Mars

Want to move to mars?
Think the moon is a better location?
I do believe it's space elevator time....

The Apple Store (life, music)

Yesterday, I took my little sister to the Genius Bar so they could take a peek at her sad face on her iPod. Music, to my 14 year old sister, is life so the sad face was a most unwelcome sight. After listening to the back of her iPod, it was discovered her hard drive stopped spinning. Several seconds later, a very nice (but not my favorite) Genius, went into the back room and came out with a new baby iPod for my sister and said bye-bye. No mess, no muss. It was great. It redeemed Apple in my eyes. It made a 14 year old who is too cool to show emotion in public do a happy dance for at least .005 of a second.

As I was sitting at the Genius Bar, I watched all of the little hints go by on their big TVs. I knew all of the stuff about spotlight, learned some about Dual Processors and decided I'll never need that kind of power, and was very interested to learn that I can listen to the radio through iTunes. This morning, I found my way into the never-before touched Radio option on my sidebar in iTunes and am not enjoying a little radioEdge. Because it's Sunday and Sunday has always been the day you listen to early Blues in my world, I might make my way over to Classic Blues Radio in a little bit. I might round the day out with a little public radio that has NPR shows that only play in the middle of the night around here or something under eclectic. I enjoy eclectic.

Glitter (life)

Yesterday, on my way to work, a woman drove past on a little Vespa-type scooter. The scooters are not so common in my area. This could be in part due to the fact that I'm in a high traffic area or perhaps due to the fact that the potholes are bigger than my Honda, therefore putting scooters deep into the danger (oh my god, I'm not going to make it up and out of this pothole) zone.

But, the fact that it was a scooter really was not the most interesting part of this story. The driver was, in fact, wearing a bright green glitter helmet. Like real glitter. Shiny glitter than you typically only see on a child's Christmas ornament or on some crazy crafty lady's covered photo album. But this was on a helmet--an official motorcycle helmet.

Today's my first day with a camera phone so I have no actual evidence of the green glitter helmet. So, I tried to recreate it in Photoshop. Today's my first day with Photoshop.

I make the kids do this (teaching)

Each year, I have criers in my class. Children who are emotionally fragile. I attempt to address the issue without giving too much attention to the actual crying. For those of you have cried, sometimes attention to the crying actually makes you cry harder and I try to avoid that in the classroom. My stiff-upper-lipped New Englander-teacher friend says I make the kids cry because I give them the space to cry. I think of it as my karma. I cried a lot in elementary school. Now, I'm an elementary school teacher and I have the criers.

Today, I had my first crying event for the year and it was an actual event. I have 11 students. 3 were in tears and 2 were on the verge. It all started when I was reading Fudge-a-Mania. [Who knew Judy Blume could have this type of impact?] I had to have two private conferences and a slight intervention. It became obvious that I was about to loose my entire class to the dark side and I had to take action fast. So, I made all of the students sit and say nice things about one another. It was very hippie-dippy. But the situation so warranted that kind of reaction.

Impulse buy (life)

Several things happened within the space of a half-hour to make me buy
a counteract one day. It was a classic impulse buy: I had no intention
of buying it prior to the actual purchase, I was not exactly sure what
to expect, it served no real purpose in my life, and I regretted it
after it was over.

The regrets continued when attunes sent me the list of recommendations
based on the music. They listed Justin Timberlake. I'm not a fan of JT
(neither pre nor post boy band). Now, iTunes thinks I have bad taste.

two things (life)

Two things I noticed about myself today:

Number 1: I've made the transition over to Mac, mentally. I tried to
apple "c" something today while typing on my school;s PC.

Number 2: I found an unopened pack of gum in my bag and was extremely
happy. It is possible I derive too much happiness from gum.

inner chatter (teaching)

All summer, my mind was quiet. I took information in, thought about
it, and then adjusted or did not adjust my thoughts accordingly.
Today, I realized my calm/ability to stay focused on one topic for
more than .5 seconds has left. On the drive home, my mind was taken
over by the following stream of chatter. "I don't know how to read my
curriculum and no one will help me; I only have two periods a day to
teach my whole class three major subjects on 2 grade levels; one of my
students can't tell me what 'u' says; I have to have them pass the
tests; I forgot to pay my bill; I need to do my homework; I need to
order that book for class; I should eat Taco Bell...." I think this is
the phase in the cycle of change that is something about feeling
unqualified and overwhelmed. It's a good thing I'm out of the
competent and board phase. I could have gotten comfortable.

