Sunday, July 22, 2007
Thank you, J.K.R.
Amazon delivered my Deathly Hallows copy yesterday just before noon, and I knew I couldn't open the box until AFTER I'd taken DQ to her friend Noah's birthday party and after we had returned to have dinner with FIL, GF, UM and kids. I finally opened the box and got started reading after the kids were in bed (around 8pm -- I've never started a Harry book so late!) I was up reading until 2am, alternately cheering and sobbing quietly in the living room so I wouldn't wake anyone. My favorite redheaded LitQueen called to tell me she was done as I was 53 pages into the book -- and she too was shocked that I was just getting started! We have yet to have our post-book discussion. Anyway -- today is recovery day, as I am obviously an old fart not used to staying up into the wee hours. :) I loved the book, and I know I will be rereading parts for quite a while. Well done, J.K.R.!
Friday, July 20, 2007
almost there....
Last day of both kids in camp/daycare for the summer - The Boy is done. Drama Queen has a bit more than a week left. Went into work today and did the second coat on the shelving unit behind the circ desk. Didn't get to paint the removable shelves as Zinicoma and Co. were getting started cleaning the carpet and they didn't want anything on the floor in their way. The carpet guys came and put a nice large new rectangle of carpet where the wall used to be. These guys too said "We'll put the new carpet down, but you know it won't match, right?" Did my best fake shock look and said to Ralph, "Did you KNOW that???" Then I laughed my ass off and told them I didn't care if they matched the carpet to the duct tape -- the ancient rug in there is so trashed and so many different colors of blue it doesn't matter WHAT they put down. Anyway, will go back next week or the week after and do the shelves in two days -- one side one day then flip them the next day and do the other side. The Boy can help with that. The Hundred Acre Wood is improving slowly.
Went to our beloved head secretary's non-retirement luncheon (she didn't want a fuss and a bunch of nonsense) Monday. Kanga and Eeyore were there. K was lots of fun as usual, E was... well, E. I did some studious avoiding but didn't pull it off for the entire party. She cornered me toward the end, but I left soon after.
House is getting better -- piles of crap are greatly dimished, still need to pack up or throw out some stuff in the basement, and need to paint my bedroom and makeover the curtain panels. All in all I've gotten a lot done in the last few weeks at home, and I didn't go hellforleather and do it every day (probably should have though).
Harry #7 arrives tomorrow morning (thank you Amazon special delivery) so not much else is getting done this weekend!
Went to our beloved head secretary's non-retirement luncheon (she didn't want a fuss and a bunch of nonsense) Monday. Kanga and Eeyore were there. K was lots of fun as usual, E was... well, E. I did some studious avoiding but didn't pull it off for the entire party. She cornered me toward the end, but I left soon after.
House is getting better -- piles of crap are greatly dimished, still need to pack up or throw out some stuff in the basement, and need to paint my bedroom and makeover the curtain panels. All in all I've gotten a lot done in the last few weeks at home, and I didn't go hellforleather and do it every day (probably should have though).
Harry #7 arrives tomorrow morning (thank you Amazon special delivery) so not much else is getting done this weekend!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I'm Just Wild About Harry...
Went to see Harry Potter 5 (Order of the Phoenix) this afternoon with Beloved Blonde and family. Excellent movie overall! There were whole chunks of the book missing, but if they had tried to shove more in it would have come off piecemeal and rushed, so I'm glad they pruned as they did. Very impressed with the battle in the Dept of Mysteries scene -- extremely well done overall, but missed the statues getting in on Dumbledore's rescue act. Loved the first view of the outside of Azkaban also -- never imagined it quite that way but it made sense and impressed me. No Howler for Aunt Petunia, no Quidditch, no Ron and Hermione as prefects (and all the attendant pissing and moaning from Harry was missing), no visit to St. Mungo's to see Arthur and finding Neville and his vulture-hatted Gran visiting parents, no replacement of Professor Trelawney with Firenze (missed that one -- that would have been good special effects), no swamp in the front hall of the castle, and no disastrous lesson of Hagrid's with the thestrals. Excellent choices of actors for Dolores Umbridge, and for Luna Lovegood's part especially -- she came off with exactly the right intelligent spaciness. Harry was somewhat whiny but it was much more understandable in the amounts they put in the movie -- I didn't have the same "want to slap him into next week" reaction I did when I read the book. Dumbledore's Army was betrayed by Cho (who got grilled by Umbridge with truth serum in her office). In the book it was her friend. This sets up some interesting dilemmas, as Snape reveals she did it under duress, and therefore Harry could conceivably forgive her (doesn't get her out of the way for Ginny). The Half-Blood Prince movie will have to deal with that issue.
This is not in any way a stand-alone movie. It's one where you really have to have seen the other ones for it to make sense, and it does a solid job of setting up the continuing escalation of the conflict in the wizarding world. Can't wait to see what they do with Half-Blood Prince (which now I have to reread to get ready for next weekend's delivery of Deathly Hallows).
After the movie we went to the Mirage Cafe in Port Chester. It's like Piero's in that it is very small, but phenomenal quality. Excellent, excellent food and drink. I was very impressed -- have to take Hubby, FIL and GF there sometime just for fun.
One more day of LA dept curric work, which hopefully will mercifully end early. Today was righteous deadly as 12 English teachers debated the exact language they would use to describe curriculum tasks (do you say writing? editing? revising? composing? do we use nouns or verbs for this?) I ended up finalizing the summer book orders just so I'd feel like I'd done something worth getting paid for today.
Frankenstein came back with a carpet guy who took a sample, and they will be coming to patch the place in the rug where they removed the half wall behind the media desk. Hurray and hallelujah. Apparently Eeyore did not ever give Kanga final info on ordering encyclopedias so that didn't get done, nor did she do anything about ordering coffee tables/ottomans or sharing final info on bookfair. Big surprises all. Guess we'll see what happens in August but my guess is that the usual answer will appear: "I didn't know I was supposed to do that." Fearless Leader said this afternoon that Eeyore and I had both been officially transferred over to him for evaluation next year and his one comment was "she's not going to like it." Hmmmm. Guess we wait to see what that actually means.
This is not in any way a stand-alone movie. It's one where you really have to have seen the other ones for it to make sense, and it does a solid job of setting up the continuing escalation of the conflict in the wizarding world. Can't wait to see what they do with Half-Blood Prince (which now I have to reread to get ready for next weekend's delivery of Deathly Hallows).
After the movie we went to the Mirage Cafe in Port Chester. It's like Piero's in that it is very small, but phenomenal quality. Excellent, excellent food and drink. I was very impressed -- have to take Hubby, FIL and GF there sometime just for fun.
One more day of LA dept curric work, which hopefully will mercifully end early. Today was righteous deadly as 12 English teachers debated the exact language they would use to describe curriculum tasks (do you say writing? editing? revising? composing? do we use nouns or verbs for this?) I ended up finalizing the summer book orders just so I'd feel like I'd done something worth getting paid for today.
