University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), a mystery

My daughter started at the University of Alaska, Anchorage in the Fall and loves it. She lives in the dorms and it has been a fulfilling social time for her as well. But there is one problem. She doesn't get her mail. She will get packages but not mail. In fact she says that no one in the dorm gets their mail. About two months ago my wife sent a check to her and she never received it. Even worse she has a friend who got a summons to appear in court for a traffic ticket. He did not receive the summons and a warrant went out for his arrest. The police stopped him and he was arrested and had to post bail to get out.

The day before yesterday my wife came to me and said she would send Anna a check by Western Union, an expensive proposition. I suggested to my wife that she send the next check by registered mail. That letter is now in process with its tracking number.

I set out to investigate this problem. First I looked up numbers for personnel at UAA and found the "mail room" with a number of employees and their work numbers. There is also an email where I could directly ask them about their success in delivering mail.

As I heard Donna talk with Anna on the phone yesterday, it came to me that we were dealing with an issue that could possibly an federal offense. I went to the US Postal Inspector's website and sure enough there is a place inquiries and complaints. I will make one of each.

I made a very interesting discovery while googling the UAA initials and post office. I came up with a Wikipedia reference that stated the US Postal Service abbreviation for mail to go to the "dead letter office" was "uaa" -undeliverable-as-addressed - also the initials of the University of Alaska at Anchorage. I wonder if I could have stumbled on to something. The wikipedia page also states "In 2006 approximately 90 million undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) items ended up in this office." Certainly there were even more "dead letters" marked "UAA" in 2009 and mounting numbers in 2010. How many of these were meant to go to University of Alaska, Anchorage?

Negotiations

Yesterday three negotiators and myself sat all day with the two top administrators in our district to try and negotiate a contract. It is a devastating year for everyone involved. A great thing about this year is that the financial books of the district are open. The funding coming in next year is less than that in the previous year. The year 2011- 2012 looks even grimmer unless the state of California does something about the budget process. The district must project three years in advance, which is all but impossible.

As a district that offers programs that no other district in the area offers, we have some positive things to expect. Whereas enrollment in one nearby district is plummeting, ours is only decreasing. Where many families are moving away out of economic hardship, we are experience only a relatively minor loss of students. The programs we offer are popular with parents but expensive. Our seven period day is envied by other districts, but the threat of the six period day always lingers as a future budget adjustment.

Generally two sides meeting at the bargaining table are at odds. This year specifically the district did not bring in its big guns (the lawyers) and we did not bring in our consultant. Although teachers are giving up five days next year (it appears.), with a salary reduction of 4.4% over two years, we have maintained an open communication with the district. As a result the district has been relatively open with us. This year we worked an extra day for free (officially). In actuality we put in many free days (at least I do.). The district offered to give a free day in the month of May as a peace offering, I presume.

Casey our chief negotiator has incredible expertise on budget and benefit matters. He has scoured the health benefit plans and can see some potential savings in plan choices. I know that that the district appreciates his expertise and our willingness to negotiate in good faith. And we appreciate their good will in these tough times.

A Jazz Club from the Past

Four years ago a wonderful woman opened a little jazz club in a little house in our little town. She brought talent mostly from the San Francisco Bay area to play here. It was a great little place and greatly appreciated by the local people. She painted a mural of jazz greats on the sidewalk of the house leading up to the club. It still remains there today.

One year later the owner, an insurance salesman, kicked her out of the place and opened up an insurance office. I was crestfallen. But even more so this woman was completely disheartened about losing her little club. I talked to her daughter a short time after it closed and apparently, the owner just kicked them out- no reason needed.

Today I passed that building and the insurance company was gone. There was a little sign in front of the house "For Rent". Below the words an empty space where one would normally write a phone number. I had the sudden urge to write "SCUM_BAG" in that space. I even had a black marker in my pocket but I passed it too quickly. As I thought about it, I realized that I was still angry about that injustice.

Tomorrow I will write "SCUMBAG" on the sign- with forethought and malice. It is something that I would not ordinarily do, but I think that the occasion demands it.
Perhaps I will be arrested and will thus publicize the injustice.

