Well, yesterday we thought we had it all cleared up. Through our magnificent lawyer and by the grace of God, we had successfully mediated with the school district for all of Noah’s therapy. At first we were going to get none of it, but then yesterday our lawyer faxed us papers to sign with the school district agreeing to all of our terms (basically). We were overjoyed!
Today, however, we received a phone call from our lawyer stating that he had found something in the final draft of the mediation agreement stating that the school district was going to try and do something completely illegal once Noah turned 4 years old. They were going to have us sign that they would not be responsible to pay for “Stay Put”, a special law that says if a child is receiving services and two parties are unable to reach an agreement for provision of services, the child would be able to “Stay Put” in their current services (while the district pays for it) until we reach agreement. Sometimes this can go on for years. However, they were trying to circumvent the law in this area and have us all agree to it–but because our lawyer is the bomb, he found it before he sent it back. And NO WAY are we agreeable to that.
So, basically, he gave them another day (Dec 1st is the deadline) to reach mediation (and in this case, take that out of the contract) or we’re going to federal court.

Yikes.

Well…at least we’ll have the ACLU on our backs! (hahaha)

Please pray. We’re hoping this gets resolved before we have to do the federal court thing–it only hurts Noah. It’s also a little bit of an emotional roller coaster to think yesterday this was all over, and today it is SO not. Crazy.

On a completely unrelated note: I’ll explain the whole articulation agreement thing at another time…

So yesterday morning I wrote an email to some of the other workers in my office, along with my two bosses, to notify them of this milestone event–APU made an official Articulation Agreement. Yes, I know–sounds exciting, huh? Anyways-I’m the one who did this act, under the supervision of my bosses and with a mandate from the VP for enrollment…all that to say, since this school has been around for 106 years and we’ve never had an official articulation agreement with another college, this was a little ditty to be excited about here in registrar-land.
Here’s what my goofy little email said–(I’m so funny, haha)

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We just made our
first official articulation agreement!

It is with **** ** College. I’m
mailing back the document right now…

More are forthcoming…just thought
I’d let you know since it’s a huge milestone. I mean, in the year 2101 when
they’re outlining the last 200 years of the school for the big bi-centennial
celebration, there will be this one spot “2006, Daniel Semsen makes the
first-ever articulation agreement…” And the 14 million students that attend the
university in 2101 will all know who I am. And I’ll be long
dead…

I can see it
now…

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I know, I’m hilrarious…

Unbeknownst to me, today my boss forwarded the email to the VP of Enrollment…I get a reply with THE ENTIRE PRESIDENT’S CABINET on the CC list…David Bixby, Jon Wallace, The Provhost, etc…etc…etc…and on down the list. She says in her email something about “good job” and “yes, we’ll be remembering Daniel for years to come…” and “See his comment below” referring to my dorky-bob email…I am shocked, and I have a good laugh over the whole thing…my boss says they all have a sense of humor…OK, not fired yet…

THEN I GET AN EMAIL FROM JON WALLACE HIMSELF (President of the University).

Before you read on, understand that Jon Wallace doesn’t email just anybody…if we all get an email from “him” it’s really from his secretary and labeled, “from the office of…” which isn’t bad or anything–perfectly normal. The dude is busy! He’s running one of the top 20 schools in the country–I mean, it’s perfectly normal for him to not email random people…he probably doesn’t check his myspace very much either…

OK-So in a torrid mix of emotions like shock, horror, and awe, I read the email that goes something like this: (oh it’s not actually to me, but in a reply to the VP of Enrollment, but of course, CC’d to everybody–including me)

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OH MY GOSH! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
My whole officed laughed for a good 5 minutes about the whole thing, because that email was never supposed to be forwarded to all those people—and I’m not mad about it or anything, I think it’s hilarious–

Well…I was going to let it go from there, because if anyone felt like a horse’s patoot, it was me. What a dorky dork I am!
But then, in classic Daniel style, I wrote back (reply all)

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OOOOOOoooooo!
Can I get a statue?

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HA! I think they’ll put mine right next to C.P. Haggard, on the bench. Or maybe I should just clean out my desk and go sit there now. Forever. Like Moses standing on the rock and not getting to go into the Promised Land… Just sitting for all eternity…

I rock.

Thanks to Heidi for getting Noah & Mike!! It was super fun!

Side note–it was Mike’s first time on BuzzLightyear. This picture was actually his second time through…not too bad, young padawan…

Some key scriptures I’ve been reflecting on recently:

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Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

 1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
       Who may live on your holy hill?

