For those of you that thought we were living in a free state, think again. Our dear president has chosen to suspend one of our constitutional rights. It would seem that just by saying I am against our reconstruction efforts in Iraq I could have my house raided, my car taken and my bank accounts frozen.

What really chaps my hide is that nobody has seemed to notice. Where is the outrage?

We're moving to New Zealand when it all hits the fan. We've got an exit plan.

Do you?

Since mom and dad were told at the shelter that I was probably a Rottweiler, and then my ears proceeded to stand up completely straight and I grew a tan undercoat and everyone thought I was a German shepherd, but then I stopped growing and they all gave up guessing, no one's really been sure what to reply when people query "What a beautiful dog-what is she?" Everyone assumed I was a pedigree mutt but it was anyone's guess how many different types of dog led to my existence (I'll never tell). UNTIL we went camping last month and my cover was completely blown. We met an Australian who saw me and the first thing she said was "oh, that's a kelpie!" (She said it with a thick accent that at first led mom to believe she had called me a cow-pie, but apparently mom was more amused than insulted at this dig- she's so immature.) At any rate, when we got home mom did some searching to learn more about Kelpie's- we are Australian sheep dogs, known for our beauty, charm and brains (not to mention humble natures). I tried to deny it but the following photos pretty much sealed the deal. So much for my elusive nature.

While we were searching for photos that demonstrated my regal pedigree, I happened to stumble across this motley looking Australian cattle dog- not exactly attractive, but I suppose endearing if you're into that sort of thing. Looks a bit familiar, eh?

Link: http://thelansfords.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=31802

The Lansford clan (aka Andy, Mari, Manu and Webster) just returned this weekend from a wonderful and relaxing week of camping up at Eagle Lake in Lassen National Park (about 2 hours drive north of Reno). Both working members of the family took the week off as our first official vacation since we've started working at our current jobs, and the dogs said goodbye to the gophers in our yard for the week, we loaded into the car and took off.

Last Saturday we drove to Carson City (well, Andy drove and Mari was on vomit patrol as Webster gets incredibly car sick when we drive anywhere that takes longer than a half hour). We stayed in a hotel there that claimed to be doggy friendly although apparently this good will did not extend to the fact that when we left the two mutts in the room alone for an hour to go grab dinner we came back to a barrage of phone messages from the front desk saying our dogs wouldn't stop barking and they were receiving numerous complaints from other guests. Fortunately for us, they stopped once we returned therefore precluding us from getting kicked out of our first family hotel experience.

The next day we packed up and ducked out the back door trying to avoid anyone who either worked at or patronized the hotel that might have a death wish for us, jumped back in the car and completed our drive. We arrived in camp and after wearing the dogs out running and swimming in the lake for a couple of hours we found a lovely shaded patch underneath a tree with a birds nest and little cheeping babies in it, and set up shop.

Basically the next five days consisted of lots of sleeping, reading in hammocks, frequent romps with the dogs down to the lake/ in the fields/ in marshes, usually with their favorite toy, "chuck it," in tow, eating, and relishing in our own filth. (There are showers that one can drive to, but by the time you make it back to camp your newly cleaned feet in their wet flip flops have already taken on a muddy caked aspect and of course then the dogs jump all over you in their excitement at being re-united after the trying 20 minutes apart, covering you with THEIR mud, so while you end up very happy to have taken the shower, the effect doesn't last all that long.)

