Friday Night Beer Pic

Well, its Friday night again, folks, and by now we should all know what that means.

Yep...another great beer pic!

The weather in Boston was GORGEOUS today. 71 degrees and sunny. Heaven!

Anyway, this picture is a shot of Munich's celebrated Augistinerhaus. Neither Stephen nor I particularly loved this beer, but we enjoyed the place. Great atmosphere and of course, the outdoor seating!

Enjoy your weekend. May it be long and beer-drenched!

Thousands March in Protest of Juanita Sanchez's Silence!

INTERNATIONAL outrage at the sudden removal of the celebrated blog, "Juanita's Casita" from the Blogger website has reached fever pitch in the past 24 hours.

People in major cities around the world, from Beijing, China to Lima, Peru have taken to the streets to demand Sanchez's return to the world of blogging.

"She's left us out in the cold, slammed the door of Juanita's Casita right in our virtual faces," laments Johannes Albrecht of Berlin, Germany. "How could Juanita do this to us? Has she forgotten that we have come to depend upon her witty blog entries to carry us through our day?"

Mr. Albrecht is not the only one who fondly recalls the days of Sanchez's frequent posts. "I guess I used to take it for granted that I would be able to read about what was going on in her life. I never realized how her cute turns of phrase or self-depricating humor helped add a fun little zing to my day," said Fiona Walsh of Dublin, Ireland.

Sanchez reportedly removed her missives from the Blogger website because of some comments she had made in regards to an upcoming trial.

Ms. Nancy, a civics teacher from Boston, Massachusetts has made several attempts to persuade Sanchez to return to the blogger scene by reminding her of her Constitutional right to free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Nancy reminded Sanchez that this right also extends to written word.

"Yeah, that might be what your little teachers' edition tells you, but just wait until you've found yourself on this side of the long arm of the law," retorted Sanchez when confronted with this "pathetic attempt at an entirely unsollicited civics lesson." Juanita further quipped, "If I had given a shit about civics, I would have listened to my windbag 8th grade teacher instead of making out with the boys in the back of the class."

Ms. Nancy is not offended by Sanchez's frosty response. "I understand that Juanita is under a lot of pressure here. I mean, sure, I can sit there, perched comfortably at my metal desk on which an obviously functionally illiterate student wrote, 'fork you' at some point before I even started teaching at the school, and say that she has the right to free speech. It is she, though, who has to stand there before Judge Wapner in a court of law and potentially explain why she has lengthy missives of trial-related commentary nestled snugly between tales of her kids' runny noses and her sister's new boyfriend."

Other faithful followes of Sanchez's blog, however, are not so understanding.

Reesie of York, Maine was devastated upon learning of the blog's removal from the site. "At first I thought it was an accident," Reesie reported from her computer station at work. (Let the record note that Reesie was blogging on her own personal site during company hours.) Reesie contacted her cousin, Ms. Nancy, through whose blog she originally came to be a frequenter of Juanita's Casita. "I could not believe it when I heard that the removal of the blog was intentional on Juanita's behalf," Reesie said. "Why would anybody rook you in, make you a faithful reader, make their blog a significant part of your day, and then just let you down like that?" Reesie could only shake her head at this point, clearly still in disbelief.

Surfwhine of California is also curious about the whereabouts of Juanita's blog. "I have tried to contact several people in my little virtual blogging community, but there has been no information forthcoming." Other bloggers are apparently trying to hide the upsetting news from this reader in order to avoid further emotional upset among Sanchez's most faithful readers.

Lizfwiz of Florida is holding a candel light vigil in her church to pray for the safe return of Junita's Casita.

Although Sanchez cannot be reached for comment and appears to be have gone into hiding, sources close to the once prolific blogger report that she checks in regularly to read the Jovifan blog. To that end, this story has been posted here so that she may find it and realize that millions around the globe have mobilized themselves to voice their desire for her to return to the world of blogging.



One group of young protesters in Sydney, Australia held up this sign to send the message that they will not surrender until the Casita is once again open for business.

Things Heard in a 7th Grade Classroom.

Welcome to Grade 7.

Welcome to my life.

I think most people agree that their middle school years were some of the worst, most awkward years of their lives. Most people are very happy to have moved beyond this downright unpleasant phase of their lives. I, however, relive this era day after day, year after year.

It isn't all bad; I actually enjoy my job. Sometimes, though, things can get a little exhausting.



I constantly have to remind my kids that, being a 7th grade teacher, I am endowed with 7th grade teacher ears. I can hear everything. I could be in a deep slumber and if a pin were to drop in a house two streets over, I'd jump straight up and demand, "What? Who? Who dat?"

These kids are often amazed at the fact that I can hear the faintest of whispers from all the way across a crowded and noisey classroom full of kids. This, of course, does not stop them from saying inappropriate things, using filthy language and harassing other kids all within my 500 mile-radius earshot.

I hear it all.

Every last word.

Every last threat.

Every last swear.

Every last sexual tale of woe.

Everly last blatant lie.

Every last rumor.

All of it.

The following are a list of some of the things I've heard this past week alone. Some of them require some set-up or explanations. Others are pretty self-evident and require no further clairifcation.



1. Today was the kick off of the dreaded MCAS test for students across the state. As my class hunkered down to get moving on the "Long Composition" phase of the test (one of many phases), I informed them that all across the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, every single 7th grader in every single public school was settling in at that exact moment to start the exact same test. One of my students asked if the test was given in all 50 states. I explained that, no, this test, "MCAS" actually stands for "Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System." (I didn't think anything of the question, to be honest. When we were kids, they were always throwing standardized tests at us and we never gave much thought to the acronyms for them). I figured enlightening the kid as to the meaning of the "M" in MCAS, I would be able to answer her question. Instead, as soon as I revealed the meaning of "MCAS," she just sat there, looked a little confused and said, "Ok, but do kids in other states take it?" I looked at her and asked, "You mean, do students in other States take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System?" To which she replied, "Yeah, do they?" I was about to clarify another time when another of the students chimed in with, "Hey! Do students in other countries take MCAS?" Ah...but of course. MCAS is a useful assessment tool for children in Thailand, Mongolia, Massachusetts and Peru alike!

2. The MCAS writing prompt involved students having to write about an after school activity that they would ideally like to se offered in their school district. The whole idea behind this portion of the test is to see if kids can pull off the task of constructing the all-important 5-paragraph essay, complete with intro, 3 body paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details, and conclusion. One of the students asked me if she was supposed to write about one activity, or several. Annoyingly enough, I cannot help kids on the test. I encouraged her to reread the question and look for whether they were speaking in singular or plurals, etc. Following the test, I asked her what she wrote about (for we are FORBIDDEN to look at their work), and she told me that she wrote about three clubs in which she participated last year. However, from the sound of it, she spent most of the essay talking about the fact that the woman who ran the gardening club once brough her twin toddler boys to the club, and how one of them fell and hurt his knees. it seemed, judging from my conversation with her, that she spent at least 3 paragraphs addressing the issue of this kid's knee injury.