Frankenstein came back with a carpet guy who took a sample, and they will be coming to patch the place in the rug where they removed the half wall behind the media desk. Hurray and hallelujah. Apparently Eeyore did not ever give Kanga final info on ordering encyclopedias so that didn't get done, nor did she do anything about ordering coffee tables/ottomans or sharing final info on bookfair. Big surprises all. Guess we'll see what happens in August but my guess is that the usual answer will appear: "I didn't know I was supposed to do that." Fearless Leader said this afternoon that Eeyore and I had both been officially transferred over to him for evaluation next year and his one comment was "she's not going to like it." Hmmmm. Guess we wait to see what that actually means.
Monday, July 09, 2007
And I got paid how much for this?
First day of curriculum work: I did three booktalks, made a few general comments, and listened to the 7th grade teachers discuss their books. I forget what the daily staff work pay is, but even after taxes come out, those were damned expensive booktalks.
I am not seeing a guiding vision of where we're going here -- feels like we are stumbling around in the dark. Also got a lovely tidbit: apparently our kids tanked district-wide in the state reading assessment scores for "reader response" (ie the open-ended questions like "Explain how this applies to your life" or "Briefly describe how this would have altered your existence"). Okay, those are not exactly accurate question examples, but it's all of the short answer, non-multiple choice options. This is going to make things exponentially more complicated, given the fact that all of the media district-level department meetings will be joint with LA this coming year. Why? The amount of CYA that is sure to follow the townwide shitstorm of finger-pointing and blame when the school board has to deal with the test scores publicly. Like that will make any difference in whether or not these kids learn how to deal with questions like those.
Saw the curriculum mapping software again, and heard one of the "real" reasons we are going to have to do this -- the coordinators will be able to track what units and objectives are being taught when and see which objectives and state standards are being addressed "enough". Big Brother, thy name is School Board. They'll be able to tell which books are being taught when (as teachers will be asked to use the software to map out everything chronologically through the year). No doubt this will bring some new statistics and information to the glut, but my question is what will become of those? How useful will those be in terms of moving the district to change successfully? I don't mind doing this if it will help students learn better, or give new teachers more resources, but if the bottom line is that this is a way to watchdog the staff, then I object.
Like that's going to make an ant's left nut cheek of difference in the long run.
I am not seeing a guiding vision of where we're going here -- feels like we are stumbling around in the dark. Also got a lovely tidbit: apparently our kids tanked district-wide in the state reading assessment scores for "reader response" (ie the open-ended questions like "Explain how this applies to your life" or "Briefly describe how this would have altered your existence"). Okay, those are not exactly accurate question examples, but it's all of the short answer, non-multiple choice options. This is going to make things exponentially more complicated, given the fact that all of the media district-level department meetings will be joint with LA this coming year. Why? The amount of CYA that is sure to follow the townwide shitstorm of finger-pointing and blame when the school board has to deal with the test scores publicly. Like that will make any difference in whether or not these kids learn how to deal with questions like those.
Saw the curriculum mapping software again, and heard one of the "real" reasons we are going to have to do this -- the coordinators will be able to track what units and objectives are being taught when and see which objectives and state standards are being addressed "enough". Big Brother, thy name is School Board. They'll be able to tell which books are being taught when (as teachers will be asked to use the software to map out everything chronologically through the year). No doubt this will bring some new statistics and information to the glut, but my question is what will become of those? How useful will those be in terms of moving the district to change successfully? I don't mind doing this if it will help students learn better, or give new teachers more resources, but if the bottom line is that this is a way to watchdog the staff, then I object.
Like that's going to make an ant's left nut cheek of difference in the long run.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Harry Week #1 and Curriculum Nonsense
It's curriculum work week -- so Mon-Thurs I go in to work to discuss books and such with the LA dept. I am still foggy on what we exactly need to get done despite multiple emails from Boss Lady and the LA Lady. Curtains arrived, needing cleaning and sunning. That might happen this week, might not. We'll see. Painting did not happen, scheduled loosely for this coming weekend. Computer desk is much improved, have list going for this week into next as to what else should get done. We'll see -- this week will either be most productive or a total tank.
Order of the Phoenix starts showing (at reasonable hours) Wed, so have a date with the girls for dinner and movie that evening. :) Something to look forward to!
Order of the Phoenix starts showing (at reasonable hours) Wed, so have a date with the girls for dinner and movie that evening. :) Something to look forward to!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuesday the 3rd
Yesterday I did most of the attic, and it looks much better. Tackled part of the basement -- under the pool table is cleaned out and over by the stairs is cleaned out also. I used the shopvac to clean up the floor. Very noisy but it did a good job.Took a truckload of bags of clothes to the dropoff bin, and threw out about 8 bags of garbage, so I feel like I did a lot. This morning was ironing morning, and I am going to finish the dining room corner off. Maybe take care of the counter in the kitchen next to the back door and or the computer desk mess if I have enough time (have to go see Dr. Devine at 1:30).
Unforeseen benefit to all this cleanout -- it actually makes me feel lighter, like I am getting rid of the monkey on my back piece by piece (kind of a sick way of looking at it). I feel pretty good so far. I like being productive and seeing a difference in my house. Elizabeth is coming Thursday, so I am going to get out of her way and go in to work and run errands that day.
Might get to paint this weekend... maybe.
Unforeseen benefit to all this cleanout -- it actually makes me feel lighter, like I am getting rid of the monkey on my back piece by piece (kind of a sick way of looking at it). I feel pretty good so far. I like being productive and seeing a difference in my house. Elizabeth is coming Thursday, so I am going to get out of her way and go in to work and run errands that day.
Might get to paint this weekend... maybe.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
"The List" = The Hydra
You know, that list of stuff that you want to get done around the house... the list that's got to have been the inspiration for the legend of the Hydra. Can't you just see some Greek wife in ancient times giving her writer husband the never ending litany of honey-do crap... and his imagination taking flight as he's stuck slaving away (on the roof, in the attic, cleaning the basement,whatever). One thing gets done and suddenly she's got eight more thankless ballbusting jobs on the list.
Anyway, I've managed to whack a head off my Hydra -- the Drama Queen has a freshly painted room that looks pretty damned good. Her room is now a nice warm pink with white trim. Hubby didn't seem to think I would do a good job -- no comment other than "You have a lot of work ahead of you" when I started, and a bemused "Oh, you did a good job!"when I finished. Nice that he has such confidence in me. The only part I couldn't do was the ceiling. I'm not tall enough, and the only step ladder we have in the house isn't stable enough for me to do that (I have to be too far up the ladder). So Hubby will have to tackle that at some point. I also took a stab at the mess in the dining room and tossed three bags of crap. I'm not quite done in there -- that was a naptime project that had to stop before I was done, and I haven't made it back to finish. This week the kids are in camp/daycare all week (except Wed) so I am hoping to get some major work done. I'd like to get the other bedroom painted, but I still have to negotiate that with Hubby as that will involve us not sleeping in there for at least one or two nights while the paint fumes air out, and he might rather do that on the weekend. If that project has to wait, then it's either attic or basement (attic first if the weather is cooler). Either way I have to remember to tip the garbagemen this week!
