Its really getting to be Fall.
When I walk to Starbucks in the morning it is cool. There is very little residual heat from the night before. That usually means at least a sub 90 degree high day.
This weekend I put together some lesson plans for the week. We are going to be working on the vocabulary of grocery stores. The today we are working on the areas of Meat, Deli, Bakery, and Dairy.
I also worked up a plan for in case I would not be able to get some lesson plans to the office. We are working to be a school with that kind of backup. Planning is good.. specific planning is another issue. Part of education is the artistry of teachers planning and executing their own plans. Unfortunately educational planners see that this is the way they can strengthen the push toward No Child Left Behind.. NCLB for short.
Life goes on.
Mom and Dad seem happy in Colorado. They had a big adventure up over the mountain. Dad "shook hands" with about 10 fish and caught a little one that he returned to Crystal Springs lake. They ate at their favorite chili spot up on the mountain and had an ice cream on the way down to their Cederidge art stops. Pretty cool. Their Chrysler LHX did a wonderful job taking on Grand Mesa.
Have a great Monday!
: ) Pat
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Stupid Stupid Stupid
On our way down the hill I talked Sue (it didn't take much) into heading North to see Linzi and Sean. She gave them a call when we were in Lockford. Linzi said sure come on up .. we can go to lunch or something.
So off we headed and stopped by a farmer who was selling his tomatoes,onions,watermelon and apples. We left 19 dollars lighter as we bought a set for Linzi too.
We met Linzi and Sean and Chris and his significant other and went out to eat at their local pizza and salad place.. mucho fun.
They went thrift storing and Sean and I stayed home and played the bunny game on the wii.. very fun.
When they come home we were ready to go. Linzi told me that when I go get new keys for the Escape, I needed a new remote or a battery for the expedition. Sure enough we were ready to plow into it to go home and the doors would not open. We were both ready to call AAA when Linzi said.. use your key to unlock your door.. Son of a gun we did that and we were able to get home without a AAA embarrassment.
Love
Pat
So off we headed and stopped by a farmer who was selling his tomatoes,onions,watermelon and apples. We left 19 dollars lighter as we bought a set for Linzi too.
We met Linzi and Sean and Chris and his significant other and went out to eat at their local pizza and salad place.. mucho fun.
They went thrift storing and Sean and I stayed home and played the bunny game on the wii.. very fun.
When they come home we were ready to go. Linzi told me that when I go get new keys for the Escape, I needed a new remote or a battery for the expedition. Sure enough we were ready to plow into it to go home and the doors would not open. We were both ready to call AAA when Linzi said.. use your key to unlock your door.. Son of a gun we did that and we were able to get home without a AAA embarrassment.
Love
Pat
Indian Casino near Jackson
We arrive barely on time to the conference spot at the Jackson Rancheria. About 3 miles out of town the road steeply rolls across the foothill landscape. Its a beautiful road with designer lamps along the way. The road is very steep as it pushes itself up the a set of three smoke filled auditorium sized rooms on one side of the road, gentrified to look like an old town city, and four story parking lot separates the casino side from the hotel side.
We navigated through to the self park area and headed up the pedestrian bridge to the hotel side. We arrive at 11:30. We tried to check in.. well no.. rooms were not available until at least 2pm. Sue was very tired. So she sat down at the couch after joining us for the Brunch complete with an omelet making station, salmon in cream sauce, fancy breakfast rolls and the usual breakfast stuff, sausage, bacon, eggs and toast. She thought that she could rest on their couch.
She was turned in by the security.. and told she could not do that. I found out about that and got her out to the car where she could lie down and rest. At 3 o'clock the room as ready.
It was a nice room. It has a handicapped shower set up. It was clean and comfortable. the conference continued and I went to another session. For dinner she joined us again. It was Italian spaghetti, lasagna, and chicken breasts with red sauce on it. They had a wonderful individual circular tirmusu deserts,and a really good amaretto and chocolate cake. We listened as the speaker talked about the CTA pac and the candidates and the propositions the organizations support.
