Miscellaneous Missives

During this time between Christmas and Lent our church has the theme "Rekindling the Fire." My service is looking at Bible stories in a different way. Today's story was David vs. Goliath. The first discussion was about how the story was probably exaggerated. Was Goliath really ten feet tall? As the story was read, we were asked questions. What is your Goliath? I wrote down "our political leaders, tea baggers, crazies, negativity". What are you five smooth stones? Actually I had six, but I left off compassion feeling it was redundant. 1. Peace 2. Patience 3. Courage 4. Understanding 5. Love During prayers Egypt and Tunisia were mentioned. My prayer was for intelligence and understanding as we devour media. I prayed that we remember each source is only one side of the story. Later today my brother sent me a link . After receiving the link, I called to get his impressions (even though I can't open it on my computer). This is an exciting ...

I don't typically complain about my salary. Basically I am satisfied with what I make. However, it is frustrating when I don't even get a cost of living raise (and haven't for years).

You should also know... I also am a fan of this song as I was reminded on Facebook. If you would like to take me out for multiple adult beverages in an establishment that has old music (NOT Karaoke), I will sing this and The Piano Man for you.

I like this song. Perhaps I like it because it isn't played all of the time. When it gets more play, I won't like it. ...thought you'd want to know.

Today I "hit the wall". I decided that I was going to the doctor to take care of my sinus infection. Acupuncture, Neti Pot, Advil Cold and Sinus, Mucinex... nothing was working, and I was getting crabby (crabbier than usual). After consultation from the administrative assistants at work, I decided to try the "Minute Clinic" at Target instead of Urgent Care. I posted my initial reaction on Facebook, "Minute" Clinic my ass... As I entered the clinic, I was given a pager and told that it was going to be a twenty-five minute wait. At first I thought this was ridiculous since no one was waiting in the waiting area. Then I realized that no one was in the waiting area because everyone was shopping in Target with their pagers. At first I perused the Target aisles, then I realized that I didn't want to purchase anything. All was well since I recently added solitaire to my iTouch. The actual consultation went well. I was given a prescription, and they...

Intermittently this winter I have had water coming in through my bathroom exhaust fan. The first three times it seemed to coincide with weekends and snowfall. Typically if I run the exhaust fan, it drys out. The first time it happened I called the condo management thinking it was coming in through the exhaust fan vent. Although they came out twice, I didn't realize this because no one informed me of the second visit. I've made at least three calls prior to today about the situation. Today I called again to find out someone had not only come out, but they had taken pictures through a scope to verify that it was a plumbing problem not an exhaust fan problem. Perhaps someone could have shared this information allowing me to contact my upstairs neighbor to let him know his plumbing was leaking into my bathroom. After talking to the management company, I contacted my neighbor. I was apprehensive not knowing if he would understand his responsibility. He came down tonight whe...

"Duncan praised Kline repeatedly during his visit to Minnesota, adding Kline's opposition to a third round is no reason to give up the effort." What is the effort of which Arnie Duncan is speaking? Maybe the effort is the house resolution that would freeze teacher salaries and allow the state to keep money it borrowed from schools. Perhaps it's talking about the senate bill that would freeze teachers' salaries and eliminate mandates that schools set aside money for staff development. My links are working, but try this . This comes as Arne Duncan is calling for schools to get "teachers" from the general public. Awesome! Schools should hire people without teacher training at the same time schools start taking away staff development training. Great idea! I could rant about my feelings about Arne Duncan and President Obama's education (or lack of) policy. I will merely say is is disheartening that we do not have an "education president...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Tonight I watched Keith Olbermann's Countdown as I do on many evenings. I especially enjoy his Friday's with Thurber, and of course, tonight was Friday. As I watched Countdown, I will admit that I was distracted by other things. When I started listening a little more closely, I realized he was "signing off". This is his last show. It ended with an especially enlightening Thurber story, but it ended. It doesn't seem real. My hope is that this was Olbermann's decision after Comcast recently merged with MSNBC (and their parent company). Who will bring the voice of reason with humility and humor?

I will admit that I am not a fan of the cold weather we are having. It makes everything a little more difficult. Last night I had to park across the street from the gym (thanks to all of the New Year's resolution people... give it up, buy a candy bar, get out of my parking spot!) which caused me to stand and wait for traffic to pass. Maybe I could have crossed earlier, but I was worried about slipping on the ice. Of course, on the way back to my car, I did slip on the ice. Cold Weather + Ice = Pain Once I get cold it's impossible to warm up. When I went to bed, I couldn't sleep because I was sooooooo cold. Since I don't pay for my heat, I moved my thermostat from 69º to 75º. Yes, this was excessive, but I was freezing. This morning after taking my shower, my windows were full of precipitation. I had made a small green house. Tonight it will become colder. I am not a fan. A student today was excited about going to Florida for spring break. When I said she h...

Since I have been visiting schools for the past two days and had Monday off, I will only teach two days this week. I was part of a team that visited AVID schools with similar populations in the Metro area. The visits were informative (good and bad) and merely made me miss my classroom. Although we learned about AVID, I think we more importantly learned about teaching. Good teachers do well no matter what the structure, and bad teachers... Today's visit took us to a school in which one of the teachers was using iPads in his classroom which made me a bit jealous. The classroom was crazy (and not in a good way). Of course it wasn't the iPad usage; it was the teacher sitting behind his desk talking to a friend or colleague. Didn't he know he had visitors in his room? He ignored both students and visiting adults in the room... bad. The other teacher in the same building did a phenomenal job with the students while ignoring the visitors (We had time to talk to her late...

