[Friday Free Day] Reminders

Here's a thought for a Friday.* How many reminder or warning bells are in your daily life? And, how many MORE reminders or warning bells are in your life than were, say, 10 years ago?  Here is typical morning in my world, with warning bells and reminders marked with a star.

At 5:30 my clock gives a buzz* to warn me that the loud alarms will be starting soon.  This is a gentle warning that the real warnings will be jarring. At 6:00 my alarm rings* for the first time as a strong suggestion that I should walk the dog. At the same time, my calendar dings* to let me know that 100 days are passing (long story, will share later). At 6:15 comes the stronger alarm bell* with the more overt reminder that it is time to get up and walk the dog. Between 6:15 and 7:00 the snooze alarms ring,* and at 7:00 the big alarm goes off* that lets me know I am now borderline late and a bad dog-owner for not walking the dog. When I start the dryer to finish dryer my clothes from last nights laundry, the dryer beeps* to let me know it started to dry.  At 7:05 the buttons on the microwave beep* to let me know I am pressing buttons to heat up my dog's food (a new trick to pretend it's fancy food). At 7:06 the refrigerator beeps* to let me know I've left the door open. At 7:06 the microwave gives a long beep* to let me know the food is heated. When I don't get it out right away (as I am making coffee) it beeps again* a minute later, and another beep* a minute after that. At 7:10 the dryer ding-dongs* to let me know the dryer will stop soon. At 7:15 the coffee maker gives a long tone* to tell me the coffee is brewed.

When I come back downstairs to pack my lunch and head out the door (late--my calendar has buzzed twice** to let me know I have a meeting at 8:00), the coffee maker rings* to say it will turn off soon. The dryer dings* to remind me I didn't take my clothes out. The refrigerator beeps* because the door didn't shut all the way again.

In my car the warning bell* goes off until I put my seat belt on. The cross walk light beep-bops* to let the visually impaired street crosses know to cross. My car bell* rings again as I forget to turn my headlights off when I arrive at the Rite Aid. The entryway at Rite-Aid ding-dongs* to let the employees know there is an early-morning customer. The sign directs me to "Ring the Bell"* at the pharmacy counter for service, so I do.

And that, my friends, is before 8:00 each day.  What does it say about our lives that this many machines need to ring at us, and that, in my case, I need to add rings and bells from my own phone and clocks in order to get my day started? I think it says something deep and important about the world.  I just don't know what it is yet...  Oh.  And I just got a text message*.  No joke.  I really did.  Ring-ring.

[Friday Free Day] NPR--rrific

It is no secret, I am a public radio nerd.  I listen to my local NPR station to and from work most days, and on road trips.  I learn something new on a weekly basis--probably more, but I try not to exaggerate other than for means of literary hyperbole.  I often leave myself short voice notes or typed notes (illegally) to remember what I've heard (examples here and here and here and here).

This week I heard about two things that struck my fancy.

Cool Thing #1 Foldit--Solve Puzzles for Science

http://fold.it/portal/

I heard about it once before, and forgot to leave myself a note.  The other day I remembered.  I am no scientist, but here is my version of what this "game" does:

Some muckety-muck scientists at the University of Washington created a game out of unfolding proteins.  My understanding is that proteins are folded up in some grand scientific way, and unfolding them leads to breakthroughs for curing illness and solving problems.  How that works is a mystery to me and will remain so.  A less simple, perhaps better explanation of that can be found here.  Either way, the smarty-pants scientists made a game out of unfolding proteins and all the gaming geeks in the world are solving protein problems galore.  Here's a video:



If you are like me in any small way, this video little other than show what the game is about.  What I understand is that unfolding these proteins leads to cures for things like Parkinson and Alzheimer and stuff.  Simplistic explanation, I know, but cool. For more info, try this.

Cool Thing #2    Super Better

https://www.superbetter.us/

This isn't completely up and running for the public yet, but here is a blog that describes one users experience.  It sounds like it is a game structured like a social media site.  You use the site to achieve personal goals. The description was intriguing, but not altogether clear.  I requested access to the "sneak preview" so we'll see what happens!

Happy Friday!

[Friday Free Day] The Man at the Coffee Shop

There is a man that goes to my neighborhood coffee shop. He is quite elderly. He is either bilingual or has a difficult time speaking. I think it might be both--a mix of a stroke and stilted English.  He is there nearly every weekday morning that I am. Lately, he has been at the counter at about the same time. The manager, who is often working at that time, knows him by name (as she does many of us), and knows what he orders. He still orders it though. And then shoves his money at her.

