Kindergartners.......

One of my friends found this on their  Facebook wall and shared it and now I want to share it with you.

The common core is really kind of Ugly for most of the disciplines.  I found the English in High School not too terrible, because they are supposed to have learned how to do most things before they get to me.  

But I have seen some of the math stuff and it is rediculus.  I can't even figure out what the kids are supposed to do.  And now this is what they are doing to kindergartners, come on people. I know most of them can work a TABLET better than I probably ever will, but this is a computer with no real touch ability, they don't know this.

Status Update

By Priscilla Sanstead

Please cut and paste this to share. A Kindergarten teachers just shared this on the BATs wall -

"I'm aiming for the short version here.

My kindergartners had their standardized computerized test today.

There were over 100 questions. Answers were selected by drop and drag with a trackpad, no mouse is available. One class took five hours to finish. Kids crying in 4 of 5 classes. Multiple computer crashes ("okay, you just sit right there while we fix it! Don't talk to anyone!"). Kids sitting for half hour with volume off on headsets but not saying anything. Kids accidentally swapping tangled headsets and not even noticing what they heard had nothing to do with what they saw on the screen. Kids having to solve 8+6 when the answer choices are 0-9 and having to DRAG AND DROP first a 1 then a 4 to form a 14. Some questions where it was only necessary to click an answer but the objects were movable (for no reason). No verbal explanation that you must click the little speaker square to hear the instructions. To go to the next question, one clicks "next" in lower right-hand corner.....which is also where the pop-up menu comes up to take you to other programs or shut down, so about many shut-downs or kids winding up in a completely different program.

If this is not what you want for your kids and grand-kids, you'd better start making some noise. Ten years ago we would've thought this would be literally impossible."

Skaggs Creek 3/8/2014

Thought you might like to see more pictures on the water.
After 5 days of ice, it was great to see the sun, find the roads and get on the water.

The road in was VERY tiny and very muddy.

Icicles on the rocks.

Salt peter mines go throughout these cliffs.

This is one of the main mine entrances.

It was just so weird to be 60 degrees and snow everywhere.

We are naming the boat - the La-Z-Boy...  well maybe not that exactly... 

I need a name for mine. She is an Ibis, Hubby says call it Loon something.  Hmmm- need something cooler.

New Boats!!!!!!!

 The weather was pretty fabulous on February 22, so we took the new boats out on a lake.
We were supposed to go on the Barren River, but it wound up being a bit too dangerous and we moved it to this lake.
Shanty Hollow Lake, which is a filled up hollow.  There is an old cabin on the hill across the way from the boat ramp - which probably was a real road at one time.
The lake has a BIG berm on one end and a spillway to the creek below.  I haven't been here before to say if the water level was really high or not.

 All I can say is that the spillway box had a good couple feet up to go from the lake level.   There was a big square in the top to help keep the lake from getting too high.

Tom and I wound up pretty far back from the pack. It was okay, we hadn't been here before, so we enjoyed wandering.  They hiked up to a waterfall, that we'll have to go back and investigate.  We didn't have proper shoes for that walk.
Anyway - here are our matching color kayaks.  An Ibis for me and a Coosa for Tom.

Health Care Headaches

This is not a rant about how good or bad the Affordable Care Act seems to be.
I love the idea, wish it went a little farther, but hey it's a first step.

No, what I have here is the new rules of time working for Adjunct teachers at Community Colleges and Universities.  The schools have been slashing the number of classes anyone Part Time can teach because they were all afraid that the government would say- "Hey, they are working full time, you have to give them benefits."
Well, as a teacher of course I want that to happen, BUT, I am realistic and understand that if you are not full time at a school - you are not likely to get Health Benefits.

Feel free to read the new rules......
New Rules for Adjunct Teachers.

What I like about the new rules is that I may just be able to teach another class each semester and not go over the 30 hours a week rule.
The Federal Government final came up with guidelines to figure out how many hours we really are teaching and spending on grading and lesson plans.  I get that- as a teacher you are working more than just the time you are in the classroom with the students.
If you look at most English Professors, they spend lots of time reading your papers.
(Currently, it's my job to make sure you don't make your professor cry when they read your first paper.)
(Although, if they read my blogs- they might cry anyway.)

