I should probably introduce myself, but right now I want to talk about something else. I might introduce myself next time. Anyway, I have a friend who at the moment is having a big decision to make. Her brother and sister-in-law have invited her down to Texas to be a live-in-nanny. Her brother is going over seas and her sister-in-law, I guess doesn’t want to come up here, like originally planned. I have a feeling that it might have something to do with me. I was friends once with my friend’s sister-in-law, but as seeing as she married my ex, she feels like I still want him back. If she comes up here, I believe that she is worrying about running into me after all she has said about me. I have been willing to forgive her, but she doesn’t want me to talk to her, so I have just let is slide right now.

Now, where was I? I seemed to have digressed. My friend doesn’t know what she wants to do. She has so many friends up here, plus her family, but jobs seem to be scarce up here and she needs money to keep going to school. School is expensive and she needs to continue to make money. I have been searching for a job for awhile now, but nothing seems to be available for me. Well, except if we both want to be truck drivers. 🙁 So, hopefully something will help her with her decision and we will still stay close while she is away.

Why you ask?  Well, why not I say!  Just trying something new; I don’t know why I didn’t notice this theme before titled “Rubric.”  It’s just the thing for a school-related blog.  Maybe.

In 1958, a struggling songwriter experimented with a recording device by speeding up the audio-track of a recording producing a squeaky,high-pitched, comical tone. Thus, Ross Bagdasarian created David Seville and the Chipmunks with the song “Witch Doctor.” The unique sound was an instant sensation and led to multiple Grammy award winning albums, several cartoon series, and the 2007 live-action/CGI feature Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks is fun for children and mildly entertaining for older people. Personally, I would rather enjoy the animated adventures of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Also, the hip-hop version of “Witch Doctor” was just not good. However, I did enjoy the up-tempo version of “The Chipmunk Song.”

Definitely a full weekend this time around. My normal schedule is fairly busy as is, which is one drama and kid’s leader for two services (one same service as drama). Then I go to the worship service during the first Sunday service. This weekend was also a teaching weekend for me and I filled in for another drama member as well. What’s the difference between teaching and leading? Well, in a given service there are 30-40 kids in 4th/5th grades. That means several leaders are needed, at least one for every ten kids but the lower the ratio the better. These leaders lead discussion during small group time and of course all are on hand to assist whenever needed whether it be to take care of someone injured during game time, redirect wavering attention, whatever. There is only one teacher though who teaches the actual lesson during lesson time. Today that was me- I do it once a month typically. Today was actually probably the shortest lesson I’ve given in a long time, meaning more time for small groups. If only I could keep it short all the time that would be ideal. Moving through the Old Testament we focused on King Saul, and why he didn’t have a true heart for God. Next week will be focused on King David and how his heart was for God. King Solomon will follow the week after. Of course today the lesson started with how Israel wrongly wanted a King in the first place so God gave them the type of king they thought they wanted- tall and handsome. Just like the idols thrust before us today. Unfortunately good looks on the outside don’t equate to a good heart on the inside. Yes he did lead Israel to some victories, but he showed himself as one who shifted blame to others, was jealous, and was disobedient. Eventually God just removed his right to rule and selected a king for them that they should have wanted. I would bet that David would have been completely happy with just being a leader while God remained king, but since the precedent was set David would inherit the title of king once Saul was finally killed. This last thought is my opinion of course, so if it is wrong then don’t blame the Bible please.

The drama was about doing the right thing, in this case my role was typical of my real self- procrastination. My character knew he had to clean up the lab after a failed experiment, but let it sit instead for three days without doing anything about it, so now it’s showtime (remember, imaginary TV studio with live audience) and the place still isn’t clean! He almost gets fired when the studio owner calls and asks what’s up…

Anyway, now I’m home and three hours later writing this up. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some of The Office to watch- it is due today and I am not even finished with half the season! Good show, but it took a few episodes to get into it.

I used to really enjoy watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show.  It’s on tv in my area at 4pm, so I used to watch it all the time while I was feeding my youngest daughter.  Since that is no longer a job that requires sitting down for a good 30-60 minutes – quite the opposite nowadays actually! – I haven’t caught Ellen in ages.  But the other day, I was reminded of a viewer of Ellen’s who she made a few phone calls to on the show…  An 88-year-old named Gladys who was as matter-of-fact as can be and just hysterical.  Check out the clip from her first sound byte on the show below.  Gladys first calls Ellen’s show and leaves a message, which is funny enough by itself, but when Ellen calls her back, hilarity ensues!  Check it out:

And here Gladys gives a glowing review of American Idol, specifically Sanjaya’s hair:

I wonder if Ellen still talks to Gladys or how she’s doing?  Wish I had time to catch Ellen’s show, it was really funny and fun to watch.  Well, I will have a newborn to sit and feed in a matter of months, so maybe then I can turn on the tv and enjoy some comedy once again…

