Miscellaneous Missives

I love candy. Because I have little self control, I try to keep vast amounts from being stored in my classroom. This doesn't mean I don't eat candy at school. When I need a chocolate fix, I raid the confectionery drawer of a friend. This happens quite often. Although I always seem to find something I like, the latest addition to one of the drawer is the Three Musketeers Mint. These delicious delicacies disappeared rather quickly. Tonight I went to buy candy to add to the goodies drawer, but I could not find the delicious delights. Maybe this is a good thing. After all, today I actually went off campus to buy one of these.

Today I spent forty five minutes and $208 at the dentist. When the hygienist finished picking at my teeth, she said she was going to floss my teeth and apply fluoride. At this I probably jumped in my chair. "What do you mean by fluoride?" I asked. She explained either she could paint it on or use the trays. "If you use the trays, I will cry and scream like a four year old," I explained maturely. She painted it on and exclaimed that she enjoyed my wit. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was serious; it wasn't my unending wit.

I should've posted yesterday from the airport because it would have completely contradicted Friday's post about not minding sitting in the airport. My flight was due to depart at 7:11. Since I arrived early at the airport, I tried to get on the 6:15 flight but decided I could sit in the airport instead of pay $50 to get out an hour early. As time went on neither flight left on time due to strong winds in Minneapolis. Sitting and listening to the Delta people in the airport, it became apparent that their were chances of spending the night. This did not come to fruition, but it was a lengthy wait (landing at MSP around 11:30). The wait was made less tolerable because I was feeling ill with a sore throat and ear ache. Today I stayed home from school with a low temp, sore throat and ear ache because I thought being in the cold wind all day would not alleviate my symptoms and worsen my illness. Instead of correcting the papers I had brought home with me this weekend (today or...

I am staying with my friend and her dog, Milo, in St. Louis. Her dog is a Welsh Corgie. It is the silliest little dog, and perhaps the happiest little dog. We took him on a walk to the farmer's market (BTW- I don't think it's OK for a farmer's market in Missouri to have apples from Washington.) this morning. They actually had a dog parade near the farmer's market. Milo was definitely the center of attention. Everyone stopped to comment on his eyes or his cuteness. He is a super dog, and I think he likes me.

Although some would say I am not a patient person, I typically don't mind waiting in the airport. Of course if I had a choice to wait or not to wait, I would choose not to wait. After all as I arrived at the airport a bit early, I checked for an early flight. It seems I arrived at the same time the flight before my flight left. Even though I do look for an earlier way out, I don't really mind the wait especially since I can use the internet and read. Both of which I've done waiting today (seems they are fixing our plane, so we can leave... waiting). The other entertainment comes from people watching. It was as difficult to ignore the conversation about Obama and his health care debate as it was to ignore the two men looking at the sports page and picking Sunday's games. Watching a family of four watch the computer without saying a word to each other as one child continuously cried was also entertaining (Please tell me they are not sitting near me on the flight)....

An abridged version of this was shown on Grey's Anatomy tonight... powerful.

Our seventh graders are reading The Skin I'm In . Yesterday I was reading a chapter aloud to the classes. A brief synopsis is that the new teacher has an area of discoloration on her face. She is asking the students to write and discuss what their faces say to the world. While doing this, she also asks, "What's my face say?" Her students make comments such as "freak" while she explains about the discoloration. As I was reading this, I couldn't help but think of the similarities and wonder if I should share the story behind my facial scar. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable thinking I should answer their questions, so they don't wonder. All day long I contemplated the reading and decided it was not the time to have the discussion. I am always amazed at the times when I feel sad because of the scar and wonder, "What does my face say to the world."

Body Intelligence by Rumi "Your intelligence is always with you, overseeing your body, even though you may not be aware of its work. if you start doing something against your health, your intelligence will eventually scold you. If it hadn't been so lovingly close by, and so constantly monitoring, how could it rebuke..." This weekend I weighed in. My scale registered a two year high. Unfortunately this is not shocking to me. Of course I knew I hadn't been working out or walking. Of course I knew I had been eating at least two bite size candy bars a day. Of course I knew that my body was talking to me and warning me this was going to happen. When I weighed in on Sunday, I decided this was the week. This was the week I was going to start working out again. I even put the times on the calendar in my phone. Since I had plans last night, my plan was to start tonight with Body Pump at 5:30 and then continue with yoga tomorrow night at 4:00. Even though I've be...

