What In Tarnation?!?!? In the Classroom

** In an ongoing series of posts about genius moments in my life.

This morning I had an early morning meeting at church (on spring break right now). I went through my normal morning routine which includes shower, styling, brushing, etc. Normally after I get dressed after showering, I will put a little bit of product into my hair, in the process, I slick it back kinda making it spiky. Next I put it back down, letting the front do really whatever it wants and then I am done with the hair.

After my early morning meeting, I realized that I hadn’t gone through that whole process this morning. Evidently I stopped after the applying hair product. So all morning morning long I had this weird shaped spike that I can most closely describe as being a odd, alien cone-head shape. No one said a word to me. I assume that they assumed that I was trying out some horrific new hair style from LA.

When I looked at myself in the rear view mirror this morning driving back from church a wave of embarrassment came over me. Golly, I guess if this is the worst thing I do this week, I must be having a pretty good week.

Oh, and dear reader, I do apologize for falling short of my goal for this month. Maybe I will try the same thing for the month of April.

Later taters!

Awhile back I got a little device called an iPhone. When someone discovers that I have an iPhone the first question is always how do you like it? Well. I love it. I really like being connected to the world’s collective knowledge as long as I have a signal. The device is transformative in the way that I think. Like the TiVo totally changes the way that I interact with my TV, the iPhone totally changes the way that I think about information and access to information. That information could be on the internet or it might be a video or audio file. I love the the iPhone as a phone but I also love it as an iPod as well.

While I patiently wait until June for the ability to add applications for my iPhone, I have been playing around with several webapps. I found a couple that I like. There is a Mahjong game that I enjoy picking up when I have few seconds. The Facebook App has really nicely implemented an iPhone interface. My favorite webapp that I have found is the Google Reader. The Google Reader is a great app for anyone who likes to read a bunch of websites that have RSS feeds (like this one.) I used to use the built in Safari RSS feed reader to keep up with blogs and such. That is a really handy solution if you are reading these feeds from one computer. When I got my laptop, it was a bit of annoying to click through the same articles on two computers but not annoying enough to change any habits. When I got Severus (what I named my iPhone) having to see the same articles sometimes as many as three time, I decided to find an online feed reader that would work well on the iPhone. Google Reader was my solution. It has a great online interface that keeps all my feeds updated online and it had the bonus of very nice interface for the iPhone (and I assume other mobile devices). Helps to keep up with a large number of websites. Even if you don’t have a mobile device that you would be accessing Google Reader, I highly recommend it.

A few things that I learned from my Google reader today:

• As I suggested they do back when I reviewed the book, Warner Brothers is going to make Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two movies. Yippe!
• I read a SBC joke that made me laugh.
• I also learned that you shouldn’t sit on a toilet for 2 years. And with that, I would like to nominate this story as most stunning news article of 2008.

Class dismissed!

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Now playing: Feist - 1234
via FoxyTunes

So I got jury duty. I am one of the few people that was excited about jury duty. I want to have that experience of being on a jury. This desire has more to do with my fascination with law and the practice of law rather than wanting to sit in judgment of someone.

My particular panel has been called in three times so far. One time we sat there for a couple of hours and then we were dismissed, evidently there were some matters of law to be argued without a jury present. A second time we were dismissed without explanation. The third time however, we actually went into jury selection. Quite exciting. No question asked of the panel required me to answer any questions. I guessed that increased my chances of being selected. Unfortunately, I was number 39 so the jury was selected long before they got to my number. The judge did offer to let us stay and watch the trial, an offer that I didn’t take but I wish I would have stayed.

The excitement of being on jury duty has waned a bit. I soon realized how many sub plans I was going to have to write almost every single week. I don’t know about any other teachers, but it takes me several hours two write and prepare for a sub. Of course with jury duty, there is no promise that those sub plans are going to be used. I don’t mind writing the sub plans but I do mind writing them and not using them. That has become a bit of a pet peeve.

The same day that my panel got to the jury selection process, I was scheduled to have theater night at the St. Louis Rep.  The show that night? Twelve Angry Men. I found that quite ironic. Even though I didn’t get selected to be on the jury earlier that day, I did get to watch a fictional jury deliberation. The show was quite good. One thing I liked about it was they didn’t change the play to make it more current (i.e. adding women and minorities to the jury). I find the show most effective set in the past with a jury that would likely be chosen. For good or for bad, twelve angry white men would probably who would be on the jury. The day was a fun, court filled day.

Share your jury duty stories in the comments.

Class dismissed!

Oh, my poor neglected WIT. Surely the only thing that stops by here anymore are spam bots. And good friends who remember the wonderful miracle that occured on this day. (Thanks Anna!)

So today is a special day. I had the pleasure of going to St. Louis to celebrate with friends and family. First, was a stop on The Hill. We stopped at the very tasty Zia’s. Huge portions. Delicious food and at a price that won’t break the bank. I hope to go back some time.  I would recommend it. The plan then was to go to the Science Center to see the BodyWorld 3. Nothing like aging to a significant year and going to see Plastinized corpses. Kinda puts things in perspective. Sadly, however, we didn’t get to see the BodyWorld 3. They were sold out until 8:30 pm. I wasn’t really up for staying around for that. Instead we went and saw Vantage Point. I found it entertaining. It was a good day kids.