I betcha you’re thinking, wow, she thinks highly of herself…  I am Legend, geez…  but no, I was just realizing how it’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve reviewed a movie!  Part of it is because we aren’t watching nearly as many, just been pretty busy lately.  With the time change, it stays light out until 8, so we like to take family walks after dinner.  By the time the kids get settled after that though, there hasn’t been any time for movies, so we’ve been watching old episodes of The Office instead…  not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s been fun, but I just haven’t seen many movies lately.  The other night, we did manage to pop in “I am Legend“, an end-of-the-world movie starring Will Smith.  It chronicles the story of the very last man on Earth (well, kinda) as he strives to find a cure for the virus that is responsible for exterminating mankind.  I said he’s kinda the last man on Earth because he co-exists with these creatures who used to be humans, until the virus turned them into creepy, maniacal, flesh-devouring beasts.  Luckily for Smith, they can only come out at night because light proves fatal to them, so he spends his days collecting samples and information to study and do experiments in his lab at night, hoping to find a cure for the virus, a virus that interestingly mutated from what humans originally believed was a cure for cancer.

The movie was entertaining, though I have to admit when I first starting watching it, I had a bit of “Doomsday” dread – see my previous post of the same name about one horrible movie – if you dare.  However, “I am Legend” ended up only sharing generic end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it characteristics with the movie “Doomsday”, thank goodness for that.  Speaking of end-of-the-world movies, the creatures in “I am Legend” also reminded me a bit of the ravaging monsters in “28 Weeks Later“, but in a genre like this, I guess it’s difficult to be entirely unique.

It might seem lonely being the last man on Earth, but Will Smith’s character does have a faithful companion, a dog named Sam.  I’m going to risk a minor spoiler here so I can tell you what I really liked about their relationship.  In a moment of weakness, Will Smith is cradling his strong dog buddy Sam, and we learn that the dog’s name is actually Samantha.  The symbolism here is very well done and notably appreciated – you’ll have to see the movie to get it, even though I probably just spoiled that part for you – oops.

Overall, as I said, it was entertaining to watch, and pretty creepy at times.  The overuse of computer animation was annoying to say the least.  There were lots of animals in the film – beasts roam the deserted shell of what’s left of New York City – but they were all computer animated.  I agree with the person who reviewed the movie on imdb.com, I can live with the animals being computer generated, but the virus-addled humanesque beasts, now THAT was BEYOND annoying!  They could be pretty scary at times, but it was probably due to the snarling noises more than the way they looked.  During most of the action scenes involving the creatures, the computer animation was horribly fake-looking and even laughable, which of course takes away from the mood of a film such as this.

If you like the mankind-is-extinct type of movies or are a Will Smith fan, I think you should see this movie.  The best parts were the scenes of him roaming a deserted New York City – those were pretty cool to see.  But if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like the hopelessness or loneliness one might feel when imagining the end of the world, not to mention watching frightening creatures unleash terror and violence, skip “I am Legend” and go for “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” instead – classic Will Smith the whole family can enjoy!

Middle school is an interesting age.  Not quite child anymore, but not completely adolescent either.  It is a transition state.  Many teachers stay away from this age, but I don’t mind it so much, depending on the class.  They can range of course from not-a-problem to watch-your-back depending usually on the area.  It is my belief that the family income has a lot to do with it, though really only because it leads to parental involvement.  With low income families, kids are often left to their own devices much of the time when not in school, and I think we can all, by experience 😀 , attest to the fact that young pre/adolescents don’t always make the best choices in life, especially when they are starting to listen to their peers more and the parents become even less active in their kids’ lives, meaning if they were already less active then that almost leaves it at, “Hello son/daughter” and little else.  I am not saying this to blame these parents, as they are often just trying to make ends meet with sometimes two or three jobs and are often the sole parental figure doing it.  I am merely trying to explain why sometimes students are very hard to handle.

Another group of kids that tend to be a problem are ELL kids. Often, but not always, low income is an issue here as well, but another factor causes these students to be a problem.  That factor being that the school system they come from is far more disciplined and strict than our own.  When they come here then, they see school as something to blow off.  Detention has no effect as they just see it as a break instead of a punishment.  Some see getting in trouble as an opportunity to see the teacher get steamed because our options are limited compared to back where they came from.  They learn, in other words, to play our system knowing serious consequences (as they would see it) can’t happen because then the teacher would be in trouble for improperly discipline.  Typically I just warn these students, maybe move them, but other than that just leave a note to let the regular teacher deal with the problem.  There is actually a school where I no longer accept ELL jobs.

