Random Thoughts

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:46 am

So what's been happening whilst I've been away?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:08 am

same ole, same ole, VG. we have missed your thought provoking contributions.

no, really!

The taillights on these new Nissan SUVs are really fascinating. Like looking into a little red galaxy. Mesmerizing, even. I almost put my van in the back seat of one while counting the stars.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:23 am

I think the rabbi who married Red and I was at the Bruce Springsteen show on Monday night. Then again, he's on Facebook so nothing should surprise me.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:25 pm

Free quiz that will not only improve your vocabulary, but also donate 10 grains of rice to the starving through an international aid agency for every word you get correct

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:27 pm

I managed to get up to 500 before my eyes nearly fell out of my head (it is nearly 12.30 am). Grotty was included! Several words were just ludicrous, it was fun and my conscience enjoyed it.

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:47 pm

Done alphabetising my list of vinyl.... 142 items, most of it 70s soft rock from my aunt. There are a few good things in there, though. Like I said, 6 Boss albums. And a Chipmunk Christmas, can't forget that. Oy, I'm tired.

The Rice spelling was very cool. I did fairly well.

Oh, and I heard John Prine for the first time today. Thought I'd add that for a certain board member.....

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:51 am

Which song?

And was your life changed forever?

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:26 pm

Don't remember. It popped up on my Pandora country-ish (I don't really know country so I stick the -ish on there) station (plays lots of Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard, and Lucinda Williams...who I'm starting to like a lot). But I liked it well enough. I want to hear more, at any rate, which is always a good sign.

And let it be said that I'm taking a lot of ribbing for broadening my horizons. I guess that's not 'cool.'

But I get the last laugh for not listening to crap, don't I?

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:56 pm

StrictTime wrote:And let it be said that I'm taking a lot of ribbing for broadening my horizons. I guess that's not 'cool.' But I get the last laugh for not listening to crap, don't I?

Give it another few years and you will be revered for your eclectic taste. I had the same experiences in high school. Brings to mind a great quote by rock 'n' roll journalist David Fricke:

"Respect the Elders; Embrace the New; Encourage the Impractical and Improbable Without Bias"

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:11 pm

Gillibeanz wrote:Free quiz that will not only improve your vocabulary, but also donate 10 grains of rice to the starving through an international aid agency for every word you get correct

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Very cool! And very addictive. I imagine it's well-nigh impossible if you haven't studied French.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:07 am

I was going with the Latin. The prefixes and postfixes or whatever the hell you call them. 1800 grains.

but anyway, (moved so I don't get yelled at)

I tried to stay awake, but was out late the previous night with my mom in town, the missus is on her way to Australia again and my boy's been hit with walking pneumonia, so I was too worn out.

I see your sick kid/spouse gone story, and raise you two kids. I had 3 kids home with a stomach virus once. I think that was quite possibly the worst day ever. Not enough toilets. And while it was just a 24 hour thing, I got it the next day.

It was Leap Day, as I recall. And a Quantum Leap marathon was on.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:10 am

Yeah, he's OK I think - no vomiting, just a bad cough but it's going away. The problem is that I have to give him this awful-tasting medicine from a syringe and he hates it. The doc said to let him wash it down with chocolate milk, and that seems to do the trick. They ALWAYS get sick when she's not here. You can take it to the bank!

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:53 pm

I splurged a bit today.....Jeff Buckley's Grace album, Lucinda Williams' World Without Tears album, and a book entitled Kafka's Metomorphosis and Other Stories. Good to have Meta in the house, and now I can read The Judgement as well!

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:59 pm

Two out of three ain't bad, as they say.

Mechanical Grace, where are you?

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:38 pm

Yeah, where the hell is she?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:28 pm

She's gone. And all the song title game players went with her.

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:28 am

Got my SAT scores. I don't know whether to be elated or disappointed. A little of both, I think. Someone left the computer on all night so I was able to check them in the morning (it's about 6:30 AM here, I have to leave for the bus in about ten minutes), despite the fact that it could have ruined my day.

And thanks to you all for being interesting and nice people, because most are twats. Or maybe it's just people my age. Or maybe I'm just having that good ol' teen angst we always hear so much about.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:39 am

congrats then? are the SATs like the ACT in that you can retake them, keep the best scores from each testing, etc?

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:52 am

Don't get me wrong - I think America's teachers are hugely underpaid and undervalued, but when did schools get the idea of slipping "teacher professional days" into the school calendar? Can't they do this sort of thing before or after the school year? Or is it asking too much of the teachers' unions?

My wife is in Australia, I have a ton of work and now I'll have two kids at home all afternoon raising hell. Can't wait 'till the missus gets back on Saturday night.

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:41 pm

mood swung wrote:congrats then? are the SATs like the ACT in that you can retake them, keep the best scores from each testing, etc?

