The Buss

Guy With Job At Place

2010-05-06T23:36:00.000-06:00

Like most people, I've always considered myself a pretty good person. I don't go around doing mean things to other people, and for the most part, I mind my own business, take care of my family, and try to do good in the world.

I've encountered people in my life who definitely make a difference, and those people have had an impact on how I view the world and how I want to make that difference. I feel that being a teacher, and doing it the right way (by caring about the kids and not the tests), that I've made a difference. For the most part the kids are in my class, move on, and I never see or hear from them again, and that's fine. But occasionally, one of them comes back into my life. Such was the case this past year. Having the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child (and in this case entire family) has been an experience like none other.

So, as I've said in some of my other recent posts, I've changed a lot over the past few years. I no longer consider myself an important person with important ideas to share with the internet through blogging and in other venues. I see myself now as a guy who is in a good place. I have a great family, great job, advanced college degree, friends who can count on me and I can count on, and the understanding that, while it's all well and good, it doesn't make me special. Knowing that I'm not special has granted me the opportunity to truly make a difference.

I rather enjoy not being special and trying to act important. I'm just a guy, a guy with a job at a place. And it's great. I recommend it.

Political Who Caring

2010-04-29T21:58:00.000-06:00

I've gone through what I consider to be a fairly typical evolution of political thought over the past ten years or so, but in all honesty it's probably not. I grew up in a small town with a ratio of three churches to every person, so naturally I became a conservative Republican. Then, I went to college and remained so even in the face of a fairly liberal state university. Then, I graduated, got my first job as a teacher, and went to work at a very economically poor school.

Working with those kids and those families changed me a lot. I started to understand people better, and am to this day an admitted bleeding-heart individual, I care about people. So I slowly began to change into a liberal Democrat. So it seemed like my change was complete. I went from a Bush supporter to an Obama supporter in four short years. Even though by the time the election of 2008 rolled around I was already beginning yet another shift.

Now, where it stands, I'm an Independent out of the fact that I don't see a difference between Democrats and Republicans. Politics in this country are pointless, but dangerously so. These two groups pit themselves against one another, yet seem to share a common goal. This goal is screwing the American public. So, for that reason, I don't follow politics much anymore. I would talk about it more but who cares right.

Journal Time

2010-04-28T23:26:00.000-06:00

I feel like so much has changed in my life over the past 16 months. I've come to many revelations; the most important of those is the realization that nobody cares. I don't mean that in a bad way, I really don't. What I mean here is, I basically spent the better part of my entire teaching career (since July of 2005) ranting on this and other blogs about things I deemed important, thinking that putting them out there would be great, because others deserve my opinion. I spent time on Myspace (when that was cool) and on Facebook (where I still show off pictures of my family and give others a hard time about their stupid Farmville stuff). Now, it's all changed.

This past year, something happened. My accomplishments were no longer a big deal to me. I no longer felt the need to tell others what I did for a living when asked (my common answer: "I'm a guy who works at a place"), and I no longer felt the need to impart my knowledge of all things to others at any given moment. Needless to say my blogging and participation in online chats basically stopped.

What's funny is, as I grow older, I begin to understand more of the world and how I fit in it. I'm not old by any means (of course when I started this blog I was 24, now I'm 29, so years have passed, but not that many), but my ideologies and general world view have shifted dramatically in these past five years. I am fundamentally a different person than I was 5 years ago, unrecognizable from the teen I was only 10 short years ago.

What's great is that once you stop talking and start listening to others, you find that other people can be great, and yes, some can be horribly idiotic. I am much quieter now, I make it a point to not speak about myself unless the other person shows genuine interest (and that never happens). In fact, even blogging here on my former personal journal/blog has an odd feel about it. I do this with the realization that no one will ever read it, because I'm sure my blog has basically been torn down from Google's search pages, and I'm ok with that.

I feel like a better person now. Yeah, life has a lot of stress, but it's fulfilling in many ways. My job is amazing, my family is amazing, my friends are amazing, and I am a self-admitted idiot who is learning to grow and live in a world that doesn't know I exist, and I am starting to love it.

16 Months, and Then Now

2010-04-27T20:12:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been a LONG TIME. This blog has been sitting here for over 16 months, untouched. Of course, I have been blogging through much of that time, just not on this original blog.

Now I'm sitting here, in late April, 2010, and the events of life are changing yet again. My wife is expecting our third child, due in November, and I'm very excited about that. I'll be finishing up my second year of doctoral school next week, and it can't come fast enough, I am fully and completely burned out.

This year saw me move to a new grade level where I teach, and it has been profoundly rewarding. All in all, it hasn't been a bad past 16 months, just very busy and frantic, and I've finally found some time to sit down and reflect.

Will this blog be revived? I don't know for sure. But I do know that I liked personal "blogging" in the past and hope to bring that back to life.

So here's hoping right?

Stupid Cell Phones: My Final Post of 2008

2008-12-31T17:07:00.003-07:00

I realize that I seldom post to this blog, my original, anymore. I always hope to change that, but then realize that I just don't have a lot to talk about these days. Well, today is different. I had a discussion with some friends earlier, while in attendance at the 75th annual Sun Bowl, the all time most boring game in college football history (a 3-0 win for Oregon State over Pitt).

Our discussion centered around the whole "oh my god, I can't believe you don't have a cell phone" thing that continues to plague my being. So yes, I don't carry a cell phone, and yes, it has become a badge of honor for me, something that I now take pride in.

So then, why do I not carry a cell phone? After all, they're so convenient, easy to have around, and they just make life so wonderfully easy and convenient in every single way. Well, first of all, I hate talking on the phone, so why would I want to carry one with me at all times?

OK, joking aside, there are some major reasons that I don't care for cell phones and what they've done to society. It continues to be a pet peeve of mine to go out in public with people, or have people around who text and/or talk the whole time they're around. It's this disconnect that has happened in the world, where it's no longer enough for people to stay in the moment and enjoy those around them, that they need someone else, who is somewhere else, to entertain them.

But wait, aren't cell phones great ways of getting ahold of people in case of emergency? Well, the fact is, if something happens and I'm not there, yeah, I'd like to know, but finding out a little while later isn't a huge deal.

So, anyways, I could go on forever here, but I won't. I guess it's not entirely fair for me to sit here and diatribe against convenient, portable technology, as I sit here on my laptop on my couch and post to my blog over a high speed wireless internet connection, as my son sits next to me on the sofa playing Nintendo DS, but cell phones are the one area of technology that I think has permeated our cultures and continues to pull people further apart from one another.

Cowboys Suck? That's What They Tell Me (I'm A Fan After All)

2008-12-28T18:04:00.003-07:00

I just got through watching the Dallas Cowboys, my team, get slammed by the hated Philadelphia Eagles, 44-6, in a win and in game. It was embarrassing to say the least, especially because I had some friends, who are not Cowboys fans, over to the house, and had to take their ribbings (which were all in good fun, don't get me wrong).

A few things come to mind after watching the Cowboys implode in the face of having huge talent on both sides of the ball. First of all, Wade Phillips has got to go, and I'm not sure if Jason Garrett is the answer. If he's really that good, why did their offense under perform and why was their play calling so predictable?

Next, T.O. is a plague on every team he plays for. On top of that, Tony Romo really isn't THAT good (it's not so much of a secret anymore). This team needs to start over, they need a strong, multi-dimensional quarterback who can play in big games, and most of all, they need a coach. Bill Cowher? That would be nice.

OK, so it's another failed Cowboys season, but I'm fairly laid back about it, so I'll still watch the playoffs, to see some real teams play. It's tough being a Cowboys fan these days, but that's alright, after all, it's all in good fun.

NMSU Job Wide Open

2008-12-04T20:44:00.003-07:00

So it looks like NMSU finally fired Hal Mumme after another failed season of football. The man couldn't coach to save his life, and the team performed dismally. I hear that Ken Norton Jr., the same Ken Norton Jr. who played for the Dallas Cowboys back in the glory days of the '90s, is in the running for the job. This is just me talking, but he's the kind of big name we need to get people in the stands and recruits coming out here. Plus, the fact that he's an assistant at USC, and gets a stellar recommendation from Pete Carroll, doesn't hurt. GO NORTON JR!!!!

Rich Schools vs. Poor Schools & Standardized Testing Accountability According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

2008-11-25T21:45:00.007-07:00

Since August, my world has been fairly upside down. It's not one of those major things that I should be complaining about, but all the changes, the changes in routine, the pace of life, and everything else, made it hard to sit back and find things to complain about (the basic purpose in having a personal blog such as this one).

This really put certain things in perspective for me, and is probably my most appropriate reaction to the test heavy school culture we now work under in the field of public education. I've heard it said that teacher bonuses should be tied in to test results, and on the surface that sounds like such a nice, wonderful idea, that is, until basic common sense takes over.

When I was an undergraduate student at NMSU, I continually had this thing called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs rammed into my brain. It's something that is common knowledge now, and that is this. Take a look at the pyramid here:

This pyramid shows the levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The bottom needs are the basic ones, and without those needs being met, major psychological setback occur, and the person not having those needs met will suffer. In education, this means that kids who aren't getting enough food, sleep, a consistent family life, consistent financial situation, a consistent place to live, and a safe and secure existence with routine, then they will not reach the upper levels.

Look at the top of the pyramid. Those are all the great things that we want our children to achieve. Teachers and parents dream of children who show those traits.

Now, with that in mind, who will show those traits? Will it be the homeless child looking for a place to sleep at night, wondering where their next meal will come from and where they'll be living in a week? Or will it be the kid who goes home to the same house every night, has a family that's always there, never has to worry about basic needs, and has a safe, secure existence? Of course, it's the latter.

Now, is this a rich vs. poor issue? Yes it is. Take this argument to the schools, and you'll see that if things like teacher pay raises and school accountability are tied to test results, who will achieve higher? It's quite obvious, on a number of different levels, that the more affluent, or even simply middle class schools will have a much better shot than "poor school."

The reality is right there, and it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. For me, personally, some of my needs weren't being met there for awhile, nothing major, just a few changes in my life. Those changes caused me to re-think my priorities and everything for awhile. If those smaller changes can affect an adult so much, imagine the extent that a child would be affected by not having those basic needs met. It's staggering. Somebody in the government needs to pay attention to common sense, abolish No Child Left Behind, and stop rewarding people for working in rich schools while punishing poor schools. It's classism, and it's wrong.

Black Friday?

2008-11-24T18:16:00.002-07:00

The stories about the upcoming Black Friday are beginning to show up in the local newspapers and on the news as well. Of course I'm talking about all the mega sales the day after Thanksgiving that "starts the holiday season." When I was younger, I used to get some major gifts around Christmas. My parents bought quite a bit, but my grandparents were always the mega shoppers.

Every year, I expected more and more, and was always on a Christmas day crash by about noon, with so much stuff that I didn't know what to do with it all. So, with my own kids, we decided to keep it a little smaller.

Each year, we buy each of our kids (we have two) one big gift and three small gifts, and it works nicely. My wife and I usually buy each other one nice thing, and that's it. Last year, I opened up two gifts on Christmas day, that was it, and I was completely happy.

I won't be hitting any Black Friday sales. In fact, we're going on a day trip, figuring that all the morons (no offense if you are a Black Friday shopper) will be waiting in long lines to save money on crap that they don't want or need for people that don't care whether or not they get anything from them.

Christmas to me is the same as Thanksgiving. It's a time where I don't have to work, I get to stay at home with my family and hang out. We'll watch TV, rent some movies, sit in front of the fireplace, and go visit some museums and areas of interest here in New Mexico. It's not about how much you spend, it's about who you spend the time with. The less time people spend together, the more they try to compensate by spending their money on idiotic crap from stores that are looking to meet their bottom line by selling Tickle Me Elmo, Rock Star, and HD TV's at record low prices. Well, I don't care, keep me away from the madness.

Stupid Election

2008-10-26T10:32:00.003-06:00

In my first official post about something since my return, I wanted to discuss this whole Presidential / everything else election. Frankly, this whole thing is driving me nuts. I get probably three phone calls a day, ten or fifteen political mailings a week, on average two knocks on my door everyday, and complete saturation on television, radio, and the internet about the elections.

I have already voted, I did it early this year to get it over with. I wanted to vote while I was still level headed, and didn't want my attitude towards all of this, well, bull s*** to influence me. If I waited until the 4th to vote, I probably wouldn't have even gone. I watch this stuff on TV, with Republicans backing McCain and Democrats backing Obama. It's basically a cult mentality, they both love their new messiahs, and will argue for days about it. As for me, I don't really care. I don't really care who wins anymore, I just want it to be over, SOON.

Super Long Break

2008-10-25T22:11:00.000-06:00

Whoa, my current break from blogging is the longest I've had, nearly two full months. It's weird, it was like I went through a sort of depression, and when I came out of it (althought I guess I'm not fully out of it), I lost some of my old interests, including blogging. But, I'm going to try to come back, at least occasionally. So, I'll see you soon!

Whoa, Major Lows

2008-08-28T21:27:00.002-06:00

This year has definitely been one of milestones and major change. Back in March, I went through a few of the more stressful weeks of my life, where I finished up my masters degree with my writtens, and then completed entry into the doctoral program. I also completed movement to permanent teacher license here in New Mexico, which is a pretty big ordeal around these parts. Now, I'm sitting here in my nearly empty house of three years, on my new laptop, trying to get tired so I can go to bed.

On Saturday, we're moving to a new house, on the other side of the city. Of course Las Cruces isn't HUGE, but to a small town boy like me, it is. So moving 8 miles from my current house is massive to me. It's been the source of some stress, that's for sure.

I think it's safe to say that, in my four year teaching career, that I've had some ups and downs. The ups have been great, and the downs have been bad. I think that I just about hit rock bottom this morning. I was sitting there teaching math, when it suddenly hit me that... well, I don't know exactly, but I snapped. I did get a little short with my students, but I made it up to them. The rest of the day from there was ok, but for some reason, that one hour period this morning, I considered just walking out, and I don't really know where it came from. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons, but those issues that I have with my job are better left unsaid here in the public forum.

I do like my class, they're great kids, and they deserve to be treated right. I feel bad that I haven't been putting 100% into my work, but I think that the combined stress of a new school year, starting a Ph.D., and moving to a new house, has taken a major toll. I'll be glad when Saturday is over and I'm settled in a new place. It will definitely be nice, I'm looking forward to that.

Educational Bull Poop

2008-08-27T21:38:00.002-06:00

I know I haven't posted much lately, but get used to it, that's life. OK, tonight I quickly wanted to discuss the fact that education sucks. Yeah, that's it, end of story, I'm not going to argue the point anymore, because it's a fact. Public education blows in just about every way it can. We're so heavily focused on evaluating performance, on achievement, and all this other nonsense, that the actual learning is something that teachers are actually discouraged from letting happen. It's all scoring rubrics, writing rubrics, testing guides and literacy programs.

The problem is that teachers are told, from the time they're in college, that they're changing the world. They're told that they're the most important person in those kids lives, and 90% of the time, they're effectively brainwashed into working 70 hours week but only getting paid for less than 40. Well, let's just go ahead and say it. Teachers are NOT the most important person in those kids lives, get over it, there's no way, those people who are important are called "family." Teachers do NOT change the world. The job of the teacher should be to teach, and for students to want to learn on their own and seek out the teacher for more guidance, that's what it is.

