Don’t you just hate it!

I have spent all day preparing for a midterm this coming Saturday. I completed the study guides for six lessons and I the virtual practicum or teaching English language learners. I was feeling good about myself when I went to retrieve lessons five and six so my ever-helpful husband could proof read them before I turned them in. I retrieved lesson five no problem and then I went o retrieve lesson six. However, when I looked at it the answers were gone just the questions remained. I know I finished the lesson and I know I saved it but it is gone. I tried searching for it on the computer in all possible location but it is just gone. I then tried threatening the computer but it sat there its little blue light blinking at me smugly and I am sure mocking me. Which means that tomorrow morning I rise, shine, and redo lesson six? Oh well its not like it hasn't happened before and I know it will not kill me to redo it but I hate redoing something I know I have done but cant find .I think the computer ate it, stupid computer

Corrections

Amazon Tribe

The Not-So-Lost Tribe

by Mike Krumboltz

June 23, 2008 06:09:40 PM

Even in an age when cynical sleuths can hyper-analyze stories for truth and accuracy, the occasional hoax still slips through the cracks. Such was the case with a so-called "lost Amazon tribe."

A few months ago, mainstream news outlets (including, ahem, Yahoo!) reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos of the tribe backed up his claim.

As it turns out, the story is only half true. The men in the photo are members of a tribe, but it certainly ain't "lost." In fact, as the photographer, José Carlos Meirelles, recently explained, authorities have known about this particular tribe since 1910. The photographer and the agency that released the pictures wanted to make it seem like they were members of a lost tribe in order to call attention to the dangers the logging industry may have on the group.

The photographer recently came clean, and news outlets, perhaps embarrassed at having been taken for a ride, have been slow to pick up the story. Now, the word is starting to spread and articles in the Buzz are picking up steam. Expect a lot more brutal truth in the coming days.

source: http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/91536

I was one of the people who saw this and ran with it. I commented on how amazing it is that there are still people that have been untouched by time and civilization. As it turns out they have been touched by civilization and it was simply a ploy to make us angry at the logging industry. The photographer claims these people are endangered by the destruction of the forests. Apparently, it is more compelling if the people threatened have been untouched by both time and civilization instead of just time. If the loggers threaten their existence what difference does it make if they have had contact with the outside world or not? It does not seem necessary to lie about it, any point the photographer had hoped to make about these peoples plight has been lost in the lie and in the end, and they may be worse off.

We interrupt our regular programming for a blatant attempt to get hits.

If you have searched the internet for any one of the following words; cats, death penalty, gun control, NASCAR, or spanking with the belief that you would learn something about those topics here, you have been misled. That is right; this was nothing but a blatant attempt at garnering hits. If this offends you, I am sorry. Please feel free to utilize the back arrow and we need never talk about this again. However, if you are curious please continue and I hope I will make you laugh a little or at least not irritate you too much.

Would a NASCAR fan be more likely to be in favor of the death penalty, gun control, and the properly administered spanking of a child’s backside when needed as opposed to a brie-eating, cat owning liberal? (I apologize to Missa, Baby and Toby if it seems that I believe that cat owners are liberal, I just need to toss the word cat into the pot to fulfill the challenge.) It is just that when I think of NASCAR enthusiasts, I think of dog owners; that is just my prejudice coming out. I know I said prejudice, and we all have them. When you choose chocolate ice cream over vanilla that is showing prejudice against vanilla. That does not mean that I forbid vanilla from coming into my house, or would deny it shelf space in the grocery store. I just prefer chocolate. Racism and discrimination however is bad, very bad. You can all get your shorts unknotted now ok.

The answer to my question at the top if you are still with me is I have no idea as there is no scientific research into the matter, but my personal opinion is probably yes. I did not just pull that out of my hat either, I did a little research. I looked at NASCAR sponsors and found that the majority of them are American owned and family oriented. This includes companies such as Caterpillar inc., Target Corporation, Bass Pro Shops, United States Army, Lowes, M&M’s, Budweiser and Jack Daniels.

