I also LOVE this one from delias.com:
isn't it such a gorgeous color?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
it's back..
...the itch for a new coat. In almost 2 months, it will get cool/occasionally cold, and I can not wait. I have always loved winter for the sole purpose of the clothes I get to wear. Primarily the outerwear I get to wear. Coats are my #1 favorite thing about the cold. I get excited when I check weather.com and I see a cool front coming. They are my favorite thing to wear, hands down. So naturally this time of year the coats start coming out and I begin lusting after them. Right now on the top of my list are these 2 from Gap, hopefully they will go on sale in a few weeks,
I can see myself in them. And of course I'll have to bring out the superstar from last year, whitey the diva, after she's had a little altering I'm afraid. If I lived up north I would probably need a separate closet just for my coats because I would rock a different one everyday. Well maybe I should say that differently, if I lived up north and was a millionaire I would rock a different coat everyday, or at least every other day. It's bad, I know. Especially living in Texas, it's pretty ridiculous to have an obsession with coats, but I digress.
i've had it up to, well, my ears...
...with headphones.
Okay here's the thing. I have really small ears. I'll admit it, next time you see me, feel free to check them out, they're tiny. The earbuds that come standard with most mp3 players - including my ipod - do not even fit inside my ear. They just sit there, so unless i'm sitting absolutely still they're of no use, I quickly abandoned them.
Then I found this pair that are "L" shaped that are great. These lasted for a long time, but not without their own frustrsting tendencies. See the grey cap things, those are interchangeable. The headphones come with different sized sets of those to adjust for size. Naturally I needed the smallest. Well about 2 weeks after I had them one of the caps came off so I had a medium and small then about once a month a cap would fall off somewhere never to be found again until eventually I had two large caps on that hurt my ears.
Since then the last of the caps have gone missing and I've tried a slew of headphones, even the ones that kind of wrap around your ear, but alas, those are much too big.
Anyone else have this problem or any suggestions? I bought a new pair recently that are the same structurally as the ones above but the cap things are different and seem to stay on much better, but we'll see.
Okay here's the thing. I have really small ears. I'll admit it, next time you see me, feel free to check them out, they're tiny. The earbuds that come standard with most mp3 players - including my ipod - do not even fit inside my ear. They just sit there, so unless i'm sitting absolutely still they're of no use, I quickly abandoned them.
Then I found this pair that are "L" shaped that are great. These lasted for a long time, but not without their own frustrsting tendencies. See the grey cap things, those are interchangeable. The headphones come with different sized sets of those to adjust for size. Naturally I needed the smallest. Well about 2 weeks after I had them one of the caps came off so I had a medium and small then about once a month a cap would fall off somewhere never to be found again until eventually I had two large caps on that hurt my ears.
Since then the last of the caps have gone missing and I've tried a slew of headphones, even the ones that kind of wrap around your ear, but alas, those are much too big.
Anyone else have this problem or any suggestions? I bought a new pair recently that are the same structurally as the ones above but the cap things are different and seem to stay on much better, but we'll see.
Monday, September 24, 2007
high school musical
No, no this post is not about the, in my opinion, over-rated disney movie.
It's about a recent phenomena administrators are experimenting with in schools. I'm talking about the playing [read: blasting] of music over the intercom system during passing periods.
The high school I observe does this.
The first day it freaked me out a little when I heard, "ohhhhhh, oh, oh, for the longest time..." begin right after the bell rang. I asked the teacher, "Where is that music coming from?", thinking maybe students had taken to carrying around stereos, with amps? or something? How were they allowed to do this? And why were they playing Billy Joel? His response was, "Oh, yes, they play music in between classes and when it stops it means they have one minute to get to class before they are tardy."
Oh. It was still bizarre when second period ended and Blink 182 came blaring over the intercom. No joke, Blink 182! I'm pretty sure I haven't heard them since sophomore year of high school. So I quickly realized there was no rhyme or reason to the song selection, the only requirement is that the music should be so loud in the halls it is nearly impossible to have a conversation. Or yank out someone's weave.