 2 He whose walk is blameless
       and who does what is righteous,
       who speaks the truth from his heart

 3 and has no slander on his tongue,
       who does his neighbor no wrong
       and casts no slur on his fellowman,

 4 who despises a vile man
       but honors those who fear the LORD,
       who keeps his oath
       even when it hurts,

 5 who lends his money without usury
       and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
       He who does these things
       will never be shaken.

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**emphasis mine**

That bolded part really defines Christy and I. We are a little more careful to commit to things nowadays–in the old days, we used to over commit ourselves all the time–but even now, if we say we’re going to do something, even if it hurts-we do it. It’s as simple as that. This quality is fleeting in today’s culture, and it is something we highly value in other people. I truly think that my relationship with Al Clifft would not be as good as it is if I hadn’t read this verse and made a critical decision about one specific concert my sophomore year at APU.  I was going to skip a concert to go to an event for Christy. We were only dating, not engaged or married. This same concert was also one that several other people had decided to skip and I think by the time me and a friend told Al that we weren’t going to be there he was pretty frustrated. I prayed about it, and decided to keep my committment to choir even though that meant skipping Christy’s big thing–although we made this big plan of me racing off to meet her there after the concert. Al noticed–and from that point on he really started investing in me, which radically changed my life forever. Al and I have been a sort of mutual blessing to each other over the past several years, and I really think that it was because of this one time that I showed that I valued my word and my committment. I think if I had made another choice, I would have just been another flakey student…

I guess we’ll only know once I build my time machine and go back to check it out…a Delorean, anyone?

Oh yeah, and I made it to Christy’s event just before they honored her–so it actually worked our perfectly…

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Psalm 16:8

   I have set the LORD always before me.
       Because he is at my right hand,
       I will not be shaken.

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Setting the Lord before me…wow, that’s a big task. I believe this has to do with decision making–how many decisions do we make every day? Thousands?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to pray before you choose whether to have a bagel or oatmeal for breakfast–I do believe however, that what we do in our daily lives should be honoring to the Lord. We mostly fail at this, all of us–but what a great concept, eh? Setting the Lord BEFORE you, instead of acting on whatever you want to do and then saying “I hope God will bless this…”
There’s a difference. And there are some dynamite books written about it, too. You should read them…

Happy Busiest-Shopping-Day-of-the-Year Day!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

There is a new Organic Foods store that just opened on the SouthEast corner of Citrus Ave and Covina Blvd in the city of Covina, CA. 

GO SHOP AT THIS STORE! It’s like a mini Trader Joes, and is a brand-new business for these nice young brothers. They are very friendly-really-so friendly that they are like “Hey, if you don’t see something you want, let us know and we’ll stock it…” It’s awesome.

Here’s the thing–it’s seriously within walking distance of our house, and because Noah is Gluten-Free/Caisen-Free, we have to buy all kinds of special foods. Food that we’d normally have to drive a good twenty minutes or more to get his food, and even then, maybe the Henry’s or Trader Joe’s would have one or two boxes of chicken leaving us no choice but to order several packs online and get it shipped in dry ice (which was an extra $40). NEEDLESS TO SAY–this place has it all, and it’s RIGHT HERE in Covina.

IF YOU LIVE NEAR COVINA, YOU’VE GOT TO SHOP AT THE ORGANIC FOODS STORE on the corner of CITRUS AVE and COVINA BLVD. It’s such a nice little place, right behind the 76 station, and next to a yoga place.

EDIT ADD: Wow. I just got an email from the principal trumpet player of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Some time back he asked me to arrange all the tracks on a solo album he wanted to do, and we never really did anything about it. However, he wants to talk about it again…wow. When it rains, it pours!

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Several months ago I wrote an email to CBS telling them to release one of my favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother, on DVD and iTunes.  It seemed very odd to me that a show that has seen such success would not be released on the most mainstraim  of digital formats (the aforementioned). CBS on the whole has been really behind the 8-ball on stuff like this. They were one of the last to get their shows on iTunes, and then it was only a few Survivor seasons and a few seasons of CSI–as opposed to NBC, that has even their newest shows on iTunes like Heroes and Studio 60. Many would even attribute the huge success of The Office to it’s early release on iTunes and the large amount of fans that would share their iPod Videos with their friends, encouraging them to watch the show.  All of that to say, How I Met Your Mother is coming to DVD tomorrow (Tuesday-well technically it’s today…) and I’m pretty sure it’s because of my emails (yeah, I sent more than one).   I wouldn’t be suprised if they were also released on iTunes simultaneously. We’ll see…
On a side note, Ted and Marshall are my friends on myspace…

“Make sure you fail doing what you want to do”-David Letterman

I just heard Seinfeld on Letterman tell Dave that years ago he gave this piece of advice to Jerry when Jerry was offered a deal with NBC in the early nineties. What a great piece of advice. I really identify with this with my whole “follow the dream” thing that I’m doing right now. At least if I fail, I’ll be failing at something I love.

