Go, Pack, Go!

You all know I am a Green Bay Packer's fan. I have been since I was little. My mom always cheered for them (because they were such an all-American team, I guess), and it rubbed off. People used to say I was simply on the bandwagon and I wouldn't stand by them if they lost.

They were wrong.

Two years ago when they started the season 1-6, I was still proudly wearing the Packer's jersey. Sure, I was getting all kinds of crap for it, but I still wore it. I still watched them (when they were on) and I still cheered no matter how badly they played.

Last year when Brett Favre and the Packers had a rough season, I was still cheering for them. Still holding out hope that they could be the team I knew they could be. I was so sad to see how poorly Favre was playing because I knew he was destined to be an NFL legend--and I wanted him to be a legend for all the right reasons. Sports announcers bashed Favre and said he should retire...said he should have retired long ago. Fans said he simply stuck around too long and he needed to quit.

But he didn't.

And this year there is a whole new Pack...they are undefeated going into today's game. Favre just beat Marino's all time touchdown record and Marino's all time pass attempt record. He holds the records for most consecutive starts and most wins by a starting quarterback. I knew he could do it, and I knew this team could turn it around. I knew that they would find a way to win somehow.

And now, suddenly, announcers are praising Favre...saying he should play another five years and that he still has it in him to play the game. The same people who, just last year, bad mouthed him and said that he should have quit years ago. True fans are sitting at home knowing they believed in Favre all along while these announcers are suddenly on the Favre/Packers bandwagon...

...what a difference a year makes.

Bloggers Unite!

Those of you who frequent my blog have probably noticed that there was a banner at the top of the page for a while now. Today is the day we have been waiting for--a chance for bloggers everywhere to unite against abuse in all its forms. I am going to make this brief only because I think I can say exactly how I feel about it in a few powerful words.

I have blogged in the past about the woman who left her child in her car. I didn't hide the fact that I felt that was abuse of some sort. Her punishment? Nothing.

A man abused his dog, China, by tying her outside and allowing her collar to grow into her neck. His punishment? None. He got the dog back.

Then there was the kid who, for no reason at all, stomped on and killed an albino python at a festival. His father's response? "That's why I can't take you anywhere." They never found the kid.

I think it all comes down to one thing--value life. If you truly value life, you cannot intentionally or unintentionally cause harm to another living thing. Neglect is abuse. Violence is abuse. And it needs to stop.

we all, as living beings, need to learn to love, value and respect each other. We need to acknowledge that all life is precious and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. No one has the right to take away another living thing's right to life and security. If we all band together maybe we can do something to stop another person or animal from enduring pain that he should never have to endure.

Please, if you hear something or see something that is abuse, speak out. Protect those that are too scared to protect themselves or those that can't speak out to help themselves. Do that, and we are on the right track. Do that and the violence may end and the respect may start.

Beg Your Pardon?

Yesterday's Heads or Tails got me thinking a little more about things that get on my nerves, and I have realized that there is one big one that is plaguing the ENTIRE nation (or so it seems)--

Rudeness.

Rudeness is one of my biggest pet peeves. In most cases, there is no reason at all to be rude.

It baffles me when I watch people be rude to waiters/waitresses at restaurants. Why yell at them if you food hasn't come out yet? It really isn't their fault--they can only bring food when the cooks have it ready. And, as a rule of thumb, it is never smart to be rude to anyone who may be handling your food...

Why do people have to push up right behind you while you are waiting in line at the grocery? Last week I was waiting in line and the cashier was ringing up my stuff. As I stood waiting, the lady behind me was standing so close I could feel her breath. There really is no reason to do that to anyone. I can't move until the cashier is finished and I can pay. When that happens, I can get out of the way--until then, I don't see any reason for anyone to be waiting so close I could give them a piggyback ride!

While I am on the subject of stores, why is it that the majority of the cashiers are super rude? I understand that a lot of them are kids and they don't really want to work, but they don't have to take it out of their customers! I know when I worked my part time jobs as a teenager, I never really loved what I did, but I made the best of it. I can say that I was never rude to anyone--even those people who would come in five minutes before closing time on Christmas Eve. A little pleasantness goes a long way, and I feel that some of our store workers need to learn that.