I'm getting used to it now. However today the music player thing was a little off. The "Most Random Cycle Ever" option must have been disabled because first we heard, "Just Can't Wait to be King" from, The Lion King, seriously, almost the whole thing, it was really hard not to grab the eraser and karaoke out in the hall with accompanied dance moves. But then for the next period instead of KT Tunstall or Hootie and the Blowfish or the like, "Provincial Life" from Beauty and the Beast came on [I think is what it's called, you know the opening song when she's in the town and then she goes into the Library and has the dialogue with the Librarian - yeah we heard all of that]. Now if it was hard to supress my desire to be a college kid and bust a move and sing into an eraser before, it was as close to impossible as it gets this time, but I held out and tried to be mature, just mature with a silly grin on my face. Then for the last passing period as I was walking to the front office on my way out the Lion King song came on again so I've had that stuck in my head all day.
It's gonna be king simba's finest fling...
It's about a recent phenomena administrators are experimenting with in schools. I'm talking about the playing [read: blasting] of music over the intercom system during passing periods.
The high school I observe does this.
The first day it freaked me out a little when I heard, "ohhhhhh, oh, oh, for the longest time..." begin right after the bell rang. I asked the teacher, "Where is that music coming from?", thinking maybe students had taken to carrying around stereos, with amps? or something? How were they allowed to do this? And why were they playing Billy Joel? His response was, "Oh, yes, they play music in between classes and when it stops it means they have one minute to get to class before they are tardy."
Oh. It was still bizarre when second period ended and Blink 182 came blaring over the intercom. No joke, Blink 182! I'm pretty sure I haven't heard them since sophomore year of high school. So I quickly realized there was no rhyme or reason to the song selection, the only requirement is that the music should be so loud in the halls it is nearly impossible to have a conversation. Or yank out someone's weave.
I'm getting used to it now. However today the music player thing was a little off. The "Most Random Cycle Ever" option must have been disabled because first we heard, "Just Can't Wait to be King" from, The Lion King, seriously, almost the whole thing, it was really hard not to grab the eraser and karaoke out in the hall with accompanied dance moves. But then for the next period instead of KT Tunstall or Hootie and the Blowfish or the like, "Provincial Life" from Beauty and the Beast came on [I think is what it's called, you know the opening song when she's in the town and then she goes into the Library and has the dialogue with the Librarian - yeah we heard all of that]. Now if it was hard to supress my desire to be a college kid and bust a move and sing into an eraser before, it was as close to impossible as it gets this time, but I held out and tried to be mature, just mature with a silly grin on my face. Then for the last passing period as I was walking to the front office on my way out the Lion King song came on again so I've had that stuck in my head all day.
It's gonna be king simba's finest fling...
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
anti-wrinkle cream anyone?
I'm getting old[er]. Here's a few things I've noticed I do differently as of late:
1. I'm in bed before 10:30 every nite. Sometimes later on fridays, and special occaision saturdays.
2. The latest I've slept this whole semester is 9:30, and that was only once.
3. My new favorite thing has become getting into a made bed. I have found I love getting into a bed that is made verses a bed that is disheveled - I used to only made my bed about once a week, not anymore! So sometimes, if I didn't make it that morning I'll make my bed right before I go to bed just so I can have the feeling.
4. After seeing 1-3, apparently I value sleep a lot more than I did before.
5. I feel as if I can talk & care about today's "youth". I don't think I'm apart of that group anymore.
6. I appreciate a clean house much more than I used to.
7. I'm shopping now specifically for business casual, it's a little weird and a lot of fun.
8. I'm picturing furniture and decorating ideas in my head for a new hypothetical apartment I will have in 8-10 months.
9. I've been vaguely thinking about budgeting once I have a real job with real money.
10. .....
In other news, here are some things I found worthy of note.
NYTimes:
1. Michael Gates Gill, who once made about $160,000 a year as an advertising executive and who now earns around $10.50 an hour making coffee at Starbucks, has written a book called “How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else,” and it is so admiring of the firm, one fears he has drunk of the Grande Iced Kool-Aid.
His story — divorced, broke, entitled middle-aged white guy with brain tumor and no health insurance learns to respect persons of other races who did not go to Yale. article
1. I'm in bed before 10:30 every nite. Sometimes later on fridays, and special occaision saturdays.
2. The latest I've slept this whole semester is 9:30, and that was only once.
3. My new favorite thing has become getting into a made bed. I have found I love getting into a bed that is made verses a bed that is disheveled - I used to only made my bed about once a week, not anymore! So sometimes, if I didn't make it that morning I'll make my bed right before I go to bed just so I can have the feeling.
