The Steussy Ranch

Yes, the Temecula Montessori Academy does a kindergarten graduation ceremony. I am not a fan (I think this should be reserved for high school and higher education). Nonetheless, both Dan-dan and Camilla have gone far further with their first year in serious school than I ever expected. Both are reading and writing clearly (and better than I did after first grade). Dan-dan’s math and grammar knowledge are mind-blowing for his age. Truly, a worthy investment. Highly recommended.

Note in the photo below that Dan-dan has lost both of his front teeth.

The following day, there was a Summer Festival show put on by the teachers and students. The following three clips are very cute (but I’m biased). The girl dancing with Camilla (yellow hat) is her friend, Tanya Keshar (red hat).

I finally saw the new JJ Abram’s Star Trek movie. We missed opening night due to a sick baby-sitter. I know I would have enjoyed it much more watching with a theatre full of rabid fans. Watching it nearly alone at a Thursday matinee on the last day it was showing in Temecula, it’s a different thing entirely.

Yes, it’s a nice looking movie. The actors chosen for Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Uhura are excellent. Engineer Scott is wrong, Sulu is suitable but not excellent. And Chekov … Chekov. I suppose that they had to make a decision – do we give Chekov a real Russian accent or do we continue with Walter Koenig’s horrible faked accent (which misses “v” sound, of all things!)? They decided to keep the bad accent.

It was a suitable movie, and I loved seeing 78 year old Leonard Nimoy as Spock and hearing the late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (Nurse Chapel) as the voice of the computer.

The movie got me to wondering how long the franchise might continue. I seriously doubt that younger audiences are going to be buy in to the mythology with this movie. The real effects of Star Trek were made on me and my generation during the 60’s and 70’s – when the original TV show was cutting edge. I think the movie was for rabid fans (like me) to show the universe they love with a modern retelling to their children, spouses and friends.

Oh, will I never learn? I booked a flight for three of us (Dan-dan, Camilla and me) from San Diego to Wisconsin this summer for a family reunion. Gabi and Aaron are staying home, since Gabi will be eight months pregnant then. When I booked the tickets in March through Expedia (wrong move!), I inadvertantly had us arriving late the night before and leaving very early the morning after the reunion, with no extra time to visit with family.

I spent a good half hour on the phone today with the airline and Expedia. Checking the airline’s website, I can see that prices on the tickets are now much less than when I bought them three months ago. Expedia insists that changing the tickets will cost $1000. Heck, buying all new tickets for the return and swallowing the old ones would only cost $500. The airline (Air Tran) refuses to do anything with tickets purchased through Expedia.

The rule to follow in the future goes like this. Use Expedia to find the cheapest flight, then go to the airline’s own website and buy your ticket there. You’ll almost certainly get the same price and, if you should need to change your flight, the airline will take relatively good care of you. Expedia seems to think it’s business is over once it has sold you the ticket.

Up! was a great movie! Dan-dan, Camilla and I saw it yesterday in the movie theatre – it was great fun. I came home and started looking for places to attach balloons so we could go traveling too. Camilla started crying, “I don’t want to go anywhere!” It was OK – we only had two balloons around the house – not even enough to lift the cat.

On the subject of Up!, the age ratings on movies appear to be falling into irrelevancy. Up! was rated PG. I have trouble imagining a more G movie than this (I implicitly trust Pixar, but no other movie studio – including Disney – to produce high quality movies aimed at younger kids). The Madagascar series was also PG-rated. It makes a parent pause for just a moment, but then realize that someone, somewhere is playing Cover-Your-Ass-from-Lawyers.

And, yes, this is Gene Woodfin (prior to her becoming Gene Woodfin Steussy). I was searching on the internet for something else, and found an XML programming sheet with references to her name associated with unlinked files. It took some noodling around, but I found the archives of the Richmond Collegian, which lists several articles with reference my mother. Click on this or any of the other images to get a full size look at the article of newspaper page. The full page is here.

Other pages include:

Gene Woodfin elected class secretary in 1938 – the earliest mention that is referenced.

Also, two articles on one page from 1942! Located here, one is for receiving an athletic letter, the other is for archery.

Finally:

Here is the article that mentions Gene leaving for Wisconsin in 1947. Full page is here.

The search engine for the college newspaper is here.

Sorry for not posting. Very busy. Igor and Julia in town. Disneyland, LA, E3. Photos soon. Ciao.