Also, yelling at a store clerk because something you wanted to buy is out of stock won't solve any problems--all you are going to do is upset the store clerk...you will more likely get help if you are polite about the situation. I know I don't really want to go out of my way for people who are mean to me.

As a teacher, I see the whole gamut of rudeness at work. It amazes me how students talk to teachers today. I was calling for a student the other day in class and his response was "WHAT?" I told him that was in now way an appropriate tone and he rolled his eyes at me. First of all, if someone calls out your name, responding in a polite, inside voice manner would be nice. Secondly, eye rolling is one of the most rude, disrespectful things anyone can do. Some of these kids yell at teachers, talk back to their parents, are rude to our custodians and secretaries....

And some of their parents are worse. I had a parent once call me a moron, tell me my opinions were asinine and that I was a horrible teacher. I had another cuss me out on the phone over a homecoming candidate. I've had emails that stated I wasn't doing my job the right way. I've had parents threaten to sue me over discipline. And I think--my parents would have never confronted a teacher like that. Ever. Why? Because my parents figured that if I was in trouble, it was for good reason. Many of the parents I have dealt with in the past deal more in rudeness and personal attacks and less in logic and cooperation.

I think part of the problem is television and movies. Rudeness is funny there. Rudeness makes you cool there, so some may think (logically, of course) that rudeness is okay in the "real" world. Other people are just so unhappy with their own lives that they see it necessary to make other people miserable.

I think my blogging friend Andrew has it right...I think that if we all took a little more time to be more pleasant to one another, it would be amazing how much better we all would feel. Do something randomly nice today. Try to help stomp out a little bit of rudeness.

Heads or Tails Tuesday!

Today's topic is Pets OR Pet Peeves. Since I have already talked about my pets and did a rambling rant about my pet peeves, I have decided I will combine the two. I love both my dogs dearly, but they do some things that get on my ever loving nerves. So, allow me to present...

Pet Peeves About My Pets!

1. Gizmo, occasionally eats poop from the backyard! Honestly! (Our vet says it is normal. Normal? He eats poop. That's gross.)
2. Although I appreciate their need to protect, must they bark at every noise, movement, or breath of wind? I can't even yell "Hey TJ" upstairs because they automatically thinks that someone is at the door, so they have to bark...for a good five minutes.
3. I know Loki can jump up on the bed; therefore there is no need to hop up and down on the floor at three in the morning while whining for me to put him on the bed...I will not get up.
4. Looking pitiful and hungry will not work for me...I know I fed you this morning, I know I fed you the amount of food our vet told us to feed you, and I know that it was plenty...and playing TJ again ts me is just wrong. Quit it.
5. Why is it they have to go outside just as we sit down to dinner? (I know, Gizmo...it is your desire to eat poop.)
6. Although we know the closet is a cool cave like place to sleep, we do not appreciate Loki's hair all over our clean clothes.
7. Why do they sniff the crotches of our guests? Our guests stay away from the dogs' crotches, so the dogs should return the favor!
8. Gizmo has the urge to lick a rug after he eats...why is that? I hate walking into a room and stepping in wet spot. ick (especially because of pet peeve number 1)
9. Gizmo howls like crazy if we get into the general vicinity of the vet...and then that gets Loki started. Fun times.
10. Baths. I hate to give them and they hate even more to get them. I wish they had an autowash cycle :-)

I know I seem to complain a lot about my two fabulous boys--they are really great dogs, but these things baffle and confuse me about them sometimes. Of course, if they were any different they wouldn't be my boys! I just thought this was a fun spin on Skittles' already fun meme.

See you next Tuesday, fellow Heads or Tail-ers!

Be True to Your School!

It is amazing how time gets away from me. I meant to post yesterday, but I was a little feeling a little under the weather (as an after effect of the entire bottle of wine I consumed Saturday...yep...you read that right...an entire bottle...yikes). TJ and I went to The Shadowbox Cabaret and had a great night. We had never been before, and we were surprised at how great the band was and how fantastic the sketch comedy was. Plus, I knew the bass player (well, I thought I did...I thought it was a guy I went to school with...turned out it was his brother...close enough).

So, After consuming a whole bottle of wine, I wasn't feeling up to posting anything yesterday, so I took the day off. And, as I look back at recent posts, I haven't had much to say lately...I think I have been so busy with work that I haven't even thought about it.