3. On the way to the cafeteria following the test, one student said to another, "Oh, there was a question we had to answer? I just did a free-write."

After that comment, I had to tune any and all MCAS conversation out.

4. Yesterday a student, who does absolutely no homework, classwork, writing assignments or assigned readings, was sitting in my class seemingly sneaking around with a notebook on his lap while the rest of the students were editing their essays on the laptops. I made my way back to the kid only to find that he was doing the evening's homework rather than the essay. When I questioned him on his he replied, "Well, I don't feel like doing the essay. I might as well do the homework so I don't have to take a zero on that, too. If I'm not going to do the essay, I can at least use this time to do my homework." I took the paper, ripped it up and then told him to start over.

5. A student who is constantly screwing around on the way to my class following morning snack in his own homeroom made one of his regular "water fountain pit stops" on his way to my class yesterday. Before he could even stoop to take a drink I busted him. I told him he could have taken care of quenching his thirst during his 25 minute recess and that he had better get himself to class. He said, "How is the Somerville Journal going to feel when I call "Speak Out" to tell them you're trying to kill me by refusing to let me get water?" I told him I suspected he'd manage to survive the 45 minute period without a drink. He didn't like that. I didn't care.

6. Somebody stole a ten dollar bill out of a Lukemia Lymphoma Society collection box I have in my homeroom, so I have ruled my classroom to be off limits in the mornings and othewise unless I'm there in the room. I said, "Somebody was dishonest..." One kid in the front row said, "I'll say what Ms. B. is too nice to say or isn't allowed to say. Somebody was a real scumbag for stealing money from charity and if we find out who did that, we're gonna give you a mad beating." I had to quickly rephrase this child's sentiments in order to remove all threat of physical violence. I used the whimpier but less controversial, "This person was very unkind and will be reprimanded appropriate if and when we find out who he or she is."

7. I overheard one student say to another, "It practically wasn't even sex. We had most of our clothes on for most of it."
Ahhhh.....?

Yep, I hear it all.

Every day.

Of

my

life

I live for summers and vacations!!!!

Dan Walks the Plank!

Last night Dan was pretty bad, but did he deserve to be fired?

Sure, he produced a crap commerical. Christ, he consented to filming a major cruise line commercial featuring a man in distress at sea. Stupid. I know, let's film an airline commercial showing passangers sitting there with oxygen tanks spilling from the cieling while turbulance tosses them about the cabin. You get my drift.

Sure, Dan was not a strong leader. He was chaotic. He did not delegate responsibilities to people. When his teammates tried to take any creative control at all, he shut them right down. Later in the boardroom, he critisized the same people for not "stepping up to the plate."

But, I go back to my original question: did Dan deserve to be fired?

I think the short answer is no. Not when Tarek, who is such a regular in the boardroom that his presence there is just a given from week to week, made some fatal mistakes during the task and, once again, found himself begging the Donald for his life.



Tarek has returned to the boardroom more than any other "Donald Trump Show" candidate than I can remember. And the season is not even halfway over. During this task, he was confrontational. He was pontificating about the virtues of a text-only commercial with no voice-overs, claiming that he has expert knowledge of the advertising industry and could guarantee that with enough exposure to the commercial, viewers would eventually get the message.

Did he not understand that he had once chance to present the commercial to the cruise execs? Once chance! This was not about osmosis through repeated viewing or subliminal advertising. This was about hitting the nail on the head and giving the execs a pretty basic, and easy-to-follow commercial.

Trump really appears to hate Tarek, but somehow, in spite of his repeated appearances in the boardroom, Trump keeps granting him stays of execution. Why? I'm not sure. Is Tarek Trump's secret illigetimate love child or something? Maybe Trump thinks he's cute? I mean, I have to admit that in spite of the empty MENSA head, I think Tarek is a pretty cute looking guy.

The fact that Trump called Tarek an "embarrassment" and said that MENSA must have written a bum assessment test does not bode well for Tarek. I think he might be on his way out soon.

Reesie has Tarek as her season's pick. Seeing as where she's mopping the floor with the rest of us in the Fantasy Game, I have to say that I wouldn't mind seeing Tarek get canned so that those elusive bonus points would slip out of Reesie's grasp!



Lenny was an idiot. He came up with the stupid idea. But when Dan had the opportunity to bring Lenny back to the boardroom, he declined, opting instead to bring only Lee, (whom Trump had basically said during the initial phase of the boardroom meeting, hadn't done anything wrong.) and Tarek. I guess Tarek was a good call. I mean, when you're bringing the guy back for like the 10th time, you have to imagine that the Donald will be annoyed by his repetitive blunders and get rid of the jerk.

Obviously events did not unfold in this way. In fact, Trump seemed to be gunning for Lenny the most, even though Lenny was not there. He HATED Lenny's concept.

It would appear that Dan was fired less for his lack of task leadership and more for his failure to recognize Lenny as the driving force behind the team's loss.




Can I just say that I can't stand Andrea? Why was she all up in Roxanne's grill? Roxanne made a statement last week that Charmaine was the best team leader she'd had up to that point. Andrea took that as a personal affront and confronted Roxanne, basically demanding to know why Roxanne had pointed to Charmaine as the best leader to date and not her.

It was ironic because Andrea kept telling Roxanne, "We're not here to be coddled." And yet, even as she was saying that, she was basically begging Roxanne to take back her comments and concede that Andrea had been the best leader. Obviously Andrea needs the reassurance and therefore is in high need of the very coddling for which she claims to have no patience.

Andrea is just a mean bitch. And the fact that she is now aiming the big guns at Roxanne, my season's pick and my favorite person on the cast, I am hating her even more.




Roxanne...

Even though your commerical was boring and lacking in creativitiy, I'm so glad you brought your team through to victory. I was praying all night that you would pull through. Every week that your team wins is another week that I keep you on my winner board for potential bonus points!!

Amazing Reality Show Amazingly Overlooked...Until Now!

As many of you have heard/read me lament, I have neither extensive cable nor remote control. Most of the time, my television is tuned into NBC by default. The Donald Trump Show is on NBC on Monday nights, so the TV just kind of sits there, tuned to NBC. Naturally I'm too lazy to walk over to the TV and flip through the 5 stations I actually receive. Therefore, when you are all blogging about American Idol, Sopranos or whatever shows you watch, I can't partake of the conversation because either the show is not on NBC, or I don't have the sexy cable to even be able to watch the shows under discussion.