The current rules in Kentucky at the system I work for is that you can only teach 3 classes a semester and only so many credits a year. With the new rules, I am only putting in about 18-20 hours a week on those 3 classes.  Which leaves 10 more hours to mess with.

Anyway, I don't know how long it will be before the new rules actually trickle down to the rest of us.
The big wigs need to make up their minds about if they are going to change their policies to give us some more classes.

Hope it's sooner rather than 2 years from now.

Heat Pump???

News from Kentucky......

My mother keeps scolding me for actually mentioning that it is COLD here in Kentucky.  Yes, the average temp has been in the 20's and below for 4 days and yes every time the Polar Vortex decides to descend from Canada into Michigan all the weather you would have gotten comes here.......

The problem is - Kentucky is really not set up for this kind of weather.
Did you know there are a lot of hills here???  Ice + Hills = Never a good driving scenario.
They do not have snow plows - here in Bowling Green we haven't gotten much snow, but some of the state has been hammered.
Almost everything here runs on Electricity.   THAT totally sucks, they are having issues like you would in the summer - asking us to actually turn our thermostats down to 60 degrees-  YES THEY REALLY DID THAT.

Which leads us to the real problem of the day....
Did you know that more houses have HEAT PUMPS and not actual Furnaces?????

  Now, I have gotten a major lesson in how those suckers work this week.  (Especially since we got our December electric bill at the same time as the Polar Vortex came to visit.)

Here in Kentucky the standard temperature right now should be between 35-50 degrees.
At that temp, the Heap Pump does okay.  It might have to turn on the extra heating strips a couple times to help pump up the house.  But did you know that they never really send HOT air into the house?  At most it is exactly the temperature or sort of that you need to keep the house around 67-70 (or whatever you love to keep it at.)

Heat pumps work better in the summer.  I read a page where the Heating/Cooling guy said that if you made the Heap pump big enough for a northern winter, it would be SOOOO big that your house would be an igloo in the summer.. (I'm adding emphasis here....)
So, they add these weird heat strips in the house (under my house) in the ducts to help keep the house a normal temp so the pipes don't freeze.

So, we hear the outside pump, right outside our bedroom that runs almost constantly - to keep it from getting frost all up and down the inside of it.  Then the heat strips come on to actually heat the air for the house.
For anyone who has ever burnt their feet on a register in the winter waiting for the Furnace to heat up a house, you understand how VERY sad it is to not feel anything come out of the registers here.
(I noticed the same lack of cold force in the summer too.)

I am betting that our Electric bill for January (comes late Feb) will be 3 to 4x's what we paid in November.  I'm disturbed by the amount we are paying for December and we weren't here for 2 weeks.

So, here is the cautionary tale - Heat pumps can be much cheaper to run in warmer climates, but woe- is- me to the people in Michigan or North East who have one.  Hope they all have fire places - which we also do not have.....  But that is a whole other post...

Stay Toasty my friends, Stay Toasty.....

We laughed, we cried, we spent too much money.....

I haven't done a movie review in FOREVER....

Most recent-
Frozen -
              I was going to skip this one.  Then news started floating around Facebook of the awesome music that fills this movie and the newer life choices for Disney Princesses.  Awesome.  I tracked it down, I even went out of my way to find the movie.  I managed to drag Tom and we both thought it was great.  It's been out since before Christmas and it's now middle of January and the movie theater was half FULL on a Thursday night.  No Kidding.  Sure there was a couple noisy kids, but heck it is a kids movie.  Great Music.


Catching Fire   (No. 2 of Hunger Games)
             Loved it!!!  Thought they did an even better job with this movie.  It moved you along quickly enough and had plenty of suspense without bogging you down for hours in the GAME itself.  I had completely forgotten how that book had ended and the movie took me right there.  I have high hopes for movie number 3.

The Desolation of Smaug   (or Hobbit 2- as it is otherwise known..)
            Some people I talked to loved it.  I thought it was alright.  I didn't feel that they had as good of music in this one.  There was no Dwarf awesome song in this one.  The whole bit between Smaug and Bilbo was cool, but you know it was rather predictable even for me - and I have to admit I never read the books. (None of them- I know - I'm a pathetic fantasy reader.)  We did not see it in 3D, maybe that helped bring Smaug more to giant size life.  I don't really like the OVERLY shaky camera work anyway.  I forget that I feel a little sea sick after watching his films.  All that crane camera work from long weird angles spinning around people and up into the air - it all just makes me feel like I'm on a roller coaster.  I am sure that is his main reason for doing it, to make you feel like you are right there riding the rapids in a barrel with them.