Manu has apparently decided that hats signify intense evil, as do apparently beards and small children, which made for an "interesting" week of her being suspicious of pretty much everyone in the campground and making it clear that no one was to invade her turf in the corner unless she gave them explicit permission or they were part of the extended pack, aka my parents, Andy and I, and Hil & Jake (for some reason Jake defies the "children are evil" rule defacto by being one of the first people Manu met as a puppy, although we strongly suspect he may be a heavy contributor to the existence of this rule since his favorite game to play with Manu is "run up to you and pounce, getting you to bark viciously while I run away laughing"). Both Lynne and Steve finally got fed up of her insubordination and asserted their dominance over her, giving her the opinion that while she wasn't foolish enough to snarl at them again, they were clearly VERY suspicious fringe members of our pack that needed to be watched closely for any insubordinate moves. Needless to say, as a result of this charming new neurosis of hers, Andy and I spent a lot of time in close proximity to our puppies to ensure that everyone continued to possess all of the fingers they arrived at snake camp with. What we discovered was that with about 3-4 hours of solid running a day, both dogs were quite mellow and willing to collapse in the dirt and sleep whenever we were back in camp, and this became our resulting M.O.

Andy also caught his first snakes this week, an exciting if not stinky monument in his lifetime. The Eagle Lake family camping tradition started because it is a field site for collecting snakes and doing population studies on them, even before I was born, and both my sisters, and Drew and I, grew up with the annual expectation that all normal kids escaped to the mountains over summer vacation to run around in cow-pie filled swamps avoiding leeches and grabbing as many snakes as possible. When I told Andy about this wondrous experience back when we were living in Samoa, his first question for me was "do you wear waders?" I found this seriously amusing and told him he was welcome to, if he didn't mind people laughing at him. At any rate, it was clear that an imperative part of this excursion was that Andy get to experience the joys of snake collecting first-hand. We went out to Papoose meadow, armed Andy with a bag, and I went on the lookout because they're very hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for (actually, they can be hard to find even if you do), and I wanted to make sure he felt successful on this first venture. After I pointed one out and made him grab it, and he knew what to look for, he managed to nab 4 others. The last one he picked up, however, squeeged on him, the term given to the excretion of this vile smelling chemical that serves as a last-ditch defense mechanism when they've been caught. I must say my main surprise was that they didn't all do it to him, but I'm glad he got the experience of collecting a few first. The smell is somewhat on the lingering side and significantly on the vile side, and on the return to the car Andy decided that he was ready to retire from his new-found profession as a snake collector.

We managed not to get attacked by any ferocious wildlife or really to get into any particularly life-threatening experiences which was a very exciting and confidence-building component of this camping trip, and overall returned refreshed and rejuvenated. The dogs are back to digging up the yard and rolling around biting each other's faces all day long, but they told us they had a fabulous time as well. We have lots of wonderful pictures to commemorate our journey thanks to our resident photographer Andy. (I tried to sneak in and take a few of him as well!)

And now, back to work...

Mari and I have been working really hard on our garage. We took it from looking like this:





To this:





The dogs even helped





It will all be done soon (not never), and we will have a great place to hang out. We are even insulating the walls to try and keep the temperature at a reasonable level.

Mari made a baked ziti a few nights ago, and we all enjoyed it.


Some of us more than others.

This weekend the Lansford clan took our first family camping trip! I had to go down to San Diego on Friday afternoon for a recruitment event so we decided to make a weekend out of it and from there headed east into the Laguna Mountain National Forest where we stayed at a really nice campground called Burnt Rancheria, backing up right onto the Pacific Crest Trail atop the mountains and overlooking the Anza Borrego desert valley beyond.

We pitched our new tent (which rocks, thanks Mom & Dad L!), set up our gear and relaxed in the dirt. After about 15 hours Manu FINALLY decided that it was okay to pee- this literally took getting to the point where her body was convulsing uncontrollably in the effort to hold it in at 3 in the morning our first night. Aside: For some reason Manu has this weird phobia of doing her business anywhere outside. She normally holds it when we go out whether it be a trip to the dog park, a half hour walk or a 3 hour hike, until we get home and then bolts for the backyard in a panic to relieve herself the second we get home. Mercifully, she has generalized this "safe-zone" approach to the backyards of all family and friends, so this was her real test on being pushed to the limits of having to survive in a pee-free zone for a prolonged period of time (too long to keep it that way).

