Brian Crosby

When's the last time you went shopping for children's clothing? Specifically, sports clothing? I just spent nearly $300 at Sports Chalet so that my 9-year-old son could play baseball. And that's with a discount from his coach's company who is helping to pay for the costs. Here's what $300 got me:  pants, socks, belt, undershirt, cap, helmet, helmet guard, fielding glove, batting gloves, bat, cleats, and athletic supporter. Now I don't mind getting my son stuff that he needs. It's just that by the time he plays baseball next year (if he plays baseball next year)

It is common for writers at the end of the year to give a summation of the previous 12 months' events and to end on a hopeful note for the new year.  Forgive me for being so common. No matter your political persuasion, the world lost 3 villains in 2011:  Moammar Kadafi i, Kim Jong-il, and, of course, Osama bin Laden.  The world also saw people take control over their governments in the Middle East.  U.S. troops left Iraq to return home to their families.  And the economy finally showed signs of improvement.  When was the last time so many positive events took place in the span of a year?

Have you heard about the state bill that would request pet groomers to get certification in order to practice? Now I'm all for ensuring that people are trained in their respected vocations. However, what about those who have had their own pet salons for years? Why do they need to pay money and go through 900 hours of useless training for a job that they've done successfully for years? We don't need the state to affirm if Fido is getting a proper shampoo and cut. Isn't that what the Better Business Bureau's job is?

It's Halloween time again which means several special events such as haunted houses pop up. The best event in terms of value, professionalism, and family-friendly (five years and older), is the Ghost Train produced by Los Angeles Live Steamers organization in Griffith Park.  One of the best kept secrets over the past half a century, the LALS group, comprised of train enthusiasts, provides rides on small scale trains every Sunday afternoon in the area adjacent to Travel Town. And for the past several Octobers, they've put on the Ghost Train.

Our family vacation this year was visiting Glacier National Park in Montana. The upper part of the park actually extends into Alberta, Canada, making the entire area an international peace park.  As is typical with national parks, the scenery was spectacular. Additionally, the historic lodges nearly 100 years old were amazing. Of course, modern hotel conveniences such as bathrobes and spa treatments were not to be found, as it should be.  Also missing was 21 st century technology.

If you recall, I was in the process of getting bids to erect a fence so that my dog Noble wouldn't poke his head through the shrubs to my neighbor's yard. Over a three-day period, I had six different fence contractors, all but one Burbank or Glendale companies, come out to my house and give me their advice and, most importantly, their estimates. It turns out that no matter the material, chain-link, redwood or vinyl, or if the fence was to be three feet or six feet high, the estimates were similar - between $3,000-3,400.  It's as if the word spread around town that the Crosbys needed a new fence so they all agreed upon the same price.

As I enter the homestretch of summer vacation with my sons, I can see them struggling (as well as myself)  in trying to fill their days with interesting stuff to do.  After the first few weeks of no school, the novelty has worn off.  Having several more weeks of vacation seems more of a chore than a pleasure. It reminds me of how much better it would be if instead of 11 weeks of summer vacation, schools would split up vacation times more evenly throughout the year.  How about a few weeks off in late October, as well as a few more weeks off in mid-March?

I did something I've never done before in my whole life.  No, not dye my hair. Last week my youngest son took a class at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.  Since the class was an hour and a half long for five consecutive days, I indulged myself by eating every morning at my favorite breakfast place in Pasadena, Marston's. In business since 1987, Marston's, located in an actual house on Walnut, offers tasty recipes such as French Toast encrusted in corn flakes and macadamia nut pancakes.

When's the last time you went shopping for children's clothing? Specifically, sports clothing? I just spent nearly $300 at Sports Chalet so that my 9-year-old son could play baseball. And that's with a discount from his coach's company who is helping to pay for the costs. Here's what $300 got me:  pants, socks, belt, undershirt, cap, helmet, helmet guard, fielding glove, batting gloves, bat, cleats, and athletic supporter. Now I don't mind getting my son stuff that he needs. It's just that by the time he plays baseball next year (if he plays baseball next year)

I was contacted by an author to contribute an essay to a book on influential teachers. No, I'm not one of the influential teachers; rather, I am writing about one of my influential teachers. John Sage, my advanced 10th grade English teacher, impacted my life more than any other teacher I had. While a very good teacher, what I remember most about him has little to do with his lesson plans.   I was impressed by the way he approached his job. He was the best dressed teacher at Burroughs High School, always wearing a suit jacket, tie, and shiny shoes.

Well, it happened. It was inevitable, friends tell me. It's part of the parenting experience, or so the experts say. We got a TV for our son's bedroom. He can now play Call of Duty yelling out bizarre yelps in the comforts of his own room. Of course, the 3-hour limit of game playing on weekends (none during the school week) is still enforced. My wife and I held out for almost 14 years to make sure that our family had one television to allow for whole family viewing opportunities and to avoid having the kids seclude themselves behind locked doors.

For the past week a deep sadness has shadowed me concerning the death of Huell Howser. I am so grateful that Huell Howser was able to hear what I wrote about him in the Crosby Chronicles a month ago. His assistant called me and said that when he read the piece to Huell, it moved him to tears, and that if he could have talked me and said so himself, he would have. Hopefully, he was made aware of other's tributes to his fine work as well. I knew then that it was only a matter of time before his obituary appeared.

My youngest son just celebrated his 9 th birthday and I'm a little melancholy about it. He is coming to the end of pure childhood and, being my youngest child, I am coming to the end sharing in the wonder of his world.  He still believes in Santa Claus, and puts on costumes pretending he is a superhero.   He loves dancing to music, and enjoys performing in front of people, creating shows with music and light and masks. His favorite food is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his favorite cookie an Oreo, his favorite ice cream flavor chocolate.

It's Halloween time again which means several special events such as haunted houses pop up. The best event in terms of value, professionalism, and family-friendly (five years and older), is the Ghost Train produced by Los Angeles Live Steamers organization in Griffith Park.  One of the best kept secrets over the past half a century, the LALS group, comprised of train enthusiasts, provides rides on small scale trains every Sunday afternoon in the area adjacent to Travel Town. And for the past several Octobers, they've put on the Ghost Train.

As a member of the teaching profession going on 24 years, a recurring theme threads through all the meetings and staff development sessions I've attended. Everybody wants teachers to work harder. The government, the school district, the administrators, the parents. Probably the only group who doesn't cry out for more from teachers are the students. Yet few of these folks who expect more feel the need to balance such talk with incentives.  Teachers know that in order to get students to do work, kids need to be motivated either via grades or making them see the relevance of their task.

Last Thursday I had the privilege of being a featured speaker at the New York Times' Schools for Tomorrow conference. There I was sitting in the green room next to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of the New York Times, and columnist David Brooks. For a journalism teacher, it was nirvana. I enjoy having the opportunity to speak about teaching and public education, especially to a larger audience. The public needs to see more real faces of real teachers to understand that when the word “teacher” is bandied about, there are actual human beings representing that word.

Remember the old saying, "dress for success?"  Ever since Presidents have been removing their jackets and rolling up their long sleeves as a way to appear "cool," proper dressing habits haven't been the same in quite some time.  Nonetheless, I feel it's important to dress appropriately when going to work. One of the ways teachers can help raise the level of professionalization in their occupation is to dress properly for work.  While I understand the urge to deliberately dress down as a way to be on the same level with one's students, an important ideal of education should be to uplift pupils' minds.  Coming to work as if one is going to the beach doesn't foster the notion that learning needs to be taken seriously.