We enjoyed a wonderful piano pan playing in the smoke free lobby. It was beautiful. After Sue turned in, I went down to see what the casino was like. It was very interesting. It was the first time I have been to one that had no sound of crashing coins. No coins were permitted. The machines would take paper money. When the gambler was through, a button for cash out yielded a slip with a bar code on it. The slip could be redeemed for money at the many kiosks. Cashiers were also available in the cages to redeem the slips. I gambled 40 dollars. At one time I was up 16 dollars. In the end I walked away with 36 dollars in my pocket. In the morning, I walked down to get an espresso (at their Peet's). I put 10 dollars in the quarter machine. I walked away when I had a jackpot that restored by 10 dollar and gave me a quarter to boot.
The next morning (Saturday) we faced an interesting dilemma we arrived ten minutes in to the breakfast brunch.. basically eggs,bacon,ham, sausage, and browned potatoes with not enough eggs. The worker said that she put out all that there was supposed to be. The CTA secretaries demanded more eggs to be made.. she said that more could be had but it will take 5 to 10 more minutes. By the time our president made it down.. everything was restored.
At 10 o'clock the conference restored and we were off to the conference rooms. At 11:15 I got a phone call from Sue who called me up and said that we were being thrown out of room by the housekeeping staff. That was it.. we picked up and headed out. I missed out 2 hours of conference.. I told our president why I was leaving.. she wanted to take them on.. but it was really too late.
I think that the CTA conference was at cross purpose to the hotel. They want people to come in and gamble lose their money and stay. We wanted a good place for a conference. Somehow both needs were not met. I didn't hear any teachers that lost big sums of money or that won them for that matter either.
: ( Pat
We navigated through to the self park area and headed up the pedestrian bridge to the hotel side. We arrive at 11:30. We tried to check in.. well no.. rooms were not available until at least 2pm. Sue was very tired. So she sat down at the couch after joining us for the Brunch complete with an omelet making station, salmon in cream sauce, fancy breakfast rolls and the usual breakfast stuff, sausage, bacon, eggs and toast. She thought that she could rest on their couch.
She was turned in by the security.. and told she could not do that. I found out about that and got her out to the car where she could lie down and rest. At 3 o'clock the room as ready.
It was a nice room. It has a handicapped shower set up. It was clean and comfortable. the conference continued and I went to another session. For dinner she joined us again. It was Italian spaghetti, lasagna, and chicken breasts with red sauce on it. They had a wonderful individual circular tirmusu deserts,and a really good amaretto and chocolate cake. We listened as the speaker talked about the CTA pac and the candidates and the propositions the organizations support.
We enjoyed a wonderful piano pan playing in the smoke free lobby. It was beautiful. After Sue turned in, I went down to see what the casino was like. It was very interesting. It was the first time I have been to one that had no sound of crashing coins. No coins were permitted. The machines would take paper money. When the gambler was through, a button for cash out yielded a slip with a bar code on it. The slip could be redeemed for money at the many kiosks. Cashiers were also available in the cages to redeem the slips. I gambled 40 dollars. At one time I was up 16 dollars. In the end I walked away with 36 dollars in my pocket. In the morning, I walked down to get an espresso (at their Peet's). I put 10 dollars in the quarter machine. I walked away when I had a jackpot that restored by 10 dollar and gave me a quarter to boot.
The next morning (Saturday) we faced an interesting dilemma we arrived ten minutes in to the breakfast brunch.. basically eggs,bacon,ham, sausage, and browned potatoes with not enough eggs. The worker said that she put out all that there was supposed to be. The CTA secretaries demanded more eggs to be made.. she said that more could be had but it will take 5 to 10 more minutes. By the time our president made it down.. everything was restored.
At 10 o'clock the conference restored and we were off to the conference rooms. At 11:15 I got a phone call from Sue who called me up and said that we were being thrown out of room by the housekeeping staff. That was it.. we picked up and headed out. I missed out 2 hours of conference.. I told our president why I was leaving.. she wanted to take them on.. but it was really too late.
I think that the CTA conference was at cross purpose to the hotel. They want people to come in and gamble lose their money and stay. We wanted a good place for a conference. Somehow both needs were not met. I didn't hear any teachers that lost big sums of money or that won them for that matter either.
: ( Pat
Friday, September 12, 2008
Off to Jackson
We are headed up to Jackson for an area confab of the CTA leaders today. Jackson is in the foothills above Stockton/Sacramento. We are gathering most of our local negotiation teams to compare and team build. Sue and the powerchair are going up there too.
