Bernie's B'day Party...

Grace and Bernie

Blowing out the candles

Reunited friends after 30 years

Last night I had a very nice time at a birthday party. It is nice to be around new people.

The Saturday before Election Day, I received a call from someone campaigning for Obama. After hanging up the phone I reviewed in my mind the name of the girl who had called (Bernadette) and realized that it was someone I had gone to school with in 1st and 2nd grade (for a brief 18 months when I went to a Catholic School.)

A couple of hours later, Bernadette was on my street going door-to-door. We both realized that we had gone to school together when we were 6 years old. Funny. We exchanged phone numbers and after the election I sent her a note congratulating her on Obama's win and then she invited me to her birthday party.

It also turns out that she lives only about half a mile away, in a house that I visited when it was for sale. It is nice to not have to drive very far!

The party was very nice and I met some great people, mostly her colleagues. They reminded me a lot of my colleagues: smart and fun; people that are professional when they are working and cool to hang out with when they're not.

Bernadette's sister, Grace, who works at a bakery in South Pasadena on the weekends, made the cake--a wonderful many-layered confection with custard filling.

It was refreshing to be around new people and to feel very comfortable with all of them. I had a great time!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I feel like I owe it to some of my loyal readers to keep this blog updated. There is less to talk about these days with the election over, but life is still busy.

November, February, and June are always the busiest months of the school year. Report cards are due tomorrow, parent conferences are next week, and we've got shortened days and weeks for 3 weeks in a row. Trying to fit some high quality teaching in with all of the inconsistency can be somewhat of a challenge. I feel like we aren't going to be back on track until we return from Winter Break in January, but we have to do our best.

So that's where I've been! Yesterday I taught all day, came home and watered the garden, did laundry and dishes, and worked for 3 intense hours on report cards and on setting up parent conference appointments. By 7pm I was numb!

A Successful Antiquing Adventure...

Today, after our breakfast with my mom's friend, we finally got to do the sightseeing that our trip to San Juan Capistrano had been lacking. Ironically, we saw a lot, but didn't get far...

After checking out of the hotel we drove into town and weighed our options of possible dog-friendly places. Sometimes the places with the most crowded displays and breakable things are the most dog-friendly.

Across the street from where we parked we saw a place called the Old Barn Antiques. It had a warehouse look to it and was chock-full of things to peruse. When we arrived we were happy to find that dogs are very welcome. Little did we know that we would spend the next 2 1/2 hours there...

There is SO much to look at in this place--and it goes on and on and on for about half a block. Room after room filled with fascinating articles of the past--jewelry, furniture, dishes, kitchenware, Western gear, crystal, china, knick-knacks, and everything you can think of to furnish a house in vintage items. The stuff was all fabulous, but in that setting it takes a while to sift through everything and filter out what is useful and would work in your own home. My house is 90% furnished from estate and moving sales, but I never had to go through the quantity of what we saw today.

After 2+ hours, Bailey was getting pretty tired of being tugged around and I was very tired. I ended up with a lovely nativity and manger for $29 and a pair of Lenox Christmas candlesticks for $19. I have never had a decent nativity set. The one I bought doesn't look very expensive and has no manufacturing mark, but I like the detail and the fact it doesn't look "chintzy." My mom ended up with the real find--a nearly complete set of Johnson Brothers dishes for $80. They are lovely, and they really fit the style of her kitchen and her house, which was built in the 1940's.

After feeling very happy with our purchases, we loaded up the carefully packed items in the car and headed back to Pedro's, where I had lunch yesterday. Then we got in the car, fought heavy traffic for the next hour and arrived safely home.

This morning in SJC...

It is always nice to know people in the town where you are traveling. My mom has a group of friends that she has known since they were 12 years old. One of them, Carol, lives in San Juan Capistrano and invited us over to her house this morning for a lovely breakfast.

The breakfast invitation was at 8:30am, we set the alarm for 6:30. Bailey started "asking" to go out around 6. My mom tried to take him out and he nipped at her because it had to be ME. Lucky me. I tumbled unwillingly out of the warm bed and took him out into the chilly air to do his business.

Carol and her husband live 1 mile from the hotel, so we were there in no time. Bailey stayed out on the patio and Carol's husband went and read his newspaper in his office so the ladies could chat. The breakfast was lovely--a quiche-like casserole, bacon with brown sugar, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Definitely the best meal we've had on the trip. We had to keep things brief because Carol had an appointment at 10am, but it was a wonderful meal and a very nice visit. She is someone I've known my entire life, like some of my mom's other childhood friends.

