That's me

Click on image to enlarge.

This morning at 9 a.m. my friend and SJSU ace photographer Robert Bain was scheduled to do a photo shoot. So, I went over to see how it was going. He used me to check his lighting (that's Tower Hall in the background.)

It is wicked cold for August in California and I was wearing a heavy sweatshirt Susie and I bought in Quebec City, Canada last June.

I was not dressed for a photo shoot. I did not shave this morning and I had my own camera over my shoulder. But, that's me! It was really nice of Bob to share the photos with me.

Once upon a time I lived a different life

Once upon a time I lived a different life. Eighteen years ago today, in a moment of tragedy (a car accident that took the life of my first wife) that life absolutely changed. John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

April 21st eighteen years ago was a lovely day that seemed full of all the hopes of Spring. I remember looking at the blue sky and thinking, after the tragedy, of the words of the Lakota Sioux before the the Battle of the Little Big Horn, "today is a good day to die."

As we make plans to live we never are really in control of our destiny. I have learned over the years making plans is good and prudent, but it is important to live in the moment; not for the moment, but in the moment.

Do not leave old wounds to fester. Do not dwell on negativity. Do not judge or carry a grudge. There may never come an opportunity to make amends and we all have flaws, after all.

Life can change on a dime and end in a heart beat.

In my opinion; if we make each day a good day to die, we also make each day a good day to live.

About the bicycle ride I lead and yoga

I had a blast last night at our Whine and Dine Bicycle Rides. It seems to me the rides are getting more fun each year.

This is the time of year when we start expanding the mellow ride beyond just Kennedy and Shannon. As we start to extend and expand the ride it becomes a bit more challenging, a bit faster and a bit steeper. That, in the past, has lead some whine and diners to think the ride is not for them. I do not want to see that happen. So, I am going to start bringing a second set of route sheets for a super mellow option of the whine and dine rides.

We talked a lot about Yoga last night. A couple of us whine and diners are members of Downtown Yoga Shala, a great new San Jose Yoga studio owned by cyclist, ACTC member and whine and diner Veronica Cruz. What she and Yoga have done for me is almost a miracle. I am feeling better and riding stronger than I have for years. I know downtown San Jose may not be an option for some folks; but for me it is perfect. (Since joining the studio three weeks ago I have lost four pounds.)

They have a couple of limited time, great promotions now, including 10 days for $10 and a third off monthly memberships. If nothing else, this is the perfect time to just check them out. Hey, we can even do Yoga classes together! Veronica is the real deal. She is one of us. She has been in a major bike accident (and used yoga to recover from it.) Anyway, I promised yesterday to pass on some information so here it is:

• Downtown Yoga Shala Website
• Yelp reviews of Downtown Yoga Shala
• Steve's Yoga Calendar

My Dad's Old Speed Graphic

Pictures with my dad's Speed Graphic

Two years ago our house was burglarized and I lost all the cameras my dad had left me except for one, my dad's old Speed Graphic. It is a lovely camera with a sharp old Kodak (made in USA) Color Ektar lens. I have not used this old press camera in decades, but I remember it being as sharp as a tack. Lately I have started doing business with a local camera repair store, Kamera Korner, and the owner is an old camera repairman named Bob. Repair of old film cameras is becoming a dying art, literally. So I decided to get this camera made usable again. It took awhile, I heard stories from the other people in the shop about the work Bob was putting into the camera. After a month or so, it was ready.

The photo above is from the first roll with this camera.

I have found an added bonus with using this camera. It is so unique, so retro looking, people love talking about it. That leads to conversations which leads to photo opportunities. When I look through the viewfinder, when I click the shutter, I am looking through the same viewfinder, clicking the same shutter my dad did fifty years ago. I think that is pretty cool! Plus it takes amazing photos. The picture here does not do it justice, it is so sharp, so true to color. It's amazing, we are talking around 60 mega pixels in digital equivalent, I have been told. It is knock your socks off sharp. Sometimes; older is better.

Remembering my mom

I have always been envious of friends in their 30's, 40's, 50's and older who have their parents in their lives. Both mine died when I was in my 20's. I miss them every day of my life. Yesterday was my mom's birthday and I thought of her a lot.

Bad News from Idaho Relatives

This morning I got a call from cousin Debbie in Boise. Debbie is the oldest daughter of my cousin Dolores. Terry (Dolores's youngest daughter Susan's husband) died yesterday of complications following a fall he had from a ladder last week.

According to Debbie, Terry was hurt badly in the fall. He broke many bones but they did not think his injuries were life threatening. But, he developed pneumonia in the hospital. Yesterday his blood pressure started dropping. His heart rate elevated, he suffered a heart attack and died. I also talked to Susan, of course she is devastated.

