News Prostitution

I really don't enjoy watching the news, especially the local news, which we have 5 different stations. I'll put up with CNN and Headline news, but that is just occasionally. One reason is that it is so shallow and negative. The other reason is that all day long and even the day before they start prostituting stories.

Recent teasers:

"Viagra for women, tonight at 10." When the story finally aired it got 15 seconds of time and it won't be available to the USA before 2007. How many men did they lure with this tease?

"Rain in the forecast?" After teasing about the forecast before 3 breaks, we find out their is a 10% chance of a light rain. FOLKS, it has rained only 2 days since Labor Day! You fell for it.

"Robbed blind during daylight hours." A very bory story of how thieves drive up and down alleys looking for open garage doors with easy access to lawn equipment.

"Want to avoid those automated calling machines?" YES, I DO! Watch tonight at 10. A story basically saying you should hit the ZERO button right away and it transfers you to a live person. Wow, how long did it take them to research that story?

"Anyone who owns a computer needs to watch tonight. Learn how to protect yourself from identity theft." EVERYONE owns a computer and we learn that the average person can do very little to TRULY protect their computers from hackers.

Watch and listen to see how much 4 play the news gives us only to leave us unsatisfied! Best off not paying attention to the leads and watch Seinfeld reruns at 10pm!

Bundle Up

Yes, it is getting colder, but this isn't about the weather.

Lately, SBC phone and internet company has been offering a bundle package of local and long distance phone service, along with DSL internet, and Satellite TV. My wife figured it out and we would save about $40 a month. For that we could finally get the cell phone everyone says that we need. No brainer right! Wrong.

She called today and was told that since we already have Dishnetwork Satellite we wouldn't be "new" customers. Already being with SBC for local and long distance wasn't a problem, but it is a joint venture between Dishnetwork and SBC. Even after threatening to switch to cable or DirecTV the guy didn't budge. She even hinted at maybe letting us have a Digital Video Recorder for free. No such luck. The representative basically said there are no existing promotions for current customers.

I say we go ahead and switch to Digital Cable. Sure I'd have to learn the channels all over again, but I've got a college degree and could figure it out. Maybe they would give me a DVR in their package.

The representative said we would have to be away from DISHNetwork for 6 months before we could sign up for a bundle package. Maybe switch local and long distance, keep Netzero internet, and call up DirecTV or Charter Cable.

Any suggestions? Comments?

Disney Sucks, plus other stuff

My daughter is 4 1/2 and can either take or leave television. She is just as happy coloring, playing with her animals, or playing with her sticker books. Every once in while she does want to watch TV and we let her. There is not much on for a 4 year old in the afternoons. Dora, Blues Clues, The Wiggles, etc all run pretty early. So when she watches after 5pm it is Disney and Nickelodeon. We notice a sassier attitude or just some borderline unacceptable comments from her when she's had too much tv time. AND the shows she watches all say FAMILY. This is one reason I miss my DVR recorder. We could stock up on decent kids TV.

What movie? "Looking good Billy Ray!"
"Feeling good Lewis!"

I am feeling a little better. My father offered to pay for a doctor's visit. We shall see. My mom flew out today. She puts forth more effort with my kids than the 3 other grandparents all put together. She's a living Saint.

Saw the movie, Walk the Line, portraying Johnny Cash. Very good. I was just a lad in the late 60's, early 70's when his career really took off. My parents would always make me do the, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" intro for their friends.

Sure was windy the past 24 hours. Blew down a couple of privacy fences in the neighborhood. I despise those fences. If mine blows down I think I would install a black iron fence.

Grandpa's Death

My grandpa's been dead for over 2 years, but with my mom in town we talked about the past. As we were talking I figured that my grandpa beat all odds to live to be 93 years old and to die of natural causes along with alzheimers.