I wanted to take this opportunity to show my support for Mike Gundy, coach for Oklahoma State football. Recently there was an article printed in an Oklahoma newspaper that belittled his quarterback. In a press conference, Gundy told the reporter exactly what he thought about what he had to say. Gundy stood up for this kid (and too often we forget that they are kids) and let the public know that much of the article was speculation and not true. Gundy was upset that the reporter attacked the character and the emotions of this college kid--and he said if the paper wanted to attack someone, they should have attacked him because he is older and can handle it. Instead, this college kid has to deal with undeserved scrutiny in his hometown.

I do think we often forget that these players are kids--they are younger than most of us and are under enormous pressure. We just assume that because they are on the field and playing a sport on television they can handle everything thrown at them, but they can't...they are amateurs. Think about the pressures of college already and then add to it the public eye--and you have a recipe for disaster.

I think that these kids need to be treated with a little respect and kindness--they are still playing because they love the game. They aren't getting paid, they do their best, and they play their hearts out. Don't believe me? Watch the player reactions when they lose a college football game...it is heartbreaking.

I think that college players should be in the media for their playing ability only--and no reporter, no matter how right they think they are, should attack the emotions and psyche of any kid.

So, I send kudos to Mike Gundy for standing up for his player. At least the kid knows he has one on his side...and now, because of the media coverage of Gundy's outburst, I think he has more.

Saturday Situation #2

A few weeks ago I said I was going to start a new Saturday game called Shan's Saturday Situation...and I forgot to do it last Saturday (oops)...

Here are the rules: I will give you two equally odd, weird, inconvenient or disgusting choices and I want you to choose which one you would rather have.

Today's choices:

Would you rather...

Have to hum constantly when you weren't speaking

OR

Sing everything you had to say?

Happy choosing!

So Long, Cell Tower!

For those of you who were around to read the first post about the proposed 120 foot cell tower, I have an update...

TJ called the Planning and Zoning Commission and they told him that T-Mobile had pulled their application for the site! No more cell tower!

That means when I look out my back door, I will still see this and not a huge metal monstrosity.

Hooray!

Fall TV Season!

I wanted to take a second to mention how excited I am that new shows are starting again. Sure, I loved Big Brother (until the end), but nothing beats Fall TV!!! I am posting this at a commercial in Survivor (and it is so cool they are in China), and I am wondering what shows you are most looking forward to as the new fall season gets off and running.

Me? I can't wait for Heroes and Grey's Anatomy to come back...

Thursday Thirteen!

Today's Thursday Thirteen?

Thirteen movies that will make me cry every time I watch them:

1. Moulin Rouge

2. Steel Magnolias

3. Beaches

4. Armageddon

5. Schindler's List

6. Stepmom

7. Patch Adams

8. Braveheart

9. Reign Over Me

10. Gladiator

11. Life is Beautiful

12. Big Fish

13. Finding Neverland

Avast, Me Hearties!

I case you didn't know, today is annual "Talk Like a Pirate" Day...

So, Argggg and Ahoy! If you need some help in your lingo, check out this basic list provided by the Talk Like a Pirate site (yes, they have an actual site)

The Basics
Pirate lingo is rich and complicated, sort of like a good stew. There are several other sites that offer glossaries that are pretty good, and you can find some of them on our links page.

But if you just want a quick fix, a surface gloss, a "pirate patina," if you will, here are the five basic words that you cannot live without. Master them, and you can face Talk Like a Pirate Day with a smile on your face and a parrot on your shoulder, if that's your thing.

Ahoy! - "Hello!"

Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"

Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."

Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over."

Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

And, for you single people, the top ten pirate pick-up lines:

10 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?
9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?
8. Come on up and see me urchins.
7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.
6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.
5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?
4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?
3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.
2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is …

1. Prepare to be boarded.

So, me hearties! Enjoy this savvy Talk Like a Pirate Day! And leave me a comment, me buckos!

Wordless Wednesday

Heads or Tails Tuesday!

Today Skittles has challenged her Heads or Tails participants to use keys as their topic. It seems that people everywhere have always been fascinated with the idea of keys. As proof of that, enjoy this collection of quotes that I found--all dealing with, mentioning or commenting on all types of keys...

