Friday, April 20, 2007

Behind

I've been behind on a lot of things, not least updating this. I've actually been updating my blog on MySpace, believe it or not (that links to my real persona more than I would like to do here, so I am not going to link it). In the meantime, if you'd like something to read, I highly recommend Desiderata.

Also high on my recommended list:
Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series
Harry Potter! If you haven't gotten into Harry Potter yet, now is the perfect time to start so you can be in with the cool kids at the Midnight Magic party, Friday night 20 July/Saturday morning 21 July... And if you're already one of us, read 'em again. I made some new connections this time (especially given that at our committee meeting--yeah I'm on a Harry Potter Committee so what--we saw the cover of the Brit adult edition, and apparently the cover always relates directly to the title, at least strongly implying that Slytherin's locket is a Deathly Hallow).
The Wednesday Wars. It's a teen (ish) coming-of-age story set in the Vietnam era. It's not exactly out yet, but when it is, read it.

See there? Now you have things to read when your favorite blogs don't update.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

News of the freakin' inappropriate

First, families in Holtsville, NY, looking to see The Last Mimzy were treated to the opening scenes of The Hills Have Eyes 2. Oops.

Next, south to Jersey, where a school district is investigating Pay-Per-View porn purchases to the tune of $250 made after hours on a cable box in the Union City Board of Education building ("We have five cable boxes in case of an emergency!").

Back to NY, an NYC Department of Corrections worker managed to milk $100/month out of a city comptroller's Worker's Comp account, also for porn.

Just for fun, a Google News search for Porn

Friday, April 06, 2007

This is what I think school should be.

Perhaps even college--If there were true liberal arts degrees left, where I could go back to school for two years or four and take classes as they appealed to me, not two years of iteration of what I already know because my credits are too old to count or because of all the incompletes I had or because I've learned things outside of a credit setting, and come out with a degree that shows how quick and well-rounded and open-minded I am, rather than how good at regurgitation of facts (at which, as a matter of fact, I excel, but that is not the point), I'd be back in school in a moment. Degrees as they are, on the other hand, show specialization, and at that I am not very good. I can focus on what I am doing, but I require an environment where many of my talents can be shown. I'd want a degree because it would help me get the jobs where I do shine, which are management jobs; I can show that I have all the talents and abilities of the people I supervise and train them on their duties, but also show talents for organizing myself and those others and preparing us all to do what needs to be done.

Actually, if I did have the time and the money right now for full-time school, I'd look into primary education. I know about the politics, but I'm OK at those, I'm a reasonably good teacher at all grade levels, and with younger students, there's more variety in what you teach them--and learn from them. Come to think of it, though, I wouldn't mind teaching high school math or English, either.

I know Spirit would support it, too, and if I did it in the next few years, it would allow him more leeway at retirement than me working retail. Maybe we can work it out when he does retire so I can do school full-time and work part time, or something. I just feel like I can't walk away from what I do now right now.