Etiquette

The rules are that the phone is to be kept off and in the students locker. Otherwise the phone is a constant distraction to the learning process. Either to the student using the phone or the other kid being texted in another class. Every time I take a phone off a kid it's always "a call from my mother." Sorry kid, Mommy needs to learn to call the main office and ask to have you dismissed. It's a system that worked for the 90 years prior to 9/11 and there's no reason it can't work for parents and their kids today.

That being said, if this kid had come to me before class and said he was expecting a possible call from his deployed father. I would let him answer and then take the call quietly out into the hallway.

The story is lacking in details but I'm going to give the school the benefit of the doubt here. The kid probably didn't discuss the possible call before class. The teacher would have no idea why the kid is answering the phone in class and past experience would be that the call is another in a long series of cell phone related disruptions. The teacher, needing to maintain classroom control probably ordered the student to cease their disruptive behavior and relinquish the offending device. The student being a child probably did not reason with the teacher effectively and mearly informed the teacher that they were talking to a parent. The teacher hearing that every time they talk to a child about illegal phone use probably did not assume that the parent was a serviceman and this may have been the last time the (from his own admission) troubled boy may ever hear from his father. Emotions most definitely got out of control. Probably by both the student and teacher. They're probably even more out of control as the kid doesn't sound like an honors student and the teacher probably has had disruptions from the boy before.

You and I know nothing of the past history of discipline issues the school faces with this student and classes in general. You and I don't know anything about the level of student commitment this class has. Today it's the cellphone from this kid. Tomorrow it will be the cellphone from another kid. Next week it will be an iPod.

That this made national news is an indication of how fucked up our priorities as a nation are. Snowflake there isn't going to learn that had he merely cleared the call with the adult in charge of the classroom prior to taking the call that things would have worked out. Instead the lesson is that kids can do whatever they want in the classroom so long as mommy goes to the newspapers to complain. What should have been a lesson in civility is now a public embarrassment for the school. Now every phone call is going to be from someones father in a war zone. Every disruption during instruction time is going to affect every student. The outrage here shouldn't from this one jackass kid and his parents. It should be from the parents of every other kid in the class over the loss of instruction time when these snowflakes lose control.

If the student had answered the call and said to me "This is my dad in Iraq. It's the only time he can call. Can I take this into the hall?" I would say yes even if he hadn't asked for permission before class. I doubt very much that is how the event played out.


(A side note here... If you are accused of disrupting classroom time and go on national TV to defend yourself, clean up. Every judge knows that criminals can borrow a suit but showing up to court in a dirty t-shirt shows either contempt for the seriousness of the charges or a lack of understanding about your end of the social contract. In either case, it's an indication to the judge that you may not belong in polite society. The same case is true here. I'm going to assume trailer trash dumbass and say the kid knows nothing about good manners.)

Sounds Like A Great Idea To Me

Why not. It's not like there's such a thing as a slippery slope. Just before they outlawed smoking in bars MADD got several judgements against reason and personal accountability by backing successful lawsuits against bartenders who trusted their patrons to make their own decisions.

I think it's a great idea to force people who scrape out a meager living depending on the good will called tips to call their best customers fatties and kick them out. It will be one more in a long list of laws that will be ignored to the point that respect for legitimate law and order will be a sad joke on us all.

What The Fuck?

In the last month I've been given over three hundred grand in credit to buy a house and a car. I can't seem to buy either?

What do poor people do?

Car dealers don't seem to be interested in selling me the car I want because they're not going to get to rape me in the F&I.

Houses have yet to come down in price despite overwhelming foreclosure rates.

Maybe Kevin was right.

I should stop acting so uppity.

At least I get $200 from Apple.

Dear Toyota,

My first car was a used '84 Corolla. My next car was a used '92 Corolla. That one got me through college. A '96 Tacoma got me to grad school and back. All three were used and still ran like a charm. I am now ready to trade in my Taco for an FJ Cruiser. This will be the first new car I've ever purchased. Perhaps it's me but I thought good faith negotiations with a salesman would lead to a sale.

