日本語が話せますか？

If the characters above got rendered properly in your browser you should see Japanese writing.  The proper response for me would be, say what?  Of course, if I knew what that said the real response should be:

Winter I’m told is the hardest part about this car job, but after this last month I’m really starting to wonder.  Was there this much rain last year?  I man, day after day for the last five weeks with only a few days rest from it.  I can only hope that this gets the precipitation over with so I don’t have to brush off cars so much this winter, but I know that’s just a pipe dream.  Some more days like yesterday would be nice, but unfortunately the forecast for the next few days calls for more of you-know-what.  Sigh.  Fortunately by evening the chance currently shows about 30% so just maybe our haunted house hopping event won’t be too soggy.

Today just really got me down.  First was the slow trip east toward the city to a dealer where I had a whole two cars for my 40-min. trip.  Took me two hours too due to having to drive the cars to the warehouse- something only this dealer requires, along with the garage where some of the lights don’t work so I have to take more pictures just to get good ones.  Additionally I had to wipe down the wet cars before I could take pictures of them.  $7 an hour- isn’t that below minimum wage?  Next stop, two cars again but at least it went much quicker.  As I approached my final destination, the rain decided to fall without a break until after dark so I ended up taking pictures with an umbrella in the other hand (this place doesn’t mind the cars being wet in the photos).  I only got to three of the cars before I had to quit.  Actually, I did the other half of the job with entering the car data and making stickers for all seven I had to do while waiting in vain for a break in the rain, but since I didn’t do the photos yet I couldn’t charge them yet.  I may be able to get to them Monday when I’m there next, but only if they don’t sell them.

Oh yes, to top it all off, I forgot to return a key to one of the other dealers so I had to stop back there on the way home.  At least it was the closer one, not the further heavy-traffic one.  I don’t think I would generally use this outdated phrase, but it’s starting to look like this job is all wet, pun intended.

I’ve been waiting to post until I catch up on reading my friends’ blogs, but I am realizing that if I do that I will never post.  Sorry Taylhis, Jamiahsh, JustJ, Whatever, and even MareMare whose blog I haven’t read in over a month!  Sigh… Where does the time go?  I have a couple of normal things I want to blog about, but that will have to wait as geek.com has just now posted on a third video from the maker of the car from the past we know as Herbie the Love Bug, Volkswagen.  They have decided to take up the cause of environmentalism and try to change people’s attitudes through what they call the Fun Theory.  A couple of weeks ago they started with trying to get people to burn their own energy by using the stairs instead of the escalator.  I remember my days of visiting malls and seeing the stairs used only infrequently when they were next to an escalator.  Often though, I would use the stairs simply because they were faster than waiting behind someone on the escalator.  Of course, if there was no one on the escalator I would climb up or down them like stairs to be even faster since the stairs were moving.  Anyway, see what they did in this video:

Next, they added something to a trash can to get more people to throw their litter away:

Just today I learned about their newest video.  This one involves a bottle collector, something I have yet to see around here.  For that matter, I don’t know of any sort of effort to collect recycling outdoors.  Many places like schools have some sort of indoor recycling of course, but that’s far from a large-scale municipal effort.  Is it just my area?  Surely we’re doing it somewhere in the US?  Of course, being a European company Volkswagen made these videos on the other side of the pond we know as the Atlantic Ocean, so it may well just be a European thing.  Meet the video game bottle collector:

The videos are actually larger than the small window we get here on Tangents, so you will probably want to click on them to open them up on their Youtube pages.

It has been a few weeks now with nary a post from me.  You’d think in all that time I would actually have something to say, but sad to say I don’t.  Not much at least.  This new job so far is keeping me a little poorer than subbing alone.  Finding half-days for subbing to go along with this job is not easy and I have gone a few days without.  Also, I just learned my commission is based monthly so the couple of weeks I was ahead did not make up for the weeks I was behind.  Base only again.  Sigh.  Soon…  This season has been none too friendly for this job either.  About 70% rain in the last couple of weeks.  In fact, I had to completely take off Friday and go to one of the dealers Saturday instead.  I wanted to go to the other one tomorrow since it’s Columbo day (or something like that… 😉 ) and therefore no chance of subbing, but it looks like the rain will likely make a return.  Looks like I’ll have to take half a day off of subbing Tuesday instead.  I already took a half-day sub job, and have jobs for Thursday and Friday as well, so aside from Wednesday I’m pretty set for this week.

Speaking (writing?) of subbing, no interesting subbing stories I’m afraid.  Mostly upper grades (4th+) and once with a student teacher whose observing professor came in to watch her teach.  I am now two days toward the five I need in order to get paid for the annual sub-training in Hometown district- both middle school days.  The last one was science.  I essentially led a small chemistry project for 8th grade.  I hope their teacher gave them more time the next day as no one finished.