He shoves it because she won't take it. He waves it at her. He yells something that sounds like he wants her to take it. Today he said what pretty clearly sounded like "you come here right now."  And she said "nope." I think he stomped his feet after that. From what I can understand by this daily ritual/argument is that this gentleman has been buying his latte and breakfast pastry every morning for so long that he has racked up a truck-load of buy-10-get-one-free coffees.  I think I heard her say 200 at last count.  No joke. She told someone that he refuses to take the free ones. 

As I drove away today I was wondering if he really-truly wants to pay, or if it is the interaction he wants. The manager is good with people. She is great at her job. She seems to know what he needs. I was just wondering if paying for his coffee is something he needs to do. Either from a sense of ritual, or from a sense of responsibility, or maybe he likes to help the small business out. Or maybe he likes the game. Sometimes he tricks her into taking it.  Sometimes he gets another employee to take it.  I wonder if he has ever put it in the tip jar or just left it on the counter.

I noticed today that it was only $2 he was waving around. That's probably less than half the cost of what he ordered.  This could mean a few things.  Maybe he is broke and only has $2 and that's why the manager refuses him? Maybe he realizes he's racked up a treasure trove of free coffees and was only paying for his pastry? Maybe he doesn't realize it costs more these days?

Either way, I thought about it all the way to work today.

[Friday Free-Day] Procrastination

It turns out I have a super power I didn't know about.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I knew I was good at it, but I think I've crossed into the boundaries of "super" lately.  I have managed to procrastinate to a level that amazes even me.  This, my caped wonders, is why you have not heard from me.  I've had spice bottles to clean, bathrooms to paint, coffee to drink, closets to organize, mice to hunt, and sitting to do.

It is all going to come to a head though, and I will have to do the work I have been avoiding.  In fact, it has and I am swamped.  Thus, the lack of blog entries.

[Friday Free-Day] Day Off

Yes, teachers get vacations. Two weeks here, two weeks there. Oh, and the "summer off"  as everyone points out.  I'm not going to get all preachy about this "time off." At least not today. I'll link a couple of articles here and here if you feel like getting your dander up or your panties in a bunch about it, but I don't want to discuss it. I want to talk about one day off.

I took my birthday off this year. I planned ahead, I used one of my two allowable personal days, I prepared for it. In my entire teaching career (ahem... over 15 years, folks) I have never taken a personal day just because I wanted to.  I have always saved them for a family event that required a day off, a day to get some work done that was required but no time was given, or saved them and then lost them at the end of the year.  This year, I took one.  And it was fabulous.

I think I crammed the feelings of an entire vacation into one day.  I felt rested, rejuvenated and free.  What a lovely, lovely thing a day off can be!  I highly suggest it!

[Friday Free-Day] Oatmeal

I loves me my sisty-ugler. I don't tell her that because somewhere along the line I decided it was a good idea to keep it to myself,  but I loves her. I do.

We were our first best friends for those early years, and that can't be matched by anyone else in the world.

Here are the twenty things that make me think of her and either laugh, or giggle, or snort, or get boiling mad, or gassy, or sumfink. There are more than twenty, but these are the twenty that I came up with off the top'n my pointy little head.

oatmeal

the color green

The Frog Prince

farting is always funny (in fact, my dog just farted and I giggled)

"Don't you ever get tired of being so ugly?"

the LOTTD

"You smell."

Def Leppard

"Stop singing, you're ruining the song."

curling irons (and severe burns from them)

closets full of clothes

"...and I got a scratch on my elbow..."

babysitting the boys

hitting each other on the way to school, promising not to tell anyone, and then both telling everyone

a cake made to look like a fish with frosting so bright it turned my tongue colors

cheerios

swearing I wasn't copying everything she did, but secretly wondering if I was

21 Jump Street

buying the same blue and white polka-dot shirt even though we lived across the state from each other

"THEY'RE COMING RIGHT AT YOU!!!!!"

Oh, and did I mention it is her birthday today?  It is. And you wanta know something evil? For once I'm glad she's older than me. Heh.

