Didn't know you were leaving the Mouse, Goonie. Best of luck, wherever you wander.

Yeah, but she'll load the bejeebus out of your email in-box.

Posting from my phone! I can once again LoT during the workday!

I'm off to Gen Con. See y'all in a week.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with the True Dungeon stuff!

So...

I'm having a wee bit of anxiety over bringing a new (adult) cat into our home. I want things to work out so well.

It will. It will.

Photos to come.

It will. It just takes time, possibly "months" time not "weeks" time. If they are fighters they will fight, but one day you'll come home and there they will be, snuggled up in a closet, or on a bed, or on your laundry pile...BFFs for life. And then they'll fight again.

Yay new kitty! Just hope he's not Osama Bad Katten v1.5 :evil:

Co worker was walking out the door to start her vacation (she was technically on vacation today, but came in to wrap a few things up). I had wished her a good time as she was leaving and she informed me that she was on her way to the dentist ("whoo hoo!"). I told her to "have one pulled for me."

In retrospect, that could have been taken VERY wrong!

Only if she knows you like we know you! :evil:

Today I think I finally realized - I sit in the front of class and answer questions from teachers not because I like to show off, or want to get on the teachers' good side...but because I can't stand that fvcking pause where the teacher gets to stand there and look smug because and self-satisfied when no one can answer their question.

So, I guess I'm dropping TV entirely this season. I'm catching such little bits and pieces of True Blood, the entire season has become annoying to me.

As for Mad Men, what moroon decided they should skip the entire premise they set up at the end of last season that most fans were very excited about? I don't think I can get over that. Buh-bye.

Yep. Pretty sure you're not supposed to be tearing your flesh.

What premise would that be?

A handful of the main characters cleverly arranged for their own firing from the ad agency that was being bought out by a corporate behemoth, and they were starting from scratch, working out of a hotel suite, hopeful to persuade some of the agency's clients to come with them, and working themselves up from absolute bottom.


This season - they are well-established in a beautiful suite of high-rent Manhattan offices with an agency that's already got a reputation for outside-the-box brilliance - albeit most of their business relies on one big client.


They skipped a year. A year which the main character has already referred to as one of the most exciting years of his entire career.

WTF?

From my relatively brief forays into teaching it isn't smug self-satisfaction but rather consternation that either they don't know (which is bad in two ways) or they're too timid to participate (which is simply annoying).

Oh, I haven't seen the show so I hadn't realize it was a reboot of Bosom Buddies. I take it Christina Hendricks is the modern take on Wendie Jo Sperber.

They are not well established. They are barely hanging on. In the first episode of the season Lane commented on the fact that the offices were more lavish than they could afford. Their only high-end client accounts for 71% of their business. If they lose that one account, they're dead.

Outside-the-box brilliance does not necessarily make you successful.

fyi - Purchased Julie Andrews' book "Home" at borders for $4.99!! :)

Yeah, well Don said in his better interview that we'd all just missed the most exciting year of his career. How nice.

Especially if "exciting" was code for near-disastrous. ;)

Oh, for some it's definitely the smug.

But yes, I was being mostly facetious, I know they just want to see if anyone's learning. But just the same, I can't stand that pause. I just want to answer to get it over with so we can move on.

I usually was more active in class discussions because it helped me learn (college - not high school). I knew I was often pissing some fellow students off who would rather listen to the prof drone on so they could sleep, but I didn't care.

I am an active learner, not a passive one.

It's impossible for me to pretend that I don't know the answer to the teacher's question, even if I am the only one participating and I look like a dork. Active learner here as well.

That is, when I was learning.

I was a veritable Hermione Granger in school.

I generally knew the answer, but I never cared if anybody else knew I knew the answer so I have no problem remaining silent. Usually if I'm in a class with a group that seems timid to participate I'll jump in early if I think that'll break the ice but then I back off.

In college it was very rare to be in a classroom environment where the teacher was throwing out questions requesting volunteers to answer. Which seems reasonable since nobody actually learns anything in such a system except for the few people for whom the chance to volunteer is motivation to study. If questions were asked the person to answer was determined first. Such a situation used fear to induce studying (not that I ever actually studied).

In high school, teachers just learned not to call on me because I was equally likely to be a smartass as to answer.

My profs have loved me in the last couple years, because I am very active and helpful with the class. I've also offered up a lot of resource links for them to look for free downloads, additional tutorials, etc. It gained me a lot of respect from my classmates too.

The advantages - one of my profs was able to get me some contract work, and I'm now working with a couple classmates on some different projects that may become quite fruitful. :)

With her hair, too :)

This is where my smarts disconnected with the path they could have taken me on. I never cared what my grades were, I knew whether I knew the subject and that was good enough for me.

So I never did homework once I'd done enough to assure myself I knew it. Once I understood how to solve quadratic equations, doing it 20 more times didn't serve me any additional purpose. I'd do more work on research in history classes than most but put no effort in writing the papers.

So I'd lose all those points and then ace the tests. Getting good grades in high school is about the easiest thing in the world but I still graduated with a bit more than a 3.0 average. Then repeated in college and to a lesser extent grad school (lesser because there was less "homework" in grad school).

What's weird is I had no problem keeping my "brilliance" to myself at school (where at least some people would have been interested in seeing it) but it took me years and years to rein in showing it in social interactions where nobody was interested in seeing it (and I still lose the reins on that too often).

I generally don’t participate in class because there are generally a half dozen or so who *have* to speak on every single issue, regardless of whether they're contributing new content, and I don’t like class running late because I said something and then they needed to have the last word.

My high school gave out a letter grade, a "Work Habits" grade and a "Cooperation" grade (the latter two being either Excellent, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory). I got a lot of AUU grades (and ASS grades, but I think that was more commentary by the teachers).

Hah, I'm no stranger to the AUU. I ignored homework and aced tests as well. In classes where tests didn't count for enough, I did very poorly indeed.

I kind of regret it. I'm sure I could have gotten scholarships if I'd applied myself (my family was not well off). When I went back to school as an adult I aced everything, graduating with honors. It was beyond easy. Made me wish I could tell my younger self to just do the damn homework, dummy.

However, if I'd gone to college, the chances of me meeting Greg would have been slim to none. All the money in the world couldn't influence me to mess with that timeline.

Fortunately that wasn't a problem. I pretty much had free run of the school by my senior year. I was technically taking two classes a day at the community college across the street, doing two independent studies periods. One I spent every day in the empty band room making out with my girlfriend and the other I ended up teaching the organic chemistry class when the school district decided there weren't enough students to justify a teacher.

Here's the way I look at it:

I quickly realized that 20% of the effort got 90% of the grade. So I did 20%. My high school girlfriend (later my one year of college wife) figured it was worth putting in 100% of the effort to get that last 10% of grade. Graduated valedictorian. Continued that in college where I spent two years on academic probation (before buckling down the last two years to do what was necessary to get in grad school) and she kept getting straight 4.0s and overachieving. We both went to grad school and got MLIS degrees (I assume she overachieved there too, but we were split by then).

And now I probably make twice as much money as her and am equally happy with my life (assuming she's happy with hers; she certainly wasn't happy while overachieving at school).

So I'm pretty pleased with the 20%/90% rule of schooling and preach it to children at every opportunity (the key being a recognition that schooling and education are not synonyms and need not overlap; I know many people who sucked at schooling but also didn't learn anything; that combination isn't a good one). I expect in a few years the GD/CP family will hire me to give a seminar in their home explaining the details of my system to their children.

I was like Alex - I just didn't see why you needed to put that much effort in for a grade point or so. My Senior English class I'd get up at 4:30 AM and type up first draft/last draft of my paper and turn it in. I'd get a B+. My friends would do numerous drafts, have conferences with the teacher etc and get an A-. Didn't see what was worth the hassle. Not to mention our english teacher was a huge self centered dick so if you didn't kiss his ass you didn't get an A anyway.

GPA's don't really matter much in the real world anyway - at least not mine.

Wait, were you looking at me when you wrote that?

I loved that "take college classes for high school and college credit" thing. Plus the state paid for it, so it was win all around. The high school never did figure out when I was supposed to be there, so if I were somebody else, I could have got in all kinds of trouble.

I agree with your 20/90 system; I also chose to put in the extra effort. I don't think it took 80% more effort to get that last 10%, but it was more than strictly necessary to get by. The math doesn't work out on that, though.

True. But it kept my folks off my back. I think I got less supervision than my brothers.

GPAs make a difference when you're trying to get investment banks to consider you for entry-level work. Even with a B+ average, you might find yourself pursuing alternate careers in... say... real estate.

Well... so far, so good.

This will take a while, and Markus is surprisingly receptive (even if a bit hissy and pissy for the time being). This also has shown me how confident Markus has become since his previous feline visitors. He's much more relaxed. Roxy is the one that will take a bit longer, I think.

Pictures forthcoming.

Roxy is a Tortie? Tortie's are usually not the most chill cats.

Give them a couple of days, a few hissing fits and growley moments and they will be OK with each other. They mostly have to get used to each other's smells. If you have a blanket in with Roxy, put it in the area where Markus is and vice versa. They can get good sniffs of each other that way.

I've only had one problem introducing a new cat and that was with my Calico Lyra. She was VERY difficult and completely stopped eating at one point. She never became friends with the others but she learned to tolerate being in the same house with them.

My mom is having surgery this morning. Please send healing vibes her way!

I hated when other students try and teach the class because it always makes things more complicated and generally run later. That's one of the reasons I loved taking online classes; no one else was trying to run the class or constantly interrupting the class with questions/debates/arguments/better way to do things. We did have access to knowledge and feedback from students on message boards and email lists but it prevented the know-it-all from trying to run things.

Online learning isn't for everyone but it's the only way I was ever going to be able to get a BA.

I (and a handful of classmates) had to teach our high school calculus class because the teacher didn't understand the material.

I had the same experience in High school GD, except for the fact that I wasn't teaching the class. At least I wasn't as lost as the teacher!!

That makes sense given what I've seen. Sweet

We did that, and I've had them share a brush, too.

Awww, little Lyra... I miss your babies...

All sound advice that I will continue to take. I do love this little Roxy girl.

The class I taught, I wasn't a student in. I had taken two years of organic chemistry as a sophomore and junior so was teaching first year organic chemistry to others.