So now it is 10:45 and we need to pack up and check out of the hotel. Now we can do a few hours of sight-seeing before driving home. It is a lot easier to sight-see with the dog when there are 2 of us. All in all, a nice trip.

Live from SJ Capistrano...

What you see in that picture is the hub of San Juan Capistrano's history, the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I wish I could say that I took that picture, but it is an internet find, like so many of the images I post here...

As luck would have it, my school district gave us a 4-day weekend because of Veterans Day, which is unprecedented. I was aching for a change of scenery this weekend, but there were a few glitches: 1. Neither my mom nor I wanted to spend a lot of money, 2. She had a Weight Watchers yearly convention today in Huntington Beach (she's a receptionist for them once a week,) and 3. It is easier to take my dog, Bailey, on vacations than leave him behind.

We batted ideas around for weeks and finally settled on San Juan Capistrano, which is one hour south of Los Angeles, 1/2 hour south of Huntington Beach (so my mom could attend her WW convention,) and boasts a dog-friendly Best Western for around $100/night. Considering all of our criteria, we think we did well.

We dawdled a lot yesterday and got into SJC around 4:30pm. The room is simple, but decent, with a few amenities. I cared mostly about internet access, which it has, although not wireless, and the cord provided by the office is too short to reach the desk in the room. Ergo, the bed has to double for a desk. I did find a few unsecured wireless networks (naughty!) but the signals are pretty weak and inconsistent. A signal that was acceptable yesterday was faint and painfully slow today.

Last night we unpacked and drove into the historic part of town, which is a few blocks away, but separated by the overpass to the I-5. Traffic was moving quite fast. We were lucky to find a great parking spot on the street and we walked around for an hour before arriving at our 7pm dinner reservation at the Cedar Creek Inn, the nicest pet-friendly restaurant I could find.

We were seated, along with Bailey, at a table on the outside perimeter of the patio, listened to live guitar and comfortable chatter around us, and enjoyed the pleasant atmostphere lit by strung mini-lights and table candles. The waiters were extremely accomodating, even bringing Bailey a little styrofoam container full of water. My mom and I both ordered salads and they were very good. Mine was a seafood salad, with a generous portion of shredded crab meat on top of the lettuce, along with some scallops and 2 enormous shrimp. I didn't like the marinated asparagus and cucumbers--too vinegary for my taste, but the rest was very, very good.

Back in the hotel room we watched some TV, read, and discussed the current and possible future state of our country. I fell asleep around 11pm, but Bailey woke us up at 2am to go outside and do what doggies do. We bundled up in coats and got a little rained on as Bailey took care of business on some of the hotel shrubbery.

Today I was pretty much on my own without a car, since my mom took it to drive to her convention. After she got dolled up and we took pictures of her this morning, I finished getting ready, said a prayer, and took Bailey on foot over the I-5 towards the old part of town. I needed to find a place to eat that allowed him too. One thing for sure, San Juan Capistrano, in all its beauty, is no Carmel as far as dog-friendliness. I passed the old ruins of the mission, destroyed by an earthquake (or 2) ages ago, and weighed my options.

There are plenty of places for outdoor dining, but few allow dogs in the patio. I understand. I ended up at an outdoor taco stand called Pedro's Tacos, right across the street from the mission. I had seen in on a site listing pet-friendly places, but was turned off by its simplicity. I know, what a snob, right? But after circling around for half and hour and getting more and more hungry, I decided to go for it. I was pleasantly surprised. The food was very, very good and especially reasonable. This meal took the place of breakfast and lunch and did the job just fine. I was a little sad that I was not able to go and visit the mission, since Bailey was with me, but I could see a lot of it from the table where I ate.

I tried to stay out of the way with Bailey, but then a large group of people came and it was hard to keep him from being underfoot. At one point, a young boy--around 7 or 8--came by him and taunted him a bit, provoking him to a menacing bark. The dad apologized for his son, but I apologized for my dog. I had been enjoying sitting and people watching, but it was time to go.

Now it is about 5:50pm and my mom is back from Huntington Beach. I've been in the hotel room since around 1pm, reading, surfing the internet, intermittently taking Bailey out for quick walks, and relaxing. Now I need to start thinking about dinner.