I can't think of what else we have gone to see.
I can tell you that we miss going with friends to the movies.  Getting to talk about and tear them apart with other people is really a lot of fun.
Which is why- I was thrilled that while the Dinosaur was here in Kentucky we watched the Hunger Games with her and her family.  It really is a good movie.

Link

Oh my Goodness - I totally forgot about Despicable Me 2-  Okay it came out last summer.  But I bought the Blue-Ray copy for Christmas.  It came with 3 mini-movies about the minions that Newbie directors got to make using all the cool gear they were using to make the big movie.  They were able to use already created characters and backgrounds in order to really get to the heart of a short story.  In animation the ground up phase of creating characters is always the hardest.  So, to be able to use the WORLD that was already up and running, really made it easier for the new directors to really get right to the point.  They were great little movies and I hope those new Directors get noticed because of them. :~)

Link

Booom

Newest experience in Kentucky.

Sometimes when you are trying to build a house, or a road, or put in the sewer and electric for these things - they actually need to BLAST to get past some rock.

Today, I experienced this happening in my NEIGHBORHOOD!!!  Like 20 minutes ago.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I know I saw the sign last week at the front entrance to the sub. (Lucky I went out that day?)

But, to be standing in the back yard with the dogs, and hear what sounds like a weird car alarm, or police alarm or anything like that- and then BOOM!

I won't say the world rocked, but I'm sure the dogs felt it more than I did.
It took me a second to realize what they had done and I'm sure that it was pretty darn small, I didn't see any dirt fly in the air or anything.  (Actually, I'm not even sure I was facing the right direction- they are building in two different directions from my house.)

So, I share my discombobulation over this experience.

New Year

It's 1/2 way through January and how many people have already blown their New Years Resolutions??

I purposely did not make any. 

Sure I have things I need to do this New Year, but I wasn't going to make a big nasty fuss. 

Currently, keeping my new students on track and actually being able to do their work is keeping me plenty busy. 

Usually it's Black board or the weird company we use - their software that freaks out. Nope - it's the IntrAnet the college uses that is down or not working right. 

Luckily I'm willing to go around most of these issues to get work done!!  

I'm currently well on my way to getting my second major idea accomplished. I am planning to hit the rivers a Lot this year. I've gone on two kayaking trips already with hubby's kayak and found the one I want to buy. 

We had to get a trailer, and put that together. I have to finish the lights on the trailer and get the plug put in my car. I was told Uhaul is my best bet for not spending a million bucks.  That's tomorrow's plan. 

I found the coolest boat for myself. It's called the Ibis by Jackson Kayak- all American made!!!  It doesn't weigh a ton and it moves through the water nice and can carry all my crap for an over night trip. 

It is sort of in between white water kayaks and sit on tops. The cockpit is huge and the seat is removable and comfy. :-). 

I'll post pictures once I get mine. I need to take a better picture of Toms big fishing rig. He wanted a sit on top that was beyond stable. Yup- it is just too  heavy for me to carry.  (Or drag). 

Hope to take brando out with it. He loves the water. :-). 

Have a fabulous day.   (And what day is it??). Hump day. 

Holiday Madness

The Holidays are upon us and it feels different this year.

I would guess that the temperature being above 30 degrees at some point each day can certainly change someones outlook on everything. It is currently 43 degrees here and 29 degrees in Michigan.  This can explain my little extra enjoyment of the days.

I also, can not really do any Christmas shopping yet for many of the people that I get stuff for.
First- half the stores I like are not in this town.
Second- why drag it across 4 states to get it to people.
Third- It doesn't feel like I have any money to spend on people anyway.
     