Harry Marathon tomorrow - have to get ready for Order of the Phoenix coming out on the 13th!
Anyway, I've managed to whack a head off my Hydra -- the Drama Queen has a freshly painted room that looks pretty damned good. Her room is now a nice warm pink with white trim. Hubby didn't seem to think I would do a good job -- no comment other than "You have a lot of work ahead of you" when I started, and a bemused "Oh, you did a good job!"when I finished. Nice that he has such confidence in me. The only part I couldn't do was the ceiling. I'm not tall enough, and the only step ladder we have in the house isn't stable enough for me to do that (I have to be too far up the ladder). So Hubby will have to tackle that at some point. I also took a stab at the mess in the dining room and tossed three bags of crap. I'm not quite done in there -- that was a naptime project that had to stop before I was done, and I haven't made it back to finish. This week the kids are in camp/daycare all week (except Wed) so I am hoping to get some major work done. I'd like to get the other bedroom painted, but I still have to negotiate that with Hubby as that will involve us not sleeping in there for at least one or two nights while the paint fumes air out, and he might rather do that on the weekend. If that project has to wait, then it's either attic or basement (attic first if the weather is cooler). Either way I have to remember to tip the garbagemen this week!
Harry Marathon tomorrow - have to get ready for Order of the Phoenix coming out on the 13th!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Hoowah -- Harrison Ford still looks good as Indy! Found this one online and am I happy to hear they are shooting #4. Still love the hat. :)
Summer's Here
...and the living is, well, easier at the moment, at least on the home front. The Murphinator is recently on the guilt trip rampage. I got three emails this weekend laying blame on me for abandoning her and "cutting [her] off". Interesting, as I can count on one hand the number of emails and phone calls I've gotten from her in the last five months (including this weekend), and two of those were just "are you coming to the birthday party". I gave up emailing her to ask if she wanted to get the kids together, go to the movies or go out to lunch because I never got a response. Whenever I called I got the answering machine and no response later-- so I gave that up too. Figured she didn't want to talk to me. Apparently in her world that means "call me more! offer to do more things with me!" and I was just too dumb to get that. I called her guilt trip on all points and made it pretty clear that I wasn't the one doing the cutting off, and that I wasn't going to put up with any more rude behavior (like at the Nephew's birthday party last month). I have a feeling that that will be the end of things, though I am not terribly torn up about that.
Hmmm...this divorce business doesn't make much sense to me. She has been knashing teeth and moaning that she needs to get out of this marriage for over 2 years, and that she doesn't want him in the house, yet when he left she announced he had abandoned her and the kids. Abandonment is pretty lucrative apparently: he has continued to pay ALL her bills PLUS give her $2500 a month spending money since he moved out. She's been saying for the same two years that she needs to get a job to have some security, and actually had several opportunities (interviews and all) to get jobs and refused to take any of them. The last one was because if she continued to be unemployed she "could screw him for more money in the divorce" (announced that to me at lunch in January). And yet she continues to whine that she has no security and that she has no job. She is now whining that no one invites her to any of the family occasions -- where her soon-to-be-ex-husband will be, the one person she has announced she wants nothing to do with socially anymore. Hmmm -- how do we invite her to come to an event where he will also be because he is part of this family??? Does she want an invitation just so she can say "Drop dead, I would never come to anything with him there."??? And since we have these functions on the weekends when we are all off work and he has the kids anyway, why would we invite her to come intrude on his time with the kids? She is rude to me, rude to FIL, and awful to her nearly-ex-husband. There is nothing amicable about this and yet she apparently wants the rest of us to act like it's perfectly friendly... and let her shit all over us. I know, it's divorce, she has a lot to be angry about ... but at least recognize that. Put on the goddamn big girl panties, do what it takes to secure your kids' future, and get the fuck ON with your life. I hope she finds someone soon who meets her needs as a friend or whatever else, as I am not that person.
Hmmm...this divorce business doesn't make much sense to me. She has been knashing teeth and moaning that she needs to get out of this marriage for over 2 years, and that she doesn't want him in the house, yet when he left she announced he had abandoned her and the kids. Abandonment is pretty lucrative apparently: he has continued to pay ALL her bills PLUS give her $2500 a month spending money since he moved out. She's been saying for the same two years that she needs to get a job to have some security, and actually had several opportunities (interviews and all) to get jobs and refused to take any of them. The last one was because if she continued to be unemployed she "could screw him for more money in the divorce" (announced that to me at lunch in January). And yet she continues to whine that she has no security and that she has no job. She is now whining that no one invites her to any of the family occasions -- where her soon-to-be-ex-husband will be, the one person she has announced she wants nothing to do with socially anymore. Hmmm -- how do we invite her to come to an event where he will also be because he is part of this family??? Does she want an invitation just so she can say "Drop dead, I would never come to anything with him there."??? And since we have these functions on the weekends when we are all off work and he has the kids anyway, why would we invite her to come intrude on his time with the kids? She is rude to me, rude to FIL, and awful to her nearly-ex-husband. There is nothing amicable about this and yet she apparently wants the rest of us to act like it's perfectly friendly... and let her shit all over us. I know, it's divorce, she has a lot to be angry about ... but at least recognize that. Put on the goddamn big girl panties, do what it takes to secure your kids' future, and get the fuck ON with your life. I hope she finds someone soon who meets her needs as a friend or whatever else, as I am not that person.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Happy Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to Hubby, FIL, Curmudgeon, and UM ... along with all of our friends who are fathers or are going to become fathers.
We have 40-50 people coming to FIL's house this afternoon for a party, most of whom are GF's family whom we've never met. She assures me that they are just as dysfunctional as we are, therefore everyone should get along fine. Should be a hoot. FIL and GF were here for cocktails/dinner last night, and GF and I had mojitos. Yum.
Got some really good fruit at Costco yesterday, and when Hubby returns from errands (and brings me the butter and eggs I thought we had) I will make the pound cake to go with the berries for today. He smoked 18 pounds of pork yesterday, so we should have enough for a small army.
