Thoughts on the Bail Out

It seems the whole world has been waiting with bated breath for the Congressional decision about the Wall Street bail-out. I too, despite my general disdain/lack of interest in politics (they're going to take my money no matter what party they're with), kept an eye on the iGoogle news feed. Since I know very little about the economy (I never had to take Economics), I'm not sure what to think about all of this. But here are some of the thoughts spinning around my head.

-If a CEO gets the job 17 days before the company goes under, he shouldn't get more than I make in 30 years. Just saying. Furthermore, why are CEO's still getting paid huge bucks when their patrons are finding themselves up the creek without a paddle?

-I'm generally a proponent of the government keeping its nose out of private business, but it seems like in this situation, the well being of certain private institutions translates into the well being of the American financial system. Perhaps doing something isn't such a bad idea after all. But every time I think about the whole CEO thing, it frosts me. Shouldn't there be some kind of condition in the bill that requires those billionaire CEO's to cough up a little dough? Can't the government hold them responsible for the failure of their companies? They hold everyone else responsible for bad driving by instituting fines, can't they do something similar for sucking at running a Fortune 500 Company? Instead of capping the salary, why not institute some kind of aid scale? For every yacht they sell, they get a million dollars from the government.

-Finally, I hate election years. Everyone is so bent on getting their man in office that they can't behave like adults. It's stupid.

The Boot Game

Every year, Colonial and University battle for a boot painted red and black on one side and blue and gold on the other. This game has come to be known as the Boot Game, and it is undoubtedly the one game out of every season that each team wants to win the most (except for maybe University vs. Timber Creek, but that's a newer rivalry). Six years ago, I stood on the east side of the stadium. This year, I stood on the west side looking towards the bleachers I had run up and down countless times in my high school career.

It was strange walking around to the far side of the field, greeting people in red and black. Even more strange were the cheers of, "Let's go, Colonial, let's go!" issuing from my mouth. I felt weird cheering against my Alma Mater, but at the same time, I couldn't possibly cheer against my students. After all, I don't really know anyone at UHS anymore.

I contemplated wearing my University Varsity jacket over a Colonial faculty shirt, but decided that the ribbing I would get from everyone wasn't worth it. Besides, it's September and therefore WAY too hot to wear a leather and woolen jacket.

Anyway, I walked over to the home side to watch the band. As I stood there, it struck me that I was looking, to borrow lyrics from Ragtime, "toward the future, from the past."

Out of Sorts

I'm feeling very out of sorts this morning. I know that there are a myriad of tasks I could, and probably should, be doing at this moment instead of writing a blog post, but somehow I can't really think of any. My brain doesn't seem to work. This has been the case nearly every day for the past week. I had a restful weekend, but here I am again on Monday wishing it was Friday all over again. Somehow, I haven't gotten out of the summer state of mind, and it's about to bite me in the butt.

Anyway, I guess I'll go try to get something done.

A Tad Bit of Whining

I have observed, much to my chagrin, that many teenagers can't think past the tiny quibbles in their lives and into into the realms of imagination. Two days of watching yelling matches under the guise of improv have turned me off to so many of my students. No matter how many times I tell them that it really isn't that interesting watching two ghetto-fied kids yell, I see the same scene over and over again. I chalk it up to watching too much MTV (which I'm convinced was created to destroy the cognitive capabilities of the America's youth) and seeing little to nothing creative.

I'm also quite a bit frustrated about how much whining there is about the 'G'- rating upon which I insist. "Miss," they say, "we're all teenagers here, we can handle it." To which I reply, "That's nice, but it's even nicer to not have to. Besides, you all grow up too fast anyway. And since you're in my class, you will act like you live in a Disney world where everything is rainbows and butterflies." There is always the kid trying to be smart that says, "But I saw this Disney movie one time..." to which I reply "If Mickey didn't say it, then neither will you." They don't understand that the dirty joke is taking the easy way out.

The worst of them all are, of course, the freshmen who seem to have a new found confidence now that they are out of middle school and have yet to be beaten down by the Seniors since the campuses are separate. Full of snide remarks, they love to point out the error in an analogy (don't analogies always have errors?) which leads me to believe that their sole purpose in life is to drive me insane.