In addition to looking at NASCAR sponsors, I also looked at the typical NASCAR fan. I found out that the typical NASCAR enthusiast is a male 45 years and up. He is married and lives in the south. He has at least a high school diploma and works in a profession earning between 30,000 and 50,000 a year. NRA will not disclose their demographics and I agree with their reasoning and I was unable to find the demographics for pro death penalty supporters. In my opinion the same groups that follow nascar is more likely to believe in the right to gun ownership, the states responsibility to remove murders from our society permanently, and that in order to raise a child up right it is sometimes necessary to apply a little pressure to the back side.

There, I did it. I wrote a semi coherent post using five randomly chosen words from the list of most searched for words on the internet. It was harder than I thought but now we will see what happens. Let the hits begin!

Blame it on the tea.

I guess I am more sensitive to the effects of caffeine then I thought I was. Note to self avoid overly sugared ice tea before going to bed. Because of my inability to sleep last night, I came up with a challenge for you bloggers out there. Keep in mind that this idea came to me while my brain was wired on caffeine so what seemed like a really good idea at 3:00 in the morning may in reality pretty much bite. Here it goes I found this web site http://www.portalmix.com/english/keywords.htm. It list the most searched for words on the internet, my challenge is to choose five of these words at random and write a coherent post. The idea being that it should generate an avalanche of hits and probably irritate a bunch of people who are visiting your site hopping for a cure for their dandruff only to find that you have lured them to you site under false pretenses. I am not going to tag anybody but if you want to play go ahead. I will be working on my post through out the day.

Two by two

RT tagged me for the Two by Two Meme.

Two Names you go by
1. Molly

2. Mom

Two things you are wearing right now
1. T-shirt
2. shorts

Two of your favorite things
1. reading
2. Playing on the computer

Two things you want very badly at the moment
1. A clean house.
2. To be done with school

Two favorite pets you have or had
1. Wendy watchdog the best dog ever.

2. Missa, Baby and Toby, my current cats

Two people you hope will fill this out
1. Voice in the night
2. Danna from Simple gifts

Two things you did last night
1. Went to Sunsplash.
2. Became a QBez legend by completing the Qbez quest . (It’s a computer game but I am 16^th in the world!

Two things you ate last night
1. Popcorn chicken

2. Vanilla milk shake

Two people you last talked to
1. My husband.
2. My neighbor.

Two things you are doing tomorrow
1. Meet the girls at Applebee’s to discuss our upcoming trip To Las Vegas!
2. Say good by to my son has he leaves once again for camp.

Two of farthest trips taken in the last 5 years
1. Denver Colorado.
2. Portland Oregon.

Two favorite holidays
1. Christmas (I love the lights)
2. My birthday.
Two favorite beverages
1. Just about any soda
2. Ice-cold water

Its swim suit season, let the self loathing begin.

I finally did it I went swimsuit shopping. For you men out there who are unaware, swimsuit shopping for a lot of is a woman is like vasectomy shopping for a man. Yes, it is that painful. The only reason I relented and went shopping was that I wanted a new suit for my trip to Las Vegas. I found one that is nice a blue and somewhat concealing of my problem parts. I came home and put the suit on so my husband could look. My daughter saw it and said, “Why does your suit look like a dress?” I told her the truth, “Because I am a fat chick and fat chicks have to wear fat chick suits.” She hasn’t eaten since.

Even though it has a skirt that comes to my knees, ok not quite to my knees it serves it purpose it lets me get in the water and in Arizona when its 106 degrees by noon even fat chicks need to get in the water. It also allows me to partake in of one of my favorite actives, people watching. We went to Sunsplash yesterday I played in the wave pool, floated around the lazy river and spent some time in the shipwreck cove watching my daughter play around while Dad and son slid down the slides. After word, Dad took Robyn to slide down the slides she will go down and I went back over to the wave pool and read Michael Crichton’s book, “Time Line.”, while attempting to alter my normally pale skin into something a little darker. Red is darker right?

While I read and baked, I watched the people as they bobbed around in the wave, pool and marveling at all the different tattoos on display, I was struck with the unfairness of it all. The men s suits are just about all the same lose shorts about to the knee. The only thing that differs is the pattern and color of the shorts. Then you look at the woman’s suits and there are I don’t know how many styles to choose from. You have the one piece, the one piece that is trying to pretend it’s a two-piece, the one piece with a skirt, and the one piece that looks like a maternity top. That just the one piece suits then you have the two-piece suits and the huge variety of size and shape of the fabric. Added to that you have all the different ways to make sure the suit stays where it supposed to , you have bows, buckles, rings and I swear some are using magic because I cant see any other thing that is keeping that top up there where it belongs.

