Patty telling her story

Cameraphone post: We are listening to Patty's story
We are at Aquis in Campbell. We are outside. It is a warm evening and Patty is telling a great story of her 800 mile bike ride in France in under 90 hours. It is a great story and she is a talented story teller.

In 1965

Tree Trimming 1965
In 1965 we trimmed the Christmas Tree while my dad took photos. These are some more of the old photos I scanned from the bag full of long forgotten slides I found.

Bob Up Close

Camera Phone Post: Bob Bain
After work today Bob and I attended a meeting of the SJSU Photographer's Guild. It is times like this that makes me appreciate working at a university.

Warm weather hits SJSU

My sister's birthday

My Sister Iris's Birthday
Tomorrow 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 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 is 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 now digital memories? Will an old CD ROM or hard drive beckon to be opened like an old box of pictures does?

This photo was taken in the living room of my parents' house on Granada Drive in Concord. I hope to scan more as I get time.

iPhone, Will It Blend

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...

Harley with Dog

Camera Phone Post
While on a bicycle ride I stopped at Starbucks in Saratoga. I was sitting outside when I saw this biker come in. His motorcycle had a passenger. The biker got off the bike and went in and got his drink. The passenger waited patiently for his pilot to return, then they rode off together.

End of Summer Party

End of Summer Help Desk Party
On Friday, August 17, we had a big end of the summer party in Clark Hall for all the Help Desk staff. It was great fun. Sue joined us. We had a lot of yummy Indian food and shared a lot of laughter.

[More Photos on Flickr]

Kitty Skirt

One sorry kitty
Tupper had an abscess on her left cheek which mandated a visit to the vet. The vet put her out and put in a tube to drain the infection. Then, she was given a blue skirt to keep her from damaging the area.

[Click here to see more Sloan cat pictures on Flickr]

Technorati Tags: Tupper Sloan, Sloan Family, Cats, Pets, ssloansjca

Birthday Girls

Sunday of celebrating
Sunday morning July 19 started early for me. It began with a birthday bicycle ride up Old La Honda Road from Los Altos to Skyline Blvd. After the ride (and mowing the lawn then a shower and change) I went to Wendy's for the birthday party for Jolyce, Candy and Wendy at Wendy's house. It was a lot of fun. We had lots of good food and a bit of wine. Sue was working at home Sunday but she was able to come over to the party later. We celebrated these fine ladies birthdays in style!

[Click here to see more party pics on Flickr]

Technorati Tags: Bicycling, Whine and Dine, Cycling, ACTC, ssloansjca

Celebrating Jeff's Birthday

Celebrating Jeff's Birthday
On Saturday August 18, 2007 we celebrated Jeff's 29th birthday. We had a great family get together at Jeff and Nicole's house. It was very pleasant spending time together there.

[More Pictures Here on Flickr]

Technorati Tags: Jeff Sloan, Sloan Family, ssloansjca

The cactus garden ride

Camera Phone Post: New Whine and Dine Ride
On Wednesday we rode a new route. We rode over a couple of hills and then to a cactus garden in Saratoga. This estate in Saratoga has a large cactus garden. Pam Downs had shown this place to me and it is a good ride.

India Independence day

It is India Indepence day
Today is the 60th anniversary of the independence of India from England. We celebrated at the Help Desk by wearing Indian clothing and had a big lunch of Indian food. This was great fun!

[More Pictures Here on Flickr]

Thinking of my dad

I have been thinking a lot about my dad today. It is his birthday.

My father was a locomotive engineer for the Southern Pacific. Trains were my father's "magic carpet made of steel." It was my father who instilled in me a passion for railroading and most anything having to do with trains. My dad passed away in 1977. He was 58 years-old.

Technorati Tags: Lloyd Sloan, Sloan Family, ssloansjca

Today is Jeff's Birthday

Today is my middle son Jeff turned 29
Here he is in 1983 talking about trains. Twenty-four years ago he was our youngest son. Now he and his wife Nicole have a son of their own coming. Life is a great adventure.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Sloan, Sloan Family, ssloansjca

Patty Party

Patty send off party at Pat and Mylo's
Friday night we had a great send off party at Pat and Mylo's for our friend and whine and dine cyclist, Patty. She is going to Paris on Thursday to do the Paris-Brest-Paris a 1200 km (over 700 mile) Randonneur. This is a bicycle tour that tests the endurance of the riders. The ride must be completed in 90 hours. The event only happens every four years and requires a huge amount of preparation and practice. Participants have to ride a series of preparatory events to qualify.

These photos are by Jolyce. Here are the photos from my camera on Flickr

Technorati Tags: Paris-Brest-Paris, Paris Brest Paris, ParisBrestParis, Bicycling, ssloansjca

A Contractors Car

One Contractor's Car
Contractors have long had special permits for them to park on campus so they can unload tools and items like sinks, appliances and heavy equipment so they can get their work done for the university.

My Mug

Training Time

Training Time
With the coming semester we have been putting a huge emphisis on training. Here student lead Aditi Sinha speaks to the student staff at the San Jose State University help desk.

AT Retreat

Retreat to advance
Today we had a retreat in Academic Technology. We talked about our goals and where we want to be this time next year.

[More pictures from retreat on Flickr]

Shifted Gears

A weekend of shifted gears
On Friday I went to a union meeting in San Francisco. I had some spare time in the morning so I was able to stop at a couple of camera stores on the way. After the union meeting Susie took the train up to the city and we went to dinner at Kuletos in union square. On Saturday we spent most of the day working on our garage. I took a break for my mountain bike ride where I got the flat. On Sunday we returned to doing garage work and then in the afternoon I went for another bike ride. We have been on the go so much that work that needed to be done was not getting done. The bike rides were short, but fun. We have been on the go for several weekends in a row, this weekend we had to do stuff at home. Sometimes you just have to shift gears!

I have a flat

Cameraphone Post
It has been a long time since I got a flat on my mountain bike. I am in Almaden Quicksilver Park in south San Jose. This is where I am fixing the flat tire.

Cat Crazy

Just a little cat crazy
Our cats are our babies. They are sweet little friends. Tupper has been with us since before we were married and the burms Pixel and Shadow are lap magnets. Who says you can't buy love?

[Click here to see more cat photos on Flickr]

Technorati Tags: Pixel Sloan, Sloan Family, Cats, Pets, ssloansjca

Another fun whine and dine ride

[Click here to see more ride photos from last week on Flickr]

Fun rides on Wednesdays
This evening is another of the weekly whine and dine rides. These rides are really a lot of fun. It is so pretty around here and the weather has been almost perfect for evening riding.