Mail Happenings

It's always a good day when this shows up in your mailbox.




That's right. A full-size rubber chicken. Jealous?

There are three great things about this chicken.

First, it's a CHICKEN.
Second, it's from a friend who obviously knows my taste and cares enough to send the very best.
Third, I don't know who sent it.

Why is it a good thing I don't know who sent it? Think about it. If you get a rubber chicken in the mail and don't know exactly who sent it, that means you have more than one friend capable of pulling off such hilarity. Your life is rich, indeed.

I wasn't the only one getting goodies in the mail. Zack got his prize from Marie.




It arrived intact with no meltage whatsoever. (However, if, by chance, your chocolate that you ordered online arrives melted, you just put it in the fridge and it hardens up, plus you get the chocolate for freeeee and also get coupons to buy more chocolate. But I digress...) Suffice it to say, mailing chocolate in the fall is much better than mailing it in the summer.

Thanks Marie! You're our favorite first cousin once removed living in California!

And I do have my suspicions as to who lovingly placed the chicken in my mailbox. You know who you are.

The REAL end of the world.

Forget the whole "the Second Coming is nigh" stuff we've been hearing for the past hundred years or so. The REAL end of the world, apparently, is February 17, 2009 when all analog signals will switch to digital... FOR GOOD.
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I was just reading the paper and read this quote from the president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service. She's talking about how some people just don't realize the magnitude of this change and probably won't be ready when the time comes.

"There are a large number of households that have a couple sets hooked up to the cable, but they've got the rabbit-ears set in the kids' bedroom or in the playroom or in the basement where the kids are hanging out. And I'm really worried about those kids suddenly getting cut off."

She almost makes it sound like a drug addiction these kids have. Almost...

What WILL we do when the T.V.'s of children around the nation are suddenly silent? They won't be able to watch T.V. in their bedrooms or their playrooms or their basements where they sometimes hang out! The kids will have to *shudder* play with their toys, talk to their friends and family, or, heaven forbid, go outside!

Too cynical? I can never tell....

(To help ease this lady's mind, the T.V.'s will probably only be silent for a day or two until the parents go to the store and buy a converter box or, better yet, a whole brand spankin' new (that's right, SPANKIN' new) digital T.V. for the kids.)

Sunday

"Camping"

Did you know that scouts can camp down at Bountiful Lake? Lest you campers get all excited, they don't let anyone else camp there. Just scouts.
At first glance you might think Bountiful Lake, located roughly 5 miles away, would not be a good camping spot.
Here's a list of reasons why it IS a good camping spot:

*When you forget the fleece blanket you'll be needing because the temperature will reach 30 degrees that night, your wife a friend of scouting can bring it to you.

*When you realize that nobody brought newspaper to start a fire, said friend of scouting can bring that to you, also.

*When you get ready to have hot chocolate because it's freaking cold outside and you realize you forgot cups, once again the friend of scouting can bring you some.

*When you're playing "Steal the Flag" in the dark and don't see the trench full of muddy water, you can go home and clean up.

Totally Random

Kaden: Teacher, can you make David eat bacon?
Me: No.
Kaden: But I really want you to make him eat bacon.
Me: (What in the....?) Why?
Kaden: Because I want him to eat bacon.
Me: Why do you want him to eat bacon?
Kaden: Because I want to be in charge of him!
Me: Well, if I tell him to eat bacon, then I'M in charge of him.
Kaden: Oh.

S.O.S.

This is an urgent cry for help. There are two adults trapped in a house with 21 chocolate lasagna cupcakes.

I repeat, there are TWO ADULTS TRAPPED in a house with 21 CHOCOLATE LASAGNA cupcakes.

We can't hold out much longer.

The outcome looks inevitable.

(Happy Birthday tomorrow, Zack!)

Politics

My students have been pretty interested in this whole election thing. ....at least they've been interested since yesterday when the school librarian talked to them about it. They keep asking each other who they're going to vote for. Then they give each other high fives if they both said the same person. They're bonding. I think.

Their political views (or those of their parents) have gone so far as to change what is right and wrong when it comes to important stuff, like math learnding.

Today I was giving them a "test". (I use that term lightly because, in my opinion, it was a complete waste of time on the school district's part. In fact, more than being a waste of time, it's actually a detriment to time. Not only does it keep me from doing more important things with my class, it actually decreases the learning in my room. Did you hear that school district? It's DECREASING LEARNING! Anyways...) In the test there was a picture of a row of elephants and donkeys in a pattern. The question asked "Which comes next in the pattern?"
Me, being the bonehead teacher that I was, decided to disrupt their concentration in figuring out the answer to inform them that the donkey and the elephant were symbols used by the presidential candidates and the groups they belonged to. After I told when which candidate went with which animal, I noticed several of them changing their answer to the symbol that represented their political choice. Eh, they don't get to vote, so at least they got to vote in their own special way.

The confusion mounts...
While we were having a discussion about the election (this one wasn't during the test), I asked my kids if they knew who the current president was. After getting a few responses of "George Washington!" and "George Lincoln!" I told them it was George W. Bush. I explained that we called him George W. Bush because his dad was also George Bush and he was a president before him.
I heard one of my students say "Hey, I'm named after my uncle, so I should be Joseph W."