Apr 18
2008
Tony| Category: General, Random, WTF? |
Just to join the flow of what I’m sure will be inane posts about “OMG, I totally felt that earthquake this morning!” I did, in fact, feel that earthquake this morning. I must have caught the tail end of it, because it wasn’t more than five seconds of my sleep-deprived brain trying to figure out what was before it was done. I slowly put my baseball bat down, shrugged, and went back to sleep. For twenty minutes, because then the alarm clock started going off. I turn on the tv, and lo and behold, us Chicagoans done felt us an earthquake. I turned the tv back off in 30 seconds because I didn’t want to hear the SAME story over and over again from people calling into the local news. (”I thought it was a rodent in the walls…” I tried to wake up my husband, but he said I was dreaming…” “My bed shook…” “I thought it might have been a ghost…”) And on. Do we really need to call these reports in? (Then again, do I really need to report them to you? How meta…)
Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the rumbling bed.
Maybe I realize what’s next: Zombies.
End of days. Do you have your water supply ready?
Happy Friday!
~TK, who’s only 75% kidding about the zombies
Apr 03
2008
Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine, Entertainment Tonight, Random |
Tip of the hat to MarK for this lovely nugget sent in today. It’s good to know that all was right in the world back in the nineties, instead of getting a Final Four where I can’t root for any underdogs. (Or my impotent Illini)
There’s a great collection of “song charts” in a pool on flickr here.
Happy Thursday!
Jul 14
2006
Tony| Category: General, Random |
So, I’m watching season one of Weeds, which is great for a multitude of reasons. I’ll go into it at a later time. Two quick things:
1) The youngest kid is a dead ringer for one of my students last year. He acts like him, has the same religion as him, and even though he causes a lot of trouble, it’s impossible not to like him.
2) One of the episodes mentioned getting a double-double. That can only mean one thing: In ‘n’ Out.
Now I’m looking up airfare to California.
Jul 02
2006
Tony| Category: General, Techie, not Geekie, Random |
This post is really for Kenny, but hey, y’all can read it too, if ya want.
Just got back from DMB @ Alpine, more on this soon. For those of you that read Woot, you might have seen this (only good til midnight tonight), but it’s funny for two reasons:
A) It mentions So Taguchi, who Kenny cheers for everytime we mention the Cardinals, and
B) It talks about Kenny. Not our Kenny, but eerily similar.
Kenny, are you working for Woot?
(I posted the entire column here, because the woot info disappears when the next day’s Woot comes up)
So, Taguchi: you wanna take your laptop and hook up a printer, a keyboard, a mouse, an Ethernet cable, and so on. Sure thing, chief, no problem. As long as you don’t mind connecting and re-connecting all that stuff every single time you take your laptop anywhere. Must be nice to have that kind of free time, not to mention that kind of patience. On with the dance of a thousand hookups!
Or you could get a docking station and reduce it to one simple connection. Oh, but make sure you get the docking station that’s made specifically for your model of laptop. If you can afford it, that is. If you can find one. If it even exists. Happy hunting!
Like the infomercial pitchman says, “There’s got to be a better way!”
And that better way goes by the name of Kensington Portable Universal Docking Station 33055. You can call it Kenny on accounta you got an honest face. Just plug Kenny into your laptop’s USB port, hook up your doodads and whatzits to Kenny’s many ports, and enjoy a lifetime of one-hookup laptop networking. Not a human’s lifetime, mind you; more like a typical kangaroo’s lifetime.
Kenny boasts two USB 2.0 ports, two PS/2 ports, and one port apiece of the parallel, serial, and Ethernet RJ-45 varieties. He’s clean, discreet, doesn’t eat much, and gets along with any laptop with USB capabilities. And when you and your laptop gotta fly, Kenny waits patiently at home for your return. Warn your spouse now: with this kind of service, you might just wind up wanting to marry Kenny instead.