        This brings me to the silly list of things we really need to do or get while in Michigan.
 I want the nice LED down lights from Costco to replace the dead ones in this house.  They don't get all hot and Costco has the best prices.  There are 12, (I don't need 12)  not including the weird lights in the bathrooms, but those take regular bulbs.
        Tom needs a new Winter coat. The 0 degree coat we left at his parents is a little over kill for the 4 hours of 32 degrees or less one runs into here in the morning or late night.  My coat is a little bulky looking for here, but does the trick nicely and 1/2 way through the day I just toss it in the car.  Everyone laughed at the Fleece coats we bought in the spring. Wear it ALL the time.
        Oh yeah, Tom has started craving Polish Sausage from Milford Meats. That is on the list of dinners he plans to make.  We both want Chinese FOOD.  There are a couple Chinese Buffets here, they just do NOT do any justice to the food.  I see a trip to Lei Ting in Milford on our list of places to hit.  We'd meet people at the red door (something Gardens) on 5 mile, but Ted and Amy aren't around to meet there.  We miss them.
         I have to admit - Tom said we need to hit a Coney island.  They just don't have anything like it here. He wants simple fish and chips.  Sure, we have Long John Silvers and Captain D's here- but that's Greasy Chicken and fish - not the same.
        I would love to have some GOOD Greek food, Mediterranean, - LAMB. The ONE place here is not so great and no one eats Lamb here, soooo, She never makes the lamb dishes.  The problem is the last four restaurants we liked in Greek town are gone.  Pegasus is always too busy and crowded, and it's not the same.  The don't make the "stolen lamb" recipe. Boo!!!!!  Where, oh where, can we get good Greek food now?
         Well, hope we can see you while we are in town.  Hit up our Cell phones.


 Oh, you ask about the dogs.  Why, yes - they are a joy and a pain.  Cody's back just got so yucky that we finally took him in for surgery.  They sent some tissue off for study and it came back as a skin cancer.  Plus - the area was NOT healing.  It was gross on so many levels.  So, they went in again, dug out more and this time sewed it up with big stitches.  Tada! - it has healed and they took the stitches out today.

That's the current catch up.  See you soon.....

Sneaky

Never underestimate the playfulness of an older dog. 

After we are out for a while the dogs always seem rather needy. 

They follow us around whining or begging for food. 

Today, Brando comes into the room with a little ball that's sort of in pieces. He tosses it around and acts all cute. I throw it at least once or twice. He comes over and bats it past me.  I notice him digging behind me in the curtains. 

I turn around to help him find it, as Cody gets up and wanders away. 

Brando and I look around for a few more minutes.  Then Brando gives up and wanders away. 

I go back to what I'm doing. 

About a minute later Cody shows up at the door of my room looking in with the missing ball hanging out the side of his mouth. He'd snatched it up while Brando was distracted with me. 

Of course Cody knew he was being sneaky.  LOL. 

I had to chase him to the living room where puppy play ensued. 

Just goes to show you. Dogs are little smarty pants. 

Goofy

I just lost my mind.  

Listening to family Halloween on Pandora and low and behold Monster Mash comes on for the millionth time. 

I giggle to myself thinking someone is doing a great imitation of President Obama.  The song goes on and near the end the line is "Tell them Boris sent ya". 

I about peed my pants when I heard the chuckle and laugh of Goofy.  

He said the line, " Tell them Goofy sent you!"

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....

Mish Mash

Happy Halloween

Probably one of my favorite holidays of the year, and I haven't done a darn thing to celebrate.   Other than eat caramel cake a few times. (yum)

I've spent the last few weeks dealing with crazy online class content.  "Hello, tech support..."
AND health insurance weirdness,  "Hello BCBS".

Neither of these things were any fun.  I was very nice and pleasant every time I talked to someone from either place.  I managed to not bite anyone's head off and I also TOOK care of business.

The thoughts wiggling around the back of my brain really only consist of - I really hope the students realize that I have nothing to do with the problems we are having with the software.  I have no way to check and make sure the stupid stuff works from their end.  I have shared this particular thought with the associate professor at my school and the tech people at the company.

I keep telling myself - just be glad you are not afraid of the technology.  Imagine what someone with out your skills would be doing and feeling.......    This helps a bit.


The health insurance crap, well that could send anyone over the edge.  I understand that Doctors are not going to understand ALL the stupid ways that the insurance company can make life more difficult for all of us, but this was more annoying than usual. I believe it started with the FREE stuff that manufacturers of Medical stuff and drugs like the give to doctors.

