I'm working on powerpoints for my classes (interactive, don't worry) and found this online, via "Free Tech for Teachers".
The guy's delivery reminds me kind of Mitch Hedberg.
Aug 29, 2011
Aug 26, 2011
Friday Theme Nights!
Zak and I have started a tradition of having themes for our Friday night dinners! So far, we've covered:
This idea began a few weeks ago when I decided to surprise Zak with a Caribbean themed night (honoring some great memories from our honeymoon, of course!)
For those of you who have been to the Caribbean, you know it's not exactly known for its food. :S
After much ado, I decided to go with a delicious Jamaican Jerk Pork and sweet potato stir fry, served over rice.
Since most Caribbean food is pretty monochromatic, it might not look too pretty, but let me tell you, it was delicious (as evidenced by my husband's face).
The best part about Theme night is that its the one night a week we get to have dessert and mixed drinks!
( Next up, I think we'll do Thai. )
For those of you who have been to the Caribbean, you know it's not exactly known for its food. :S
After much ado, I decided to go with a delicious Jamaican Jerk Pork and sweet potato stir fry, served over rice.
Jamaican Seasoned Pork
& Sweet Potatoes Stir-Fried with Tart Apples.
Mmmmm, Mmmm.
(Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found this. I figure that's probably okay, though, cause I don't make any money off this thing. :)
Since most Caribbean food is pretty monochromatic, it might not look too pretty, but let me tell you, it was delicious (as evidenced by my husband's face).
The best part about Theme night is that its the one night a week we get to have dessert and mixed drinks!
Pina Coladas and Banana Splits?! Yes, Please!
Where do you think we should "travel" next? France? Belgium? Italy?
Tune in next week for Theme Night: Cajun-Style!
Aug 19, 2011
There is nothing like a sister
When she's here I can pretend like I am
still seven-and-a-quarter years old,
pressing my fingers in between earth worms
and learning to trace the sun
across the sky.
Our hair's darker now.
We admit to things we probably should keep quiet,
but it's hard to keep those things from the memory
of a whisper across the space
between our beds,
after the world had gone to sleep.
And I don't want to keep secrets,
tucked away, anymore.
For once.
It's been so long since I was allowed
to remember, and in the remembering,
to finally, let it go.
still seven-and-a-quarter years old,
pressing my fingers in between earth worms
and learning to trace the sun
across the sky.
Our hair's darker now.
We admit to things we probably should keep quiet,
but it's hard to keep those things from the memory
of a whisper across the space
between our beds,
after the world had gone to sleep.
And I don't want to keep secrets,
tucked away, anymore.
For once.
It's been so long since I was allowed
to remember, and in the remembering,
to finally, let it go.
6:30 a.m.
Even though the morning aches my joints, and makes the nerves at my knuckles and hips feel as if they were pressed between a cannonball and a centrifuge, I still rise into it.
I was a night creature, once. I'd like to say "many years ago" but you'd call me a liar and quote those things that have since become part of that blurred backdrop, my indefinite past.
Some days it is difficult to get out of bed.
In this city, we are all waking up mourning. We force ourselves to cross the threshold as the fog settles into our skin.
I was a night creature, once. I'd like to say "many years ago" but you'd call me a liar and quote those things that have since become part of that blurred backdrop, my indefinite past.
Some days it is difficult to get out of bed.
In this city, we are all waking up mourning. We force ourselves to cross the threshold as the fog settles into our skin.
"And maybe blogging makes us all feel a little less alone or a little more unique or a bit more the same. Or a little more anything at all." (Terra)
Aug 16, 2011
Obsessions
Things I wish I wasn't addicted to:
1. Coffee
- Wouldn't it be healthier if I could wake up all on my own? Apparently the health benefits vs curses are negligible. So I could pretend like it's just like water. But sometimes I hate feeling so dependent on something to keep me thinking during the day.
2.Facebook
- I recently purged a ton of old contacts from my Facebook account, thinking that if I had less traffic on my newsfeed, I'd be more likely to stop spending hours stalking people I will never talk to again. Instead, I've started stalking people I should really just call up on the phone.