Objectively I did a horrible job at it and I feel bad for anybody who relied on that class for actual learning (though most took it simply for credit, we all had to retake ochem in college anyway). But for a 17 year old kid I think I did ok.

You probably weren't smug enough.

Mufi Hanneman the homophobic former Honolulu Mayor and current gubernatorial candidate waved at me last night inside Zippy's (HI's version of Denny's). My friends said my reaction was priceless. Somewhere along the lines of how I'd respond if he opened his mouth and green pea soup shot out at me. That guy's an asshole.

Keeping her in our thoughts and sending much healing light. :)

Have you met me? Now regress me back to 17.

Thank you. The surgery went very good. They were able to do it laparoscopicly and , barring ang complications, she should be going home tomorrow.

Funny story... My evil bitch sister has been telling everyone that my mother is senile; which is so not true. My other sister had come down to take mom to the hospital. While the nurse was doing all the pre-op stuff, she was joking with my mom. She told mom that she didn't act 86, and was still sharp as a tack. My mom responded "Can I get a certificate to show my other daughter?"

Gotta love mom.

I will be home late tonight doing the Corporate Games for my company... I'm already missing my kitties... :( I want to be hoooommmmeee...

If all you were looking for was a BA, you should have told me. I would have been happy to drop trou and flashed you my bare arse.

Yay! Good puppy!
:)

Go Boomer!!!! You are doing a great job with that stubborn boy, ABG.

My mom got home from the hospital this afternoon and posted this on her facebook wall:

Your mom sounds like a hoot!

OMG, what a character! I'm glad she's doing well!

HEY LISA: I love your current avatar




And for any future thread archeologists, this is the avatar I am referring to:

Would somebody please slap me. I can't seem to stay awake today.

I'm listening to amazing music at work.

Is it 3:30 yet?

She is - on both counts!

I think I love your Mom.

As Art Linkletter used to say..."old* people say the darnedest things."

* Old = Older than me

The doctor said that she's recovering like a person half her age.

My mom:

Awwwww! Yay! :) Mama Bear!

Visible JWmamabear MOJO:snap:

Awwww. Glad she's doing well

So, are we all set for our centisecond of celebration this afternoon?

Hmm, 12:34:56.7 would mean a whole decisecond, not a centisecond.

Yeah, for some reason I was thinking 56 seconds wasn't possible. Brain fart.

I was thinking of 1:23:45.67. So I guess the good way of looking at it is we could have had a 3 deciseconds of celebration today if we'd been up in the middle of the night.

Ooh, I just discovered something! (I'm sure all of you knew this already.)

When you're looking at a list of threads, either in New Posts or one of the Forums, if you click the number of Replies to a thread you get a popup which shows who posted and how many times.

Here are the Sooooo thread numbers, though I believe it's for this second version of the thread only. I'm surprised how high I am on this list as I thought I barely ever get involved in the thread. Kevy crushed everyone, though the gap between GD and Alex is pretty major.

The numbers for the original Sooo.... thread

About once a year someone rediscovers this feature it seems.

Wow. My numbers sure dropped.

Haha, me too!

I'm slacking!

Me four!

Capt Jack 492 ??....oh, that cant be right


good lord I talk too much

Kittens update:

Mabel and Greta (now 5 months) were engaging in some cuteness yesterday, so I thought I would post the photographic evidence.

I just realized that today is 8-9-10!

Ah too bad. You missed the decisecond party (and the much more intense centisecond party). It was quite the shindig, easily topped iSm's recent doings.

That's all right. I didn't want to go anyway.

LSPE - that was seriously needed today.

Thank you. :)

I'm glad to see my cat isn't the only one to stretch out in such an undignified pose!

He has beautiful markings though and looks thoroughly content.

Is it 5:30 yet?

I don't know if "crushed" is the correct term...

I use it frequently to remind myself whether I have added by own message in a birthday thread.

Soooo....when I go to bed I generally turn the TV to Comedy Central so that if I haven't fallen asleep yet it will eventually become The Daily Show (yes, I go to sleep with the TV on, it doesn't matter because when Lani eventually comes to bed she turns it on to NPR anyway).

Soooo....I know it isn't the cool opinion but I thoroughly despise It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

These two Sooo.....'s have come into conflict. I know the only good programming Comedy Central has ever had at 10pm is South Park and so everything else that's ever on before The Daily Show sucks by definition. But It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is just such an advanced level of suck that sometimes I end up watching E! (one channel up) because as amazing as it is, the shows on E! suck less.

In other news, I appear to be suffering what Ethiopians call "rich American problems" (well when they say it, it probably sound more like Amharic).

So..... I just finished watching Public Enemies. I'm not sure it's possible for post 21 Jump Street Johnny Depp to not look sexy.

That's why they invented the Science channel (who have their best programming in the wee hours, IMHO) and failing that, the weather channel.

These pics wigged me out briefly. It appears we have similar tastes in bedsheets =P

I prefer to nap to the History Channel or History International.

Overheard from the family sitting next to me on my lunch break today -

Girl (about 4th grade or so) watching the tv on the wall that doesn't have sound says: Obama died in a car accident?

Mom says: Oh honey - we aren't that lucky. That was a group of people in a van in another state.

(I wasn't watching TV to see what they were referencing - but Wow - they aren't lucky enough to have their President die? WTF?)

Later on they spoke of going to church.

Again - wtf? We wish our President would die but we love us some Jesus. Maybe that's why they are going to church? (because they haven't really grasped what that whole religion thing is about? Or am I getting this wrong and it's okay to be religious and hope that someone dies?)

Well, assuming they're Christians they are in a faith based entirely on being glad that someone died.

Perfect example of how going to church makes them no more of a Christian than going to their garage makes them a car.

But I AM A CAR!!!

Today just sucks. It'll be better tomorrow.

I don't often submit things to Quotes ... but ....

OK, so why does Google want to take you through Seattle on your trip from LA to Hawaii?

Heck, you have to go through Seattle from Anchorage to Hawaii. From Miami to Hawaii.

Though apparently, one needs to go through Japan on the trip from Australia to Hawaii.

Gmail has a new look. I like it so far...

That's where the ramps are.

Well, as long as there is a logical reason...

If you hadn't said anything, I'd not have noticed. None of the stuff they moved is really anything I ever use so I don't think I'll have any issues with it.

I agree, however I am happy that they FINALLY have a "sort by last name" option in contacts.

Oh, Betty. Isn't that sick?

So very sad. Can you imagine what a mess that does to their children's' minds? I mean, kind of twisted. Oh, we go to church and pray, we are good little sheep, we love our neighbors, we love our God.

Then they go home, cuss, drink, beat, gossip, lie, if their neighbors are black/Hispanic they don't count. And they wish their president dead.
What messages do the children get? How do they deal with this? Do they turn from the church or become, what is the word, zealots?

I was talking with my 'The Bible is a Myth' son. We were talking about praying. He said he was fighting vampires in his dream. {he doesn't watch Twilight, either}. I told him that when I had bad dreams, I would pray. It would stop. He said 'Oh, that makes sense. Prayer gives one a false sense of hope so I can see how in your dream it would work.'

So. I tell him 'I do believe in the power of people and positive vibes/thinking. I light candles, to me that light gives a vibe/power/mojo to whatever it is I am asking. I don't know what to say. People say 'Pray for so and so' but I tell them I will send them my positive thoughts and love.'

I asked, in this situation, if we pray to God, even those of us who do not pray, are we using God as a broker for our prayers? And, are prayers 'religious' or are they just wishes for positive results?

Does that make sense? I hate not making sense to my kid. I was hoping to make him not scoff so much and maybe to give him the freedom to 'pray' without feeling like he is stupid. He thinks religion is stupid.

This is so hard for me as I do believe I've had experiences and am a believer. It is all just personal for me. I've never believed I've needed a group for power. {unless it was at Disneyland and met up with the LoTers...THAT is one powerful group!! And fun!!}

I don't know if Contacts is still a useless morass* but it was so much of one in the past that I haven't even been in that part of Gmail for a very long time.


* Automatically adding everybody I'd ever emailed kind of sucks when that includes approximately 5000 MouseAdventure players over the years. I cleaned it out once but then never went back.

I created groups to separate out actual contacts from just a listing of people I've sent to. That's the best way. Most basic group is "My Contacts." You can also merge contacts, which is very useful for people with multiple email addresses.

Yeah, I started such a project once but then realized that the only contact information I'd ever keep for people is their email addresses and that is available anyway since I never delete emails (plus with many thousands of people listed to begin with, finding the 60 I actually wanted was a pain).

Plus it was so stupidly implemented I didn't want to reward them by using the service.

Well, the Bible IS a myth. In fact, I would say it is one of the better examples of a myth.

A myth is a story which may or not be founded in truth. For some reason, the word 'myth' seems to have taken on the connotation of being automatically an untrue story.

I would say it's a whole collection of related myths instead of one single myth.

True. I thought about that after I wrote my post and was going to edit it but got distracted.

That's ok, for the link you gave, the second definition fits using "myth" to include what JWBear said. Of course, the fact when most people refer to something as myth they are talking about definitions 3, 4, or 5, is why religious people don't generally like hearing their beliefs referred to as myth since those definitions do have the story either being untrue or at least having the truth of the story being irrelevant.

Except for adherents, truth is anything but irrelevant and referring to it as "myth" carries the implication that it is not, or at least might not, be truth. And for many, there simply is no room for "might not".

At this point, I might not give a crap.

:cheers:

Plus, when it comes to myth there is a problem with the truth/not truth issues. Say n is the number of religions labeled as myth. Pretty much everybody is in one of these two categories:

A) They believe n consists of things that aren't based on fact, regardless of whether they are useful or not.

or

B) They believe n-1 is the number of things in n that aren't based on fact and that 1 is the number of things in n that are based on fact. Being put in such stark mathematical terms makes some uncomfortable.

Which is another way of saying that if there have been 5000 religions in human history then a Christian is only 0.02% less of an atheist than I am in terms of the god systems we don't believe in.

Thanks all of your for your comments on 'myths'. Yep, what we compared it to was Greek Mythology.

I do believe what he is missing is 'faith'. But, to him, he says that 'faith' is stupidity. He does not believe in anything he can't see or touch. No swaying him. It does kind of hurt me as I always cherished my time in church as a child and, like I said, I do believe I had an experience in church.

