Paige Tsai. Branden Figueroa. Lauren Waldenburg. Marco Delaroche. Gianna Wright. Lilyana Gonzalez. 

“I NEED cheese and crackers!”

The other day I was in the middle of a wood working project and I had a problem – how to make a piece of wood completely flat and square with hand tools. I thought: What would Mr. L'Hommedieu say? Mr. L'Hommedieu was my 7th grade shop teacher at IS 74 in Bayside, Queens. He taught wood shop, and metal shop. I learned how to make a lamp, a metal box and assorted other things. I can trace my love of wood work back to him, although it took nearly 15 years to discover that I have a knack for working with my hands and that I enjoy it immensely.

Last March the Register held a contest to “Win Your Own Blog.” Of course I entered, I’m opinionated, well informed on some topics, a good bluffer on others. I like the give and take of the online and I am passionate about my beliefs, particularly when it comes to education. I thought that would make a good blog topic. Well, the very capable Ms. Phoebe Harper won. However, Dan Ross e-mailed me a few days later and said he could be persuaded to have a blog about education.

Wow, way to go! Thank you, thank you and thank you again, Justin-Siena National Honors Society and the American Canyon Kiwanis. Every year in May, these two outstanding organizations come together to help the members of the Napa Special Olympics by hosting a day of track and field events. Lots of fun and camaraderie.

The Napa Valley Register’s lawsuit against American Canyon has come to an end, six months after it started.

Dear editor, Congratulations to Marty James on his 30th anniversary with the Register. And congratulations to the Register top management for recognizing the talents of Marty and hanging onto him for these many years.

Dear editor, Hundreds of Napans may be homeless, and hundreds more may be losing their homes through foreclosure, but the federal government is coming to the rescue — of Napa’s special interests.

Dear editor, In case you haven’t heard, Gov. Schwarzenegger has recently asked that state workers take yet another furlough day each month, increasing their pay cut to 15 percent. I recently had occasion to ask a staff member of one of our legislators whether the legislators were going to take a pay cut equivalent to that of the state workers. No, they are not.

The vote against the Lake Luciana project today flies in the face of County rules for acceptable uses in the open space area of the agricultural watershed, and was a mistake.

English is the hardest language to learn. It's a tacitly accepted fact that English, with all its rules (and millions of exceptions) is a very difficult language, sometimes to a point where even native English-speakers have considerable trouble.

What politically-themed issue makes you want to scream?

Fire out your thoughts here on your topic of the day that is not covered through a Register.com article or opinion item.