You can take them more than once, yes, but I didn't take them early enough to have the time to take tham again, really (personal reasons). I don't know if you can keep the best sections. I think it depends on the college you want to attend.

And yeah, congrats I guess. I was a little put out by my scores this morning, is all. I'm used to hitting 90 percentiles, so I really dropped the ball on math on this one. The whole search and everything just gets really stressful after a while. Thanks.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:45 am

Cheney's been up hunting in our neck of the woods. My wife saw the police cars along the road as she drove into work yesterday and made sure to keep her head down. I had to remind her that Cheney only shoots lawyers.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/30/ ... index.html

Jon Stewart last night showed footage of him falling asleep at a briefing on the California wildfires. Had to preserve his energy for the hunting trip, I imagine.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:02 pm

Story of the week (month, even), from the Telegraph...

Man who had sex with bike in court

By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 1:22pm GMT 30/10/2007

A man has been placed on the sex offendersâ€™ register after being caught trying to have sex with a bicycle.

Robert Stewart was discovered in his room by two cleaners at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr, south west Scotland, in October last year.

On Wednesday Mr Stewart admitted to sexual breach of the peace in Ayr Sheriff Court, where depute fiscal Gail Davidson described how he had been found by the hostel workers.

She said: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white T-shirt, naked from the waist down.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

Both witnesses, who were extremely shocked, notified the hotel manager, who in turn alerted the police.

Mr Stewart was placed on the sex offendersâ€™ register but his sentence was deferred until next month.

He is not the first man to be convicted of a sexual offence involving an inanimate object, however.

Karl Watkins, an electrician, was jailed for having sex with pavements in Redditch, Worcs, in 1993.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:19 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Don't get me wrong - I think America's teachers are hugely underpaid and undervalued, but when did schools get the idea of slipping "teacher professional days" into the school calendar? Can't they do this sort of thing before or after the school year? Or is it asking too much of the teachers' unions?

My wife is in Australia, I have a ton of work and now I'll have two kids at home all afternoon raising hell. Can't wait 'till the missus gets back on Saturday night.

I won't get you wrong. And I love my job, so I'm NOT complaining. But I work 10 'regular' months out of the year at one of the most high pressure positions you can imagine. Parents, kids, other teachers, administration, legislatures, etc. all want a piece of me, sometimes literally. I work 60 hour weeks most weeks. During the summer (2 mos.), I plan for the next year, attend an average of 3 week long conferences (unpaid, btw) and try to recharge so that I can give everyone's kid the best education I'm capable of providing. Teacher work days are sometimes valuable training time, sometimes worthless, and always a good 'mental health' break. We don't have the option of the 3 martini lunch or telling our client to fuck off once in awhile. I can't put a parent on hold or tell a kid I'll get back to him next week. I don't belong to a union and I'll never apologize for a teacher work day. Sorry!! But I do promise to do my best in the class every day, never show a movie so that I can catch up, or take my problems out on a kid. I think its a fair trade.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:43 pm

pophead, we've had three of these professional days in the space of a month, scheduled for some unknown reason in the middle of the week, rather than on a Friday for example. Our school district has no understanding and little appreciation for the fact that a large number of families in our community have two parents who work full time. Shut up and don't complain seems to be the general attitude. Meanwhile I vote consistently in favor of higher school budgets, better teacher salaries, facilities, buses - you name it - because I think they're all important priorities. Our school taxes have more than doubled over the 8 years we've lived here.

The next time I tell a client to fuck off or take a three martini lunch will be my first. Not that I haven't been tempted.

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:10 pm

Man who had sex with bike in court

I don't see why. This seems to be a victimless crime....I mean, he was in his room. It's not like he was in the park or something.

Whoever thought up the system of college admissions needs to be shot. I'm thinking about just applying to my safety school and being done with it, honestly. I mean, it'll be much cheaper then, say, Agnes Scott. I don't think I could deal with an all girls school anyway. Money makes the world go round, I guess. I mean, you basically have to pimp yourself out to these schools. Look at me, I went on a mission trip to Africa to feed orphans. While there, I contracted a rare disease, and since my parents are immigrants who grew up without the opportunity of America, which I am very thankful for, we didn't have the money for care. To raise it, I started a small business selling discounted books to disadvantaged families. During this ordeal, I retained a 4.7 GPA and was heavily involved in activities, so.... Pick me! Pick me! Self pity/mini rant over. I'm sure it's not really all that. Sorry guys. You know, I'd delete it, but a good vent is nice. It's very stressful. Sorry that you guys are my crap-dumper-onners.

And a good teacher makes all the difference. I'm in favour of whatever you guys need, honestly. I don't know what that is, but yeah. Good teachers are some of the most positive influences in your life. I still remember my sixth grade teacher and the impact she made on me. She made me want to teach. I don't know if I still do, but it's definitely a possibility. What age kids do you teach, pophead? I have a feeling I should know, but it escapes me.

Jeez, I'm in a long-winded mood today. My apologies.