My Helpers

It is March and I am beginning to count off the days. There are 46 school days until I am finished as a full time public school teacher. I think especially of this past year as the president of the local teachers association and how I could not have done it without the help of so many of the members. Strangely I feel like this blog might be the beginning of my retirement speech. I did not want a retirement dinner or a retirement party or any hullabaloo about retirement. Yet it appears there will be all of these things.

Alternately she refers to herself as "your little pest" and "your helper". Really she has been the reason that no one has declared me as completely incompetent as a president. Sandy was always there to remind me of this or that thing coming up. She readily volunteered for unpleasant task and literally fixed some of my mistakes. She did is all quietly, even surreptitiously. I am so grateful to her for carrying me through this year. Sandy has really been my right hand this year.

Susan has taken care of membership. I can always go down the hall to ask for her help. I have asked her three times if she will consider being president next year. Each time I ask her she says "no". Her reason is that administration doesn't like her. I cannot imagine why. She is a straightforward, "take no bullshit kind of person". Ah, maybe that is why Administration doesn't like her.

Greg, co-president in name only, you said that you really couldn't do much this year but you have done a lot. You went to the school board meeting when I was so weary from all of those layoff meetings and regional meetings. I thank you for that especially.

I will add more to the list later.

Hubbub at Hop Monk

Finally I arrived at Hop Monk Tavern at about 6:30 PM. I had brought my painting, that I had done from Taos in 1997, to the silent auction. The silent auction was indeed impressive. Many spiritual offerings: reading, wellness assessment, body massages, pulse analysis- tango lessons, waltz lessons, swing lessons- ointments, creams, facials. They people had donated scarves, sweatshirts, rugs, shawls,ties, hand sown hubbub artifacts. There were an assortment of children's toys, jewelery, art projects, crafts, painting and ceramics.

By 6:30 the crowd was quite large. I came down with Truckee was late enough to catch Gradina perform only one piece- a Bulgarian tune. They sounded in top form and with the band, even better than I had ever heard them. Donna agreed. Then the Balkin band played several tunes while I survey the situation. John, my partner at the door, suggested that I take the other door to let a little air in.

The Hubbub Club began about 7:30. It was an amazing treat for the ears. This group that had begun about two years ago with less than a dozen musicians has now swelled to about 35 members. 29 of them were here tonight. Four top trumpet players in the front led the tunes. The drummers sounded really tight. The crowd danced wildly and cheered after every number.

I find myself insufficient to the task of describing this band and this night. I will try to post a video with this blog soon. With my busy schedule it is difficult for me to download the movies that I took and edit them quickly. For the time being I will link to some old videos of the Hubbub, mostly from last year's Honk Fest in Seattle. Hubbub Club at Aubergine and Hubbub Club at Sebastopol Downtown Square.

One of our dancers sent around an email about the performance. She expresses it better than I ever could.

"Most Beloved Hubblies,

You guys were supercalafragalistic last night! I’ve never heard you play so well. What a great show, a great evening, everyone loved Sarena Zembra and Gradina and the Rosetown Ramblers, the gifts were fantastic, the auction team were without compare, the doormen were scholars and gentlemen and the fundraising committee was on the ball."

Politics and Education

"All politics is local." At various times I have agreed with and disagreed with this well worn quote. But now as our local association's president, I am again seeing the truth in it. We are in the midst of contract negotiations. It appears that for the second year in a row that our teachers will take a pay cut in the form of lost days. It will amount to about a 4% cut over two years. Other associations throughout the state of California are doing the same thing.

I consider myself a moderate in union politics. If both sides are talking and try to stay open during negotiations, despite bad times, it is the best that I can expect. I would say that the "new" leadership of this association agrees with me. But I have started to hear more and more rumblings from a more radical side. Their position is to hold on the cuts in negotiations and I think that they have a valid argument.