Tomorrow morning we have an invitation to eat breakfast with a friend of my mom at 8:30am. Ooohh... early! But that's OK. It will motivate us to get up and get out of the hotel room, since today was pretty much lost to me since I didn't have a car. The weather is lovely and cool and, despite the lack of adventures, it is still nice to have a change of scenery now and then.

Aches and Pains Update...

I've had many good wishes sent my way since my fall yesterday, which I greatly appreciate.

Today I went to school, grateful that it is Friday and that we have a 4-day weekend ahead. If today wasn't Friday, I probably would've called in sick.

It is amazing how the adult body handles falls differently than a young body. Today it wasn't my knees that hurt, but both of my thighs were sore when I walked, my right shoulder has been a little painful, and I've had a headache since this morning. I guess my whole body felt the impact of the fall, not just my knees.

The hardest part is getting up from a sitting position, and trying to squat to pick something up off the floor? Forget it.

It was hard to be productive with my students because I just didn't have the energy, but experience has taught me that they behave better when they are busy, I tried to give them activities that didn't require a lot of me. Before that, we had decided that this morning we would reconfigure the desk arrangement in the room and we were expecting a Williams visit at 10am. A Williams visit is a visit from the state to make sure the kids have the text books they are supposed to have. We were still in chaos, but almost cleaned up at 9:45am and I thought, "OK, we're good, we've got 15 minutes and my room is all the way on the far end of campus." At 9:50 we had a knock on the door. I was very embarrassed. I usually try to be very impressive with visits, but today they really caught me with my guard down and the room was still not in order. Oh well. It keeps me humble.

Trip, Slip, and Fall...

What a klutz I was this morning...

I was walking quickly from my car to my classroom and my shoe caught on some uneven pavement outside of my classroom. Down I went--hard--right on both knees. My lunch box went flying, as well as things in it...some of the parents and kids who saw me were like, "Teacher, are you OK?"

The pain didn't happen right away. I went quickly into my room and then to the office. Our health clerk, Fernando, rolled up my pant legs--what a mess. The left knee was badly scraped and very purple. The right knee was nice and bloody. I ripped a hole in my right pant leg at the knee. Owwowow...

I have never, in all my career, left school early, but I did today. A sub was found to take my class and I hobbled to my car. When I first got to my classroom--half and hour after the bell rang--I began to think that I could hang in there for the day, but now my brain has caught up with my body and I feel like the wind got knocked out of me. My head hurts and I am suddenly very tired. I don't know, does trauma do that? I just know that I'm going to have to really take it easy today. Walking hurts, standing hurts, sitting hurts.

How do I make those cool headers?

Some of my blogging buddies have asked me how I make my headers. I'm happy to pass on the info:

1. I go to scrapblog.com (you need to open an account, but it is all free unless you order something.)

2. Choose an existing template to tweak or start with a blank one (I start with a blank one, but greenies might want to start with an existing one while you get comfortable with the tools)

3. Create your header (including picking out stickers, which you first choose, then drag, then resize/upload pictures, which is very, very easy)

4. Click on "publish"

5. Click on it to see it full-sized

6. Now, the only way to really get it is to do the "print screen," which I do when it is full sized with the black background. For newbies, hit "control" and "prtsc" at the same time, then go to your "paint" feature and go to "edit" and "paste." It will appear.

7. Doing the Print Screen really captures every part of the screen, and you only want the header, so I select and Copy the part I want to keep, then open a new file and Paste, then Save.

8. To insure that Blogger doesn't make the header fall off the sides of the space provided, I also resize it in the Microsoft Picture Viewer. Then save again and upload. All done!

P.S. I've gotten smarter about this. First I find the background I want to use, then I make a header to match it...I use Cutest Blog on the Block and Aqua Poppy backgrounds. Have fun! Happy designing...

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Anyone?

I received this in an email. Very funny!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken burgers for lunch.

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where’s my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken doesn’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he’s guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I’ve not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

John, Cindy, and Sarah...I mean Tina, on SNL

I'm feelin' musical...