4. After seeing 1-3, apparently I value sleep a lot more than I did before.
5. I feel as if I can talk & care about today's "youth". I don't think I'm apart of that group anymore.
6. I appreciate a clean house much more than I used to.
7. I'm shopping now specifically for business casual, it's a little weird and a lot of fun.
8. I'm picturing furniture and decorating ideas in my head for a new hypothetical apartment I will have in 8-10 months.
9. I've been vaguely thinking about budgeting once I have a real job with real money.
10. .....
In other news, here are some things I found worthy of note.
NYTimes:
1. Michael Gates Gill, who once made about $160,000 a year as an advertising executive and who now earns around $10.50 an hour making coffee at Starbucks, has written a book called “How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else,” and it is so admiring of the firm, one fears he has drunk of the Grande Iced Kool-Aid.
His story — divorced, broke, entitled middle-aged white guy with brain tumor and no health insurance learns to respect persons of other races who did not go to Yale. article
2. Apparently if you wear Crocs on an escalator you will die. Or you will be sucked in up to your waist if you fail to make a clean exit from the machine. seriously? seriously.
and there's this,
The news on this has been out for awhile but if you haven't heard, Ben Stein has a documentary coming out in February called, "EXPELLED: No intelligence allowed." Synopsis: educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance & Ben Stein decides to investigate. Check out the website here.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
you can call me ms. g
Yesterday was my first day to observe at a local high school. I kind of had a picture of it in my head the way things would go.
I would come in and I would sit at some table at the back/side of the room and quietly take notes, observing the students' behavior, social patterns, etc.
I got to the high school and checked in with the front desk, got my little 'observer' badge, and made my way to the classroom. I got there and my teacher's door was shut and the light was off. This struck me as odd since it was about 10 minutes before class was supposed to start. I walked into the classroom next door where a teacher was making preparations for the day and asked about where Teacher Smith might be. She said he was probably at a meeting or something and would be right back. Okay. I kind of stood around and we made small talk and then a student walked in, and asked,
"Do you have Lisa Frank in your 1st period?"
"Yes, I do, can I help you?"
"Well, I'm not in your class, but my friend Adam Jones wants to ask her to homecoming and so I was going to see if you could give her a note?"
"Oh, Lisa already has a date to homecoming, Carter Creek already asked her and she said yes."
"Oh."
This felt a little leave it to beaver-esque and I wondered if the rest of my epxerience would be as innocent.
Teacher Smith showed up and we made introductions and then handed me a sheet of paper with the lesson plans on it and asked me if I would write some things on the board since he was running late. I got a little excited at this, chalk! I get to write on the board! I did that and then he asked if I would cut some poster sized pieces from the roll of brown butcher paper. Sure, anything you need. Teacher Smith was very enthusiastic and happy to have me there in the classroom, it was encouraging. When the students started filing in, I was on my hands and knees cutting butcher paper, in my cute wrap dress, trying to make sure I wasn't giving anyone a view of anything. Class started and Smith introduced me and then started talking about the new unit they were starting: Rights & Liberties! Specifically today they were studying the Bill of Rights. After a warm up assignment, and a few minutes of lecture, they were split into groups of 3 and had to come to a concensus about 10 rights/freedoms they wanted to have if they were starting their own country. Afterwards they got to walk around and see everyone else's and star one's that they disagreed with, and then we had discussion. I was on my feet the whole time passing out markers, looking at student's work, etc., by the second class Smith was having me answer questions, and at the end of the 3rd period Smith asked me if I wanted to lead the discussion!
"Umm...sure!"
I was supposed to lead an open discussion about what the students thought about their own rights, other groups, and one's they disagreed with. I panicked for about 2 seconds. How did he start the discussions before, what were the exact questions he asked?
The discussion went off without a hitch. Out of some deep place came teacher mode and the questions and prompting came out automatically. It was like I had been mediating opinionated high schoolers arguing about religion, marijuana, taxes, and gay marriage for years!
It was amazing hearing [some] of them actually think about what they were saying and thinking deeply about the ramifications of their decisions and completely heart-wrenching to hear of others complete intolerance and hatred. After class I was talking to Smith and he was highly impressed with the job I did and I told him about my desire for the students is that they would just learn to THINK. They would go beyond superficial, ad hominem arguments. I told him I wanted to change the world one high school student at a time. I momentarily wondered if there was a teacher worth his salt that didn't start out that way. Smith smiled at me knowingly and told me of his desires for teaching. We bonded.
