A little slice of life

On the way home from work yesterday I passed a beautiful black lab, sitting at the end of a driveway, just at the edge. Waiting, looking past me down the road. Rather expectantly. Shifting side to side, as if he knew something was about to happen. I imagine he was waiting for his human to come home. Maybe he heard his car coming off the freeway a few miles away, or at the end of the road.
It made me smile, thinking how much that dog loved his people. So much that he sat there, fidgeting, back and forth, Here They Come, Here They Come. I wonder if that family appreciates him enough.
Our dog Riley does that back and forth thing when he knows something good is about to happen. And he snorts and sneezes, too. His Happy Dance.
I know dogs didn't start out so loyal to us, hell some aren't. They've been bred to the nth degree until some of them look like genetic nightmares. We humans don't always do the right thing, do we? I think I heard some where that a quarter of all Dalmatians have to be put down because they are born deaf and blind. Humans did that with selective breeding.
But we did get something right, didn't we? Dogs that will follow us around, who love us, even if we forget to give them water every now and then? Riley's great joy in life is to play fetch with his Bear. Of course, he also likes to lick his whatits a lot too.
It would be a little harder to come home and not have our Riley waiting for us, welcoming us home.

NEWSFLASH! SUPERGURL COMES TO TOWN

Supergurl is coming to visit our humble abode March 7th. Those interested in coming to my house for a welcoming party, leave a note in the comments, or drop an email.

Saw a post over at Og's about moving. That got reminiscing about my college days. I was already married (to the best man around) and had our son. He was 2 or 3. I would get him from daycare after class and bring him home. We would sit in his room while I studied. This boy loved Legos. I would read whatever I was studying- history, math, physics0-out loud- while putting Legos together with one hand. Once he was tired of me reading he would sit on my book... Good times, there.
Anyway, I had a friend, "Diana" who was very, very smart. She was21 and getting her Master's degree in Psychology already. She could talk about so many different things. But she would get lost driving from my house to hers. It was 2 miles. She asked me to help her move to a new place. So I showed up a the appointed time. She had a box of trash bags and nothing packed. We moved her in our two cars. In the rain, while her driveway flooded.
Not a red-banner moment.

Not so good times, there.

Yet another reason

to pay attention to my health.

About 5 years ago I dropped quite a bit of weight. I didn't even realize it. Really. I wasn't dieting or exercising, I just got very busy, I was working with a crazy pretty woman who was a health nut, I adopted some of her habits and by the end of the school year I was the thinnest I been since my wedding.
So I got the idea to quit smoking.

Wait, there's a lot more to it than that.

I had felt extremely guilty, ashamed, to be smoking. Both my parents had died from smoking related illnesses, I was a teacher, high school science, no less. I really thought I should be a better role model. The worst part was I always felt like my son was ashamed of me for smoking. I came to the realization that I wanted to be alive when my children were adults, when my grandchildren were born, and (with any luck) they graduated high school. So I quit.
Easy peasy, right?

Oh, Hell No.

I was such a coward. Just the thought of not smoking made my heart beat a little faster. And not in a good way. I did not think I could do it. But my desire to see my children grown was bigger.

At first, I quit for an hour at a time, sometimes 30 minutes. I would say over and over to myself. "I am a non-smoker" "I do not smoke" I went bat-shit crazy. And not quietly, either. Ask my kids about riding in the car with me. I scared myself sometimes with the intensity of my anger. I would look at the clock and count the hours, obsessing about how many hours it had been since my last smoke. My husband took a lot of flack from me, and shielded me from the rest of the world while I worked it out. He kept the kids safe from me, too. I have a large debt to pay him! I went through the physical stuff. I didn't realize my entire digestive system would be out of whack for weeks.

Of course, I gained a bit a weight. Truth be told, I'm fatter now than I've ever been- even in late stage pregnancy. Sometimes I can't bear to look at myself in the mirror. I look at myself and two words reverberate through my head, "Fat Ass"- the epitome of insults. And shopping is just an exercise is self abuse. Usually ending in tears. Some days I think, "If one more person stares at my stomach, I'm gonna clock them in their head" And that show on TV, with the guy getting women to "love their bodies"?
Not. Gonna. Happen.

I know, I did it to myself, and I'm not looking for sympathy.

I was gonna tell you about one of the people I work with who is even more disproportionate than I am being in the hospital with heart trouble, and how when ever I see her it makes me never want to eat again, but now, I think this may not be the time.

Conversations with Re-Pete

Re-Pete and I were strolling through Target last night- she kept a running commentary as we walked through the aisles:


"I like that, it's shiny"
"I saw that on television, you need it" (who says advertising doesn't work)
"I want that"
"We have one of those"
"I have to fart"
"I lifted my leg up to let the bubble out" as she hikes her leg.