That is why women hate to shop for swimsuits. Men just have to decide what color they want and what pattern looks good. Any suit looks good on any mans build. Women on the other hand have to try to find a suit that looks good on their particular type of body and is attractive at the same time. I can think of at least a half dozen things I would rather do then shop for a swimsuit, root canal springs to mind.

MacGyver would be so proud.

They say that necessity is the mother of inventions. My son would tell you that it’s really sisters. Cody has been trying to keep his little sister out of his stuff since she started walking. Robyn seems to believe that what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine because what’s yours is probably much more interesting than what’s mine.

Tired of her messing with his stuff and either breaking it or loosing it coupled with his parent’s inability to put an end to this by either punishing her severely or selling her to gypsies, he was finally forced to take matters into his own hands. This is the results.

I know it looks like a terrorist devise but what it really is a bugler alarm. You attach a trip wire to the clothespins and stretch them across a doorway any one who crosses the door way will trip the alarm. So far, he has caught his sister about 5 times. He got me once but I am more careful now. He has even been known to set up fake trip wires just to mess with her head. It’s gotten to the point where she is afraid to go down the hall toward his room for fear the alarm will go off.

It is amazing what this kid can do when he puts his mind to it. I just wish I could get him to focus all that energy on his chores.

He’s back!

The results of a pottery merit badge.

Our son came home today after a week at camp. He came back dirty, tired, and hungry. Right now, he is eating his lunch then I will guide toward the shower and finally I will point him in the direction of his room turn on the ceiling fan and let him sleep for as long as he needs.

They came down from camp a little earlier then we had anticipated and his Dad was still at the office tying up loose ends so the best friends father, who was at camp this week with the boys, offered to bring him home. This saved us a trip to the church to get him. While my son was unloading, his stuff from the truck his dad showed up. Just in time too.

Greg was telling us that both his son and Cody had been nominated for the order of the arrow. Quite an honor and we are so proud of both of them. He then goes onto tell us that how as very angry over something that happened to our son while he was earning a canoing merit badge. Apparently, parts of the badge requirements are that you jump into the lake fully clothed ruining his brand new hiking boots, pull the canoe out of the water and carry it up a hill to its docking station. If a scout feels they need assistance in moving the canoe that is allowed, however that little bit of information seems to have been lost on the instructor who had my son do this task all by himself. My son being stubborn as the day is long, approached the canoe hoisted it up and hauled that thing up the hill and toward the station. The canoe was dropped a few times and he was told, “drop it again no merit badge” by the idiot of an instructor. Not wanting to have soaked his clothes, ruined his hiking boots and not get a merit badge Cody forced himself to get the canoe the rest of the way and into the its docking station with out dropping it again. You might be thinking so what, your son moved a canoe what’s the big deal. Well the big deal is my son is four feet eleven and weighs 106 pounds and the canoe is about 15 feet long and weighs 150 pounds. That is one and a half times his weight. I don’t know many adults let alone 12-year-old boys that can do that. He was very lucky he wasn’t hurt. His dad and I will both be keeping an eye on him to make sure that he didn’t strain a back muscle or hurt his legs or knees as result of his activity. I am angry that they put him in a position where he could have been hurt but so very proud of the fact that he set his mind to a task and did it despite its difficulty, but that’s Cody for you.

A change for Wyatt!

Wyatt Earp, from support your local gunfighter and the man who inspired me to start this whole blogging thing, has moved his blog to a new site. I just went by for a visit it and it is very nice. Same great writing but a different layout and comment section. It looks good. I hope you will check it out and leave a comment letting him know what you think of the new place.

Yes, the truth will indeed set you free!