There is, however, one show that I actually watch that requires not only getting up to change the station, but actually being aware of when the show is on. That show is CBS's "The Amazing Race."

I freakin' love this show.

If you're unfamiliar with it, the concept is relatively simple.

Several teams (usually groups of 2, although they have had "family seasons" in the past), race around the world, stopping in random ass countries and performing all kinds of ridiculous tasks and challenges. The challanges are not grotesque a la Fear Factor, nor are they pointlessly physical a la Survivor (although the game in and of itself seems absolutely exhausing and there are a lot of very physical tasks...just not pointlessly physical). Teams are not voted off the island at Tribal Councils. They are not judged by a drunken Paula Abdul. They are not chucked off the show for refusing to eat pig ovaries or bull balls.

They are just given a task to perform and they have to NOT be the last team to complete any given task. The teams have to complete a task in a given country (at the season opener of the current series, they started in Brazil), and then fly to another country (Their next stop was in Russia, which required a 7,000 mile flight), where the next task begins as soon as they arrive.

It seems pretty grueling. The last team eliminated, a mother daughter pair, discussed their disappointment at losing at the end of the show. I had been watching these tasks over a period of four weeks, but for them, the 4 legs of the trip actually took place over only a four day period. In those four days, they went from Denver, CO to Brazil to Moscow to Munich. In Brazil they climbed a waterfall, flew a helicopter over the massive city of Rio until they found some random building, scaled down the side of a sky scraper. They then had to race to the airport, and get to Russia. In Russia, they had to dive 20 meters into an outdoor pool (dead of Russian winter), find some chapel, then undo thousands of Russian nesting dolls until they found a message. From there, they had to race to Munich, where they had to perform several more demanding and exhausting tasks. One of those tasks included learning an intricate Bavarian folk dance as seen here...



It is a fun show to watch, and it stimulates the brain a litte more than your typical reality show, where people are sitting in a living room complaining about each other a la Big Brother.

At least the stupid tasks in "The Amazing Race" are being performed against backgrounds such as this..



And if beautiful scenery such as Moscow's famed St. Basil's Cathedral and Red Square don't do it for you, you can be guaranteed to enjoy the view of the show's host, the handsome Phil K.




Perhaps the show speaks to me because I love travel and anything related thereto. But really, I think most of you would enjoy it and should give it a try!

By the way, these two fools (below), BJ and Tyler, are my favorites. They are total hippies and nothing bothers them. I think their laid back attitude, ability to find humor in adverse circumstances, and refusal to get uptight will carry them through to victory. But man, they are a couple of STRANGE dudes!

Weekend Tribute to Beer

I got busted by Juanita Sanchez again for slacking on my friday night beer duties.

I have an excuse. I did my two step classes and then went out for a few BEERS with my buddy, Gene.

So, you see, even if I was not doing my duty of posting beer pictures, at the very least we can say that I was not neglecting my beer-drinking responsibilities. That would NEVER happen!

Hope you girls have a great weekend.

is it pathetic that I'm posting this at 6:45 Saturday morning before I go to the gym to take a class to try to sweat out last night's beer?

Then I'll have a beer tonight and have to go to the gym tomorrow. Damn. If I would just quit drinking beer, I could quit the gym and save serious cash. But that just wouldn't be any fun!!

This Jovi News Just In....

I just tuned into "Extra" completely by accident. Thank God I did. There, gracing my ghetto TV screen was our Lord and Savior, JBJ.

He is apparently going to be playing in an episode of "The West Wing." I have never seen the show. I had best go and rent all the past 34 seasons on DVD so as to be able to perfectly follow everything Jovi is up to in the show.

Homework Capers, Dumbells and Salmon Maki

I have a student who has proven himself to be so untrustworthy and malicious, that even when I allow him to take a drink at the fountain outside of my classroom, I open the door and watch while he drinks. If I didn't do this, he'd be down in the boys' room, terrorizing other kids faster than I could say "inhouse suspension."

I have another student who is one of the most pleasant, hardworking, delightful students I have ever had in my entire career. She regularly comes to see me in the morning to make sure her homework is done correctly or to ask me about a questions she didn't understand the night before. She would never even think of coming to class unprepared or without every single question answered to the best of her ability. She is one of the only kids in the sea of apathetic faces who actually seems, not only to be listening, but to actually care about what I'm saying.

Anyway, the first kid often intimidates the girl. He picks on her for being a good student or for the fact that the teachers like and praise her.

Today, a colleague found the boy at the main office photocopy machine. She asked who had sent him to make copies, knowing full well that nobody in their right mind would send this kid on office errands. He balked and didn't have an answer, even as he was shoving the paper into his pocket. My colleague demanded to see the paper, and within seconds of looking it over, realized that it was, indeed, the gir's homework, perfectly done, of course. He had procured her homework and was photocopying it MULTIPLE TIMES, presumably to provide himself and his buddies with her work to copy.

My colleague took all of the papers, including the original paper which belonged to the girl, and said that she was going to hand them all over to the science teacher, whose assignment it was.

This all happened quite late in the day and the kids had to hussle out for the busses. Follow through was not really possible.

I was in my room at around 35 minutes following dismissal and the girl came to my door. She asked if we could talk. Her opening line was, "I've done something really, really bad. I gave my homeowrk to ______." I felt really badlly for her. She did something wrong, that's for sure. But it is probably the first time in her life that she didn't operate completely above board.

We had a long talk about how that boy does not respect her and that he was using and bullying her.

Then, the kicker was that the girl told me that during science class, while she was with the teacher having her essay reviewed, another female classmate asked to be excused to the restroom. The teacher allowed it, but as the girl walked by, she grabbed the paper of the first girl from the student's desk and took it to photocopy it. The girl said that she was afriad to call the teacher's attention to it because she does not want the other kids to turn on her.

I told the girl not to worry, that she should just talk to the science teacher tomorrow, first thing, and that he'll understand. He is a really nice guy.

But I could tell this poor kid was almost physically sick over it and probably won't be able to sleep tonight.

I really felt so sorry to see her so upset when you know that the jerks who stole her work don't even think twice about it.

I explained to her that these kids are not her friends, they do not respect her and they are looking for instant gratification.

Jesus, I would not want to be a teenager again.



I took a strength training class after the gym today and I don't know if I should have. My back is acting up a little now. I'm relegated to another night of sleeping on the floor with the heating bad.



But to console myself for my busted back pain, I did stop at the supermarket and pick up a tray of fresh salmon maki. Delish!