My Week In Pictures (Sort Of)

Since I don't have much time to write anything substantive, I thought I'd attempt to follow through on my birthday resolution by taking more pictures and sharing them with the world. By the world I mean the handful of people that read this blog. Anyway, here you go.


I took this sitting at the traffic light getting off the toll road a few days ago. The moon has been charming the past few days, appearing larger than normal. This particular evening I was captivated by the sight of the setting sun in my rear view mirror and the rising moon in the sky above it. Since I was driving at the time and could therefore not look at the screen on my digital camera, I couldn't get the best shot. This is the best of the set.

We found this little guy hanging out in the back hallway in the PAC. I assumed at the time that he was fleeing the rain from Tropical Storm Fay. But in hindsight, I realized he's an amphibian, so that really wouldn't make any sense. Also, there wasn't any flooding at school. Maybe he just wanted to learn something about Drama.

I spotted this hot air balloon on the drive to work early last week. My initial reaction was, wow, that's a huge advertising balloon. Anyway, I can only assume the flight was sponsored by Leslie Pool Supply. If you look closely, you can actually see the guy standing in the basket.



I spent several hours on Sunday night finishing the floor plan for "The Odd Couple". Bard provided a welcome distraction from my line weights. After jumping on my lap and deigning to have his chin scratched, he crawled behind and then under my drafting board. I lifted the front side and snapped a few shots as he played with a whistle and an old hair tie until he grew tired of the entertainment and took his snobby self downstairs.


The last time I took a mailing tube to school it disappeared and I found it several days later in two battered pieces. So, in an attempt to not have my possessions destroyed, I taped a note onto this version. It reads: "This is a mailing tube designed to transport documents. It is not the plaything of teenage hoodlums. It is not to be used as an imaginary sword or projectile. Thank you."

Taken on the drive home. I just like the jiggly lights. They're pretty.

Death to Squishy

My friend gave me one of those squishy pillows for Christmas during my freshman year of college, and it has been on my bed ever since. I studied on that pillow, slept on it, drooled on it, took it on vacations with me. That is, until last week. I began noticing tiny beads in my bed. At first I thought it was just balled up cat hair, but soon the sheer number told me that they weren't the follicles of my feline friend. Upon closer examination, I found the culprit. A small hole at one end of the pillow, no doubt the work of that same feline whose fur initially threw me off the track of the tiny beads.

It is with sadness that I've removed the squishy pillow from my bed. I miss it dearly.

September Memories

Right around the time the fireflies quit blinking for the summer and the leaves began to change into their autumn attire, the apples in the small orchard on the hill were ready for picking. Early in September, the pastor's family would come out to the farm and help us pick apples. I'd spend the morning running around the base of the apple trees picking up the fallen fruit, then climbing around the baskets in the back of Dad's little black pickup truck.

Around lunch, when the truck was full and heavy, we'd drive back to the house wedged in between bushels of apples. We'd spend all afternoon cooking apples into lovely things: apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie. Us kids would take turns turning the crank and mashing the cooked apples into the machine. By the end of the day, everyone was tired and sweaty from being in a hot kitchen all afternoon, but we had fresh apple sauce and apple pie as a consolation.

A Birthday Resolution

I bought my own point-and-shoot camera right after Christmas last year and went through several weeks of taking pictures at every chance I got. But as the novelty of having a camera wore off, I quit wearing it on my belt, or throwing it in my pocket, now I seldom think of it. This summer I anticipated taking picture after picture as I went sight seeing around San Francisco and southern California, but being a Floridian, and even more, an Orlandonian, I have a distinct distaste for anything touristy. In my aversion to looking like a visitor, I didn't take many pictures at all. Sure, there was Alcatraz, and pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge from Paul's roof, but other than that the camera stayed in its cozy holder tucked away in the bottom of my purse.

I would like to change this. I find it surprising that I take so few pictures considering how visually oriented I am. It would seem that pictures would be an excellent way for me to document things, rather than writing them down. Somehow, I've never been comfortable taking pictures of things. It feels like an intrusion. Anyway, I'd like to take more pictures. Maybe one day I'll actually become good at it.