For most people the added attraction is the indian casino. I am sure that is why our organization is getting a good price on the rooms. We were also planning to go to Reno. But that one stretches our away from home tolerance.
I have been working on getting more photos of Kate Jackson's paintings up on her pro bono site. Thank goodness for photoshop's batch commands. She had 11 new images that were sized in three different formats and labeled and put first in one folder and then added to the hard drive where go-live exists. I needed to juggle the existing thumbnails so that they could be added. Then each thumbnail needed to be linked to the new page that was created for each painting.
I have also been working on the reunion pages. Members have scanned there old photos and emailed them to me as attachments. Then I have been stripping them out and resizing and color correcting each one before assembling into the web pages I have created. The navigation system for this site is extremely simple.. just a next at the top of the page. See it on http://www.elcamino68.com.
I hope that you have a great day.
Love Pat
For most people the added attraction is the indian casino. I am sure that is why our organization is getting a good price on the rooms. We were also planning to go to Reno. But that one stretches our away from home tolerance.
I have been working on getting more photos of Kate Jackson's paintings up on her pro bono site. Thank goodness for photoshop's batch commands. She had 11 new images that were sized in three different formats and labeled and put first in one folder and then added to the hard drive where go-live exists. I needed to juggle the existing thumbnails so that they could be added. Then each thumbnail needed to be linked to the new page that was created for each painting.
I have also been working on the reunion pages. Members have scanned there old photos and emailed them to me as attachments. Then I have been stripping them out and resizing and color correcting each one before assembling into the web pages I have created. The navigation system for this site is extremely simple.. just a next at the top of the page. See it on http://www.elcamino68.com.
I hope that you have a great day.
Love Pat
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tools
Students are working on "tools" this week.
Writing day.. always Wednesday was based on picking tools and writing about them. Classification, description, and function.
One student was putting together a group of three item tools that held water. One of the item included his favorite item.. toilet. We thought together and came up with wash basin, and bathtub.
One girl in the class thought of items put in hair as tools. She included hairbrush, comb and scrunchy.
Overall it was a good writing day.. it took a lot more hands on than I figured to get them to think in the areas of classification, description, and function.
The district is pushing out more administration observations complete with a "coaching" form. I ask our administration what part of the form constituted "coaching." She was a little taken back by the comment and only said that it was coming down directly from the superintendent.
We are also being required to have available lesson plans. Our concern is with the new requirements built into them that looks largely like the Madelyn Hunter stuff of the 90's ... 5 step lesson plans.
With so much of our curriculum structured with pacing schedules and curriculum requirements.. it amounts to more than 90 extra hours a year to produce these products.
So we have been designing some strategies at the union to shore up our members reaction to these new developments in our working conditions.
So we shall see what we shall see.
Pat
Writing day.. always Wednesday was based on picking tools and writing about them. Classification, description, and function.
One student was putting together a group of three item tools that held water. One of the item included his favorite item.. toilet. We thought together and came up with wash basin, and bathtub.
One girl in the class thought of items put in hair as tools. She included hairbrush, comb and scrunchy.
Overall it was a good writing day.. it took a lot more hands on than I figured to get them to think in the areas of classification, description, and function.
The district is pushing out more administration observations complete with a "coaching" form. I ask our administration what part of the form constituted "coaching." She was a little taken back by the comment and only said that it was coming down directly from the superintendent.
We are also being required to have available lesson plans. Our concern is with the new requirements built into them that looks largely like the Madelyn Hunter stuff of the 90's ... 5 step lesson plans.
With so much of our curriculum structured with pacing schedules and curriculum requirements.. it amounts to more than 90 extra hours a year to produce these products.
So we have been designing some strategies at the union to shore up our members reaction to these new developments in our working conditions.
So we shall see what we shall see.
Pat
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Danger of the Real Palin
This is an interesting article from the Huffington Post. Its a little scary how a little packaging can miss the real message:
It seems forever since the Democrats completed their triumphant Convention in Denver with its Obama/Biden/Clinton/Kennedy unity ticket and its intoxicating sense of take-it-to-the-finish line momentum. What happened? Not Sarah Palin. How could a small-time Alaska mayor and first term Governor derail the Obama freight train? No it was not Sarah Palin but the extraordinary reaction to McCain's wildly irresponsible decision to make her his running mate that seems to have paralyzed the Party.