Of course, I glance around to see who might have over heard her. She tends to attract an audience. She's 5 now, but still looks really small at 41 inches. She still wears 4T pants. So she attracts some attention when people hear her big ideas and thoughts coming from what looks like a toddler. She'll need to get used to that.

I have a very great friend, T. She and I went to college together, she's uber-smart. She's about 5'1", with shoes. She has listened all her life to people saying "Gee, I didn't realize you were so short." To which she replies with
"You are the evolutionary freak. Tall in the genetic abnormality." She really chews them out. And if the person is black/Jewish/Hirsute she will say, "Gee, I didn't realize you were so dark/Jewish/hairy." That usually has the desired effect of throwing their words back on them.

Funny, I never thought of her as short. She has such a strong personality. I just see this really great woman.

sheesh. let's hope they're not breeding

Honest to Pete, Folks. I do not know what is wrong with the students in my school.
1st we have 6 girls beat the ever-loving shit out of another girl, about a boy fer shit's sake, then we have 8 boys jump another guy, who the hell knows why that time. Throw in a couple arguments that lasted all day, and a few more fights, and you've got our week in review.

Plus, we have several kids too stupid to get out of the rain!

Let me repeat that.
Plus, we have several kids too stupid to get out of the rain.

This morning's rain was a frog strangler. We had water standing everywhere. I had several students, all male, all immature, standing in the pouring rain. Laughing, looking left and right to check out who was checking them out, shivering. Even after being told to get to shelter, they still stood there for 15 minutes until it dawned on them to move.

I guess ole Ron White was right- you can't fix stupid.
(tried to get the link for y'all, wouldn't work)

notes to remember

Don't have a lot of time these days, who does? Maybe Bruce Wayne during the day? I must remember to tell you guys about my trip. Here's a quick list

1. The toilet the almost was.
2. Tamarind Trees
3. Cool old men playing dominoes
4. Finding a local dive bar, complete with really nasty bathrooms.

One of my former students came for a visit the other day. As a senior she could do the whole "senior slacker" thing, but she's got a several serious classes, including an upper level science class. Well, my student, with Most Favored Status, is not happy in her class. Seems the teacher is not holding up her end of the bargain. She shows movies, and lets them sleep in it. One day, said teacher had a Powerpoint playing for them. She forgot to unhook her computer, set the kids to work on their worksheet. She sat down at her computer to work, and all the kids watched the big screen as she played solitaire! Now, I know teachers have bad days. Some days, I just have to have the music on in my room, Rock and Roll (of course), to not go crazy. Some days I just spend 10-15 minutes shooting the shit with them. I've even told them to quietly navel gaze while I metally get-my-shit-together. In a rated G kinda way. So I'm wondering, how often does this behavior happen? And more importantly, how did she get Solitaire on her computer? My won't let me load it!
Some People have all the luck.

it's not Conch penis...

But it probably would be better if it had been. It's a crytalline style. It's like a digestive suppository, only the conch makes it to digest it's own food. Go here to see. There is a cool Powerpoint over here...

I'd comment over at Shadowscope, but his site keeps crashing my computer....

I woke Pete up Yesterday morning, she says, sleepily, "Wait a minute, I'm having a really great dream...." and snuggle down into her pillow and blanket.
heh, I remember those days.

Giving Back

When Pete was born she had some serious medical issues. There were several scary moments, but one of the more pervasive memories I have is being separated from my family. I saw my husband and son maybe three times in 7 weeks, it seems. It was probably more but so much of that time is lost in murky memories when everything was the same- feed the baby, weigh the baby, take her blood pressure, fix the j-tube, give her meds, don't pull too hard on her IV's. I think it forever warped how my son would look at his sister, but even so they have a decent enough relationship.
Anyway, one day he came to visit her in the hospital. Not musc to do for an 8 year old boy in the ICU, and the game we bought just for that occasion was pretty noisy. But the nurses (may wonderful things happen to those men and women ever day of their lives!) brought out a "fun center" and let him play with it in one of the isolation rooms. Basically it was a big TV with a gaming center attached. He had a ball.

I have often said that if I ever won any money a big chunk of it will go to Scottish Rite Hospital (Now Children's Healthcare) in honor of Dr. Donald Schaffner, the surgeon responsible for saving my daughter's life. This man is incredible. In a really shitty twist of fate, he fell ill to a degenerative disease, but I'm not sure which one. Last time I heard he was in pretty rough shape. It makes me so damn mad thinking about that happening to him.