Then there’s church, something I haven’t written about much lately.  I have been able to give four of my five cabin kids their DVDs I made.  Unfortunately the fifth hasn’t been to church in awhile due to multiple surgeries- yes, the one with the dwarfism condition (is there an official name?  I suppose if I had ever watched Little People, Big World I would know).  They are just trying to fix his body, but even with a lack of an emergency which would normally lead to invasive surgery, I’m sure it is still trying for him and his parents- and undoubtedly painful.  I pray he recovers well.

Well, sorry there isn’t much here.  Hopefully I’ll have at least one more post before all of you come out this way.  I’ll try to be less lazy about posting interesting news and links as well.  I think there were a couple, but I can’t recall at the moment.

Another week, another post.  As one of you mentioned in a previous post of mine, this blog lets my friends know about my life even if I don’t post often so I guess any danger of this blog closing has vanished as it is a really good point. Anyway, I finally finished the DVD I was working on for my cabin last Saturday- well, mostly.  There is still one I am trying to fix because the DVD player I tried it in kept glitching at the menu, even after I changed the video and readded it.  Yes, each camper got a DVD with a customized menu- an animation of themselves done with Corel’s Painter 4 Essentials.  With it, you can turn a photo into something that looks like a painting.  Oddly enough, though it goes through an animated process “painting” the picture, you can’t save the animation.  Luckily though I still had Camstudio installed from when admin was trying to save a video when JibJab was a bit slow in allowing his paid download last year.  It did the job perfectly.

Since then, I have been busy or just plain tired.  Mondays are back to having no time to post, and I have been getting up early every day this week, today included, so I have just not felt like posting.  Today however I had an incident that couldn’t wait for a post.  Actually, it’s the latest in things that have been going through my mind as a post for awhile about names and relations.  About names, a couple of recent namesakes have run across my life either personally or in the news.  One of them is the CINO (if you are familiar with the political term RINO you will understand this abbreviation considering his recent interview with the local paper) named Milton Bradley.  I wonder, is that his real name?  I know many entertainers have stage names, but I don’t really know if that applies to sports figures.  If the name is real, how did kids treat him growing up?  Milton Bradley of course was once a big gaming company in case anyone reading this has forgotten.  It’s not a big name anymore of course having been absorbed by the gaming behemoth Hasbro, but still when the ball player Milton was growing up I’m sure the company was still known.

On the same topic I met a student teacher the other day when subbing at a middle school.  His namesake was a  famous inventor every child in school learns, so I am sure he must have been teased mercilessly.  His name? Tom Edison.  Undoubtedly he is still asked by kids about it, and will be for some time considering his chosen profession.  I can attest to this considering my own last name is a common word if not a namesake (though kids did once ask if I’m related to a character on TV with the same last name- yes, a character- not an actor 😛 ) and I get asked about it all. the. time.

Before I move on to today, I should start a bit earlier.  Kids aren’t the only ones who ask about relations when they encounter a name.  When I encounter a child with a particularly famous last name I sometimes ask about it.  Of course, most either have no idea who I’m talking about or just say no, they aren’t related.  Well they are, as we are all related to the first man and woman known as Adam and Eve, and later Noah since he and his family were the only survivors of the great flood.  They are related, but many generations removed of course.  However, one time when I was student teaching myself, I came across a girl with the last name of Fogerty and of course had to ask about John Fogerty.  Instead of the expected response she said that yes, he was her uncle.  Pretty old for her uncle I would have to say, but maybe she meant great-uncle.  I clarified since John Fogerty could still be a common name and not in fact refer to the former CCR member, but she maintained that he was her uncle.  Well, I suppose someone has to say yes to this question.

Today’s encounter started with a guided reading group.  We were discussing a book where a shy boy had a talent for playing the piano.  He started out telling no one, even his friends, about this talent but ended up overcoming nervousness and performing in front of the school in a talent show.  We talked about performing and of course I shared that I acted.  The kids’ eyes really lit up at this, and I mean really.  When I said this they assumed I meant I acted on TV.  I have never met this kind of fixed attention before when I brought up acting, but it turns out they had a reason for linking acting with television.  Their teacher is the mother of an actor who plays a major role in Smallville, and even came to visit last year.  I probably shouldn’t say which one, but his last name is not the same as his mother’s, so I might if prodded.  I looked up his bio at a few sites and there’s no mention of his mother’s name so it may not even take much prodding…

EDIT: I guess I should have looked up Milton Bradley on Wikipedia before I asked my question, as it has this to say about the baseball player:

Bradley is named after his father, Milton Bradley, Sr., who filled out the birth certificate form without his wife’s permission. As Milton’s mother says of his father, “He wanted a Junior, and made damn sure he got one.”^[1] Junior, who shares a name with a popular board game pioneer, has always been teased about his name, but has never changed it because the memories it evokes “only drive him harder”.^[1]

Take a look at this trailer for the 1951 version of Raiders of the Lost Ark (click the video to go directly to youtube for a larger version)!