Brent Gets His Walking Papers

The walking "disaster," Brent, finally gets dissed and dismissed by the Donald. I was so tempted to pick Brent as the guy to get canned in this week's App-Reese-tice game, but it seemed too obvious. I just never pegged the Donald for one to fall victim to predictable behavior patterns. Oh well, I might have taken a hit on this one, but here's a message/warning to all you suckers who picked Brent as the weekly fire...

Now that Brent's outta there, your predictions won't be so easy! I don't even count the points you fools earned. I'm mentally subtracting them from your totals. Now, be prepared to get your real game on!

Anyway, this week's episode was not really all that dramatic. No major SNAFU plagued either group. There were no physical altercations. No broken computers or lost files. Nobody got lost or damaged any major equipment. It was a pretty uneventful show.

The task at hand was to design a billboard for Post Cereal's new "Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch" cereal. It actually didn't seem that daunting a task. Each team has members who claim to have some artistic ability, so this task should have been a simple feat for them.

So, join me as I recap what I feel were the show's most important moments...



Once again, Brent asserted his opinions loudly and in a rather boarish manner. He spent much of the meeting eagerly waving his hand in the air in order to get somebody, anybody, in the group to acknowledge his asinine comments and input. Rather reminiscent of Arnold Horseshack, isn't it?

When Brent "stepped up to the plate" * to offer his "expert presentation services" for the final meeting with the Post execs, Tammy, the project leader, decided to take a pass. She put Brent in charge of the ever important task of "wardrobe coordination" for the presentation.

Ivanka Trump, who was overseeing the group in Carolyn's stead, seemed rather disgusted at Tammy's decision in this regard. She said that although Brent was a blundering idiot through and through, Tammy should try to prove herself capable of managing him by delegating more important tasks to him. I agree with her.

Either that or they should have given a really important job to Brent, knowing full well that he would flub it up. This way, the could have given him enough rope to hang himself and essentially let him self-destruct. I think they might have kicked that idea around briefly, but they decided that not only would Brent become a sacrificial lamb, but the entire team might fail, endangering other players.

Boy..what team spirit!

Back to Brent and Tammy...

Tammy told Brent, basically in so many words, that his physical gerth was not aligned with the obviously health-conscious consumer base that Post is trying to target with Grape Nuts products. Wow! Later in the board room, when Brent brought this up, I thought the Donals might jump to his defense. In the past, Trump has blasted people for holding people's religious practices against them, etc. I thought he would find this sort of "discrimination" totally unprofessional, but surprisingly, he agreed with Tammy and said that he probably would have made the same decision.

That did surprise me.




Brent really didn't need much help nailing his own coffin shut. The above picture shows Brent in a pants-ironing frenzy, even as his teammates are fully dressed and waiting by the door for him to get his ass out the door.

Totally unprofessional.




At any rate, these are the billboards.

The Synergy Billboard (Brent's team), shows a "father" and daughter pair, enjoying a box of Grapenuts Trail Mix Crunch.

Boy...where do I start?

First of all, the woman they chose to be in the photo was adorable, but the man who they cast as her "father" could have easily passed as her boyfriend or brother. Who the hell were they kidding in trying to portray these two as father and daughter? I don't think the average customer, who would see this for just several seconds during a drive by on the freeway, would reasonably conclude that this pair were supposed to be father and daughter.

There was too much print on the box. The graphics were presented in about 34 different fonts and colors and the "logo" was like an entire paragraph.

The Gold Rush team ran with Bryce's idea to go with the concept of a woman emptying the box of cereal into her mouth, as if "quenching her thirst" for Grapenuts. I found it kind of boring, but the Post people loved it. I guess I'll never have a lucrative career in advertising.

Can I just add here that the members of both teams were so absolutely schmoozy and cheesy when they approached their model recruits in the streets of Manhattan? Yuck! If one of those groups came up to me with that demeanor, I'd run in the other direction. I'd be thinking for sure they wanted to make a dress out of my skin or some shit.

In the end, that Andrea woman should have born more responsibility for the task failure. She is allegedly a multi-millionaire whose fortune is derived from her brilliance in graphic design. The thing she designed looked like the "Intro to Power Point" course my 7th graders are currently completing in their I.T. class.

However, none of the teammates were willing to send Tammy up the river because they seemed to have all figured out that if they kept hammering away at Brent, the Donald would feel the pressure to dump him.

I guess that was one strategy they actually succeeded in executing flawlessly because the Donald heeded their plaintive cries and dumped Brent!



I do just want to say that I was left wondering when the hell the Donald Trump Show turned into MTV's the Real World. In every season of the Real World, viewers are treated to the gratuitous footage of multiple people lying in bed together. What the hell was up with Sean, Roxanne and Allie having a freaking threesome on the Trump Show? The funny thing is that Sean seemed, if anything, to be in the way of Roxanne and Allie. They were wrapped around each other like a couple of pretzels.

Who knows what will happen next on the Trump Show!

* I propose a drinking game. Every time one of the candidates utters the expression, "Step up" or "step up to the plate" chug a beer. You'd best to invest in a keg for each viewer in your home before next Monday!

Paint me a Picture...

A wet pain sign. It could have been as simple as that.

Really.

It could have.

I was at the Stop and Shop Store in Somerville early this morning with the inention of picking up a few things for lunch for the week. None of the registers were actually being manned by any human beings. The only registers open for business were the self-checkout ones. Normally I use these anyway, but today nothing would scan properly. An employee came over to help, but she could not get the stuff to scan either. I looked at my watch. It was going on 7:15. In the better interest of time, I decided I had to abandon my items and abort the shopping mission. However, I decided I would make a quick stop for coffee at the in-shop Dunkin Donuts. I had no cash, so I stopped at the Citizens Bank ATM and withdrew a couple of dollars.

I ordered my coffee with skim milk, but the guy working at the Dunks had no skim milk. Before I had the chance to tell him that I could just take regular milk, he dashed out of the Dunkins store and ran to the dairy area. The supermarket is huge, so even though he was running at a pretty good pace, I knew I would be in for a good few minutes' wait.

When the guy returned, all apologies for having had to keep me waiting, he proceeded to prepare my order. All of a sudden, I looked down and noticed that the two straps to my backpack (black) were totally covered in something white. I asked the customer in line behind me if I had anything on my jacket. "Yes," she replied, "Whatever it is, is all over your jacket."

Sure enough, upon further investigation into the matter, I realized that the ATM was being painted and there was no wet paint warning sign in the vicinity. Furthermore, the man who was supposed to be painting had begun the job and then taken off, so it was not as if I had the chance to even notice somebody standing nearby painting.

The store manager came over and joined me in confronting the painter.

I was fuming when the painters attitude proved to be totally cavalier and nonchalant. He told me to give him the jacket so he could take it to the mens room and wash it off.

Was he freakin' serious?