So anyways, can you tell I'm not having a good year so far? The bull s*** has finally gotten to me, and I can't take it anymore. Education needs to change, and I'll either be a part of that change, or it will run me off, let's see which happens first.

Teacher Should Put Those Degrees / Credentials In the Classroom

2008-08-17T10:45:00.002-06:00

When I say teachers should put their degrees and credentials in their classroom, I don't mean they should apply them and use them, I mean they should literally put them in their classroom. Doctors hang up their credentials and degrees in their offices, lawyers have them hanging up behind them, even many engineers have them in their office, so why shouldn't teachers?

I like going in the doctors office and knowing that they're able to care for me based on their years of education. So this year I went and got photo copies of my B.S. and M.A., as well as my teaching license, framed them, and put them behind my desk. It reminds me that, even on a bad day, I am prepared to do my job. It can also just be something for parents to look at and realize their kids are in good hands.

So take those degrees down from your living room and hang them behind your desk, or make copies and hang those. Take pride in what you do!

Livin' It

2008-08-14T07:08:00.000-06:00

Some people have a place that they live, but they don't really live there. I've known people who just basically have a place where they keep their bed and a little bit of food for the little time they spend there. I am not one of those people.

I am very much a home body. I enjoy my time at home with my family. Even if we're not spending 100% of that time together doing "family" things, I like being there. I'm one of those people who can easily spend an entire weekend or something in the house, I don't need to go out much.

I think I'm pretty lucky that I actually get to spend as much time at home as I do. A lot of people spend time commuting, working late, working multiple jobs, or working odd hours. I usually leave the house at 7:30 (and my older son goes with me, he attends school where I teach). We usually are driving up to the house right around 3:30. It's exactly 8 hours away from the house, and that's not too bad.

As my kids get older, they'll want to do after school activities, and that's ok too, but while they're young, it's good that we can all spend time together. I do have classes at NMSU two nights per week until 7:15, but that's ok. I don't bring my work home, and I really know how to chill out when I get here (for the most part). So it works.

Mid-Week Update

2008-08-13T20:14:00.002-06:00

So today was the third day of school. I actually had a really good last two days, and I'm feeling better about this school year. I think it's easy to go through a first day of school "depression" type of thing. The problem is, last year I really did have an amazing class that I very likely won't match again in my career. It's hard to peak that early, but, this class is pretty awesome, so I'll survive.

One thing is for certain, I told myself that work ends at 3:15, that work does not come home, and that I'll leave the frustration and everything else there. I've been holding to that pretty strong. I actually have done some work on the computer, but I'm not bringing papers home and things like that, and it's a relief. I get home from work, and I don't feel this massive burden waiting for me, it's been nice. I hope I can hold to it all year, I think it will keep me sane.

Another Year on the Job

2008-08-11T22:34:00.005-06:00

This is one of the longer periods I've gone without posting to this blog. Obviously, the end of my summer was pretty busy, and then I went back to work. Today was the first day of school in fact, and I'm sitting here not really effected much by it.

I woke up this morning, got ready, and went to work. You know, that's kind of what it is, work. I don't identify my existence as a teacher, it doesn't define who I am. I think that's always served me well to look at it that way, and I got through my first three years of teaching without being too burned out or disillusioned.

As I looked out there at those smiling faces today, I knew a few things. The first was that I'll be there for those kids, I'll be the teacher they deserve, I'll give them 100% of my attention and ability during the school day. I also knew that I will hold to my work hours as a teacher. I don't bring work home, I don't stay late, and I don't do weekends. The moment I'm allowed to leave work, I cease to become a teacher, and I come home to my family. Two nights per week this semester I'll actually be taking doctoral courses from something like 4:30 to 7:15, so the need to be able to cut out on time and "leave it all there" will be a growing necessity.

The biggest thing I think I realized today is that I don't want to do this forever, it's starting to wear on me a little. That is one of the major reasons I am going to doctoral school. My real passions are moving towards research and writing in the scholarly realm, that's where I see myself, teaching, education, is my field, so these classroom years are necessary. I don't want to say that I'm doing it gritting my teeth, I think I have a great job and I always enjoy my students and give them everything I can. I just don't think I can do it for a lot longer, I work around many people who are teachers, 100%. They spend every waking hour in the classroom, at the expense of having a life, and I respect them for that, but I would have to quit if that ever became me, I refuse to let it happen.

The realities of public school are heavy. I look out there and see new policy after new policy, and not many of them make sense. I get program after program rammed down my throat, and none of them make a lick of sense and don't really matter. I see old administrators leave and new ones come, but it's all the same story with a different bad guy (or good guy, whatever). I honestly don't know how cynical, self-sufficient people like me last longer than a year or two in this field. My dad did it for almost 30, and I'll be lucky to make it for 5 or 6. I completely understand why the turnover rate in this field is so high.

Teaching is difficult, we're asked to do things that don't make sense and go against learning. I've actually come to the point where I close the door to my classroom and actually let my students learn, and they love me for it. The only problem is I'm not giving them test prep material, and am probably labeled as a marginal teacher at best. Oh well, I can't let that bother me, because those people who would label me that are ignorant, right? My doctoral degree is (hopefully) going to be in my hand in 2012, so that's four years of teaching left. I don't even know if I can do that, I'll just have to take it one at a time.

So here's to another year on the job.

The End of Teacher Summer Vacation: How To Deal

2008-07-25T22:04:00.004-06:00

I've reached the last stage in summer vacation, it's official. I posted earlier this summer about how teacher summer vacation works in a post titled Teacher Summer Vacation For Dummies. In that post, I only outlined the beginning of vacation, up through the third week. Well, now I'm on the opposite end. I officially go back to work (my contract begins) on August 6th, in twelve days, of course, I'll be in the classroom very soon setting up.

So, without further delay, here is the final weeks of teacher summer vacation:

3 WEEKS BEFORE GOING BACK TO WORK: At this point, you're undoubtedly starting to dwell on the upcoming school year. It's still far enough away that you're not worried about it, but you are a little anxious. You've probably gone to a garage sale or two to buy some school supplies, and you've probably already hit up the 1 cent sale at Staples or Office Max.

2 WEEKS BEFORE GOING BACK TO WORK: This is the week that you start realizing that your long vacation of doing whatever you want is on its last leg. You may decide to take an impromptu short vacation, try to sleep in as late as you can everyday, or go out and spend time with friends. The point is, the end is near, and you can feel it.

THE LAST WEEK: Here it is, the end of it all. You are counting down at this point. There is also a very good chance that you've already gotten back into your classroom to start preparing your room for the following year, because every teacher knows that having a "work day" just doesn't cut it, setting up a room takes DAYS, not HOURS. You've either taken the path of waking up earlier and going to bed earlier to "prepare your body," or you've taken the path of sleeping in to get as many zzzz's as you can before it starts.

THE LAST DAY OF VACATION: This day is worthless. You wake up, and it feels like a Sunday (even though it's probably not). You know that tomorrow you have to go sit in hours and hours of boring, pointless staff meetings and trainings. It is the inservice days that start the school year, and you know it's coming.

THE FIRST DAY BACK: The alarm goes off, and you crawl out of bed. This is it, you go back to work today. Congratulations, you have a job again! Go say hi to all those staff members, meet and greet the new teachers in your building (because, after all, the turnover rate is around 20%), and sit through boring meetings, lectures, mission statements, and typical, predictable trainings.

THE FIRST DAY WITH KIDS: Once this day comes, you're ready for it. You've been thinking about it, planning for it, hoping you make it through inservice days alive, and now you have. You'll surely be at school early, pacing the halls, determined to make a stronger impression than you did last year. You're telling yourself "I'm going to scare the poop out of them on the first day so they know who's boss," but you never do, and you never will. Those kids walk in, and you hit the ground running. Good luck, it's another year.

The Dark Knight

2008-07-21T18:32:00.002-06:00

I just got home from seeing "The Dark Knight," the newest Batman movie. Let me just say that this movie surpassed all the hype in my mind, it was dark, disturbing, amazing, and action packed in a way that no other super hero movie has ever been. Heath Ledger's Joker first struck me as a little creepy, then funny, then diabolical, and finally he became everything a good villain is, insane.

This movie was pretty long, clocking in at just under 210 minutes (give or take), but the action never wavers, the storyline is strong, and the bad guys are horrific, but you can't take your eyes off. I'm also telling you out there that kids should not see this movie. Of course, I'm not one for censorship, so take them if you want, but be prepared for the nightmares afterwards. Heck, this film might give me nightmares, but I'll see it again, and again. I watched "Batman Begins" again the other day in anticipation of this one, but it blows that movie away. Of course, they're hard to compare, but cut from the same stock.

A+ for "The Dark Knight"

Numero 1,000

2008-07-20T21:25:00.003-06:00

I guess it's fitting that my 1,000th post isn't about anything other than itself. This kind of self-serving, inward searching play for kudos is typical of most bloggers out there. This blog's initial post came on July 6, 2005, and was started shortly after I accepted my first teaching position here in southern New Mexico. Since then, I've had hundreds of posts that were read by no one, I've had months where my readership has dropped below 100, and times where I didn't post for weeks.

I've also had some better times with this blog. I've had months where I've received over 20,000 unique visitors, I've been featured in the Wall Street Journal, my local newspaper, CNN.com, and became a player in the last mayoral election in Las Cruces when comments made in my blog set off a mini controversy locally. More than anything, this blog has been my own sounding board, a place for me to lay out my frustrations or just simply let all of my friends out there know what's going on here.

In the time my blog has been running, I have completed my M.A. degree, started a Ph.D., watched my kids grow up, work in my job for over three years, move to a new house (which isn't new anymore), watch family members enter new stages in their lives, say goodbye to beloved family members, and watch myself change completely as a person. Wow, that's a lot to take in, but it's been great.

I think blogging has been a great therapy of sorts for me, and I know that it took me a little over three years to amass my first 1,000 posts, so let's hope there's another 1,000 waiting for me. Who's to know what changes lie ahead in those years. Thanks for reading, I hope you'll stick around.

Handlebars

2008-07-15T21:32:00.002-06:00

I've been listening to Flobots for a little while now, it was their amazing song Handlebars that really got me interested. I'm going to post the music video for this great song, it's got many layers, speaks to the corruption in our government, in religion, in business, and in the world in general. I know that anytime a group like this comes out with a witty song that blows minds, they get crapped on for it, but this song is just great. Even if you don't think you like rap (because I usually don't for the most part), you will like this song. Just do what I did, think of George W. Bush and his administration almost the entire song, and you'll get it.

Eh?

2008-07-14T17:58:00.002-06:00

Some days I wake up and realize that I'm still kind of an idiot, and of course other days I wake up thinking I'm the master of the universe. Today was one of those idiot days. It's not that I have low self esteem, it's just that sometimes I need to be reminded that I don't know everything.

I guess I'm from that generation that is fully immersed in instant information, find out anything at any time, and never have to look for answer to anything. If I need to know that capital of Bulgaria, just type it into Google and BAM, there it is (see the amazing results of that Google search HERE).

So yeah, I do have these moments where I look at myself and say, "Man, you're highly educated, you have a respected job, you run a couple of marginally successful blogs, you are AWESOME!"

Yeah, I know it's not true. Heck, I'm not even sure why I posted this, but whatever, I did, and it's in the past, and now I'm going to click the publish button.

McCain = Bush = Crime?

2008-07-11T17:43:00.000-06:00

On July 7th, in Denver, a 61-year-old librarian, Carol Kreck was ticketed for trespassing and asked to leave the Center for the Performing Arts during a John McCain speech. It is widely believed that the secret service instigated her removal (possibly at the request of a McCain staffer). What horrendous crime is this would be terrorist guilty of? A sign saying "McCain = Bush" on it. WHO HOO HOO!!!!!

Kreck, of course, was a little confused and angered, and so should everyone else. I guess in a way it's good that we're seeing the true side of McCain and friends surface this early on. He's not pro-free speech, he's not letting people lawfully protest (if you even want to call it that), and he's obviously offended by being compared to George W. Bush. This is weird, considering Bush is the Republican president, and McCain is the Republican presidential hopeful. McCain has stood beside Bush many times, now this?

OK, this video has been making the rounds, but in case you haven't seen it, here is what transpired on the 7th.

Where Am I?

2008-07-11T10:54:00.002-06:00

It's a weird feeling, watching the nation seemingly crumble in front of me, bit by bit. What's even more weird is that many out there don't even seem to notice. Every time I read the paper or check the news online, I halfway expect to start seeing the soup lines similar to what happened in the Great Depression. Well, there were lines yesterday, that's for sure, and they went all the way around the block. The only problem was, instead of soup lines, or bread lines, or employment lines, these were lines for the new iPhone.

Look, it's easy to point out at everything that's going wrong here in America, from the spiraling gas prices to the crumbling house market. From the DOW dropping below 11,000 to the fact that our president is a bumbling moron who even tells the other G8 "leaders" that he's the biggest polluter in the world. With all these problems, Americans, myself included, continue to live like nothing is going wrong. Heck, as I write this, I'm planning on getting a bigger house soon. I'll be getting somewhere in the range of an 8% pay increase this August, and I'm debating whether I want a new laptop or a fancy new plasma TV.

I'm not bragging, I'm just proving that we Americans are either resilient or plain stupid. We're probably plain stupid. But you know, if things keep heading in this direction, there is eventually a limit for each of us, based on our income, where we will eventually be stuck at home working for gasoline and food. I'm almost to that point, but continue to ignore it. Many millions of minimum wage workers have been at that point for a long time now. The only ones who won't be effected by it are the rich, and I don't give a you know what about them anyways.

On top of economic problems, I live, like many Americans who aren't still duped by the GOP, looking at the skies, wondering what in the heck is going on out there. My area was in the worst drought we've seen in over 50 years. Now that drought is over, with a deluge of rain storms that are becoming more and more common. The rain comes so hard and so fast that flooding is almost the norm now, where it wasn't before a few years ago. Other parts of the nation have been especially hard hit, either by drought and heat (where they are not used to it), or massive rains. Worldwide, it's much of the same. Yet idiots (our government included) want us to believe that it's just normal. It doesn't feel normal, and nothing they say can make it feel normal.

Oh well, this is the new America, I guess we should learn to deal.

Here Comes the Rain Again

2008-07-10T09:28:00.002-06:00

I know that a lot of people, including my dad who lives in the Texas panhandle, are used to big rainstorms all the time. Well, we're just coming out of a massive drought here in southern New Mexico, it hasn't rained well since mid-November. That all finally broke open last week, and is ending with an exclamation point as I write this.

This storm should bring much needed rains to the entire region, specifically Las Cruces. Of course, with much needed rains also comes the chance for much not needed floods, which have become more and more common in the last three years or so around here. In any case, I'm enjoying these summer temperatures that aren't getting out of the 70's, and the rain as well.