The doctor gives you something saying, "Look, it's Free!"  And yet, the prescription you are given to get the items to use with it then cost an Arm and a Leg because it's not really a prescription - it's a medical device.  That has to be billed in a very different way and goes against the amount of your deductible for the year.

After several days of 12 or more phone calls, I managed to find a place that billed correctly and had the items. (yea)  The problem is - they did not take any money, they are going to bill the insurance and then send me a bill for the amount the insurance did not pay.  AND this is how people wind up in debtors prison --- I can't decide if prison would be preferable than the actual going bankrupt we have today........

Happy Halloween.   Eat some candy for me. 

Green River Over Night.

This was my very first Over Night on any river.  We had to haul EVERYTHING with us and it was rough camping.  Thank goodness for Michael's tent and air roll, my ability to pack crap and the help of another camper, I survived - wet but well!!

Here is my Poor Boat with too much stuff in it.

 Here is the Tuna Barge that John drove, he already offered to carry some of my stuff, before we even got on the river.

Here we are loading the boats to take off down the river.

Here is a couple and his son who brought the MOST stuff with them. They brought most of the cooking gear and 2 tents, and 3 sleeping bags and everything else that you could imagine. They had it...

Some falls.  Really cool- they are very striking in the spring when all the water is running.

This is lunch time the first day right after we packed the Tuna Barge with all my stuff and my deflated boat. I fit right there near the front and even have stuff between my legs.  I am sooo happy John helped me.

This is Sunday Morning as we were packing up to get on the river. Breakfast was almost made and it started raining.  I had my tent down and was packing it as the rain started.  I got my rain gear on quickly and managed to get ready to go.

This is what The Tuna Barge looked like right before we left.  John was packing up all his stuff and mine on the boat. We had to readjust some stuff at lunch, but overall it was impressive. We had to fight the current a bit and the rain was an interesting part of the day.  We got back to the cars before noon, and after we sent people to pick up the trailer that had the boats on it, we left after 1 pm.  It is a bit of a drive between the put in and the take out.  I wanted to make sure I did my share of hauling stuff.  I wasn't the oldest person on the trip by far, but I guess I looked like I was having the hardest time.

Several people offered to let me borrow a boat the next time we go out.  I think that would be a great idea. I can try out a few different ones and next summer get some thing I can get a bit more use out of . :~)

Fall Break

           A new experience has been added to my life.
This thing called Fall Break.  
Most of you who are from the land of Michigan or slightly more northerly climes surely think  this is weird.  "School just started, why would you need a whole week off in October."

           Well, that is where the whole premise breaks down.  School, did not just start here.  School started for most children right before or after August 1st.  I felt so very queasy when I was presented with this truth.
Then the Community College I work at started on August 17th or so. And that felt a bit early for me too.
Then Western Kentucky University then started a week later.  So, almost everyone here has been in classes for 8 or more weeks of school. 

          I've asked people over and over, "why in the world do you start so early?"  Their answer always has something to do with the likely number of snow days we shall have over the winter.  I've been told that it ranges anywhere from 10 to 25 days off from class.  If there is a big enough ice storm, power being knocked out becomes one of the biggest problems.

           The community College even has a system on the website ready to go for those days when you should not come in to work.  Come January, I'll be working Monday / Wednesdays.  How likely am I to get days off??  

         What have I done for Fall break, you ask?  It started with appointment for Cody to the doctor and myself later in the week.  I tried to figure out how to get my GOOD microphone hooked up to work with my computer for voice over/ audio book situation.  (Found that the fans in the big desktop are so loud that it vibrates everything and I'm better off using the microphone on my headphones to my phone, records a clearer sound.  Plus if you hide in the closet the clothes soak up all the bouncing sound.)

       I found that shower heads are REALLY cheap now and had to replace the one in the spare bathroom already.  It cracked and started spraying water everywhere. STUPID- I barely use that bathroom and really need the shower head on a hose for dog washing. :::Groan:::: 

      I'm also having a guest come stay Sunday night. I'm thrilled to be a stop over for a friend driving from Memphis to Chicago.  We have known each other a couple years now, but as we live so far apart anyway, we only see each other maybe once a year.  Facebook has been rather cool in keeping up with people you have known forever, or have just recently met.
Yes, I have started cleaning. I have plenty more to do.

      Okay.  I'll get to the other post I should have done a couple weeks ago...  Overnight trip on the river.  It was great...