Warranty: One year
Features:
- High-Speed USB 2.0 is up to 40 times faster than standard USB 1.1
- Instantly converts your notebook into a desktop workstation – enjoy the comfort of an external keyboard and mouse or high-speed Ethernet access
- Plug-and-play functionality: One simple USB interface connects you instantly to your keyboard, mouse, printer, network, and many other USB device
- Slim, compact design
- Dimensions: 7.0”L X 1.0”H X 2.375”W
Ports:
- two USB 2.0
- one Ethernet RJ-45
- one parallel
- one serial
- two PS/2
Includes:
- Universal Docking Station
- Manual
- CD
Windows Requirements:
- Windows XP with Service Pack 1
- Pentium processor or equivalent
- Hi-speed USB 2.0 port (Docking Station will function on USB 1.x port but only at USB 1.x speeds)
Jun 04
2006
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Unfortunately Serious, Random, All about me |
Friends, I’ve had a lot of time to sit lately. Instead of eating, my usual favorite sitting activity, I’ve been thinking. Since my ankle is NOT cooperating, and still refuses to allow me to walk sans crutches, I am stuck in places that require thinking on my part.
So I’ve been thinking. (Unusual, isn’t it…)
TK’s things he’s done thought about recently:
School:
It’s the end of the year. I’ve spent a good portion of the last few weeks getting my students ready to leave me and second grade behind. This is going to sound incredibly lame, but it’s my ebjournal, so deal with it. I feel like when the kids leave my room, their time of innocence at school is rapidly coming to an end. Next year, they’re in third grade, and they begin the harsh transition into letter grades, reading to learn (which we’re doing in our class, but ever so gently) instead of learning to read, and standardized testing that gets all teachers more uptight than anyone should be. They get to experience all sorts of fun new learning, and somewhere down the road they will remember all of three things I taught them; the rainforest, the Washington D.C. monuments, and maybe “Don’t panic.” So the end of the year tends to be a little depressing for me. In August, I’ll be psyched for my new group of students, but for now, June is bittersweet.
On Friday, as I was thinking about all of this, I was suprised and delighted to receive a letter from one of my former students. She was in my class last year, but moved in the middle of the year. It was a sort of vindication, that yes, I am making a difference in some students’ lives, even if they don’t realize it at the time. (And really, how could they, with most of the focus of their thinking centered around cooties vaccinations, Ice Age 2, and birthday parties?) Tomorrow night is my first Poetry Night, and we are nowhere near ready, but one parent told me on Friday that the kids are excited, and that her daughter has been practicing her poems at home. I didn’t even tell them to do that! Awesome.
Family:
We’ve been having family issues lately. Not end of the world issues, just things that kick around in my head, and I feel like I need to think about it. However, this is not the forum for it. (Hi, family!) But I’ve been thinking about all of our different families, and how we fit into them.
Television:
There is a lot of good television and movies out there. TLEMK and I are at the point of the year that we get to watch a season of a show, because all the regular shows are done for the summer. For instance, back at my birthday time, Stuck gave me the season of Firefly. After watching Serenity, it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. However, I’m miffed because there was only one season of it. HBO finally put Deadwood season two OnDemand, so we caught up on that last weekend in anticipation of season three, which starts June 11th. Though it’s by far the filthiest show I’ve ever watched, it’s one of the most fascinating and well-written shows out there. Finally, we’ve been watching Band of Brothers, the HBO docudrama that was made a few years ago on the first paratroopers of WWII. I read the book about 4 or 5 years ago, and I didn’t remember that much from it. The series has been excellent, and makes me glad I’ve never had to go to war. (See, Zigzags? I can be cultured, too!)
However, all of these had relatively short lives. Firefly has ONE season, because it was on Fox. HBO has already announced that Deadwood is done after season three, because they need the director on Rome. Obviously, Band of Brothers was short (well, actually, about 10 hours for a documentary). The point is, the smart television I like gets cancelled. Thankfully, Veronica Mars will be back next year for a third season, only after serious efforts to keep it on the CW. The CW, you ask? The merged network of UPN, and the WB. The people that are bringing 7th Heaven,(for it’s billionth season!) even though they finished the series on the WB, and instead cancelled Everwood. I fear for the future of television.
Misc.
