Thursday, December 3, 2020

Busy Days

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: Today, we spent a fair amount couple of time  working on a video about CJ's involvement with nonprofits that fight hunger and homelessness, like Teen Feed and Birthday Dreams. 

It was actually quite a lot of work, compiling the photos and making 4 short videos. Funny how it takes hours and hours and hours to make a four and a half minute video. I'll share a link to it in a future blog. It's not *quite* done. 

ELVES IN TRAINING: Yesterday, in an email from the city of Renton, I saw a notice that the Elf Academy was looking for new recruits. Of course, I just had to sign CJ and Annabelle up!

Now, we're awaiting the official Elf Academy Kit to arrive via mail. The announcement promised the kit "will have all the supplies and instructions needed for the academy."

Once the kids have completed the elf activities, they have to fill out a survey (before December 17). Upon receipt, "Santa and his HR Elves will review each Elf’s resumé of completed tasks and crafts that were included in the kit."

If they meet muster, they will be invited to attend a special drive-thru Elf Academy graduation experience at the Renton Community Center. Graduation will be held on Saturday, Dec. 19, 9–11 a.m., and the promo says special guests will be on hand "to help kick off your call to kindness and fun this holiday season." Sounds like big fun. There's been a dearth of that in 2020, so this is a welcome development. 

ANOTHER RUNNER: We've been so busy working on next year's college plans for CJ, filling out applications, sending transcripts
and such. However, we can't forget that Annabelle is college bound next September, when she becomes eligible for Running Start. 

With Running Start, you get to choose your school, and I pointed out to Annabelle that although CJ chose South Seattle, she didn't have to do likewise. I suggested that if she was interested in a contract, she should check out Bellevue College. 

We checked out a video for Running Start students considering Bellevue. I was surprised to learn former Governor Gary Locke is the current Bellevue College president. 
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/440504569" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/440504569">Running Start at Bellevue College</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/collegechannel">College Channel</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

The Locke video is just a message from him, with not even a glimpse of the campus, so I suggested we check out other videos on the Bellevue College site. One about a day in the life of college mascot Brutus the bulldog was fun.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lftFNAxKWKo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We took a virtual visit of the campus here: https://www.youvisit.com/tour/bellevuecollege?pl=v

TO BOLDLY GO: Last night, we enjoyed a one hour presentation "The Science of Star Trek." The show was hosted by the King County Library System, and the expert on hand was Dr. Michael Wong.

Dr. Wong is a Post-Doc at the University of Washington where he studies planetary atmospheres, habitability, biosignatures and the emergence of life. He hosts a podcast, "Strange New Worlds," about science and Star Trek. We'll have to check it out. 
There was a good turnout for the presentation. Over 70 connections were streaming it, and no doubt those 70 represented multiple people in some households, like ours, where the four of us watched. 

It was a nice mix of Star Trek references and real life science. I'm super glad we tuned in.

COUNTDOWN CONTINUED: I mentioned here in November that we'd crafted an advent calendar to count down to the election. We have now repurposed that to a Christmas countdown calendar. Of course it features Frenchies in the center. :)

CUTE CARD: We wanted to send a little something to the Safeway on Queen Anne for helping us out with the chicken for last weekend's Teen Feed. Here's what Annabelle came up with. I love it!



No comments:

Post a Comment