Puzzle Problems

Hey, I am having trouble. I am sitting in the den, just chilling and surfing. Next, my sister comes in and starts organizing The Child's new puzzle collection. All of a sudden, there's an itching in my throat, you know, the one that is midway between both ears, with a point of intersection straight through the top of your head and perpendicular to the line from one ear to the other. Then the sneezing starts. I then asked my sister where these cardboard puzzles were manufactured. I think they must've been packaged by cats in China. I have this reaction every time I'm around cats. So therefore, I have determined that cats, maybe kittens, are manufacturing children's puzzles in China.

She then suggested that I take some kind of medication. I am not afraid to take an over-the-counter for such things, so I just did.

We need to start an initiative to limit kitty labor in China. There needs to be a group set up to stop the injustice. It is hurting kittens, their moms and dads, and most of me. No more kitty labor!

Down with kitten labor! Sound the alarms.

A Whole Post on Slogan Generator

Realizing this is very stupid, I've started a brand-new post all to put in this:

My slogan generated by Blogthings: Delightfully Tacky, Yet Unrefined.

This is incredibly on-point. I must say Blogthings is awesome.

General Foolishness

Hey, what's rockin' out there? I'm at my parents' house enjoying doing nothing. Let the record show that finally I've had a vacation day. I slept the latest I've slept: 9:12 a.m. Isn't that amazing?!?

I tuned on my player to listen to some music and it chose to play "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn. (I think he's married to Elizabeth Vargas from ABC news and he was shot in a drive-by.) What a great song! Some country group tried to do this, but boo on that. It was kind of like some group trying to sing Michael Buble's "Home." Ruination! Leave it alone, I say. This holds about 94.8% of the time. Regardless, is there a more evocative song than "Walking in Memphis"? Can't you see where he's going and even who he's talking to? I really dig this, thus it's placement on my player-thingie.

Okay, Obama is on my nerves again. Why did he even say that thing about ". . . And did I mention he's black?" I don't want to not like Obama. But this kind of stuff is annoying at best and off-putting at worst. I understand that the best defense is a good offense, but come on. I am NOT not voting for Obama because he's black. I'm not voting for him for a multitude of reasons. I don't agree with most anything he's for. I am not for nationalized health care. I'm not for raising taxes on the "rich." I'm not for getting out of Iraq. And here's the bad thing. I'm not for Obama, but I'm not FOR McCain either. I just have more in common with McCain's way of thinking. What we really need is a good independent in there who would keep government's intrusion in private lives to a MINIMUM. Boo on that. I really have NO decision whatsoever to make in the election. Actually, I was more excited about the democrat race than I am about the general election.

How about the alleged showing out of Keith Olbermann pitching a fit for the "Meet the Press" moderator's chair? Now, let me say for truth purposes, and this isn't any secret, that when Keith Olbermann suggests that I zig, I would proceed by zagging 99.4% of the time. What is a grown man doing that sort of thing for? Anyway, he's just the same thing, only on the opposite side, as his arch-nemesis Bill O'Reilly. I can't watch either one of them. They are so ALWAYS right on everything, it's sickening. Now, do I think I'm on the wrong side of things? Obviously not, but I can have a discussion with people who have a differing opinion (often Snoopy), agree to disagree, and not think she's a total idiot for not sharing my opinion. How about we act like grown-ups for a while? I was just looking it up, and it seems that Olbermann didn't pitch a hissy over this. See here. I'd like to send out a big "my b" as my students tell me when they're wrong.

Out of Pocket

I've been out of pocket for the last week or so. I've spent a week with Snoopy, am at my parents now, and will be going to Pennsylvania with Snoopy next week. After that, I'm going to lie low until school starts back, maybe there will be one or two beach trips, but nothing major.

I haven't blogged since my wreck. This was not too bad, but I think it was the death knell in my car's life. I just don't want to deal with the crap of getting the crap car repaired. The benevolent Mrs. C. is letting me borrow a car in the interim. I think I have a plan for a new car (to me, thanks to Mrs. C.), but don't want to jinx it, so I'll save that. Basically, the dude ran the stop sign at the intersection I was crossing at the time. Odd, right? Well, fortunately, neither of us were hurt and my friend Snoopy was there pretty quickly for back up. I was only a few minutes late to the workshop on co-teaching that I was attending.

My momma just came in and wanted me to tell all of you hello for her.

I have a quick workshop tomorrow and will be back to Bubba Sr. and Granny's before 3:00p.m. After that, I'm free, pretty much until the beginning of school. How sweet it is, and only about a month after getting out of school!

Happy week to all!

Sadness . . .

Tim Russert died at work on Friday. I'm sure that this is not news to most of you. I just wanted to comment on what a stand-up guy he seemed to have been. I say "seemed" because I never had the occasion to meet him. I run in South Georgia circles and he in Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, New York ones. If this were a Venn Diagram, there'd be no intersection. (For some funny Venn Diagrams, graphs, etc. check out Indexed.)