I told the store manager that the jacket was a 249.99 EMS Fusion jacket. With this, the painter looks over at me and snaps at me, "That jacket ain't worth no 250. I shop at EMS all the time and that jacket ain't no 250!" He further accused me of "trying to rook an honest business and make a penny."

Honest business?

How about a little professionalism in the way of posting Wet Paint signs?

When he started in about the jacket, I lost it. I said, "Hey, let's not talk about EMS price points; let's talk about your complete lack of professionalism and competence."

I asked him to give me the name of his company, and he balked. Finally the store manager told the guy to just give me the information.

It was just some guy's name. I managed to get the painter to admit that the owner of "the business" was his brother.

We can all see where this is going.

The store manager was helpful and promised to pass my name and number along to the manager of the bank.

At some point, I became so annoyed with the painter that I called him an "unprofessional jerk." Later in the conversation, he called me "sweetheart" or something, which further infuriated me. I told him that he would be well advised to employ no further terms of endearment with me. To this he replied, "Yeah, you called me a jerk. I'll call you whatever I want." I said, "But you are a jerk. I was just stating the facts."

I finally declared that I had to take off. Just before I left, the painter said, "I don't know what you're so upset about. That paint will come off with a little soap and water."

I just looked at him and asked, "Yeah? Is that why you're painting in a fucking protective painter's smock? If you have that much confidence in the facility with which one can remove this paint, why aren't you here painting in an Armani suit?"

This pretty much silenced the jerk and I took off.

Once I got to school, I contacted EMS customer service. The jacket is no longer in production, but the woman I spoke to was awesome and she faxed me an original catalog picture of the jacket, with the item number, complete item description and price...249.99. She then wrote a letter to the painter stating the full retail value of the jacket along with her contact information.



In the meanwhile, the painter's brother called me to find out the details. He asked me to find out about dry cleaning the jacket. I advised him that the label says, "No Dry Clean!" He kept on insisting upon my trying, so I called a few of the more reputable chain cleaners to ask about their policy on no dry clean items. All of them said, hands down, that they follow washing instruction labels to the letter and would not, under any circumstances, dry clean the jacket.

I called the cleaner back to tell him this, and he became combative anew. He said that he wants me to bring the jacket to him so that he can take it to a dry cleaner of his choice.

What??

I told him I will go to a dry cleaner WITH him so that we can have the jacket assessed TOGETHER.

He was such an asshole. The guy was saying that it is "his policy" to have me try to clean it, then if I'm unsuccessful, I have to let him try.

Excuse me? His POLICY?

I asked, "Since when am I subject to YOUR policies?"

He stumbled over his words and then said, "Well, it is industry standard."

I then asked him if he could provide me with a web address where I could view painting industry standard policies? Or at the very least, if he could give me a phone number or address of such a governing body.

Of course he couldn't.

I then announced that my policy is that since his negligence and incompetence was directly to blame for the destruction of my personal property (my jacket and backpack), I expect to be fully reimbursed.

He got all bent out of shape and asked, "Who the hell are you to dictate policy?"

To which I replied, "Exactly. You just made my point for me." I reminded him further that I never entered into any negotiations or contract with him and that he had absolutely no right to expect me to comply with his random ass policies.

As the conversation was wrapping up, the jerk said, "Let me give you an analogy."

I cut him off right there, telling him that he did not want to enter into a verbal joust with me.

I'll keep you posted.



I just want to give a shout out to Reesie who planned a fabulous bridal shower for Fwiz. A great time was had by all, and Reesie's organizational and entertaining talents did not go unnoticed or unappreciated!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

I know my blogging has become a bit sporadic, but what self-respecting Irish (albeit 3rd-generation-and-never-been-to-Ireland) girl would miss a St. Paddy's Day post! (rhymes with toast, doesn't it? See, the day is ripe for merriment!)

The day has been pretty quiet, yet productive up to this point. I actually had the day off. The school district tries to claim that we have the day off for Evacuation Day, but we all know that the real holiday here is St. Patrick's Day. The only thing I will be evacuating today is my state of sobriety.



I got up this morning and set about readying myself for the day ahead. One of the things I had to remind myself to do was go buy some of the necessary St. Patrick's Day eau de vie, BEER! I decided to use my "Irish palm pilot" to make sure that I would accomplish the task even if I managed to momentarily forget it.




I'm going to try to spot a Leprechaun today. I hear they bring good luck. I was walking around East Somerville yesterday after work and I saw a really short guy walking around drinking a beer in the street. He did have green teeth, so I was going to count him as my Leprechaun, but then I realized that two small details might prevent me from doing so. First of all, (and this is really just semantics, I know), I saw him on March 16th and not March 17th, and secondly, this guy looked more like an "Enrique Cruz" than a "Patrick McMurphy." I guess I'll have to turn over a few more stones today to try to find a legit Leprechaun.



I just want to leave you with the final thought that you should all try, on this St. Paddy's Day, to love beer as much as I do. If you love it enough, it will love you back. I promise!

Bye Bye Theresa!

To borrow the immortal words of the Donald himself, Theresa was a "total disaster." However, she alone did not flub up this task. She had several incompetent boobs helping to usher in her demise.

The task was for the teams to organize a social gathering/informational session for Chevy's tops salespeople at which the new Chevy Tahoe would be showcased and talked up.

Synergy's outing was somewhat successful, no thanks to Brent. As per usual, he was useless. However, I think NBC should be embarrassed by the way they portray "the fat guy." Brent was shown eating several sweets and a large meal during the team brainstorm session. You cannot tell me that other contestants did not eat, as well. You know, as well as I do, that the camera people were there hovering, just waiting for a shot of Brent stuffing his face with a piece of cake. It was really disgusting of NBC. I mean, really, I don't think Brent needs any help in demonstrating the fact that he is a completely talentless oak with very little to offer the team in the way of creativity or brain power.

Back to Synergy's overall performance on the task....

They had a few good ideas about playing up the outdoorsy aspect of the vehicle, even though we all well know that most people are out buying SUVs to shuttle themselves around to manicure appointments and Starbucks runs in Brookline and Cambridge. And maybe the vehicle will be used to pick up little Tristen from his piano lessons or to cart little Ameila to her ballet class, but that's about the extent of it. I very much doubt many of these Chevy Tahoes will be used in the the way that the Synergy team presented it, but still, if the company is going to insist upon marketing it as an outdoor vehicle, the members of the Synergy group had little choice.

At their event, they had rock climbing, golf cart racing and some other rugged manly events. The sales execs ate it up, and Synergy was poised for the win right from the word go.

