How Did You Get In???

So I'm talking with my nemesis and we're complaining about how stupid the general public can be. My big amazement is how some of these people have matriculated to college! There are people still coming in to buy their textbooks NOW, 3 weeks before finals. Here's one of this week's conversations, which, unfortunately, not a unique conversation:

Shumck: I need a book.

Me: Ok...What book do you need?

Shumck: Um...I'm not sure.

Me: (fake smile plaster on my face) Ok, what subject?

Shmuck: I think it's English.

Folks, telepathy is NOT one of my superpowers!


Me: Who's your instructor?

Shmuck: Ms. _____.

Me: Oh, you need history.

Shmuck: Oh yeah.

Me: History 1 or 2?

Shmuck: Um, I don't remember.

Did I mention it's about 3 weeks before finals?


Me: Did you need a textbook or a novel?

Shmuck: I need the textbook. I'll recognize it when I see it.

Alright, most of our history textbooks are by the same publisher and have very similar bookcovers. Shmuck ain't got a chance!

(5 minutes after Shmuck stares at the shelves)
Me: Do you have your syllabus? It will be listed on your syllabus.

Shmuch: It's at home. I'll have to go home and check it.

Folks, there are suppose to have tests to keep these people out!!!!!!!!!

What A Cool Site!!!

I've always wanted to hang a big map on my wall and mark all the places I've been to. Now I have it in a much more compact form!





create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Chess for Credit

Here's an article from the NY Times about graduate-level course whose goal is to "improve teaching by guiding a group of teachers through the problem-solving strategies that are part of a good chess player's arsenal". It's using chess to try to teach teachers to teach their students to think instead of just regurgitate information. There's a novel concept!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/education/12teach.html?8hpib

Mudbugs and More

I'm currently recouping from hosting a crawfish boil. It was my first time to cook crawfish and they didn't turn out bad. It was a good thing my nemesis wasn't there for the cooking and the initial carnage. Between the cleaning and cooking of the live critters and the eating of their cooked siblings, he probably would have run away screaming like a little girl. The beginning was quite a sight: 35 pounds of steaming crawfish dumped in the middle of the table and no less than 10 people STANDING and devouring the little bugs. YUM! The only rant I have is too many people offering their 2-cents worth in their efforts to "help". "You should do this" or "why are you doing it this way", etc. All I wanted to do was yell "stop and get out of my way"! I'm not a kitchen nazi like SOME I know, but when they keep throwing their suggestions and moving stuff around while I'm standing over 2 multi-pound, steaming pots, it's hard not to turn into a growling, bitching monster. So to those I snapped at, I offer my apologies, but y'all drove me over the edge! Oh, and FYI, when you talk about the Causeway, it's the I-45 bridge that connects the mainland to Galveston Island and not any other bridge in the area that happens to span a body of water!

Family Fun

My nemisis has started a new Diplomacy game. It's a game where deals are brokered, treaties are drawn up only to be violated at a later date, allies are back-stabbed...good, wholesome fun. To quote my nemisis, "let the carnage begin"!

New Music!

Every since I acquired my new baby, I've been hopping from one hotspot to another and downloading stuff from iTunes. My newest purchase is Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Journeys: Beyond The Horizon. Good Stuff!
http://www.yo-yoma.com/

Further Into The Matrix

Ok, I've decided to dive further into the Internet and the 21st Century by setting up this blog. No specific plan or topic, just random stuff that strike me as interesting or things I feel the need to comment on.