The What

2008-07-06T09:28:00.003-06:00

I am currently reading What is the What by Dave Eggers. It is the partially autobiographical story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Lost Boy survivor of the civil war in Sudan. The story is heart breaking in many ways, and for me it's hard to imagine living in a world where the same mistakes of horrible events like the Jewish holocaust seem to play out over again. The events of that war, and of the current conflit in the Darfur region of Sudan have to be a stark reminder that these things do continue to happen over there.

I haven't reached out yet, to see what I can do. I don't know if my actions are yet limited to raising awareness in the classroom or community, or if there's actually things I can do, but I'm serious. We have to help, genocide is happening, people are dying daily, and we sit back and do nothing. This is unacceptable.

The End of A Real Error

2008-07-03T11:12:00.002-06:00

When I talk about my work and things like that, I attempt to be as vague as possible. I have talked a few times about a co-worker I had this past year that came into the job and basically had no desire to work with the grade level team, wore religious beliefs on their sleeve, challenged books, was critical of people who didn't agree 100% with their beliefs, and was basically, and by basically I mean totally, a worthless teacher. This teacher would either flat out not teach, would use textbooks 100% of the time, or would just let the students play board games.

Well, on top of it all, this teacher tried to run me off. Well, that one backfired, and I just recently found out that this teacher has quit and left the school. All I can say is good riddance to a worthless idiot who has no business teaching kids. That class that this teacher had last year ended up being the most rude, unruly group of kids ever who also somehow managed to score lower on almost all assessments than they did to begin the year, which is just sad. So goodbye.

Making Sense of Things That Don't Make Sense

2008-06-30T22:49:00.003-06:00

As a teacher, I have gotten pretty used to a salary that can't keep up with out of control inflation and a cost of living that has become ridiculous. How am I supposed to make sense out of this scenario?

I have a good job, teaching kids, which is literally one of the most important jobs there is. I have a master's degree, tenure, and am get great evaluations every year. I follow the rules of society, pay my taxes, live quietly, and don't stomp on other people to get what I need.

I am rewarded for this by living so poor in my own state that my children qualify for state assistance. I get a pay raise once per year, that generally amounts to something like 4% less than whatever inflation was (sometimes a greater gap exists, especially when pay raises are NOTHING). I also get to watch those in charge give themselves 25% pay raises and then stiff the teachers.

That's right. I can't afford to gas up my car, get groceries, pay the bills, and pay the rent, and we live in New Mexico, which is more affordable than 90% of the country. Something is wrong with this picture. Something is definitely wrong. And it won't ever be fixed, because at the same time that I (along with thousands of teachers) struggle to get by, our bosses drive Lexuses, our politicians drive 5 Lexuses, and our President owns baseball teams.

It won't ever change, and that's why this country is on the fast path to ruin. I for one don't really care, because I don't have a lot to lose. Prosperity or not, I can't afford to live, never have, and probably never will. That's ok, at least I know that what I do matters.

Wall-E: WOW

2008-06-29T17:09:00.003-06:00

We took the kids to see the new Disney Pixar movie Wall-E a little while ago. I had heard this movie was really good, so I was excited about it. I was first of all impressed with the visuals, and the story line, it's a very cautionary "this could happen to us" kind of thing that was done really well. Wall-E himself is a composite of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and the Mars Rovers from a few years back. So let me get right down to business.

This movie had hardly any dialogue, was a love story in many ways, and is an animated film. With that being said, this is quite simply the best film Pixar has ever made, and that's saying a lot about the company that made Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Cars among other masterpieces of computer animation. This movie is a masterpiece in every way. Go see it, enjoy it, it's perfect in every way.

Nice Moments

2008-06-28T22:07:00.002-06:00

I had a nice long conversation with my dad this evening, and it really got me to thinking. It's funny how I can talk to him on the phone now for two hours, and feel really good when I get off the phone. I'm at the point now in my life where my dad is someone that I respect, and that I consider a friend almost more than anything else. He's someone who understands me, where I've come from, what I've been through, and we can talk, and it goes the same the other way around.

This whole conversation really got me thinking about the miracle of life. My mom passed away in November of 1997, and it was definitely a hard time for everyone. I still think of her often, there is definitely a hole that exists in life without her there. But, I've learned to move on, so has everyone else. The miracle of life is that it does go on, and that you have the choice, to either go with it, or not. I've had times in my life where I've fought that current, and it's been rough. I've learned to go with the flow. Can't fill up the car with gas? Go with the flow. Haven't gotten a full night of sleep in two months? Go with the flow. Eventually, everything seems to work out alright, and that's become my motto on life, is that as long as I keep staying positive, and living my life the best way that I can, being nice to others, taking care of my family, and being just the best person I can be, that everything will work out in the end, and that's about all I can say about that.

Ken Miyagishima: Las Cruces' Answer To...

2008-06-28T08:18:00.002-06:00

I was compelled to post about politics in Las Cruces this morning, because our mayor hasn't done many positive things "for the people" since taking office. I didn't vote for Miyagishima, and I was pretty vocal around election time (see Why I Will Never Vote For Ken Miyagishima As Mayor of Las Cruces, my October 9th, 2007 post for more on that), both on my blog and around the web. I actually drew the ire of Miyagishima himself on more than one occasion, but whatever, I have that right as a citizen to demand fair politicians.

Why don't I like Ken? Well, since he's been put in office, shady dealings have been taking place here on the south side of town (see my February 25, 2008 post on that HERE), businesses continue to rule all, while the citizens are left behind, and the city just doesn't feel like it's "working" as smoothly as it was say one year ago. Of course, what do I know, I'm just a citizen, I don't own a business that could benefit Ken in any way, so I don't see why he or anybody else in our local government should care. But there are people in our local government who do care. I felt like Bill Mattiace cared. I met him on a number of occasions, helping our schools get the funding and appropriations we needed, supporting kid centered activities, and caring about the people at large.

Mayor Miyagishima has his chance to prove to us that he can run this city by putting its citizens first. He has a long way to go, but from having seen the true side of his character (read my October 9th post if you really want to know), I already know what the end result will be. It's sad, it really is, that we're all destined to have business first politicians running the show.

And Then Kids Happened

2008-06-27T22:29:00.001-06:00

So you can pretty much ignore my previous post from a few hours ago. We ate dinner, had a good time, my brother came over, and we were going to sit down to play some Wii. My oldest son, who is five, went to the restroom, and said his stomach hurt. He came out of the restroom, and threw up all over the hallway (which is tile thankfully), and he did it FOUR TIMES.

He's sick, that's obvious, so we had to cancel our trip. So now I get to stay home and be bored. That's what we call "having kids."

Ignore This: You Know You Will

2008-06-27T18:33:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we'll be hitting the road for a weekend visit to Carlsbad to see my sister and her family. It's my nephew's birthday, so it should be a fun time. Of course, traveling is a little bit less fun now, as is going for a drive. We used to enjoy going out for an evening drive sometimes to get some Sonic or something. Those days are gone, now that a six mile round drip drive to sonic costs about $2.00 in gas (that's insane).

So tomorrow, we'll gas up for around $3.87 here in Las Cruces, and when we leave Carlsbad, we'll gas up for around $4.08, IT'S RIDICULOUS. Of course, in the meantime, President Bush jet sets the world at our expense, not having to worry one little bit about gas prices. I hate him.

Political What Not

2008-06-26T23:15:00.003-06:00

I guess it's time for one of those posts that no one will read but will make me happy that I said my piece. I've been thinking a little bit today about the upcoming presidential elections (COME ON, HURRY!!!!). I want it to get here quickly because I can imagine the world getting a lot worse in the last four months of the Bush administration. I've obviously already chosen a side on this one, I'll be voting for Barack Obama in November, as a Democrat. That's right people, I'm a Democrat. I actually considered going Independent, but in New Mexico, you need to be a party member (either way) to vote in certain primaries, so I wanted that option, and decided that I can no longer associate in any way with the Republican Party, after what they've done to this once great and influential nation.

So it's time to start getting out there and spreading the word for the man who represents the greatest realistic chance for change (because come on, all those fringe thinkers who really could implement major change won't pull more than .0005% of the vote in any given state). I think Obama represents the push in the right direction we need, and we need it badly. I'm ready to sit back and watch Obama not only beat McCain, but beat him into the ground. The message needs to be sent, Bush ruined this nation, and now we've got to piece it back together. Please go and die in shame George W. Bush, you've done more damage than all the previous bad presidents combined.

Where the Supreme Court Had It Wrong

2008-06-25T22:40:00.002-06:00

Of course with this post I am discussing today's Supreme Court decision that child rape could not be grounds for the death penalty. I have said it before and I'll say it again, when crimes are committed against children, the most innocent and helpless citizens of the world, the punishment needs to be hard and swift, to send a message to the other sickos out there that this is not ok.

I'm a fairly liberal guy, but capital punishment is something that I've always supported. Someone who will rape a 6 or 8 year old child does not deserve life, it's as simple as that. A crime like this is the worst crime I can possibly imagine. So I'll side with Barack Obama on this one and disagree with the Supreme Court, they really screwed it up this time.

My Short Letter To the President

2008-06-24T20:18:00.002-06:00

President Bush,

Where the F*** are you? I can't afford to gas up my car anymore, and I just paid $140 for the same amount of groceries I used to pay $100 for. Are you at your ranch enjoying the privileged life of the super wealthy, or out having a good time with your buddies from big oil? Have you noticed that the weather is getting a little rockier by the minute? Do you not feel any responsibility at all for any of this?

The Buss

A Fact of Teacher Summer Vacation: The Happy Zone (Weeks 4 - 9)

2008-06-23T20:55:00.003-06:00

I actually do have stuff to do this summer, lots of stuff potentially. Of course, I'm also on vacation (like I haven't brought that up a million times this month). I really found that I was more tired than I thought, I can only guess that it's because I really took a lot more on this past school year, and was working hard to finish my masters and get in to doctoral school. It was a busy semester, the busiest ever. There were runs of three or four weeks there where I had six or seven deadlines looming all at once, sometimes within minutes of each other, and I did a good job of staying focused on it all.

Now, I can't stay focused on much of anything. In fact, it wasn't until just a few days ago that I found the focus to sit down and read again, and start posting to my blogs more consistently (you may have noticed that there are huge gaps in my posting since May 23rd (my last day of work), and that would be why.

It's finally the good part of summer though. Last school year is now a distant memory, and next school year is still far enough away that I'm not thinking much about it yet, so I'm in what is called "THE HAPPY ZONE." That's right, it's that wonderful part of the teacher summer vacation, which usually runs between week four and week nine (assuming you have an 11 or 12 week vacation). I'm mid-way through week four, so I'm definitely in the zone, and it's great.

Top 10 Movies That You're Not Supposed To Like, BUT I DID

2008-06-22T22:30:00.002-06:00

OK, I hope the title to this post is self explanatory. The point here is, there are movies that the consensus out there on them is that they sucked in a big way, and most of them really do suck. Some of those movies, however, were enjoyed by... me. That's right, it's my own secret shame, lame movies that I loved. So without further delay:

10. Howard the Duck - Nobody is supposed to like this movie. Well, it came out at a time when I was a child. I'm not saying I was like between a boy and a man, I was literally a child, like 7 years old. Somebody recorded this movie on VHS (you know, those rectangular black things) when this movie was playing on HBO back in the '80s, and I watched it tons of times. I also had a big crush on Lea Thompson back then too.

9. Joe Dirt - OK, yes, David Spade is kind of a douche bag, and yes, this movie was ridiculous, but dang it, I liked it. I got really in to the whole mullet thing and the hot chick friend, and the fact that Kid Rock (also a douche bag) played a douche bag, WOW!

8. Lady in the Water - I guess I could have also put a couple of other movies from M. Night on here, but this is the one that gets the most crap, or GOT the most crap until The Happening came out, but I haven't seen that one yet, so I'll go to his last. I liked the story in Lady in the Water, I thought it was a neat movie. Yeah, it got ripped to shreds, but Paul Giamatti is awesome and those scary dog things were... scary dog things.

7. Teen Wolf - I think this movie actually did well back in its time (the early 1980's, when lame stuff was cool). However, I went through a lame '80s movie phase when I was in high school in the late '90s, and Teen Wolf was up there. Michael J. Fox was pimp, and it was cool that he would turn into a werewolf and play basketball awesome and not disembowel people and stuff like other werewolves of the time.

6. The Fifth Element - Somehow, my dad rented this movie shortly after it came out on DV... um, VHS or DVD or whatever, I don't really remember. In any case, it was weird, like really weird, but awesome weird, and we watched it like 10 times. I love this movie.

5. Tremors - I have to say that for my money, when you have a borderline B-movie and Kevin Bacon, you can't go wrong. I can't say this movie was scary, but it was good. Oh, and Reba McIntyre was in it, and I've always had kind of a thing for her.

4. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zisou - Some of those movies made in this style, like I Heart Huccabees and The Royal Tenenbaums really did suck more than one of those $500 rocket ship looking vacuums, but The Life Aquatic was hilarious. Bill Murray is cool, aquatic stuff is cool, you're good to go.

3. Joe vs. the Volcano - This is another '80s movie that I have my dad to thank for. He became more than a little obsessed with this movie, and so did I. Meg Ryan was basically hot back then, and Tom Hanks had not yet become, you know, Tom Hanks. I have always wanted a set of those floating suitcases that you can play golf on, that was amazing.

2. Shallow Hal - Let's get one thing straight, Jack Black is THE MAN, the dude knows the score. This movie was hilarious, I don't care what anyone says, I loved every second of it.

1. I'm going to end this list with a double feature. This movies both starred the man himself, the greatest actor of our time, Kevin Costner. Costner was in Robin Hood, which rocked out, he was in Field of Dreams, which rocked out, Bull Durham, awesome, The Untouchables, amazing, Dances With Wolves, epic, JFK, classic, Mr. Brooks, creepy awesome, and Open Range, cowboy awesome, among others. So, anyways, the two movies are:

Waterworld & The Postman - I like them both. Waterworld was awesome, I thought it deserved more respect, because the whole water thing really worked, and Dennis Hopper was a prick. I'm also into the whole post-apocalyptic thing, so Waterworld and The Postman worked for me.

Why Won't I Read?

2008-06-21T23:12:00.002-06:00

I've been an avid reader for about my entire adult life, especially during the summer months. Obviously, as I've said before, my vacation extends from the end of May to the first week in August, so I have free time with little stress, perfect reading conditions.

So I'm having a hard time understanding why I haven't felt like reading this entire summer. In fact, I didn't finish my first summer book until this evening, almost an entire month into my vacation. I had plans to do some serious reading this summer, but everyday that I woke up, I just didn't want to pull a book off the shelf and read. It's been very strange.

I think it must have something to do with how much reading I did during the last semester, from January to May. I read somewhere in the range of 25 books for graduate courses, about 17 of them literature, and another 10 or so at work, plus about six or seven just on my own time. I guess I just needed some time away from books. Hopefully I'm ready to read again, because I honestly have the desire, but I just haven't been able to sit down and enjoy it.

Why Sports Journalists Tick Me Off

2008-06-20T09:30:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago I was out running some errands and was listening to ESPN radio. I don't remember the name of the ESPN guy who was talking at the time, but he's a real opinionated idiot who rants about nonsense about 90% of the time. Jim Caple, a writer at ESPN, also chimed in on the topic as well, so these guys really make me angry.