Here are random photos from this year....

Brando at the pool.  So much fun!!!  Love Bowling Green Humane Society. Pony Baby.  There are at least 8 of them out there.  I really need to get better shots of them.

Tom with me on a Paddle.  Poor boats just not built for what I wind up doing. LOL

Spastic Brando

Sometimes I think our dogs are the only thing that makes me not go crazy living here.

Brando had a fabulous time at the Puppy Paddle - held at a pool park here in Bowling Green. The Humane Society does it as a fund raiser.
The pool was great and I was silly too not avail myself of it over the summer.  I knew it would be filled with kids. What I didn't know is that it had Lanes for real swimming along with the kiddie section and the big water slide.
The Kid section was perfect for the dogs. It had a slope in like a beach on one side and steps on the other about 50 feet away.  I figure at the deepest part it was 3.5 feet.

Brando followed Tom around really well.  We did not have to chase him down at all. He wanted to be right next to Tom. We did not take Cody because why pay for a dog that doesn't like the water and I would have to follow around. He would have loved to see all the other dogs, but NOT the water.
So, I contented myself to take pictures and we wore Brado out so much he limped and slept the rest of the day.

It's time to get new tags for the dogs as the days are less than 90 degrees now. I should start taking them back to the dog park. Cody can get his social time in and Brando can wander a bit.  I need to walk more, but I can't drag them with me, they get tired fast.
I was walking them almost everyday, but I started getting tired of having to drag them back to the house.  It wasn't walking as much as Sniffing and Peeing on everything. When Brando gets tired, he just stops to smell something and practically lays on the ground with his face stuck in the dirt. That's 70+ pounds of dog to try and drag away using a collar.  It Looks Ridiculous.

Oh Tags- that was a funny story. Did I tell you?

We go to the Humane society to get dog tags. The signs at the Dog park said the dogs need tags.
We get to someone at the humane society and give them our papers showing the dogs have their rabies shots to get the tags. They ask where we live, we tell them and they are like - You don't live in the city, you don't need tags.
We said,  "That doesn't matter, we want to take them to the dog park and it says we need tags."
The person keeps saying - but you don't live in the city.
Tom finally asks, "Okay, who gets the money from us buying dog tags?"
"Well, we do."
"So, why are you fighting us on this, don't you want our 20 dollars?"
I'm like, "We are happy to give you the money, dude take our money."
He had to go ask someone else about the whole situation.  Then they said, but really you should wait till June and get them then. We asked why and they said- well you have to get new ones then.
"WHATEVER people."
If we really cared about how much the dog tags cost we would not have shown up.
Of course, it was too hot in June to hit the park, so I haven't stopped to get new tags yet.

I guess I understand them not wanted to Gyp someone out of $20. But still, we were obviously willing to part with the money, so take it already.

Last night they had an Adopt-a-Thon on the local public access station last night.  It was cute.  It wasn't elaborate, looked like they had 3 cameras. 1 in a room with dogs coming in to show off; 1 in a the Cat room, and then one that looked over some of the people answering phones.
We watched for a few minutes and Tom was like - this is too dangerous- we can not get a new dog now.  So, we turned it off. Later on Facebook it said that between adoptions and donations they made over 14,500 by 8:40 or so.  They were trying to hit 15,000 by 9 pm.  I was really impressed, that was a nice chunk of change.

I could talk about the boys all day.  I'll let you go, and share a couple pictures.

My office.....

Today has become - "I'm Lazy and just posting a picture of my office."

I will gladly say I stole this from Jenny - The Bloggess.

Of course it doesn't look that clean now, except I haven't figured out what I am going to put on the walls around it yet.  This is a corner of my bedroom.  I don't get a full office, Tom does, which is fine by me.  I am next to my bathroom and just 5 steps from my bed and a chair to read in.

I have some pictures I can put on the walls, but I haven't set a bunch of them out to see what really should go where. I do think I need some shelves over my desk to put some books.  Or need them in the opposite corner over the reading chair.  Too many options and only 2 years to live here???  It's been 5 Months here so far???  How crazy is that.

I thought I would add this also, as it's the most work we have done in one room of this house.  That wall was TOOOOO boring.  And the tub looked weird sitting in the corner so alone. We added a couple of shelves that we picked up a long time ago and got the picture.  Now, you can dream that you are on vacation in the tub.  Works for me.