Enjoy!

The key to your universe is that you can choose. --Frederick (Carl) Frieseke

Music is the key to the female heart.-- Johann G. Seume

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.-- P. J. O'Rourke

Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.-- John Milton

The key to a healthy marriage is to keep your eyes wide open before you wed and half-closed thereafter.-- Benjamin Franklin

The search for the perfect venture can turn into procrastination. Your idea may or may not have merit. The key is to get started.-- Source Unknown

Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Patience is the key to contentment.-- Mohammed

To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.-- John Dewey

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.-- Corrie Ten Boom

Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks.-- Joe Paterno

I just wish my mouth had a backspace key.-- Source Unknown

Questions provide the key to unlocking our unlimited potential.-- Anthony Robbins

To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.-- Ancient Proverb

When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty.-- Woodrow Wilson

Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature-- John Moschitta

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.-- Source Unknown

What if at a key moment in the game . . . oops! my bosoms come flyin' out?-- A League of Their Own

Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.-- David Hare

A golden key can open any door. -- English 16th Century

You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.-- Benjamin Franklin

A man who is of sound mind is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.-- Paul Valdry

Honesty is the key to a relationship. If you can fake that, you're in.-- Richard Jeni

Educated risks are the key to success.-- William Olsten

The key to faith is what we are willing to sacrifice to obtain it.-- Elder Cloward

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.-- Arthur Ashe

The key to why things change is the key to everything.-- James E. Burke

The key to understanding others is to first understand yourself-- Source Unknown

I think the key is for women not to set any limits.-- Martina Navratilova

It is always the minorities that hold the key of progress.-- Raymond B. Fosdick

Experience is the key to greatness.-- Arthur Williams

If I could remember your name, I'd ask you where I left my keys.-- Bumper Sticker

Friendship is to have the latchkey of another's mind.-- Edgar Godospeed

Within each storm of life is hidden a key that will unlock another door that you were meant to walk through.-- Steve Brunkhorst

This is What We'd Call an Upset...

Wow. The NFL sure had one heck of an upset weekend!

Let's start with the ones that were BAD for me in our office pool:

Cleveland beat Cincinnati (51 to 45...can you believe that score? I bet if you had told the Bengals they would score 45 points, they would have assumed they would wing...and they would have been wrong! Thankfully, no one predicted that Cleveland would win, so everyone lost this point)

Arizona beat Seattle (only four people predicted this one! Arizona has been horrible the last few years)

Tampa Bay CRUSHED New Orleans (Once again, we all had picked New Orleans...when it was 28 to nothing, I figured the Saints were not going to be marching in...)

San Francisco beat St. Louis (by ONE point...one friggin' point...)

Now, on to the ones that helped me out a bit:

Houston beat Carolina (It was my one upset pick of the week. TJ picked it, too, but not many others did.)

Green Bay beat New York (Hooray! My boys are 2-0 for the first time since 2001! It amazes me how many people have jumped on the Brett Favre Bandwagon now...this time last year the same people were saying he was done and needed to retire...they of little faith!)

As a result of this odd football week, I am tied for second in my pool...and the guy in the lead has Washington winning tonight--the rest of us have Philly. Then it comes down to Monday Night Football points...

Look out, TJ...looks like we're in a showdown!

Cool

Rocks in My Dryer posted this cool thing today and I wanted to share it with you.

Go to Metaatem and type in your name. You get Flickr photos of all the letters in your name. You can click on each letter to change it until you have your own custom name in photos! Here is mine:



Have fun!

I am Curious

If you could only keep one movie from your movie collection, which would it be and why?

I will tell you mine later.

Update...

Wednesday I posted about the woman who left her child in her car in Ohio...and I mentioned that there were no charges filed and asked you all to let me know how you felt about it. A new article came out today about this, and it included an interview with her. I originally had my thoughts and comments in here, but I decided to remove them...when I looked back and read it, I saw how angry I really was, so I removed them. They were not the best side of my personality...

Here you go (as posted on Channel Cincinnati this morning);

In her first public comments since her 2-year-old died in a hot car last month, Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby said she talked at lunch that day about her children, not realizing she'd left her daughter out in the vehicle.