The topic? In this case, Red Sox fans. The guy on the radio went on and on about how much pain and struggles 'true' Red Sox fans have been through (basically fans who live in Boston and the surrounding area), and he decried all other Red Sox fans as unworthy band wagoners who don't deserve to root for this team because they didn't suffer through years of agony and blah blah blah. Yeah, the guy is a moron.

Jim Caple, in his article Red Sox Nation Must Be Stopped basically insinuated that to be a Red Sox fan, you have to be at Fenway Park, and know the history of the team dating back forever. I didn't realize that you now had to qualify yourself as a fan. What also makes me mad is this whole regional thing. There are Yankees fans all over the country, and I don't see anyone crying about that. Why then, because I live in New Mexico, can I not be a Red Sox fan?

The last time I checked, there weren't any professional sports teams here. Are we expected to default to either Arizona or Texas, and root for the Diamondbacks, Astros, or Rangers? I actually was a Rangers fan growing up, but I never got in to it. One thing I had all those years growing up was a deep hatred for the New York Yankees. Finally, in college, I decided to pull for the Red Sox and see how that went. That was in 2001. Yeah, I haven't been a Red Sox fan since I was born, I haven't SUFFERED since the day I was born because my team just couldn't win, (those ESPN guys are so dramatic they make me want to puke, suffering in sports is nothing) and, yeah, my team just happens to be on top of the world right now, but who cares.

I'm not a band wagoner, and it's not just because I got on board back when they were still kinda-sorta crappy. I'm a lifelong Cowboys and Mavericks fan, two teams that have been major let downs in recent years. The difference there is I was passionate about those two teams where I never cared about the Texas Rangers, and that's why I had to seek out a new team. It doesn't matter that I've never been to Boston and I live 2,000 miles away, they're my team, and I have my reasons. Heck, who knows, since I've been a fan, they've won two titles, so maybe I'm the good luck charm (ok, ok, no idiot e-mails, it's a joke).

And for those journalists who think that being a fan of a team requires some kind of life long commitment, shut the heck up, it's just sports, and honestly, it's not that important, it's just entertainment.

Out of Left Field

2008-06-19T22:33:00.002-06:00

I ran into an old friend tonight, in fact, my old best friend that I grew up next door to. He called and said he was in town for a meeting and so we got together. It was real nice to catch up, I haven't talked to him in over three years, and it really got me to thinking about how quickly life changes everything around you.

We shared pictures of our kids, talked about changes in life, and everything else. It felt really good to get to talk to an old friend. I guess the point here is that lives change really quickly, in this case just three years. He's a completely different person, and so am I, but it's all good. People change, but it's nice to have friends.

Rethinking the Classroom

2008-06-18T16:44:00.002-06:00

I guess I've been on vacation long enough to feel rejuvenated, because I'm starting to think about next year. For me, next year will be a major change all around. Now that I feel I have my own reading program going strong, I'm going to be taking it to the next step, integrating technology. My reading class is centered around student choice, with tech based book reports involved at the end. I'm going to be using Smart Recorder, free software from Smart Board that you can use even without the board, along with power point and movie maker to make technology reports.

That's just one part of it, I'm going to also be using Moodle, a free online classroom to teach science content. The point of this post isn't to talk about it all in detail, I'll do that later and will probably do it on my other blog, which is centered around the classroom (come to think of it, I haven't posted in a few weeks... oh well, it's summer, I don't have a classroom right now).

The point of this post is just to show that teachers should constantly be evolving. There's nothing worse than a teacher who says "I've been doing this for 20 years." That's basically code for "I'm lazy and stubborn and my students don't learn anything." Students today are so different than they were 20 years ago, heck, even 2 years ago, that we have to change our approach. Sure some things work, but if your entire teaching is the same as it was a long time ago, then I don't want my kid in your class.

I'm going to have a great class again next year, like I have the last two, and it's because I put work into making it new, interesting, and making the kids feel like they're really doing something, not just going through textbooks, because those things are boring and nobody learns that way.

Relentless Lies: The Legacy of the Bush Administration

2008-06-18T11:17:00.004-06:00

I saw the documentary Taxi to the Darkside last night. It was a powerful film that put the events of Abu Gharib and Basram under the microscope for everyone to see. It's clear, even before watching this movie, that basically the executive branch of our government are war criminals, and nothing more. Not just them, but the generals and other high ranking military officers surrounding the events that transpired at those prisons.

It was just one example, and that's what made it so difficult to think about. It's not like the Bush Administration focused all of their efforts on breaking international law and covering it up in this one instance, they've done it constantly almost the whole time Bush has been in office, on many different fronts.

We have the torture at those prisons, we have the reasoning and happenings in the wars, domestic spying, and gas prices, among other things. This lying sack of you-know-what administration needs to be censured or impeached or something, but it won't happen. They're already working on writing the laws that will pardon them for their crimes, and it's the American people that have to suffer. Now, I'm reading online that the oil companies, alongside the administration and Republican pundits like Bill O'Reilly are giving oil executives a free pass by telling the American public that it's market demand, not the desire to push profits further, that are pushing prices over the $4 per gallon mark. This is just one more example of the lies that are tearing this country apart.

I was angry after watching Taxi to the Darkside last night, angry about the lies, the fact that I ever trusted Bush and his people, and angry that I was ever a Republican. The lies go so deep and so far, and they only serve to further the lives of the administration and their friends. It's ripped the country to shreds. I take little solace in the fact that Bush will live in shame for the rest of his life as the worst president in American history, the man deserves to sit in prison for the rest of his life, along with his administration, they're war criminals, and they've killed thousands of innocent people.

How To Survive (Or Not Survive) 100+ Degree Weather

2008-06-17T09:07:00.004-06:00

It's Tuesday, and it will be hot today. The "official" high yesterday was 106, but that was out at the airport, on the mesa. It usually gets hotter down here in the valley that is Las Cruces. I've noticed that the temperature gauge inside of our mini-van is usually pretty accurate. If we're getting in the van and it's been sitting in a big hot parking lot for two hours, when the temperature reads 110, it's probably right because of where we are, in the middle of black asphalt surrounded by other cars.

Well, yesterday, I went to the bookstore during the heat of the day, and when I left, after spending 45 minutes in there, the temperature read 118. It was a scorcher, that's for sure. After living in this part of the country my whole life, I handle the heat pretty well, but I really can't remember feeling as hot as I feel right now. This run of the summer with all these consecutive days of 100+ weather with no chance of rain just seems brutal.

When you live in a place where the temperatures get like this, and not just as a freak of nature, but as part of nature, there are steps you need to take in order to keep your health. There are a few things that people (usually people who moved here from cooler places) do that are just plain stupid, including:

Going for a jog or bike ride between noon and 6:00. No, when you do that, you don't look cool, you look stupid. Save the outdoor exercise for either early morning or evening, when the temperatures are at least under 100.
Doing yard work, including watering the lawn, during that same heat of the day. When it's 110 outside, that water is just going to evaporate before it soaks in. Do your yard work and watering when it's cooler out, or when it's dark out.
Overdressing is a problem. Don't layer clothes when it's hot outside. Yeah, sometimes I'll wear a long sleeve shirt when it's 100+ outside, but I've learned over the years that sometimes I keep cooler by keeping the sun out altogether, but it's usually a thin long sleeve, and there's not another shirt on under it.

OK, apart from stupid things people do, there are some things you can do to stay comfortable during the heat.

Don't go outside unless you have to. For me, summer is also my vacation, so I don't have to go to work. We try to stay in the house as much as we can during the hot part of the day, which is noon to 6:30 or so, maybe even 7:00 around here. Keep the air conditioner running, and keep the sun out as much as you can. If you go outside, run the a/c in the car, and stay in the store or work or whatever as much as you can. "Fresh air" is kind of a dumb idea this time of year.
Just because you think you're used to it doesn't mean you are. I've met plenty of idiots who have lived here for three years and all of the sudden think they're the gods of hot weather. Even if you have developed the ability to survive the heat doesn't mean you won't pass out from heat stroke, it probably means you've just destroyed your brain from all the heat.
Listen to all the things those weathermen say. You know, drink water, stay in the shade, don't die, stuff like that, it's all true.

So there's the end of that. You know, living in the heat here in Las Cruces really isn't all that bad. It usually gets really hot during June, parts of July, and sometimes parts of August, but it also rains more in July and August, so it's not as bad. Just think, survive the hot months here, and the rest of the year is awesome. It doesn't get too cold and our fall and spring feel like southern California, it's in the 60's and 70's a lot. So stop whining, suck it up, and deal with it, or move back to Sacramento and leave us alone.

Dripping Springs Wildfire Pictures and Video

2008-06-14T22:47:00.001-06:00

Everyone here in southern New Mexico has been wondering when the whole place will just go up in flames. We haven't hardly seen a drop of rain since last fall, and everything is so dry, it has just been a matter of time.

I went out with my family to eat dinner at around 6:00, and we could see smoke coming from the western slopes of the Organ Mountains, located east of Las Cruces. We can't see that portion of the mountains from our house because it's blocked by trees and then by "A" Mountain (Tortugas Mountain).

Once it started to get dark, you could see the fire wall coming over the mountain. We drove out that way, along with probably 1,000 other people, to see it from as close as we could get (about 2 miles). Here are two pictures that I took that look decent. I didn't take a tripod, and had trouble getting good photos, but here's what I have, along with a video I took and uploaded to Youtube:

Summer Man

2008-06-14T10:30:00.002-06:00

I had a busy week, presenting at a conference here in Las Cruces, but I'm done now and have regained my summer. Anyways, the thing I wanted to talk about today is my job, teaching. I know I've discussed it hundreds of times in my almost 1,000 posts on this blog, but I'm discussing it again.

Yes, there are jobs out there that pay a lot more than teaching, and yes, there are jobs out there where you work longer hours and can relate to movies like Office Space more readily than teaching, but, well, that's not why I do it.

Here's the thing, I could have done something else, I'm smart enough that I could have chosen many different fields to study in college, and could be off in another job making a lot of money right now. But those jobs would be things I didn't enjoy, I would have to make compromises I don't want to make, and I would have to wake up everyday knowing that I was pursuing money instead of something I'm passionate about.

I don't have to worry about that with education. I do wake up everyday and go to my job feeling like I'm doing what I want to do. Sure, I don't make enough money to have a fancy house and fancy cars, but I do make enough for my family to be comfortable here in America. I feel fulfilled at my job, and yes, I do deserve my extended vacations.

There's always those haters out there who decry teacher vacations. My response to that is, if you really think it's that unfair, and you want those vacations, it's very simple. You go to college, take the courses, student teach, get a degree and certification, and teach. It's not like I won a lottery, I chose this profession. And yes, it is the most demanding job there is, that's why we get long vacations. At the end of those nine months, we're all run complete ragged, by the demands of the job itself, working with kids, but also by the demands placed on us by the state, by the federal government, by programs seeking to use us as guinea pigs, and by uncaring parents who place their burden upon us (on the opposite end of that, helpful parents help make the job manageable).

So, that's my discussion for the day. I'm going to sit down now and plan out the rest of the month, a month in which I don't have to work. Oh yeah, then there's the month after that, which I also don't have to work.

Governmental AARRRGGGGHHHH

2008-06-08T20:42:00.002-06:00

I gassed up my car today for $3.83 a gallon, which, believe it or not, felt like a steal, considering that it's anywhere from $3.89 to $3.95 all across town right now. These prices will continue to rise, unchecked, and will reach $5.00 a gallon, I'm convinced of this. It's been pointed out that demand has spiked and is now falling, yet the prices continue to rise. It's futures trading run amok, and mismanagement on behalf of the White House, intentional mismanagement, that's put us in this all encompassing hell.

Suburbia is endangered at this point. If it keeps getting worse, and the price of oil doesn't get way under $100 a barrel and fast, banks are going to be settled with entire developments they can't sale because people can't afford to live 40 miles from their jobs anymore. That's just one example of potential trouble.

As the prices keep rising, trucking companies will continue to cut back shipments, costs will continue to rise, and a vicious cycle will ensue. I hate to say it, but I think this is about to be more than a recession, it could and probably will end up a depression. Just think, eight years ago, we were in a surplus, but through the Bush/Cheney administration, bungling mismanagement, and putting money into their big business friends pockets, the nation is on the brink of crumbling. These criminals can't get out of office fast enough, and at this point, I really don't care how they get out of office, I just want new leadership, before there's no America left.

Stop Hijacking My Generation

2008-06-08T10:19:00.003-06:00

The future looked so bright for our parents and grandparents. As young adults, they had a world of prosperity ahead of them. Even with the bumps in the road in the 1970's, the long term outlook eventually looked to be strong, and the ability to save money, buy a home, and retire well was always there.

I just don't feel that for my generation. I am a part of the generation known as the Millennials, which apparently has its pros and cons. On the plus side, we're a tech-savvy, world minded generation, unlike the generation now in power in the world, a generation that is ultimately selfish and short sighted. We grew up during the technological boom, and are just old enough to remember the world before 9/11 and the rhetoric that followed. We are the most educated generation in American history, and we will end up paying more for higher education that the previous generations combined.

OK, that didn't all sound good, some of it's bad, but that's not it. We live in a world where oil prices have skyrocketed, and this time, may not rebound like they did in the 1970's, and since the world economy is largely oil based, we're screwed on that front. We live in a time where the world is largely at war, a war started by the generations before us, but is already attempting to be passed on to us. The priorities of the generation in power now are so completely and totally misguided and wrong, and the expectation from them is that we'll continue to ignore education and the environment and focus on defense spending and foreign wars.

Hopefully this generation is better than that. I obviously don't have politics in my future, because I'm not wealthy and don't have friends in high places, and that's something about this country that will never change. I just hope there's a country left for my kid's generation.

The Dead Heat of Summer

2008-06-07T18:28:00.002-06:00

Summer is here, it's pretty much official. My van (which likes to tell me the temperature outside) told me it was anywhere between 103 and 107 today here in Las Cruces, and I'd have to believe it, it was super hot. This is one of those days where you just pull all the curtains close, fire up the A/C, and sit around in your underwear, OR go to the mall, I did a little bit of both.

No, I'm not a huge mall fan, but during the dog days of summer, going to places with nice air conditioning is a good idea, so I went and spent some quality time in Barnes & Noble. I still think that I can deal with the heat better than the cold, when it gets down in to the 40's and 30's, that just sucks, there's no way around it, I hate it. At least when it's hot, you can still go outside and keep in the shade and have fun, when it's cold, you just freeze.

This is also another reason that I'm glad school gets out for the summer. Yes, I have air conditioning in my classroom, but it's not great, and it's not great in most schools. When the temperature outside gets into the 100's, it's hard to keep the classroom at room temperature or below, so I'm glad that I'm here at home where I can keep it cold. We're about to head out again and go to some more stores and keep cool, because even though it's 6:30, it's still really really hot out there.

Teacher Summer Vacation For Dummies

2008-06-05T22:49:00.003-06:00

It seems that I'm starting to break out of my early summer recovery stage. If you're a new teacher entering your first summer, are wondering what it's like, or are just interested in the process, here is basically how the end of a school year and summer vacation work, and this of course only applies to teachers who don't immediately take a summer job and aren't stupid enough to do summer school.