But, for some reason, just by having watched Mr. Russert on Meet the Press, I felt as if I knew him. He was very intimate. I'm sitting in my 'jammies drinking coffee and he's asking Hillary if she intends to run for President. (Incidentally, she said that she wouldn't.) He kept pressing, often with a smile on his face, to encourage a response to the question and not just some crazy spin-meistery crap. By the end, you knew if the person was perhaps a person you liked and respected, a person you should be "like whatever" about, or if s/he was a sleazy slime-ball. All the while Tim Russert was never anything but consummately polite. I was watching Today this morning and they said that he studied ALL WEEK for his interviews. His interviewees spoke of his vast knowledge on the subject(s) of the week, but he did not at all seem like a pinhead. Russert approached his work in a blue-collar sort of way that is part of why he seemed so relatable.

I will miss his big Irish face and his "Go Bills."

In a funny (at least to me) side bar, my daddy was growling at the TV, my sister reported, when TV news programs went into Tim-is-a-saint mode. Russert was chief of staff for Daniel Patrick Moynihan (big-time New York democrat-- strikes one, two, and three for my dad), so he could never be worth anything. Russert was a liberal through and through, according to him (even though DPM seems to have been pretty pragmatic, serving in the Nixon administration). I just had to laugh at this report. I thought that Russert was about as even-handed as a person could be. It is difficult to be hard on your side of the political fence and not completely brutal to those with opposing opinions, I would think. You could see tinges of Russert's opinion infrequently, but overall, I think he was pretty fair.

If it's Sunday, it's Tim Russert being missed on NBC's Meet the Press.

Fun This Week

Hey, y'all. It's been a good week. I enjoyed the variety of things I did. Monday and Tuesday were spent at a Geogebra seminar. Google Geogebra, if you're an educator or a nerd. It's a very good tool that unites algebra with the geometry. It will be used in my class a lot in the upcoming year. It seems to be really useful in helping students visualize the meaning of the equations of lines and how they go with the graphs of those lines. It'll be good for all levels. I'm very excited about implementing it, since I'll have access to laptop carts!

I'm finally almost through (about 10 pages to go) with In Cold Blood. If you think I've been reading this a while, TRUE. I'm really bad about NOT sitting down to read. I'll watch A LOT of TV, but reading seems to slip. You've got to devote all your attention to it. I can watch TV mindlessly, while doing any of a number of things. No excuse, I'm just sayin'. What's next? Maybe, finally, Lonesome Dove or The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency? Not sure.

Today, I did 4.18 miles on the treadmill. For some, that wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket, but for me, it's a TON. It was pretty difficult. I have run/walked 6 of the 7 days this week! I am so excited about that. If I can keep something like this up, I'll be good to go come August. I'm planning on running outside tomorrow, EARLY so I won't die. Mercy, it's hot here.

Stayed with Snoopy Wednesday and Thursday. Who knew she's quite the chef? Wednesday we had lemon pepper chicken and Jamaican jerk chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes. Delicious. Thursday, we had a skirt-steakish situation. That was really good, marinated in some steakhouse marinade. But the best was rosemary corn, roasted on the grill. You take little globs of butter and smush them (yes, technical term) on the washed corn on the cob. Then take rosemary and sprinkle it, letting it stick to the smushed butter. I think she grilled it for about thirty minutes. After it's through grilling, you let it sit for about ten minutes. That rosemary will totally permeate all the way to the cob! That may have been the best corn I've eaten. That was accompanied by a lovely baked potato. Yum is right.

I'm gonna go do a little cleaning.

Have a great Saturday, or whatever day you're reading this!

Laaaazy Daaaaay

Well, I got up this morning and met Mrs. C. at the gym sometime around 8:30. Treadmilled it like a champ! It was VERY refreshing. Waaaaay easier than actual jogging. I am not sure why I stopped going to the gym regularly. I guess when I get busy I rationalize it because I need more rest?!? So sad to think that way.

Anyway, after gym we went to Starbucks and then got pedis. Then I came home, took a BATH, and have lain around ever since! I enjoyed the last hour of The Holiday. And then I fell asleep.

Forgot to mention that I saw two alumni of my school. One has just finished his freshman year at Georgia State and the other went to a Rhode Island prep school en route to the Naval Academy. Two really good boys!

So, this was a very small update on not much going on. I've been working with 7th graders who need to pass the math portion of the CRCT to move on next year. It's been really fun. They can't use calculators, though, so it's tough when they don't know their math facts (the modern day translation for what I learned as "times tables"). That was Monday, Tuesday, and Friday of this past week. Wednesday and Thursday, we broke down units for the new Math I course. It was pretty good work. We got done with that at 1:30, so I went and worked in my new and old rooms. I've effectively thrown away EVERYTHING that isn't on jump drive.

I'll do the same thing next week. Monday and Tuesday, I have a workshop at Southern. Wednesday is review. Thursday and Friday are re-test days, so it'll just be a morning thing. I'll be glad when I get my June check. Right now, I'm feeling as if I'm missing out on my summer!

I think I'll try early treadmill on Monday morning and see how that works. I'm excited after my run today.

I also am trying to integrate this into my diet: eight important foods.