When she found the toddler later in the day, Nesselroad-Slaby was shattered.
"No one can ever imagine what it's like to pull your baby out of the car like that. I knew she was gone. My life will never be the same," Nesselroad-Slaby said, in an interview with The Community Press published Friday by the suburban newspaper's sister publication, The Cincinnati Enquirer.

In trying to explain events leading up to the Aug. 23 death of daughter Cecilia, Nesselroad-Slaby, 40, said she felt under pressure juggling her duties as mother and as assistant principal at Glen Este Middle School, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati.

"I felt like I had to be super-mom and super-administrator," she said.

That particular morning was chaotic and later "I talked to people at lunch that day about my kids, and it didn't even click" that the child was in the vehicle, Nesselroad-Slaby said.

While Cecilia was strapped into her car seat in the back seat, temperatures outside reached about 100 degrees.

Prosecutor Don White said Thursday he has asked a state legislator to propose changes to the law so that it would be possible to charge someone if a child accidentally left in a car was seriously injured or died.

Two attorneys in his office are drafting the language for a bill, White said. He plans to present it to the legislative and executive committees of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association next Thursday in Columbus for review and possible endorsement.

"I don't know how you punish somebody for something that was an accident," Nesselroad-Slaby said of the proposal. "A law is to prevent something, but you can't prevent something that's an accident."

Barry Wilford, president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said reducing the legal requirement for prosecution from recklessness to negligence in cases of accidents would expose much of the population to prosecution.

"Criminal law has historically recognized that everyone makes mistakes and unintended consequences result from those," Wilford said. "Generally, we don't send people to prison for that."

Nesselroad-Slaby said she wants to return to work at Glen Este Middle School.
"There is conflict every day - this just might be a different kind of conflict. My hope is that it won't be every day. I'm not sure that it's our parents (the parents of children at the school) that are being negative," she said.

"Live for the positive and work through negative, that's what I've done every day at that job. If they would let me, I'd love to go back," she said.

"I'm a pretty tough cookie," Nesselroad-Slaby said. "I started a job -- I started with a purpose this year -- and I don't want to lose that."

Let me know what you think of this latest development.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

I have had this book on my shelf for the last four years at least and I have never picked it up. On Tuesday I finally decided that I would give it a shot...after all, it is a Nobel Prize winner, so I thought it would be worth a read.

So far, here's what I have: there's this guy (Jose) who lives in this village and gypsies come...and he buys stuff from them because he thinks the things will do things the gypsies say they won't do--but he buys them anyway and pisses off his wife (Ursula). He has two sons...one of them (also Jose) sleeps with an older woman (Pilar), gets her pregnant, but then he sleeps with a gypsy woman and then he runs away with the gypsies...Ursula, although just giving birth to a daughter, leaves town for five months and finds another group of people and brings them back to her village--but they bring with them and insomnia sickness that causes them to forget everything--so Jose labels everything with its name and what its function is (like this is a cow, she needs to be milked each morning)...while the sickness is spreading, his other son (Aureliano...who has never known a woman) pays 20 cents to sleep with a girl who has to sleep with 70 men a night for ten more years to pay off her grandmothers house (that she burnt down by accident because she lit too many candles). Aureliano feels sorry for her and just pays another 20 cents so she doesn't have to sleep with another guy...and he leaves (without sleeping with her) and the next morning he decides he is going to propose to her so she won't have to live the horrible life that she is living...but she has left...so he mopes around and eventually sleeps with the same woman his brother slept with (and got pregnant...before he ran off with the gypsies)...

...confused yet?

Me, too.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Yoga Poses I Can Do...

1. Mountain

2. Downward Dog

3. Cow

4. Cobra

5. Warrior Series (does this count as three of my thirteen?)

6. Tree

7. Scorpion

8. Twisted Sponge

9. Triangle

10. Goddess

11. Bridge

12. Dancer

13. Half Moon

What Do You Think?

I don't know how far this news reached, so let me bring you all up to speed before I ask my question.