Two weeks before school gets out: You begin to realize school is almost over. The last two weeks drag on like mad, but you can't seem to get everything done in time, and you end up losing sleep and becoming even more fatigued.

One week before school gets out: Now you're REALLY feeling the fatigue, but are in the process of getting end of the year things together, completing work on cumulative files, and cleaning your classroom for summer.

Summer break: Day 1: This is the "Is it true?" day, when you realize you no longer have to wake up and go to work for awhile. You spend most of the day bored, looking for things to do.

Summer break: Week 1: I did say you'd be tired, so you'll spend this week sleeping in and watching lot of TV. Towards the end of the week, you'll start regaining some energy and maybe start doing yard work and things like that.

Summer break: Week 2: At some point this week, you'll find yourself missing work, and wishing you could go back. Don't worry, you'll get over this quickly. This is usually a good week to go on vacation or something, because you're starting to break out of that early vacation funk, you're getting your energy back, and you don't mind sitting around.

Summer break: Week 3: This is the week when it all becomes great. Everything is right with the world, you can read for pleasure, watch TV and not feel guilty about not grading papers, and stay up late doing whatever and not worry about work tomorrow.

After week 3, you're spoiled, you're rested, and now you settle into the life of someone who basically doesn't have a job but gets paychecks in the mail. Don't get too spoiled, because soon enough, you'll be starting up again, but don't worry, because by then, you'll be full of energy and ready to get back to it.

Return From Vacation

2008-06-03T17:03:00.000-06:00

We returned from our now annual summer vacation in San Diego a few hours ago. We had a lot of good times, it was nice to be where the temperature never got above 72 degrees. I'll probably start posting more now that I'm back home, but for now, I leave you with this picture I took at Mission Beach. We need to go do some grocery shopping and recover from the madness of vacation, so I'll be posting again soon.

Whoa, Slow Down Self

2008-05-25T22:40:00.004-06:00

Today I went and gassed up the mini-van, which we haven't filled up all the way in at least eight weeks. What we usually do is put $20 here and $30 there, but since we're heading off to San Diego in a few days, we'll have to gas it up. We found pretty much the cheapest gas in town (that's reputable), at $3.72, and I paid $66 to gas it up. That's insane!

Luckily gas is cheaper in places like Tucson, Yuma, and San Diego, but we'll still be paying a lot more than we did when we went to San Diego last summer. It just sucks, I have seen plenty of people here in Las Cruces change the way they live because gas prices have spiraled out of control.

Everyone can blame who they want. Yeah, I freaking HATE oil companies to the very core of my being. These demonic punks sell their souls to make billions, so I can't wait until the bottom falls out and they're looking for charity, because you know what, I'm probably a nice enough guy to offer a helping hand, which sets me and most honest Americans apart from these crooks.

OK, oil companies aside, it's President Bush's problem. Yes, it is his problem, because he won't do anything about it. His moronic attempts to 'help' smack of, well, being half-assed. I care mainly about two things when it comes to voting in the next president, the economy and education (I'm a teacher, of course I find it important), and Bush has screwed both of those up worse than they've ever been screwed up before. The man deserves no accolade, and no respect. If he ever comes through my town, I'll stand on the street corner just to flip off the jerkas he drives by.

So, now that I'm on the no fly list and have the FBI tracking me because of this post, I guess I should cut it off. I'm just glad that we saved more than we needed for this vacation, because it looks like we'll be spending it now. Oh, and yes, I am kind of mad that Obama's visit to Las Cruces tomorrow is invitation only, that's not cool in any way at all.

Clinton Jumps the Shark

2008-05-24T14:22:00.003-06:00

I think that Hillary Clinton's comments about Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968 were over the top, and understand the outcry that's going on. No, it's not solely because I support Obama, I agree a lot with what Keith Olbermann said in response (that video is below this post) to Clinton's statement. He said that this primary is full of racial and gender issues, and invoking assassination just goes too far.

But when I really think about it, this is a dangerous situation for Barack Obama, the man has been receiving death threats since the day he announced his run, and would most likely be the target of racist nut jobs all over the country if he's elected president. So why does Hillary Clinton need to go there? All I can say is, first she ripped the Democratic party in half, and now she's burying herself and any chance she will ever have of being president, now, or in the future. This woman is jumping the shark as we speak.

The Sad End

2008-05-23T17:03:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I said goodbye to my students, and they all cried quite a bit. One of my big things is that I want my class to be a family, and they really do that. While the classes around me are full of chaos and apathy, my students lived for one another. So yesterday was a sad moment for all of us. This is the end of my third year, and like the prior two, I find myself slightly depressed that summer is here.

I know it's ironic. I've been waiting for summer to come, not because I didn't like my class, but because teaching is a very demanding job, and I was ready for a break. I'm glad the break is here, but the thought that my students aren't my students anymore, that they're leaving to go to middle school, just sets very heavily on my mind for a few days. Luckily we're going on vacation next week, so I won't be lingering for too long. Summer is great, I'm ready for the rest, ready to read a little, ready for my own kids to drive me crazy, but for now, I'll be missing my now ex-students, who truly are wonderful people.

Almost there

2008-05-20T21:13:00.004-06:00

It's a bittersweet time for me every year, the last few days of school. Tomorrow night, I will carry on the tradition of the 5th grade promotion ceremony at my school, something that has become a meaningful time for parents and students alike. Everything is ready, and it should be great, I'm excited. Thursday is of course the last day of school here in Las Cruces. It's something that surely every teacher and student looks forward to. After the long school year, summer is well deserved.

This reminds me of a great joke I heard on the radio the other day. The man telling the joke was a former teacher, and he said the following:

I was there with my friends, talking about politics and things of the sort, when the discussion of teacher pay came up. If you don't know, teachers don't make very much money. So, this lady says "Well, teachers get those long summer vacations, that's why they get paid like that." I looked at this woman and I said "Yeah, I can see how you may think that. Do you want to know the real reason teachers get summers off? It's so we don't kill your kids.

I knew you'd like that. So that's it, we're almost there! Of course I'm kidding as well, my own class, I will miss very much, but little bits of humor keep us going.

Dems

2008-05-19T21:16:00.001-06:00

When I turned 18 back in 1998, I registered to vote and joined the Republican Party. Well, let's just say that the times have changed. Yes, I supported Bush, a lot, but things change, and people change. I've seen so much BS in the world that it's changed me. So, today, I finally took that official step, and changed my party affiliation. I gave a lot of consideration as to whether I would go Independent or Democrat, and finally settled on going Democrat. It still gives me the ability to vote in the primaries in New Mexico, plus, I end up voting Democrat 90% of the time anyways. I'm becoming more and more liberal as time goes on, so it made sense.

There, I finally have that monkey... er, elephant, off my back.

Awesome Movie Survey

2008-05-17T21:34:00.002-06:00

1. One movie that made you laugh: Talladega Nights

2. One movie that made you cry: The Pianist

3. One movie you loved when you were a child: The Sandlot

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: Lord of the Rings (all of them)

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: Waterworld

6. One movie you hated: Unfaithful (honorary award: Alvin and the Chipmunks)

7. One movie that scared you: The Sum of All Fears (like a "this could happen" scary)

8. One movie that bored you: North

9. One movie that made you happy: Secondhand Lions

10. One movie that made you miserable: King Kong

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see: The Hills Have Eyes

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with: Any character Jessica Alba has played.

13. The last movie you saw: Stranger Than Fiction

14. The next movie you hope to see: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

15. Your favorite movie: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

As Simple As That

2008-05-15T22:48:00.001-06:00

It's another year, another fifth grade slideshow. I love making these things, it's one of the highlights of the year for me. Putting together the pictures, the words, the music, and then, next Wednesday, when everyone, students and their families, watch it, I really enjoy that. It's a great way to end the year. It always makes me sad though... Oh well, that's life as a teacher, you have students, then they leave, that's it.

Scary Doom

2008-05-13T22:00:00.004-06:00

This post will probably make readers think I'm some kind of nut job... so yeah. Anyways, earlier this school year, I was studying pre-Colombian cultures with my class, and one group studied the Mayan culture. We came across some interesting things about the end of the world date that they came up with. Their 'doomsday' is December 21, 2012. Of course, a lot of interesting things line up with this date. It's the winter solstice, a date in which the Sun, Venus, and the center of the galaxy will align with earth, and then there's something about a shift in the Sun's magnetic poles.

Anyways, this is all potentially bad, and has people all over the world pointing to this day as the most legitimate candidate for the end of the world that we've ever seen. When reading further into it, a lot of people believed that 2008 would be the beginning of an unraveling, a very bad year for the earth. It's hard not to believe this after the way the year has started off. We already have two mega tragedies, the Myanmar cyclone and the earthquake in China, and these are both very recent tragedies with over 100,000 dead. It's just one of those things, you know, I have a bad feeling about the rest of this year.

We've already been told to expect record melting on the polar ice caps, a big season for hurricanes, and the possibility of erratic weather worldwide. Maybe if this continues, eventually the idiotic American government, OUR government, will wake up and pull its head out of its ass.

Cloverfield Virgin

2008-05-12T23:09:00.002-06:00

That's right, I saw Cloverfield tonight for the first time, and you know what, I LIKED IT! My wife, who is like a movie hot shot, didn't want to watch it, but you know what, SHE LIKED IT TOO!

Yep, Cloverfield ended up being a pretty good movie, it was intense, the monster things were freaky, and the ending was kinda crappy but not really. It was the perfect Blair Witch Project type of thing with a nice monster twist, and it sure beats all those other monster movies that ended up being crappy, like Godzilla and, you know, like the dinosaur scene in Jurassic Park II, where it drinks from the swimming pool and eats the dog.

I'm pretty sure there will be more of these, like a whole Cloverfield series of movies, like survivor accounts as the beasts move their way across the country or world or whatever. I would be on board for something like that. These whole armageddon themed movies are pretty cool, we need to see more of that.

Me Me Me Me Me

2008-05-11T21:47:00.003-06:00

I had a nice weekend here in Las Cruces. Yesterday, I walked with my Master's degree in the NMSU commencement ceremony. That was actually the low point of the weekend, a little long and boring, but worthwhile I think. A lot of family was in town and came over to the house for an after graduation party, we had almost 30 people over here eating all my food and drinking all my stuff, but whatever, that's what it was there for.

Then today, we followed my sister and her family over to White Sands to get sunburned and die, which was fun also. Tomorrow I head back to work, with only 8.5 days of school to go until summer vacation, and I'm really excited about that. So anyways, nobody will read this so whatever.

Self Imposed Kudos

2008-05-09T21:50:00.002-06:00

While it's not a HUGE deal, I do have a lot of family in town right now to attend the NMSU commencement ceremony tomorrow. I just completed my Masters of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction at NMSU, and will be walking tomorrow in the graduation. It is pretty exciting to have put another goal behind me, the goal of graduate school. I am starting the doctoral program in the fall, and that will be the true challenge.

I am ready for tomorrow, ready to have a good time, party here at the house, and sit through a very long and mostly boring ceremony. Yeah!

Where To Eat In Las Cruces

2008-05-08T16:22:00.002-06:00

If you're just visiting Las Cruces, New Mexico, are moving here, or live here now, and need some ideas for some good places to eat, look no further. Obviously Las Cruces has all of the chain places, fast food, bar/grill, and stuff like that, so I won't even talk about those, I'm going to focus more on local places that are great. So without further delay:

La Posta - La Posta de Mesilla is the most well known restaurant in the area. It's located in historic Mesilla, right off the plaza (take Avenida de Mesilla south of I-10, and you'll see it on your right). It has a great atmosphere, is in an original building from the 1850's, and serves some pretty darn good Mexican food too. And when I'm talking Mexican food, I'm not talking about that weak stuff they serve up in Albuquerque, this is the real deal. It's not too spicy, it's not too sweet, it's just perfect. If you eat at one place when you come here, this is it.
El Comedor - Up the street (north) of La Posta, on Avenida de Mesilla, is El Comedor. This little place is great. The restaurant is smaller, and it's a little more expensive than La Posta, but wow, it's great. They have some of the best fajitas out there. You can't go wrong there.
The Pit Stop - To get to The Pit Stop, you either need to make the Motel Boulevard exit on I-1o, or get to Motel Boulevard, and head south of I-10. It sits right next to a motel (weird huh) called the Coach Light Inn. They have good salsa here, and great tacos. They're also good at American food as well. This is more of an old school diner, on of my favorites.
Mr. Bills - If you have ever spent time in Southern California, you probably know all about In-N-Out Burger. Mr. Bill's came in here in Las Cruces not long ago, a locally owned place, and is as close as I've tasted to In-N-Out. I love it, my family loves it. The food is cheap, the fries are freshly cut, and their burgers are great. It's on El Paseo just down the street from Las Cruces High School (after Missouri Avenue).
Mesilla Valley Kitchen - Located right in the heart of town, on Lohman, Mesilla Valley Kitchen is a great place that serves pretty much everything. Their menu is big, the prices are small, and their food is darn good.
Cha-Chi's - Another Mexican food restaurant, because it's something that there's a lot of in Las Cruces. This one is located on Locust, just two blocks from NMSU. You turn on Locust from University Avenue, and it's on your left just about 200 yards down the street. It's a good place, with many options for great food.
Caliche's - If you lived in Las Cruces a long time ago, you would know Caliche's as "Scoopy's." This is more of a dessert place, they have great custard and ice cream, and I mean GREAT, the best around. But they also serve hot dogs and other food, and it's not bad. This place is the best for dessert, and there's three in Las Cruces. There's the original on Valley, one on Roadrunner up in the new part of town, and a brand new one, located inside a Pic Quik gas station on the corner of Tortugas/Watson and Highway 478 (South Main Street).
Burger Nook - This tiny place is as close as I've seen to the "White Castle" thing. It's a small restaurant that serves small burgers, big burgers, and some pretty good Mexican food as well. It's on Madrid, off of Solano on the north part of town, near the country club and Apodaca Park.

Atomic Tragedy: Horrors of the Hiroshima Bombing

2008-05-05T22:45:00.004-06:00

My post tonight deals with some new images that recently emerged (10 of them to be exact) that show, up close and personal, the horrors of the Hiroshima bombing of World War II (I provide a link at the bottom of this post to a site showing these pictures). It's interesting that most of us grew up in school basically believing that the American government could do no wrong. We learned that our government saved millions of lives by dropping these bombs, and as teachers (for those of us who are), we're expected to tell our students that... whether or not it was actually true.

I'm not defending the Japanese actions as a Nazi ally in World War II, they committed atrocious acts during this period, but it appears that the Allies did as well. When you consider that by June 1945, Japan's air force and navy had been all but annihilated, and that the Allies had a de facto military victory in place, questions begin to arise about the necessity of the bombings that took place on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In early March of 1945, American bombing runs over Tokyo obliterated the city, killing over 200,000 people. The Japanese had begun seeking peace with America formally in April 1945. On August 6, 1945, the Hiroshima bomb was dropped, after months of potential negotiations of peace initiated by the Japanese.