I asked Toyota.com for quotes from the 3 closest dealerships. One never responded. I suspected you knew because I got an email from Toyota Dealership Follow-up asking if they contacted me or not.

Another dealership replied right away and we talked for a couple days about what I was looking for. Then that sales person stopped responding to my emails and phone calls.

The third dealer seemed to be genuine in trying to help me. I test drove a car and liked it. I did want to look at a couple more cars before I made a decision but I decided to go with the third dealership. I started negotiating. I don't need to see the paper to know when I'm being 'four squared'. Sadly I've seen these tricks before at used car lots. I warned the salesman not to insult me with such manipulative tactics. I made my intention to purchase the car very clear. I gave my best offer for price and we began to discuss my trade-in, my '96 Tacoma.

We had nothing more then a handshake but we agreed on $28,000 for JTEBU11F270036722 provided they could offer me $3,500. I was initially told they only wanted to offer me $3,000 but bring it in and my good buddy would try to offer me more. We could have closed today.

I'm sorry if I don't need dealer financing. I've saved 40% down and my credit union pre-approved me for a much better rate then you offer. I was clear about my trade in being a deal breaker before I drove in. I can afford this car but I'm not going to over extend. I got a sorry no can do for my trade and my salesman even tried to show me places to sell my trade in myself for even more money. I was given the brush off to stew about losing a good deal over $500. Your boy certainly knows his psychology. So do I.

As I said, I'm familiar with tricks and manipulation. I recognize when I'm getting jerked around. Before I even got home I had an email from my chum telling me not to give up. He'll call the GM on vacation and get me that $500. Then I got the voice mail that he'll do it only if I can close this deal so they can get the Tacoma out to auction by Thursday. I wish my windows in the house were as transparent as your salesforce.

I'm not in the habit of jerking people around. I don't appreciate it when I'm still being jerked around even after I've warned someone to stop. I've given Toyota three chances to sell me a car this week. So far the best experience I've had was from the dealership that blew me off up front.

I don't really expect you to do anything for me. I just wanted to say goodbye.

I Feel So Much Safer

Yesterday I went to Target. I bought 36 explosive devices and a video game. The teenage girl at the cash register very politely asked me to see my drivers license. As I handed it to her she said it was to buy the video game.

I'm just glad that this turned out to be a non-issue.

BTW can anyone guess why I labled this post "School Shootings?"

The Hardest Decision I'll Ever Have To Make

It's looking like it may be time for me to say goodbye to my truck. She's been my girl for 5 years now. She was a graduation present from my mom. She was already 6 when I bought her. Now at 11, she's at the point where there's still a fair trade in value but things are breaking with frequency.

There's a foot of rot in the frame. The leaf springs are both cracked. The rear drums freeze in position a lot. The AC needs a new condensor. It leaks oil from somewhere. It's about to throw a rod (I think in cylinder 4.) There's a hole in the exhaust but it's after the muffler.

Kurczy, wanna buy a truck?

On the other hand, I just replaced the battery, clutch, U-joint and had some body work done. Brakes and tires are still pretty new and it runs great. I've been deeply religious about changing oil and fixing the little problems before they become big problems.

Do I trade it in on a new car or do I stick by my girl and make the commitment to drop a couple grand a year into keeping it going? I love the 4x4. I love sitting up on a lifted suspension. I love my truck but I don't need the pickup bed anymore. I wear a tie to work now and really need the air conditioner working again.

My mechanic is telling me now is the time to let her go. My wallet is telling me I'm screwed no matter what I do. My heart is telling me that I should go home with the girl who brought me to the dance.

It would be an easy decision if this wasn't in production.

Famous For 15 Minutes

Last night Saturday Night Live showed a cartoon making fun of ALL the presidential candidates. Except for two. Ron Paul and Mike Gravel both are men that look their adversary in the eye and demand that the debate be honest and meaningful.

The news media, pwned by 7 white men who want to rule the world is really showing contempt for America. If they can't control what these men say in real life they won't even give them mention in a satyrical cartoon. It seems that General Electric has decided that Ron & Mike are not going to be candidates in the next election cycle. Afterall, teasing them about their candidacy legitimizes that person as a candidate.