My Weakness

Oh, that just brings up big ideals, doesn't it.

  Sadly, I wasn't going there.  I figured it was time to mention my style of writing.  And if you haven't figured it out, then well - thanks you have more faith in me that I thought.

I am a stream of consciousness writer. I sit down, start writing and sooner or later I get to the end.

One would hazard to say,  "But don't you teach writing?"  "Isn't this what you tell you students NOT to do?"

YUP, exactly! Although, I can make one major distinction. I am pretty sure that I do not completely write this way when I have to do a research paper. It has been about 6 years since I wrote a research paper, and oh the grades were not pretty on those. All my "reflection" papers got A's. Hence, you would be allowed to say that I have broken the laws of writing.

"Why?" You may ask, am I actually looking at this.

Well, I picked up the book they are using to teach English 101 at the Community College I work at; The Longman Reader, tenth edition. Today, I read the first chapter.

Actually, I noticed the difference in my writing compared to others lately, when I read several blogs that interested me. The Bloggess, is one of those blogs that I keep track of.  I caught a few more yesterday when I checked out the Time Magazines list of Blogs of the Year.

Most of those blogs are VERY WELL WRITTEN. A couple were silly with moving pictures of beer labels. ( I spent at least 10 minutes there). Another was of this guy taking pictures of his Coon hound all over the United States. (I spent WAY more time there- Pictures- Dogs- Cool places in US- How could I turn away?)

After checking out at least 5 new blogs and a couple more I have encountered from Facebook, there was a very disturbing trend of people who actually write and edit their work, before they post it on their blog.

I would guess my writing style comes more from what I started using this blog for in the first place. (Oooh, see how I used first there- wasn't even trying.) I started this blog back before Facebook was a real thing. I think myspace may have started, but I didn't have a clue how to make it work. (I did not want to spend the time to learn and it's dead now, so no one cares.) I started this blog to share pictures and my life with friends and family.
People were starting to spend a lot more time online. I had just gotten married in Vegas, and everyone wanted to see the pictures. This is where I put them along with notes about whatever was going on at the time.
So, really my blog is Facebook, before there was Facebook.

I have to admit that when I look at all the silly stuff I have on here, it's quite easy to track the last 9 years.  Or most of the last 9 years, as I moved most of my rambling to Facebook.  Although you have to admit, I get really long winded on here.

This brings me to my Dilemma!!!  Do I really start writing and editing my blog for Grammar and Content, or do I continue the off the top of my head, writing like I talk blogging?
Please weigh in on this topic....
Thanks

The Inevitable.

Has anyone ever told you,  "It will work out - just watch."?

I'm sure I've heard that at least a few times in the last year.

Well, I guess it is working out.

I want to Brag, yes my new job is going so well RIGHT NOW that I want to Brag.

But we all know that is probably a bad idea. Because the minute you love something, well something else messes it up.

So, what Can I say without making it go bad.

I work 4 days a week. Awesome.   I teach 2 classes now and 1 class later this semester.  They have something called bi-terms.  It's an interesting concept.

I picked up a few TA like positions. They call it Tutor, but you are more like a helper in the class during someone else's version of the SAME class that I teach.  So, not only do I get practice with what I am teaching, I also get to see how other people teach the same classes. This will certainly help when I get to the point that I have to grade a bunch of papers.

I have been up and down lately with the amount of money I'll make doing this.  I don't want to seem ungrateful, but WHOA - if you thought teaching in a community college as a PART TIME person was the bee's knees.  I am here to tell you that NOPE- the pay is not all that.

The Tutor positions are going to make it possible for me to not lose sleep over my paycheck.  AND I am thrilled that I am going to get a paycheck!!

So click here to see where I actually work....

NEW JOB

Finally,
A new job, in a new city, in a new setting, with all new expectations.

Officially it has been 1 year and 1 month since I was at work. I have actually been to meetings and the running around one does for a new job for the last 2 weeks. But my first real meeting was Aug 5, so yes it is official 1 year and 1 month.