A few weeks ago, during our massive heat wave, and assistant principal of a local school left her two year old daughter in her car while she was at work. The mother, who deviated from her morning routine that day, said she simply forgot that her daughter was in the car. She usually left home, dropped her daughter off at the baby sitter's and then went to work. This day, however, she had to stop and get donuts for a morning faculty meeting, so she did not stop at the babysitters. Instead, she took her daughter with her. Video shows her getting to school and making numerous trips to the car to get donuts...but she then takes the car to the parking lot, parks, leaves and goes into work...leaving her child in the car. The car sat in the parking lot for nearly eight hours. Sadly, the girl did not make it. How can you be so routine based that you forget that your two-year-old is in the car with you? That alone tells me that something is very wrong.

Now...here is where the controversy comes in. No charges are being filed against her. Some people are outraged because other cases similar to this have yielded charges (recently a doctor left his kids in the car while he ran into Lowes' and a police officer broke the car windows and arrested the guy for child endangerment), but this one did not. There seems to be no written law about this situation. In fact, the school board isn't even sure what to do--they are discussing whether or not to let her keep her job--and people have plenty to say about that, too.

I know how I feel about this, but, my question to you is this: how do you feel about this? Should she have been charged? Should she keep her job? Is she being punished enough just knowing what she did?

Heads or Tails...

Today's topic is a bit more somber than the ones previously. Today Skittles has asked that we reflect upon the 9-11 attacks. Although I could probably go into every detail of that day (as I am sure many of us can), I will keep this as brief as possible.

I was in my second year of teaching. I remember that the day was exceptionally beautiful here in Kentucky, and I had a teacher meeting to go to the last half of the day. My brother had just come home on leave (he had just finished basic training for the Navy) and he was at home, asleep.

My students were working on vocabulary. We were listening to the Remember the Titans soundtrack, and one of our social studies teachers came rushing into my room...and the look on his face said it all. In his heavy New York accent, he told me I had to turn the TV on right then. I had never seen him look so panicked...so I turned on the TV...and the image that greeted me will haunt me forever.

Both towers were on fire by the time I got the TV on. Within minutes, the first tower collapsed. I remember bringing my hand to my mouth and saying "This can't be happening." I remember students asking me what was going on...and I remember picking up the phone to call my brother...and I remember tearing up when I talked to him. I was so worried that he would have to go...that he would be called to defend, but he assured me that since he was still in training, he would be fine. I told him to call Mom to assure her he was safe, and I hung up. And then the second tower came down. I stared at the television...still hoping this was some elaborate hoax and someone would be punished.

But it wasn't a hoax. It was very, very real.

And then I remembered that I had thirty kids staring at me. They were all looking to me for answers and I didn't have any. I was at a loss.

I went to that meeting that afternoon (they didn't cancel it), and, as a matter of fact, the board office told all schools that they had to turn off all TV's in the district and no one was allowed to watch. I remember thinking that was crazy because it was happening and everyone had the right to know.

By the time I got out of my meeting, all flights were grounded. At the time, TJ and I lived within two miles of a major airport. When I drove by that afternoon, it was eerie to see all the planes just sitting on the tarmac--not moving. It was eerier still not to hear a single plane fly out that evening.

Like everyone, I was obsessed for quite a while...I watched the news constantly, I cried all the time, and I worried about my brother. After some time passed, things got easier, but the feelings never really went away.

TJ and visited Ground Zero a few years ago...and the feelings you get when standing in that spot are unmistakable. It is powerful, moving, and you are silenced...not because anyone tells you to be silent, but because something within in you compels you to silence. Maybe it's respect...maybe it's sadness...maybe it's a mixture of all things emotional. Whatever it is, it happens.

And the pictures of the lost people are enough to stop you in your tracks...

I don't think I will ever really understand why someone felt the need to punish so many innocent people...I will never understand why there are brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, children, fathers and mothers who will never see family members again.

But I guess it doesn't matter now whether or not we understand...the important thing is that we never forget.

Warm the Globe!

I have been given an opportunity to join in a worldwide blogging effort. Thanks, Skittles!

Vic Grace has started something I'm glad to be a part of.

"As we are all aware, blogging does give us the opportunity to reach out and yes, "touch someone" by our words, pictures, links in our blogs and by our comments to fellow bloggers as well.Think about this - in a world today that is too often filled with news of wars all over the world, fears about terrorism, following newspaper and tv news reports about crime, gangs, and you name it of all the bad things we hear about everyday, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we, each of us blogging in our own little space, could actually spread the word through friendship and help, through that little bit of effort, to bring people together, united in a common goal of international friendship?"