Yesterday I was reading an Educational Leadership journal on 21st century skills. The article stated that people did not have the ability to multitask. Of course I disagreed since I find that I do very well multitasking. After all, I am posting to my blog, doing the laundry, and watching the Packer game. This morning I realized that I didn't necessarily have the ability to multitask after all. I was watching the girl next to me color and hum along with the song (she didn't know the words). It was adorable. Of course I was multitasking by watching the girl and singing the song. Later the little girl had colored the word "serve" on her children's bulletin and wanted to know how to pronounce it. While mother and daughter were having this conversation, someone was reading something as part of the service. Suddenly I realized I had no idea what was said in the service because I was listening to the mom try to get the girl to say serve, not surf and not serv a...

Today I left school and drove to Okoboji. Along with getting my hair done and my car serviced, I always try to spend time with wonderful friends. My J and I met as soon as I entered town at six o'clock. I must have missed meeting with her the last time I was in the area because we spent almost five hours sitting at a Mexican restaurant catching up. The discussion of politics was always interspersed in our conversation. At the beginning of our time, I told her I was pissed off (Yes, I used those words) at Obama and the Democrats about this health care reform without a public option, etc. She explained that Obama was taking the high road. Of course I replied, to hell with the Republicans, we don't need them, and she reminded me he is taking the high road. Later we talked about the possibility that one of the crazies would assassinate Obama and decided Biden would do a good job. Somewhat in jest I said I'd rather have Biden because he might tell it the way it is and n...

I made a goal to blog every day. How am I doing? On Monday I explained to my classes that I wanted each student to bring in a writing artifact on Wednesday, something that would symbolize writing and/or show the importance of writing in their life. After giving them an evening to think about it, I brought in one of my posts from my blog as an example on Tuesday. As I shared the post with my classes, I explained that I write every day even when I have little to say. Ironically, I have not posted since I told the class I post every day.

I love his quote, "They tell you in this country to pull yourself up by your bootstraps ...but first you gotta have the boots."

I plan on being in attendance at Harkin's steak fry next year.

Eight years ago when we switched schools I brought at least two four drawer file cabinets with me. Today I perused the files and recycled or trashed the contents. When I opened the first drawer to find twelve bookshelf legs, I knew it was time. I should have taken pictures. Much of what I purged I would never teach again, at least never teach in the same manner. Some of it was easy to get rid of such as: mystery unit, Olympics unit, urban legend unit, and of course three years of reading curriculum ('89 to '91). Others were a little more difficult such as March Madness and roller coaster units. Unfortunately I trashed and trashed, but didn't save copies. Maybe I should have saved at least one copy of the materials. Then again if I haven't used the materials in three years...

The Harkin Steak Fry (United States Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa) has been covered by CSPAN the last two years. Since I knew it was going to be on today, I decided to finish my schoolwork while watching it. Unfortunately, CSPAN didn't cover it. Fortunately, I was able to use my school computer to do my school work while I watched Al Franken speak at the steak fry on my personal computer. Although it's always a privilege to listen to Al Franken, I was touched today by his intelligence, compassion, and of course humor. My favorite line was something like this, "The Republicans run on the adage government doesn't work then get into office and prove it." Periodically I've been checking Youtube for downloads from today's event, but so far I haven't been able to find a video. Next year I plan on attending although the first weekend after school starts is typically one for relaxing and regaining my voice.

Most forwarded e-mails go straight to the trash, but the title of this one tempted me to open it. FIRST TIME SEX A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet and have dinner with her parents. Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time. The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it's his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex. At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he'd like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack. The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all. That night, the boy shows up at the girl's parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door. "Oh, I'm so excited for you to...

I loved Obama's stare down of Wilson. Unfortunately Wilson is getting press and seems impressed with himself. BTW- Does Tim Pawlenty know he's governor of a blue state... idiot!

It's the beginning of school, so the kids are still cute. This tends to change as the year goes on especially during the month of March. I'm always amazed by the dichotomy of seventh grade. Earlier this week a colleague watched a young man drop a condom out of his pocket. Today I overheard this conversation. Boy- I have ears like a hawk. Girl- I think hawks have good eyes not ears. Boy- OK, I have ears like a mouse. I'm Desperaux (note Desperaux is a mouse from Kate Di Camillo's book The Tale of Desperaux ). Girl- Desperaux is cute. Boy- I'm cute.