The last classes are done, the "student guide" website is finished, and Eeyore actually decided to pitch in and help with inventory by shelf reading for a couple hours in the afternoon, and holy crap! she actually threw out some ancient books from the stacks. I thought Kanga was going to fall over. I'm hoping to finish inventory Monday, run the reports and be done with it. I'm buying lunch on Tuesday for Beloved Blonde and the staff of the Hundred Acre Woods (sigh...and Eeyore too) as a thank you for all their hard work this year. Aux Delice is going to make money off me on Tuesday! I'm going to bake Monday night though -- something yummy, maybe another pound cake with fruit. I think I'm going to have to do something for Jake's teacher, too. If I get flowers for the lunch on Tues. maybe I'll just send him with some of those.
We have 40-50 people coming to FIL's house this afternoon for a party, most of whom are GF's family whom we've never met. She assures me that they are just as dysfunctional as we are, therefore everyone should get along fine. Should be a hoot. FIL and GF were here for cocktails/dinner last night, and GF and I had mojitos. Yum.
Got some really good fruit at Costco yesterday, and when Hubby returns from errands (and brings me the butter and eggs I thought we had) I will make the pound cake to go with the berries for today. He smoked 18 pounds of pork yesterday, so we should have enough for a small army.
The last classes are done, the "student guide" website is finished, and Eeyore actually decided to pitch in and help with inventory by shelf reading for a couple hours in the afternoon, and holy crap! she actually threw out some ancient books from the stacks. I thought Kanga was going to fall over. I'm hoping to finish inventory Monday, run the reports and be done with it. I'm buying lunch on Tuesday for Beloved Blonde and the staff of the Hundred Acre Woods (sigh...and Eeyore too) as a thank you for all their hard work this year. Aux Delice is going to make money off me on Tuesday! I'm going to bake Monday night though -- something yummy, maybe another pound cake with fruit. I think I'm going to have to do something for Jake's teacher, too. If I get flowers for the lunch on Tues. maybe I'll just send him with some of those.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Commencing Countdown to Commencement
Well, sort of. Two more days of teaching classes. Six more (work) days with kids (only the last one doesn't really count since it's 8th grade graduation and I don't have a seat in the sweatbox for that). 8 more total days until The Boy's done with kindergarten and our Beloved Blonde graduates. 11 more total days until I'm completely done with this year.
6 more days until UM's first official divorce hearing. I am more and more relieved that I had the sense to force my hubby to change the child custody arrangements outlined in our wills the summer the Drama Queen was born. It was an offer he couldn't refuse -- after "The Incident" either UM could be the godfather in church (which he had already announced to everyone) OR they could be the custodians in the will -- but not both. Hubby chose the save face option and let his brother stand up in church as godfather. And the wills were quietly changed to Mame and Wome as custodians. Being no connosseiuer of divorce proceedings, I have no idea what exactly will go on at this hearing, but perhaps they will have better boundaries to function in and there will be less taking advantage. I don't think the amount of asshole behavior will cease ... not for a long time,, or at least until the Murphinator does some serious growing up. As in "you have been demanding this be over for two years, you don't have a lot of right to be mad that it's now ending."
Bookfair was all right -- not spectacular, but workable. Shelf reading and inventory are the next big projects (along with finalizing the bookfair accounting and numbers).
6 more days until UM's first official divorce hearing. I am more and more relieved that I had the sense to force my hubby to change the child custody arrangements outlined in our wills the summer the Drama Queen was born. It was an offer he couldn't refuse -- after "The Incident" either UM could be the godfather in church (which he had already announced to everyone) OR they could be the custodians in the will -- but not both. Hubby chose the save face option and let his brother stand up in church as godfather. And the wills were quietly changed to Mame and Wome as custodians. Being no connosseiuer of divorce proceedings, I have no idea what exactly will go on at this hearing, but perhaps they will have better boundaries to function in and there will be less taking advantage. I don't think the amount of asshole behavior will cease ... not for a long time,, or at least until the Murphinator does some serious growing up. As in "you have been demanding this be over for two years, you don't have a lot of right to be mad that it's now ending."
Bookfair was all right -- not spectacular, but workable. Shelf reading and inventory are the next big projects (along with finalizing the bookfair accounting and numbers).
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday: the wedding/arraignment. This actually went beautifully once we got there. The traffic on 95 was a raging nightmare (not accidents, just stop-and-go for no apparent reason). So we were about 15 minutes late for the church service (FIL and GF were about a half hour late). Getting to the Italian Center reception was no problem, though, and it was very nice. This week, the bridesmaids were appropriately dressed (no poles needed, unlike last week's wedding with the girls poured into and falling out of their dresses and obvious total lack of undergarments of any kind), and the reception was lots of fun. Danced my ass off with UJ, and that was hilarious. He probably couldn't move today. He was announcing that his knees were trouble on the dance floor, but he was still going. There was a candy bar (6-8 different kinds you could come up and put into little take-home bags) at the end, and the last dance was the "Jackrabbit Slims twist contest" track from Pulp Fiction, which was really fun. I ended up dancing the last one with the Don, who was bombed and adorable.
Took The Boy and the Drama Queen to see Shrek 3 today, and we had a wonderful time. First thing in the morning on the weekend is a good time to see a flick. They both enjoyed it a lot, as did I. After that we went to North St to see the cousins and swim. DQ had a nap, and hubby took The Boy to the Don's for the post-wedding shindig. I stayed at the house, had daquiris all day and had dinner with UM and the little girls as the O-Man had to go back with his mother for part of the day to go play with friends. Since I was in the pool most of the day it was pretty relaxing. UM and I neither one cares about having anything fancy -- it's "what's in the fridge? Should we check the freezer? can we throw it on the grill and not get anything dirty?" Makes things very easy.
Have to get up tomorrow to make pie for dessert. Found one more bag of cherries from last year in the garage, so that will make FIL happy. Have to make something beyond that, though.
Finished reading Terry Trueman's 7 Days at the Hot Corner and Jerry Spinelli's Eggs. Both awesome books, but for different levels and very different reasons. 7 Days will be fab for the 8th grade. Have to craft a very particular booktalk for that one, as it deals with homophobia and an HIV test -- but in a way that's very realistic and not sexual. Eggs is going to be wonderful for 6th and 7th grade, esp for alternative family situations and dealing with breakdowns of traditional family. I loved it because it shows how resilient kids can be even when they don't want or mean to be.
Took The Boy and the Drama Queen to see Shrek 3 today, and we had a wonderful time. First thing in the morning on the weekend is a good time to see a flick. They both enjoyed it a lot, as did I. After that we went to North St to see the cousins and swim. DQ had a nap, and hubby took The Boy to the Don's for the post-wedding shindig. I stayed at the house, had daquiris all day and had dinner with UM and the little girls as the O-Man had to go back with his mother for part of the day to go play with friends. Since I was in the pool most of the day it was pretty relaxing. UM and I neither one cares about having anything fancy -- it's "what's in the fridge? Should we check the freezer? can we throw it on the grill and not get anything dirty?" Makes things very easy.
Have to get up tomorrow to make pie for dessert. Found one more bag of cherries from last year in the garage, so that will make FIL happy. Have to make something beyond that, though.