Top 5 things my grandpa should have died of:

5. Gun shot wound: there were pistols laying everywhere in his small 2 bedroom "shotgun" shack.
4. Ax wound: my grandpa walked with a limp because one of his siblings took an ax to his knee.
3. Fire #1: there were 2 wood stoves in my grandpas house and he often kept the temperature up around 100 degrees. Crazy thing was there were always burning pieces falling to the floor whenever he would add a log or stoke the fire.
2. Fire #2: when he lived in the senior center he once caught the carpet on fire because he didn't know how to cook with electric.
1. Food poisoning: we ALWAYS stopped and picked up food before visiting because he never wrapped anything and you never knew how long something might have been sitting on the table. Nothing ever went to waste with him.

Honorable mention: car accident: the local school bus would pull over each day at 3pm and wait for my grandpa to go flying by. He drove way over the speed limits on country roads. In his 80's he ran over his own dog and even flipped a car in the ditch because he thought he hit the break when backing up and instead pumped the gas.

And I'm complaining about a little stomach virus and sore throat. Compared to my grandpa I'm probably a 1 on the toughness scale.

The MAN vs. toilet

No, unlike woman vs. bathroom sink http://worldofpig.blogspot.com/2005/09/suicidal-sink-tale-of-surprise-and.html that a friend/coworker suffered physical injuries, mine is of the illness type. Once again I've pick up a stomach virus and did not get any more than 2 hours sleep at a time last night as I was posing on the toilet, time after time. This on top of having some type of sinus infection that has caused 2 nose bleeds and a few body aches and pains.

I have started taking Zicam, an oral spray, to ward off any colds. This comes highly recommended from PIGS. Hope that works. Now I don't know what to take to keep food from sprinting right thru my system. Last time I took Imodium AD and Tums and it seemed to work, although I did suffer from heartburn a little. I'm actually a little afraid to eat this morning. Could go and order the FREE Chick Fil A breakfast sandwich which seemed to set me free last time I had this bug 2 weeks ago.

Wish me luck.

Walking out of movies

With mom in town my wife and I got to go on a date. With reckless abandon we went to see Ice Harvest with Jon Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Randy Quaid. Good cast. We walked out after 15 minutes. Within that 15 minutes we probably heard the "F" word 20 times, saw 3 different sets of breasts, and over 50% of the setting was in topless bars. Who formulated this movie? Sad thing is Harold Raimis, from Ghostbusters, was the director. I walked out to see what else was still showing and my choices were Just Friends and Walk the Line. I chose Just Friends.

The night was saved. It was a really good, funny, tragic, romantic comedy.

3 Movies I have walked out on: The Lady Killers, Bad Santa, Ice Harvest.

A Nice Thanksgiving

Woke up at 6am to get ready to pick "grandma" up at the DFW airport. We left at 6:40 for the 40 + minute drive if traffic cooperates. To my delight traffic was running at about 1% of normal. BUT, this is the North Dallas area and you can have a traffic jam at any time. Almost 1/2 way into my trip I started seeing brake lights and traffic slowing down. I quickly got into the right lane and was able to sneak by the fresh accident. It seems like a full sized GMC truck pulverized the rear end of a Chevy Avalance. There were a few other cars stopped in the middle of the highway, some of them stopped to asssist. A few people's holidays were ruined.

What movie? "You people can keep this city!"

Picked up grandma and made it home by 9am.

My ideal day will go like this:
Blog, go to the store to get a newspaper and the gravy my wife forgot to get. Then spread out in the floor during the NFL Today pregame show. Eat a few snacks and fall asleep off and on during the boring Lions/Falcons game. Eat our downsized version of T-day dinner. Watch the Cowboys/Broncos game and maybe go see a movie tonight with my wife.

Ideal dinner: Turkey(white), mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. A nice dinner roll would be fine. Nothing else. I don't do adult beverages on T-day and don't really care for dessert. Also leave off the cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes/yams, salads.