They reason if the district unilaterally acts over the teachers' union to make cuts, at least the teachers are not cutting their own throats. They think that when the district makes even more radical cuts the public will be outraged. The best case scenario for them is that parents will notice the complete downgrading of education and vote themselves a parcel tax. Strangely this view appears to be the most optimistic because of an overinflated view, in my eyes, of parental outrage.

If the outcome of refusing to negotiate would be enough money eventually coming to schools, then it is obviously a good solution. Yet it would mean completely forfeiting collective bargaining rights. I think that collective bargaining is our strength. Even though the district is making cuts with our consent, we have bargained hard. Also the cuts that we have made are those that should be rescinded once the financial picture improves, if that ever happens.

California has the most dysfunctional system for funding schools in the United States. Well I haven't actually checked for Hawaii, Mississippi and Alabama. For one there are forces here who want to privatize the entire public education system. Yet I am diverging from the main point of this particular entry.

Blogging

With all of the things I have to do, I just spent the last hour paging through random blogs. I did find one thing out. I like looking at blogs with photos more than text. I like a little extra design in the blog. I think about my blog and how it is words, words, words (as Hamlet said). It appears that a lot more people read other peoples blogs than mine. The comments that I receive are comments from Casinos advertising, or Chinese mass advertisements. I have one follower, a friend. That is nice. I think that my blog is ready for a complete over hall.

I used to like the name, but now I don't. It's too pretentious. Who uses Latin any more anyway? I take tons of photos and many of them good, but my time for blogging is in the classroom, like now. Well here I have presented another wordy blog, short but still wordy.

Teenagers

I am writing specifically about the group of teenagers ages 14 to 16. I have found little intellectual curiosity among them. Perhaps from years of indoctrination to point system of grading they have lost interest in really learning and only want a good grade. Many will do whatever is necessary to get a good grade and many do not care beyond the sanctions imposed by parents.

Teenagers are addicted to their ipods, iphones, cell phones etc. Social texting is an every hour part of their lives. Their vocabulary, especially the boys, is dusted with variations on the word "fuck"- "fucker", "fucked up", etc. They hold extreme loves and hates. Since their life revolves around their social world, they hate anyone who interferes in anyway with that world. Parents and teachers are sometimes the primary thrawters of their social interactions as they see it.

Girls as one would expect are obsessed by boys. They are often angry or hurt by a boy who cheated on them, used them, refused them or just plane won't pay attention to them. They spend a large amount of time being disillusioned about boys, hurt or just angry. Some of those in a relationship want to be out of it. Some of those not in a relationship want to be in one.

Boys as one would expect are focused on girls as conquest, getting laid or getting "pussy" as they would put it. They write in course unsophisticated ways about sex and relationships that reflect the shallowness of their thinking or insensitivity to the feelings of their challenges. Yet not all boys are like this. Many still are obsessed with sports or video games. If girls are on their radar they have not admitted it.

Teenagers often have relationships with parents full of high drama. But many acutely feel the difference between the old closeness they had as a child and now are upset by the way it seems to have changed. Many want that closeness back, but don't know how to get to it, don't know how to get over that communication gap that has developed so recently. Yet some, girls especially, have an extremely close relationship with their mothers. Their mothers have become their new buddies.

The media has a great influence on what teenagers think. They still buy products and wear fashions they think are cool. They love their favorite bands as we did. What is different is the variety of music out there today and the variety of tastes. Many boys and girls still love rap. There is still a mainstream popular music that many follow. But many teenagers have very sophisticated tastes in music and have keyed into world music and are open to many different types of music.

Some teens are into drugs and will experiment with anything. Marijuana is ever popular and in our school at least parents are the pothead roll models. But teenagers love to experiment with pills and will try whatever the local dealer comes up with. Cocaine is available as well as ecstasy. But the biggest drug of course is alcohol. Some kids get it from home. Some steal it from the local Safeway and some get older kids to buy it for them. Yet some have no interest in drugs of any kind.