Finished reading Terry Trueman's 7 Days at the Hot Corner and Jerry Spinelli's Eggs. Both awesome books, but for different levels and very different reasons. 7 Days will be fab for the 8th grade. Have to craft a very particular booktalk for that one, as it deals with homophobia and an HIV test -- but in a way that's very realistic and not sexual. Eggs is going to be wonderful for 6th and 7th grade, esp for alternative family situations and dealing with breakdowns of traditional family. I loved it because it shows how resilient kids can be even when they don't want or mean to be.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Join the Club, Honey
That's what I told me dear retiring evaluator and OFL in the meeting when they shut the door and said, "We wish things were working better with you and Eeyore." This was after ten minutes of me going through the stats of the media center for the year, improvements, successes, plans for next year, OFL poking fun at me for what I wrote, etc. All THAT went well.
And then we had to deal with the elephant in the room: what do we do with that limp noodle of mostly-but-not-quite-enough incompetence? After a few more stellar examples from this week and me saying "Help me. I am not going to scream and yell. I am not going to turn into Marvaline the Wonder Bitch. What am I supposed to DO about this? How do I motivate her to do a better job?"
General plan for next year is that
Eeyore had her year-end eval also. Friday morning she casually said, "You know, I have my meeting with ___ today. I don't even know what time it is, and I haven't prepared anything. Oh well." I didn't say anything. Just stared at her. Frankly, I was a bit shocked, especially since Eeyore was working on getting tenure this year. For someone who exhibits paranoid tendencies on a regular basis, you would think she would have made some effort to prepare for that. Apparently it ranks right up there with reading books, figuring out what should go on the website and preparing for classes and teacher projects. None of that shit gets done either.
I saw her after school, and I said I had to go pick up The Boy at 3:10. Eeyore decided it would be a good idea to try to start a serious conversation about how "I want this to work. I know we had a disagreement a few months ago [hmmm...you think?] but I think if we divide responsibilities it will be fine.....blah blah repeat and rinse [I look at the clock, it's now 3:08, crap] and I stopped her to say "Why don't we have coffee on Tuesday morning before your first class and discuss that? We have a lot of work to do here -- now and next year." Told her I had to leave and ran off before she could drag that out any more. Don't know exactly what was said at the meeting she had, but it couldn't have been all peaches and cream the way she was talking and blabbering on.
This weekend we have the Stamford wedding/arraignment, then two days of family time. Hopefully things will go well across the board. It's getting WARM!
And then we had to deal with the elephant in the room: what do we do with that limp noodle of mostly-but-not-quite-enough incompetence? After a few more stellar examples from this week and me saying "Help me. I am not going to scream and yell. I am not going to turn into Marvaline the Wonder Bitch. What am I supposed to DO about this? How do I motivate her to do a better job?"
General plan for next year is that
- OFL will take over evaluating, and
- He will also attend media staff meetings (yes to monthly, maybe to more than monthly if needed). If we have more than monthly and OFL cannot attend the extras he will get the minutes.
- Divide and conquer duties and make those divisions public and recordable on the monthly reports and meeting minutes. That's going to involve some alterations to the monthly reports so that what's actually happening and who's responsible for what are both clearly visible.
Eeyore had her year-end eval also. Friday morning she casually said, "You know, I have my meeting with ___ today. I don't even know what time it is, and I haven't prepared anything. Oh well." I didn't say anything. Just stared at her. Frankly, I was a bit shocked, especially since Eeyore was working on getting tenure this year. For someone who exhibits paranoid tendencies on a regular basis, you would think she would have made some effort to prepare for that. Apparently it ranks right up there with reading books, figuring out what should go on the website and preparing for classes and teacher projects. None of that shit gets done either.
I saw her after school, and I said I had to go pick up The Boy at 3:10. Eeyore decided it would be a good idea to try to start a serious conversation about how "I want this to work. I know we had a disagreement a few months ago [hmmm...you think?] but I think if we divide responsibilities it will be fine.....blah blah repeat and rinse [I look at the clock, it's now 3:08, crap] and I stopped her to say "Why don't we have coffee on Tuesday morning before your first class and discuss that? We have a lot of work to do here -- now and next year." Told her I had to leave and ran off before she could drag that out any more. Don't know exactly what was said at the meeting she had, but it couldn't have been all peaches and cream the way she was talking and blabbering on.
This weekend we have the Stamford wedding/arraignment, then two days of family time. Hopefully things will go well across the board. It's getting WARM!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
and what WILL tomorrow bring??
All set for the meeting tomorrow... finished my end of the year eval paperwork to take in, and this year I started with a top ten things that were great this year and top ten things that sucked about this year. That didn't quite work -- too many on each list. Switched "sucked" to "drove me crazy" just so the drones at personnel wouldn't redflag me right off the bat (as if that doesn't happen every year given what I write). I don't care. I'm tenured. Even though they had a lawyer come in to tell us how easy it is for the district to fire us (what a great staff development presentation THAT was), the reality is that people in my field with my experience, degrees and credentials are pretty damned hard to find. I have no problem saying exactly what I think -- because I know they won't fire me unless I steal shit, murder someone, or tell the superintendent to go fuck herself in nine kinds of graphic detail. Even then they'd probably decide I was ill and send me off to SilverHill for a nice couple months therapeutic vacation. Well, maybe not if it was theft, but I wouldn't do that. Mouthy, yes, larcenous, no. We'll see how the meeting goes.
There was homemade chocolate cake in the office today ... it was goooooooooooooooood. I skipped lunch yesterday so I rationalized it as part of my week. Let me hear a rousing, "riiiiiiiight."
There was homemade chocolate cake in the office today ... it was goooooooooooooooood. I skipped lunch yesterday so I rationalized it as part of my week. Let me hear a rousing, "riiiiiiiight."
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
End of the Year stats
It's May, and I have my end-of-the-year meeting with my evaluator this Thurs, and a scheduled meeting with OFL and The BossLady downtown on the 5th to discuss progress this year and budget items/plans for summer and next year. I spent four periods today crunching numbers and sorting through data to get a comprehensive picture of what was accomplished this year.
If I could figure out what she could do well, I'd ask her to just focus on that. She does okay with the 6th grade classes, but loses the 8th grade classes on a regular basis. Booktalks are a disaster and she doesn't read. I get complaints from the teachers on a regular basis that she is boring and that she doesn't do what they need her to do. We had a teacher this week doing research and Eeyore flatout refused to help her introduce the books to the kids -- even though that was what she had done last semester for her. Bizarre. I asked her to take the book orders we got this year and figure out what we didn't receive so we could look at percentages and reordering canceled items, and nothing has ever come of that. I need to make sure that whatever she is responsible for doing goes on the monthly reports -- so it's obvious to OFL and BossLady who's doing what and who's not doing what.