3. Pinterest
- This site is a black hole. Not only does it show me all the ways folks are crazy creative, but it makes me want every. single. thing. they've made.
3. Teacher Blogs
- Especially since most of the blogs are by teachers who have lower elementary classes. I teach upper and high school. I'm not sure I'm really benefitting from reading up on how to create the perfect bulletin boards.
5. Office Supplies
- This is an expensive obsession. I just find it so difficult to pass up multi-colored file folders!
A few of these addictions are internet-based, so I've decided that the best way to put a clamp on them is to limit my internet use. Of course, every time I start to try to implement said clamp, I talk myself out of all the reasons I wanted to quit in the first place.
Justifications
1. Coffee frees my mind and helps me focus. At least I don't do drugs.
2. My friends are on Facebook because they want to be stalked. If they didn't want to be stalked, then they wouldn't have an account and I would be forced to call them and have a real relationship with them. They have social anxiety. Stalking them is helping them.
3. I need to get more ideas for classroom management. My eighth graders aren't going to self-police. Reading up on this classroom management manual for kindergarteners will help. I can apply the same principles and use books without pictures to illustrate my point.
4. By electronically keeping track of things that I like, I am saving trees.
5. If my desk is not organized, then my life is not organized and I will self-destruct. What if there is a natural disaster and I cannot find my passport? I need that label maker.
Things I wish I was addicted to:
1. Church
2. Exercise
3. Vegetables
4. Classical Literature
5. Cleaning
Dream big, America.
 |
| Source |
- Wouldn't it be healthier if I could wake up all on my own? Apparently the health benefits vs curses are negligible. So I could pretend like it's just like water. But sometimes I hate feeling so dependent on something to keep me thinking during the day.
 |
| Source |
- I recently purged a ton of old contacts from my Facebook account, thinking that if I had less traffic on my newsfeed, I'd be more likely to stop spending hours stalking people I will never talk to again. Instead, I've started stalking people I should really just call up on the phone.
3. Pinterest- This site is a black hole. Not only does it show me all the ways folks are crazy creative, but it makes me want every. single. thing. they've made.
 |
| Source |
3. Teacher Blogs
- Especially since most of the blogs are by teachers who have lower elementary classes. I teach upper and high school. I'm not sure I'm really benefitting from reading up on how to create the perfect bulletin boards.
5. Office Supplies- This is an expensive obsession. I just find it so difficult to pass up multi-colored file folders!
A few of these addictions are internet-based, so I've decided that the best way to put a clamp on them is to limit my internet use. Of course, every time I start to try to implement said clamp, I talk myself out of all the reasons I wanted to quit in the first place.
Justifications
1. Coffee frees my mind and helps me focus. At least I don't do drugs.
2. My friends are on Facebook because they want to be stalked. If they didn't want to be stalked, then they wouldn't have an account and I would be forced to call them and have a real relationship with them. They have social anxiety. Stalking them is helping them.
3. I need to get more ideas for classroom management. My eighth graders aren't going to self-police. Reading up on this classroom management manual for kindergarteners will help. I can apply the same principles and use books without pictures to illustrate my point.
4. By electronically keeping track of things that I like, I am saving trees.
5. If my desk is not organized, then my life is not organized and I will self-destruct. What if there is a natural disaster and I cannot find my passport? I need that label maker.
Things I wish I was addicted to:
1. Church
2. Exercise
3. Vegetables
4. Classical Literature
5. Cleaning
Dream big, America.
Aug 12, 2011
Manic
Mills people are really awesome. Every time I interact with any of my Mills friends, I just get so stoked that I decided to go there and got to meet all those genius individuals. No words to explain it.
And, my equally awesome housemate Erin just asked Zak if he wanted to be a polygamist so she could use his gym discount.
I am so blessed.
:P
And, my equally awesome housemate Erin just asked Zak if he wanted to be a polygamist so she could use his gym discount.
I am so blessed.
:P
Self-Improvment Plan Part 1: Like List
Lately, I've been reading this book called
which I got from the Hume bookstore. It has a few good points but overall it's not really what I was hoping for. Mostly because it talks about improving your 'self' as something that's super easy to do. "Oh yeah, just stop doing x, y, z and pray more."