Something about Palin scrambled the otherwise steady nerves of the Obama campaign. As if they were believing everything she was saying. Assuming that the Republican base was the country and hence thinking her success at her Convention there would be replicated nationally. (Did you see the face of that convention? Is that really the face of America?) Afraid to be accused of sexism (ironic after how it disposed of Hillary); or of unwarranted anger (Obama sometimes seems like Governor Dukakis, unwilling to rise to the bait even when it would be politically smart to do so).
Why is it so hard simply to tell the truth about Palin? Yes she is a successful and politically smart woman to be admired for that reason. But she is also a typical Republican values hypocrite preaching choice for women - except when it comes to pregnancy; preaching that family should be kept out of the political searchlight - except when it is useful to parade her own family on center stage; preaching against earmarks - except when it help her career to solicit them for Alaska; preaching about America first - except that she actually has made a career out of putting Palin first, Alaska second and America last (check out her Alaska secessionist husband).
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is also a right wing extremist who tried to delete books she didn't approve of from the town library where she was mayor and tried to fire the librarian when that didn't work; who is a creationist and, like the current occupant of the White House, who has little use for science, whether it is the science of evolution or the science of global warming; who never had a passport until last year when she visited her National Guard troops in Kuwait. Otherwise a stranger to the world in which America must make its way.
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is not merely pro-life, she is a no-exceptions-never-mind-rape-or-incest pro-lifer who thinks woman have no right to participate in decisions about what happens to their bodies if they become pregnant.
What the Democratic leadership has yet to figure out is that the real gender bias in the Palin appointment is the patronizing attitude that assumes what would and should be savaged and ridiculed in a man must be condoned or even welcomed in a woman.
Dukakis was skewered by twisted stories about rapists and released prisoners because he wanted to appear reasonable. War hero Kerry got swift-boated by men who never served in the military. Is Obama now going to let himself get moosed by a parochial Alaskan know-nothing because she's a woman?
Time to get mad. At Palin. At McCain. At the Bushes (yes both of them). Gender equality means women can't hide their biases and dogmatism behind gender.
Speaking of men, it is not really Palin but McCain who is the perpetrator we need to criticize. It is McCain who cynically chose a far right wing ideologue who shares the worst biases of the current administration in Washington and made her his running mate in a "campaign against Washington."
In other words, it is not the pit-bull in lipstick but the man who unleashed her who bears the responsibility. Michael Vick went to prison for turning his pit-bulls loose on others. I'm not recommending putting McCain in jail, just keeping him and his snarling (or is that a smile?) running mate out of the White House. Your move, Senator Obama.
It seems forever since the Democrats completed their triumphant Convention in Denver with its Obama/Biden/Clinton/Kennedy unity ticket and its intoxicating sense of take-it-to-the-finish line momentum. What happened? Not Sarah Palin. How could a small-time Alaska mayor and first term Governor derail the Obama freight train? No it was not Sarah Palin but the extraordinary reaction to McCain's wildly irresponsible decision to make her his running mate that seems to have paralyzed the Party.
Something about Palin scrambled the otherwise steady nerves of the Obama campaign. As if they were believing everything she was saying. Assuming that the Republican base was the country and hence thinking her success at her Convention there would be replicated nationally. (Did you see the face of that convention? Is that really the face of America?) Afraid to be accused of sexism (ironic after how it disposed of Hillary); or of unwarranted anger (Obama sometimes seems like Governor Dukakis, unwilling to rise to the bait even when it would be politically smart to do so).
Why is it so hard simply to tell the truth about Palin? Yes she is a successful and politically smart woman to be admired for that reason. But she is also a typical Republican values hypocrite preaching choice for women - except when it comes to pregnancy; preaching that family should be kept out of the political searchlight - except when it is useful to parade her own family on center stage; preaching against earmarks - except when it help her career to solicit them for Alaska; preaching about America first - except that she actually has made a career out of putting Palin first, Alaska second and America last (check out her Alaska secessionist husband).