As a teacher I am unhappy to report that most teenagers report that they are totally bored in the classroom. I would like to think that my class is an exception, but it is not. Their minds are elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong. In general I find teenagers wonderful people. They are usually friendly enthusiastic about social endeavors. They are fun and spontaneous. But overall I realize that my assessment is not kind.. It speaks perhaps of my desire to serve a different age and generation. I will have that opportunity come June.

Baseball Cards, an update

Much has happened since I first visited that card shop in Rohnert Park. I think that was the last event in my previous baseball card post. Jim (not his real name) at the shop said that he had a friend who was both honest and a serious buyer. I was at the shop on a Monday and Jim said he would talk to his friend who would probably get back to me the next weekend. The next day I had three messages on my phone by noon, saying that the collector wanted to talk to me. I called him up and we arranged an evening meeting in his office.

I will call him "Bob". Bob, although immersed in paperwork at the height of tax season, always had time for baseball cards. When I first shook hands and sat down, he was skeptical about the authenticity of the cards. He talked continuously for over an hour as he fingered the cards, speculated and finally pronounced that he thought that they were authentic. He examined them closely, the edges, the back the photos, the players. "One thing bothers me," he said. They don't have that smell that I love so much in old baseball cards." "I have to agree with you. You should get them graded." I said, "I know that there are a lot of different graders around. Who should I choose?" He answered, "PSI is the only one." "It's too bad, but most of the auction houses have already gotten the cards that they will auction off in the spring." These words would come back to me.

Since we saw the $10,000 price tag on Ruth, we decided that that we would offer the Ruth for $10,000 and the rest for $5,000. Bob thought that this was a reasonable offer. But finally he said, "I don't think that I'll pull the trigger today."

The next day I went to the PSI website to see what I should do to get the cards graded. I thought that the problem might be insurance with a cargo so valuable and I had no idea how to solve it. At the top of the website was a banner ad. "Get your cards in by February 22 to have them included in the spring auction. I thought about what Bob said about the spring being the ideal time for baseball card auctions. I dashed off an email to "Memory Lane Inc." I received an email back almost immediately. He said that he was interested and did I have a sample scans of some of the cards (both sides). I sent the scans and received a reply within hour. I could sense his excitement in the email.

I called Ian at Memory Lane up and he was indeed excited. He said that these cards were very rare. He kept prefacing his statement with "If these cards are authentic..." I knew that they were. He said that they were "strip cards" confirming what Bob told me, but he also said that they were very rare. He even said something like "a value of up to $50,000". He said that he would feature the cards in an auction with one on the cover and that they would widely advertise it.

I sent him the cards. He talked to my wife the next day. "When the package arrived I found my heart beating like I was an eight year old kid." He said. I assume that he went to PSI as he said he would but they wouldn't grade the cards. The reason in their words was that they were "restored" or "water damaged". Backing up... I had asked Antoinette to remove the cards from the backing. Whether I should have done that on not, I don't know. But not only did she remove them from the backing but she immersed them in water- as a museum restorer is trained to do. Then they were carefully cleaned with swabs and pressed under non acidic blotters. In the eyes of graders, now these were damaged goods.

Ian kept an positive spin. "> The cards were authenticated as authentic by SGC, who are the key grading company for pre-war material. They will be in house probably by Friday. Looks like they will be deemed Authentic with no grades as they were restored. That’s not the end of the world as they are Rare."

By this past Monday Ian presented them to several buyers. Again, here is Ian: "Good news. I have a buyer for the collection. We offered the collection at $11,500 to multiple buyers. Some of the buyers have no interest due to the condition. I do have a buyer in Texas, who is the hobbies biggest collector. He has many of the cigarette cards from this era and shows interest in the lot. He countered at a much lower price so we agreed at $10,500. So bottom line is, they sold at $10,500 to a collector who will never sell them. I think that is what appeals to me most, is that they are in the hands of a Texas collector who loves the hobby and appreciates the rarity, not the condition. The cards actually did better than I thought due to condition."

And that's the rest of the story. Bill now wants me to take on his collection of postcards from the teens and twenties, but certainly not so valuable. Yet, I am not really sure. There may be another Babe Ruth among them.