So, I am torn. I do not like to insult the people I care about who do have faith. I also do not like being made to feel like a heathen because I don't agree. Or can't be turned.

But, what do you guys think about 'prayer'? I believe in the power of positive thought. What do you think/feel when someone asks you to pray for someone/something?

I like that percentage, Alex. So true. How do they explain the other religions out there? I guess this is why wars are fought at times?

Well, you guys all make sense. I hope my post makes some, too.

I think how you think effects your actions. If you think you are going to fail you probably will. If you think you will succeed you probably will. Having confidence in someone to succeed is not the same as giving them "positive vibes" which I think are bogus.

Mousewife: Ask him if he believes in the wind.

He can not see it, nor touch it. But he knows it is there because he can witness the effect it has on everything around him.

If he can witness the effect it has, he's not "believing" anything, he's observing and drawing conclusions based on those observations. Nor would I even say one can't "touch" the wind. I touch it all the time, I can feel it quite readily. It's not just an observable phenomenon, it's an easily observable phenomenon.

If he presented himself I'd guess this is very much an oversimplification. I"m sure he believes in all kinds of things he can't see and touch. I certainly do.

What I don't believe in are things for which there is a) no evidence, and b) no need as a theoretical answer, used as a placeholder pending more a).


I think prayer can help the person making the prayer as a form of focusing oneself. I don't think the prayer itself directly does anything. I also don't think that prayer on behalf of someone else does anything.

So when asked to pray or send positive thoughts/vibes for another i don't do anything. I may give them what little benefit such things can give by telling them that I've done such (since that at least can make them feel better) but I don't actually do anything.

I certainly don't offer Christian prayers since the idea of an omniscient/omnipotent entity that can be swayed by personal entreaty is appalling. At least the Greek gods were flawed avatars for human behavior and so cajoling made sense.

MouseWife, I would definitely say from what you've posted so far, I admire how you're handling it. The important thing isn't what YOU feel about it, it's what HE feels about it. You seem to be letting him ask the questions and search for the answers himself. That's the absolute best thing you can do. All you have to do is let him know that he's free to think about it any way he wants to, change his mind about it as much as he wants to, and come to any conclusion he wants, as long as he continues to treat people who've come to different conclusions with respect.

As you might imagine CP and I have spent a lot of time on similar subjects. We've been finding Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers very well thought out books.

Speaking of those books...

Raising Freethinkers has what I found to be a very good response to that. Make him examine irrationality in his own thinking. Is he afraid of the dark? Does he get annoyed if his food isn't prepared in a particular way? Can he see or touch or in any way explain WHY he holds those ideas? And if not, does that make him stupid? If he can relate his own capacity to believe irrational things, he will be less likely to judge others for doing the same.

Thank you for this, it's stated very well.

God is in the TV.

What age kid are we talking about? A lot of it is probably just learning out to express certain thoughts with more precision. If I were to say "faith is stupid" I wouldn't mean it in the same way as "drunk driving is stupid."

But over the years I've also learned a better vocabulary for such discussions that creates the distinctions I'm trying to make.

excellent. I do enjoy a good tequila...and even the occasional bad one, just to remind me of the actual distance between the two. Ive been attending the occasional TQ tasting locally and have been quite surprised at who likes what characteristics and how varied those opinions can be.

which ones did you try? Id be most curious to know how you ranked what

Damn this societies obsession with celebrities' personal lives. Can't we just let Tiger go back to banging random blondes? It was much more fun to watch him play golf while that was happening.

We just had a fire drill. Why couldn't thay have waited until next week, when I'll be on vacation? Yay.

Again, thank all of you for your responses. I love that there are so many varied opinions. Hard to talk with people around me as they think I have not done my job by not taking him to church. {Thanks, Greg, I needed to hear that I am handling it well..I am trying!}

My son is 16. It has been a few years since he has been expressing these views. Before that it wasn't really a topic we discussed.


BTD~good point. If you have the confidence to succeed, that is what you need. I've had people tell me 'You can DO it' when I know darn well I can't. ha ha

Morri~ I loved your point...until GD posted his view. :D True, we can feel the wind and we have seen its' effects upon our yard. BUT I got what you meant.

Alex~ you are right. That is how he believes. If there is no basis, etc. I also like your response about prayer. That is how I've come to feel. But, I still, when times are very tough, light a candle and send my thoughts of well being when someone is sick or hurt. It makes me feel better? Because there is nothing else I can do? My son has said this, too. People pray because that is all they can do sometimes. But that it doesn't change anything.

GD~ I will have to look into those books. One thing I've learned, being as old as I am, you do have to let them think for themselves. Isn't that what we want? To be able to think for ourselves and be confident in that.

You and CP are very smart and I always knew you'd tackle this issue of parenting wisely. I have books for almost every step of the way. LOL Even puberty. ha ha I have a 'handbook' for kids and it says that most of the things my teens have put me through are perfectly normal. They do say hurtful things but they don't mean it. They really don't.

That is also a good point, to ask him what he is afraid of. From what I've seen, not much. He is careful not to get hurt, though. Okay, now, this I feel came from the deaths of his grandmother/uncle. She died when he was 9, the uncle when he was 12. That is maybe when he started to question the afterlife, also. About that time, though, he started to refuse to ride roller coasters and refused to go for a ride on the motorcycle my husband picked up. He worried about anyone on them. When asked to go ride he would say 'I don't want to die'. I tip toe around this one as I am not sure how to deal with it. I was quite pissed when my husband took him {@ 12} to see his uncle at the morgue. After I had explicitly told him not to.

He doesn't care too much how his food is prepared BUT funny that you mention it because we took him to eat at Olvera St. and he saw the 'B' {or maybe a 'C'} and asked what it meant. We told him. He was like 'And you brought me here to eat???? We laughed and told him it was okay.

LOL Alex, his vocabulary, yes, he does need to pick it up. He is reading a lot more these days and I think that will help.

A big thing that occurred to me. Growing up, I did have a lot of faith, deep love for Jesus and the church. What I have seen happening as time goes on, other issues coming into play. Like, dinosaurs, fossils, the age of the earth. I embrace all of those facts. Unfortunately, some people say you can't have both. What? Why not?

We have fossils along our walkway {we've collected them out where they'd prepared land for building and some other places}. My father in law came up and was looking at them. My husband was so proud of his finds. His picked one up and said 'These are fake'. We were like no way. I forget but he said carbon dating is a lie and that the scientists just want to discredit the bible. Why?

ugh.

Again, thanks all of you for your input!!! I wish we could bring this curmudgeon of mine to have coffee with all of you. He could very much benefit. :snap:

And, me? I could benefit from some of that tequila!!!

Agreed. Now all we hear about are his not so good shots. :(

Because either you believe that Jesus is the son of a god who created the earth ~6000 years ago, or you accept that the observable evidence shows that the earth has existed for billions of years. They are pretty much mutually exclusive world views as they profoundly contradict each other in every way. And since the divinity of Jesus kinda rests on the unquestioned validity of what's in the bible/torah, it's hard for me to understand how one can say, "Well, it's got the whole age of the earth and origins of life thing completely and utterly wrong...but the rest is totally spot on."

For me, I pray that I see God's will for me. That's the way I was "taught" to pray, and it seems to work a lot better, for me, than the view of God as Santa Claus or the Blue Fairy, granting wishes.

I think faith is much more interesting and varied than those believers who make you feel bad would like to believe. I see no reason why we all must believe exactly the same things or the same way.

Well put, Alex. I agree completely except I do think praying for another can have an effect. Don't ask me how, but I do think it can help. Certainly does zero harm. Not that I see "god" the same way that I think the vast majority of people do, but still. Maybe any effect that comes from prayer actually has something to do with the net of energy that I believe flows through all things that exist or with metaphysics, in our thoughts creating our world.

I liked the Cofradia label reposado one the best, followed by 1800 reposado, followed by Patron Silver, and Patron anejo. Husband put the 1800 behind the Patron, but otherwise had the same order.

GD~ I read your post...what do you think? Okay, this may come up with you and Theo at some point {or not}. My niece has her daughter in Christian school. Yet, she took her to the Natural History Museum...isn't that a contradiction? Or is it? My great niece was very offended thinking she came from monkeys. Yet, how does this play in with the museum? {the fossils, etc.}
It is very confusing. I love the fish with the feet. That represents both, right?

Chernabog~ that is a good point. To pray for strength, guidance, you mean? Or do you mean that whatever his will be as far as someones' health? {as when someone asks for prayer when someone is injured/sick} LOL No one really prays for money and material things, do they?

Oh wait, I did pray for people to have jobs/security....but that wasn't for ME, that was for everyone.

abg~ True. And, I think these people who point things out don't go into the fact that they are just paraphrasing what THEY want to. Taking words out of context, mostly. To scare, I think. Using the words to their advantage. To scare their kids, to keep their wives in line, to feel better than other people.

I also feel that it gives *something* to the cause to send positive thoughts. A connection? Not sure.

Technically speaking, yes. The version of reality presented at the Natural History Museum is in direct contradiction with the version of reality that the bible presents.

Now, that doesn't stop people from somehow holding both thoughts to be true in their own minds - that science is right AND at least some portion of the version of deity presented in the bible is also true. I personally can't comprehend that. If any part of what, according to the bible, makes god/Jesus a divine being worthy of belief and worship is true, then the whole premise of science, of paleontology, of any human intellectual endeavor would seem to me to be pretty moot. I don't the idea of picking and choosing which aspects of the bible are literally true and which are not. On what basis does one decide?

But people do, go figure.

Most people who have the fish with feet (aka. the Darwin Fish or the Evolve Fish) are not trying to represent both. They're taking the traditionally Christian symbolism of the fish and satirizing it with the feet to represent evolution, and pretty pointedly are saying they DON'T believe in biblical creationism.

Ah, I see. I thought it was a melting of both. Thanks, I'll esplain' that to the Hubster as we had thought differently. Hmm. Wonder what he'll think. We like to think both are possible.

The museums. I guess that, for me, will have to be a place that I go and enjoy. Can't judge others who are there but say it is not real.

We've had TWO fire drills in the last six months. In both instances, I was walking out the door JUST as the drill started and was able to miss the mundanities of them.