Morning me (teaching)

I've had to return to the mornings...as in, I've had to return to being highly functioning in the mornings in a way that is only reserved for those whom have the responsibility for the lives of others. Unfortunately, it's not been easy. I'm having problems Luckily, all mishaps have been personally directed and minor. Number 1 was pouring out more than half my cup of coffee into the garbage as I tried to make a wee bit of room for my milk. Number 2 was washing my hair with body wash rather than shampoo. I fixed the problem and then did it again as I attempted to condition.

At some point in the year, 6 am will be the time that I'm up doing things around my house. Right now, 6 am is the time that I'm either sleeping (because I forgot to set the alarm) or deep in a state of confusion. But, I'm not planning on working too hard at changing things. I'm enjoying my new schedule.

Quotes (life)

Disclaimer: Some of you know, I'm not big on the whole quotes thing. This is actually an added bonus for those around me--you can quote something, I'll never realize you're quoting something, and you get points for line that is not even yours. I also know that quotes on ye olde blog is a slippery slope. I'll do my best not to stumble.

Blog: Today, I went to my second class of the week. The events of the class proved my theory that this semester will be an odd combination of touchy-feely and intense. I actually think it will be perfect for me. I'll feel like a real graduate student and I'll get to touch the inner hippie. [We did yoga in class and talked about action research and it's roots in anthropological methods...I liked it.]

The teacher put up some quotes about writing and asked us to reflect. The one I chose was by Gloria Steinem. She wrote, "Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else." I thought about the blog and how I've written since I was 28. Now, I'm weeks away from 30 (although I dispute this based on the fact that I've already had birthday observed). The blog has become a way I try to take care of myself. I'm happy it's here.

five years later (life)

Today has been filled with reminders. The radio...the firehouses...the
"I heart NY" t-shirts. I've been trying to figure out a way to reflect
meaningfully. I really don't think I have one. India made a lot of old
feelings new again. Nothing has changed in the world, other than me
realizing more and more of what the lives of others entail.

But, I do know that I want to live a life that makes me happy. I want
to touch beauty in the world. Luckily, I am sure that (in some way) I
can each day.

Broadcast Journalism

This morning, in my attempt to wake up slowly, I was watching a little NBC Saturday morning news (just because that was the last channel that was on the TV; normally I have higher standards). The newscaster was talking about an attempted mugging of a woman in this area. Turns out, the woman was on her way to the shooting range. So, the woman pulled her gun out and, to quote the newscaster, "shot the mother in the elbow." Are you allowed to say that on broadcast TV?

For a friend (life)

After my little warm-up fancy car dancing didn't do the trick, I tried to make my friend feel better by showing her a how to book. I like it when there is a convenient step-by-step process. Unfortunately, I don't always follow direction well.

What kind of student are you? (school)

I started graduate school again yesterday. Last night's class had a little homework--I have to answer several essay questions about myself, my philosophies, blah, blah, blah, same-old, same-old. Basically, I received the paper, used my infamous powers of skim and gathered the important information. Tonight, while in my other class, I was looking at the questions with a little more attention. One of the questions is "What kind of student are you?" The two words that came to mind immediately were interested and distracted. I am a fan of the learning. In fact, one of the qualities I look for in others is that they know tons about something and are not afraid to teach me. The distracted was probably best illustrated by the fact that I was looking on the syllabus from last night in tonight's class...Luckily, I think my interested gets me through the distracted and I'll make it through the next two semesters.

My hands are covered in marker (teaching)

I had to schedule in my visits to the bathroom. I'm teetering on the
edge of exhausted at 6:16 p.m. And, I have a very big smile on my
face.

The school year has begun.

Student Whisperer (teaching)

I'm about to begin my third year of teaching on Tuesday. In many ways, it feels like my first year (except for the fact that I know how to write a lesson plan, organize my library, read teachers curriculum, and find the gym). After two years of negotiating co-teaching (which, for me, was not so easy). This year, I'm going it alone. I will be the only teacher in the classroom and I'm so excited. I feel like I'll learn so much about being a teacher, am excited to be able to see my plans actually carried through, and figuring out how to best help my students learn.

I am, however, a little bit on the nervous side. I need to make sure that I am the commander of the ship. Since TV has come to my life, I've seen the Dog Whisperer a few times and think Caesar might hold the key to my management. I need to be my classroom pack leader. I need to be calm and assertive and make sure that I always project authority. I want to create structure and challenge. I think I should faux-Tivo this show. It could help re-center me when I actually have to do this whole educating thing for my 12 new students.

Just look (good stuff)

I came accross this today and am very excited about trying it out. It's like mapquest for those of us who walk and take public transportation. I love it.