I got to my car and sat for the first time in 3 hours, welcoming the tiredness, I left, changed out of my superhero teacher's clothes into a t-shirt and jeans to go to class. For the rest of the day it felt as if it was meaningful, that somehow my day meant something to me because I was doing something not for myself, like somehow I contributed a small bread crumb to society, to those high school seniors. I think because not once during my 3 hours in Smith's class was I ever motivated by how much I would gain, but only how much could I help these students. For once I had a break in my day from revolving around me.
It was good. I'm going back tomorrow.
I would come in and I would sit at some table at the back/side of the room and quietly take notes, observing the students' behavior, social patterns, etc.
I got to the high school and checked in with the front desk, got my little 'observer' badge, and made my way to the classroom. I got there and my teacher's door was shut and the light was off. This struck me as odd since it was about 10 minutes before class was supposed to start. I walked into the classroom next door where a teacher was making preparations for the day and asked about where Teacher Smith might be. She said he was probably at a meeting or something and would be right back. Okay. I kind of stood around and we made small talk and then a student walked in, and asked,
"Do you have Lisa Frank in your 1st period?"
"Yes, I do, can I help you?"
"Well, I'm not in your class, but my friend Adam Jones wants to ask her to homecoming and so I was going to see if you could give her a note?"
"Oh, Lisa already has a date to homecoming, Carter Creek already asked her and she said yes."
"Oh."
This felt a little leave it to beaver-esque and I wondered if the rest of my epxerience would be as innocent.
Teacher Smith showed up and we made introductions and then handed me a sheet of paper with the lesson plans on it and asked me if I would write some things on the board since he was running late. I got a little excited at this, chalk! I get to write on the board! I did that and then he asked if I would cut some poster sized pieces from the roll of brown butcher paper. Sure, anything you need. Teacher Smith was very enthusiastic and happy to have me there in the classroom, it was encouraging. When the students started filing in, I was on my hands and knees cutting butcher paper, in my cute wrap dress, trying to make sure I wasn't giving anyone a view of anything. Class started and Smith introduced me and then started talking about the new unit they were starting: Rights & Liberties! Specifically today they were studying the Bill of Rights. After a warm up assignment, and a few minutes of lecture, they were split into groups of 3 and had to come to a concensus about 10 rights/freedoms they wanted to have if they were starting their own country. Afterwards they got to walk around and see everyone else's and star one's that they disagreed with, and then we had discussion. I was on my feet the whole time passing out markers, looking at student's work, etc., by the second class Smith was having me answer questions, and at the end of the 3rd period Smith asked me if I wanted to lead the discussion!
"Umm...sure!"
I was supposed to lead an open discussion about what the students thought about their own rights, other groups, and one's they disagreed with. I panicked for about 2 seconds. How did he start the discussions before, what were the exact questions he asked?
The discussion went off without a hitch. Out of some deep place came teacher mode and the questions and prompting came out automatically. It was like I had been mediating opinionated high schoolers arguing about religion, marijuana, taxes, and gay marriage for years!
It was amazing hearing [some] of them actually think about what they were saying and thinking deeply about the ramifications of their decisions and completely heart-wrenching to hear of others complete intolerance and hatred. After class I was talking to Smith and he was highly impressed with the job I did and I told him about my desire for the students is that they would just learn to THINK. They would go beyond superficial, ad hominem arguments. I told him I wanted to change the world one high school student at a time. I momentarily wondered if there was a teacher worth his salt that didn't start out that way. Smith smiled at me knowingly and told me of his desires for teaching. We bonded.
I got to my car and sat for the first time in 3 hours, welcoming the tiredness, I left, changed out of my superhero teacher's clothes into a t-shirt and jeans to go to class. For the rest of the day it felt as if it was meaningful, that somehow my day meant something to me because I was doing something not for myself, like somehow I contributed a small bread crumb to society, to those high school seniors. I think because not once during my 3 hours in Smith's class was I ever motivated by how much I would gain, but only how much could I help these students. For once I had a break in my day from revolving around me.
It was good. I'm going back tomorrow.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
help?
Okay so doing the posts about my vacation brought out the worst in my OCD. Does anyone know why when you space things perfectly when you're composing it changes it all once you click publish post? Like there will be extra lines or it will delete lines. How compact the font is, is always different. It would almost bring me to tears when I couldn't get everything spaced neatly. I finally took to editing the html code and that helped some, as I know nothing about it, I just look for patterns.
Anyone? Anyone? [Bueller?]
Anyone? Anyone? [Bueller?]
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