And my question is, on what basis do you decide which parts are literally true and which parts are not? How much of it has to be proven to contradict reality before all of it becomes suspect? If the entire thing is presented as literally true, but some of it clearly cannot be, how can you both accept the rest of it as true and consider the reality that contradicts it to be true? How much of it can you strip out without it becoming completely meaningless and unnecessary? If you've gotten to the point where your reality remains the same "regardless of god", then why continue to bother with the concept of god?

I don't know why it took me this long, but I just figured out what your avatar is GD.

If earth was created by "the big bang" then where did people come from? If we did evolve from primates where did they originally come from? Where did dinosaurs and sharks come from?

I think the Bible is a collection of stories and some history mixed together, passed down verbally, written and translated repeatedly and updated over time as what was considered acceptable changed.

I believe that the bible was also used to control people and used as an excuse to do bad things to people because that's what God would want, etc. (killing adulturers, fortune tellers, etc)

I believe there was a person named Jesus who actually lived. I do not believe that he was the son of God.

re: the wind analogy...

I see the mountains, and the fish, and learn about the wonders of scientific discoveries, and in all of it, I see evidence of God. I do not believe the whole universe just popped into being by accident.

If so, from where? Then again, that's a cyclical line of thinking I can get stuck in because if the universe exists because God wanted it to, where did he come from? Infinity boggles my mind.

The wonders of science, things so complex as evolution or the atomic makeup of everything... it's all so amazing to me, and I think, "Only God could come up with stuff this cool."

So yes, just like GD looks at the leaves in the trees and sees evidence of the existence of wind, I open my eyes and look at *anything* and see evidence of the existence of something we call God.

And THAT's how you can believe in God and science at the same time. Science is our poor alligator brain understanding of how things are, but there's a lot more to it that science has not discovered yet, and some things we may never will (like why socks disappear in the wash, LOL), but in all of it, I can credit God with coming up with it in the first place.

Hallowed are the Ori.

Ok. I'll bite.

The Earth was not created by the big bang. The big bang was about 13 billion years ago. The Earth was formed about 8.5 billion years later. The first Homo sapiens arose about 200,000 years ago.

Humans are primates. Primates have been around for over 60 million years. Primates evolved from other ancient mammals.

The first dinosaurs evolved from archosaurs about 230 million years ago. Sharks have been around, in one form or another, for about 450 million years (which makes them far older than dinosaurs).

So, it would seem to me, you've just defined god as ignorance. The benefit of that, I guess, is that every time we learn something new, god is diminished.

But (and we're moving into theological discussions that we've had many times before) if the issue of regression discredits science, I'm not sure why it doesn't discredit god as well.

====

I've said before I really don't care what other people believe, regardless of how odd it may seem to me, so long as they aren't trying to force me to believe it too.

If you say "I pray for people's health because it makes me feel better" then I can't argue against it. I don't understand why it would but it's no skin off my nose.

If you say "I pray for people's health because I believe it makes them better" then in a discussion forum I'll be interested in examining the implications of such a belief since if accurate it would have observable impacts. The underlying belief, is still no skin off my nose.

If you say "I believe prayer makes others better so you're a bad person if you don't pray for them" then it is now some skin off my nose.

And if you say "I believe prayer makes others better but there is only one correct way to pray and therefore people should be prevented from praying in any other" then a lot of skin has come off my nose.

And if you say "Please let me go talk to your grandmother about this cancer cure I've discovered where you stick a lit candle in your ear" then I'm going to lock you out of the house.

Even if I were to agree with the dubious supposition that something "had to have created the universe", I don't see how one could divine (so to speak) the nature of that something. It's no more likely to be the Judeo Christian god vs. some nebulous benevolent entity vs. sadistic aliens screwing with us vs. some barely cognizant being that created our universe when it squished some other smaller being. There are literally infinite possibilities of what "god" might be, such that whatever version of god any individual decides to believe in is almost without a doubt wrong.

I can't fault the comfort any individual might feel due to the particular version they've settled on. But there is simply nothing that I know of within human perception that requires the existence of supernatural forces to exist. And certainly nothing that points to the nature of any hypothetical supernatural force.

But where did the primates and archosaurs and sharks come from to begin with. I'm pretty sure they didn't appear out of thin air.

(and now you all can see why I was not the teachers favorite during religious education...)

If God did not create everything -- how do you explain the face on Mars?


(Pic related - it's the face on mars)

Left unexplained, however, is who spilled pepper on the face on Mars.

Also, I miss Richard Hoagland's insanity.

Evolved from earlier lifeforms.

I will save you all some time and summarize the article.
According to the link that JWbear sent, the face on mars is
actually made entirely of cheese.



(Pic related -- It's cheese)

Wrong kind of cheese. :rolleyes:

And where did those come from?

There is no such thing as the wrong kind of cheese, unless it is the kind that follows the words, 'who cut the ...'

Even earlier lifeforms.

And again. And how did a dinosaur evolve from a microorganism? And where did the microorganism come from? The very first lifeform had to come from somewhere.

With that theory, the conflict is that dinosaurs are much older than humans. So, however they were created, we still came after.

I was just reminded of this particular conflict as my f-i-l sent an email about some bogus dinosaur find somewhere. I don't know that he knew it was bogus but my husband did a bit of research and found a link that claimed it all bogus. {checked and no link}

The thing is, they were claiming the bible isn't just spiritual because they spoke of the big beings! Okay, so, then, how does that go with them saying the ages of us and the dinosaurs? Always a conflict and they are never wrong!

And, Alex, I had to chuckle. My husband never gets very upset about people. He goes out and enjoys life and takes a-holes in stride. He was really pissed off {can I say that?} this past Sunday while we were walking on the pier and this family stopped us and asked if they could talk to us about whatever. Jehovah's Witnesses. Fine, like you said, I don't care what they believe in, more power to people for being different. But don't witness to me. I am at a public place.

I would like to thank all of the wonderful responses that have been posted. I know that we all have different beliefs, about a lot of things. Nice to hear yours and nice to keep it civil. :0)

Speaking of the moon, it sure was pretty tonight!! Leonid {sp} showers after midnight?

BTD - you're kidding, right?

Everybody sing to the tune of Auld Lang Syne:
We're here because we're here because we're here because we're HEEEEREEE....

Yup. For some, the inability to understand something is so scary that they need to plug in some easy answer.

I'd say that religion is our poor alligator brain understanding how things are. Science is our best-practices attempts at understanding how things are, hampered as it always is by our poor alligator brain.

I'm just being contrary.

CP, I feel this way sometimes when my son asks me a question. I don't always have an answer.

Remembering when I went to church. I listened to the readings, I enjoyed them. They were like Aesop's Fables to me. I learned something, usually something good. Like Aesop's Fables! Mostly I learned to live and let live and do it honestly.

Just saw on the news about people singing the 'Star Spangled Banner' at the Lincoln Memorial and being told to stop as it was as demonstration. What?

I'm sorry, proud Americans being told to shut up? I have to look more into this.....

Wow, you guys took what I thought was a beautiful thought about the wonders of science as evidence of the existence of a greater intelligence in the universe than we humans and boiled it down to....

I guess I failed to convey my thoughts properly.

My belief in God isn't a crutch for anything... it just is. And my belief is not threatened by science, but strengthened by it.

The bible comes from a time when information was conveyed in allegory. And it's really a tome of collected separate books, minus a few that were eliminated by committee (because we all know how good committees are) many centuries ago. So information could be missing, added, etc. Then there's the whole "well how much of the Old testament is relevant" question. So I think it's important that people weigh all these factors when determining whether or not they REALLY understand the will of God. Personally, and this is just me, I tend to give more weight to quotes directly attributed to Jesus, and less to everything else.

But I see no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

But whatever, if you choose to believe the whole universe just magically burst on the scene at random, completely by chance, and that all the amazing things about creation (evolution, to name one) are completely by accident, then that's fine. But your beliefs are no less "magical" than my own.

Actually, it was Lincoln, himself, who asked them to stop.

Okay, to approach this from a religion free perspective, here are some thoughts on faith. Even scientists have faith, that's what causes them to pursue their discoveries. Take the periodic table of elements...

There were empty spots on the periodic table where undiscovered elements should theoretically be, based on atomic numbers. Scientists didn't know those elements existed, they just looked at the evidence and believed that, based on the math, an element with that atomic number should be possible. Now, some of those elements only exist if they're manmade and only briefly at that because their half-life is so short as to be pretty much unobservable. And yet, they pursued those elements on the faith that they existed and could be found (or made, however briefly).

Scientific discoveries happen because someone believed in something that nobody else had seen or touched.

How is not believing in magic somehow a magical belief?

Again, you're using the word "faith" incorrectly. Predicting something due to evidence is not faith. Faith is believing in something even though there is no objective evidence indicating its possible existence. You don't "believe" or "have faith" in math.

I believe John Locke and others justified their belief in a creator on the theory that as a matter of logic, there had to be an uncaused cause.

One does have faith in postulates.

Wow, I've hardly had breakfast and we're already onto the nature of the universe and religion. It's going to be a long day....

Faith be it personal or part of an organized religion covers a wide range of human experiences: Love, hate, relationships, self. It's many things to many people. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

One aspect of faith that's always bugged me is when it's used to explain the unknown. From Lightning to games of chance humans have always created Gods, muses, totems, rituals, etc. in an attempt to explain that which baffles us. It seems hard for many people to accept that at the end of the day we humans are basically ignorant hairless apes.

How does time exist? Is the universe finite or infinite? How did the Universe start? I could go on and on.... For many questions, the answer is: we just don't know. We are ignorant. Using religion to plug that hole and offer it as proof of a higher power seems wrong to me.

Even science is not immune to this, I always think back to the famous comments from Dr. Carl Sagan:

When scientists first looked at Venus through a telescope they saw a featureless sphere. Why? Because it's covered with clouds. What are clouds made of? Water. Thicker clouds means more water. More water in the clouds means more water on earth. What's very wet? A swamp. Dinosaurs lived in swaps.

Observation: I can't see anything, Conclusion: Dinosaurs!

First pass reading:

Even if accepted though (and this was Hume's response) it says nothing about the nature of that first cause and it would just be a baseless assumption that there must have been intent behind it and it would be baseless assumption on top of baseless assumption that the entity with that intent was still controlling every aspect of its creation.