Anyway, I just bring this up because for the last two days I was at middle schools.  Thursday was my unexciting science day I already wrote about, and yesterday I did language arts/life skills at another school.  Apparently they were short a sub at that school because they gave me an extra class one period and I know they were doing that throughout the day for that one teacher- every class period had a different sub.  I actually worked with all three grades as a result.  This teacher’s (the main one I subbed for) normal schedule had language arts with 7th grade and life skills (cooking, sewing, ironing, washing clothes…) was with 6th grade.  My added class was with 8th grade.  It was certainly more interesting than the day before.

Well this post is getting really long so I think I will just wrap it up now.  I will probably post tomorrow about drama this week at church and how my teaching goes in the morning- I will be teaching about Saul.  The king, not the pharisee turned Apostle.

This was the telescope I just received for my birthday. It is a 70mm refractor with a Altazimuth mount.  This telescope came with a planetary imager that I will review at a later date.

The mount with this scope, as with most inexpensive scopes is lacking.  It is much to small to support the telescope. It also is a little short to use the telescope standing and looking near zenith.  

This mount was also difficult to aim and keep in the same place.   It had a lot of wobble and wiggle in  both the horizontal and vertical axis.  It also was prone to heavy vibration.  The small finder scope was almost impossible to use.  Most scopes in this class now come with the red dot sights.  That would have been much easier to use. Since this scope is geared toward a beginner, I find that these problems are just too extensive for a beginner to get much real use out of the telescope.

Now on to the telescope.  The optics really weren’t that bad.  There was some blue fringing on the moon and bright stars.  I haven’t looked at any planets yet, so I can’t say on that, but I would assume that any of the brighter planets will have the blue fringe.  This is what I expected with the scope. What I didn’t expect was the amount of reflection in this scope.  It was almost as if there was no baffling or the inside of the tube was painted with a gloss paint instead of flat.  This was very noticeable when looking at the moon.  The detail of the moon after centering it in the eyepiece was good.   I’ll push the power up the next time I get out.

The two eyepieces were inexpensive models, but the views were again what I expected.  I did get some better views when I used my plossels.  I haven’t fully examined all there is to this scope, and have yet to compare it head to head with other scopes.  The diagonal mirror was of similar quality as other parts of the assembly. 

All this said, I’m going to play with the mount to see if I can get it to be a little more friendly.   I want to see if the scope warrents getting a mount update or just making something up in the workshop.   It could be  quick grab and go scope when I don’t want to lug out the reflector or set up the computerized scope.   I will be mounting a small red dot finder to make things easier to find. 

Or incomplete reporting? A story in today’s paper talks about a choir director who quit after the school disciplined him by reducing him from director to assistant director, accompanied by a 20% pay cut. What was his infraction? He let two students who “recently violated the school’s co-curricular code” dress for a concert though they did not actually perform. School code says they could not even dress for the event. Wait, they dressed for a performance?? How… how could the director allow this? Hang him by his thumbs! The students didn’t actually sing? Well so what? Hang him up anyway! To me, this punishment is only a little less ridiculous. However, before I get all bent out of shape, I have to admit to myself there may be more that the paper isn’t reporting, such as were there any problems before this that may have caused the punishment to be more severe than it otherwise would have been? However, the article really gives no indication there could me more than meets the eye.

Prospect High School choir director quits over punishment

On a side note, the former choir director at this school was convicted a couple years ago of sexual abuse of some of his students. It was all over the paper at the time and I actually had been in a musical with him at one time. So had someone else somehow involved at this blog site- you know who you are. 🙂 Just thought I’d mention it even if it’s not at all relevant.

I find it truely fascinating when I discover little tidbits about today’s youth. Recently, a first grade teacher quizzed her students on proverbial phrases. She began by handing each of her 26 pupils a slip with half of a popular saying and asked them to complete it. I was amazed at the number I did not known…..

1. Don’t change horses……………………………..until they stop running
2. It’s always darkest before……………………… Daylight Saving Time (true)
3. You can lead a horse to water but……………..How?
4. Don’t bite the hand that………………………….looks dirty (very wise)
5. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll…………………stink in the morning (don’t know that one)
6. An idle mind is……………………………………..the best way to relax (don’t I know it)
7. Where there’s smoke there’s……………………..pollution
8. Happy the bride who……………………………….gets all the presents (what about the groom?)
9. A penny saved………………………………………is not much (so true…. and won’t get you much gas for your car, either)
10. Two’s company, three’s…………………………..the Musketeer‘s
11. Laugh and the world laughs
with you, cry and………………………………………you have to blow your nose
12. There are none so blind as…………………….. Stevie Wonder (surprised 1st graders know who Stevie Wonder is)
13. Children should be seen and not…………………spanked or grounded
14. When the blind lead the blind……………………get out of the way
15. A bird in the hand………………………………….is going to poop on you (HAHAHA)

I came across this insightful tidbit while glancing at our copy of “Now Hear This” the newsletter from Kenwood Hearing Center in Toledo, Ohio.