Is is June yet????
- The average age of the library as a whole has dropped from 22 years to 16 years
- Circulation is up to over 7600 (from 6900). If I did the math correctly we're up almost 11% over last year.
- We spent $15,000 from the budget on books and resources for the library
- We spent $2,120 on new furnishings from the bookfair account (our comfy Costco chairs)
- We spent about another $2,000 on books from our local bookstores
- We had two major authors visit: Stephenie Meyer in September and Peter Abrahams in March
- Out of 68 booktalks this year, I did 59 solo. I did three tandem with Eeyore (that does NOT work) and the other six she did herself. Given that those were with three teachers who have all specifically said they do not want her doing booktalks with their classes again, we're going to run into problems next year.
- We have a top ten books checked out of the media center list, and a top series checked out of the media center list. I'll post those later -- they're still on my desk at work.
- I met with the 8th grade team, Eeyore met with the 6th grade team, and we are both supposed to meet with the 7th grade team Thurs to get feedback and requests for next year.
- I figured out that I reviewed or recommended almost 60 books online, and I read over 200 more this year. That's pretty good given the load of shit I had to deal with.
- I have a working website for my teaching materials, a book reviews page, I rebuilt the middle school summer reading website for GPS, and I've been recommending books to the Language Arts Dept for possible inclusion in the curriculum work this summer.
- I learned to use social bookmarks through del.icio.us, have a bloglines account to handle all my rss feeds, and am going to post the scenic Washington photos I took on Flickr.
If I could figure out what she could do well, I'd ask her to just focus on that. She does okay with the 6th grade classes, but loses the 8th grade classes on a regular basis. Booktalks are a disaster and she doesn't read. I get complaints from the teachers on a regular basis that she is boring and that she doesn't do what they need her to do. We had a teacher this week doing research and Eeyore flatout refused to help her introduce the books to the kids -- even though that was what she had done last semester for her. Bizarre. I asked her to take the book orders we got this year and figure out what we didn't receive so we could look at percentages and reordering canceled items, and nothing has ever come of that. I need to make sure that whatever she is responsible for doing goes on the monthly reports -- so it's obvious to OFL and BossLady who's doing what and who's not doing what.
Is is June yet????
Thursday, May 17, 2007
What's Worse -- Terminal Indecision or Common Incompetence?
I blew a gasket yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't fire the salvos in the appropriate direction at Eeyore; I had the yoga mantra going of "have to spend every day with her for the next five weeks" and so I went down to the office and had my nuclear meltdown with OFL and his compadres. I went out to go collect The Boy and our Beloved Blonde as it was getting dark and stormy, and by the time I made it back I realized that Eeyore was completely incapable of correcting the mess she had made (of our school's online public face). So I sat down, googled the home page and printed the cache of it so I would get it right. And then I spent 45 minutes FIXING IT FOR HER. And I (and our Beloved Patient Blonde) missed Rick Riordan's presentation to do it. Eeyore was at my elbow for the first fifteen minutes or so until I gave her the job of fixing the original page she had meant to update when she screwed up the main one... and that (what should have taken three to five minutes copy and paste max) took her until I was nearly done rebuilding and relinking the entire front page from scratch. Eeyore suffers from terminal indecision -- she is virtually incapable of making a clear decision and then acting upon it. And thus anything left to her gets mired in an absolute miasma of waiting for someone else to get sick of waiting for her to do it -- and then do it for her. I had thought upon taking the job that this was partially because of the "my way or the highway and get the fuck OUT of my way" atmosphere of last year. Unfortunately, it appears I was drastically mistaken. There is a lot of announcing that things should change and that things are wrong -- but no follow-through, no action, no effort to DO anything other than moan and whine and point out ways that everyone else should do things. I have been kicking myself all day today thinking that I should have left her to stew in her own fetid mess yesterday (which would have gone very publicly into today). It might have been better long-term for me to have left her to deal with it and have to admit she fucked it up and couldn't fix it on her own. I just couldn't stand the utter incompetence ... and I really felt that it made everyone (including me) look bad. Thinking it through, I'm pretty certain of two things: one, this will happen again, and two, next time I will suddenly have many, MANY important things to do which will prevent me from bailing her ass out of whatever publicly leaky boat she has blown holes in.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
225 of Them, 19 of Us ... I Survived DC
Got back last night miraculously around 8:30 pm. We had a great trip, especially on the ride home. We left DC a little after 2pm after the buses loaded, and we were expecting a hellride home with Friday traffic. Our drivers heard that both 95 and the Baltimore Washington pike were parking lots all the way through Delaware, so they found Route 301 north to take us up to Wilmington, NJ and the Jersey turnpike. It was probably a slightly longer route, but there was no traffic and we made good time. Our driver, Bob, told us that 301 is closer to the coast than the two major highways, and is more rural, so few people take it. Lots of farmland and woods ... very nice!
By the time we got to NJ and made two pitstops for restroom break and dinner, the really bad traffic was mostly gone, and we didn't get stuck anywhere. I think that was probably the easiest ride home ever.
DC was great. When we got in, we went to the memorials: WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, Jefferson. We saw the Einstein statue -- that was fun! We went to the Pentagon City mall for dinner, and it was nice to let the kids run around some. Wednesday we went to the Capitol VERY early to meet Chris Shays and get a "before it opens" tour. It was really nice to not have to wait in a long line for that. His staff took a couple big group pics, and he spoke to the kids for a few minutes before our tours started. Our group went to the Holocaust museum before meeting everyone for lunch at the Old Post Office. After lunch we went out to Mount Vernon for the tour. They have a really cool movie experience describing some of the important battles and strategies Washington used in the Revolutionary War -- seats shake during cannon blasts, soap bubble "Snow" falls during the crossing of the Delaware scene, and fog rolls out at some point. They have some kind of vineyard there, so I got Steve a bottle of their red table vino. Have no clue how good it is, but I thought he would think that was a fun souvenir for him. We got to go back to the hotel (Best Western, not too bad) to change and rest a bit before dinner (Phillips seafood restaurant, buffet with some things that were safe for me to eat). After dinner we went to the Kennedy Center to see "Shear Madness" which was hilarious! The Kennedy Center was beautiful, especially at night. The kids were not quite tired enough after everything, but such is life. Thursday we went to Arlington to see the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a wreath laying ceremony. We saw the Womens' Memorial building there, where they have the Faces of the Fallen exhibit. Artists (professional and amateur) take photos of the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and create a portrait of the fallen soldier as a memorial. The portraits are displayed along one long wall, and people have left mementos next to the portraits. Some were heartbreaking -- wedding pictures, notes from the soldier's children or parents... the one that said "Merry Christmas Daddy, we love you" just shattered me. The kids behaved pretty well. We went to see the Marine War Memorial (Iwo Jima) and I got some great shots there. The optical illusion of the flag raising is amazing!
