Since our kids discovered LEGO about five years ago, you can find the ubiquitous bricks in just about every room of our house. We’ve got bins filled with them — all various shapes and sizes — along with creative constructions on shelves and just enough littering the floor to spike bare feet at night.
Make no mistake, I’m a LEGO enabler, but it’s fun to watch the kids put together a set, break it apart and make something entirely new. (I’m also a minor user: Last year, I built the LEGO Aston Martin DB5 with a bit of help from from my son, Alex, who was 7 at the time.)
Which is all to say that the planned April opening of the LEGOLAND Discovery Center at the Great Mall in Milpitas is a big deal around our place. And we’re certainly not alone, given the large response to the venue’s recent poll to put Bay Area landmarks in a “miniland” there.
Next weekend brings another big milestone with Brick Factor, a competitive job hunt being held Jan. 18 and 19 to find the Discovery Center’s first Master Model Builder. Contestants will put their skills on display by building original LEGO models in timed, themed rounds that’ll be judged by a panel that includes James Judy, general manager of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Bay Area; Megan Amaral, Master Model Builder at the Discovery Center in Boston and Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran. Both days are free for the public to attend; Saturday’s competition runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday’s is from 1 to 3 p.m.
At the end of the final round, one candidate will be named the winner and awarded a full-time, salaried position at the 31,000 square-foot attraction. Grown-ups — sorry, Alex — can still apply to compete through Jan. 12; more information is available at https://bit.ly/37Bvzbw.
THE MAN WHO MOVED THE ALAMEDA: Longtime South Bay residents and Santa Clara University alumni certainly remember that The Alameda used to run right through the college campus until 1989. The effort to reroute the state road was a tremendous effort involving many people, groups and governments that took 31 years to complete. But the man recognized as the driving force behind the effort was E. Jackson “Jack” Going, the founding partner with Leo W. Ruth, Jr. of San Jose engineering firm Ruth and Going, who died Dec. 30 at age 91.
The major work re-routing The Alameda around the campus took place in the mid-1980s, but the effort really began in 1958 when then-president Rev. Patrick Donohoe asked Going, a 1949 engineering alum, to draw-up a layout for the proposed route. When Going retired from his firm in 1984, he went to work as a full-time consultant on the $25 million project. A plaque on campus commemorates his efforts to unify the campus.
A funeral Mass Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Santa Clara Mission will be co-celebrated by the Rev. Peter Pabst and Rev. Bill Rewak, who served as Santa Clara University’s president during the major work and planning on the project. The Rev. Kevin O’Brien, SCU’s current president, will give the final commendation.
ICE, ICE BABIES: It’s hard to believe how fast its two-month season has flown by, but Kristi Yamaguchi Downtown Ice in San Jose is wrapping up this weekend. And the outdoor skating rink — wedged between the Fairmont hotel and the San Jose Museum of Art — is closing with a fun event, Tots on Ice. Kids under age 5, along with a trusted adult, will have the rink all to themselves from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (Admission for the special event, including skate rental, is $10).
The rink opens for everyone else at 11 a.m. at regular admission prices. Check out www.downtownicesj.com for hours and prices.