So why did America drop the bombs? It is widely accepted that the Japanese were no longer capable of fighting a productive war after April, yet four months later, America killed over 500,000 civilians, which is just a horrible thing. Of course, this is still a hotly contested topic in the United States, partly because of the propaganda that continues to shroud World War II (and I'm not calling our WWII veteran heroes out on this, my grandfather was one, and I continue to idolize him to this day for the part he played), this is more of a politically connected decision to flex the nation's muscles that just happened to be one of the most brutal, heartless, and possibly unnecessary act in all of history.

So if you would like to see that picture archive, go to Atomic Tragedy.

The Worst Billboard of All Time (NCLB At Its Worst)

2008-04-30T21:08:00.002-06:00

Here is that billboard from Murfee Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas. The sign is literally the most shameful thing I've ever seen, it's an embarrassment for schools everywhere. Who is this principal you ask? If you'd like to know, or even call her and tell her to tone it down a bit as far as this testing nonsense goes, just head off to the Murfee website and click on "meet the principal."

So without further delay, here is the billboard, which is INSANE, I'm embarrassed for the entire Lubbock school system, the state of Texas, and America over this one, it's a new low. Yes, it's the old "True greatness comes when you are tested" Teddy Roosevelt quote with the nice little "Good luck on TAKS" quip at the bottom. TAKS of course being the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. If you want to know more about Murfee, it's a fairly well off school in a good part of town, one of those schools with high parent involvement and education, so of course they do well. In the meantime, this principal goes on patting herself on the back, when what she really needs is to be put in a poor school, which is where the majority of the truly great principals are, working in sad conditions with the state breathing down their neck.

Midnight Oil

2008-04-27T23:15:00.002-06:00

I'm busy burning the (almost) midnight oil, trying to make progress on two papers that I'm writing for my final two masters courses. One of the papers has a great sense of achievement about it, and I'm really proud of what it can eventually be, it's about Holocaust literature, and I don't know yet, but I think it's coming along alright. The other one is a boring action research thing that means nothing other than to get the grade and pass the class.

I guess I should call it a night, I do have work in the morning, and class in the evening. Wow, think about it, in the near future, this could be a huge part of my job, writing research and stuff like that, I just hope I get better at it, because I'm really just swinging in the dark right now.

Idiot Principal Alert!!!

2008-04-26T20:00:00.003-06:00

Murfee Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas, put an interesting quote on their marquee. I don't live in Lubbock, and I couldn't find the exact text of this quote online, but it was a quote made by President Theodore Roosevelt. The marquee said "The true value of a person is evident when they are tested."

This is manipulative on so many infuriating levels that I don't even know where to start. If you go to Murfee's website (you can click HERE to do that), you can read more about how 'exemplary' the school is based on their TAKS scores (the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills), and the principal, who I won't name, but if you want to find out more about her, you can through the website, obviously thinks that by testing students, we are in fact making them better people.

Well I have news for this principal and any other person in a position of power in public schools who tries to manipulate words and students to save their own jobs and pat themselves on the back, you are what is wrong with public education, you are helping perpetuate this belief that test scores define who children are. It's ridiculous and infuriating. I'm going to try to get a picture of the school marquee to share it with all, it is truly shameful, embarrassing, and a sad statement about the spineless people that are in administrative positions in American public schools.

Fight back, the time is now, with the changes in our government that will take place this year, it's time to get out there and start talking about what No Child Left Behind has done to this country. We can either remain gutless and tell students that taking these tests makes them better people, or we can face the reality, and stand up for the future of education.

Drop Gut

2008-04-25T21:35:00.002-06:00

There are 18.5 days of school left, that's it, then I'm on summer vacation. It's going to be great, that's all I can say. I'm running on fumes, have been for a few weeks now, but I know that these last weeks need to be a little more laid back or I'm just going to drop.

In this era of high stakes testing, it's impossible to keep up a high level of intensity in the classroom, and it effects us everywhere. District wide here, many schools use a computerized testing software to see how much kids are learning (yippee right?). Well, yesterday I got to talk to teachers in the middle schools, and all of them, yes, 100%, said that they saw a drop in scores on the test students just took.

Well, of course teachers have to sit back and bear the brunt of this attack on why this happens, but it's very simple. You see, in New Mexico, we take our standardized test in late February. So, for all intensive purposes, the school year builds up to that, with an entire 9-10 weeks of school left afterwards. What happens is the school has teachers running 100 miles an hour up to the test, and afterwards, both the students and teachers need to slow it down a bit. That's why the scores drop, that and the fact that, well, there's 18.5 days left in the year.

I've always prided myself in putting my students first. I feel this is another example of me doing that and putting myself before the firing line as a result. Now, if test scores are the reason we're teaching these kids, then great, I'll leave.

Religious Nut Jobs

2008-04-23T16:29:00.000-06:00

This post is an indirect response to an article on CNN.com titled Atheist Soldier Claims Harassment. It's not totally based on that article, but it made me want to post about the topic at large, of how non-religious people are discriminated against a lot.

I'm not going to back track here and describe the way I was brought up, the bible thumping town I grew up in, and the things that I've seen over the years that eventually drove me away from religion, this just has to do with a national outrage and backlash that I'm starting to see from other people.

Let's not confuse religion with a belief in God, those are two separate things. Religion encompasses church, the indoctrinated beliefs and rituals that come from that, and the need to 'fellowship' and preach to other people in order to convert them to your beliefs.

My biggest interactions with a religious person this year has been with someone I work with, who could easily be described as a right wing (on the far right fringe) religious nut, who preaches at anyone who will listen, who won't keep their nose out of other peoples business, and who basically makes work a nightmare for everyone who doesn't agree with their narrow world view.

It sucks, I'll say that much right now. It's horrible to see people treat other people like they don't matter or like they're idiots because they don't share a belief in an invisible friend, beliefs that match theirs. There have been many occasions this year where I wanted to just go off on this person, but because of my own personal morals, which aren't based on a religion, but are based on the fact that I treat people nicely because they're people, I haven't said anything.

That's the difference between normal people and religious punks. Religious people feel the need to let everyone know that they have all the answers, and yes, they sit down and talk major smack about the people who disagree, trust me. People like me, who want to help other people, and who want to live a quiet life, are the real people helping the world, not the religious nut jobs, those people are the biggest plague in the universe. I would say I hate them, but I don't need them 'praying for me,' so I'll leave it at that.

Suck Bush

2008-04-22T21:46:00.002-06:00

Two things that are politically based have been bothering me. First of all, when George W. Bush took office in 2001, life seemed pretty good. Now, through the years of his administration ignoring the American public, making their friends in high places (as well as themselves) rich, and self-proclaimed ignorance, the world is in shambles. Food prices have gone nuts, and now I'm hearing that this may be the end of 'cheap food,' especially in America.

It all happened so fast, one day, you can buy your bread and milk for a couple of bucks, gas up at $1.30, and still have enough money to go catch a movie. Then, before you know it, we have a jack ass for president, bread and milk cost a ton of cash, gas is $3.75, and that movie is a once a year treat that you save for.

Wow, how quickly the entire economy collapsed on us, and the whole time our president stood by saying "there's nothing wrong, don't worry about it, just trust us." Well, that stupid idiot has screwed us over, and it sucks. Anyways, there's nothing more to say, just that it sucks, that Bush will end his term, make his millions upon millions, and spend the rest of his life trying to spin his legacy, and blame the current recession and state of affairs in the world on either Bill Clinton or our next president. You suck Bush, you suck indeed.

Why School Sucks

2008-04-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

I sat down with my kids as they were watching the Disney Channel earlier today, which first of all isn't a very exciting channel for an adult to watch, but they seemed to like it, so whatever. So we were watching it, and within a three minute period, school got trashed twice. First, there was this song putting down school, then there was some show where a girl was asked to 'sit down and do nothing,' and she said 'oh, like at school right?'

It's funny, sure, or infuriating, depending on who you are. But the fact that I saw it twice in three minutes probably means it's happened more than twice, and on channels other than Disney. It happened for a reason, school sucks.

You hear me right, I am a public school teacher, and I'm telling you, school is lame, it's boring, it's disconnected, it's boring, kids think it's a waste of time, it's boring, they feel like their opinions don't matter, and, oh, IT'S BORING.

As a teacher, I've felt on more than a number of occasions that I have both hands tied behind my back. The requirements of No Child Left Behind have turned school in to nothing more than a clearing house for testing companies. Students have effectively been reduced to numbers and raw sets of data to plug in to a spreadsheet (which I have done MANY times).

Anytime a teacher pulls out a textbook, students groan, and rightly so, textbooks suck, they're lame, they're boring, and they don't connect with students. Anytime a teacher reaches for the stack of worksheet, students groan, and rightly so, worksheets suck, they're lame, they're boring, and they don't connect with students. Anytime a teacher reaches for the _______ (plug whatever you think works right here), students groan, and blah blah blah, you get the idea.

Dropout rates are high, and it's not the high school teachers fault, it's not the middle school teachers fault, and it's not the elementary school teachers fault, it's everybodys fault, starting at the top, but including all of us. 'Experts' have reduced teaching to programs, where all teachers have to do is give out these certain books, test using certain tests, give certain worksheets, and say certain things. If teachers do this, student learning is GUARANTEED to rise. The problem with this picture is that student learning is about more than how they scored on some test, and that's all these programs care about.

If you ask most students what their favorite subject in school is, most have one, maybe two. The problem is the other subjects, it's normally math, language arts, or something along those lines, that just doesn't make the connection, and students become bored, complacent, and many just give up, because they don't see the point. When you make kids think that all they're good for is taking a test so the school can get money and the teachers can keep their jobs, something is very very wrong.

So anyways, there's my long drawn out reasoning behind why school sucks. I say this from absolute personal experience. I grew up in public school, and I obviously did ok, I'm highly educated, and am on the path to my ultimate career goal (a Ph. D.). Yet, I was bored in school, I never liked it one bit. Now that I'm a teacher, I try really hard to make it interesting, but know that even then, my students are bored sometimes. And even if I am the most exciting teacher in the world, that doesn't mean the teachers that my students will have for the next seven years will keep it up.

Somethings wrong with our schools, and the first places we need to look are at the faces of the people telling us what to do, the government, central offices, and state departments. It just needs to stop, we keep chasing our own tails, going in circles, and we end up back in the same place that we were before.

One Out of Twenty Million

2008-04-18T22:34:00.000-06:00

I know some might find it hard to believe, but there was once a time when I wasn't boring and carrying around a beer belly (even though I don't drink beer). Yeah, there was even a time that I used to go out jogging and play a lot of sports and things like that. It's not real easy to explain what happened, but it had something to do with, you know, life. A family and career tends to change priorities, and I haven't done a good job of putting personal fitness on top of that list.

Well, I finally decided to do something about it a few years ago (for the first of many times). I laced up and went down to the university to get in on some pick-up basketball games. Of course, I got some looks, because here I was, this overweight dude with glasses, looking like I'd never even touched a basketball. Well, I got in to a game, and thought I was in way over my head. These guys were young, they were strong, and they were fast, not to mention really good.

Well, to make a long story short, I could run with them, I held my own. It felt good, and for that entire summer, I went down to the courts three times a week to play, and by the end of the summer had a bit of a reputation as a baller down there.

That was the summer I graduated college, 2005. That was also the summer I took my first full time teaching job and we moved away from that part of town. We live in a much quieter part of town now, but the nearest basketball courts aren't lit (so I can't play at night very easily), and doesn't get a lot of games on it. So it's fallen away, but basketball has always been a love of mine. Of course my students (5th graders) occasionally get me to go outside and play games with them, which always helps the old self-esteem as I become Shaq and dunk all over those 9 foot rims.

It seems like every time I want to get out there and get back in shape, which honestly wouldn't be that difficult, sure I'm carrying around about 40 pounds of extra weight, but I could do it, but every time I want to, there's just more other stuff to do. Now, with the decision to head off to doctoral school, I'm worried it will get even worse. So this summer has to be it... or not... but I really hope it is. I'll definitely have the time, I just need the motivation. The funny thing is this blog could probably have been written by twenty million other people just like me.

Why President Bush is a Jack-Ass (Reason #36)

2008-04-16T16:02:00.002-06:00

Today President Bush called for a halt to greenhouse gas emissions... by 2025. He said that enacting these policies in the short term just wouldn't be good for our economy. Of course, money is more important that, you know, being alive, so he's probably right. Then again, from where I stand, Bush has more or less destroyed our economy, why else would I be paying $3.45 for gas, $4.25 for a gallon of milk, and why I can't buy a house now because the entire thing has gone to hell (not to mention the fact that he destroyed education in the United States and is fighting a pointless war all at once).

There has to come a time when people like him don't exist. We can't live in a world anymore where people put money and greed before the health and safety of their fellow humans, it needs to become a crime, we've reached that point. If it was a crime, Bush and everyone with him would be put away for the rest of eternity.

27 Days and Counting

2008-04-15T22:19:00.002-06:00

I think I've almost reached the point of complete and total burnout. This semester has been brutal in many ways. When I can say that work is the least stressful thing that I do, and when I prioritize the important things in my life, work doesn't even make the top 5, you know that stress is in the air.

It's starting to lift, work pressures always subside after one-shot high stakes testing is done, and we're only five weeks away from summer, so it's within sight, let's just get there. On top of that, I'm getting near the culminating point on finishing up my master's degree, I just need to finish up two more papers, one for each of my classes, and both are due in early May, so that is kind of the end of my stress day.

It's been an interesting experience for me. The month of March was by far the most stressful of my adult life, but all of my goals so far have been met, I am finishing strong at the university, and now, I just need to spend time focusing on my kids at home and giving my students at school a strong end of the year. I can do it, only five more weeks to go, then stress becomes a distant memory....... until August.

Yeah, So, Um.........

2008-04-14T18:41:00.003-06:00

I'm nearing the end of a three day weekend here, and it was great. It was the last long weekend of the school year, now it's a straight shot for the next six weeks and then the big one, summer vacation. I'll admit, I'm losing steam right about now, it's getting harder to go in to work and keep up a high level of activity, I'm worn down, my students are worn down, we're just all worn down. Now it's just a matter of dragging in to the summer, that will be great.

Anyways, other than that, there is absolutely NOTHING going on, odd. OK, bye.

Polygamist Pervs

2008-04-12T20:04:00.005-06:00

This whole polygamist thing in Texas really got me thinking about... well, polygamy I guess. The whole thing is really strange, and disgusting all at once. It's at once about the treatment of women as second class (or no class) citizens, dirty old men wanting to be with little girls (we call them pedophiles), and something about religion too.

Yes, the polygamists in the news are a branch of the Mormon church. The Mormon church has released a few statements over the years talking about their stance on polygamy, but distancing themselves from it doesn't take away the shame that is a black mark on the entire religion. I'm not really going to get into Mormonism here, because that's now what I'm about right now, I just want to focus on the facts.

My wife really got in to that Big Love show on HBO, and I'll admit, I watched it too. It's a good show, like some huge soap opera thing, but is really watchable. Watching this dude have his three mostly hot wives made me think 'dang dude is lucky as hell.' Of course, that's sensationalized polygamy (huh?).