We went to the Air and Space museum for lunch, and that was a raging disaster. The museum was phenomenally crowded with school groups, and the food court area was so jammed my claustrophobia kicked in and I had to get out. I went outside and got a hot dog and a pretzel from one of the vendors and didn't bother with my lunch coupon. When the kids met us outside, we divvied up, and I took a group of about 10 to the National Archives to see if we could get in. The line was about 300 people long and it didn't budge at all, so we ditched that and went across the street to see the sculpture garden. The kids had a great time there! After that we met up with the rest of the group at the museum of Natural History for about an hour (in which we lost one kid for about 20 minutes, but she had enough sense to go to the security office and wait for us to find her). Back to the hotel again and we got changed for the dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington. The buffet was decent, the kids were great, but the damn boat kept going in circles on the Potomac! I got mildly nauseous several times -- never bad enough to hurl, but I had to go out and get air a lot. They had a couple dance contests, and the kids were pretty funny. I managed to avoid the chaperone dance contest, which was won hands down by Senora Sam Juliano. The next morning we went to the Washington monument (again, avoided that one because I knew the claustrophobia would make me miserable). I had a ton of fun taking pics of the kids outside the monument, though. We went to the FDR memorial (kids misbehaved some and pissed off some old people, which was embarrassing), and then we went out to Hain's Point and saw The Awakening sculpture. Lunch was at Pentagon City mall again, and then we got on the buses to go home. The weather was great all week. The one really cool morning turned out to be the Arlington morning, so it was nice to walk all over and not sweat to death.
Memorable moments: the kid who earned himself the nickname "Captain Underpants" when he took a flying leap off the Jefferson Memorial steps and his shorts ended up around his ankles. He also managed to accidentally knock over a wreath in the Women's Memorial building in Arlington. Then there was the group at the WWII Memorial lying on the ground attempting to take shots of the Washington Monument appearing out of their crotches. I went over and used Jo Frame's infamous line: "You WISH!" before I told them that every grownup at the memorial knew what they were doing and it wasn't appropriate behavior for a memorial -- so get up. We played the Dating Game and Rumor Patrol on the bus, and virtually every movie the kids brought to watch on the bus was inappropriate (they actually brought Borat!). We ended up with Rush Hour and season one of Family Guy on the way home, which worked out well. Then there was the infamous bathroom incident on our bus -- one of the boys was in the (unlocked) bathroom on his cell phone, and I went back thinking there was no one in there and I could use the bathroom. Although he was fully dressed, he was convinced I thought he was in there jerking off! This of course was something the other kids found to be the height of hilarity.
We had some phenomenally immature behavior from some of the newer teachers... stuff I both didn't expect and was absolutely bowled over by (ie conniption fits over "but there's no seat saved for me!" at dinner etc). I put a muzzle on and didn't say it, but I was thinking "Put on your big girl panties and get the fuck over it." I'd definitely like to go again, though I really do hope that it will be with more of the 8th grade teachers and less of the *problematic* ones.
By the time we got to NJ and made two pitstops for restroom break and dinner, the really bad traffic was mostly gone, and we didn't get stuck anywhere. I think that was probably the easiest ride home ever.
DC was great. When we got in, we went to the memorials: WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, Jefferson. We saw the Einstein statue -- that was fun! We went to the Pentagon City mall for dinner, and it was nice to let the kids run around some. Wednesday we went to the Capitol VERY early to meet Chris Shays and get a "before it opens" tour. It was really nice to not have to wait in a long line for that. His staff took a couple big group pics, and he spoke to the kids for a few minutes before our tours started. Our group went to the Holocaust museum before meeting everyone for lunch at the Old Post Office. After lunch we went out to Mount Vernon for the tour. They have a really cool movie experience describing some of the important battles and strategies Washington used in the Revolutionary War -- seats shake during cannon blasts, soap bubble "Snow" falls during the crossing of the Delaware scene, and fog rolls out at some point. They have some kind of vineyard there, so I got Steve a bottle of their red table vino. Have no clue how good it is, but I thought he would think that was a fun souvenir for him. We got to go back to the hotel (Best Western, not too bad) to change and rest a bit before dinner (Phillips seafood restaurant, buffet with some things that were safe for me to eat). After dinner we went to the Kennedy Center to see "Shear Madness" which was hilarious! The Kennedy Center was beautiful, especially at night. The kids were not quite tired enough after everything, but such is life. Thursday we went to Arlington to see the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a wreath laying ceremony. We saw the Womens' Memorial building there, where they have the Faces of the Fallen exhibit. Artists (professional and amateur) take photos of the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and create a portrait of the fallen soldier as a memorial. The portraits are displayed along one long wall, and people have left mementos next to the portraits. Some were heartbreaking -- wedding pictures, notes from the soldier's children or parents... the one that said "Merry Christmas Daddy, we love you" just shattered me. The kids behaved pretty well. We went to see the Marine War Memorial (Iwo Jima) and I got some great shots there. The optical illusion of the flag raising is amazing!
We went to the Air and Space museum for lunch, and that was a raging disaster. The museum was phenomenally crowded with school groups, and the food court area was so jammed my claustrophobia kicked in and I had to get out. I went outside and got a hot dog and a pretzel from one of the vendors and didn't bother with my lunch coupon. When the kids met us outside, we divvied up, and I took a group of about 10 to the National Archives to see if we could get in. The line was about 300 people long and it didn't budge at all, so we ditched that and went across the street to see the sculpture garden. The kids had a great time there! After that we met up with the rest of the group at the museum of Natural History for about an hour (in which we lost one kid for about 20 minutes, but she had enough sense to go to the security office and wait for us to find her). Back to the hotel again and we got changed for the dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington. The buffet was decent, the kids were great, but the damn boat kept going in circles on the Potomac! I got mildly nauseous several times -- never bad enough to hurl, but I had to go out and get air a lot. They had a couple dance contests, and the kids were pretty funny. I managed to avoid the chaperone dance contest, which was won hands down by Senora Sam Juliano. The next morning we went to the Washington monument (again, avoided that one because I knew the claustrophobia would make me miserable). I had a ton of fun taking pics of the kids outside the monument, though. We went to the FDR memorial (kids misbehaved some and pissed off some old people, which was embarrassing), and then we went out to Hain's Point and saw The Awakening sculpture. Lunch was at Pentagon City mall again, and then we got on the buses to go home. The weather was great all week. The one really cool morning turned out to be the Arlington morning, so it was nice to walk all over and not sweat to death.