I am always a little anxious when starting a new class, especially after I have turned in my first lesson and I am waiting for the grade to come back. I mean so far I have done pretty well getting mostly five out of five on most assignment except for a few fours thrown in here and there. Even with the track record of getting good grade on the assignments and the test, I am always worried. Did I really earn those grades or are they just passing out god marks because I have paid my tuition and my new instructor will see through the smoke screen and realize I am not as smart as I pretend to be and grade me accordingly. I get especially nervous when I jump to conclusions and assume that the teacher has an agenda that is contrary to my beliefs. Should I speak my mind freely or follow the herd mentality. That was just the problem I had last week and I received some excellent advice from RT who said to speak my heart but back it up and keep and open mind. I did that turned in my paper and was very pleased when I got my first grade for this class. It was a five out if five with this note attached, Mary, you did great on this response. I love it when my students clearly express their opinions!!! Yes indeed, it does pay to be true to your opinions as long as you support your position. Life is good. It also doesn’t hurt to open your mind up a little bit just as long as your brains don’t fall out.

Please stand by

We are experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by. For some reason my blog has gone wonky. I cant access it from my favorite list or even from other blog sites. An when I enter it through the create a post most of my pictures are gone. Until things get back to normal or I find out how to fix the problem post will be pit on hold. It just whacked out while I was typing this. My blogs not the only one with problems either I cant seem to log on to Deathloks either. Any one else having problems or know what to do?

How can I miss you if you won’t go away?

We are short one child this week as our eldest is up at camp Geronimo until next weekend. I miss him when he is away but the peace and quite that he leaves behind is nice.

One of my son’s favorite pastimes is a game he likes to call, “Just how much can I torment my sister before she either a) retaliates by hitting or biting me , b) she starts to cry and c, my mom ‘s head explodes and she yells at me until her throat bleeds.

Regardless of the out come he somehow feels as though he has won, because whether he has been bitten, hit or yelled at time has passed at it wasn’t boring. And don’t tell me to ignore him and he will stop. He knows that game and he will keep picking and prodding and pushing those buttons until his sister, his mom or both of explode.

The strangest part of this game is that after he has achieved the desired results and the explosion has died down ,leaving behind tear stained faces and moms with gravely voices he will come meekly to me and tell me ‘Mom I am sorry I have been acting to badly but.” Then he will offer some sort of excuse for his behavior. At this point I am expected to take him into my arms and tell him, “ its ok “and its over at least until the next time he gets bored.

In spite of all this, he really is a great kid and we will miss him and will be are looking forward to his coming home in a week. Next Sunday when he walks through the front door, he will be so glad to be back at home where his nice soft bed, decent food, cable TV, computer, game system, friends, a warm shower, and air conditioning await him that he will be on his best behavior for a little while. I would give at least an hour or two.

I am a teacher!

At least I was for 45 minutes. During the last week of school, I finally fulfilled my requirement for social studies methods to teach a full lesson to a classroom of students. The lesson I taught was for civics and government and I taught 21 third graders what the definitions of the words in the pledge of allegiance meant. They learned what pledge, allegiance, republic, indivisible, justice and liberty means.

I wanted to teach this lesson because I felt for many of the students reciting the pledge every morning had become automatic and meaningless. I wanted them to understand the importance of what they say everyday and to appreciate what this country has to offer. In addition to teaching the definition of the words, I had them rewrite the pledge using their own words making the pledge relevant to children. Then I had them write a few brief sentences explaining why they say the pledge and because the teacher makes me was not acceptable.

It was an incredible experience. I had a great time teaching and I think the kids I worked with enjoyed it too. For my first time up in front of a class, I did learn two things. First, timing is crucial. It is better to give the directions to the class before you have them separate into groups. It’s really hard to get their attention back for directions while their getting acquainted with their group. Two if you want them to brainstorm together for what a word means before they look it up in the dictionary font give them the dictionary until after they have thought of the definition .Other wise they go right to the dictionary.

Second, I will either have to learn to control the blood flow to my face or invest in some really makeup. I have a tendency to blush very easily especially when I am nervous. As soon as I stood up in front of all those little faces, I could feel my face heating up and I just knew I was turning red. I will definitely need to learn how to control that.

Despite almost loosing control during the transition and teaching with a red face, I think my fist teaching experience went very well and I can’t wait until I get to do it again. I especially loved it when as each child finished their papers and brought them to me I would ask them do you want to share this with the class and about eight of the students did, and I was so proud of them. I got some wonderful responses to the rewritten pledge which their teacher allowed me to keep but I especially loved the response to why they say the pledge. One little girl said it was because the president is counting on her to do so and another student said it was because she loves the United States.

Having had this small taste of what it is to be a teacher I can’t wait to finish my class work and start student teaching and then a classroom of my own!