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" Martin Luther King Jr. Yesterday in church part of the I Have a Dream speech. I always tend to get teary eyed when this is read. The service continued with the "Rekindling" theme. We discussed Noah and the ark which seemed appropriate with current events, but my mind continued to focus on the I Have a Dream speech. Maybe it was prompted as I watched the two little babies in church focus on their parents and each other. They are sweet and fairly close in age (maybe two or three months apart). I kept thinking they'll be church friends. What will our world present them when they are teenagers? Although the message of the speech has been heard, there is still work to be done. My dream is for the animosity and hatred which is fueled by fear to dissipate. My dream ...

Last night I started grading papers watching the Packers game. Today I started to finishing papers watching the Seahawks game, since it was boring, I started going through the channels and stopped at The Jersey Show . Since I have only heard about the show, I decided to watch it. It's everything people say and more. Are you kidding me? Actually it kind of reminds me of a college version of the women yelling on The View . I guess I'll save the remainder of my grading for the next game. Jersey Shore will not keep my attention long enough to finish this pile.

Last evening I made the wise decision to go to the gym. I figured with the traffic being horrible leaving an hour later wouldn't make a difference. This turned out to be true. The road conditions were poor to quite poor. It took me two hours to get to Mankato. Although it only added an hour onto my trip, it wasn't a peaceful drive. Today, I received a call from the wonderful people that take care of my car saying my water pump was leaking anti-freeze. This didn't necessarily fit into my plans which were to make a quick trip to take care of basic necessities such as coloring my hair and getting my oil changed and car cleaned inside/out. My plan was to be back on the road by noon. Instead my car will be held hostage until two or three. Normally this would be fine, but I didn't tell anyone I was going to be in town, so I have little to do. Plus, I left all my school work at home because I had planned on doing it while I watched football games tonight (Go Pack Go...

As you may have guessed from my lack of posting, it's been a crazy week. Instead of boring you with the details, I'll fast forward to today. Today was Social Action Day for our middle school students. This means all teachers, paras, and students leave the building to help in the community. I took a group of students to one of the elementary schools. They had a wonderful day, and the teachers seemed to appreciate their help. The elementary kids couldn't get enough of the middle school kids which was fun to watch. I wore my new Uggs, and my feet were happy all day long as I walked back and forth checking on my students. If I wasn't going to spend $300 on an iPhone at the beginning of February, I'd search out a pair of grey Uggs. My Uggs are dark brown since Zappos didn't have grey in my size. One would wonder how it is I really have nothing to say when my week has been one of craziness. IDK!

As I watch the Packers, I am grading papers. Since the students took spelling quizzes on Friday, I am grading those. Because I use my spelling quizzes to review sentences, they included complex sentences. All of my sentences in this post are complex sentences because I want to demonstrate my ability to use complex sentences. I teach complex sentences using formulas since I find them easy to use. When I use the these strategies, I use two formulas for complex sentences (D, I -- dependent clause comma independent and ID -- Independent clause Dependent clause). Most students did as one would expect while some students were creative. Examples: 1) After I put the fire out, I got in huge trouble. 2) I think about pizza when I'm in school. 3) After I drink lemonade, I usually cry. ... makes me wonder.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Of course I agree with Keith Olbermann 99% of the time, but tonight I would hope that people of all political backgrounds listen to his comment and find meaning in his words. Although I was surprised by today's shootings, and Sarah Palin's crosshairs, I know I shouldn't have been. This country becomes more polarized politically and economically every day. My prayers tonight (and almost every night) are for peace.

It seems I have most people fooled which completely shocks me. Today I was speaking with a colleague. We were talking about how she remains calm and doesn't frazzle. As the conversation continued she mentioned that I don't stress out about life either. Are you kidding me? Earlier this school year, I wrote a post entitled, You Don't Freak Out . I found it worthy of a post since it was crazy because I do freak out. Today I am posting again. Perhaps I have deceived many people who seem to think I don't freak out or stress. When I searched my blog using the word stress, there were thirteen entries for 2010. What do people see, or am I merely missing the sarcasm?

Today is Epiphany. It is the twelfth day of Christmas marking the day of Magi visiting baby Jesus bearing gifts. The gift giving was to teach love of Christ and for all. Happy Epiphany. I love you all! Yep, that's all I have.

During the summer I go to the Midtown Farmer's Market. Often I comment that I love the market because I'm around "my people". I know this because of the bumper stickers in the parking lot and the basic attitude and good cheer of people in the market. When I workout, I got to the YWCA. Again, I often feel like I'm around "my people". It's only based on a feeling, but I believe the people that work out at the Y are "more real". Now that I have totally convinced you that I am a bit nutty, let me give you my example from this evening. After working out I went back to the locker room to get my stuff. Surprisingly, there was no one near my locker, but there was a book on the bench. The book was entitle Food Politics by Marion Nestle. Inside was a mp3 player. As I was preparing to leave, I kept hoping the lady would come back, so I could look at her book. She did not, so I decided to take a peak inside. I was literally squatting down...

Although it's a matter of perspective, I'm pleased that I did not start 2011 being lazy and procrastinating. Are you impressed? I'll try to make this short, so I don't underwhelm those who weren't as productive. Perhaps a list would be beneficial: 1) went to the gym 2) painted nails 3) watched football 4) played Scrabble on FB... Oh wait, my last task is phenomenal. I wrote an essay for The Great American Think-Off . The essay question, "Does Poetry Matter", caught my attentions, so I decided to add it to today's productive events. According to the website, "Entering the competition is easy. Just submit an essay of 750 words or less by April 1, 2011 (postmark date)." 750 words or less... I can do this in three words or less. Poetry does matter. Awesome! I guess this will explain why I have not yet had time to look at my school bag which contains the 100+ personal narratives. Of course this means tomorrow will mean a heavy dose ...