I will say that I was completely annoyed by Andrea. At the beginning of the episode, she created an atmosphere ripe for drama by declaring that she would consider going home if Brent were allowed to return to the game. Of course, Brent did return, and Andrea caused a scene by fleeing the common room to cry in the bathroom. When Roxanne tried to coax her out to the main room, Andrea said she just needed a moment.

She decided to take on the role of PM just to prove that she is capable of "handling" Brent. Whatever.

The only thing I really need to say about Andrea is that the bitch needs a fucking sandwich. How skinny is she?

Now, onto Gold Rush...

What a train wreck!

Theresa took over the role of PM. I could not even focus on what the team was doing because I was totally distracted by Theresa's massive breasts. Who told her that wearing a flesh-colored, rib-knit, skin-tight turtle neck over her 38DDD's was a good idea? My god! NBC should have put a parental warning at the top of the show last night. It was soft core pornography. I kept praying that she would not sneeze or take a deep breath, because the seems of that shirt were under enough stress as it was. Maybe she should also consider giving up shopping at the freakin' Baby Gap. That was ridiculous!

She gave Tarek the role of creative manager, but refused to listen to anything he had to say. Now granted, Tarek is a fool, but still, he did have a point there. He was sensitive to Trump's criticism of his lack of "theme" in the first task, and he seemed not to want to repeat that same mistake, but when he pointed out to Theresa that they lacked a theme, she was not hearing him.

Granted, Tarek has a lot of work to do before he proves himself Trump-worthy, but I think he was trying.

The gold course that he was allegedly in charge of constructing looked like somebody's freakin' front lawn in downtown Kabul, for Chrissakes. And then Carolyn walks in. Just to provide a little footnote here, Carolyn is Trump's golf empire head bitch in charge. Not good.

The comedienne was a horror show. She was lude, obnoxious, vulgar, and totally inappropriate. Charmaine was a total jackass for paying her. And Theresa was a total idiot for not overseeing the talent, and/or at least familiarizing herself with the woman's material.

All around pathetic!

I think in the end, Trump really had no choice. He likes Lenny too much to fire him. Tarek is extremely fortunate that Theresa was stupid enough not to bring Charmaine to the boardroom. It was the second time Tarek was saved by somebody else's stupidity.

My favorite moment was when Trump asked Lenny, "What should I do with Tarek and Theresa." Without the slightest hesitation, Lenny said, "Fire 'em both." This just seconds after Tarek had stood up for Lenny.

Ha ha!!

I know I am now in 4th place, but don't start relaxing, Bitches! I'm right behind you!

You GOTTA get Rhapsody!

Ok, let me just say that this Rhapsody music service RULES!!!

For just 10 dollars a month, I can listen to literally any song by any artist I want at any time. It is sooooo cool! If I don't know what I am in the mood to listen to, I can do genre searches that will suggest songs or bands. If I have a specific artist in mind, I can look them up, and not only will I have their entire music library at my disposal, but there will also be suggestions of similar artists that I might be interested in. Most of the time, there are bands I like, but have long forgotten or whatever. Then I go to their libraries and listen to all their stuff.

There are also several "radio stations" I can listen to. I am currently listening to the Cranberries because when I logged into Rhapsody today, I didn't have any specific groups in mind so I played the "90's radio" station for a while. The Cranberries came on and I thought, "Oh yeah, I like those guys." So, I went into their music catalog and am currently playing their greatest hits.

I am a bit limited as to what I can do with Rhapsody on the Mac. PC users can create playlists and personal libraries. But I'm not too discouraged. About a month ago, Rhapsody would not even open to the Mac, but I was checking it periodically and about a week ago, boom, there it was, ready to go on the Mac. I'm sure it will be just a matter of time before I can use the site as broadly as PC users can.

If I really wanted to, I could spend 15 dollars a month and have the same service, with the added feature of being able to download an unlimited number of songs onto my iPod. I have not opted for that plan yet, but I just might!

It is really fun.

I heard about this site from Stephen, who uses it extensively on his PC. He loves it. I am jealous of his ability to create and save playlists, but still, I'm sure my Mac will catch up soon.

Actually, Stephen has been awesome enough to create several 80's playlists for me, and he knows to just cue them up whenever I come over. Isn't that sweet? I mean, the minute I cross the threshhold into his dump, he knows to just cue the Jovi and full volume! Not that Jovi is all 80's, mind you. Their career is alive and kicking, but he puts them into the 80s list, and I won't argue. Semantics aren't important in some cases!

As for Fwiz and the others who have demanded photographic evidence of my wonderful boyfriend, feast your eyes on these great shots. I think Stephen feels a little strange about being on my blog, so if he sees this and requests that they be taken down, I will oblige.

So take a peek while these are still posted...





Here is Stephen standing outside the 1972 Munich Olympic stadium. The very same upon which the film "Munich" is based. We visited there this summer. Under a dark, rainy sky. Of course!





This is a great shot of Stephen enjoying a rest in a Munich Biergarten.




Here we both are salivating over a gorgeous red Audi that we'll never own in our wildest dreams. This was taken at the Audi museum in Ingolstadt, Germany.

Weekend Beer Photo!

Isn't it great to have a German Pope?

I won't get to church this weekend because I'll be away. But then again, wait. I never go to church anyway.

In any event, I won't feel guilty about not going to church when I know that the Holy Father himself would approve of my weekend beer consumption activities!!

have a great weekend and hey, NO OFFENSE meant with the picutre. It was actually emailed to me by my mother who is, herself a holy roller, but couldn't surpress a chuckle when she saw this one!

Loooooooooooong week!

We are housed in temporary quarters for this year and next as our new "state-of-the-art" school undergoes construction. Actually, though, the old building (mold and all) has been torn down and dutifully carted off to various recycling facilities, but there has been no progress made on the construction of the new facility.

Bussing is a rarity in this city because there are lots of neighborhood schools that the kids can easily reach by foot. Obviously, though, as the temporary schools are in different neighborhoods, the city has to offer free transportation to the displaced kids.

A few things suck about the bus situation. First of all, the teachers have to rotate "bus duty" which involves standing around outside with massive groups of kids waiting for the busses to arrive. It is no secret that in New England, the weather is often unpleasant and therefore it should come as no surprise that standing out there on those freezing cold, snowy days absolutely stinks.

The other real bus-related hardship comes in the form of the school day starting much, much earlier for us teachers. Our contract states that we don't have to come into contact with students until 8:06 A.M. The busses drop the kids at school at 7:30. We have an amazing free breakfast program (every kid in the city can come and have free breakfast, regardless of family income, etc.) or the kids can go play in the gym. Of course they rarely go to breakfast or to the gym. Instead, they come straight from the bus and into the homerooms.


They are not there to work. They are not there to read quietly. They are not there to help me. They are there to socialize, run around, slam in and out of their lockers, use fowl language and spread vicious rumors about one another. They are there to cheat on their homework. They are there to sneak onto inappropriate websites. They are generally there to cause trouble.