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is also a right wing extremist who tried to delete books she didn't approve of from the town library where she was mayor and tried to fire the librarian when that didn't work; who is a creationist and, like the current occupant of the White House, who has little use for science, whether it is the science of evolution or the science of global warming; who never had a passport until last year when she visited her National Guard troops in Kuwait. Otherwise a stranger to the world in which America must make its way.
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is not merely pro-life, she is a no-exceptions-never-mind-rape-or-incest pro-lifer who thinks woman have no right to participate in decisions about what happens to their bodies if they become pregnant.
What the Democratic leadership has yet to figure out is that the real gender bias in the Palin appointment is the patronizing attitude that assumes what would and should be savaged and ridiculed in a man must be condoned or even welcomed in a woman.
Dukakis was skewered by twisted stories about rapists and released prisoners because he wanted to appear reasonable. War hero Kerry got swift-boated by men who never served in the military. Is Obama now going to let himself get moosed by a parochial Alaskan know-nothing because she's a woman?
Time to get mad. At Palin. At McCain. At the Bushes (yes both of them). Gender equality means women can't hide their biases and dogmatism behind gender.
Speaking of men, it is not really Palin but McCain who is the perpetrator we need to criticize. It is McCain who cynically chose a far right wing ideologue who shares the worst biases of the current administration in Washington and made her his running mate in a "campaign against Washington."
In other words, it is not the pit-bull in lipstick but the man who unleashed her who bears the responsibility. Michael Vick went to prison for turning his pit-bulls loose on others. I'm not recommending putting McCain in jail, just keeping him and his snarling (or is that a smile?) running mate out of the White House. Your move, Senator Obama.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Word for Today: Iconoclastic
I came across this word in my reading and thought you might be interesting in a dictionary definition of this word. This is lifted from the free dictionary online:
i·con·o·clast (-kn-klst)
n.
1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions.
2. One who destroys sacred religious images.
[French iconoclaste, from Medieval Greek eikonoklasts, smasher of religious images : eikono-, icono- + Greek -klasts, breaker (from Greek kln, klas-, to break).]
i·cono·clastic adj.
i·cono·clasti·cal·ly adv.
Word History: An iconoclast can be unpleasant company, but at least the modern iconoclast only attacks such things as ideas and institutions. The original iconoclasts destroyed countless works of art. Eikonoklasts, the ancestor of our word, was first formed in Medieval Greek from the elements eikn, "image, likeness," and -klasts, "breaker," from kln, "to break." The images referred to by the word are religious images, which were the subject of controversy among Christians of the Byzantine Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries, when iconoclasm was at its height. In addition to destroying many sculptures and paintings, those opposed to images attempted to have them barred from display and veneration. During the Protestant Reformation images in churches were again felt to be idolatrous and were once more banned and destroyed. It is around this time that iconoclast, the descendant of the Greek word, is first recorded in English (1641), with reference to the Byzantine iconoclasts. In the 19th century iconoclast took on the secular sense that it has today, as in "Kant was the great iconoclast" (James Martineau).
i·con·o·clast (-kn-klst)
n.
1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions.
2. One who destroys sacred religious images.
[French iconoclaste, from Medieval Greek eikonoklasts, smasher of religious images : eikono-, icono- + Greek -klasts, breaker (from Greek kln, klas-, to break).]
i·cono·clastic adj.
i·cono·clasti·cal·ly adv.
Word History: An iconoclast can be unpleasant company, but at least the modern iconoclast only attacks such things as ideas and institutions. The original iconoclasts destroyed countless works of art. Eikonoklasts, the ancestor of our word, was first formed in Medieval Greek from the elements eikn, "image, likeness," and -klasts, "breaker," from kln, "to break." The images referred to by the word are religious images, which were the subject of controversy among Christians of the Byzantine Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries, when iconoclasm was at its height. In addition to destroying many sculptures and paintings, those opposed to images attempted to have them barred from display and veneration. During the Protestant Reformation images in churches were again felt to be idolatrous and were once more banned and destroyed. It is around this time that iconoclast, the descendant of the Greek word, is first recorded in English (1641), with reference to the Byzantine iconoclasts. In the 19th century iconoclast took on the secular sense that it has today, as in "Kant was the great iconoclast" (James Martineau).
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