More Meetings

Tis the season for meetings... Yesterday after school there was a faculty meeting and really nothing significant happened. After that we, union officers met with the superintendent. There we received more bad news. The continuation school at El Molino High School will be disbanded. The class size for the special education department at El Molino will rise considerably. There will be a cut back on counselors at all campuses with a fifty percent reduction at Laguna School. Possibly as many as eight full time teacher positions eliminated. But a rare piece of good news also, two of our excellent teachers Gianna and Jeff will finally after 3 years be moved on to probationary status.

Today, we have a general membership meeting to tell the bad news to our membership. We need to get their feedback to decide how we want to proceed in negotiations. Then tonight at 6 PM is the school board meeting. Here they will finalize the layoffs that the administration has already decided on. Perhaps I will let Greg, the other President finally introduce himself to the school board tonight. It will be a meeting that I do not mind missing.

Reduction In Force

I took a president's day yesterday to catch on both school work and union work. The season of layoffs is upon us. I spent much of the day trying to figure out who would be laid off in the district. I had asked the financial officer and his secretary for a list of names that were to be laid off. Also I asked for several criteria and hire dates of all certificated employees. When by Monday it didn't arrive, I called his secretary and she said that it was in my mailbox.

I was shocked to see the number of employees "fired". But after some investigation found out that these people were temporary hires. It is the policy of the district to fire "temporaries" then rehire them if they need them the next year. They can be hired from year to year in this way. My friend, Kathy told me that one of the people she represents is actually a tenured teacher. If that is the case then there is a mistake on the sheet.

Rumors abound when financial times are tight. That the continuation school at our other high school is closing- is one of those rumors. Both teachers are temporary and were released (fired). The district maintains as many temporary positions as they can. In tough times it allows them to simply fire the teachers without any fuss. In all, eight teachers have "non reelects" or firings, two from the continuation school, three from the other high school and three called consortium- nurses, psychologists, special programs teachers. For a small district like ours, that is a lot.

At 4 PM I went to CTA Sonoma County wide meeting. I had called all the teacher whom I thought had a possibility of being laid off. Fortunately two of those were not. I went partially to be able to inform our members of the alternatives available. Helen and Andy, out Sonoma County Association Reps, moderated the meeting. Only one Analy teacher was at the meeting and he was there to help out another teacher who could not make it. Six lawyers sat at the front of the room to advise the 50 or so laid off teachers in the room. Each one gave a little spiel on how to move forward with their case and get the best possible representation.

This morning I got a call from one of our counselors who was laid off of 20% of her job. I heard first hand about the problems that she as a single mother will have in dealing with layoff. Also her hire date was the same as another counselor and she questioned the district's point system in choosing her for layoff. It is a good avenue to pursue.

Tomorrow is our local's general meeting where we will hash out what we want to do in negotiations. I have a pile of tasks still to do before that meeting. And also I must teach.

Watch this!

It is past midnight on Monday night. As President of our local teachers' union, I have been dealing with district layoffs all day- in one way or another.

But I have logged in this morning just to post a video that I created of our Thursday "Action" to try to bring some sanity to the budget in California. Forty eighth in the country in education spending is a disgrace for California, especially given its history (perhaps "ancient" now) of strong schools kindergarten through university.

Watch this!

March Fourth- the day

Click here for more photos
Yesterday Alta gave me a bunch of pink paper to write the job titles for twenty five chairs to put out for our demonstration. I was not able to get to this task, but fortunately Susan volunteered today to help me. These pink "slips" will be draped on the chairs to symbolize the number of jobs lost in our district over the past 3 years due to job cuts. The number is 25 with 5 more probably coming this year. So we will have thirty empty chairs.

After school yesterday from 4:30 to 6:30 I had a meeting of Sonoma County Association representatives. Among other things we shared our plans for tomorrow on our own campuses. Many schools and principals have accepted the "disaster for education" formula and are doing disaster drills. None of our principals liked this idea. We could have done it so easily as there is a disaster drill scheduled for tomorrow. I am thinking about getting the teachers on board to apply the disaster drill tomorrow as a way to educate students on the disaster that is our state budget.