Also, how perfect is this?
Character Makeover
Good advice, yes, but not for the person who does x, y, z, a little bit of t and a regular dose of j. (Just to be clear, those variables are not drugs. This book in particular focuses on confidence, pride and humility, honesty, those kind of things.)
So I am taking their ideas in principle and applying them in a way that makes more sense to me.
Step 1 in my Self-Improvement Plan is working out/getting fit. That's mostly because once I become this awesome person, I want to live long enough to enjoy it.
Step 2: Make a list of things that I like
This reason is one-fold (is that a thing?). I don't really know what I like. I know what other people like. So: what do I like? (in no particular order. and I'm purposefully leaving out human beings because if I start on those I'll never stop.)
- the ocean and all the creatures in it. But mostly dolphins.
- pirates
- lists (obviously)
- the color blue in the grayer hues
- coffee and caffeine in general, though the word "caffeine" is on my ultimate list of "words I hate to spell"
- the desert heat - so dry. So not San Francisco.
- the permanence of family
- Grey cats and black labs
- graph paper. I like to color in the boxes
- organizing (particularly labeling things.)
- Buying junk
- doing other people's hair
- taking pictures
- vodka
- researching anything
- the early morning
- sand in my hair. I like to feel it rub against my scalp. I also like sand under my nails.
- nostalgia; it is like a drug.
- cooking, but not necessarily food. I just want to make stuff and force-feed other people.
- reeeeally tall bookshelves
- the ring of fancy crystal
- collecting things (spoons, cows, bells, thimbles, books, notes, bookmarks, plates .. I could go on for days)
- anonymity
- silver hair
I might have to spread this out over a couple posts. I am discovering that I like many things. And some of the things on my list should be there multiple times.
Also, how perfect is this?
The length of this post is one of the reasons why I'm not a famous blogger.
Aug 11, 2011
If in the first twenty-something years of your life you don't succeed ...
I'm socially awkward.
This is not a new development, but one that I am finally coming to terms with. Or recognizing. It will likely take years for me to "come to terms with" aka "own" this part of me. I hope I'll just grow out of it.
The problem may have something to do with any number of things: my self-esteem, my ADD, my inability to see out of my glasses, hormones, lack of adequate protein in my diet, fear.
I looked up "awkward" in the medical dictionary, hoping it was a symptom of something else, but nothing came up. So, it's just me. Being me.
I have a hard time making and keeping friends, even though I really really really want to. I am infamous for making a formerly good conversation come to a rolling stop because I offered what I thought would be an encouraging response, only to find out that it was like saying "period" at the end of a sentence. Or writing "The End" in the middle of chapter 3 of a 14 chapter novel.
Usually, none of this bothers me, mostly because I hardly notice. I spend hours alone everyday, staring at my computer, making lesson plans for my hypothetical classes or reading the blogs of people I've never met.
But I do occasionally notice, on those rare occasions when I spend time with the one or two friends I still have, and their ability to be awesome totally blows me away. Then, instead of seizing the opportunity to connect, I spend the whole time admiring and studying their mannerisms, hoping one day to end up like them through mimicry.
This is the way you hold your head. This is the way you laugh. This is how to listen. These are the intuitive questions to ask to invite people in and make people like you. To make people trust you.
And Kellie, these are the ways you are not.
This is not a new development, but one that I am finally coming to terms with. Or recognizing. It will likely take years for me to "come to terms with" aka "own" this part of me. I hope I'll just grow out of it.
The problem may have something to do with any number of things: my self-esteem, my ADD, my inability to see out of my glasses, hormones, lack of adequate protein in my diet, fear.
I looked up "awkward" in the medical dictionary, hoping it was a symptom of something else, but nothing came up. So, it's just me. Being me.
I have a hard time making and keeping friends, even though I really really really want to. I am infamous for making a formerly good conversation come to a rolling stop because I offered what I thought would be an encouraging response, only to find out that it was like saying "period" at the end of a sentence. Or writing "The End" in the middle of chapter 3 of a 14 chapter novel.
Usually, none of this bothers me, mostly because I hardly notice. I spend hours alone everyday, staring at my computer, making lesson plans for my hypothetical classes or reading the blogs of people I've never met.