Leap Day was as well. Since, the day of aging was on a Saturday this year, most of the faculty wore black on Friday. They even had a carry in dinner for me. The whole day was quite humbling. Later that evening a few teachers and I headed for Matt’s Steakhouse. Not only has it been a good couple of days, it has been a good week.

So WIT’s Blogday is coming up. I have decided to celebrate that milestone, I would actually write some stuff here. For the month of March, my goal is to post each week day. Maybe that will get me back in the habit of writing here again.

So, how have you been?

You can let me know in the comments.

Class dismissed!

it’s going to be a bumpy ride tonight.

Here’s why…

This is what we get for the enjoyable 70 degrees (F) weather that we had today.

WIT points to tell me which movie the quote in the title comes from but you better answer fast cause I’m about to be hit by a tornado.

I’m going to watch the show from the porch.

Class dismissed!

My To-Do-List is out of hand. I think I understand a little of what Heracles went through on his second task fighting the Hydra. The Hydra was a particularly nasty little monster. Heracles valiantly fought the Hydra. In an effort to dismember the Hydra, Heracles would cut off one of its heads. Good idea except when he did, two more heads would spring up to replace the fallen head. When Heracles finally found a way to chop off the heads without others appearing, wouldn’t you know, the last head was immortal. I hate when that happens.

My To-Do-List is evidently the distant cousin of Heracles’ Hydra. Every time I complete and mark off a task, two POP up to replace the one task. It will be my luck that the last task on the list is immortal. I have even stopped mentioning to others when I complete a task because when I do they seem to take that as an invitation to replace the finished task. “Oh really? Well, I am having this issue….” Spring! A new task. Joy!

A reader may be asking why I am writing in my blog rather than working on this supposedly horrendous to-do list. Fair question. It is because I am avoiding my to-do list. Let me break it down Dwight Schrute style:

FACT: When a task is completed two or more tasks replace the original.

FACT: Each time a task is finished the list actually grows rather than shrinking.

QUESTION: Why would a person continue to complete tasks if the list gets bigger rather than smaller?

FACT: The list continues to grow even when tasks aren’t being completed but at a much slower pace.

CONCLUSION: Stop completing tasks idiot.

FACT: Bears eat beats. Bears, beats, Battlestar Galactica.

So here I sit, not completing items on my to-do list.

Wait a tick here! Completing a blog post was on my to-do list! Dang it. Better not check my e-mail to see was two requests are going to replace this one.

Class dismissed!

PS - I do have one slightly used to-do list that I am going to sell to the highest bidder. Bidding may begin in the comments…. NOW!

Welcome Josiah Tanner!

Josiah came into the world today, July 30 at approximately 11:46 am CST.

Josiah (or as I have nicknamed him Gigantor because he dwarfed all the other babies in the nursery) was taken by C-Section this morning weighing in at 9 pounds and 12 ounces. He is 21 inches long with a head of thick black hair.

Kendall went through recovery and when I saw her she was tired and still feeling sick but doing well.

Dad, mom and Josiah are all doing well.

Thank you God for the miracle of new life!

Later taters!

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Now playing: Chris Tomlin - We Fall Down
via FoxyTunes

So Pressed and his wife Kendallare very close to having a baby. Little Josiah. I’m sure he is adorable. I wrote this letter to him.

Dear Josiah,

So, how’s it going? I bet it is getting kinda tight in there. There wasn’t a whole lot of room in there in the first place and now that you have grown like crazy, I would imagine that it is getting a little uncomfortable.

I thought I would take a little time to share with you time tested facts and tips about life on the outside.

First, you are going to meet a whole bunch of people. I mean a lot! You probably have gotten used to being alone and not having to deal with people but that my friend is about to change. Some of the first couple of people that you will meet is your mom and dad. Go easy on them. They are new to all this. I’m sure that you be meeting grandma and grandpas as well. At some point however, you will meet me. I really don’t have any other way to say it, but I am the coolest person on this planet. Or at least that is how you should think of me.

Now when you get older, we will get to do all sorts of stuff. Don’t worry, it will all be cool stuff. In fact I suspect that you will want to spend most of your time with me, that’s normal but I assume that mom and dad will be a little jealous of all that so we will need to keep that on the DL (or down low).

I’m sure that I will teach you all kinds of stuff. Most of it you parents won’t want you to learn. Therefore, all the stuff that am going to be teaching you will be cool. Oh, and if you parents are being a drag, just let me know and I will see if I can get them off your back.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Your friend and coolest person in the world,

CSW

P.S. By the way if you ever want to start a blog, just let me know and I will hook you up!

P.P.S. This was a lot funnier when I started writing it a week ago. It was even more insightful.