When I got home last night about 7 PM, the house was empty. I began immediately to look up slogans for today's demonstration. I had about 25 placards and 25 sayings. I added some cartoons to some of the sayings.

By Thursday morning I still was not entirely prepared. I had a stack of papers to go on the backs of chairs. Fortunately Susan came in our local association VP and volunteered to the job. By 6th period I had my class in the computer lab. Magically Greg showed up to help me. The plan was to scoot the chairs out right at 2:16 PM when the bell rang. It all went like clockwork. (Except that one of my students absconded with a chair to go joy riding down the science building hallway.)

As students exited, parents politely stopped in their cars and we held signs, talked to parents and students and gave out information on the demonstration. A lot of the students gave us thumbs up. A few students and parents joined in. Other students students looked puzzled. We had several representatives from the classified association, some parents and a couple teachers from a nearby school. About a dozen of our teachers showed up and I was grateful for that.

One of the photos above is of me in my cool new glasses. I actually never realized that they are sunglasses, because they adjust to the sunlight and I am always surprised to see them dark.

March Fourth- A day previous

March fourth (March Forth) is approaching and it seemed like little was happening by way of a coordinated action by anyone in our district. The superintendent gave his approval, but told me that the principals had agreed that they didn't like the sound of a "disaster drill" to dramatize the desperate state of schools in California. I recommended a hands around the school approach and our superintendent thought that the administrators might go for all the staff and students holding hands around the school. I asked our principal, Chris, if he would go for some morning time set aside for a school-wide activity. He emphatically said "no". "I do want to use instructional time for a March Forth action." He said that he was afraid of the parents' who would call him and ask why this action interfered with school.

I felt stifled as a leader and sat at my desk trying to figure out what I could plan to have the entire staff and possibly students involved. I looked through the packet sent to me by the California Teachers Association and came across an flier sent to administrators by their association. I was dumb struck. In my email to Chris (and the other principals) I quoted the administrative directive word for word.

"Dear Chris,

I heard that you may be reluctant to plan some action at Laguna on March 4th. You heard Keller give his blessing to actions of March 4th at the school board meeting last night. But also I have right in front of me a flier from your Association, The Association of California Administrators. Perhaps you have a copy. Here is what it says:

On March 4, 2010 ACSA and other members of the Education Coalition of California plan to "Start the Day for Students." We encourage superintendents, principals, and other school administrators to join us and help organize and lead events in school communities on the morning (my underline) of March 4, 2010 to call attention to the devastating cuts to public schools.

Then three paragraphs of facts that you know well.

While "Start the Day for Student" will be a part of the larger day of protests across the state, we encourage ACSA members and other school leaders to plan events in the morning (my underline) to make it easier for educators, parents, students and entire school communities to participate and capitalize on morning news coverage.

For more information about March 4 and "Start the Day for Students," please contact ACSA's Julie White at jwhite@acsa.org
(end of flier)

I am sure that you and your staff can plan a morning activity that is educational and fits the recommendations of both your Administrative Association and the Superintendent. Without your OK our hands are tied. But it looks as if your Association wants you to take a leadership roll in this action. We endorse that recommendation.

Sincerely,

Ed Lynch
President, WSCTA"

I sent pretty much the same letter to all three principals of the schools. Finally Chris said that he would support a symbolic wearing of colors (perhaps pink for "pink slips"), an arrangement of empty chairs outside to point out the issue of lost personnel and a walk to the main square in our town to rally with other schools. Unfortunately I found out yesterday that the other schools have pulled out of the rally. We will do an outside demonstration after school and leaflet parents picking up their children.

Unfortunately I found that one of the other principals was unpleasantly "surprised" by my email. I was emphatically told that she doesn't like surprises. I do admit it was a last minute reaction to a plan that I thought would not happen without administrative support. The fact that administrators had so much time to plan this action and did nothing made me angry. But I thought that my email was straightforward and polite.

So we will move on with March Fourth.