The next morning after a somewhat less-than-refreshing night of sleep thanks to the psychosis mentioned above, the four of us set out for a wonderful 3 hour hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. The dogs loved it and bounded along chasing lizards and threatening to jump off rock piles to their untimely demise at every corner. We had actually stumbled across the PCT accidentally from an access road we were walking down, because we were apparently disregarding the cardinal rule of hiking "know where you're going, have a map". Once we found it though we were quite happy with ourselves and when we returned to the access road point on our way back we decided we preferred to stay on the trail, which we assumed linked up with our campground around back, to get home. So we wound happily if somewhat exhausted up the side of the mountain on a lovely wooded trail, Webster trotting ahead to each shady patch so that he could sit and catch his breath while we would catch up. After a while, Andy and I realized that we had been walking farther than we probably had needed to in order to get back to our camp and started to wonder if we had missed our access point and our chance to head back into the park, as we saw the path up ahead veering sharply east and around a large mountain. With the spirit of intrepid explorers and the confidence of a highly enjoyable previous few hours of tramping under our belts we figured why not, let's keep going a bit and just see what happens.

About 2 minutes later we turned up a switchback, Manu at point about 25 feet ahead of us and Webster about 10. The dogs trotted happily around the curve and as Andy and I followed suit, from a thicket about 8 feet directly in front of us, came a low, deep, throaty growl. As in, the scariest, most stereotypical evil mean predator about to attack and disembowel you, growl. As in, a mountain lion within arm's reach situated between us and our dogs growl. One that clearly had no intention of alerting our dogs, aka snacks, of its presence, but apparently changed its mind when it saw we were a slightly bigger pack than initially anticipated.

Andy's first reaction is to back up into me and say "Oh God, what do we do?"

My thought process: Super! Now the fate of all four of our lives rests on MY shoulders! I begin to think about the situation and analyze it in my head, wondering why on earth I know how to respond when threatened by a lion, an elephant, a hyena, but nothing so useful as a mountain lion, something I might ACTUALLY encounter on my own in the wild. In my internal monologue I unconsciously process by lifting my hand up in a claw-like positions and saying "RAAR."

Andy interprets this statement as a conviction that I have, in fact, decided on a plan of action for us, and this plan is to attack the mountain lion. So he steps forward, adrenaline pumping, ready to take on the wild beast.

I, of course, having NO such intentions, grab him by the shirt and yank him at me- "no. No. No! We need to get out of here. Now. Fast. Go back down the hill. Obviously our decision about whether to continue onward has been made for us."

We call to the dogs, who are standing dumbstruck and unmoving, either out of fear or total oblivion, I can't say I know which it was. After a few increasingly convincing pleas on our behalves they decide they're willing to comply and trot back to us, where we begin bolting down the trail at about the fastest clip we can manage without giving off the impression that we're "running away" (I'm sure my psychological game was so devious the mountain lion could never have seen through it), Andy at the tail end of the pack, facing backwards with his portable camera tripod at the ready just in case. (Please don't ask how a portable camera tripod would prevent a mountain lion from disemboweling our dogs.)

We traversed the 2+ miles down the hill and back to camp in about 20 minutes- I'm sure what we were doing could hardly have been called walking calmly as the unafraid pack, but we made it back and the mountain lion decided not to follow us, so in the end things seemed to work out somehow.

Let's just say we spent the rest of the weekend taking walks in really big open meadows that had significant numbers of other people around.

Howdy! This is me, Webster. I'm a male Australian Cattle Dog mix, about 6 months old. I am new to the Lansford family, but I am already fitting right in. My sister Manu loves playing rough with me, in fact we've been playing for the last four hours straight. I took a break to come write this blog, after all I have to represent on the family website.

I think that the house is really cool. I'm a bit afraid to go out the doggy door on my own unless my big sister Manu is already out there. I may have to ask my Mom and Dad to install a bigger dog door. I might grow up to be a bit bigger than my sister.

For now, I hope you enjoy these pictures of my arrival at the Lansford's household. I'm sure you will be seeing more of me later!