Suddenly John Cusack's outburst in the movie Bob Roberts makes total sense. Afterall, SNL was the show that gave us this once and then pulled it from reruns. Some say it's because it's not funny. Others see more conspiracy. It's possible it's both.

Or maybe it's conspiracy. It's sad when a valid candidate for public office is ignored because they're viewed as a threat to the media. Remember it's that media who feel it's their divine right to hand pick who the voters will believe the vote machines choose to govern us. If it weren't for the internet you and I wouldn't be discussing Ron Paul right now. Not because this is a web log but because last night all the TV news was about Farrah Faucett having cancer and Anna Nicole Smith is still dead.

Lisa's grandfather loves to watch TV news so it's on in our house every day. There is not one god damned bit of useful information on that box. Tom asked me why I can't stand to watch TV news. I told him that every minute we listen to crap about dead sluts is a minute we're not learning anything useful. It made him cry. I hope it's because he sees the damage Entertainment Tonight does to America's collective psyche. Lisa thinks it's because I insulted his favorite TV show.

In any event, for 2 hours last night I watched the news and can't tell you a damn thing that I saw that was useful in any way. What I did notice was an absence of real important issues. I get my news online. Nuno gets his from TV. Everything he knows and believes is filtered by men who want to take everything away from him. Starting with his money and ending with his choice of who will govern my future.

I may not be any smarter but I know when I'm being disrespected through the lie of omission. If SNL is going to make fun of the presidential candidates make fun of them all. Ron Paul isn't the invisible man the TV wishes he was. And now we know he scares you.

Look At That

Another place where guns aren't allowed and the government has a heavily armed presence and the police still failed to protect innocent civilians.

And again, why April?

This Is The Worse News I've Had All Year

Some movies just shouldn't get a sequel! What the hell. Why can't there just be a good movie that stand's alone, on it's own. Why do we need a fucking franchise visciously hoovering all the money out of our pockets. I mean it's complete and total SHITE. It's not like movies today don't have better directions to go in. Why are they making a sequel to a movie that didn't even make twenty million dollars at the box office? Maybe because it only cost 3.5 mil to make and any movie that makes more then 4 times budget gets a banker hot for more. So it will probably get a budget of 40 mil and make 35 mil opening weekend and then 80 overall.

An funny little note, the two posts this week have been about movies starring the same actor.

OK fixed a typo in the link.

When Did My Blog Become Whiner Central?

Not that my life could suck anymore but we've been feeding Barney a heaping helping of kidney failure. So far he appears unharmed but we only just found out Nutro is among the recalled petfoods. It's funny too, last week we fed him a pouch of the recalled food and he refused to eat it. Lisa thought it looked runny and not right. We got a pouch that looked like that a year ago and just threw it out.

In place of his wet foods covered in toxic gravy, Barney gets fresh shrimp and crab meat. Somewhere in the Middle East a child is trying to decide if that yellow package in the dirt is a UN food drop or a cluster bomb. My cat is healthy though.

short update and then back to the blogging vacation that i promise will end soon

Lisa has two embryos in her belly. We won't know if they're babies or not for another two weeks. Between taking care of her grandfather who has checked himself into an assisted living home for a couple weeks to see if he likes it and writing sub-plans because the babies weren't ready to be concieved when I was off for Feb vacation, I have had zero time to myself.

Like I said, Lisa has two fertalized embryos in her belly. She's doing much better then she did back in August when we had to freeze our embryos for a month. We feel good about the latest round but also a little bit guilty about feeling so good. Other peers of ours are not having so much luck. Lisa and I love you all. Trust me when I say we're not doing that much better then you. For all our success, we're far from danger right now. That being said, I am about to pop from anticipation. I don't mind the process so much as I hate the moment where we have to wait to see if we'll be more then temporary parents. That's where I live right now.