Diane Ravitch

I heard an interview by Diane Ravitch on Morning Edition (NPR Radio this morning. She was an educational adviser under the first President Bush, a well spoken but often very conservative spokesperson for public education. She strongly edorsed No Child Left Behind. Today she sang a different tune and one that was remarkably in line with the beliefs of the California Teachers' Association. She said that the problem with NCLB was that it rewarded and punished schools for good and bad behavior. Districts did not change the ways they educated students but only cheated when administering standardized tests. Many states had no or very limited standards for their students so that made it easy for them to pass the test and thus obtain Federal monies, "play the game."

She also talked of how the Race to the Top Initiative still used the same old model of competition for schools. She said, "Schools should not be run on a survival of the fittest model." It is a corporate model and it is promoted by extreme conservatives who would like to see the elimination of public schools. I said pretty much the same thing when I was interviewed by the Sonoma West. Nevertheless very few people as far as I can tell read that article about Race to the Top.

She also talked about charter schools. When we talk about charter schools it must be noted that there is a difference between public charters and private charters. The difference does not lie in the success of charter schools. As Ravitch said research shows that the difference between mainstream schools and charter is school is next to nothing. But charter schools allow corporations to take over schools with a traditional competitive corporate model. I do not think that this model accelerates the pace of effective teaching or learning. There are some who think that there should be no public schools.

Wine Tasting

Matt, my nephew from Florida and his girlfriend, Marja from Finland arrived in San Francisco Thursday night. We met them at the Double Tree about 10:30 AM. I really didn't know much about Matt except that he was my sister, Gina's son and that I could hardly tell the difference between him and his brother, John. I also knew that he had taken a wine tasting course, had done some travel in Europe and had a girlfriend, originally from Finland. Overall the two were the most delightful personalities with educated tastes and interests.

Domaine Caneros lies on the border of Napa and Sonoma County, an imposing estate, just across from the DeRosa Modern Art Museum. Rain came down in torrents as we rushed up the long staircase to the front door. We were greeted by a friendly group of hosts who handed us a glass of the 2006 Vintage Brut Cuvée Sparkling Wine. Taryn was our tour guide, a lawyer who just recently passed the bar. She was knowledgeable about wine and friendly. We visited parts of the winery that gave views of the bottling, wracking, turning and corking facilities. After the tour we knew that we had lunch coming and moved in then surprisingly out of the lunch room. Taryn led us out of the main dining area across a patio and to another building. Inside we observed one set table with table cloth, cloth napkins, real silverware and a setting for five. Suddenly we went from second class citizens to important people. At each setting was a card "To the guests of Matthew..." with our menu nicely printed on the card.


Jeanne our server lent an air of informality and humor to the get together. We drank a toast to the event with their premium sparkling wine, the Cuvee de la Pompadore, with the appetizer. The appetizer was a piece of art- a goat cheese cake (not sweet) with a roasted hazel nut crust, topped by baby greens. Then we had a glass of the 2006 Brut Cuvee as the main course was served, chicken wrapped in prosciutto with baby lintels and a wonderful light dressing. Mostly with lunch they served their Domaine Caneros Estate Bottled Pinot at $36 a bottle. Then we could compare it with the 2006 Famous Gate Pinot that goes for $61 a bottle. Frankly I thought the Estate Bottled was better and bought two bottles.

Although the meal was outstanding, the quality of the company really made the day special. Matt has this smart, funny vivaciousness that is contagious. His girlfriend, Marja was also a delight. I always enjoy the company of my oldest son, Truckee. Also Tanya had the right mix of intelligence and informality to make the day truly memorable.

After the great meal, we stopped briefly at the Double Tree then came back to Sebastopol. Matt handily beat both Truckee and I at ping pong. We went shopping at our local Andy's market and they were stunned by the quality of the produce. We are lucky in California. Marja was snapping tourist photos of the vegetables and one of the staff made a funny comment. I assemble a good meal and we had a nice family dinner. After dinner Matt, Joey, Truckee and I sat around and played tunes. Just an all around great day- especially for a Friday.