Photography

Photography. If one is going to have an online store, someone has to take pictures. Since I work alone that someone is me. I tried something different. I hauled everything outside on a sunny day. It's not really hard to find a sunny day in Texas. I think the pics came out better. I think I'll try closer to noon so the sun will be directly overhead next time.

Daylight Saving Time

Okay, whose crazy idea is this anyway? I know, I know. It is Congress's idea to save energy. I have to get up an hour earlier and go to school in the dark. Why? To save energy? I'm not feeling it. At least now most of the clocks in our house set themselves. My Palm Pilot turned itself on at 2am to let me know that it's springing forward! Yippee, didn't want to sleep through that one. No blinking clock on the VCR anymore. Actually no VCR anymore. Pretty soon their will be no DVD player either. All streaming video. Oops, I digressed. See, I need more sleep!

No Child Left Behind

As a former classroom teacher, I'm pretty offended that a politician would intimate that I might want to leave a child behind. I want every student to be successful. I want them to be able to read and write and respect the U.S. I want them to be employable with skills and work ethic that gains them a job they are proud of and satisfied with.

What happens then when the child doesn't see the need in moving ahead? For this child, school is just a place to go and hang out with friends. I've met a bunch of them in my 10 years in the school system. As a teacher, parent, and taxpayer, it makes me mad. This child is being handed a free and appropriate education and he refuses to receive it. In fact, he is preventing or hindering others from receiving their free education too because he is such a classroom distraction that the teacher has to spend an inordinate amount of time just keeping control of the classroom.

Published Comic

I was wasting time out the the world of the wide web and I happened across a comic strip generator.  

Special Education - Is the Cost Too Much?

I know that public schools are supposed to be providing a "free and appropriate" education for every child in the "least restrictive envirnoment."  At least that's what the law says.

I've got to believe that lawmakers would yell out "Whoa, Nellie" if they were to really get down in the trenches and see the consequences of the law.  Should education money be spent on changing diapers on 15 year olds and monitoring feeding tubes? I went in a special ed classroom the other day and there were two teachers and a paraeducator for one student - and he was on the floor taking a nap.

When anyone mentions the exorbitant cost of special ed the response is "Well, it's federally mandated."  Like the federal government is getting their money from some other source that our pockets.  That's our money, taxpayer money, just like state funding.

Special education parents and other stakeholders have powerful lobbys pushing for more and more special education requirements.  Who is out there lobbying for the regular ed kids?

Gotta love it...

Snapp-caps are the coolest.  I snap one on top of my Diet Coke (with lime) and I'm good to go.   My son says it looks like a binky or a sippy cup but I just ignore that.  Besides, I embrace the inner dork.

I think it's an everyday miracle. Drink doesn't go flat, doesn't spill when I knock it over, and I can always tell my can apart from the crowd.  

I bought mine at a street fair in Kingwood Texas but I'm sure there are other sources. 

Highly recommend it.  Maybe I could be their spokesmodel...Hmmm