Memorable moments: the kid who earned himself the nickname "Captain Underpants" when he took a flying leap off the Jefferson Memorial steps and his shorts ended up around his ankles. He also managed to accidentally knock over a wreath in the Women's Memorial building in Arlington. Then there was the group at the WWII Memorial lying on the ground attempting to take shots of the Washington Monument appearing out of their crotches. I went over and used Jo Frame's infamous line: "You WISH!" before I told them that every grownup at the memorial knew what they were doing and it wasn't appropriate behavior for a memorial -- so get up. We played the Dating Game and Rumor Patrol on the bus, and virtually every movie the kids brought to watch on the bus was inappropriate (they actually brought Borat!). We ended up with Rush Hour and season one of Family Guy on the way home, which worked out well. Then there was the infamous bathroom incident on our bus -- one of the boys was in the (unlocked) bathroom on his cell phone, and I went back thinking there was no one in there and I could use the bathroom. Although he was fully dressed, he was convinced I thought he was in there jerking off! This of course was something the other kids found to be the height of hilarity.
We had some phenomenally immature behavior from some of the newer teachers... stuff I both didn't expect and was absolutely bowled over by (ie conniption fits over "but there's no seat saved for me!" at dinner etc). I put a muzzle on and didn't say it, but I was thinking "Put on your big girl panties and get the fuck over it." I'd definitely like to go again, though I really do hope that it will be with more of the 8th grade teachers and less of the *problematic* ones.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Packing Up and Getting Out Of Dodge
Looks like we are almost set -- the ipod's loaded with audiobooks for Jake, have headphones for the Leapster, need to pack the on-plane bag (extra clothes and snacks). We're taking a monster-big can of Italian olive oil from Arthur Ave to Kristen and Danny, along with Kristen's birthday presents. Louisiana should be lots of fun! Hopefully the flight tomorrow morning takes off okay and we get through DFW all right... biggest concern is LaGuardia at this point.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Frigid Easter
The kids had a good time. The kids had a good time. The kids had a good time.
Helluva mantra to get me through the weekend.
I really don't like the matriarch of the family job. Really. REALLY. REALLY.
Helluva mantra to get me through the weekend.
I really don't like the matriarch of the family job. Really. REALLY. REALLY.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Open Letter to the Driver Who Almost Ran Us Over
To the thoughtless and reckless woman in the light blue minivan, CT license plate 427 TNJ, on Riverside Avenue at 5:25 pm today,
I looked you straight in the eye, and you refused to stop. I was dead center in the middle of the crosswalk, and you drove right on through. If it had been a different day for my boy, he would have been bouncing out just ahead of me, holding onto my hand and pulling me along ... and you would have rammed your 4,000 pounds of metal and plastic right into him. Fortunately for all of us he was tired today and staying close to me -- so you just rolled past my right side as I turned to protect him. Fortunately for us, we encountered you on the way into the daycare facility where my also active almost-3 daughter is. Had I met up with you trying to use the crosswalk with her in one hand and him in the other God knows how many of us you would have sent to the hospital or the morgue. Yes, it was raining -- but we were wearing bright raincoats, the other cars had stopped, and you met me eye to eye and kept right on going. You knew EXACTLY what you were doing.
FYI to you -- I called the police, and they have your vehicle description and your license plate number. They sent an officer to my house to take the information after I spoke to dispatch. If you ever cause any kind of accident or God forbid run down someone else, THEY WILL KNOW. You have a history of being reckless and stupid, and IT'S ON RECORD. They can't give you a ticket today, but if you ever get caught doing this again they won't give you a warning. They will nail your ass to the wall. I will be taking time off work tomorrow to pay the traffic division a personal visit, to make sure they know who you are and that they damn well better watch out for your sorry ass, as well as do a better job of policing and ticketing on Riverside Avenue.
With my luck, you're a parent at my boy's school or worse, at my school. I have gone past the point of actually giving a shit about that, though -- I let the other incidents with other drivers slide including that shit-for-brains woman on her cell phone in the black SUV who flipped me off for attempting to cross the street (same crosswalk but just me and no kids that time). Not this time. When it's assholes against me, that's one thing. You seriously endanger my kid, and I will do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The director of my daycare facility told me that the only way the town would act to better mark the crosswalk or calm the traffic would be if someone got hurt. Is this what it takes? How many near-misses do we have to have? What child has to go into intensive care over this idiocy? What parent has to put themselves in physical or mortal danger to pick up a child at school?
The bigger question would be why do people in this town feel that the rules apply to everyone else -- except them?
Lord knows no one who doesn't have kids drives a minivan -- so you must have kids.
Lady, if it was your kid in the crosswalk, I'm sure you would expect every vehicle on the street to stop. So why wouldn't you stop for me and my kid?
And this is the clean version of what I have to say about this bullshit.
I looked you straight in the eye, and you refused to stop. I was dead center in the middle of the crosswalk, and you drove right on through. If it had been a different day for my boy, he would have been bouncing out just ahead of me, holding onto my hand and pulling me along ... and you would have rammed your 4,000 pounds of metal and plastic right into him. Fortunately for all of us he was tired today and staying close to me -- so you just rolled past my right side as I turned to protect him. Fortunately for us, we encountered you on the way into the daycare facility where my also active almost-3 daughter is. Had I met up with you trying to use the crosswalk with her in one hand and him in the other God knows how many of us you would have sent to the hospital or the morgue. Yes, it was raining -- but we were wearing bright raincoats, the other cars had stopped, and you met me eye to eye and kept right on going. You knew EXACTLY what you were doing.
FYI to you -- I called the police, and they have your vehicle description and your license plate number. They sent an officer to my house to take the information after I spoke to dispatch. If you ever cause any kind of accident or God forbid run down someone else, THEY WILL KNOW. You have a history of being reckless and stupid, and IT'S ON RECORD. They can't give you a ticket today, but if you ever get caught doing this again they won't give you a warning. They will nail your ass to the wall. I will be taking time off work tomorrow to pay the traffic division a personal visit, to make sure they know who you are and that they damn well better watch out for your sorry ass, as well as do a better job of policing and ticketing on Riverside Avenue.
With my luck, you're a parent at my boy's school or worse, at my school. I have gone past the point of actually giving a shit about that, though -- I let the other incidents with other drivers slide including that shit-for-brains woman on her cell phone in the black SUV who flipped me off for attempting to cross the street (same crosswalk but just me and no kids that time). Not this time. When it's assholes against me, that's one thing. You seriously endanger my kid, and I will do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The director of my daycare facility told me that the only way the town would act to better mark the crosswalk or calm the traffic would be if someone got hurt. Is this what it takes? How many near-misses do we have to have? What child has to go into intensive care over this idiocy? What parent has to put themselves in physical or mortal danger to pick up a child at school?
The bigger question would be why do people in this town feel that the rules apply to everyone else -- except them?
Lord knows no one who doesn't have kids drives a minivan -- so you must have kids.
Lady, if it was your kid in the crosswalk, I'm sure you would expect every vehicle on the street to stop. So why wouldn't you stop for me and my kid?
And this is the clean version of what I have to say about this bullshit.
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