Back to my post: Colgate has recently given several major hospitals a Fun Center and is having a contest of sorts to see who gets another one, based on votes. So, I'm asking you, go over to this website, Bookmark it, and vote every day, for the hospital of your choice (Atlanta, please!). It's only for a few more days, so help!!!!

Thank you

And then it Dawned on me....

Since my son is now 2018 miles (yes, I checked) from me, I miss him terribly. We text in the evenings, usually funny stuff. This tends to be the favorite part of my day. I do other stuff too. Google Earth is pretty cool, if you want to see the base itself. Although, it gives me pause to think that anyone with internet access and a computer can see a picture of a military base. I also look at Weather.com to see what his weather is like.

And then it dawned on me, so to speak, when I looked at the sunrise data. I could figure out how fast Earth rotated on his axis.

The sun rose, here, at 7:33 am. It rose at 6:37 in California. California is three hours behind us. So at 4:33 am their time, the sun was rising here. it took 2 hours and 4 minutes later the sun rose there. So, if it's 2018 miles away and it took basically 2 hours for Earth to move on its axis enough for the sun to shine there,and speed is equal to distance/time, then the Earth must be moving at 2018miles/2 hours, or roughly 1000 miles and hour. Right?

So, lets check our math. My wonderful compadre, Supergurl, lives in Texas, one hour behind me. The sun rose there at 7:24. It's about a thousand miles away from me, so it should be an hour later... So at 6:33 their time the sun rose here, and 51 minutes later the sun rose there. Yeah, it works. But am I right?

According this website, Earth rotates at the equator at about 1038 miles per hour. I'm a bit North of that. If you multiply that by the cosine of my Latitude (about 33) you get... who the hell am I kidding, I'm not multiplying anything by cosine. I passed that class. 1038 looks pretty close to me.

So I can just imagine the light traveling across our country on its two hour journey. Past the Piedmont in North Georgia, over Alabama, shimmering across lakes and rivers. Up and down, across the high spots and low spots, across the muddy Mississippi, across Louisiana, maybe darkening a bit at New Orleans, waking Houstonians and Austinians alike, waking the Architect and the Scientist (Hi, Gurl) on into the west. Can't you see it dipping into the Grand Canyon and back up the other side, over Vegas (being outshined, perchance, by the lights there) until finally it finds my son on his way to work?

I feel a bit like Eratosthenes. Ok, maybe not.

Don't judge a book by its cover

We watched Taxi Driver last night. Very strange, but I enjoyed it. I thought I had seen it before, but apparently not. The scene were Dinero kills everyone, then tries to shoot himself, wow. When the blood drips down his finger... that totally creeped me the fuck out. Imagine getting all the way to the bottom of your life, until the only option you have is to kill yourself in that manner.

But the part that stuns me the most was this guy:

The guy on the left. That's Harvey Keitel! Unbelievable! I couldn't get over it. I just picture this guy as the smart professor type. Look at those arms. He was in really great shape that guy, certainly not the Harvey we know now. But guess what? The guy's a Marine! Well that explains his "guns".

Re-proves the whole "judging a book by its cover", huh?

I am American

I love the New Marine video. I'm sure many have seen it, but here it is anyway.

I smell cookies

I remember watching a show on BBC about the differences between mothers and fathers. The scientists blindfolded fathers and had them line up. Workers brought their babies by them and let the smell them, to see if they could identify them. Most couldn't identify their their babies. The women, however, could. Something like 75% of the mother's could identify their babies by smell.
Can you? What do your children smell like? (When clean, not farting, or lighting up)
When Pete was a baby she smelled like cinnamon and lotion. One of my friend's babies smelled like cinnamon too. Re-Pete has always smelled like... cookies. Specifically, she smells like Oreo Filling. Which, by the way, we have probably eaten in the house twice. Re-Pete gets a very,um, sweet smile and giggles when I tell she she smells like cookies, but she does.
I guess it makes a certain sense, when you think about it. Everyone that knows her talks about how sweet she is. She can, as my mother was fond of saying about my sister, charm the birds from the trees. She has the littlest giggle. She's tiny, my little Pixie, for 5.
Didn't John Travolta smell like cookies to Andie MacDowell in Micheal?
One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Michael says "I'm not that kind of Angel". That line speaks to me. You don't have to be the sterotype for whatever you are to be good at what you do. I'm not the sugary sweet kind of teacher. I'm sarcastic and I crack jokes.

I have a lab apron I wear for demos and when the kids have labs, or for general cleaning. I've reuined enough clothes, thank you. Well, I don't take it until the end of the day and will usually forget and wear it to lunch. It never fails, someone will ask what I'm cooking. To which I reply "I'm not that kind of teacher" ala Michael. No one gets it.