I visited them lasy year, in June of 2007, and stayed with Dolores. Dolores's husband Ben died on Feb. 11, 2007. We all went out to dinner. I sat next to Terry and we had a long conversation. He was a great guy.

Anniversary

An Anniversary
Today is the anniversary of the most tragic day in the lives of my family and I. Seventeen years ago a car accident took the life of my sons' mother, my first wife. I made a movie about that, that is not what this post is about.

Before I could be there for my three sons after the accident I had to have my own feet on the ground. Many people share credit for helping us repair and to go on with our lives, but in my opinion the most credit goes to my current wonderful wife Sue. Susie and I have been together more than 15 years now. She took on our wounded family and became a wife/step-mom/mom to all of us whom were dealing with so much pain, anger and long-term grief. It was not an easy task.

The boys and I all share many memories of the life we lived on and before that tragic day. Sue has always understood and respected that. The pain of death, especially untimely and tragic death, never goes away. It is there as a constant. Sue has been there for us and has become a much loved part of our family. She became a parent to the boys. Sometimes she was not given the appreciation she has been due for what she did. But, she never quit. We are very lucky, some would have quit. Not Sue.

Technorati Tags: ssloansjca, Death, Grief, Rebuilding, Families, Sloan Family, Susan Graziano Sloan, Remarriage, Step Parenting

Special train through town

An elegant conveyance
This evening I photographed a Union Pacific passenger special as it passed the historic former South Pacific Coast narrow gauge railroad depot in Agnew, now part of Santa Clara, California. This depot is also the home of the California Central Model Railroad club that is so much fun and that Kenneth and I belong to.

Sue and I, 15 years together

Our first date, 15 years ago today
Sue and I met in a country western dance class at the Campbell Community Center sometime in January or February of 1993. For our first date we went to Mandarin Gourmet for lunch on this day fifteen years ago. Almost a year and a half later we were married. Since I was widowed, we had my three sons full time. Youngest son Kenneth was a little tyke, then six years old. Now all the boys are grown, out of the house, two are married and we have grandkids. Susie is the best thing that ever happened to me. We are still dating and in love.

Jeff, Nicole, Madison and Jacob

Photos of Jeff, Nicole and Family
Today I had the extreme pleasure of being able to take a set of photos of son Jeff, his wife Nicole, their kids Madison and Jacob. It was their family Christmas photo. We went to a park near where we all live in San Jose. What a beautiful, lovely family they are. We are very proud of all of them!

[More photos here on Flickr]

Baby News

New Baby Coming!
Eldest Son Steve's wife Luci posted this to their blog:

For those of you who have not heard. We are having a baby. Lorena and Eric have graciously accepted to be God parents in a ceremony that will be officiated by a family friend. We are very excited. The baby is due May 30th, 2008. We are 12 weeks 3 days today. Over the weekend I will have Steve load pictures of the ultrasound. At the end of December we should be far enough along to determine the gender.

We are very excited and looking forward to our new grandchild. More about this and other family news is, or will be, posted on our family blog.

Family Blogs

The family that blogs together
Both of our two older sons have blogs. Steve and Luci have a great blog that covers their growing family as does Jeff and Nicole. It is very cool to me to be able to peak in and see what is going on with them.

When the Earthquake Hit

I was in the kitchen when the earthquake hit
It sounded like a heavy truck coming down the street, it was very loud. It was a real roller. Nothing fell off the shelves. It was not very far from where we are, so we felt it really well. The whole house rolled. It was a moderate quake, but we felt it very strong because we were only about ten miles from the epicenter. I wonder what they will call this quake? It was relatively mild compared to the Loma Prieta Quake. I was in San Jose (on campus) when that one hit too. Sue is at the gym and has not gotten home yet.

Map of Quake Epicenter

Anniversary of my mom's passing

On this day in 1984 my mom died
My father died in 1977 and my mom never quite found herself after that. My mom was a smoker and the records probably show that it was a smoking related illness that killed her, but she was really already slowly dying a long slow death from a broken heart. My parents grew up as next door neighbors. They lived in Pittsburgh, Kansas. They eloped before my mother was old enough to marry. They ran away from home across the state border to Joplin, Missouri where they married. They lied about her age. My grandma (on my mothers side) went after them. She found the sheriff. When they caught up with my parents my father told the sheriff they had already consummated the marriage. The sheriff then told my grandmother there was nothing he could do about their marriage. That was the law then. So, my dad lied. They did plenty of consummating later though, they had five children of which I am the youngest.

Trip and baby photos here!

I am on vacation, but I have found ways to post to my family blog here! There is information about our trip there and some baby pictures. More baby pictures and video of our new grandson Jacob can be found on my son Jeff's blog.