The weekend mornings are usually the time when I feel like doing some singing (probably in celebration OF the weekend.) This morning I felt especially ambitious...click the songs to hear them...or not! :-)

A little bit of Christmas...
IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

A little bit o' Beatles...
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

A little bit of Kermit...
RAINBOW CONNECTION

A little bit of Elvis...
NOW OR NEVER

Because they're pretty...
WIND BENEATH MY WINGS
THE ROSE

And, in the "What The Heck Was I Thinking?" department...
LE JAZZ HOT

This is Halloween....

Well, it has been an unusually slow night for trick-or-treaters, so I'm going to blog and hand out candy when the doorbell rings.

I've got my $5 Target glittery jack-o-lantern t-shirt on today that I get to wear once a year and a ton of candy. I'm hoping that things will pick up soon. I've got sound effects playing through the window, glowing pumpkins, spider webs, the whole works! The thing is, we have a lot of elderly people on this street who just turn off all their lights and don't give out candy. Sad, huh?

Today at school it was not too Halloweenie...

The kids are allowed to wear costumes, but they aren't allowed to wear gory make-up and they have to wear their costumes over their uniforms. Naturally, the motivation to wear costumes is minimal! That's OK. The gross and scary costumes are really popular in the neighborhood where I teach.

After school, the classroom behind mine was hosting a haunted house and a HUGE line of kids formed when the bell rang. I stood out by my classroom's back door eating a lollipop and chatting with kids and parents.

Because I was in the middle of all that noise, I didn't hear my cell phone ring. It turns out my cleaning lady, who comes every other Friday, had tried to set my security system and then tripped it. The security company called me, my cell, my mom, then my mom called my cell twice. Long story short, the security company called the police, who had 2 cruisers come to my house.

My mom handled it and was able to get a hold of the security company, as did I, after going through a ridiculously long phone menu.

So back to tonight, which is too quiet! At least all the kids are really polite. We don't really have mischief makers during Halloween around where I live. I'm grateful for that.

And, tell me if I'm being petty...

The neighbors next door keep using my driveway (our driveways are side by side) even though I've asked them not to. They're nice enough people, but kind of clueless. Today there was a big ol' black mark across my driveway from the tires turning. I'm annoyed. It's a rental next door, which is a drag. I know that in the grand scheme it is not that big a deal, especially considering my previous post, but still...

Amy

It hardly seems possible, but we learned today that my 38 year old stepsister, Amy, passed away. She was rushed to the hospital on Saturday, needed to be put on a respirator, and by Monday had no brain activity. We are stunned. The picture above was taken in June at my grandma's 90th birthday party.

Amy's mother, Judie, was married to my dad for 25 years until he passed away in 2006. She studied at UCLA. Amy is survived by her husband, Juan, and her 6-month old son, Jackson. Please keep her mother, husband, and little boy in your prayers.

Animator vs. Animation

Today my cousin, Dov, sent this very cool link. Who would've thought that an innocent-looking little stick-figure guy could be so ambitious?

Click the picture below, then click the word "Play" and just watch...

A Day of Intense Teaching and a Night of Intense Tiredness...

I'm actually so tired right now that I'm practically walking into walls, but I'm happy with the day. I felt like I taught, taught, taught, with no down time at all. We're teaming for ELD (English Language Development,) which means that for the first 40 minutes of the day I only have about 1/2 my class. Another group of kids come from the room next door. Their language level is what determines their group.

It is taking a lot more day-to-day preparation than I am used to. Usually, most of my energy goes into teaching, not planning, because so many things are pre-planned within the programs.

For the rest of the day I was still very "on." We talked about story structure, summaries, verbs, content vocabulary, common factors, and greatest common factors.

On top of that, I forgot my lunch box, which was fully packed with a hearty lunch, but left behind on the kitchen floor next to the fridge. I was not in the mood to deal with mysterious cafeteria food. I called my mom and she was nice enough to drive the 10 miles and bring it to me. It also gave her a chance to see our Smartboard in action. Like anyone seeing it for the first time, she was astounded.

Our productive day ended with me pretty tired , but one of my good friends had asked if I was free in the afternoon to give her a little tutorial on the Smartboard. We worked with it for an hour. My next door neighbor joined us for a while.

I arrived home just thankful to be home. It was hot today and we all worked very hard. Still, it is a good kind of tired. When I compare my tiredness to last year's--which was marred by the numerous behavior problems--this year's tiredness is one that is OK.

A funny joke to share...