I’ve been thinking about baseball, grad school, and moving, pretty much in that order. My fantasy team sucks, but I’m holding on to the fact that they might be second half players. Grad school picks up three days a week (5 hours a day, plus commute) starting June 12th. And we’re moving, hopefully in mid-July. TLEMK has started packing, and I feel terrible that I can’t help her. IF I get my boot soon, that should make things get back to the normal balanced team that we are usually. For now, she’s the best for doing all the stuff I can’t.
Coming up this week:
Mon.-Poetry Night
Tues.– Half-day, pack up the classroom, finally get my castboot/camwalker?
Wed.- Last day of school
Thurs.– MRI, Sox game
Fri.– Flecktones!
Sat.– Wedding
Sun.– Old friends?
Mon.– Grad school starts. Yikes.
So that’s the tip of what I’ve been thinking about. Lots of wheels churning. Very irregular and unusual. Kinda scary!
Better go back to eating. 
(Edit: What are YOU thinking about? Check out the new poll!)
Jan 26
2006
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Random, Chomping on Books |
Kenny and I started having conversation #72– good poems. Stop snickering, I’m a man, I like poems. MANLY poems. Here are the two we’re discussing:
For Once, Then, Something
Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
My myself in the summer heaven, godlike
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb,
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths-and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.
~Robert Frost
And…
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
< ~Rudyard Kipling
And just for fun, here are two “grown-up” poems that I’ve done with my kids… we used the visualizing strategy with them, and the kids did a nice job with making mental images:
The Dream Keeper
Bring me your dreams, you dreamers
Bring me all of your heart melodies
That I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers off the world.
~Langston Hughes
And…
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it’s queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~Robert Frost
Good stuff, one and all. Hope you enjoyed this fake, long post. I know I did!
Jan 19
2006
Tony| Category: General, Random |
Though I’m not one for short posts, unless I’m phebjournalling*, or lijournalling^, here’s my quick thought for the day:
Is it ironic when you’re stumbling around, looking for your glasses so I can see, that the item that would most help you find your glasses, is, well, YOUR GLASSES? Stupid-extra-hard-time finding-something-because-I-can’t-see.
Or is that just unfortunate? English teachers? Grammar snobs?
(FWIW, I didn’t find them this morning, which is unusual. Normally I find them after swearing a little. The drive home should be loads of fun!)
I added a new poll question so you could help me!
Back to under my rock. Wish I could see your responses.
————————–
*phebjournalling= photo ebjournalling
^lijournalling= link journalling
Nov 11
2005
Tony| Category: General, Random |
1. Saw a man about a horse.
2. Typed 13 narratives for my progress reports (that’s more than half, kids)
2(a) Drank so much water, my back teeth done was floating.
3. Did eight loads of laundry. I make a good house-husband.
4. Got my oil changed. No, really, it’s not a euphemism. Then I got my radiator flushed. Also, not a euphemism. I went to Jiffy Lube and used their wireless connect to talk to Marc and Zigzag.
5. Bought Mega Millions tickets. (Are YOU in the 100K club?)
6. Got the car washed (clap, clap, clap, cla clapclapclap.)
7. Caught up on TiVo. (Colbert Report=Less funny as the show goes on.)
8. Waited for Stuck to get here… tuh tucka so long.
9. Chili’s… I bought into the advertising… garlic lover’s steak, tasty.
10. Drank the rest of the Crown. Insta-party, while watching Anchorman .
10(a) Bought MegaMillions tickets for Zigzag. Though, if he were to win, it would be really hard for me to give him the ticket to him. Cuz, technically, I bought it.
Nov 03
2005
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Unfortunately Serious, Music and Movies, Random |
People, people, people. I hear your clamouring. (Insert cricket sounds here.) I know that you’ve missed me, and my wonderful rantings. I would like to make it official:
I’m back.
Not in a Michael-Jordan-post-baseball-now-back-to-winning-championships-back, but back in the sense that ebjournalling may finally resume maintenance status, instead of dormancy. The last few weeks, while not completely hellacious, have been extremely busy.