Have a great day! Wear lose fitting close so you can eat all you like and not ruin your holiday

Break Day #3

My family is not going anywhere for Thanksgiving. Read the blog ending to help us decide what to do for Thanksgiving dinner. We've chosen to stay in town because it should be cheaper. My mother is coming Thanksgiving day and will stay until the following Monday so my wife and I should be able to get away from the kids a few times.......finally. Being 600 miles away from family is one downfall, no built in sitters.

Monday day #1: Detailed 2 cars and went to eat at Gatti's pizza, it replaced Pete's the place I once dogged on tblog. Not much better. Too expensive for my family and it wasn't that good. Played cards Monday night and won!

Tuesday day #2: Really only put up Christmas lights for a friend and did some yard work including cleaning up so doggie dookie. In exchange I got my computer cleaned up, defragged and Netzero 8.0 downloaded. Much better. Announced last night and the boys lost a heart breaker.

Wednesday day #3: Slept until 9:15 am. Not feeling to well. I need to know what PIGS takes to keep the colds away. Hopefully something legal and over the counter.

Thanksgiving: to make a meal or go out and eat. Our dilemna is whether to spend $30 + preparing a meal for 6 hours, eating for 30 minutes, and then having 2 hours of clean up. OR, let my mom take us out to dinner. I do know Ruby Tuesday's is open Thanksgiving.
Pro: no clean up and possibly cheaper
Con: how anti traditional is this?

Eat in or eat out? Let me know

The MAN Fan Club Quiz

The time has come to see who truly the MAN Fan Club Members really are. Have fun taking the QUIZ! You better score 80 or better to get an free membership or to keep yours current.

Take'>http://www.quizyourfriends.com/takequiz.php?quizname=051121174053-833336

LOOOOOONNNGG Day

Saturday was a marathon day.

6:30 am-mowing the church lawn with 5 others
8:30-11 am-detailed a Honda Van
11:30-2 helped a friend dismantle and move a queen mattress/bed and 2 king beds in 2 different 2 story homes
2 pm dropped daughter off for art lessons
2:30 picked up lunch
3pm quick detail of black Wrangler Jeep with wife's help
4pm pick daughter up
5-6:30 pm prepare lesson for Sunday's class
7pm prepared Mac n Cheese dinner for kids
8pm little house cleaning
9-12:30 hung out with friend and played cards
1am- chatted with wife
1:30-hot bath to stave off physical sorness
2am-folded clothes that had been piled a mile high on bed
2:30am FINALLY REST!

I lucked out that my son was too sick to go to church so I was able to sleep with a few interuptions until 9:30am. Took a nap from 2:30-3:30 today during Cowboy's game. Had a Thanksgiving dinner with friends from church 4pm-6:30. Came home, read paper, got caught up on blogland.

Having computer problems. Keeps kicking me off at random times if I hit the back button or click the red X to close a webpage. May have something to do with pop up blockers??????

OFF ALL WEEK, but will be busy!

Gas and Dookie

Gas: I went 39 hours without comfortably being able to relieve myself of any stomach gases. From 1am Thursday until about 4pm Friday I was in bad shape. Luckily I was able to make it thru both days of work. Friday I left work about 12:30 for an appointment at the Shriners Hospital so we could look at my son's slightly pidgeon toed left foot. We got there early enough to drive around and find lunch. Nothing greasy I was thinking. My family picked an OLD Arby's. One without indoor bathrooms. We got 5 Arby melts, a curly fries and 2 drinks for $8 plus tax. Not too bad. I took a few bites and stopped at that. While at Shriners I was feeling unfortable so I tried to relieve myself of these stomach pains. Nothing but gas! YAHOO! So at 2pm on Friday, about 37 hours after it hit, I started feeling better. Confidence hit as I came home and reheated our last Arby's melt and I was able to eat it without any negative feelings or side effects. I'm back! The issues with the son are nothing to be worried about. YES!

