My Famous Brother

Jeff was on KTLA Channel 5 this morning, talking about his book and giving some "clean-up" tips. He was great, and completely natural, if I do say so myself. Check out his clip here; it is about 5 minutes long and totally worth your time. And if you haven't purchased the book yet, you can get here, or at a Barnes and Noble near you (just look in the social science section). He has a couple more TV appearances coming up in San Diego, so look for more proud sister posts. Coming to a blog near you!

School Fire

Most of you know my friend, Vanessa. She is a second and third-grade bilingual teacher at Trace Elementary in San Jose. On Monday morning, her school burned down. Sixteen classrooms, the school library, and the computer learning center (which had at least 30 laptops/computers in it), were destroyed. Vanessa's classroom was one of those destroyed. She lost all the books, DVDs, the skillet and popcorn popper she had brought in for class parties and science projects, BYU memorabilia, study abroad photos, maps, and other odds and ends. The school has insurance, but not all of the personal items are covered, if any. So Vanessa and the other teachers will have to re-build their classrooms, one book at a time. There are so many things each teacher needs, but as Vanessa is near and dear to my heart, I'm mostly worried about her. So, if anyone feels that they can or have the ability to donate books, educationally appropriate DVDs (such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet), or gift cards to Target or Amazon, that would be much appreciated. I am willing to collect items and deliver them to Vanessa, but if you know where she lives, you can also send stuff directly to her, or to her husband's work place. That address is:

Robb Thurmond

Trace Elementary School

46269 Warm Springs Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94539

I've seen how stressful the beginning of school is for Vanessa, and I'm sure it is the same for all teachers. This only makes it more stressful for her, and the other teachers and students affected by the school fire. So anything that can be done to help rebuild the classroom would be much appreciated. And it is tax-deductible!

How Puffy the Cigarette Saved the 4th of July

I spent the 4th of July at the family Beach House in Aptos, CA., where legal fireworks are not allowed. Oh, no. Everyone here goes for the illegal ones, from places like Nevada. Fly up and explode in the sky; the bigger the better. Professional shows have nothing on the 3 hour-plus Seacliff Beach extravaganza. Every five minutes, someone has a grand finale. You just don't know where to turn your head to look.

Vanessa and Robb joined my family for the holiday. Vanessa and I may or may not have purchased a bunch of illegal fireworks in Nevada. And we may or may not have brought them to the Beach House and set them off on the beach. Unfortunately, the lighter we had ceased to work and we could not get the pundts to light. My brother, Chris, offered a solution, and used his cig to light the fireworks. It was quite comical, and one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I guess Boy Scouts do teach you to be prepared. But thanks to Puffy (as Dad calls Chris), we were able to light the fireworks to properly celebrate the birth of our nation.

Happy Birthday, America.

3-D

Kevin and I saw Toy Story 3 tonight. It was really good, and a nice way to end the "series." But while we were at the theater and looking at the posters, watching the previews, everything is coming out in 3-D. Why? Why do we need special glasses to watch a movie? How does this improve the experience? Do they use this as just another excuse to charge me more money for the "pleasure" of sitting in a crowded theater? I don't need everything in 3-D. I'm perfectly fine with 2-D. Just charge me less money and let me see a regular, normal movie.