Not to mention that a logical structure that requires a First Cause itself suffers from asking what caused the First Cause. Where did God come from is no less valid that asking where did the Big Bang come from.

Also, the argument flows from the limited nature of physics at the time in which every motion appeared to have a direct cause. They didn't have the benefit of quantum mechanics.

If that works for you, then that's great. But when I look at the same thing I'm not entirely sure I see any bathwater and definitely don't see any baby.

Well, except my "beliefs" come with an explanation that makes predictions that can be tested in the laboratory or through direct observation of the physical record and could be overturned or significantly altered by what is found.

Presumably your faith in the existence of god and Jesus's relationship to that god exists despite whatever evidence is produced.

Very true. "Science" ****s up all the time. Goes down blind alleys. Leaps to unsupported conclusions. Pillories those who are right. Sometimes engages in fraud. It can produce famines that kill millions and environmental disasters that wipe out species. It suffers all the flaws of the humans who practice it. "Science" is not a hegemony of ironclad principles into which all participants must completely subscribe.

The key difference though is that when the improved telescope comes out and provides a clearer picture of Venus the scientists say "huh, we were wrong about the dinosaurs." The faithful say "Obviously the dinosaurs live underground and breath through the hollow roots of plants on the surface."

And when we put a probe on the surface which shows it is hundreds of degrees and the atmosphere is highly acidic science chuckles and says "wow, can you believe how wrong we were?" and the faithful say "oh my, that's amazing that dinosaurs could live in such an environment."

Republicans








(You had to have seen that one coming!)

The animal shelter I volunteer at has 18 cat rooms. Or so I thought, I just noticed last night (after almost six months) that there is no room #13.

The stupidity of that burns my brain.

Also, last night my eyeball was licked by Ike, an FIV-positive cat. So I probably now have FIV. I expect that my brave struggles in the face of a discriminatory society will make me the next Ryan White.

If there's no room #13, where do they put the black cats?

Behind the sign that says "Did you know that because some people are really stupid black cats take the longest to adopt out so please try to overcome your idiocy and consider this cat equally."

VAM

Under the ladder

We once had a black cat, a white cat, and a gray cat. I don't know why this amused me, but it did.

We had a black cat. My Dad named him anthracite.

Are black rabbits unlucky? I'd guess that the lucky rabbit's foot outweighs any color-based bad luck.



BTW it's the left hind foot that's "lucky", no other rabbit's foot would do for those dumb enough to believe carrying a dead creature's limb around would affect their poker hand. Talk about a poor alligator brain...

I currently have 3 black cats. Black cats have always been my favorite followed by Orange as a close second.

When I get around to adopting the next cat, it's going to be a black cat. I hope to get a boy black cat so I can name him Max von Mayerling.

On the plus side, I hear black cats are good eatin'.

Personally I find caring much what color a cat is to be odd. Of all the ways to evaluate a cat, it seems like it would be pretty low on the totem pole.

I don't know if there's anything to this but all the orange cats I have met are pretty darn cool and mellow in temperament.
:)

Orange males, especially, in my experience.

So, I haven't made much mention on the progress of Roxy, as there really hasn't been much. I'm hoping she'll come around sooner than later. She seems to be loving, but is super-scared of Markus. She also sometimes gets random spaz, scared, freak-out attacks during which she bites and hisses for what seems like no reason. She is starting to like to play and is starting to eat the food more. We've been converting her over the Markus' high end food. I was surprised she wasn't digging it more before. She only wanted her regular food, which, looking at the ingredient list, wasn't all that great for her.

Happily, Markus has really impressed us by how generally cool he is. He gets a bit bothered when she starts hissing. Once that starts he has to get all puffed up, but overall he's been a good boy.

.

lol! And they are.
:D


Yes, orange males. Super nice. If I ever got a cat, it would be Charles II. Or that cool orange cat who used to drop off skinned rats and dead skunks on my neighbor's doorstep in Monterey.

Probably just coincidence but the three most annoying cats at the shelter right now are all orange males. One is super aggressive, one is a complete bully of people and other cats and the third just won't shut up.

Stupid eugenics fails us again.

Here's my expert run-down of general cat personalities:

- Black cats - often more aloof or very one-person cats
- Orange Boys - super friendly, laid back and chill IF they were neutered at a young age. If they are left intact, they tend to develop into the typical territorial, agressive alley cat.
- Orange girls - more rare thab boys but most have similar personalities to the boys.
Callicos and Torties - 9 times out of 10 they are psycho in some way. They are best being single cats unless you get them REALLY young. (Trixie was raised by us from 10 days old and she is still a psycho bitch at times.)
- Tabbies in general have pretty chill personalities but they also have BIG personalities.

Those are the personality traits/colors that stand out to me.

Are cat colors akin to dog breeds somehow?

I think cat breeds are more akin to dog breeds.

Dog's temperaments do not depend on the color of their coat, and I find the whole concept ridiculous. Admittedly, I'm not too fluent in Cat, so perhaps their coat color relates more to their breed.

And certainly, some dog breeds come general in one color ("Golden" Retriever comes to mind). But that doesn't make their temperament dependent on their color. That's crazy talk.

My orange girl Nala is a scary ninja cat con fuego. She is also the smartest cat it's been my pleasure to know.

Within a breed, colors can make a world of difference. For example, Black Pug Girls are almost always Divas. Black Boys are very sweet. Black and White Frenchies are more hyper than fawn Frenchies. I've seen color make a difference in personality on many occasions. I don't know why that is, but it just is.

My experience is different that NAs. I've probably owned nine black cats over the years and they've shown the full range of personalities.

And at the shelter I wouldn't say I've seen behavior patterns consistent enough that I'd bother making predictions based on it.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some level of correlation between color and personality but I suspect that is simply because there is correlation between color and breed.

But I'd be really surprised if objective observation found significant personality differences between different colored cats of the same breed or genetic makeup.

I've been wrong before though. I won't claim NA's expertise but I have interacted with probably 300 cats over the last 6 months so I'm not speaking entirely out of my ass.

ROTFLMAO

But it was a big 'Kumbaya' moment.

This quote actually probably fits the subject to a 'T'.



Alex~ what is this kitty disease? FIV? I think I've heard of it. What might happen?

Mousewife: I believe one of NA's cats had it, which is probably why/where you heard about it.

On a personal note, I think black cats are sleek and beautiful looking.

Is that all there is, is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing.
Let's break out the booze and have a ball.
If that's all there is.

Essentially it is the cat version of HIV and eventually leads to the cat version of AIDS.

As for what will happen, that depends on what you meant. I was kidding about me now probably having FIV, nothing will happen to me. As for the cats, they'll likely eventually having immune system problems and die of something their compromised immune system can't ward off.

Okay. You scared me, I didn't think it could be passed to humans but when you posted that...I had faith in your knowledge. :D

Poor kitties. Thanks, Morri, I thought I heard it somewhere. If it was one of Lisa's cats, it had plenty of love and care. That is for sure.

Charles has it. He's suffering from one of the common complications from being FIV+ at the moment - stomatitis. He's on steroids at antibiotics - has been for a year - but it is going to get the best of him pretty soon.

Aw, Lisa. I know you are doing your best to make his life comfortable.

Here is one thing that is consistent of all cats, regardless of breed, color or gender: they all have brain damage.

I say this as an owner of four cats currently and many more previously

Susi starts menopause on Monday at approximately 10:30. It is scheduled to last approximately six months.

Well at least you know

Eh... been there, done that.

Last time was three months. This time it is six months.

Although, if she doesn't start her period between now and tomorrow morning, then no shot. Strangely ironic that she has to be on her period to start menopause.

That would make a great song! :D

I'm sorry, but no one does it like Peggy.

As I was driving to work this morning I saw 3 Budweiser tractor trailer trucks in a row. Kinda odd since they don't usually caravan. As I got closer I realized they had Clydesdale's in them. Couldn't see them (obviously) but it was cool seeing the trucks.

Hooray horsies!

JWBear: just thought I'd share something a bit different from the norm :)

I think I heard that they were at the OC Fair the other day, so maybe that's why the were traveling....


I just got back from Fresh & Easy where I saw a can of "Hienz Spotted Dick", a common English food.

And a frequent sighting in West Hollywood

Oh, the dicks are spotted there as well?

Goes great with cream :)

Sounds like New Year's Day around here. ;)

I haven't looked at my youtube account in ages but I uploaded something today. I have a video from a few years ago of Madzer singing the national anthem. It's had 8000 some views. Wow.

1:30 in the morning and I am still at work. Yee freakin' haw.

And I may need to be back early tomorrow - all depends on what an email that is due at 8:00 says.

katiesue~ wow, 8000??? That is a lot! What happens if you put in something to search singing the national anthem? I ask because my husband put up some riding clips {bike, not horse} including some of us in Yosemite. They have been picked up by some Japanese {okay, I am saying Japanese but it could be Korean, I don't know the languages} and put on their web page. With others, of course. It is trippy.

Aw, Kevy, I wonder what happened to you. It is now 9 a.m. Geesh, when you factor in the ride home/back, don't you sometimes just stay there? The Hubster has a conference room where he can sleep on the table. Or put some chairs together, or sleep in his car.

Hope you are feeling alright.

<* Proud Parent Brag *>

Oh yeah. Moonie Jr. Kicked-Ass on the ACT bringing home a composite score of 34. Putting him in the top 1% nationwide and in line for some serious scholarship bucks!

:snap: :snap:

</* End Pround Parent Brag *>

Congratulations!

Proof that the acorn can fall far from the tree. :)

yeah!

My poor kid. What is the ACT?

Congrats Moonie Jr.!

Congrats to the Moonies!

Visible Moonie Jr. Mojo!

The ACT is basically the SAT for math and science majors, I believe.

College entrance exam, an alternative to the SAT. Students can take either one.

Any obvious reasons why? What do the comments say?

Link??? :)

Link There aren't many comments and none are all that interesting. I think only one is from someone who actually knows her.

Her other one only has a thousand hits.

I'm surprised at how often I see myself as a quote on the main page and have absolutely no idea what I was talking about (I know, I could look but I prefer to just wonder).