Dookie: This one is closely related to a gaseous story, but funny, not sick. Saturday night we were playing cards and I was once again able to eat food that is bad for me. Nachos and chips. After playing cards for a few hours I felt a little gas build up and being around guys and confident I wouldn't soil myself I let a few go. It was about 15 minutes later when we recognized a nasty smell and since I was the only one to let loose lately I got the blame. I was thinking, "I haven't tooted in over 10 minutes." My handicapped friend was there and I thought maybe he did it, but I accepted the blame and said I would step away from the table should it happen again. Well, a few minutes later one of the guys said, "I knew that wasn't a human smell, look right there." One of the host's Weenie dogs had laid(lain?) a human sized turd right in the middle of the kitchen floor. I was vindicated! IT WAS NOT ME!

Sadly enough I was beginning to wonder if it was me.

It is nice to be stomach free for more than 48 hours! Sing praises and make joyful noise, so to speak!

Rough Day

You know you are in for a long day when Imodium AD and 2 Tums makes up a big part of your breakfast. I woke up last night about 1am with a volcanic stomach and no Tums in sight. I ended up taking one of my mom's left over Nexium pills, but that didn't seem to help. After tossing and turning I decided to go sleep on the couch in a propped up manner. I had severe heartburn, nausea, and diahrea tendencies. I managed a few hours of sleep and woke up before the 6am alarm went off. Eww boy.

I took some Imodium AD to work and stopped and got some Tums. That was my breakfast along with a plain cake donut. Fortunately I managed to stay out of the bathroom all day, mainly because I hadn't eaten anything. Belch city all day and I finally braved the cafeteria's Thanksgiving lunch. I think I had turkey stuffing suprise since I was the last person at the school to go thru the line. I may have had an ounce of turkey in my 1/2 pound of stuffing.

Being the only guy in our hallway the bathroom thing is a serious issue. 99% of the time I do my duty in the boys room next to the staff restroom. I've heard horror stories as my team talks about someone in our hallway who devastates the bathroom and fails to use the smelly spray. Well, about 3pm while my kids were at PE I was about to put the disclaimer out to my team that if they needed to use the restroom NOW was the time. As I walked out into the hallway I noticed it was pretty calm. I figured maybe I could duck into the boys back stall and do my think. I'd been pinned up all day and the Imodium was wearing off. Sure enough, in and out in less than 2 minutes and not even one student came in. Whew!

For the record, I did not destroy the staff bathroom!

It's late tonight and I'm still a little rocky. My daughter said it sounded like a monster in my stomach.

Wish me luck, or others luck!

The Tooth Fairy

Had dinner with a friend tonight who treated me and my son to pizza and drinks. During our dinner I eagerly displayed my son's ability to make the cow sound. I asked my son, "What does a cow say?" He volunteered MOO. Same with the duck, "Kak, Kak". The dog, "Wuf, wuf." Why do we get so excited as parents and make it seem like no kid has every imitated an animal? After doing my silly son tricks my friend shared that his 6 year old daughter lost her first tooth. He mentioned that it was loose for 2 weeks and he tried the string trick and failed. He then just wiggled it and yanked on it.

My friend shared that a few days before it fell out he was trying to get a feel for what his daughter was going to expect cash wise from the tooth fairy. He thought she would ask someone from school, but she said nobody told her. She finally told him that $20 was fair because it is only one bill. Smart young lady there. I think he ended up reasoning with her and she got $5 instead.

So what is the going rate for the tooth fairy? Is the first tooth worth more than the others? Do kids really think there is a tooth fairy or are they smarter these days?

I still believe in Santa Claus, but for some reason he only leaves gifts for me at my mom's house.

Rape

Yesterday during our church quarterly conference we were proposing a new document that would change the church constitution. During the conversation one highly educated gentleman made the comment, "To change the document at this point would be committing an act of rape." The use of the term rape to describe amending a document seemed overboard. I bit my tonque in order to not say anything. I know people have used the term in the past to describe getting ripped off, but using it in church?