A nun gets into a taxi, and notices that the Cab driver, (a very
handsome man) is staring at her. She asks him why he is staring.
He replies: "I have a question to
ask, but I don't want to offend you."

She answers, " My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old
as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance
to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's
nothing you could say
or ask that I would find offensive."

"Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me."

She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do
about that: #1, you
have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic."

The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and
Catholic!"

"OK" the nun says. "Pull into the next alley."

The nun fulfills his fantasy with a kiss that would
make a hooker blush.

But when they get back on the road, the cab driver
starts crying.

"My dear child," said the nun, "Why are you crying?"

"Forgive me but I have sinned. I lied and I must confess;
I'm married and I'm Jewish."

The nun says, "That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a
Halloween party."

Alexander and His Great-Grandma...

Yesterday my mom and brother took my nephew, Alexander, to see my grandma (I was at work and couldn't go.) She hasn't seen him in about 4 months, which is a long time when you're watching a baby grow up. He was a little nervous to be held at first, but only for the first few minutes. These are treasured moments that we need to take advantage of...


And yes, it IS 4am right now. Bailey (dog) woke me up to go outside. But I'm going right back to sleep...Zzzzzzz

Woo hoo! 1000 Visits!

My blog's counter just rolled over 1000 visits. Cool...

Keeping them coming and I'll keep writing! Thank you for visiting and a big thank you to my loyal readers!

Ron, Opie, and Richie all endorse Obama...

Here is a light segue back into political mode. Thanks, Midge, for posting this on Facebook!

It was a little bit big for the Blogger layout, but you can click on the link:

Ron Howard's Call to Action

43 Odd Things...

I promised myself that I would never use my blog to post a survey, but I want to show that I'm not just a heavy-handed Democrat--as my latest writings may reflect. So, here goes. My cousin, Laura, emailed this today:

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes

2. Have you ever drank? Water? Milk? Soda? Juice? Tea? YES. Alcohol? NO

3. Do you own a gun? No

4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite as a kid? Whatever was at a friend's house. My mom did not buy Kool-Aid

5. Do you get nervous before a doctor appointment? Not really.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? If it is the turkey hot dogs, that's fine, but not often.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Home Alone

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Sometimes tea or...Pepsi. Yes, I like soda in the morning!

9. Can you do push ups? If my life depended on it.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I have several--all the sentimental stuff

11. Favorite hobby? Hmm...taking care of my house/garden/pets, being musical, and blogging...

12. Do you have A.D.D.? I don’t think so...oh look! A kitty!

13. What's your weight? You first

14. Middle name? Michelle

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: School, tired, want to watch Brothers and Sisters from last night

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Milk, water, Pepsi

17. Current worry? Obama--he'd better win. I also feel really bad about what Jennifer Hudson and her family are going through right now...

18. Current hate right now? Prop 8

19. Favorite place to be? With my family and friends--favorite place is Carmel, CA

20. How did you bring in the New Year? Quietly. I'm not much for parties.

21. Where do you want to be right now? With Brad

22. Name three people who will complete this? Well, since I'm not resending it, I have no idea. Maybe Emma on her blog.

23. Do you own slippers? Somewhere. I don't wear them.

24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Kind of a light peachy-colored blouse...

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? If I ever sleep on them, I'll let you know

26. Can you whistle? Very well

27. Favorite color? White

28. Would you be a pirate? Only for the cool outfits and lots of "Arr's" (I saw something funny that said "To err is human, to ARR is pirate." heehee)

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?? I don't sing in the shower. But I sing everywhere else.

30. Favorite Girl's Name? Lily

31. Favorite boy's name? Daniel and Christopher (except my 3 most recent Christophers in my classes have been handfuls)

32. What's in your pocket right now? More pocket

33. Last thing that made you laugh? My students

34. Best bed sheets as a child? Laura Ashley

35. Worst injury you've ever had as a child? A football-sized bruise on my thigh when my brother pushed me against the toy box.

36. Do you love where you live? Yes. I adore my house and love my street.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2

38. Who is your loudest friend? (said with love) Cathy

39. How many dogs do you have? 1, Bailey

40. Does someone have a crush on you? I have a feeling--yes

41. What is your favorite book? I have many, not just one

42. What is your favorite candy? Milky Way Dark

43. Favorite Sports Team? I always root for the US at the Olympics, but other than that, no real loyalty to a certain team

OK! That was fun and pointless!