To date (and eventually to be expounded upon):
I’ve been to two concerts, one Halloween party, and one memorial service, and this in the last 7 days. Did I mention I wrote my mock proposal for my thesis? Though only 9 pages, it was a different style of writing. I’m not pleased at all with how it sounds, so it will take a lot of work. If you’re really interested, you can read about it on the faux-portfolio page. Thankfully, I have a few weeks off from literacy/theory classes— the next class is technology. And then it’s Happy Harry Potter Thanksgiving! My favorite Eating Holiday (EH) However, now I have progress reports (AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!) and p-t conferences coming. Conferences are very challenging in the elementary setting because, I’M RESPONSIBLE FOR ALMOST EVERY SINGLE THING THEY LEARN ABOUT. We call that pressure, people. The kids may be seven, but they’re parents aren’t. So, that’s coming.
So, a lot is going on. Some tidbits until I can write coherently, and remember to use less formal speech:
Ben Folds is back. You may remember that he disappeared for a little while, but with his new band, he can play a wider variety of his repetoire. TLEMK and I enjoyed it a lot, and I would even consider staying out again ’til 1:00 a.m. on a mother-truckin'’ school night.
Guster: Short, but oh so good.
Picture me in curlers, Spongebob slippers, and TLEMK’s robe, carrying a teddy bear and a blanket. Oh yes, I wore that. And yes, there are pictures.
I went to a beautiful memorial service on Tuesday. It reaffirmed my faith in the human spirit.
So much to write about, but so tired. Going to OSU this weekend to watch the Illini get pounded, but then on to Uncle Len and Aunt Julie’s for some needed R & R.
More to come. I miss you, Internet. Until we meet again!
Sep 19
2005
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Random, WTF? |
The Trifecta of Biting is complete. You may now assume that I will be acquiring superhuman powers soon.
Saturday night, as we’re sitting around the faux bonfire, my family starts noticing that there are mosquitoes still struggling to survive in mid-September. Not until I am back inside under the harsh glare of reality do I notice that I have been bitten three or four times around my ankles. No big deal.
Flash forward to Monday morning. Why are my feet so itchy? I’m wearing new socks, but it doesn’t seem to be affected in the usual sock places. I realize that because I wore sandals all day Sunday, I did not notice that these were juiced-mosquitoes, angry at Mother Earth for making it so cold at night. They exacted their vengence on me, lowly snack bar of blood on a cold Saturday night. Thus, bite(s) number 1.
This morning (Monday) as I’m frantically cleaning up my classroom in my pathetic attempt to resemble an organized teacher, I notice a little spider. After last-week’s half-dollar spider incident, in which I was outwardly brave,
and inwardly shrieking like a girly-man, I had nothing to fear from a tiny spider.
WRONG.
I look down at my wrist, which also has started to itch, right after school started. Naturally, there’s a tiny bump there. So, spiders apparently (apparently!) like me too.
To recap: Itchy feet, new spider bite. Where else, how else could I be tasted, like some sort of buffet?
Oh, gentle readers, if I only realized that there are many other ways to be chomped on and spit out.
During the second lunch shift on Mondays, I do outdoor recess. I usually stand by the door between the lunchroom and the playground, sternly chastising small hobbits to walk. I put out my hands to emphasize to the little ones that if they continue running, they will run into my beefy paws.
Today, one of them challenged that. One little vampirical cherub decided that he should BITE my hand as he ran by, so as not to slow down. He reached out, and chomped with his four baby teeth right at the base of my thumb. The thoughts ran through my head were this, in order:
Hey, what the !@#$% was that?
AND
SOMETHING BIT ME!
It didn’t hurt, and I figured out what happened shortly after that. I yelled after the maniacal culprit, and what happened?
The little booger RAN.
Smiling.
Oh no. Uh-uh.