Looking back on a great birthday

Great birthday thanks to family and friends!
Yesterday I had a great birthday celebration with friends and family. We opened some of the best wine we have and enjoyed some great times and great food. It was a lot of fun!

Brunch at Stacks
We went to Stacks in Campbell for brunch. This is a big favorite of mine. They make terrific breakfasts. Sue's mom Frances, Sons Kenneth and Jeff, Jeff and his wife Nicole's daughter Madison joined Sue and I. We had a great time together as a family.

Model train operation session
After brunch Jeff, Madison and I went to the Model Railroad club in Agnews. It just so happened the club was having an operations session there that day. It was Jeff and Madison's first time at the train club. The club is in an old railroad depot from the 1870's and the mail line is right next to the tracks. So we got to see both little and real trains go by.

Dinner with friends
After the train club we joined Kevin and Jolyce at Viva's in Los Gatos. We brought two of the best bottles of wine we had and had them at dinner (they do corkage.) That was a real treat, thank you! After dinner we met Pam and Patty at our house. They brought some great wine to the evening. Pam brought a bottle of Opus One! It was the first time I have ever had that. It was wonderful. So far, 52 is good.

Still waiting for grandson news
We are still waiting for news regarding Jeff and Nicole's impending birth of their second child. It could come any time!

[More birthday photos on Flickr]

Old family photos discovered

My Sister Iris
This photo is from around forty years ago. It was in a batch of slides my dad took that I recently discovered. That is one of the neatest things about good old fashioned analog film photography. You can have a container of very old pictures languish undiscovered like a time capsule waiting to be opened. Then, when you do open it, it explodes with memories. Fifty years from now how will people find our digital memories? Will an old CD ROM or hard drive beckon to be opened like an old box of pictures does?

Today is my sister's birthday. Soon she is going to be moving to California. I am really looking forward to having her closer. Happy birthday sister! This photo was taken in the living room of my parents' house on Granada Drive in Concord, CA. I hope to scan and share more as I get time.

Feeling Overrun

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic battle of the First Indochina War between French Union forces of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps, and Vietnamese Viet Minh communist revolutionary forces. The battle occurred between March and May 1954, and culminated in a massive French defeat that effectively ended the war. In the opening phases of that battle the French observation outposts were in the process of being overrun by the Viet Minh. The last transmission from the French observers was them calling out for artillery strikes directly on their own positions.

It is so busy at my day job work, and I feel we are so under resourced to meet the need at my day job in the Academic Success Center at SJSU, that today I often thought of those French forward observers. Today I felt so overwhelmed I just felt like we were being overrun. I feel it is impossible to put in enough work to keep up with the staffing and the mission I am given. We are now further behind tonight than we were at the start of the day. Lately I just think of the thoughts of soldiers in a hopeless battle. Sometimes all you can hope for is to survive. I have this counter on my desktop, it counts the days and the hours and the minutes...

My Mug

Technorati Tags: Steve Sloan, ssloansjca

Solidarity with Israeli academic colleagues

A matter of conscience
On May 30 British University lecturers voted to force their union into a long debate by boycotting work with Israeli universities.

Delegates at the first conference of the new University and College Union (UCU) in Bournemouth, England voted by 158 to 99 for "a comprehensive and consistent boycott" of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to what they are calling Israel's "40-year occupation" of Palestinian land.

Today the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) announced that over 10,000 academics from nearly every level of academia, 32 Nobel Laureates, 53 university and foundation presidents have signed a public declaration demanding that the boycott effort be immediately overturned. SPME said it will deliver to the UCU the Statement as an expression of outrage against the boycott, and as an act of solidarity with their Israeli academic colleagues.

Even though I am not British, Israeli or Jewish, even though I consider myself a liberal and a labor activist, I am proud to say that I am one of the signers of that petition and that I have joined SPME.

I agree with Dr. Edward Beck, President of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and Professor of Psychology, Walden University who said: “The decision by the UCU to promote a boycott is a disgraceful anti-intellectual act that replaces factual discourse with a one-sided political agenda, and turns morality and the notion of freedom on their head. It says more about the boycott proponents than those to be boycotted. All of those who believe in academic freedom must speak forcefully to prevent a minority of extremists in the UCU to politicize, control and shut down the free exchange of ideas, where any group, whether based upon religion or national origin is singled out for exclusion. In moving this boycott proposal forward, members of the UCU are, in fact, separating themselves from the international academic community, and deeply undermining their credibility in the process.”

Technorati Tags: Israel, Free Speech, UCU, SPME, Academic Freedom, SJSU, Middle East, ssloansjca