Whereas in the old school, I could go in early, get my copying done, correct a few papers and complete a bit of lesson planning (because I knew the kids wouldn't start showing up until just shortly before 8 and would not be allowed into the rooms until starting time at 8:11), in this school, I am literally on crowd control duty from the second I walk in the door at 7:30 AM.



My contract says that I'm not even required to be in school until 7:45, but we have literally all started getting there by 7:30 just to be able to police the kids as they disembark the busses.

All this is a lead-in to the point of my story...

A couple of days ago, our district superintendent was in school at dismissal time. He made a comment to the principal about the fact that we start getting kids out the door and into the busses by (and he literally looked at his watch to make a point of noting the time for her) 2:29 instead of 2:30. He reminded her that dismissal is at 2:30, and not a minute before.

Funny, I don't see him there when I am reporting to work 15 minutes ahead of contract time and babysitting kids 36 minutes ahead of contract-designated student/teacher contact time. No, of course not!

Then he further complained that several of the students in 8th grade were "fooling around with wires" on the laptop cart. A little background. In our temporary school, we do not have a proper computer lab. We have a cart full of laptop computers that we can sign out and take into our classrooms. We have been pushed and prodded to incorporate technology into our lessons, and we have trained 3 of our nicest 8th grade boys to be in charge of getting the cart to and from the library and into our rooms. These kids know how to use the technology, they put it away correctly, and they can be trusted with the machines and keys.

My colleague saw the kids putting the cart away at the very same time that this idiot was there watching them. She said the only "out of the ordinary" event occurred when the cart got tricky to move over the lip of the carpet leading from the hall into the library. She said one of the boys did chuckle a little because the other tripped a little, but that was the extent of it.

Jesus, they're kids. They can't laugh a little and be goofey???

How ridiculous!!

I love that our bosses want more control over us than we try to exert over our teenage students! Wonderful.

The other tough aspect of this week was the full Wednesday. Every other Wednesday is an early release day for kids, but teachers have to stay and do prep work and have meetings, etc. It is actually very nice. None of us have gym/art/music, etc., planned on Wednesdays, because on half days, the kids would miss that particular specialist. Not a big deal on half days, but on those full days, where there isn't a minute's break and no prep period, just non-stop kids, it is MURDER!!

I was drained at the end of this Wednesday. I mean, really. I have a 30 minute lunch break. Usually 10 minutes of that is spent bringing the kids to the caf, quelling some riot, explaining to the lunch lady that somebody lost their ticket, etc.

On those long Wednesdays, it is such a joke! We have about 15 minutes to eat lunch, use the bathroom and relax. Unreal!



I am going to the cabin with my boyfriend this weekend. I wasn't really terriblyl sure whether I wanted to go. Leaving tomorrow afternoon will preclude my beloved Friday at the gym, but I will eke a workout in after school at home.



We will undoubtedly walk around the cute little town of (appropriately) Littleton on Saturday. There are some cute little shops and cafes. You can also bet your ass that there will be plenty of.....



going down, too!

Happy weekend.

Remember to Wash Those Fruits and Veggies!

I was in the supermarket today because I was craving grapes and mango in the worst way. I always looooooove mango, and every once in a while I have a massive grape craving. Anyway, I didn't feel like messing around in the store, so I made straight for the produce section.

When I arrived at the fruit stands, I became aware of this horrendous, rattling, wheezing cough coming from nearby. I was able to follow the horrific sound over to the oranges and I saw an elderly Asian woman standing there, basically hacking up a lung as she selected her citrus fruits. Actually, it could only be chalked up to a small miracle that the woman was able to keep her lung in her chest cavity at all.

The thing is this, kids...

She didn't simply cough for a second or two and then regain her composure. Oh noooooooooooo.........

The wheezing, rattling, hacking and convulsions continued for several moments. I tried at first to ignore it. She wasn't even standing anywhere near me. I had no intention of buying any oranges. I saw no traces of mangos or grapes in her cart, which suggested that she hadn't been fondling the very fruits I had come to purchase.

But in the end, I just could NOT do it. I know, I know. This is why we wash fruits and veggies. I would never even think of eating a fruit or veggie I had not thoroughly washed. I'm sure that many of the fruits and veggies I have brough into my home have withstood similar coughs or worse. But I had never had to actually witness the devastation. I ended up not being able to bring myself to buy my grapes and mangos. I left the store after a FRUITLESS trip to the produce department.

I don't know, though. I'm still kind of skeeved out!

Really Annoying Crap about the Academy Awards

I am sitting here and sort of semi-watching the Academy Awards. I'm not really paying full attention for a number of reasons. Those reasons are as follows:

1. I don't have much invested in the awards show this year. In fact, since I rarely go to the movies, I rarely have anything truly invested in this broadcast. I did see Brokeback Mountain, which I thought was beautiful, and which I would love to see pick up some awards. I guess I'm somewhat invested in the movie Cinderella Man, too, because, God help me, I hate Russel Crowe with a loathing that borders on dangerous, so I am not-so-secretly hoping that the film wins nothing. OK, I guess I wouldn't mind if the musical director picked up some award or the other, but please, do not make me endure having to watch Russel Crowe be awarded for anything. I am also finding myself increasingly annoyed by clips from the "Capote" movies, and hope they get shunned by the academy as well.

2. I can't stand the self-important celebs, gushing about their "amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing directors" and in their acts of humble graciousness, the "wooooonderful crew who made the film happen!" Ugh!

3. I HATE, I mean really CANNOT STOMACH the movie montage clip things. They have done nothing but pay "homage" to all kinds of genres of movies and directors and directors. And I literally cannot stand when they do the 30 minute lifetime achievement award for some old codger of an actor that I've never even heard of, and who hasn't acted in a fucking movie since they figured out how to put sound with film!



John Stewart is hosting this year. As you well know by now, I do not have a remote control for my TV, and it seems that my TV is constantly tuned into channel 7. I can't ever be bothered to change stations, so I pretty much watch NBC exclusively by default. I take it John Stewart is not on any NBC shows, because I've never seen him. I've heard of him, of course, and I know he has quite a huge following, but I don't know what he does, really. Anyway, I was about to declare him unfunny on this very post. But then, as I was waiting for these pictures to upload, he made a jab about the amount of stupid montages they're doing, so I'm now declaring him to be in my good graces. I'm sure this is very important to him!

I shouldn't say that I was finding him completely unfunny, but I'm not sure if this is the venue for him.

4. Jesus, can I also mention that I hate the live music performances? I mean, I have to get up and leave the room when those stupid songs are being performed. Who cares?