I’m watching Michael Richards right now on Letterman talking seriously about his outburst the other night. Evidently he lost his temper while doing a stand up bit; he was being heckled by a couple of African-American guys and he lost it on stage in the middle of his routine. He let out a slew of racials slurs and epithets, including the big “n” several times. Right now he is apologizing for his actions in a very heartfelt way here on Letterman. It was actually a bit awkward at first, because as he was starting to talk some of the audience were confused and there were an assortment of giggles–finally Jerry said out loud “Stop laughing, this isn’t supposed to be funny…” and people got the point after that. Obviously, that type of action is not excuseable, not neither is any of the gross crimes that we all commit on a daily basis–whether these crimes are to ourselves or those around us (directly or indirectly) it doesn’t seem to matter. YES, as a role model/famous person, attention will be called to your mistakes, but we’re all human–we’re all flawed. Thank goodness my flaws aren’t broadcast around the world. Good for you Kramer, for being sincere and apologizing. I think I’m going to upload this video to myspace and youtube. I’ll link to it when I do, it’s worth watching, if you care.

The Seventh Season of Seinfeld is also out today (Nov. 22). What a great day. I just actually updated my Amazon.com wishlist with a bunch of DVDs coming out–you know, those summer movies that are finally coming to DVD. It’s very exciting…

I was going to go to Beverly Hills tonight to pick up some work for the movie cues, but the guy emailed me and it’ll have to wait until Tuesday (today/tomorrow). Apparantly the job just got more complicated, so he’s asking for more money or more time, and if he doesn’t get either, he’ll drop the job. A smart move–they’re asking for some pretty crazy stuff in very little time…

I’ll keep you posted…

I also finished my collaboration project with another member of my songwriting class. It was highly unusual and a bit awkward to partner with someone in such a new skill. I certainly had to sacrifice some things, which, I suppose, is the heart of every partnership. The song didn’t turn out badly, just differenly than I had thought. It is pretty catchy. We’ll see what the professor thinks.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody…

I just got a call to do some sub-contract work on a film. Not an independent film, a feature film.
I’m in a little bit of shock right now.

and I’m pretty freakin’ excited…

I’ve been thinking about the rise of energy drinks like Monster, Rockstar, and the like.  They are everywhere, and they are in gigantic doses, not just the normal 12 oz soda can size–these suckers are huge! I’ve seen many teenagers drinking these things like they are water, and they’re extremely bad for you. It scares me to think about what will happen in the next 5 years with these drinks.
Check out this article.

I forgot to post these earlier–this is what Nathaniel gave me for my birthday. A coupon for 1 birthday shirt (that’s me with my new shirt), and the envelope he put the card in. It’s so precious, I had to share it.

EDIT ADD:
Wow. People are crazy! I guess they really want this stupid playstation…well, it’s only $600…

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I had a good class tonight–or maybe I should say–class was good to me…I’m talking about my Commercial Songwriting class…
The assignment that was due tonight was my first completely original song written for this course (I did a couple as an undergrad that were either disastrous or a joke). One previous assignment was to write a melody to a given chord chart in any style we wanted; a second was to write the music for a set of lyrics we were given, but the assignment due tonight was original lyrics and melody. It was an interesting process for me to write the piece. I wrote the words first (another previous assignment). The chorus came pretty quickly, then the verses came secondly and with more difficulty, and lastly the bridge. Then I wrote the music for the song, mostly in that same order (interesting, huh?). The beginning of the chorus (the hook) came first…yadda, yadda, yadda…my teacher dropped the f-bomb in class after I finished it because it was so good. Wow. Totally not expecting that. I mean, when does a professor curse out loud when you finish your assignment? And how often does the f-bomb warm my heart and make me happy? Yeah, not very often–but it did tonight. I was very pleased with everyone’s reaction. The whole class was very supportive. My prof said basically any pop star right now could cover that song tomorrow…great! I’ll give you %50 publishing…let’s make a deal…

On that note, after class I talked at length with another guy in the program at CalState LA about stuff. He’s a crooner type–he loves the old standards and Frank Sinatra and all of that stuff. He’s 33 years old, but looks like he’s my age. It was cool to connect outside of the class with someone, he’s a super nice guy. He’s going to be in an upcoming Bud Light commercial (it’ll have ducks in it…) possibly for Thanksgiving time or if not that, the Superbowl. THEN I find out that his wife is also in the business, acting. She was in FLIGHT PLAN and appeared on two episodes of FRIENDS. WHAT!?!?! Awesome!!!! Check her out–this dude is totally married to her…it was cool talking to him…and we watched her episdoe with the fish…and Eddie…

Off to bed!