Mmm... Earl Grey on a cold, rainy day...

So is this guy about to dive into a pool or see a crappy 3D film?


See a crappy 3D film under water perhaps?

Is that really where he needed to demonstrate his Italian-ness?

Thanks. I'm so outta the loop for college. And, what a coincidence, I received a letter today about taking either exam. My son is in the Compact for Success. It seems there is a workshop coming up next month. I had better be there, eh?

It is all overwhelming to me. My older kids didn't like school as much. They both go to the community college, put in for whatever they want, I don't participate at all. Except giving money now and again. This youngest one? He wants to go to the best college. I said 'You will go to the best college. That I can afford.' :(

katiesue, the vids are great! How long has she been riding horses?

She's been riding since she was about 6 or 7. I think she started Polo about 9 or 10ish.

Our condo was fumigated and today was the first day we can get back in. However, because of their delicate nature, I wanted to keep the Chameleons out of the place for a couple more days. Boss was kind enough to let me bring them to the office for a couple of days. I brought them in in their carriers and then brought in their cages and plants separately.

We are in a class A office building and happen to be on the same floor as the management company. Wouldn't you know it that when I was making the second trip with the cages and plants that I would run into them in the elevator lobby. :eek:

I didn't stop to chat.

You should have told them they are anxiety chameleons and you need them with you at all times.

They didn't see the actual Chams - just one of the cages (thankfully, the small one). The trip they saw was more plants than cages, so hopefully that kept their suspicion down. I figure that if they didn't come knocking today, I should be okay.

Or that you were checking for MONOHYDROGEN DIOXIDE leaks.

Is there such a thing? HO2?

I swear, whenever I have a really trying set of days, I can count on the next few to be really terrific.

This must have been an interesting accident (a Google Maps Street view glitch)

Not a big deal, but it amused me when I stumbled on it.

What a fun day we had. My Aunt got married in a small ceremony down in San Diego outside by the ocean down by all the battleships, cruise ships, etc.

We then all (about 15 of us - all family) got in a water taxi and crossed over to Coronado and ate here: http://www.peohes.com/ FYI - the decor does not look like this. It's now more of an ocean theme done in a very classy way - without having fish and shells around - the shapes, bright colors, sea glass type of feel. Loved it.

We were seated outside in the shade right over the water right next to the bridge. We could watch the ships come and go (huge military ships down to kayaks.)

After a leasurely lunch of lobster bisque, halibut with macadamia nuts, sauteed bananas and frangelico (yeah - bananas and fish - who knew?) we finished with a macadamia nut ice cream pie with chocolate cookie crust. (other choices where a seafood cobb salad, coconut shrimp and key lime pie which I sampled and they were also delicious.)

Then we took the water taxi back but this time took our time and toured around the area a bit. My son got to drive the boat.

I miss the ocean.

Traffic on the way home was a bummer. In the jeep, without a/c and sitting on the sunny side the entire way - in traffic. Bah! Glad to be home.

Left the house and got home at the same time I would have if I'd gone to work (within minutes) which was odd.

Now I'm home and have the whole weekend ahead of me.

So we weren't able to do anything for our 10th anniversary because I had to work that weekend. We had planned to drive down to LA to see Swell Season at the Hollywood bowl but when that wasn't possible I noticed that they'd be playing the Oregon Zoo this last Friday and so I decided we'd take a day off and make a three day road trip out of it.

That was good. I've been annoyed at work and about 1500 miles of driving over three days helps reset the batteries.

Anyway, the concert was fine. To guarantee we'd have good seats (since we didn't know when we'd get in) I'd bought the reserved blanket seats. If you're in the Portland area and are thinking about one of the zoo's summer concert events I can recommend this. No crowding and the included dinner buffet was actually pretty good (and if you want you can end up taking a whole cheesecake back to your blanket).

The only warning would be about the rentable lawn seats. I'm fat so when mine broke I decided to not replace it. Once is mechanical failure, twice would be fatual failure. But the relatively slim guy next to me went through two and I saw three others break throughout the evening.

Anyway, unexpected to us was that Swell Season had an opener and it was Black Francis. I'd never heard of him but thanks to our modern communication age I could look him up while we listened. Apparently he was front man for The Pixies. I've never heard of them either, but being able to look that up made things much clearer later when Glen Hansard made several references to how important The Pixies had been to him.

The other thing they made reference to was something that will go into my list of missed significant events. Earlier this year I missed my chance to see a perfect game after Lani decided she didn't want to go and then an iffy weather report dissuaded me from going alone. I've had a couple other near misses on big things before too.

Anyway, the day after I bought the tickets for this concert I was riding home on BART and noticed an ad listing the events in a concert series at a nearby winery and what do I see? August 19 (just one day before our concert in Portland) - Swell Season.

I seriously contemplated Craigslisting our Portland tickets and seeing them local instead but in the end the lure of the road trip won out. During the concert Hansard made a couple comments about the night before having been a really weird night and how much they loved Portland and how good it was to be there, etc. We just thought it was "Hello, Cleveland" type prattle.

But this is what happened the night before at the concert we ended up not going to:

Frankly, if I were them I'd probably have taken the next day off.

ETA: Oh, and this concert immediately shot into the top five concerts for me. But that may be because I've now seen only five concerts. They make the top four because Natalie Merchant was really awful.

The Boy starts 8th grade today. He is up, dressed and he ate. His backpack is ready to go. He has his shoes on. He is less than a 5 min bike ride from school. Too bad he can't be on campus before 8am.

It is possible to see Murphy, see the Fireworks and see World of Color all in one evening. Not easy, but possible!

I caught The Boy primping this morning. He was combing his hair, after wetting it down. I was totally shocked.

Hmm, the obvious question then is...who's the girl?

That is what I am wondering. I know he has mentioned Bren this summer. She was his fiance back in daycare. They remet last year. Kids from her elementary scool kept coming up to him and asking him if he knew her, because she was looking for him. He had mentioned that she was still really cute.

I think, at thi point, it is not a particular girl, but just girls in general.

Good timing on my part since I had his dad talk to him about girls last week.

Friends had a renewal of vows for their 20th wedding anniversary. It was held at the Graceland Wedding Chapel. I was expecting kitsch and maybe a chuckle or two, but we were all pleasantly surprised by how much FUN the whole thing was! I will refrain from going into too many details as I know Coaster Matt and Mad Monkey Girl are doing the same thing for their tenth (after all: Jon Bon Jovi was married there!). But if you are invited, I say it is worth the trip. Heck, even if you aren't invited, it is worth the trip.

And I spent an entire weekend in LV and did not gamble once!

And due to FOUR accidents (one at State Line and three in/near Baker), it took 6-1/2 hours to get home. Just before Baker, a CHP officer was driving along the right shoulder (with his lights on of course). A few minutes after he passed us, we came upon him changing a blown tire. It was 104 degrees out, so I stopped to offer my assistance. He declined, but thanked me.

And, on the trip out, there was an entire freeway closure, but we were able to quickly get off at Jean (NV) just before the Highway Patrol started diverting traffic off there. Beat most of the crunch, so we didn't lose much time on that.

Tom and I are now empty-nesters since both my kids are now in college, one in Ohio and the other in North Carolina. I'm trying to get to Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (to blaspheme Dr. King, sorry) but I'm kind of blue.

Aww. I'm sure you'll have a blue period then perk up once you convert your newly available room into a disco.

When I was coming home from Vegas last year the 15 was closed before Stateline due to a fire. No exits around so we had an impromptu tailgate party.

Looks like this year the 15 south was closed as we were driving out.

And if you FourSquare on your way out look for the places to hide the bodies on the 15*. It's around Zyzzyx. Hell, just check FourSquare, the check-in points are fun.

*I created it on our way home and I am highly amused that there have been 29 check-ins and there is a Mayor.

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while and I can't keep up with every thread, but I do visit every day and at least check this thread. I usually just don't have anything relevant to add. I guess this is a mistake. If I involved myself a little more, maybe if one of you is making a three-day trip to Portland specifically to see a concert AT MY ZOO, you might mention it before hand!

Of course, I do realize that it was Alex...

ron

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has an interview with Lady Gaga. Fascinating person, I really liked the interview. Loved the photos. Never seen one of her videos nor heard a not of her music.

Gaga = Madonna with talent

I like her songs. They're fun. Her outfits are pretty out there.

I find her entertaining in small doses.

Some of her songs are great to work out to. I find myself finding her overplayed. This is a direct result of hanging out with someone who is obsessed with her.

I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I did think of possibly contacting you. But since I don't really know you it would have really just been in the hopes that you could get me in to pet a rhinoceros or warthog or something.

But a couple things:

- The trip was an anniversary thing, not really something I'm looking to add a lot of other people to.

- I didn't know when we would arrive, and as it was we got there about an hour before the concert and needed to eat first and figure out how things would work. While it was a three day trip it wasn't three days in Portland. We arrived in the area at 5pm Friday night and were out of town by 11 the next morning. I likely wouldn't do it for people I know really well, but I definitely don't know you well enough for a 15 minute flyby which is about all we'd have had time for.

- If it is any consolation I normally wouldn't even have told my mom I was going to be in town (and in the past haven't, even for multi-day visits). But there was some paperwork needing to be signed so I did slip across the river for a quick breakfast with her before we hit the road (which is why we stuck around so long the next morning).

Sorry, that's Glenn Beck's schtick.

If you like Tarantino, I suggest watching her "Telephone" video. If you like Madonna's "Express Yourself" then watch her "Alejandro" video.

That is what a lot of this thread is about: nothing relevant to add :)

My co-worker made us all cookies. They are so sweet that I think I need insulin now. Oy!
:D

And then go find the Ace of Base Ga Ga mash-up on YouTube.

She just made me take a second one. (I threw the last one out. Am I the meanest person on the planet?) Oy vey!

You're up to 31 check ins with 27 people!

My little sister is going in for an Embryo transfer to help a family safe a little girls life. Hope this works!

http://www.hopeforhaileykent.blogspot.com/

Ok, I liked the labor protest here last week. Musical Instruments, TONS of protesters. Really cool.

But I've just been advised officially that, tomorrow, Justice for Janitors is having a protest here in Century City and all streets will be closed between 11:30 am and 3:30 pm. But not just to cars .... to pedestrians as well. Purportedly, no one will be allowed to enter or leave the area, even on foot. WTF???