Jesus, even as I type, some guy is singing a song called, "Its Hard Out There For a Pimp." I mean, it is kind of funny. Better than Celine Dion busting a gasket singing the Titanic thing or something, but come on. Imagine what Dame Judy Dench must think as she's sitting there watching scantily clad women gyrating up there with these gangstas and singing about the trials and tribulations of PIMPIN'


Funny moment...Queen Latifah just arrived onstage right after the pimp song, let out one of her signature, "OOOOOHHHHHHs" and asked, "Now, how did I manage not to find myself in that number?" She's good!



I had to come in and edit this post. I just hit "publish" when they announced the song winner. The Pimp Tune took the statue. John Stewart took the stage anew and announced, "I think it just got easier out here for a pimp."

Yes, I am starting to really like John Stewart!



Oh well, at least Samuel L. Jackson appeared live on the broadcast. The more I see him, the more I'm convinced I'll have him cast to play me when they make the movie of my life!

Where DO the weekends go? Why am I SUCH a procrastinator? Will somebody PLEASE help me get to the bottom of these questions?

Before I even get to the two pressing questions raised in the title of today's post, let me just apologize to my girl, Juanita Sanchez, for once again neglecting my Friday-Night-Beer-Pic-Posting duties. On Friday night, I did, indeed have a couple of 20 oz. glasses of the glorious and magnificent Pilsner Urquell at the Asguard in Cambridge.

I don't mean to let Juanita or any of my faithful readers down. I know I have to stay on top of my beer duty and I promise that I will try never to fail you again! Rest assured that from this point forward, you WILL see pictures of beer, sweet nectar of the gods, on my blog on Fridays!

OK, so the real pressing issue at hand here is trying to find out answers to the very important questions I've posed in my title.

Wasn't it just Friday afternoon like 30 seconds ago? How can it already almost be noon on Sunday? Where the hell did Saturday go and how can an entire day pass like a blur, almost unnoticed?

Here's the thing...

I have a series of essays to correct. Once again, I've decided, in a very un-brilliant move, to have all my students pass in essays at the same time. I am required by the district to do writing assignments with the kids and, naturally, as a teacher, it is of personal interest to me to see that these kids improve their writing skills.

The really disenchanting thing is that with the exception of maybe three kids, (I'm deadly serious), nobody can write. There is no notion of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, syntax, verb tenses....NADA! I honestly spend hours upon hours correcting these things. Many times I find myself reading "paragraphs" over and over again and still not understanding a single word of what they've written.

By the time I am finished "correcting" their essays, there is, honest to God, more of my handwriting on the paper than there is of theirs.

It infuriates me that these kids do not even attempt to reread their own work before passing it in. They don't even freakin' spell check it! I know they don't even think about what they're writing, because when I call them to my desk at school and ask them what they meant in a certain sentence or paragraph, they often cannot even tell me.

So, my whole procrastination thing factors into the equation because I have done every imaginable thing OTHER than correct these essays this weekend. In fact, I've been avoiding them all week. The following are some ways in which I have managed to steer clear of this venomous pile of essays taking up residence on my kitchen table...



On Monday, the day the essays were handed in, I was debating whether or not I should go to the gym. The class is at 6:30 PM, and I usually just exercise at home on Mondays. Although 6:30 seems early evening enough, for a teacher who has to be up at the crack of dawn, the thought of arriving home from the gym at 8, then getting dinner, etc.,...you get my picture. However, on Monday, the options were: A. correct the essays B. go to the gym. No brainer. I went for option B and had a great workout. Then, of course, I had to attend to the serious business of watching "The Donald Trump Show." I coudn't miss that. Surely, I thought, I'll get to the essays tomorrow!

On Tuesday, I went to the gym for my typical 4:30 class. When that was over, I noticed an interesting-looking class starting up in the other studio, so I stayed for that one, too. (I can't say that my sudden interest in a class that has been going on in the gym for the entire three years I've belonged to the gym had nothing to do with the thought of those papers at home.) I had just done two hours of cardio, so I had to balance that out with some strength work, right? Of course! So I stayed on for another half hour. I was way too beat to correct when I came home. Wednesdays are perfect for correcting!

On Wednesday, Gene called out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go to the pub quiz that night. We haven't done the quiz in months and months. I didn't want to see Gene lonely, so of course I had to go. The pile of essays was staring at me, but I reasoned that if I was going to have a beer or two, I should get in a pre-emptive workout. So, I got my "The Firm" DVD's going and worked out for an hour. Then, of course, I had to shower before going out. I couldn't offend Gene of my fellow quizzers with my body odor now, could I? I'm way too considerate for that!

On Thursday, you guessed it. I went to the gym where I suddenly found myself intrigued by several classes I hadn't tried and machines I had not used.

On Friday, I though, ok, this is it. I'm going to go straight home and do nothing but correct. I can sacrifice one Friday night. Well, I showed up at the gym for my usual step class and my favorite instructor, Dee, was there. She said she hurt her foot and asked if I would stand in front of the room because I know all her routines and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to demonstrate them herself with her sore foot. Naturally I complied. I had no intention of staying for the second class, but then she asked if I would because of her foot, so again, I complied. After two straight hours of step, I was ready for a bite to eat and to head home and get working! As I made my way out of the gym, my phone rang. It was Gene. He was in the pharmacy right above the gym and so, naturally I met him. Our dinner was quick, and I did only have a couple of drinks, but I was so beat when I got home at 9:30, that I went straight to bed.

My intention was to get up Saturday and get correcting. I got up at 6:30 and decided, weeeellll....maybe if I just do my 8 o'clock class at the gym.... And then I ended up doing the 9 o'clock class after that, then going to do laundry, then heading out to lunch with my mom, then doing a little shopping, then having a drink with Gene...and then falling right into bed when I came home!

And today..today is Sunday. My big correcting day, right?



So far I have subscribed to the online music store, Rhpasody. Fabulous. For 10 dollars a month you can listen to ANYTHING on your computer! Fantastic! Of course I had to spend some time reading the all-important Mac specifications and figuring out how to use the thing.



I have mopped my kitchen and bathroom floors, swept all my hardwood floors, straightened out both of my storage closets, organized my bookshelves, folded clothes, cleaned out my trash cans with bleach and hot water, cleaned out my refrigerator and dusted just about every surface I could find.



I'm sure that I will get these essays corrected. Perhaps after I go food shopping, which I plan to do in an hour. Perhaps after I clean my bedroom. Perhaps after I organize my computer stuff. Perhaps while I'm falling asleep tonight in front of the Academy Awards.

I'm sure it'll get done...

If I don't get them done, I will not allow myself to watch the Donald Trump Show tomorrow night. And that's some serious shit!