Now that I've thought about it 24 hours I thought I'd research what the term rape really means. The #1 definition does have to do with the act of forcing someone into committing sex acts. The #3 definition does state that rape is: Abusive or improper treatment; violation: a rape of justice. So now that I've researched it I'm not as alarmed by the use of such a harsh term.

That doesn't mean I'm not disturbed by it.

Alcohol, Divorce, and Women

Our church is moving from having a 7 person "leadership team" to the more traditional Elders and Deacons model. Today we voted on what that actually meant. We met from 12:30-2:15 to tie down a few issues and to ammend the document that myself and a few other committee members put together.

One person brought 8 of the 9 overall amendments to the meeting today. Issues we voted on today included:

Alcohol: the committee chose not to force the Elder/Deacon candidate to abstain from alcohol, although one amendment recommended it. The amendment was voted down. The idea is that a church leader should really use alcohol very discretionately and we did say abstainance was the best choice.

Divorce: the committee basically said an Elder/Deacon could have divorce in his/her past. A few opposed this, but biblically we couldn't justify excluding anyone who had a divorce for any reason. We chose to look at each candidate individually.

Women deacons: the committee recommended men only Elders, but felt biblically justified allowing women to serve as deacons. An amendment was brought forth to only allow men to serve. That amendment was voted down.

It was tough breaking few "traditions" that some grew up in. If you think about it Paul, the writer of much of the New Testament, probably wouldn't be allowed to be a Deacon or Elder in many Baptist churches because he had a violent past, ordered and watched many Christians be executed, and he was a convict.

Old and New

I'm teaching a bible lesson to adults that deals with how you are supposed to be different once you accept Christ as your savior. My lead in is to compare things in our everyday life that have changed in our lifetime. Some of my examples are:

Coke bottles: used to come in 32oz and 16 oz glass returnables, now they are plastic and disposable.

MTV: 1981, 99% true music videos with Marc Goodman, now Celebreality and Realworld and 1% music videos.

Potato chips: I remember buying the "twin" package, now just one big bag.

McDonalds: sit down only with outdoor tables, now all have drive thrus and playlands. Remember life before McNuggets. McDonalds is the #2 purchaser of chicken behind KFC!

What are some things in your life time that has really changed?

Missouri Mud

I'll quickly post my freebies as they all happened this morning.

2 Chik'n biscuits and a free diet Coke via coupon from Chick Fil A: FREE $6.50
30 Cheerios/Lucky Charms which I then in turn gave to someone else: FREE...briefly $15

I never got to enjoy my FREE drink this morning. As I entered the cafeteria, on time for once, I noticed the janitorial staff had not put the tables out so I parked my drink on our cereal cart next to the case of cereal. I dealt out the sandwiches and when I came back to the cafeteria I was informed by coach that my drink had met it's demise. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....it was all over the floor. Good thing it was free. The ONLY student in the cafeteria never admitted to knocking it over.

Uneventful day. Came home to find 1/2 my family sick. After my wife tutored we went out for Chinese dinner. We can still feed a family of 4 for under $15 at a Chinese restaurant. Not bad. On the way home I stopped by the car wash to rinse off the Missouri Mud that my wife had brought back. Her sister is part of that 5% that still lives on a gravel road, drinks from a well, and lives off the land.

I spent $2 just washing the mud out of the wheel wells. The other $1.50 went towards knocking off the rest of the dirt and unsuspecting bugs that nailed the windshield.

JOKE: What's the last thing that goes thru a bug's mind when it hits the windshield?

It's rear end!

No set plans this weekend other than another marathon day at church when we vote on a deacon/elder plan. Issues: divorce or not, men only vs. women, alcohol or abstinence. Block out 6+ hours for Sunday morning.

Jarhead Review

I couldn't wait to see this movie. I was bummed out when I wasn't able to go this weekend. I ended up going right after school on Wednesday. Could have seen the 50 cent movie, but didn't. They did a great job marketing this movie because I am afraid the second week word of mouth will kill the box office take.