But I do occasionally notice, on those rare occasions when I spend time with the one or two friends I still have, and their ability to be awesome totally blows me away. Then, instead of seizing the opportunity to connect, I spend the whole time admiring and studying their mannerisms, hoping one day to end up like them through mimicry.
This is the way you hold your head. This is the way you laugh. This is how to listen. These are the intuitive questions to ask to invite people in and make people like you. To make people trust you.
And Kellie, these are the ways you are not.
Aug 10, 2011
This post will not change your life
Zak and I got up at 5:30 this morning so we could go to the USF gym and work out.
When the alarm went off, I tried to pretend that I couldn't hear it. I thought that if I seemed like I was going to cave, then Zak would too. (Un)fortunately for me, my husband has more self-discipline than I do. He got out of bed and got ready to go to the gym. As much as I wanted to stay in bed and sleep, I couldn't be shown up by him.
After a sweat-inducing work-out, I'm back and showered and trying to decide whether I'm going back to sleep, getting back out of bed, or getting out of bed AND getting dressed.
Anyone who's seen me this summer knows that even if I'm out of bed, I'm most likely still in my pajamas. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Yep. I cook dinner in my pajamas. What? It's the summer. In San Francisco summers, we don't get to wear bikinis and soak up the sun. We wear long johns and build a fire in the fireplace.
Also, whoever invented the elliptical machine really didn't thoroughly examine the mechanics of the human body. For those of you who've never seen one, it's like a standing bicycle. It's supposed to be better for your knees than running. But I toppled over every three minutes. There's just no way to balance on a thing like that. And then when I'd fall off, the machine made this high-pitched beeping noise and told me to pedal faster.
I hope this post makes you feel enlightened.
When the alarm went off, I tried to pretend that I couldn't hear it. I thought that if I seemed like I was going to cave, then Zak would too. (Un)fortunately for me, my husband has more self-discipline than I do. He got out of bed and got ready to go to the gym. As much as I wanted to stay in bed and sleep, I couldn't be shown up by him.
After a sweat-inducing work-out, I'm back and showered and trying to decide whether I'm going back to sleep, getting back out of bed, or getting out of bed AND getting dressed.
Anyone who's seen me this summer knows that even if I'm out of bed, I'm most likely still in my pajamas. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Yep. I cook dinner in my pajamas. What? It's the summer. In San Francisco summers, we don't get to wear bikinis and soak up the sun. We wear long johns and build a fire in the fireplace.
Also, whoever invented the elliptical machine really didn't thoroughly examine the mechanics of the human body. For those of you who've never seen one, it's like a standing bicycle. It's supposed to be better for your knees than running. But I toppled over every three minutes. There's just no way to balance on a thing like that. And then when I'd fall off, the machine made this high-pitched beeping noise and told me to pedal faster.
I'd rather have to get new knees at forty.
I hope this post makes you feel enlightened.
Aug 9, 2011
The Planetarium
At the Academy of Sciences, they have this theater where you sit in half-reclined seats and stare at the dome-shaped screen, across which they plaster images of the solar system, of the galaxies, of the universe.
It's all digitized and theoretical, but it still makes me wonder why all of that would be out there.
When the Un-created created us--humans with a beginning from a Being without-- why did He make the rest of it? Where did he get that idea? And are we the only ones He made?
What if He made a bunch of others like us, scattered across the universe's expanse? Why not? Why can't there be hundreds of thousands of humanoid creatures in other galaxies? I don't know if He would have made those other galaxies just because he thought they would be pretty.
And what would it be like to be without origin? To just always have been? To be the very essence of the word "always"?
How does something just always exist? I suppose that, being a Created being, I am supposed to find it incomprehensible. Maybe it's because my existence relies on a moment of creation.
I still wish I could get my head around it.
 |
| http://tourinord.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/across-the-universe.jpg |
(I googled "the universe" for that image.
The first few pictures that popped up looked like this.
Then there was a picture of people in zero-G,
with a fairy creature floating around them. I picked this one.)
It's all digitized and theoretical, but it still makes me wonder why all of that would be out there.