All you have to do is copy this post with the list of links below. Combine the previous links with my tags. Add some tags of your own. As others do the same we get the word out about a lot of great blogs. Eventually we may circumnavigate the globe.

Previous Links

Debo Blue at "A Blue State of Mind"

Sasha at "A Day in the Life of Sasha Stinerova"

Maddie at "Whitterer on Autism"

Singing Owl at "Pastorette Ponderings"

Barb at "Skittles Place"

Mau at "It's About Time"

Jen at "Creatif"

The Meloncutter at "Meloncutter's Musings"

Sognatrice in Calabria, Italy at "Bleeding Espresso"

Keith at "10 Years Running Blind"

Dave at "Rather Than Working"

Linda at "Are We There Yet?"

Dorothy at "Overthehill Boomer Chick"

Patois at "Whee! All The Way Home"

Stine at "Mother's Home"

Smalltown RN at "A Place I Call Home"

Shelby at "Time With Shelby"

Frigga at Any Apples

Boggy Woggy at BoggyWoggy's Cache

Erika at Erika Jean

Misty at My Dogs Keep Me Sane

Shan at Rambling Shan

Bundle-o-Contradications at Random Autumness

Turtle Parade at Turtle Parade

I am passing this to:

Marci at The Myriad Musings of Marci

JoJo at No Barking After Six

AJ at My Crazy Life in Pictures

Library Lady at The Cranky Librarian

Jake the Joker at Joker...I Jacked a Plane

ha. gotcha at I Speak Because Others Babble

Hint: If you use "Copy" to take these links, then "Paste" them onto the "Compose" window they will still work as links.

I've Hit 100!

Oh, my! I can't believe that today I reach post number 100! I would never never known that I would post this much in the days since I started this blog, but it seems that I have. I honestly want to thank Library Lady over at The Cranky Librarian for introducing me to Blogger--I would have never even thought of creating a blog if it weren't for her. As a special THANK YOU, I wanted to give a shout out to Library Lady--if you haven't read her blog, you don't know what you're missing.

I also want to thank all of YOU! When I started a few months ago, no one (except Library Lady) knew I was here...and then, slowly, people started wandering by...and I started wandering to their sites, and suddenly I am part of a huge, great community. Skittles when you first commented and I traveled to your site I was amazed at how much traffic you generated...and when you linked me, I was thrilled. Then more people started linking me (Library Lady, AJ, Marci) and more people wandered by. More people commented, and I found more people to add to my link list.

This has been a fantastic start to my little blog, and I couldn't be happier sharing post number 100 with all of you! I had no idea how fun and addicting blogging could be...

And today, in the spirit of my 100th post, I am going to try something new. I am going to start a game. It is based off the board game Zobmondo: I will give you two equally disgusting, bothersome or downright odd situations and you have to choose which one you would rather do.

I'm going to call it Shan's Saturday Situation...and here is edition number one (in post number 100!) I hope you all play along!

Would you rather...

Have ears the size of an elephant's -OR- have a nose the size of an elephant's trunk?

Just My Luck--AMMENDED!

Earlier this month I posted about luck and how I had the world's worst luck when it came to buying things that I wanted (because it was always out of stock or gone or never really existed). I was hit with that luck again last night.

Staples is running a great deal on a BEAUTIFUL L-shaped computer desk. Tons of work space (I grade a lot of papers at home, so this was a plus), lots of storage, a built in file drawer, sturdy construction, the works. The deal? Buy the desk and get the hutch for free. I was so excited.

I spent the week looking at it, measuring my office (it's not a huge room), looking to see how things could fit (the desk is huge--71 inches long and over 5 feet tall, to be exact) because I wanted to make sure that I didn't buy it, put it together and realize it wouldn't work in the space and have to take it all back down again. (I did that with an office chair recently--I'll tell you about THAT sometime).

Finally, last night, I log onto Staples' website because I knew this desk would work. I figured out how to reconfigure my office, how to best situate the hutch, and I even decided I was going to paint the room while I was at it. I had my credit card out, clicked the item and what do you know...

The hutch was sold out. Out of stock. Vanished. Gone.

Are you kidding me?