After about 3 seconds of my 75% outdoor voice, everyone within a 100-foot perimeter knew that they should be taking cover. Eventually I got the young man’s attention and he stopped, and I watched, WATCHED as the chap slowly realized that he was in trouble, and not just “I’m sorry” trouble, but like, you know principal’s office trouble. Hell, that even scares ME. I marched him down the office, to find that the boss was already engaged with three fifth graders, and she was NOT in a good mood. In fact, I’ve never seen her in this particular mood. I started to feel very sorry for the young man as I meekly approached my boss, and said that the boy needed to see her. He was too slow in moving and she pretty much snarled, “Get in here right now, young man.” After that, the boy lost it, even more than the tears streaming down his face from my discussion with him. I tried hard not to laugh, because the kid was screwed. I felt bad for him, because I truly believe he didn’t realize what he did, or how social graces dictated that it is NEVER OKAY TO BITE PEOPLE. Unfortunately, he had to learn the hard way. Suffice to say, his parents had to be brought in, and I had to give me spiel again. The parents were mortified, and the kid wouldn’t even look at me. So that happened.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Twice bitten, itchy.
Thrice bitten, looking over my shoulder for vampires.
:-B
Aug 26
2005
TLEMK| Category: General, Random |
Ladies and Gentlemen, and “Other”,
Tonight we unveil the debut of another fantastic writer. That’s right, TLEMK is making her first foray into the world of online jouraling. Without furthe adieu, I give you….
TLEMK’S FIRST POST! (Ta-da!!!!)
By the way, she is totally a better writer than me. She rocks
I have a wonderful car. I almost own it. It has served me very well, through 4 jobs, 5 homes, and 5 years - handling everything from my slovenly food wrappers and Diet Pepsi cans to moving boxes, a cat who pees on everything, music stands, tubas and other various instruments, children, friends, family, and 150 pounds of frozen cookie dough. I nap, eat, cry, and spend way too much time on my cell phone in my car. I love it. It’s cute. It fits me. I’ve even named it, and (with the help of my favorite red-head) invented a game about my car. I will truly miss it when I have to move on to something else…except for the one glaring detail that is its’ complete and utter jinxedness (Yes it’s a word. My blog entry, my vocabulary).
Here’s the thing about my car. In the 4 plus years that I have driven it, it (my car) has been involved in some way in SIX accidents. SIX! I don’t consider myself to be any worse of a driver than anyone else out there, so therefore, it must be the car. Let’s rehash, shall we?
Accident # 1 (February 2003): Definitely the most traumatic. It involved a patch of ice, those water barrels that keep you from hitting the ever-loving concrete over-pass, lots and lots of spinning, 70 mile-per-hour speeds, ending up facing the WRONG direction on the freeway in rush hour traffic, getting locked out of the wrecked car while it was still running, having to huddle in 20 degree weather under the afore-mentioned over pass that almost killed me, and best of all, getting issued a ticket for “improper lane usage”. Seriously? Seriously. Thank you Officer Friendly.
Accident # 2 (December 2003): Same year, and I wasn’t even IN the car for this one. A former friend (not former because of this accident-our drama happened after that) borrowed my car and then proceeded to be a suburban driver in a large city full of city drivers. People! Listen to me. In the suburbs, it’s okay to wait to make a left-hand turn until the light turns yellow, and then speed through while on-coming traffic stops. It does not work like that in the city. Drivers will kill you to get through a yellow light. They will speed up, not slow down. And when you, as a suburban driver, turn left on a yellow light, you will get yourself hit by a city driver. And it’s your fault. It’s their city, they can drive how they want to. (you can sing that line if you want) Also, for those of you thinking that it might be fun to be involved in this type of accident, make sure that you are in a friend’s car, because it is the owner of the car’s insurance that has to pay for everything. Yep. That’s right. Owner of the car not even IN the bloody car when it happens? Doesn’t matter!
Moving on…
Accident #3 (January 2004): Sister. Backing down driveway into car. Was I in it? No. The end.
Accident #4 (April 2004): Car is parked in the driveway of a friend’s house. Friend’s husband backs out of his garage, and side-swipes my car, leaving dents and car-length scratches to the driver’s side door. Was I in the car? Again, no.
Accident #5 (May 2004): Don’t you hate it when a car is turning right onto a fast street and speeds up like they’re really going to turn and then while you are looking left because you can so make it before that semi gets here too, the car that was speeding up has suddenly gotten a case of the scaredy-cats and has slammed on their brakes so that you run into them? Yeah, me too. And I so could have beaten that semi.