Oatmeal,

B

[Friday Free-Day] Folding Paper

My noodle-heads love to fold paper. Give them a reason to fold it (airplanes, those diamond-shaped things they call footballs, turning dollar bills into rings)--they'll sit for hours and fold, fold, fold. They'll scavenge for paper, steal it even, to keep folding paper long after they've been told not to. Why do they have to scavenge and steal? Because they've used every other piece in the school to fold other things, and there is just nothing left!

I have no idea why this is important enough to share, but it's Friday Free-Day, so I did. Here are some other random things I've noticed about my kiddos over the years:

They like the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Granted they like almost any team that is currently winning, but they have a willing-to-fight-about-it love for the Raiders and Steelers.

They have more gas than typical middle-school kidlets. I've taught in a variety of middle schools. The gas has never been as constant or as bad as it is with the kids I have had the last couple of years. This does not include the kiddo I had last year that was lactose-intolerant and drank milk on purpose just to make me suffer. He is in a category by himself. 

They love pitbulls.  Nearly all of them say they have one, or say they had one once, or say they want one.  Do I blame Michael Vick for that? I would, but he has never played for the Raiders or the Steelers.

They think pencils are considered a one-use item. After they are done writing down whatever short thing they have deigned to write, they just drop them to the ground. When it's time to write again, they look around bewildered. Where did that pencil go?

That's what I know this week. To be honest, I know a lot more than that this week, but I just don't want to dwell on it right now. It was a tough one out on the front lines, and I'd rather pretend it wasn't until I've slept it off.

Peace out my caped friends!

[Friday Free-Day] Bumper Stickers

I don't like bumper stickers. They are messy-looking, and they tell me more information about the drivers than I want to know. When I drive behind a car with a hot mess of bumper stickers, I can't help but stare at them, read them, analyse them. This is not only dangerous, but completely ruins the chi of my driving time.

Here's a for instance:

So, driving behind a dude in this car, I can't help but read all of the stickers and try to put them into a semblance of a personality. This person is begging to be judged, and they are choosing to do it based on stickers. Then I start to wonder what bumper stickers I would pick, if I were a bumper-sticker kind of gal. Which I'm not, as I said earlier. But it is this kind of circular thinking that gets me all a-twitter.  And not the cell phone/internet kind of twitter.

That's my thought for the day. That, and why are there so many Chevy Impalas on the freeways, and why on Earth do they still make them?

[Friday Free Day] Periodic Space-age

Some of the blogs I like and follow (Ahem, follow... because Following a blog shows you like it, and keeps the blogger from thinking she is sad and alone in the blog-o-sphere) have a weekly post with music or something interesting like a Music Monday, Saturday Stash, or a Tunes-Day. So...

Introducing the Friday Free Day! (this week on a Saturday!)

On Friday Free Day I will talk about whatever I want. I realize I do that every other day, but I think I'll try to keep it to Fridays now, and focus on actual cape-wearing on the other days. Some teachers or school programs have a Friday Free Day in their classrooms. I don't. I think it wastes a whole day. So this is not a blog post about what to do on a Friday Free Day.

Today (yesterday), I want to talk about the number of spaces to put after a type-written period. When I was forced to take typing in middle school (waaaay back in the 80's), we were taught to use two spaces. I have done this ever since. Until yesterday. My Caped Brother sent me an article about the silliness of this habit. The actual article irritated me because the guy was kind of an ass in it, but the idea reminded me that I had heard this somewhere before. I did some research, as I am wont to do. It turns out that in this computerized era, the fonts do the work for you. They are proportional and make the extra space unnecessary (articles here and here). This sounds vaguely familiar, and I have noticed that my posts can sometimes look wonky online. I am wondering if this is due to my extra space-age.

Now comes the hard part. How do I stop putting two spaces in?  Since yesterday I have done a lot of writing and used two spaces almost EVERY time. That last period I didn't, but I literally had to lift my thumb off of the space bar and twirl it a little to keep myself from doing it. I also had to cut and paste my most recent post in to a Word document and find/replace all of my double spaces with single spaces. Creature of habit? Yes.

I just had to go back into that paragraph and fix the spacing. Arg. Those last two periods, too.  Pffft.

I looked about some information on changing a habit. I've read before that it takes between 21 and 28 days. Perhaps if I post every single day for 21 days I'll fix it? Actually, I'll be doing a lot of writing in the next couple of months for my National Board Renewal. Maybe that will fix it? Argh! I just did it again. This is going to be very difficult.... :(