Big weekend

The Woman has a lot of family coming into town this weekend, and I am swamped with school work. Ugh. I may be missing from the Internet until next week.

Feel free to talk among yourselves.

Staying put

Recently, some bloggers I read have been moving to Vox or starting new blogs there in addition to their old ones. I was even invited to join someone's neighborhood. Ever obliging, I went to the website and created an account so I could view my neighbor's private posts and comment on them.

After two weeks of trying, I have yet to log on successfully. I've even had Vox confirm my log in name and password. Furthermore, the one Vox blog that I want to read the most has been inaccessible more often than not.

I think I'll stay right here.

Mortality

Last Friday evening, I returned home from a school activity where The Woman was waiting for me. Usually, when she's waiting for me instead of wrangling the kids, this means bad news. It was.

"J. called," she said. "She said to call her back. She said W. from school was found dead in her home yesterday."

Yep, that's bad news.

I called J. back. She told me that, indeed, W. from school was found dead in her home. I would rather not explain the circumstances, but they were not good. J. said that she thought I would appreciate someone letting me know.

I do appreciate J.'s call, but it's not like W. and I were close. We barely met for the last 20 years. For the most part, we couldn't stand each other. Still, I can't think of anyone I've ever known who was consistently more miserable. I wish things had worked out better for her.

Saturday Shakespeare

...Your wit will not so soon out as another man's will; 'tis strongly wedged up in a blockhead...

Coriolanus 2.3.25-27

House lust

Yes, this is a design for a real house. Several similar houses are also available in a planned community modeled on traditional English designs and the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. It's called The Shire.

Now there's a goal for retirement.

Duh

A recent story by Reuters that, of graduate students in the US and Canada, business students are the most likely to cheat. Not only that, they appear to be willing to admit it.

Controversy

Usually, I try to avoid controversial subjects here. I don't want to deal with the responses they provoke, and (honestly) my mind is unlikely to be changed. I have a stubborn streak. Still, I can't help but note the irony of the response by some Muslims to the Pope's recent public statement about Islam. I'm not trying to tar an entire religion with one brush, but some protesters seem to be trying to prove him right. It really does happen.

It's really very sad.

Saturday Shakespeare

Thou liest, thou jesting mondy thou!

The Tempest 3.2.44

Wrapping it up

Chaos, Mayhem, and The Woman are preparing for the last show of the season. They are in a small, community musical, and tonight is the final performance with some songs and scenes performed at various events tomorrow - a community celebration day. This will be a big weekend.

Why I'm sleepy today

We stayed up late last night. We probably shouldn't have, especially considering how tired I am now. Nonetheless, I believe the sleep deprivation is a small price to pay for the company we enjoyed.

We stayed up late visiting with and saying goodbye to a friend who is going overseas for several months. I will miss her insight and wit terribly while she is gone, so I was loathe to let her escape our house last night.

She knows who she is. Speed and safety to her on her trip. May she have lots of fun and come back to visit us soon.

Busted

You can tell it's fall at our house when the inhabitants start getting sick. Chaos spent yesterday in wretched misery from a head cold, flopped on the couch. The Woman wasn't feeling so hot either, and I certainly didn't want to catch the cold. I've been successfully eluding this illness at school by spraying the desks and chairs (and doorknobs) with antiseptic spray. Last night I decided that the same technique might work at home, so after Chaos went upstairs to bed, I sprayed the couch with Lysol.

Just at that moment, The Woman walked into the living room.

"What are you doing?"

"Um, nothing," I said. I felt bad admitting that I was sterilizing the furniture after my sick baby had been on it. That would make me an insensitive dad.

"You just did something in here, and now you're spraying to cover it up!" she exclaimed.

"Um, um..." I didn't know what to say. I was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Don't bother denying it. I know you too well," she said, stomping out of the room.

It figures

Which Major Romantic Poet Would You Be (if You Were a Major Romantic Poet)?


You are William Blake! Wow. I'm impressed. Not only are you a self-made artist and poet, but you've suddenly become a very trendy guy to like. It's not that we doubt that you have all your marbles, it's just that we're not quite sure what you did with them to come up with those terrifying theological visions. The people of your time were nowhere near as forgiving as that, and all your neighbors thought you were a grade-A nut job. But we love you, so rest happy.
Take this quiz!

Remembering

I'm teaching in a different school than I was when the 9/11 attacks occurred. Other than that, my position could be identical. It's another year of the same classes with kids who are pretty much the same as their predecessors.

Five years after the attacks, I find myself wondering if we really learned anything at all. Instead, I hear government spokespersons saying that one sign of our recovery is that most people are living as if the attacks never happened.

That seems more like blindness to me.

Saturday Shakespeare

Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth!

The Life and Death of King John 2.1.174

The teen mind

"Why do I have to spell Internet with an I? My computer spells it with an E. English is stupid."

"Your computer spells Internet with an E? Where?"

"Right there. See? The big blue E."

"Do you mean the icon for Internet Explorer? I think the E stands for explorer."

"That's what I mean -- English is stupid!"



I don't recall stepping through the looking glass.

Fun toy

Try your own here.

Confirmed

I've been complaining about this situation for years, but it's nice to have some empirical justification.

Playing incessantly

That is, playing incessantly when The Woman and the offspring are nowhere around. Burnside was not exactly a family-friendly artist.

Just read

This was an interesting, and well written book, although I thought the title was misleading. Schwartz's argument is not so much that too much choice is a problem (although he does assert that), but that human perception of choice and possibility can be easily overloaded. He explores examples of the phenomenon and offers readers hope that they can break free from the overwhelming array of choices in their lives by changing the way they think about choices.

I plan to follow his advice.

Saturday Shakespeare

...Thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows; an asinico may tutor thee.

The History of Troilus and Cressida 2.1.41-43

Early though it is...

...I am really ready for a weekend: after school meetings and ball games have worn me out.

I wonder if we could have a nap day for the last three classes.