Not a bad movie, but I wouldn't recommend this one to anybody. It is hard to pin down. NOT a date movie and not very entertaining. It may be an accurate showing of what ONE Marine went thru back in the early 90's during Desert Storm, but I don't think the Armed Forces would endorse the behavior that went on.

The movie was crude, rough, and in your face with some stomach turning issues. IF you do see it go to a matinee show when it is cheaper. I was able to only spend $2.75 before popcorn and soda costs so not much of a risk.

If Saving Private Ryan is the Gold Standard of war movies, then this was recycled aluminum.

Positive Cranky!

Is it possible to become crankier, yet more positive at the same time. I feel that somehow I have managed to become much shorter with the students and my tolerance level is much lower. That said, I feel I am more positive around my colleagues, maybe even giddy as someone has said.

Maybe I am not letting the lack of common sense or courtesy of my students get to me, but I am dishing out consequences IMMEDIATELY if they fail to follow society's standard guidelines for MY expected classroom behavior. Maybe since I've quit allowing them to beat me silly with the same irresponsible behaviors it has allowed me to free up my mind and actually have some fun at work. I actually played kickball twice with the students at recess this week.

FREEBIES:
I started off my day by stopping to get a cinnamon roll for myself and a few coworkers. I paid for those, but got a dozen donut holes for FREE! $1

When I came into school the afternoon program had left out the day before's case of water and snack. 1 case of water and 6 small packages of Goldfish. FREE.....$8

Another teacher took the Coco Puffs this morning so I only scored 2 boxes and 2 milks. FREE $2.

When I arrived jovially to work my lunch duty a room mom volunteered to watch the kids so I backdoored into 30 extra FREE minutes. If I roughly make $30 an hour that is kind of like getting $15 free in services.

Knowing Friday is Chick Fil A day I sent out an email at work checking(begging) to see if anyone had any of the coupons from their yearly calendar that they would be willing to give up. 10 minutes later one of our front line people handed me their $5 calendar for FREE! $5 right now, but futures freebies for sure! Chick Fil A will take expired coupons....YES! Free breakfast tomorrow!

Tonight: Beautiful day out and the sun is gently setting. From 4pm until 5:30pm my kids have been playing outside on the swingset and in the sand box. I cooked Hamburger helper and they ate their dinner out on their pic nic bench. Life is good!

Cranky, yet positive! Friday is coming!

Freebies

A partner in "rhyme" has really given me either a hard time out of jealousy or kudos for all the deals I seem to score and most of these deals are free. It started early in our year when I scored a $50 giftcard to Walmart from a parent who does not even have a child in our grade level. Then another parent gave me a $25 giftcard. I think these were pitty gifts as I am new at what I am doing.

As I think about all that I get for free I think I will start having a daily update on any freebies that I do score.

Today:

This morning I ordered 34 bagels and 2 muffins for my crew and I get reimbursed by them. The bakery gave me 3 free bagels and a free large drink. First score: $4.25 FREE.
When I noticed I was short a blueberry bagel and 2 muffins I drove back and then was given 2 free muffin tops......against my will. 2nd score: $2 FREE.

As I worked the morning program I got the left over cereal. 48 individual bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the cafeteria lady says they charge our program 58 cents each for these. 3rd score: Almost $30 in cereal.....FREE.

I also benefited from a leftover case of bottled water: $4 FREE.

Yesterday I brought home 4 large bags of prepacked romaine lettuce at about $2 a bag and also helped myself, with permission, to the ice machine at school and brought home some purified ice. Tuesday's total: About $10 FREE!

On a side note my day started with my chosing a shirt I had yet to wear this year, partly because it is hard to iron, and secondly it makes me think about square dancing. It is red with small lines that form tiny squares. As I am leaving the house before 7am my daughter gets up and I do my usual, "GET BACK IN BED!" My daughter says, "I just want to hug you and kiss you." Awwww. When I get my hug and kiss she says, "Wow, I really like your shirt dad."