Just wanted to spend a few seconds to assure those of you that might be checking in to see how I'm doing that I am, in fact, still alive, if not the most communicative these days. I do longingly miss the time in Samoa that I had to reflect and write on what was going on in my life and really process it. These days I barely have time to implement the goings on, and stepping back reflection seems a distant and lofty goal. But the wonderful upside of this is that I am constantly challenged and engaged and never feeling bored wondering how I'm going to occupy my time and my brain, which is a welcome change from living overseas. At this point our program is about halfway through the recruitment and interviewing season for the 2007-2008 school year- we are accepting applications for another month and interviewing for another two (possibly two and a half). My weekends and evenings have continued to be filled up by information sessions, recruitment events, trainings and interviews, and this trend will not halt until the summer is in full swing and we are set with candidates for the teaching vacancies we have been asked to help fill. While I sometimes wish I had a bit more down time and flexibility to spend with family and friends I feel great about where I am and what I'm doing. It constantly surprises me how quickly time is flying by- Manu is 7 months old and while still a total nut, she has definitely mellowed out some of her crazier puppy habits and is content to hang around relaxing for large portions of the day (read: not biting me on the butt and barking at me to play while I'm on conference calls). She's still plenty spunky, just the way we like her, but a significantly more mature companion. Not to mention much heftier! Anyways back to work but just wanted to drop a note since poor Andy's been bearing the brunt of random updates on our lives these days.

The miniature orange tree that Mom & Dad L. brought back from Florida for us keeps growing mushrooms in the pot. They are quite attractive. We worry a little for the health of the tree, mostly because mushrooms grow so fast.


I took some photos this morning of them in both color and black and white. I also made a composite where just the green plants are true color, much like the effect in Schindler's List with the girl in the red dress.


Check Out The Photos

Mari and I have been working really hard at getting the photos section of our site back up and running. They're almost finished, but you can check them out now if you like.

Just click on the "Photos" link at the top of the page, or click here if you don't see it.

What I really want to know is: Why does Microsoft Word think that it is smarter than I am?

If I select some text and press ctrl-u (underline), why does it underline the whole document? Do I look like I'm stupid?

If I press the numbering or bullets button, why does it apply bullets or numbers to the whole document? Am I incapable of understanding where I want bullets or numbering in my document?

If I press the tab key to align some text on a tab, why does it realign the margins of the whole document?

I'm sure that these 'features' are great for some people, but for me they are nothing more than additional frustration.


Microsoft, Get your act together and develop software that actually is smarter than me.

This last Saturday was my first passover seder. Rudi and Al were kind enough to invite my parents and Lynette as well. It was a neat experience. It was like chaos with a program. Throughout the dinner Jake sang very creative new songs about passover. My favorite being: "Everyone's a Matzah, Matzah, Matzah", whilst he devoured matzah crackers as Cookie Monster devours cookies.


It was such a special occasion they made me a Christmas ornament. Here it is:

I didn't say it first, in fact I think it was Frank Herbert in Dune that said it. But it's true.

I am currently learning a new language at work. The language of production and business processes. I am separated from the environment and the people in it until I learn that language.

I took my car in to have a smog check done with the check engine light on (an automatic fail for the curious). I found out that the check engine light can mean literally thousands of things about your car that have nothing to do with emissions. A new language was created when those codes were established and we as consumers were separated from understanding our vehicles.

Microsoft is fighting to keep it's office document formats compliant with our federal governments recent push to have documents kept in an open format. The format of those documents is a language. Our government is trying to do the right thing by keeping public documents available in a language that is commonly spoken. Microsoft is trying their hardest to develop their document standard so that it is not a commonly spoken language and keep general users separated from their data. And in this case the electorate separate from the government sworn to serve us.

If you still don't believe me think on this. Technology groups create jargon, adolescents create slang, and literary types create neologisms often solely for the purpose of separation.