TJ told me it wasn't my luck that did it...it was the fact it was such a good deal and so many people took advantage of it. I'd believe him if this were the first time it happened...but it isn't, so it's my bad shopping karma (if there is there such a thing as "shopping karma") or something.

Whatever it is, I can only hope that my Staples has it...but I'm not going to hold my breath...I'll turn blue :-)

UPDATE: My super fantastic husband went to Staples this morning and ordered my desk for me! It will be here Monday! Looks like what I lack in shopping karma I make up for in husband karma!

Football Starts TONIGHT!

I am so very excited...for those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE football fan. In my closet there is a Packer's Jersey (I am a die hard Packer fan!), a Seahawk's jersey (because Shaun Alexander is from my area) and a Bengals' jersey (because my parents customized a jersey for me last Chrsitmas...although it is a bit out of date since Kevin Kaesviharn now plays for the Saints.)

And guess who plays tonight?

The Colts and (you guessed it) the Saints--so I get to see good ol' KK sporting his new jersey for New Orleans...

And I have a reason to add a fourth jersey to my collection :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Heads or Tails Tuesday!

Today's topic for Skittles' super fun meme is school...I think I can cover this one :-)

You all know that I teach. I have been teaching for eight years and although it drives me crazy most of the time, I can't think of anything else I would rather do. If knowing I may change a life isn't enough, I can always think of what great fodder for a book I will have in the future. For today's school meme, I would like to list a few things I have learned while teaching high school...some serious, some not so serious (hopefully you can tell them apart):

1. Never tell a kid with anger issues to get to work--he may throw a desk at you.


2. Contrary to popular belief, sarcasm is an effective classroom management tool.


3. You can make 150 copies, use the restroom, and check your email in under 4 minutes.


4. You can also eat a full meal in under 20 minutes (and, unfortunately, that translates to actual dinners and meals with people outside of school)


5. You can't be in it for the money.


6. Snow days are happy days!


7. Parents don't always back you.


8. No matter how hard I try, kids will fail.


9. Some kids don't like me...that's okay. I don't like some of them, either.


10. "We've heard the same thing from his teachers since he was five" is a common parent response to any concern.


11. Contrary to our contract, our workday is NOT from 7:15 to 2:45.


12. Befriend custodians, secretaries and cafeteria ladies--they really run the school!


13. No matter how hard you want to, you can't laugh when a kid says something inappropriate--you have to be the teacher. (You can laugh about it later)


14. It probably isn't smart to block the door when a kid three times your size is trying to exit without permission.


15. The kid in the back who acts like a punk and sleeps may not be a punk at all--he may just be confused and afraid or embarrassed to ask questions.


16. It's okay to make your classroom NOT look like a classroom--decorations are good and make the kids feel at home.


17. I can say "Because I said so" and have it work!


18. Yelling "Ewwwww! Gross!" is an effective way to end kissing in the hallway.


19. Chicken Nugget day will cause cafeteria drama.


20. It is all worth it.

What the French, Toast?

Normally, Orbit Gum commercials drive me crazy. The girl with a dog toy in her mouth, the guy who gets sand poured in his mouth, the one with all the bugs...ick. But, they recently aired a commercial that literally had me laughing...so much so that I may actually go buy some Orbit for all the kids at my school. The idea behind it is genius and I just don't know how they did it without laughing! I wanted to share it with you in case you needed a chuckle this fine Sunday.

Thanks to YouTube for making it so easy to share this with all of you! Hopefully you thought it was....Fabulous.

Look! A Dirty Picture!

Skittles, the queen of fun memes, often participates in a Saturday photo scavenger hunt. Today I wanted to join the fun. The object? A word is given and you search for a photo that shows that word in some way.

The word of the day is DIRTY...whenever you heard the secret word, scream real loud... (oops! Sorry...looks like I had a PeeWee's Playhouse flashback...*shudder*)

So, as I looked through the pictures I have, I found a few that would fit the bill, but I liked this one the best. We have a small creek outside our house that usually runs at a relatively clear trickle, but, when we get excessive rain, it gets quite dirty. See for yourself:

You can even see that this picture was taken after it went down some...check out the filthy gunk on the banks to see how high it really was.

If you want to check out more people playing, check Skittle's site--she has Mr. Linky up for this.

Happy hunting!