As for Nuno, he's having a rough patch because of a bout with bronchitis a couple weeks ago. When he felt the first signs of illness he quit cigars because "they just don't taste right." So every time he gets a craving for nicotine which often includes a racing pulse and bout of flop sweat he thinks it's a heart attack and has a panic attack about dieing. We got him on a nicotine patch but he just could not settle down and decided he wanted to go "to that place that Nana went that time." The good news is that they didn't want him because he's not sick. He ended up looking at a place behind the Beverly Hospital where he can stay for two weeks for half price to see if he likes it. He checked in this afternoon. Our first report is that he hates it already.

Making my life even more interesting is the fact that today I was told that I will probably be recieving a pink slip in May because my district is 1.8million dollars short for this year. I'm not too worried because the district is so small that rumors fly around faster then conspiracy theories on "Tha Internets." I hear that parents are harassing guidance over getting their honors students into my 512 class.

I need to explain that last statement a little, 512 is the lowest level science class offered to freshmen or those who didn't pass freshmen science last year. You're in my class because your parents, the district and even you yourself have given up on you ever surviving a traditional science class. I didn't realize when I walked into class last September the fucking mess I was handed. I had kids with behavior problems lumped in with kids who had profound learning disabilities piled on top of kids who just didn't understand enough math to take a higher level class then the lowest we offered. The district had no curriculum for these two sections. Other problems had left 512 in the unique situation of being a warehouse for problems to be solved later.

I take my job seriously. I am prepared for my junior level chemistry class every day. That's an easy one. I am a pretty good chemistry teacher. My upper level freshmen science class is beginning to suffer. If I'm cutting any corners, I admit it's with them but that's about to change. I spent the last 5/4 semester planning upper level science and lower level science so that I can swap over at some point. The prep is mostly all done now and I can just extend 511 and 512 to each other.

It's a good thing I have more time now because I'm losing the G&T kids. I wrote what I thought was an easy test and the class average was a 59 with a median of 63. We fought for the whole class today about why I do not scale. The principal came in during part of it. I ended up writing a college level question on the black board. I gave them 20 minutes to see if any one in the room could answer it. If one student could answer it I would give the class 10 points. They worked like they never worked before. They got it wrong. They tried again and again. Finally, one girl working alone got it.

Wow, I really do have ADD worse then the kids do.

512 has become my pet project and the place I try things out. I am bullet proof in there. The district doesn't expect anything out of these kids. Almost every parent I meet admits their kid is a knucklehead during the meeting. I gave these kids homework once and one kid threw his microwave oven while still on fire through his kitchen window and another girl had the fire department respond to her house.

Veteran teachers call me crazy for keeping pet scorpions around these kids but the kids love them and they don't screw around with them because they're scorpions and the kids aren't stupid. Veteran teachers call me crazy for handing some of these kids soldering irons but no one burned themselves. In fact, in 5 minutes I taught 50 kids to make clean solder joints. Industrial Arts give them 6 weeks to learn the same skill.

I know most of my students aren't going to pass the MCAS but they wouldn't pass MCAS if I did anything differently anyway. They wouldn't pass MCAS if any other teacher was standing in front of them. But I can tell you at least one thing I have taught for every one of my students that they will own and recall for the rest of their life. Some learned how to solder. Some learned forces. Some learned about energy. Some will learn classical mechanics.

To finish up the year, my 512 kids are building cardboard walking robots and rockets out of paper towel tubes while the "smart kids" are taking MCAS prep courses. (Big thanks go to Didi and Lee for collecting paper towel tubes for me!)

Next year, if my contract is renewed and I am pretty sure they'll pink slip me in May and rehire me in June, I won't have the freedom I do whatever I want to do like this year. For all the work I've put into reaching these kids and all the prep I put into Freshmen Physics I won't be teaching it. I'll probably be taking Seniors who are even more academically challenged through applied chemistry. I think I'll show them how easy it is to make TNT. It's just nitric acid and toluene.

I Feel Better

The Police added a second show. Lisa and I got a pair of tickets. I'm kind of pissed off that it wasn't for the Saturday night show.

Really I have nothing to complain about.

I have a student who's mother passed away. She was sent to live with her grandmother who shortly after passed away. She next lived with an "aunt" who just passed away. Now she's under the care of DSS and will be placed in foster care.

Really, I have absolutely no right to complain about not getting tickets to a concert. My life is pretty fucking great.