I am beginning to find an interesting pattern in the ebb and flow of my work life.
It seems that I get a full time job that last a year or a few (thank you last job) and I make a good amount of money.  Just when you start to think that you can dig out of a hole or two- wham. No job.
Then I take jobs that are a way to pass the time before I can find another full time job.  Ritz Camera was a really good example of this.

This new job is an in between version of both parts of my work life.

1. It's not full time.
2. But it's actually teaching.
3. It's in a Community College setting. (way cool)
4. If feels like a lot of pressure right now, but should calm down.
5. The people I have met that are full timers at the college are awesome, and many of the teachers are also rather cool.
6. I'm not getting paid very much. I totally miscalculated what I'm getting and almost made myself sick.  But when you look at the actually hours and work - it's not too bad.

So, it looks like I'm in need of a rather part time job.  I do not want to get wrangled into somewhere that wants to make me a manager or full time.  That will be the problem.

Today is the first day of classes.  I'm off to watch someone else wrangle Freshman and then try to do it myself right afterwards.  Hopefully students can find the building we are in.  There are like 8 or 9 single story buildings mostly in L shapes around each other, so you can't see some buildings hiding behind other buildings.
  Plus, the parking up front in going to be over flowing.  I might have to walk a wee bit to get to my building today.  Another good reason to show up way early.  Tomorrow will be harder as my class starts at 8 am.

Charities and an AWESOME venue.

I want to yell!!!!!!

Why?  Well, this is the silly part.
I want to go to every event possible at the "Lost River Cave" here in Bowling Green Kentucky.

If you saw some pictures, you would know why.
I went to the big event they hold each year for the Cave itself. They created a non-profit in the 90's to clean up the cave and start using it for the better and tourism.

The first time I saw the cave was as a Tourist.  P.L. and I were traveling to see my parents in Tennessee way back when and we had decided to hit as many tourist traps on the way down as possible.  So we went to the west side of Kentucky, through Nashville then on to Chattanooga.  We had a great time.
I need to dig up those pictures.

Anyway, after hitting Mammoth caves and doing a tour, we noticed the signs for Lost River cave and thought, if the trip isn't too long this could be very cool.  P and I went and it was sooo cute.  They had fun stories to tell us and and cave front was so awesome I wanted to return right then for a party.

The best part is that in the 20's-30's they rebuilt the front of the cave to have big bands play there. Full on traveling bands would come play in the cave. The cold air comes out of the cave and acts as a natural air-conditioning for the whole area right there in front of the cave.

Move ahead to now.  In December I dragged my mom down there during our tour of Bowling Green and they have done a bit of work to make the place even nicer. They have stuff going on in the evenings there all summer long. Thursday nights to Saturday nights. (lots of weddings)

AND this is where my problem comes in.  They scheduled 2 Charity things 1 week from each other.
Hence my wanting to yell.  As I totally want to go to any event being held for the Humane Society here in Bowling Green, theirs is tomorrow night.  I've been to two events and one online thing. (And we've only been here since April.)
The other event is for the Boys and Girls Clubs here in town and their event is Next Thursday. ARG.

Tom has told me to pick one. BOOO.
Okay, so that is totally reasonable, but not fair in the least. LOL
I've had plans to go to "Spirits in the Cave" for months now as my neighbor is a part of the companies that sponsor the event. So, yes we are going to that event.

Whine, cry and all that other jazz.

Next summer I'm going to all three.  And I'm counting on YOU out there to make it happen.  People need to schedule to BE HERE to go to ONE of them.  That way, I can go to all three.

The closest thing I can figure is that Night Club in the Caves is going to be around July 20th.  The Saturday night one- with a Big Band.  It was fabulous this year and I know a few people have already said they would like to go.
The Humane Society one and the "Spirits in the Cave" are both in August.  Humane society looks to have a Band with Brass and I'm not sure the style - they are calling it "A garden party in the Cave".  The Boys and Girls club is have a rock band (probably local) playing and calls it "Spirits in the Cave".

All parties have food, drink and run between $40 and $50 a person.
I know that most things in Michigan that are charity events start closer to $50 and go up from there.


So Pull out your Calendar for next summer and make a PLAN - Middle August I need a few people to come visit to hit an event with.  If you want to come for the July fun, we might have to make Condo arrangements, which isn't bad either......  To make room for everyone. LOL

Well, I'm off to another meeting before school starts on Monday.  Later.....