These two posts show the hardships that many of my students face.
1) This article is about an 8th grader who is a former student of mine. I was reading the L.A. Times this morning when this story about Kevin jumped out at me. He still goes to my school.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere15feb15,0,1072762.story?page=1
2) Last Friday a student from our school was killed. Jose was tagging his gang sign on a wall when rival gang members drove by and shot him. He just turned 14 years old. His cousin had tears in his eyes for most of the week. It’s difficult to see students dealing with the murder of friends at such a young age. Jose was transferred to several different schools during his last weeks because of behavior problems and gang territory issues. Please pray for the family and friends of Jose. The following is a link to The Homicide Report (www.latimes.com) which tries to report every murder that occurs in L.A. County.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/homicidereport/2008/02/cypress-park-ho.html#comments
Ryan
Dear friends & family,
Due to torrential rains in southern California over the weekend, we have been notified that the server hosting our Web site slid down a hill. Because of these conditions the backup server won’t be able to handle our weekly posts. Instead, check back occasionally for periodic updates. Our sincere apologies. 
Ryan & Chantal
A favorite hiking spot of ours is a path that starts near the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in La Canada Flintridge. The lab’s been a leader in building and operating unmanned spacecraft for NASA. Its engineers were instrumental in preparing the way for the Apollo program that put people on the moon.
The hike follows a stream through a canyon that ends at a manmade waterfall. The air in the canyon is moist and the vegetation is very lush and green (OK… well for L.A. standards). A welcome contrast in the chaparral region of California!
Several times a year we head down to Huntington Beach in Orange County. Although, I have not surfed H.B., it has some of the most consistently good waves in California. Because of this, it’s been named “Surf City USA” (a designation that has caused fights with Santa Cruz, CA).
Huntington Beach is also famous for its early 1920s oil discoveries. In fact, a Canadian named C.C. Julian – who had experience in oil promotions — was suspected to have engaged in fraudulent sales when raising money for his company Julian Petroleum Corp. Julian was living the high life with lavish mansions, a fleet of luxury cars, a flamboyant wardrobe and female companions at his beck and call. Unfortunately for him, the Los Angeles Stock Exchange halted trading in Julian Petroleum because of his questionable business practices. In the fallout tens of thousands of stockholders lost their investments. Now that’s a rare example of Canada pulling one off on America! :)
This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Chantal’s cousin from the Toronto area. She was in L.A. to have a ”Hollywood” experience. Unfortunately, she got to experience a good California winter storm. Despite the lack of sunshine, we showed her some cool stuff.
On Friday, while Chantal was working, I took Katherine to see the Walk of Fame, Kodak Theater (where the Oscars are held), Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood sign. After visiting a couple of star homes (Lindsay Lohan, Matthew Perry, Tom Cruise), we drove through Bel Air over the Hollywood Hills to Burbank. If you watched the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno on Friday night, you would have seen us in the audience. We didn’t get “discovered”… but it was still fun!
On Saturday Chantal brought Katherine to Disneyland. There’s nothing like the “Happiest Place on Earth” to cheer you up on an overcast day. Finally, on Sunday we went to church, visited the beach in Santa Monica, then most importantly ate at In & Out Burger (fast-food chain that has a cult following in California) where we enjoyed their famous hamburgers and milkshakes. Update — Katherine says we can’t forget the shopping!
Tomorrow Katherine leaves California for Hollywood North to hopefully return someday…when the sun is shining.
Have an awesome Christmas season and a radical New Year!
Today I went shooting at the Firing-Line Shooting Range in Northridge while Chantal and a girlfriend used some coupons and got pummeled by a Thai massage. My friend, who is a federal agent, gave me formal handgun training. Although I’ve shot handguns before, he taught me how to shoot using best practices. We ended up shooting two different types of .40-caliber Glocks. With my membership I’ll be able to shoot up to 30 different types of handguns. It’s definitely a fun sport if the proper precautions are taken.
We had a visitor this weekend. Darren, a friend from college, decided he needed a respite from Calgary’s cold… It was a great time of fellowship that included exercising our Second Amendment rights at the Firing-Line shooting range, viewing a theater production called “Christmas: A Modern Take” (@Mosaic) and visiting Rustic Canyon Golf Course in Moorpark. The following pictures are of a sculptor carving an angel from a block of ice during the Christmas play, Darren perfecting his golf game and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (large buildings on top of the hill).
Also, we’re not sure if Darren brought the cold with him, but a number of the peaks in the San Gabriel mountains now have snow!
On Saturday the mighty USC Trojans showed the UCLA Bruins how to play football. The Trojans beat the Bruins 24-7 in front of more than 91,000 fans at the Coliseum. Before the highly anticipated annual match began, we walked around the USC campus to observe the revered game day ritual of tailgating. Thousands of students and alumni gathered on campus to show their support for the Trojans over a good barbecue.
We also saw:
girls hanging a Bruins bear off Tommy Trojan’s sword,
a guy with a crude “fucla” shirt, and a bunch of Bruin fans who came down to crash the party.
Fight on Trojans!