Real polygamy looks something like this:

Yeah, sorry about that, but I had to show it. Polygamy is mostly old pervs looking for young chicks to marry and 'enter into god's kingdom' with. It's crazy stuff this polygamy.

But seriously though, if some old dudes dupes some grown woman into becoming his next bride, it is sad, but she's an adult, and is engaging in idiotic stupidness. When it involves a child (a child being a girl under 18 years of age in my definition), it's sick, disgusting, illegal, immoral, and, you know, all the other stuff that goes with molesting children.

So, to summarize: Polygamy = old pervs, young girls, and brainwashed women.

The Kobe Bryant Role Model

2008-04-12T08:38:00.003-06:00

I saw the new video of Kobe Bryant leaping over a moving Aston Martin car, in an attempt to seemingly show off for the camera and some dude. I know sometimes things are done for fun, just for entertainment, but when you consider that one of the biggest fan groups for NBA basketball is that 10-18 age group, and they're also the age group most capable of doing something completely idiotic because they saw Kobe Bryant do it, this is pretty messed up stuff.

Let me slow down for a second. The video is obviously faked. He would have breached his contract in so many ways by actually jumping over a car coming right at him, so yeah, it wasn't real, it's a Nike commercial. These types of commercials have been quite the thing for the last few years (remember Michael Vick throwing a football over a stadium and LeBron James hitting like four full court shots in a row during a shoot around, yeah, fake).

The point here is that even if one kid thinks he can do that, and ends up getting killed by a moving car, then someone has to be held accountable. I'm all for freedom of expression or whatever, but considering that television is the only parent that some kids have, it's a pretty bad parent in a situation like this.

So obviously without me blabbering anymore, here's the video. You decide for yourself.

You Don't Care: Don't Even Bother Reading This, It's A Waste of Your Time

2008-04-11T15:46:00.001-06:00

I'm heading out to Western Playland in El Paso to have a good time with the family. We're going over there for some fundraiser, and the park will only be open to a few hundred people. I'm excited, ROLLER COASTERS!!! So uh, yeah, like 2 people will read this, so whatever.

Mean Students Without A Care in the World

2008-04-10T19:37:00.003-06:00

I ran into the following quote today on Huffington Post, in response to an article a teenage girl who violently attacked her teacher and videotaped it to post on YouTube and Myspace. The article is titled Mean Girls and the Parents Who Love Them. The quote is actually a comment, made by someone with the screen name of Moshe, and I wanted to dig a little deeper:

Far too many of our public schools have become saturated with a vileness of
culture that degrades the people in them.

What kind of a culture is present in that school, when their teacher is
violently attacked, and all the students can think to do is to either stand by
and watch or record the violence on their cell phone?

The massive industrial age model of public schooling (made even more
massive by the desire to have strong football teams), is a dinosaur that has to
go in favor of much smaller, neighborhood schools, home schooling, etc.,
supported by technology. A very strong and diverse curriculum can be offered
online even in the most remote areas, and we could finally put an end to the
twisted Lord of the Flies culture that comes from the impersonal, de-humanizing
mega-schools.

Imagine what students might actually learn, if their educational
environment was focused on instilling a joy of inquiry and learning in children
(which most children are born with and retain until it is pounded out of them
through the NCLB and a brutal culture in which those who love to learn are
bullied as "geeks"), and created a safe, supportive space for every child to
grow and learn.

Obviously Moshe thinks that public schooling is an outdated relic that even borders on being dangerous and de-humanizing. Well, Moshe is right in part, but the whole thing that she brings up feels more than a little like a pipe-dream. Yes, smaller schools would be great, yes home schooling by parents who care and provide a top notch education would be great, yes NCLB destroys the sense of joy that should go with learning, but the reality is, we can't get rid of what's there.

I know it sounds pessimistic, but we can't have smaller schools when the money isn't there and the teachers aren't there. Many people don't want to go into teaching, partly because of the pay (which sucks, I know for a fact, I am a teacher), partly because of the culture that is described in Moshe's comment, and partly because, well, the pay again. Home schooling is great for parents who are dedicated, but trust me, I've seen some parents who don't give a flip about their kids, they just want their kids to stay out of the way so they can watch American Idol and sleep until noon everyday.

The other big issue here is No Child Left Behind. The real truth about this holy nightmare of a public education policy is that not one educator in the country approves of it. Then again, not one educator in the country had anything to do with it in the first place, it's another self-serving idiot parade brought on by our jack ass president and his jack ass staff.

I've seen similar behavior right here where I live and work, in students who aren't even teenagers yet. I've said it before and I'll say it again; this whole issue starts at home, schools aren't the cause of these problems, they're the place where the problems spread. And with administrations that are so focused on testing testing and testing, they don't have the time or even the ability to deal with discipline issues anymore, even though, in my opinion, that should be the primary job of principals.

I find Moshe's comment to be very interesting, because it's true in every way, yet at the same time exemplifies the fact that many of our problems in public education are going to take time, a new presidential administration, parents who care, and caring citizens to fix. That sounds like a lot.

As the World Spins Out of Control

2008-04-09T21:22:00.002-06:00

I've been just looking around lately at everything that's going on in the world, and it freaks me out a little bit. Yeah, I'm young (I'm still in my mid to late 20's), but I do remember a time when the world, at least from a middle class American standpoint, seemed pretty normal, even after 9/11/2001. Obviously I can trace some of the current things in the world going on to 9/11, but not all of them. I just can't remember there being a time, at least in my life, and probably not at least since the 60's, when the world was as chaotic as it is right now, and a lot of what went on in the 60's was domestic.

Well, we certainly have our share of domestic problems right now, just think about it, we have:

The War in Iraq
Gas prices, food prices, utility prices, prices of everything
A falling stock market with a possible recession and a devaluing dollar
Housing market on the brink of collapse
A fairly messed up race for president. This one isn't too out of the normal, but it just goes to show the state of the country right now, people are desperate for change
An administration that absolutely ignores the American people

Yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and that's only domestic, look at the world, we have, just for example:

The crisis in Darfur
The Chinese ruling with an iron fist in Tibet (and the Olympic protests that are going on)
The War in Iraq (obviously a world issue)
Out of control weather causing major problems world wide, with reports that 2008 may be a record year for hurricanes (global warming? I think so, but what do I know)
Possible American military activity in Iran? If Bush has his way, definitely

OK, so I'm not too precise tonight. I just keep thinking about how insane the world is right now. It seems like there's so much going on that I'm having a hard time keeping up with it all. If I was a biblical man, I'd probably start pointing to signs of the end times, and heck, I wouldn't blame my crazy religious zealot self for saying something like that, it's chaos, all around, on every continent. America is in the middle of it all, are we the cause of it all?

I'm not attempting to make a political-scholarly statement here, I'm just saying, it's out of control, literally. Whether or not 9/11 got the ball rolling, or the Bush administration, it's now rolling, and it can't be stopped.

Blue Tooth Douchedom

2008-04-06T08:17:00.001-06:00

Does using blue tooth make someone a total douche bag in every way imaginable? The answer to this question is undoubtedly YES. You know, there is occasionally this guy, somewhere on the highest floor of the highest building who is so important at his job that he needs one of those stupid blue nuggets in his ear so that he can multitask. Yes, occasionally there's that woman who needs to have a conversation while typing (they're called headsets, but whatever), so yeah, I can see that.

For everybody else, you are a total moron in every single way possible. There is no way that that incoming phone call is so important that you must take it even though you're at Wal Mart, or worse, Chuck-E-Cheese. There is no possible way that it's so important that you not only have to take the phone call, but you must do it hands free.

My dad usually gives me a call when he's out running errands, like doing the Wal Mart thing, and it makes sense. Wal Mart sucks, it's boring, grocery shopping is lame, so why not make the most of it and talk to someone for awhile, I get it. But at least he has the good sense to not stick the blue nugget of douchedom in his ear, he knowingly sacrifices one of his hands to *gasp* hold his phone and talk while somehow, against all odds, pushing his shopping cart with only one hand. The man is obviously some kind of wizard, on a level that blue douche's aren't.

It's only going to get worse, that is the fact. As cell phones get smaller, pretty soon people are going to have the stupid things embedded in their heads so that they just, you know, like touch their temple and take the call. It's going to take the whole talking to yourself in public thing to a new level.

John McCain: You're Doing It Wrong

2008-04-05T09:18:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, watching John McCain get booed while giving a speech in front of the Memphis hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago really reminded me of the lack of integrity that exists today.

Watch the clip, and watch McCain's face. What you'll see is a man who is only sorry that he has to mention something that will now be a liability. The fact that he voted against making Dr. King's birthday a federal holiday, more than once, is something that should be remembered. Obviously, the crowd of people who braved the rain to come out agreed.

John McCain stands for everything that Dr. King didn't. McCain stands for pandering, saying the right thing, wearing the fake smile, and courting every voter by saying what he thinks they want to hear. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for integrity in the face of adversity, he stood for love for every man, and he stood for social change through open and honest dialogue.

This video reminded me that John McCain, like 90% of all American politicians, is a snake in the grass. I've said that I support Barack Obama, and I just hope that as this year unfolds and the campaigns unfold, that we see integrity and sincere caring from Obama, because if he turns out to be anything like McCain, I'll either vote independent or I won't vote.

It's too bad that there aren't more people like Dr. King today working in public like King did. I just started teaching a unit on civil rights this past week, and talking about King is one of the focuses of the unit. Everytime I teach it, I look at him with more and more respect. He continues to be talked about and focused on because he was a great man, and having someone like John McCain try to ride on his coattails is shameful.

Cell Phone Idiots: We Call Those Cell Phidiots

2008-04-04T22:16:00.004-06:00

Actually, that mash up of 'cell phone' and 'idiots' is probably crap, but that's fine. The point here is that sometimes even the best ideas with the best intentions end up turning into the worst ideas. I think cell phones have now crossed this line. Yeah, now it's time to turn your back and count me out as some kind of technology hating jerk, but before you do that, consider that I embrace technology, I see the benefits of technology in the global society, in the classroom, and at home. Heck, right now, it's 10:20 in the evening and I'm sitting here posting on a webpage that's literally read by tens of --- people a day, from my living room. I love video games, DVR, satellite radio, and am utterly dependent on high speed internet.

The problem with cell phones lies in the disconnect between their intended use and their actual use. The intended use of cell phones was to blow open the lines of communication. Now, instead of staying at home waiting for a phone call, you can take the call anywhere you are (as long as it's not in a tunnel or in the mountains). Something has happened, something I like to call the 'idiot effect.'

When idiots get ahold of things, they tend to do idiotic, self-centered, stupid things that endanger themselves and those around them. For years, the debate of talking on cell phones while driving has raged. Of course, it's no debate, driving while holding a cell phone definitely hurts driving skill and focus. How do I know? Because I've been run off the road many times by cell phone idiots. In my opinion, even having it hands free doesn't work, because you're still not able to focus on the road.

Of course now, cell phone idiots have taken it to a new level. Now, they text message while driving. This is akin to reading a book while driving, or to playing a Nintendo DS while driving. Yeah, those things sound pretty stupid don't they.

If you ask me, it's time to take action here. My wife already has, she'll honk frantically and yell at people texting while driving if they're swerving and basically being self-centered morons. I've gotten in on the act. Yes, we're a couple of crotchety old folk now, but you know, I like my roads safe and my drivers paying at least some attention to the fact that they're behind the wheel of the most deadly weapon ever made, an automobile.

Some states are beginning to take action, by outlawing cell phones and texting while driving. It's a good first step, but you know, it's kind of like drunk driving. Just because you make it illegal doesn't mean the idiots, morons, jack asses, and self-centered a-holes will stop doing it. I'm just hoping that pretty soon evolution will kick in, and the idiots will begin to die off, mostly by self-stupidity. Of course, the real law of the world seems to be that idiots live forever, so I guess I should just get used to it. Idiots ruin everything.

No Lotto For Me-------O

2008-04-03T18:33:00.003-06:00

If I ever won the lottery, would I be one of those people who goes broke in like 5 years because I just can't manage the money and am giving it away? The answer is probably. I've never been good with money, not at all. Even now when I have bills to pay and mouths to feed, it's hard to hold on to money. This is the main reason that I never carry cash unless I have to. For some reason, having that cash means I have to spend that cash, but the same temptation isn't half as bad when I'm just carrying my check card.

So if I won the lottery tomorrow, which would be weird because I don't ever play the lottery, then I would take the money, get out of debt, probably call up all of my family members that don't suck and ask them what they want, then I'd TRY to save, but yeah right.

Next thing you know, I'd have a solid gold house, a rocket car, and John Merrick's remains, and no money. I guess it's true though that money sucks. If money makes me this miserable now, how would having more of it make me less? Not to say that I'm miserable, but I would say that 90% of my worries in the world are somehow centered around money, so the logic checks out on that one.

So for now, it's no lottery for me.

Like It Matters

2008-04-02T07:19:00.002-06:00

Yesterday 3,115 people hit the polls to vote in the public school buildings election here in Las Cruces. As I said yesterday, even though I am a public school teacher, I decided to skip this one, not that it mattered. Get this, the Las Cruces Public Schools employs over 3,100 employees according to their website, so basically, there's your total.

Yeah, these elections aren't very popular. Basically it's old people, school employees, and a few citizens from around town. The final tally was 490 against and the rest for, so think about it, if just a third of all the teachers in town voted, it still won in a landslide.

Wow, 3,115 votes cast out of a possible 48,000. That's an amazing 6.5% voter turnout for this one.

I think the point here is that these school taxes and building projects will always pass, and it's because they take advantage of voter apathy. I'm definitely pro-public schools, and there's no way I would have voted against this building project. The reason I didn't vote was because I don't like how the schools shamelessly announce to children to get their parents out there, people should have the right to decide, this amounts to pandering, and I hate that. Like it matters right?

To Vote or Not to Vote

2008-04-01T07:08:00.002-06:00

Today is a special mil levy vote here in Las Cruces, meant to renew some levies here so that three new schools can be built, a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school out on the East Mesa (aka where wanna-be-rich people live). I never thought I would say this about a school related vote or any chance to vote, but I'm thinking about not participating.

Why do you ask? I'm a teacher, so this directly benefits me you say? I don't know if it's quite that straightforward. If you know me at all, you know I don't like being told what to do on my own time by people outside of my sphere of influence (my family). Obviously at my job there are people telling me what to do, and I listen to some of them because it's in the interest of, you know, keeping my job, but voting is my personal business.

All I've heard the last two weeks at work is 'vote vote, get out and vote, vote vote vote.' Heck, they've even been announcing it to the students, to remind their parents to get out and vote. This self-serving pandering is obviously going on all over town, I've talked to a few teacher friends around Las Cruces who feel the same way. Yes, it's important to build these schools to alleviate over crowding and blah blah blah, but I'm past my wits end with being told to go vote.

So, as a teacher, as a concerned citizen of Las Cruces, I would go out and vote. But as someone who is fed up with how these school votes go about, I'm not going to vote today. Not that it matters, there's usually about 3% turnout at these things anyways, basically, if every teacher in town votes, that swings the vote, these things never, NEVER fail, so they don't need me. Whatever...

