Gymnotes

Linda, Linda, Linda.  Please oh please stop telling us tell us these stories, of which we never tire. 

Alright.  The people have spoken.  I know how these things are important to you…and I will tell them here.  For the last time.  And, next time you eat a popsicle, you can thank my grandfather that you don’t have to scoop it out of a bowl with your fingertips.

• I went to school at Hughes Junior High.  The Karate Kid was filmed there.  Go to http://www.fast-rewind.com/kkid/ and scroll down to the *Cruel Summer at School* section.  Fun note:  At the school Halloween party, when Daniel jumps over the fence, he actually runs down my Mom’s street.  In the movie, he is jumping into a field.
• Maureen McCormick went to my Jr. High.  All I remember is her long hair that she kept flipping back and forth as she stood at her locker.
• Christopher Knight went to my High School.  He gets a Gymnotes nod because he drove me home one time after track practice.  (I was a cheerleader, he was on the team.)
• My Grandfather invented the Bon Bon machine, and we hold the Popsicle stick patent.

• I met the real Tom Gordon, from The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King.    Here’s the cocktail party long version.  Notice, he is wearing a Chicago White Sox uniform.  It was the school year of 2002-2003, and I was teaching at St. Stanislaus Catholic school in Modesto, after being out of the classroom since 1990.  I had a self-contained 7th grade classroom, so I taught everything.  I shared my love of this book.  So, everyone bought a copy…(standards?  what standards.), and we read it together.  Outloud.  The kids loved it.  We were also studying Sabermetrics, which of course as you know is the study of baseball statistics.  Each student had to select a player to follow for the year, and I told them I would take them to either an Oakland A’s game, or a SF Giants game.  Everyone who knows me, knows I hate the Giants.  One of my students says, “I’m going to follow Tom Gordon!”  Seriously, up to that moment, I didn’t even know that Tom Gordon was real.  Meanwhile, I’m calling the Oakland Office, and locked down a date for a Field Trip.  She says, “Yes, they’ll be playing the Chicago White Sox.”  Turned out, that’s who TG played for that year.  We called the Chicago office, and set up a *meet and greet* with Tom Gordon before the game.  It was awesome.  He signed our books, and we got tons of pictures.  He didn’t pitch that day, but we found out that he really DOES point to the sky when he gets a win.  Thank you Stephen King, Tom Gordon, Oakland A’s, Chicago White Sox!
• Everyone who knows me hates this story, because I’ve told it hundreds of times. 

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w=/library/open/bbfree/88ws/88ws_g1_gibson_hr_350.wmv&pid=gen_video&cid=mlb&v=2 Yes, a moment for Kurt Gibson.  Beside giving birth to my two sons, getting married, all the regular life stuff, THIS moment was one of the best. My sister and I were leaving Dodger Stadium.  We had tickets in the right field stands.  We were underneath the stadium when we heard the roar, and saw Kurt Gibson coming to the plate.  We ran back up and saw all those pitches.  The drama, the tension was fabulous.  See those people jumping in the stands?We were right there.

• Bill Lee, not Christopher Plummer sang in The Sound of Music.  He was my choir director at St. James Presbyterian Church, in Tarzana CA.
• My Dad was a designer on the Turbo Pump on the Space Shuttle Main Engine.  He was also the manager for the LOX pump.  He has the flag that was flown on the first mission in a frame on his wall.  On a Space Shuttle note, I applied to be the First Teacher in Space.  Obviously, I didn’t get it.
• My Grandpa built Cabin #4 in Wishon Cove, at Bass Lake.  This is probably only of interest if you’ve been there.  In the 20′s and 30′s, the men would come up from Fresno to the PG&E camp on the weekends, and build cabins for their families to rent in the summertime.  Anyone who goes with me to Bass Lake has to endure the telling of this story.   As my friend Ken says, “Oh, roll out the red carpet.”  I can’t help it.  It has significant meaning for my family.
• I’m a Mayflower Descendant.  remember from this post.  Yep.  It’s now official.