Watch out next year teachers, she's going to kindergarden.

The Roach and the Cricket

Why does the cricket get a free pass and the roach gets discriminated against?

I grew up in Missouri and we seemed to be plagued with huge black waterbugs that would scramble for it when the lights came on. It was normal for us to track them down and step on them creating a nice "crackle" sound. My creative brother would take an aerosol can and a lighter and even torch the legs off of these guys.

Now that I teach in an elementary school it seems like 9 out of 10 kids want to catch a cricket and let it back outside so it can make its way back into my classroom the next day. Being the responsible science teacher I allow them to scoop them up and temporarily free the cricket. Now when roaches are involved it seems as if the same 9 out of 10 would smash the roach into the carpet.

Why the free pass for the cricket and instant death for the roach?

The are very closely related. From the arthopod family and if you took them apart I think their legs and such are very interchangeable. They both make a crackle sound if stepped on and both try to run for it when pursued. I think they have both been dipped in chocolate and served as a novelty treat.

Are you a discriminator?

Dirty Laundry

"Kick em when their up, kick em when their down....." Dirty Laundry, Don Henly.

After doing truck loads of laundry after my wife came back from her Missouri trip and made following comment, "You wear more underwear than anyone I know." I can either take this as a cleanliness compliment or can worry about how many people she knows and how she knows about their underwearing habits.

In defense: 1 fresh pair after the morning shower. A new pair after coming home from work. A final pair when hopping in bed for the night. I don't think 3 pair a day is anything out of the ordinary. I guess I could alter what I wear to bed at night? Add mowing in the summer time and it could top up to 5 pair in one day.

On a side note my wife informed me that the new thing, making wearing a thong an outdated trend, is........to wear no underwear at all. This can't be healthy can it?

Hmmmmm? What's in your laundry?

Jarhead

The heavily promoted(Jesus walks song), long awaited movie JARHEAD opens this Friday and I'll probably see it this weekend. It sounds like it is basically a war neutral movie from the point of view from the soldiers. One side is from a soldier who regrets being there and the other from a soldier who needs or strongly desires to be there in Iraq. It is based on Dessert Storm, but can easily be paralleled to fit our current situation in Iraq.

That said, one of my students came in today with a Jarhead haircut(marine style) and it looked pretty good. I've always wondered if I could get by with such a short cut. Nearing 40 and my hair receding slower than others I've worried that cutting it short might make me look even heavier or speed up the process of the receding hairline.

That said, you're welcome to meet me at the movies this weekend and if you'll pay for my haircut I'll even get the Jarhead cut! OOO RAH!

Just a few things..........

Missed posting yesterday because my family finally came home. I was actually online when the front door opened. I peeked around the corner and caught my sons eyes. All smiles as he made a mad dash towards me. Just a few feet away he collapsed and flopped onto the floor. He looked up as I scooped him off the floor. Yes, it is good to have my family home. Then 2 minutes later I changed a smooshy poopy diaper.

Today was Bagel Wednesday. I stopped by Panera to pick up my usual order that I placed Tuesday evening. For the 2nd week in a row they've lost my order and I've had to place the order off the top of my head. On top of that I usually have a small margin of error to work with and this forced me into being 10 minutes late, again.

Tonight I actually got on the treadmill. 20 minutes and just over one mile. I feel like I've had a fat year and haven't had much motivation to do anything about it. Maybe I can build some momentum and make a few changes. Anybody have a good book to recommend about changing unhealthy habits? Once I set my mind to it I can lose 20 pounds, but this time it would be nice to lose more and break the 200 barrier. Don't forget, 40 is coming around the New Year and being in shape would be a big psychological and physical boost.

It's November, so all you teachers do the Thanksgiving countdown!