I AM TATER TOTS

which napoleon dynamite character are you?

I am Napoleon Dynamite and a buttload of sweet gangs are trying to recruit me.

ok the first time I took it I was tater tots... but the second time I changes one answer and I was Dynamite.

who allows inanimate objects to be the finale of a quiz anyway. IDIOTS!

rave reviews

well...maybe not rave.

i had my first supervisory visit of my second placement today by the great bearded man. i think it went well. i'm not opposed to the things that he had to say. my second grade students did a satisfactory amount of listening and work. plus he came during the second grade class that has the most adaptive ed students in it. nobody went crazy and tried to staple anyone else in the face, no one was eating or even licking the tissue paper they were using, and no one attempted amateur flight with a running jump from their tables. all in all it has been a pretty low key morning.

right?

right.

What a Drag!!!!!!

Last night.

Connie & Carla.

Beautiful.

Thank you monkey face.

Amen!

ok, so i was watching grey's last night and the same thing happened to me as has happened every single time that i watch the show. the show is going along fine and then it would appear that things are starting to draw to some closure for the characters on the show... i feel like it's been an hour so i look to see how much time they really have left and it happens to be 8.35...

8.35?

there's another 25 minutes?

what a treat!!!

i honestly think that these producers know what they're doing. they can pack so much into a one hour show that i think that i get a normal shows fulfillment only 35 minutes in? how can this be? and why am i just unbelievably thankful for the next 25 minutes i didn't even expect. it's like a mint on my pillow and a fresh breeze on a hot summer day... baby, i don't think it gets much better than that.

looking for a good cause to volunteer to?

my friend and roommate erin has begun a blog, but she has picked a terrible name for it and so i am starting a campaign to find a better name for her blog. for those of you who know erin this should be a little bit easier, but i would appreciate input from everyone... even the passersby.



right now her blog name is 'cute but annoying' while she may think that that suits her well and some may agree i still think that we can come up with a better and more pleasant name for her blog.

we can try rhyming things as many often do, and to help you with this her last name is malenke... (she has already rejected the name spanky malenke, so don't even try it... too many bad memories i guess)

Check out this sweet pic of Erin from her school's website

lets try and help her out a little bit guys... come on

You Shall Know Our Slow Reading Velocity

I happen to be a slower reader, it's not something that I'm proud of or that I talk about much with other people. I'm not really snail speed so much as slightly below average. Well, last night I finally finished reading the book, "You shall know our velocity" by Dave Eggers, and it was such a deliciously good book. (Thank you Nate for your above average suggestions!) His writing is masterful and genius minus the many many swears.

My next reading quest is "Blue Like Jazz" a book that Adam bought for me, and in a few months I'll let you know if I liked it.

My roommate happens to be an above average reader when it comes to speed. so she has already finished reading my copy of blue like jazz, and has let me know just how much she enjoyed it.

Well for anyone else out there who has a great book or author in general I would love to hear about it and perhaps in a few eons when I finish the books I'm reading right now I will get to them.

the deuce

For all of you fans out there you are already aware of what is coming out today, but some of you may be on the dark side of things... so here goes: Today, Tuesday, El Chupacabra 2 (Spanish for "The Chupacabra 2") is coming out on dvd and video to a blockbuster near you. The Chupacabra is a monster that kills goat, or a goat killer. The first movie lives up to all of the hype about it... and the second one (or so I've heard) can't get any more funny. For those of you who don't know these are low budget movies that are meant to be scary, but end up simply being hilarious because of how bad the special effects are.

Don't all rush out at once to pick it up (your blockbuster probably only has one copy), but maybe we could work out a sign up sheet so that everyone can have their own turn.

the academy for space cadets

On Friday I was with my high school students from my first student teaching placement at State in Madison for the Visual Arts Classic. Friday morning we got to the competition a little before 8.00 which is the start of the registration time. There was a lot of milling around for the first half hour with all 60 of the schools as they arrived mainly because the organizer of the entire event did not arrive on the scene with all the materials until 8:30, the end of the registration time. So we were running a little bit behind the whole day... not to mention that this lady had forgotten to assign a room for photography. At the end of the day we were waiting for the final tally of scores which took a little over an hour, and with students and teachers who are a little over anxious to get on the road headed back home.

At the end of the whole ordeal my students did very well. We didn't win any huge tropheys, but we definitely left with some pride still in our pockets.

On a side note: I drove a huge suburban to this thing and minus a few fast stops I have to say that my driving was quite flawless. Mom and Dad you should be proud of me for my mad skills at driving.

rubbing hands= Skay B's for life

One of my roommate Erin's students has contracted the scabies. she and i were discussing it the other night over pizza shuttle. Erin was of course teaching me what scabies is and how i can catch it... well in the interest of learning i asked her if you could get it by simply touching someone who has it? (at this point i touched erin on the hand with one of my fingers)

No, she says, it has to be some sort of prolonged contact... at which point erin rubbed the back of her hand against mine.

oh, i said, so this is how you get it... and i rubbed the backs of my hands together.
(in order for you, my dedicated audience, to understand how silly this is... please rub the backs of your hands together and then imagine a disease that is passed from one person to the next by walking around and rubbing the back of their hand with yours)

Imagine if you will the quiet threat from across the room of staring someone down and instead of drawing a finger across your throat to suggest their imminent death you rub the back of your hands together (slowly) to suggest the pending transfer of scabies...

Back in the saddle again...

After two sweet weeks on spring break I am back to the classroom, except this time I am with 600 K-5 students in the Mequon school district. It has proved to be a very enjoyable experience thus far, and I am definitely feeling less nervous about teaching all these little ruffians. My schedule is much more laid back than I thought it would be with some late starts in the mornings and some nice long lunches every day. My cooperating teacher has also been a huge help to relieving some fom my anxieties. Wednesday of every week will be my hell day with 7 classes of students and no prep periods, but I think that I'll somehow be able to survive. Let's just keep it in our prayers that the third and fifth graders don't get too off the wall.