and 3 cats who are stuck in the house.  What blows the most though is how I cannot go anywhere because traffic is backed up for miles to the beach and it effects all the major freeways.

What did I do today; turn on the fan to blow the hot air out, watch South Park, try to go somewhere cool with air conditioning, cleaned my house when I returned, watched more South Park, took a shower, went out for ice cream and lastly I watered my wilting plants.

No wonder the Native Americans moved to the ocean or hills during the summer, it's freakin hot!  I'm sweating while I'm just sitting here writing, I'll be surprised if I haven't lost weight from sweating.

My boyfriend did order a pool, thank god, it's just a little kiddie pool, but it will be nice and cool in our backyard and I don't care if I turn into a prune.

At least my tomatoes are starting to come in and I probably don't have to worry about the watermelon too much if the heat stays up.

Father's Day is going to be a pain in the butt though because it's just so freakin hot, where can we go? The beach is out, the city is going to be packed, anywhere with air conditioning is going to be a nightmare.  I know it will all be fine, but I'm just cranky because of the heat.

I feel like I didn't do anything productive today, but how can you in the heat.  Lions don't even hunt in the day, so I'm going to follow suit and move about at night.

Missing Cat Update

Name: Pie
Color: Orange and White Tabby
Last Seen: Walters Ave, Campbell, CA, 10/29
Distinct Markings: He is missing a left eye.

Pie is about five years old and has been missing for days. We really miss him and have checked the shelters. One picture looked promising but they were closed on Monday and by Tuesday either killed him or set him up for adoption. We are still looking and cannot stop crying, please help us find our cat!



***UPDATE***
Four days ago, 11/3/2009, he may have been seen at the Farm Milk Dairy @ 900 San Thomas Aquino Rd, Campbell, Ca

My One Eyed Cat is Still Missing

Both of my cats went missing on 10/27, we got one of them back, but the other is still at large.

Color: Orange and White Tabby Shorthair
Unique Feature: Missing Left Eye
Gender: Male (neutered)
Last Seen: 10/27 Campbell, Ca Walters Ave



We checked the local shelters, who only seem to care about licensing and beating you for every penny to bail out your cat.

How ridiculious is it when it costs over 150$ to bail out a cat and it costs 100$-55$ to adopt one? No wonder people abandon their pets in the shelter, it's cheaper to adopt another one than free their own.

We even thought we found him, and called the shelter, but they were closed on Monday, the last legal day they are obligated to hold our lost pet, so we couldn't pick him up until Tuesday.

However, there was no sign of him at the shelter on Tuesday and we were both mad, because how could we pick up our cat yesterday when they weren't open and we called telling them he was our cat?

I pray he wasn't euthanized and I hope we can find him.

We just haven't stopped crying, please help us find him.