Uncle

I am an uncle!  To Abigail Marie.  What a cutie!

First post of 2011!

Yay! Might as well post again. Just started a new school year after a nearly non-existant summer, and am feeling slightly burned out. But what can you do? Gotta feed the beast. Already looking forward to the next break. Hope you all had a lovely Labor Day!

The March of the Year

It is March, so I just thought I'd write a bit. I'd vent about work, but I don't want to get into trouble, so I won't. But, it's budget cut season again, and almost no one is safe. Should be interesting, that's for sure.

This is a story about an interesting happening in Bakersfield. Isn't it fascinating how many of the most virulently anti-gay politicians are busted for things such as this? People like this guy, for example, or this guy.

Anyway, this is a picture of a Pelican I took at Point Lobos on Superbowl Sunday. Enjoy!

Keeping it current

I haven't posted on this blog in a long time (which seems to be the way I'm starting all the posts that I put on here these days,) so I thought I'd put something up so it doesn't look like I completely disuse it if the good folks at blogspot ever decide to weed out blogs that are "dead". So, it's Halloween, and I'm laying low as I am in the final throes of probably the mildest version of the H1N1 virus (pig flu).

Anyhow, I look forward to being healthy again, and to some fun weeks ahead. Hail progress!

A little input

Hello, all! I would like to seek out your input on an issue that has sparked a great deal of internal debate in the CD Luebke mind. You see, for the past month or so, I've been growing a winter beard. I'm starting to consider taking it in a different direction, however, and would like a bit of input on which direction I should take it in. So, I'm posting a few photos of historical and fictional figures who have facial hair that I admire (even if I don't admire all of their actions, which I do not for all of them except for Wolverine and Van Buren,) and I invite you all to make a case for the facial hair you believe I should wear. Thank you!

Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States

Leopold II, King of Belgium (1865-1909), and asshole supremo

Maximilian I, French-installed Emperor of Mexico, 1864-1867

Wolverine of the X-men

Grigori Rasputin, Russian Royal Adviser and holy man

Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union, 1922-1953

Ambrose Burnside, Supreme Commander of the Army of the Potomac in the US Civil War

Let me know what you think - I value all input! Thanks!

Resurrection

So, yeah, I know, I've not posted on this here blog for a long, long time, and for this, I am sorry. However, when it comes to pictures, this site isn't always the most efficient. On here, I can upload one photo at a time. On Facebook, I can upload up to sixty at a time. Guess which I prefer?

So, instead of putting allllllllll of those photos on here, I am going to give some links, and a few samples.



This is from the Red Bull Soap Box Derby, which was in Dolores Park in San Francisco back in October. Here are the pictures which I took.

Mock Election

It’s been a while since I blogged on here, and for this I apologize. So, I’m going to change that right now. And I’m going to blog about my favorite topic – my students.

This past week, at the school where I work (which is a high school for emotionally disturbed and learning disabled students) we held a mock election. However, we did it properly – we had actual voting booths, sample ballots, and even the “I voted” stickers from the Contra Costa County elections office, and the students had to come during their breaks to cast their ballots (just as in real life, you must go in to vote on your own time).

Two weeks ago, I started teaching them about everything that was on the ballot, to allow them to make more informed choices. I taught them about all six presidential candidates, everyone running for Congress, State Senate, State Assembly, School Board, and City Council. I taught them about all twelve propositions on the state ballot and the two propositions on the local ballot.

The balloting, for the most part, went well (although one kid blew up at the counselor working the polls with me because she wouldn’t let him cut in line (he called her an “asshole,) and one just wrote “Fuck Voting!” on his/her ballot). While teaching about everything on the ballot, they posed very good questions, and demonstrated quite sophisticated reasoning when discussing the merits of the various propositions. The turnout at the polls was solid – about 67% of the students who were present voted.

For results, Obama took 84% of the vote, Propositions 4 and 8 were both soundly defeated (73% and 65% no, respectively,) 2 passed, and 1a was dead even.

I found this all very encouraging. These students, who are some of the most troubled around, are already demonstrating the qualities of good voters. In fact, I would say that they are better voters than many "normal" adults out there.

Great Western Roadtrip - 2008 - Going

On July 25, I finished up with summer school, and since I have a month off, I decided to hop in my Mitsubishi and drive east, and not stop driving until I reached my hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota. This is a pretty daunting road trip, mind you - I would be doing it solo, and my car has no cruise control (don't really need that in city driving,) and, according to Google Maps, it's 23 hours and 57 minutes from door to door. Also, I had never been to most of the places in between. So, I did it slowly, making frequent stops, and seeing what the Great American West had to offer. Everything on the way down went pretty well, other than my having a nasty cold, and I had a great time - it made me fall in love with America all over again! So, these are the photos that I took on my way to Dakota. I'll have more from the return trip, which begins in just a few days. Hail Progress!

My first stop of the trip was at Donner Pass, in Eastern California. In 1846, the Donner Party, a group of 87 settlers from Illinois, were attempting to reach California by passing through here. They were caught in an October Snowstorm at this spot in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and were not able to get out until the spring of the following year. The snow that winter was the heaviest ever seen in the Sierras - it was twenty-two feet deep, marked by the height of the base on which this statue stands. Miraculously, 45 of the 87 in the Donner Party survived in shelters they built. Of course, they survived by eating the flesh of those who had already died. And me? I just got in my car and drove through.

Reno, baby!

The University of Nevada-Reno's Stadium

Nevada Desert

A green spot along a river in the Nevada Desert

The Nevada-Utah border.

As you can see, this casino in West Wendover, Nevada, goes right up to the Nevada-Utah border - not an inch of cusion! Oh, Nevada and its gambling. You can play slots even in the most remote of gas stations.

In ancient times, there was a large saline lake on this spot called Lake Bonneville in Western Utah, not far from the Nevada border. That has since evaporated, but has left a thick layer of salt (in some places, six feet thick). There's so much salt that nothing can grow - a desert of salt, really. However, for whatever reason, vehicles move faster on the salty surface here, and many land speed records have been shattered at the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speed Way (apparently, people have driven over 600 mph on this site). This is me at the site.

The highway through the salt flats

This guy was cruising around on the salt flats.

In ancient times, salt was the most important of all stragic minerals. Wars were fought over places which produce salt. In Ancient Rome, soldiers were paid with salt (the word "salary" comes from the Latin words Sala Dare, which means "to receive salt." It is also the origin of the expression "worth his salt"). If these ancient rulers had known of the Bonneville Salt Flats, one would have to believe that much blood would have been spilled in efforts to control it.

I tried to take my Mitsubishi out on the salt flats, to see if I could break any land speed records. Didn't happen, but I did manage to get salt all over my car.