Just roll out the trebuchet, good sir. :)

:( Sadly none of the embryo's harvested are working. There were some that were frozen before but the "nurse" forgot to thaw them so another month to wait and try again. Disappointing but if it all works, a little girl has the chance to live.

<sigh>

No meetings today, but will I actually be productive?

I'd say consult the Magic 8 Ball first. :)

So, the first hint of autumn is in the air today.

Not here....98 degrees today, no hint of autumn at all!

My a/c is still being worked on. This is preventative stuff, so at least I can still use it.
I am waiting to find out it The Boy has football practice tonight. It is supposed to get 105 here today. it hit 111 yesterday (108 on my shaded patio).
And I wanted to get my hair cut this morning. Nothing drastic, just the bangs trimmed and evened out, and 2-3 inches off the length. But I am still here because of the a/c guy. grrr.

It's been in the 70s here for a few days, and I've been loving it. Early next week it's supposed to get hot again though. Ick.

It needs to cool off in Anaheim next weekend, so I won't melt while running.

After ninety degree temps up here it chooses today to cloud over and cool off. I have tickets to tonight's Pink Martini concert: the first zoo concert I've actually attended as audience in ten years!

The summer in Hawai'i this year was/is not too bad. Not as sweltering as last August...

Move back to Southern California - the weather here is great!

Without thinking, I just belched really loud here at the office. I actually embarrassed myself.

I apologized profusely to everyone.

I've done worse.

Ozron: you're gonna love Pink Martini

You have a bath tub, don't you?

;)

Yeah, the Pink Martini concert was great! I have seen them before - worked their concerts a few times and ran logistics on their appearance at the zoo last year. There's an addition this year - the Betty-tones - a male quartet singing backup for China. I know a couple of them - one is a buddy of mine.

The weather cleared before the concert, and it was a perfect night for it!

They play again tonight, then tomorrow is A Prairie Home Companion and the season finishes up on Wednesday with Cyndi Lauper.

When we were there for Swell Season I noticed the A Prairie Home Companion and I used that to fill Lani with horror by appearing to seriously suggest we should come back up for that.

If any of you happen to be up in the valley this weekend, please come to our yard sale!:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv...922907826.html

Keillor puts on a good show but the little I know you and Lani, it's not your thing. There's more energy live than on the radio. I hope everyone who gets a chance to see Garrison Keillor live grabs it. He's our version of Mark Twain.

So, today I take a 30-minute drive to buy applewood-smoked bacon at the source. Other highlights: terrific onion rings at the local diner and a beagle kennel downwind of the smokehouse, no fooling.

I like Keillor (I remember fondly an advice column he used to do for Salon.com), it's just the show that doesn't do much for me (though I'll leave it on if we're in the car and Lani's asleep).

Lani strongly dislikes the show. Even more than Says You, which is saying something.

Then she must REALLY hate Whad'Ya Know.

Never heard of it.

At least for what's regularly on NPR up here, Prairie Home Companion and Says You are the only things she objects to.

For some reason, this conjured an image of you walking up to a pig and carving a chunk out of him.

I don't know why my mind goes to places like this.

So I'm sitting at my computer wondering why Lani is making so much noise in the kitchen.

Then I happen to turn around and see she's on the couch watching TV.

Go into the kitchen to find water coming up out of the sink, having covered the counters and well on its way to covering the entire kitchen floor.

Fun. Turning the garbage disposal on gets the water going back down instead of up but in the process I have to dig my hand through the waters and find lots of food that definitely was never ours so the water is definitely coming from somewhere else.

Advantage Renting: Once we got the water cleaned up all I had to do was call the management office and now I can go to sleep and not deal with it any more directly than that.

The yard sale was a bust. Almost every visitor bought something, but we hardly had any visitors, and we were just off of a major street, and had jumbo neon signs pointing in our direction.

We later found out that there was another yard sale further down the street who decided to just go from our signs rather than put out their own, so the people coming from the busiest direction stopped there and didn't realize there was more than one sale on the street. Stupid poachers. :mad:

But, it was a fun weekend with friends and much laughter while they excavated their garage to add to the sale. It was like being transported back to the 80's. Hilarity definitely ensued. ;)

And, I enjoyed meeting people and just observing in what they were interested. We had a woman who was going to yard sales as a way to cope with her terminally-ill husband who is about to pass any day. The sales are her "escape" so she doesn't have to be gone for long or far away from him. Another interesting visitor was an old man from Poland with a thick accent who was so friendly, and purchased "The Count of Monte Cristo" for 25-cents. He seemed to offer little stories on everything we had for sale. He was quite intriguing.

So, while we didn't bring in much money, I feel a little more connected to our friends and just random strangers. We came home yesterday, tired but happy. :)

Any way you can have the sale again next weekend?

Would love to, but there are other things going on, so we've saved the stuff for another one on December 4th. We'll have more to add to it by then, and I'm also going to set up a "hand-crafted holiday gifts" table with my suncatchers and comfort sacks, and make sure I place a more in-depth ad for it.

Another day signing checks and planning meetings.

Dentist tomorrow.
Me no like.
Me heap sad.
But I need to go.
Haven't been in awhile.

Next Monday is Labor Day. I fly to Boston for a wedding festivities that last through the weekend.

Which means I will have a 1-day work week on Tuesday. Guess how productive I'm gonna be then!

My calendar is surprisingly empty for the labor day weekend! I think I may do some garage cleaning (maybe an impromptu sale on one of those days too!) If I don't do it now, it will be mid-october before I have another weekend free and then I'll be preparing for the next Patchwork.

I think Open Sesame is in your plans... ;)

This is today's menu for the Marina del Rey Soup Plantation
Lunch is costs more than Dinner. I guess that apple cobbler is really expensive to make! :rolleyes:

Weird how you posted a box like that. I looked and the only tag you used is "code". What does that mean?

"code" like source code in programming speak.

If I hadn't used [ Code], the Dinner list would have butted up against Lunch.

It is a tag that maintains white space (HTML would normally collapse multiple spaces down to a single space).

This is most useful (to people who make vB) when trying to represent computer code and thus it is the code tag.

I'd seen it in use at many other vB boards, but had no idea it was a default feature. I'd always assumed it was a custom add-on and had in the back of my mind to one day bother with adding it here.

Woohoo, check one off the to-do list!

This is rather close to home.

Gunman inside Discovery Channel.

Going postal over the Discovery Channels environmental programs? Are you freaking kidding me? Dumbass.

Isn't that really close to where you work?

Thus the phrase "This is rather close to home"

Here is a list of his "Demands"


EDITED TO ADD: Hey! Dumbass TV-Media. Stop using your news copter to point out Sniper positions.

He'd probably end up as the head of Health and Human Services under a Beck/Palin adminstration...

Scary!

He kind of went off message with demand #11 didn't he?

Given his demands, I'm glad they managed to clear everyone from the buildings day care facility.

I've never read a mad-man's manifesto before. That was, um, interesting.

I like how his solution to the filth of civilizations...starts with returning to the values of the industrial revolution.

To save the scaeagles the trouble, this guy falls of the liberal end of the wacko scale, not the Beck/Palin end.

Didn't you ever read the unibomber's stuff?

And yes, he certainly falls on the liberal end of the political spectrum. However, as I've said with conservative morons to liberal morons, people are responsible for their own actions. I don't think Al Gore is to blame for this guy any more than talk radio was responsible for Oklahoma City (which was a common theme out there for quite a while....hell, still might be).

What a wack job!

(ETA: That was aimed at the author of the manifesto, not you Leo.)

Nutjob sniped. Hostages Safe. Explosive device he was seen wearing detonated.

Police spokesman not sure on nutjobs status, other than "No, he's not being taken to a hospital. He is still in the building."

The planet does not need humans. Then he should start the removal process by offing himself first.

GOOD! I much prefer CONSERVATIVE wack job, thank you.

I has new 'puter (well, company has new 'puter, but it is mine for use next week on my trip)

Sony Vaio VPCF126FM/B Laptop

Let the setup begin...





I used to enjoy setting up a new 'puter, but nowadays I just wish someone else would do it.

ditto for me for many things,
including:
yardwork,
brakes,
oil changes, masturbation
etc,
etc

Captain Jack Handy.

Has a nice ring to it!


But, really, take the ring off.

Depends on what kind of ring, and where it is.

He's dead.

NA - I've been meaning to mention that your sig line confuses me. Isn't a dress is the opposite of a barbed fence? It restricts the view but doesn't really protect the premises.

Unless the dress is a Plexiglas box with a lock on it, I suppose.

No, the form is revealed beneath the dress but the state of nakedness is protected.

Add me to the list. I haven't bought a new laptop yet because I don't want to set it up but I'm not about to pay someone else to do it for me!

Last report I read said that some of the explosives he was wearing went off when he was shot.

Very dead.

So next month I'll be starting on a pilot program at work. It's about equally likely that it will be:

A) A turning point in my career that leads me in an entirely new direction
B) A temporary diversion after which I return to status quo
C) A total disaster that will leave me frustrated and embarrassed

Whee!!

Ah, nakedness protection! That's what I was missing. :D

Let's hope for "A", shall we? As long as it's a GOOD new direction.

If it's like most work related scenarios:

A = Optimism
C = Pessimism
B = Reality

So, I have figured out how to manipulate time: try to download a large file.

I started the download of MS Office 2010 (that was supposed to have been preloaded on my new computer but wasn't). The download started off well enough, saying it would take about 45 minutes. That was about two hours ago.

It was at about 15 minutes remaining, so I decided to go run a quick errand that would take about that long. There were still 15 minutes remaining on the download when I got back.

Then I was down to 10 minutes. Then 7.

Now there are 20 minutes remaining.

I think I will leave and hope that the download speed does not drop under 1 KB/sec and still be running when I come in tomorrow.

I was thinking about pausing it and restarting when I got home, but then realized that I have once again forgotten the password to my wireless router. The next time I hack it and reset the password, I am making a label and sticking that to the frickin' thing.

Hee!

Are you still using:


That could be your problem.

Also please refer to:

Yep. Sadly. And still no alternatives available without paying for some synchronous T1

Bwahah. Kudos to BBC America for the "Accent of Evil" marathon today.