And then finally, the whole reason for this post….
Accident #6 (August 26, 2005): So I’m minding my own business, enjoying the adrenaline rush that is trying to succeed at a new job and trying to get places on time, when I get into my beloved car. I put on my sunglasses (well, it was sunny), put my right arm behind the passenger’s seat, turn around and look behind me, seeing that the coast is clear (except for that glare off the back of the rear window and that stupid shade tree that makes it impossible to see anything), and pull out of my parking spot. CRUNCH. What? What just happened? Did I hit the curb? What happened? Oh wait, it was just a gorgeous black BMW convertible. Yes, that’s right. I backed my jinxed car into a BMW convertible at my new job on my third day of school. And it wasn’t just anyone’s gorgeous BMW convertible…it was an administrator’s gorgeous BMW convertible into which I just put a big ol’ dent and some lovely scratches. Did I back into the 1982 Ford Taurus that was behind the spot to the left of me? Did I back up and not hit anything like I would have if I would have been in the spot to the right? No. I so wish I was making this up. Thankfully, said administrator was just as wonderful as one could be seeing as I backed into her BMW CONVERTIBLE(!!!), and actually wished me luck in my new job. She insisted that the police officer not give me a ticket and that our insurance companies could just handle everything. Take that Officer Friendly.
I have a jinxed car. And what was going through my mind sitting in my jinxed car as the realization of my ridiculous predicament washed over me in sickening waves?
Of course that just happened.
Aug 17
2005
Tony| Category: General, Random |
Stuck wrote a story about postage and getting stamps about a year ago on his website. I would link it, but I can’t find the story on his site… so, I just thought that I would mention that this story is much in the same vein.
Early this morning, much too early for normal people, I went to the USPS website to find out if I would be able to buy postcard stamps. (I’m sending out little greeting postcards to my kids to say “Hey! I’m the one with the facial hair…”) USPS said that the post office nearest my school opened at seven. Sweet, I thought, I’ll be able to get stamps at 8, and get to my teachnology class by 8:30. No problem, right?
I got to the post office at 8:00. I walk up to the door, and there, staring me in the face, is a LIE. The post office, it is not open. Oh sure, the drive-up windows are open, but the walk-in, talk to postal employees part of the building didn’t open until 8:30. So, I could get back in the car, or use the automatic stamp dispensing machines. I didn’t have any cash, just my debit card, so I didn’t want to deal with the drive up windows. I went inside to the lobby to investigate.
There are two machines in the lobby. One is a fancy, new computerized stamp machine that you can print out for packages. The other machine was the good ol’ vending machine that has a variety of stamps in it.
Focus: The computerized machine took credit cards, but did not have postcard-value stamps. The vending machine had postcard-value stamps, but did not take credit cards.
Gentle readers, it hurt my brain.
Quickly I calculated the cost effectiveness of sucking it up and buying 2 books of 37-cent stamp books (20 stamps in each book)=$14.80 vs. $2.30 for ten postcard stamps x 3 = $6.90 PLUS the fee for running across the street to the ATM ($3.50)= $10.40.
I headed for the ATM at the bank across the street. I walked up to the ATM, and it gave me the “Unable to Process the Transaction at this Time.” Twice.
Fine. I crossed the other street to the gas station, and got my cash. This has now turned into a ten-minute ordeal. I crossed the street again back to the post office, and slipped my crispy $20 into the vending machine, and got my three sets of postcard stamps, slapped them on the postcards, and went on my merry way.
Oh, one more thing.
Guess what happened when I was done? I got the $13.10 due back to me in change. Ting-ting-ting-ting-ting-ting. Thirteen dollars in Sacajawea coins. I felt like a pirate with all me gold coins as booty. (arrrrrr…)I headed off to class with my postal booty, thinking about the fast food worker who would take my plunder at lunch time.
Good thing I wore my cargo shorts; normally, I don’t even cargo. 
