My Messy Corner

I spend a lot of my time in this corner (when I'm not online anyway). I grade papers in this chair, watch TV, eat dinner (sometimes) and often fall asleep in it...

New Desk Waiting on Assembly

I bought a new desk (and hutch) online recently and now it's just waiting to be assembled!

What I'm Reading

Since taking on the Support Your Local Library Challenge this year, I've found I've been reading more young adult books. This is the one I'm currently working on!

New Office Chair

I recently bought a new desk and since I can hardly stand at the desk, I needed a new chair to go with it. I wonder how long this one will last. The last one I bought my sophomore year of college and it lasted close to 10 year (though it probably shouldn't have!)

Mouse Pad Collage

A desperation shot today (that's happened a lot during summer school). This is a mouse pad that I made for my family at Christmas of our past pets.

Hotel Sunset

As I walked up to the hotel to meet my dad tonight, I decided to take a photo of the sun setting over the freeway between these two palm trees.

Fulton Estates

The sign at the entrance to the development I call home...

Fake Plant

Here's a fake plant in my dad's hotel room. He's in town visiting...

On the Nightstand

As I was frantically looking for something new to take a picture of, I stumbled on this. I'm not sure why this picture is still on my nightstand rather than hanging on the wall somewhere.

One Little Piggy...

I bought this pig statue at Home Goods with the garden solar lights and a vase. I just couldn't bring myself to put it outside, so he's currently just inside my sliding glass door.

New Garden Lights

While my mom was here visiting, we bought these solar garden lights at Home Goods and set them up out by my water feature!

Western Ranchman Store

I drove by and noticed the horse out in front of this store once before. I thought about stopping to take a picture on my way back after an errand, but by that time, they had brought it in for the day. Today, I went by in the afternoon and luckily the horse was still out front!

Sundial

This sundial is back behind the Avondale Civic Center Library. There's all kinds of coll stuff out by the Civic Center. Anyway, I stumbled upon the sundial while investigating photo ops after visiting the library. Here's what the sign next to it says:

To Use The Sundial:
Stand on the current month with your back to the sun. Your shadow falls across the "hours" to show the time -- with surprising accuracy! If your shadow doesn't reach the ellipse, raise your arm over your head to add height.

Across the Street

Here's the view from my driveway looking across and down the street...

What We Learned...

In class today, we discussed a homework activity I had my students complete. At the end, I always ask them what they learned from the activity. It surprises me how different and varied the answers are from class to class, semester to semester. Here's what my summer class came up with today:

Another Prius Commercial

Here's a shot of yet another Prius commercial. They never come out quite how I want them to...

Whiteboard Markers

A random shot of some whiteboard markers I have on-hand for my classes...

Coffee Table Books

A sample from my collection of books (though they aren't on my coffee table)...

Exercise On Demand!

I discovered today that you can get all sorts of stuff (for free!) on the On Demand channel via cable. I knew about free movies since I've watched them before, but there are entire categories (other than movies) that are available. One of the categories is Exercise TV! I've wanted to get back into exercising for a while, so I decided to start at home via On Demand...

Keychains!

For as long as I can remember, I've collected key chains. Back when I was in junior high (and had only 2 keys), I remember having 14 key chains on the ring with my keys! Now I'm a bit pickier about what key chains I add to my collection and I usually don't actually use them. When I visit other cities and countries, I always look out for unusual key chains. When my friends and family go on vacation, they look for key chains for me as well! Now I just need a better way to display them all. These 3 are recent additions and just happen to be sitting on my dresser tonight so I decided to make them my photo for the day.

Avondale Lamp Post

As I came out of the library this evening, I looked up and saw this lamp post, so I decided to use it for my photo today!

Black Thumb?

I tend to have a black thumb. I've even killed a couple of cactus plants before. Why I decided to let my mom talk me into this plant, I'm not sure. I do like it though. I just hope I can keep it alive!

Prius Commercial

I love looking at the sun in this Prius commercial. Tonight I tried to capture it off the TV (though it didn't work too well).

Shopping at Lowes

I went to Lowes to stock up on chlorine and air filters (and to use a coupon!) when I realized I hadn't taken my photo today. I decided to stop by the cactus plants before I got to the chlorine. The light wasn't too great, but I did the best I could!

Back at 5 & Diner!

My mom and I were back at the 5 & Diner for dinner tonight. I tried to get a decent shot of the working jukebox (though it's still a bit glare-y).

Sunset Before Dinner

My mom and I went to On the Border for dinner tonight and I just had to stop and take this photo before we headed inside to eat. I was wishing I was back at the EMCC parking lot like the night before, but this shot came out okay!

Sunset Over White Tanks

I was out running errands tonight when I noticed the sunset. I rushed to get to the parking lot at Estrella Mountain because it's the perfect place to get the sun setting over the White Tanks. I've missed a few great shots because I've been too far away to get there, but I made it tonight!

HOES?!

My mom first spotted this sign when we were out this evening. The sign is supposed to say SHOES, but the S burned out! It reminded me of the time in Camarillo when the Winchell's Donuts sign read "hell's Donuts" instead. It cracked me up and I thought the timing was interesting since it happened right after they opened a 24 hour Fitness next door to Winchell's!

Describe Me!

In one of my classes today, we played a game to get them to understand the importance of describing things accurately and in great detail. The students paired up and choose one of two roles: one got to describe and the other got to draw. The person describing chose one of these objects from a bag and then had to describe to his or her partner how draw it (without naming it or describing what it is). The other person had to draw the object based only on what his or her partner said (i.e. without seeing it or knowing what it was). It was quite entertaining and it got the point across!

I am always looking for ideas of how to get the importance of details across to my students, and this was the first time I tried this game. I played it myself at a holiday party and it was a blast. I plan to try it again this fall!

Ducks!

Today was the first day of summer school. As I walked across campus, I saw something I normally don't see on campus: ducks! These two were wandering by, so I just had to pull out the camera (even though it was incredibly bright). Of course, I think I ended up scaring them away a bit even though I tried to stay far enough away (and boy can they move!)