Good luck. Maddie has survived a week and a half already.

Maddie is in HS already, too? Wow- these kids are growing up fast!

I just dropped Tori off at school- she looked way cute (and cool) - very new 'New Wave' in a punky red London shirt, black jacket and jeans. Her backpack weighs about 30 lbs- they don't have room for lockers there, so the kids have to lug everything around. She's nervous mainly because this is the first time since first grade that we are trusting a school to provide academic instruction- she's only gone for enrichment classes in the past and we've done all the academics at home. (The homeschool link she attends is in another district, and we had to agree to no accommodations for her hearing loss for her to attend). The principal has told us that he really wants her to take the bulk of her for-credit HS classes there, and would help her if she needs it a'la a 504 plan or something similar. Ideally, she just needs a notetaker- it's hard to take notes and read lips at the same time. We'll see how it goes, but since we've been studying all the required subjects (and then some) at home, I figure we're ahead of the game in that we are used to doing everything anyway. I definitely will not be one of those parents that just takes their kid's word that all their assignments are current and that they understand what's going on in class.

Yay for our highschoolers, especially Tori for braving full public school!

My unsolicited advice - find people who make you laugh, regardless of where they stand on the totem pole. No matter what crap other kids (or teachers) may throw at you, if you've got real friends, you'll be much better off.

My advice? Do the homework, study for the test, learn something. It may suck, but so does constantly having to justify your existence to various teachers, counselors, etc. The biggest complaint I ever hear about anyone's high school experience is how much the teachers and counselors hassled them. If you get your sh*t done and aren't a jerk, that problem goes away.

My advice is to do your best and like who you like. After high school it doesn't matter where you rank on the popularity scale and job applications don't ask if you were on the Homecoming Court.

Yay! Advice: I'll just edit what GD said to start:

Homework beyond that which is necessary for you to have learned what you're learning is a sucker's game. Don't let them make you a sucker. 20% of the effort will get you 90% of the result. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get that last 10% but there's a point at which getting the last 0.1% isn't worth the effort.

Never be the first one to buy drugs from a new source. Let your friends be the early adopting guinea pigs.

Generally, the teachers aren't as stupid an malicious as you'll think they are. But some are so make sure your vehicle identifications are solid before you act.

Always wear sunscreen. Wait, no, that's post-high school advice.

You'll do stupid stuff. The goal is not to avoid doing stupid stuff, the goal is to survive the stupid stuff you do. So put a little bit of thought into your stupid stuff selections (taking a moment to think about it is why I stopped street racing after my first time).

A great teacher-student relationship is a two way street. If you wait for them to realize what a wonderful person you are it may never happen. They have 200 wonderful people a day to think about.

It is almost a certainty that the person you love more than life itself is not a person for whom that feeling will last. Don't worry, if it is you'll still love them when you're 45 so you can wait to get married.

Sex is fun when you're 15, 16, 17, etc. Taking care of a kid is not, regardless of what your pre-calculus teacher tells you.

Can't really argue with that. I guess I'd genericize my advice as, "Do what it takes to keep the teachers off your back." No doubt a good chunk of what you'll be assigned is arbitrary and superfluous - but the only thing worse than doing arbitrary and superfluous work is being punished for not doing it. It will drive you mad.

If you establish yourself as capable, most teachers will indeed let you get away with ignoring work they know that you're smart enough to not need to do. But there will be teachers that demand it anyway, and at some point it becomes more effort and frustration fighting it, even if you're 100% right that the work is stupid and unnecessary, than you would have expended just doing the work.

In other words, pick your battles.

CP gets extra Awesome Points for this post.
:)

Really getting into this downloading thing. When you're broke, free stuff is pretty damn cool...

Agreed with GD. I spent much of high school wasting energy fighting the system. "Why should I do the homework if I already know how to do it" lead to my C average. Alex's advice only works if the teacher grades the class that way. Make sure you understand what percentage of your grade is composed of homework, tests, reports, etc. Then do the opposite of what I did. Get over yourself and do what you have to do. It's not necessarily that your grades matter so much - what matters is that you don't get an ulcer over walking the tightrope.

Unless you feed off of that kind of adrenaline. Even so, "Get over yourself and do what you have to do" is a good life lesson.

School is just as much about learning to do what you don't want to do for reasons you can't comprehend as it is about learning the subjects. Life forces you to a lot of things you don't want to do to achieve a goal. I had a goal of scholarships with a good GPA, so I did what I was told even when I didn't want to and I graduated 10th in my clss of over 500. I don't think I was the 10th smartest in that group, but I was 10th best at playing the game.

There are many things in my job I have to do that I do not want to and I find to be somewhat illogical. But I want to keep my job to feed my family, so I do what I have to.

So learn to balance doing what you don't want to so that you can get what you do.

Or just don't get an ulcer over it. I got plenty of B's and C's and teachers who felt doing homework was more important than whether you knew the stuff. I just didn't care. I knew when I knew the material, the grades didn't matter much to me.

That's true, I just disagree on what is in the "what you have to do" bucket. But part of it is knowing what closes doors and cuts off opportunity. I've proven very good at letting go of the stuff that's irrelevant to what I want to do and recognizing what is necessary (even if I don't like it) to what I want to do.

I did try to negotiate things to fit my methods though so do that too. I successfully negotiated with several of my teachers that 100% of my grade would come from tests, I didn't want the partial credit that is homework.

But mostly I wasn't offering advice seriously, since the advice I'd give simply reflects my personal experience which is irrelevant to anybody else except in a tapestry of anecdotal advice offered by everybody.

In my opinion the best advice I gave above was that a kid isn't worth the fun of sex and that high school love is (almost always) transient so don't get too worked up about it.

If the homework is questions at end of the chapter, you can usually answer them by skimming and skip the whole reading bit.

We were talking the other night about the LoT kids starting High School and I was thinking that, at some point, we would all become LoT Grandparents. Frightening!

I hope Madz and Tori are enjoying school! It's a ride,

You can add Headliner to the list she is a High School freshman as well.

Her History teacher has a banner up: Freshman are friends not food.

Screw what everyone else said; slack off, be pain to the teachers, counselors, etc., start smoking because it is the ONLY way to be cool, ditch class, and get pregnant.

I am currently in Des Moines, IA and will be heading to Minneapolis on Saturday, coming home on Tuesday.

Lol- I read your 'advice' and was going to verbally smack you around, KB. Then I skipped down and read your location. Heh heh.....instant karma.;)

I think Tori is smart enough to never listen to kevy. ;)

Hey Headliner! Remember when we told you not to talk to strangers?

This is the guy we were talking about.

Also, regardless of what anybody in school tells you, there really is no practical value (for 99.9% of the populace) in knowing any math beyond second year algebra. But teenagers find integrals sexy so taking calculus will get you laid.

Alex, I'm going to send you to Des Moines.

Good grades are important to get into college.

Study hard, do your homework, don't get pregnant, don't do drugs, don't smoke, don't have any fun. Just go to school, come home, do homework, lather, rinse repeat.

Then when you get into college you can rebound like nearly everyone else who busted their asses without any balance and get hammered, fall into danger of flunking out, be worried about maybe being pregnant and living off Red Bull and coffee.

Not particularly. They're only important for certain colleges. And, with certain exceptions, a sense that those certain colleges are absolutely vital to life success are misplaced.

Ok. I like Iowa. It's the Spokane of east of the Mississippi.

Besides, I speak truth. Studies show that eventually 90% of math majors get laid. That's too strong a correlation to ignore.

From what I understand, Statisticians score remarkably well in that category as well as looks and general intelligence.

BTW... Happy Star Trek Day!

Advice for high school - participate! Have a great time and try out all sorts of activities. You are not too cool for them even if you think you are. Now is a great time to try out photography, ceramics, shop, cooking, auto, etc. You'll be suprised a the new things you'll learn that aren't as repetitive as some other classes seem to be.

Have fun and don't limit yourself.

Not so far (I am here for work). What do I need to make sure to not miss here?

Any tips for Minneapolis?

In Des Moines - go to Adventureland. You totally need to!

The wooden coaster is actually a lot of fun. :)

Hey, Kevy - if you go to a Steak n' Shake, would you bring me back a couple bottles of the hot peppers?

Even if you don't, still visit a Sn'S. The food's awesome. :)

Wow. It's been over a month. What did I miss?

We can add Zach to the LoT Freshman list.

He is going to the local high school this year. This is his first time in a public school and he's been doing his work at home for years. So far he hates trying to get into his locker and dragging all his books around. He loves all his teachers and that he got into the Web Design class, next semester is Programming. He also joined the Robotics team.

He has made a friend already, a girl, and they are going to the football game together on Friday :eek:

I'm not sure I 'm ready for all of this! It has honestly been one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides I've ever been on.

Zach, Tori, Maddie, Headliner - did I get them all? Private schools have been started with fewer kids. We need a School of Swank. (Online, of course.)



"School of Swank, coming to ABC this fall!"

It will be better than what's on now!

Watching the traffic out my office window is better than what's on tv now.

Headmaster €uromeinke.... He'd be a pretty cool principal.:D

Throw in a midget mother of quintuplets and TLC would produce it! ;)

School of Swank and Cabaret

Well, I found that the closest one to where I am in Ankeny (outside of Des Moines) is 110 miles away in Coralville. And none in Minnesota. So don't hold your breath on those peppers.

I'll spare you the family back story, but I was sorely disappointed to find, at the end of spending 4+ hours walking the Freedom Trail, that the Bunker Hill Monument is closed for renovations until tomorrow :(

And by "sorely disappointed" I mean, "Holy fvck my feet hurt."

Try more lube

Jeez - where is everyone? No one has posted here (besides me) in the last 10 hours. Don't y'all realize I am bored on the road and need to be entertained?

lalalalalalala - how's that Kevy?

Lady Gaga needs a better butcher. Look at how much fat was in her dress at the VMAs last night.
:D

Wrap her in some cantaloupe, with capers and olive oil?

Also, wouldn't her dress stink after like a half hour or so? I have no sense of smell, but I bet it would.

And where do stars change into multiple outfits at an awards show? Do they just go backstage or is there a trailer somewhere?

Was that actual meat she was wearing? (as opposed to something that just looks like it)

It's not fat; it's marbling