Aug 17
2005
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Random |
Hello, gentle readers… I haven’t been here in a few days because it’s been busy. Like tech week for a play, this week in teacher-world is known as “bad ju-ju” week because we have so much to do. (Ok, I made that up, but the analogy thing was a good idea. I just suck at analogies.) I’m attending technology classes for the next two days to learn a little more about integrating technology into my classroom. The first class I attended today (and got paid for, woot!) was Intro to Flash. I now possess a basic understanding of Macromedia Flash, and am pretty sure it would be tremendously difficult to incoporate with mouse-click-happy second graders.
However, that is not the story, because that story is boring and useless.
The story today is that I found out there is at least one other teacher at my school who blogs on a regular basis, because the teacher person happened to be at the same class I was this morning, and happened to be logging into her account with a popular name. (Hi there, teacher person!) To be fair, I gave her my address. So now, I feel slightly less of the geek than I did before. But now this teacher will KNOW that I am a total nerd, which you crazy readers knew anyway.
Two more posts later today… (here’s the list, AJ): Arrrr, Me Postal Booty, and Mr. K. Gets a Class List.
Jul 28
2005
Tony| Category: General, Random |
We here at the Ebjournal once in a while run into thoughts that don’t really need elaborating, and are too lame to devote to full posts… so we throw them into one big post, called Random Thoughts by Me.
Away we go…
Rarely do you see anyone running over the geese that permeate the suburbs, yet I see more of their feces everywhere than any raccoon, skunk or deer. Couldn’t we kill two birds with one car?
I want to hate the White Sox, but they aren’t the White Sux. I want to hate the Cubs, and wait, it’s getting easier.
Does taking a deep sniff of your favorite drink before your first sip put you on the road to AA?
The word literate is used to refer to someone with the capacity to read and process written language. The term illiterate refers to someone who is unable to read. The new one for me, though, is aliterate; that is, someone who can read but chooses not to. They don’t like reading, or books, or magazines, or whatever. Interesting population. Are you one of them? (I don’t know where blogs fall into defining aliteracy)
Checking on the food votes: Potato, Bacon, and Cheese, you still hold the top spots. Strawberry , you are trailing slightly, because of your healthy benefits, followed by Steak.
Mushrooms, you’re still on the bottom.
Air-Conditioning, days 2 and 3: Yeah, air conditioning sucks in the car. So I’m not using it anymore. Could this have something to do with the fact that the high here in the western ‘burbs was 75 yesterday, and it’s only going up to 80 today? Yes, yes it does. But I’m still not running the air-conditioner.
“Wow, Ebjournal Guy, your new design is super sweet, and I really like how you have picked up you’re (sic) crappy blogging. Keep up the great work.”
– Comment by my imaginary commenters. People, read, comment, love me. It’s not like I’m doing this for myself. Or are I?–
I absolutely rock at Kids’ Week Jeopardy.
Sadly, even though I watched it last year and rocked it out HARD, the wee little kids are still faster than my play-at-home buzzer.
You’re gullible.
The school panic warnings are flashing even earlier this year. I guess this means that going to grad school, talking about your teaching experiences, and reflecting on changes you are going to make ONLY MAKE YOU CRAZIER IN THE LONG RUN.
If aspartame turns out to be bad for us, I’m going back to original formula Coca-Cola.
No, no I won’t. But friends, we have a serious caffeine problem.
The dryer may quite possibly be on the fritz. But, it happened after the unmentionables load, so I’m good for a week or two.
Golf is the sum of its parts. My scores are consistently horrible, and even though I’m doing some things much, much better, (like hitting out of the tee box, and driving) the things I didn’t used to know about have fallen to crap. Someone teach me how to chip and putt, PLEASE. And if any of you find my lost pitching wedge stroke, please let me know. We used to hang and be cool. Now he’s so aloof.
This is why I miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
“BUFFY: Thank you guys so much. You’re like my … fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one.
Riley looks confused.
BUFFY: Q from Bond, not Star Trek.
Xander nods. “ (found the transcriptions here.
So funny, so many levels. What, you don’t get it? Tools.
It’s go time. Wish me luck.