What, there was no such version you say?  So what was was this then since the actors are real 50s stars?  Give up?  Go to this youtube link that breaks it down for you. 🙂

Incidentally, this isn’t this guy’s first work on a trailer like this.  Click here to see a couple more goodies.

Not much time right now, but I just wanted to share something that made me laugh today.  BTW, I am almost done with the camp DVD I’ve been working on- over two months late 😮 .so hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

Apple keynote in under two minutes:

Seeing that today is the one month anniversary of my last blog post about my life, that is a valid question.  The filler is interesting, but what about my two jobs, one of which was once the emphasis of this blog?  This week was actually a milestone for my new job.  For the first time my commission exceeds the $50/day they have been paying me since the start of training last June.  It’s still not much, but the job promises to pay more eventually.  And what about the camera training the owners have asked me to take charge of?  One of them has plugged me as the national camera trainer to one of the clients after they noticed my pictures are pretty good.  Great- a standard to live up to! 😛 .I still wonder how much I will be paid for this training whenever it happens.

At the moment I am subbing, or trying to, for two full days a week plus mornings five days every two weeks (every other week I go to two places on Friday so I can’t sub that day).  I am signed up in three districts this year but so far have only worked in two.  What?  Yes I did say two before, but then the third sent me a welcome note without my having signed up again so I stuck with it.  Since they were the source of some of my jobs so far, it looks like I made the right choice there.  I have subbed for one (half) day of middle school so far- the rest have been in elementary schools.  I actually took a bilingual first grade job- something I try to avoid during the main part of the year.  I also just took a job for a kindergarten morning Monday at the very school I went to for K through most of 2.  Oddly enough, while I can remember the names of all my other elementary teachers, I can’t for this school.  I wonder if I will be in the same classroom I was in for my own kindergarten?  I wonder if I will even recognize anything at the school.  I am pretty sure I took no assignments there last year.

Let’s see what I can say about the jobs I’ve taken so far.  The first-grade bilingual class was a little rough as the plans the teacher left were not very detailed, often requiring me or one of the assistants who were in and out of the room throughout the day to find the required materials.  The kids were also not very good listeners, but whether that was because of limited English skills or other reasons I couldn’t say.  Another couple of days I was in a position where there were no plans.  These were for special-ed teachers who didn’t even have set schedules yet being the beginning of the year so I ended up helping out in different classrooms throughout the day.  I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if I found out that they came in the next day and said, “I had a sub?”  I don’t think I was expected…  The junior high job was a teacher who had both 7th and 8th grade classes, and all I did was supervise as they used computers to work on projects.  I was worried when not just my classes, but others as well used the laptops throughout the morning with little time to charge them, but according to one teacher the batteries actually hold out for some six hours or so, something I have never heard of in laptops.  My own computer lasts for three or less, but with with its specs I am not surprised.

So why have I not been keeping up on my friend’s blogs even if I couldn’t be bothered to update my own?  I don’t know.  If you want refrain from posting commenting in return I will understand.

Here’s probably a very unique and unusual way of preventing people from committing suicide by jumping off of bridges.  Apparently this is somewhat common in China, so some workers decided to do something about it.  The source is the same as the last article, WPTV.com:

Slippery when buttered

Last Update: 10:12 am

Chinese workers have covered a giant steel bridge with butter because officials are fed up with traffic jams caused by people who slow down to watch suicide victims leaping to their death.

In a single month eight people jumped to their death with many more threatening to end their lives on the bridge.

The butter was spread over all of the climbable surfaces and it appears to be working. Officials report they are able to get to the bridge and catch the suicide attempters.

Copyright WENN.com. Metro.co.uk contributed to this report.

Here’s hoping that missionaries over there can spread the Gospel there more quickly to these urgent cases.

Okay, not that kind of sucks.  It is very unusual though, that’s for sure.  While other 10-year-olds collect the latest trading cards, one Illinois boy collects vacuum cleaners.  Yes, you read that right.  I know some don’t want to collect old-fashioned things like coins and stamps, but vacuum cleaners?? Here’s the WPTV article:

Unique hobby for a 10 year old boy

Last Update: 8/31 10:05 am

TUSCOLA, IL–Most little boys collect things like baseball cards or hot wheels.

But not the 10-year old Gregory Evans.

He has a thing for vacuum cleaners.

He ‘s been collecting them since he was three years old.

While other kids dream of Disney World, Gregory’s favorite vacation destination is the Hoover Museum.

“I take them apart and see if there’s anything wrong with them,” said Evans.

And the 10 year old is such an expert on vacuums that he can tell which model is running by its sound.

Gregory hopes to work in a vacuum shop when he grows up, if not sooner.

Reported by: Scot England/WAND TV