When the BPA warnings came out, I traded in my Nalgene bottles for SIGG bottles although I have also recently received a BPA free Nalgeene bottle. Today I found out that my SIGG bottle had a liner containing BPA. Although the older bottles have BPA, the amounts are not traceable according to a recent Treehugger.com article . SIGG is doing a voluntary exchange program . My initial plan was to stop at REI and Whole Foods to find a new bottle design, then choose where to exchange my bottles. First I called REI. The lady was a complete bitch. I asked if I could return my bottles, and she went into a small rant with the following questions and statements: 1) Did you buy it at REI? 2) Do you have a receipt? 3) Did you use your REI rewards card? 4) Do you understand it's voluntary. I explained that I had purchase my bottle from REI but obviously no longer had my receipt. Continuing I explained that I probably used my rewards card but was merely making sure it could be exchanged....

It seems he is somewhat intelligent, huh? I saw it on Facebook. I would love to hear what he's saying.

First I admit the title is a bit lame, but I was going for the O-P-Q-R... Many groups came out last week in outrage about school's sharing Obama's speech to students. After reading a copy today, I totally agree that he has a political agenda if not a personal agenda with this speech. Please take time to read the entire speech. Notice he doesn't use any white male names which has to be a personal agenda. He also speaks of going to school in another country which must prove he wasn't really born in the United States. Plus he mentions poverty and Aids which must be a cry for health care reform not to mention he also talks about school standards which must be political. Those liberal teachers will share this with their students and corrupt their morals. Hell, maybe those seniors he addresses directly will go out and vote Democrat in the next election. Shame on you liberal teachers and school who will share this with your students on Tuesday instead of starting the s...

My friend who is visiting is training for the Komen 3 Day. We have been walking each day. Our best guess is that we have walked approximately twenty miles in the past two days. After today's two hour walk, we decided to get pedicures. It was my first pedicure, and it was a perfect end to our walk. I also decided to spend an extra ten dollars to get a manicure, my first manicure. Bad decision... do they not know about Seche Vitte? It took too long for my nails to dry. At least I had Vicki to talk to as I waited. The pedicure, however, was fabulous.

My friend Vicki is visiting from Dallas. Today we walked into the Uptown Rainbow to buy bologna, cheese, and bread to make sandwiches for the Dignity Center. As we were checking out through the self check out, our bologna rang up 50¢ more expensive. Instead of missing out on the $1.00 savings, we asked for assistance. As the helper was trying to figure out the price, she yelled across the aisle at us, "How big is your bologna?" The lady next to us was laughing hard enough that she was bending over. Vicki and I were laughing, but needed to answer, "One Pound." Need I say more? I would also like to thank Oscar Mayer because I know how to spell bologna. My bologna has a first name... because Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A.

No one can argue that Franken is not an intelligent man and he handled this quite well.

President Obama is speaking to students on Tuesday, September 8th at 11 am (central time). I learned about this Sunday night while having dinner with friends and spoke to my principal about it on Monday. He knew of this and had prepared to talk to the staff about it. Instead of having the entire school watch it, he left it up to the teachers. This is no surprise since it is often how he does things. Today we received a memo from the district. Although I didn't read the entire e-mail, I was a bit confused and appalled. I e-mailed a "What?" message to my principal and am waiting for a reply (actually he replied but needs to look into it further). It seems the district initially suggested that it might be a good idea for all students to listen to the message calling students to be "responsible for their learning." Obama will also "call for a shared responsibility and commitment on part of students, parents, and eductators to ensure that every child in...

This Holy Earth by Libby Roderick In the name of every muscle in our bodies, we beseech you In the name of the feather, the sun, the mountain, the river, the otter, the salmon, the pine and the stone In the name of babies, now and forever more, and of lovers, and of sex. In the name of the breathing, pushing, spreading, decaying, pulsing earth beneath our gills, our roots, our talons, our hooves and our bare skinned feet: Help us. Help us easily distracted, heartbreakingly self-centered, brilliant and beautiful big-brained creatures, Us business-as-usual, new-on-the-planet, slow-moving, deep loving creatures Help us to remember that this wondrously intelligent orb has generated living art beyond anything we will ever hope to approximate 24 hours a day For six billion years -- Help us to remember that we can seize the power That we can raise our voices That we can flood the courtrooms, the schoolrooms, the boardrooms, the email, voice mail, letters to the editor, the streets, the banks...