When the Un-created created us--humans with a beginning from a Being without-- why did He make the rest of it? Where did he get that idea? And are we the only ones He made?
What if He made a bunch of others like us, scattered across the universe's expanse? Why not? Why can't there be hundreds of thousands of humanoid creatures in other galaxies? I don't know if He would have made those other galaxies just because he thought they would be pretty.
And what would it be like to be without origin? To just always have been? To be the very essence of the word "always"?
How does something just always exist? I suppose that, being a Created being, I am supposed to find it incomprehensible. Maybe it's because my existence relies on a moment of creation.
I still wish I could get my head around it.
Aug 4, 2011
That First Anniversary Tradition
For some reason unbeknownst to the average individual, wedded couples participate in a bizarre tradition: the eating of the wedding cake one year later. For most newlyweds, this means reaching into the way-back of your freezer and pulling out the top layer of your $1298379q85948w65 wedding cake. Some people even keep the little figurines in there (which I think is kind of cruel).
But for us, if you were at our wedding, you know we didn't have a traditional cake. We had tarts. Delicious fresh fruit tarts from Whole Foods. Are we spoiled or what? Unfortunately, fruit tarts can't be frozen. We also ate all of our personal tart while waiting to board the plane to Costa Rica.
Even though we don't understand the tradition, Z and I decided we were participating in it. We went to Whole Foods, purchased a tart, and proceeded to re-enact the practice of feeding it to each other.
But for us, if you were at our wedding, you know we didn't have a traditional cake. We had tarts. Delicious fresh fruit tarts from Whole Foods. Are we spoiled or what? Unfortunately, fruit tarts can't be frozen. We also ate all of our personal tart while waiting to board the plane to Costa Rica.
Even though we don't understand the tradition, Z and I decided we were participating in it. We went to Whole Foods, purchased a tart, and proceeded to re-enact the practice of feeding it to each other.
I think we'll make this an annual thing.
Until next year ...
Aug 3, 2011
Yet another reason why I'm the luckiest wife in the world
A few weeks/a month or so ago, I saw this online:
I loved it. I coveted it. I showed the picture to my husband. I said, "Look, isn't this amazing? I could really use something like that."
We don't have much of a pantry, so our canned goods end up ... well, all over the kitchen and laundry room.
Zak looked at the image briefly, answered in the affirmative that it was, in fact, cool. Then, he made me one. A better one. A more beautiful one. A perfect one.
My perfect sliding pantry:
It takes up almost no space.
It just slips into the five inches beside the fridge
that we were previously wasting.
All the 'foods' in their places:
Demonstrating the genius of it:
Rolling on its smooth rollers, the magic pantry APPEARS:
I mean, really. Who does that?
My awesome husband does. That's who.
Knowing that he was willing to take time out of his lunch hour,
to stay late after hours at work, to come in early to work,
in order that he could get this made for me,
knowing I would looove it,
just blows me away.
It is now a daily reminder that I am loved.
Every time I go to eat (which is more often than I'd like to admit)
Every time I go to get a cup of coffee
(or to make the second of my three daily pots)
I see it and I think, there is no way I deserve that.
But he made it anyway, because he loves me.
I'm riddled with flaws, irritating habits, stressful mood swings, immature antics--
But still he loves me,
despite,
and because of,
those things.
Yet another reason why I'm the luckiest wife
in the world.
Aug 1, 2011
I think it's good. (It's something I can get my head around)
My sister already summarized the events of this weekend more eloquently than I could hope.
It is difficult to imagine loving any kids more than I love my cousins' children.
Weekends like this make me wish I could freeze time and still the sun in the blue glow of yesterday afternoon: Logan's wide eyes filled with innocent wonder, Kade's perfect smile and ethereal giggle, Taylor's excited energy and intense intelligence.
I feel as if my heart has both shattered into fragments, and mended in places I didn't know were still torn.
It is difficult to imagine loving any kids more than I love my cousins' children.
Weekends like this make me wish I could freeze time and still the sun in the blue glow of yesterday afternoon: Logan's wide eyes filled with innocent wonder, Kade's perfect smile and ethereal giggle, Taylor's excited energy and intense intelligence.
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
e e cummings
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