The creation of new languages and control of existing ones represents true power. By wielding the ability to limit or enhance expressive power the wielder is exercising control of the way we think and act.

If you cannot express a thing with language then you are left only with a mental specter that represents that thing. It is forever stuck in your mind and cannot be categorized or labeled. Assume now that someone puts a name to that thing, call it SLUDGE. Does SLUDGE conjure good or bad feelings? What now is your perception of SLUDGE as a result of having a word with negative connotations associated with it?

Just venting.

Okay, so now it's been almost a month and I can only blame the same thing for my lack of attention to keeping current updates posted on life, the universe, and everything- lots and lots of work. Funny how much more time I used to have to write and post things to my website when I lived in Samoa- you'd think living in a developing country with spotty electricity would yield less contact than living in the San Gabriel Valley, but apparently that would be a misconception.

I've actually been traveling every week (sigh) for the past... 4 weeks I think. Hard to keep straight at this point. That said, I have strategically scheduled meetings in Los Angeles for EVERY DAY next week in order to prevent any whim one might have to convince me I need to leave town. I cannot even begin to describe how exciting the prospect of spending a full 7 days without any air travel seems at this point. That said, things are going quite well and I'm enjoying my job even if it does consume every waking moment of every day. We are rounding out our trainings for our interviewers in the next couple of weeks and have actually already started our interview events- first one was this past Saturday and went very well! For the next 4 months we'll be having interview events pretty much all over California so it will definitely continue to be crazy for a while, but people keep telling me the late summer/early fall are really nice :)

Andy Manu and I have also started a new dog-sitting business. We were watching my parents' dog Tasha for two weeks and then the day she returned home we picked up Andy's parents' dog Max who is currently with us through the end of the week. Manu seems thrilled to have other dogs around although I suspect it's not so good for her training regimen as all control seems to have flown out the door when other animals are present. I actually just got off the phone with Andy (I'm in Stockton running a training) because the two dogs were having a "who can bark the loudest" contest- I think it's something along the lines of American Idol for dogs but I can't be sure- and you couldn't even hear over the racket. While I miss them I can't say I'm sorry to have had their competition cut off on my end when I hung up the phone- poor Andy.

We spent a great weekend in Irvine with Jake and my parents- lots of dog park romping, electric boat driving (manned by Captain Jake with Skipper Andy's assistance), college volleyball game viewing, dim sum eating and the like. It really reminded me of how wonderful it is to be back in California and close by family again. Now the only problem is not having enough time, working, to spend with everyone!

So the reason no one has heard anything from me in the past week is because I finally started my new job on Monday! (And have subsequently been insanely busy trying to learn everything I need to know to be effective in said job.) I am working for an organization called The New Teacher Project, a nation-wide non-profit that partners with local urban school networks to bring teachers into high-needs areas and to combat teacher shortage issues in general. This, incidentally, is the organization that created the New York City Teaching Fellows, which was my alternate certification route program when I was teaching in Manhattan. (I was quite amused when I put together the connection AFTER applying for the job because, shockingly enough, it seemed like a great fit with my experiences... go figure.) At any rate, my specific role in this multi-functional organization is as site manager for a new start-up program in California to recruit teachers for charter schools throughout the state. We're looking to end up with a total of 100-150 teachers for 42 schools, half of which are in LA, one third in the Bay Area and the remainder in Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto. I will have a local program associate in each of these locations working exclusively on each region and I will be working to oversee the project at large as well as local components in all locations. It's a great job for me and is very exciting- a perfect match drawing on what I've done in the past while also presenting completely new and different challenges. So I'm in the process of rapid immersion and loving getting to dive into exactly the kind of work I love doing- pushing myself to the limits. For more information about the project you can check out our website at:

www.TeachCaliforniaCharters.org


Andy also started work, today, at Decore-ative Specialties, as a project manager, but I will let him go into that in further detail since I have yet to find out enough to be a reliable source (he hasn't come home yet).