Spring Break Ends: The Buss Gets Personal (A.K.A.: A Post Nobody Cares About)

2008-03-30T17:42:00.004-06:00

It was a nice, long, 10 day Spring Break, and now it's over. Tomorrow I head back to school, with only something like 38 school days left until summer vacation. I guess it's a little easier to come back after Spring Break than it is after Christmas Break, because the end is in sight this time. It's not too hard to keep the kids focused towards the end, they're ready to end on a strong note, and so am I.

This has been a huge semester so far, and almost all of my goals have been met. Coming into this semester, I had goals to finish my Master's degree, get into the doctoral program, pass my dossier and move to a Level II license in New Mexico, and, well, pass my written master's exam. So far, I've done them all except the dossier, which I'll be submitting in early June. I'm excited that everything has been going in a positive direction, and I'm really in a good place at work as well.

So tomorrow, I head back to finish out the school year. This summer vacation will truly be one of rest and recuperation. I considered workings this summer, and we could always use the money, but I think the rest has been well earned this time around.

Hill Billy Hunters

2008-03-29T09:58:00.003-06:00

The Gray Wolves of the Rocky Mountains near Idaho are lucky enough to be taken off of the endangered list. Of course, the crap part about this is that there's already hunts being planned on them. Do we never learn? Can humanity really be this openly stupid?

We work so hard to save these animals from the brink of extinction. All of the environmental studies, the breeding, re-introducing them to the environment so... some idiot bastard hunters can shoot them? Yeah, this sounds like it was planned out by the Bush administration to me.

OK OK, before I start getting the attack from the right wingers on this, I get it, I know why hunts are allowed. If their population runs out of control, they'll start to change the ecology of the region (not that humans hunting the wolves nearly to extinction didn't change it to begin with), kill too much livestock, stuff like that. But I don't want to hear this whole 'hunting is a noble act.' Hell no hunting isn't a noble act.

I think that hunting for sport is one of the most barbaric things that we still do. Now, if you're hunting because you NEED the food, then fine. But, well, I grew up in hick town USA, where hunting is one of those 'rites of passage' things. All these hicks keep an extra freezer in their garage to fill with deer meat from their hunts. Now, I know that hicks are stupid, but come on, you don't need that meat, there are grocery stores, even in hick town USA.

Call me a 'tree hugger' or whatever you want. It's not really about that, I'm not one of those 'save the animals' type of people. I just think hunting is idiotic. Maybe I am one of those 'save the animals' type of people, I just don't see it, can't these manly men go around and kick each other in the nuts instead of killing defenseless animals?

Our Trip to The Gila Cliff Dwellings

2008-03-27T08:51:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we went to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings in western New Mexico. It was something I've always wanted to see but never have, so, since it's spring break, we went. From Las Cruces, it's about 110 miles to Silver City, about 60 of those miles on I-10 coming from Las Cruces to Deming. From there, it's a single lane (most of the way) highway to Silver City, a fairly pretty road, but nothing spectacular.

Then, from Silver City, it's a 44 mile road out to the visitor center of the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It's located right smack in the middle of the Gila National Forest, a vast wilderness of western New Mexico. This is no normal 44 mile drive, however. It took well over an hour, I've never in my life experienced a road anything like this one, the drive along was worth the trip. It was 44 miles of switchbacks, twists, turns, curves, hills, and dips, almost without ever stopping. It was the slowest and most terrifying 44 miles of my entire life, as there were numerous times where there are no guard rails, and a sheer drop off of more than 500 feet on both sides of the road.

Once we made it through the road, we had a slight sigh of relief (knowing that there is only one way out of there, back where we came), and got together our stuff. The hike to the cliff dwellings is not far from the visitors center, it's a mile round trip. The walk in goes along the valley floor. Once you're on the far side of the cliff, you make a nearly 180 foot climb up some stone steps.

I was under the impression that it was something like a ladder, but no, it's stairs, hundreds of them, and fairly steep. But once you're up on the cliff face, WOW. Going in and out of the caves, seeing these ancient walls was amazing. I found that, with a cautious eye, even my 2-year-old could journey around the cliff face. It is a dangerous trip, so if you go, DON'T TRIP, you could fall off the edge.

Once we were done, the trip out goes along the back end of the cliff, and is fairly easy. Done, we went to find a spot on the Gila River and let the boys play along the banks for a few minutes (it was still a little cold this time of the year, but they waded up to their knees).

If you're thinking about going to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, I would recommend it. You can't end up there by accident, because it is some 44 miles off the main roads, and even Silver City isn't the type of town you just drive through on the way to somewhere. If you want to go there, it is nearly 100 miles and at least two-and-a-half hours off of Interstate-10, but worth the trip.

American Royalty

2008-03-26T21:49:00.000-06:00

I talked about the book Sold, by Patricia McCormick in my last post, but I have another angle I wanted to discuss here. I went up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings yesterday with my family, a 140 mile or so trip from here (I'll post later today on it, it was neat), and ended up finishing Sold on the way home, so it was kind of a quick turn around from starting to finishing.

Anyways, it's the story of a 12-year-old girl from a mountain village, a VERY poor village, in Nepal, who is sold to go work at a brother in a large city in India, most likely Calcutta. I don't even want to get in to how wrong it is to have young children involved in sex for profit, I did a little yesterday, and probably will again very soon. Today, I wanted to discuss how easy I have it.

Yeah, gas is really expensive right now, the cost of groceries continues to increase, I'm paying more for utilities, and even the cable bill has gone up. Yes, things would be easier if our government hadn't decided to engage in a selfish war to make rich men richer, but that doesn't really concern me it would seem.

After I read Sold, I realized that I have everything in the world. These are people living in mud huts, praying for the day they get an extra few rupees (their money) so that they can maybe make a sweet cake. It's a life where they eat the same meal day after day, if they get to eat at all. It's a life that is very simple. After Lakshmi (the main character) is sold into prostitution, we see a girl who won't even pay a rupee or two for a cup of tea, a girl who sleeps in the corner of a brothel, her only possessions a notebook and stub of a pencil. One of her happiest moments is when a young boy brings her a new pencil.

I can't compare her struggle to my life in any way. I complain about how hard it is to gas up my two cars, how hard it is to keep electricity pumping through my nice house, and how hard it is to feed my family with clean food bought from the clean grocery store. I complain that bottled water is too expensive, clean, disease free water, and how expensive the cable and internet bills are. Heck, right now, I'm sitting at my nice computer in my nice, quiet living room where my kids play with their toys on the clean floor. I woke up this morning in my nice, warm bed, and made breakfast for my kids, then I took my blood pressure medicine prescribed to me by a competent, qualified medical doctor.

I have a college education, and have nothing but opportunity ahead of me. I wake up every day imagining the future ahead for me and my family. I'm on vacation right now, spring break, for 4 more days. I get paid for these days, my check deposited straight into my bank account. Yesterday, I took my family on a four hour drive to view some history, we stopped and ate, took our time, and enjoyed the day. Today, I have some errands to run, some money to spend, and that's ok.

Wow, now I can start to understand why people in the other parts of the world either hate us or think we live in gold roofed houses. We really do have it easier than any other people at any time in the world. We are a nation of royalty, living in palaces and decadence. Now, whether or not the poverty in those parts of the world is the fault of someone, it's not the fault of the child, or the farmer who has no other way. It's sad, it really is. I guess I should stop complaining. Does it mean I should start helping?

Time To Be Honest

2008-03-25T21:41:00.004-06:00

Over the last few years, I've learned to look with an open mind at other cultures of the world. Just because it seems weird or even wrong to me doesn't mean it is, and it's something I've gotten a lot better at over the last few years. As I've focused myself more on understanding other cultures, in order to keep this open mind, to better prepare myself to be a critical student of other cultures, a few things have stuck with me that I haven't been able to let go.

I read Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns back before Christmas (see that post HERE), and the treatment of women in Muslim nations really stuck with me. What I mean goes beyond the hajib or burqa that many Muslim women wear, but their treatment in the culture. It was something that I eventually filed under the 'I don't understand it, but there's a reason' file inside my mind.

Then, today, I picked up the book Sold by Patricia McCormick, a young adult literature book that I need to read for a graduate course, and let's just say that I can't continue with this 'I don't understand it but whatever' thing any longer.

If you've read A Thousand Splendid Suns, then you probably came away shocked at how women have absolutely no rights at all. They were ultimately submissive to their husbands, men could romp around, gamble, sleep around, and do whatever, and the women stayed around to wait hand and foot on them. Sold takes it a step further, as a young girl is actually sold off into sex trade so her gambling drunk stepfather can gamble, and that's ok how?

No, it's not ok, treatment of women along these lines is not ok. I don't fully understand it, but the fact that women have no rights, that a daughter being born is basically the same thing as a goat being born, and the fact that women are bought and sold like a goat, is shocking. It goes beyond culture, it goes beyond religion, and goes into the area of men being pigs.

Yeah, I've come across somewhat similar treatment, well, to a much much lesser degree, in churches in Eastern New Mexico and West Texas, where certain 'Christians' will quote scripture to back up the fact that women are subservient to men. But you know what, it's just an excuse for men to be lazy, slovenly, and self-centered. I'm all for women standing up and being empowered, and hope that it can happen in Muslim nations, in spite of the intimidation of some men over there that allow this to continue.

I'm proud that my wife has the freedom to make her own choices. Heck, she bosses me around at home, which is fine. I work with women who are highly intelligent leaders, and go to grad school with many women who will someday be leading scholars in my field. Should it be the place of a man to force them into hiding? Is it because it makes men feel less threatened and more powerful?

It's just something that ticks me off big time. It needs to stop. Will it though? Like everything else in this world, probably not, because human kind is slow to learn and even slower to break with tradition, even barbaric, backward tradition. You'd think that we were better than that.

The Story of Lolly Poo Lee

2008-03-24T17:56:00.000-06:00

Everyone loves a classic love story. This video clip, from YouTube, is the story of Lolly Poo Lee and her love, Johnny Po, you'll love it, it's very short. The ending is almost proof positive that they are in fact in love.

DICK Cheney To American Soldiers: You Signed Up For It

2008-03-24T13:03:00.001-06:00

In an ABC exclusive interview with Dick Cheney not long ago (like a few hours), Martha Raddatz asked the VP about reaching the milestone of 4,000 deaths in Iraq. Cheney, like the class act that he is, gave all credit to the President, saying that he's in the most difficult position, even more difficult than that of the soldiers and their families. He then went on to say that they volunteered, and knew the risk, and that they all joined because of their support for the cause.

Now, it's not unlike the Bush administration to take credit for everything when it's good, push it off on someone else when it's bad, and try to spin every story to make them look awesome, but claiming that our armed forces are full of men and women dedicated to the righteous war on terror, who volunteered to give their lives for their nation, this takes it beyond the realm of reality.

Yeah, there are those who joined because they believe in the cause, there are still people out there who actually approve of the job Bush is doing (I think it's somewhere around 26% right now, the lowest Presidential approval rating since Johnson during the Vietnam War). So, the real question here is, why do a lot of people join the armed forces?

Some do it because they want money for college, some do it because they have no other path, and others do it because they think it will be a great experience. Ask most of them if they want to die, they'll probably say no, especially in a war where the lines of who is doing good and who is committing acts of evil are just slightly more blurred than they were in, say, World War II.

It's just a statement that sticks out to me as idiotic and pretentious on an insane level. Dick Cheney truly is a DICK. I'll thank the heavens the day this idiot is out of office for good.

My Taco Hell

2008-03-23T18:18:00.000-06:00

I was out yesterday enjoying the day with the family, and we got a little hungry. We had already eaten out at a nice restaurant earlier in the week (we try to limit that to once a week, you know, for idiot government recession purposes), so we went to Taco Bell. I like a good Taco Bell, I know a lot of people go 'ew,' but I like it so BACK OFF. Anyways, we at there, had a good time, and left.

Then, a little earlier today, I checked my bank statement thing online, and noticed I had two charges from Taco Bell, one for the correct amount, $18.76, and one for an incorrect amount, $10.76. I know exactly what happened. The girl running the checkout typed the wrong number, ran the card, fixed it, and ran it again, not realizing I would be charged twice, and I had no way of knowing what went down, because I was focused on other stuff.

So, I call the Taco Bell to get my money back, and the manager has no clue what's going on, so he refers me to corporate (with a deft number of 1-800-taco-bell). I call them, and the person on the phone has no clue how to help, so she takes my info and tells me a regional manager will be calling very soon to take care of the matter.

Let's just say I'm not holding my breath. Very nice move Taco Bell in stealing my money, very nice.

Easter Peeps

2008-03-23T14:29:00.002-06:00

Happy Easter to all you people out there. The only thing I hate about Easter being over is now everytime I go to the store and walk past all the Easter candy, I won't be able to say 'there's my peeps.' How sad.

Haha, Duke Sucks

2008-03-22T15:04:00.002-06:00

First Duke gets a 2 seed, one year after getting a 6 seed and losing in the first round. Last year, ESPN idiots like Dick Vitale kept saying Duke deserved better, mainly because of their hard on for Duke. Well, they did it again, today losing 73-67 to #7 seed West Virginia in the second round. Duke is perennially overrated, loved by the freakin' sports media, and hated by the nation. Duke is the New York Yankees of NCAA basketball, I absolutely hate them, so it's nice to see them gone. YOU SUCK DUKE!!!

Bill Richardson the Token Hispanic? (According to Clinton)

2008-03-22T09:48:00.003-06:00

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson finally endorsed Barack Obama for President, and it was basically called out as insignificant by Hillary Clinton's camp because Texas was already over and that's where all the Hispanics live. It's good to know that overt racism is alive and well on Clinton's side.

This whole thing is important for a few reasons. First, it just goes to show all the idiotic pandering and 'playing the game' by Clinton. It doesn't matter what people actually think and who would actually do a better job, it's just got everything to do with manipulating numbers and saying the right things at the right time, whether or not you actually mean it, which sums up Hillary Clinton, who is the biggest phony out there today.

Next, why is Richardson only relevant to Hispanics? I supported the guy, and I'm what you would call 'a white guy.'

This whole thing just smacks of political angles from Clinton. I think Obama has more or less taken the high road with most of what's gone on, and as Clinton has subtly called out the fact that he's 'not black enough,' or that 'OHMIGOD, HE'S BLACK!' Obama has managed to stay above it all, only taking obvious jabs at a woman that has no virtues and no value beyond playing the political game.

I'm more happy now than ever that I decided to support Obama in this election. I would never vote for Clinton, not now, and not in 4 (or 8) years when she runs again, because they're obviously already angling to get her position in 2012 or 2016 if need be. The woman is a fake, I don't even think she's real (of course she's real, I mean that as a candidate), she's just the face in front of a legion of advisers, speech writers, lobbyists, and handlers.

Hey Hey

2008-03-21T15:44:00.002-06:00

I got my letter of acceptance into the doctoral program at NMSU, so I'm totally rockin' excited right now. Just thought I'd let all my friends out there know the good news.

Nobody Cares

2008-03-19T07:19:00.004-06:00

Define irrelevance:

President Bush has said that he understands the debate about the war in Iraq, but that our continued presence there is, IN HIS OPINION, crucial. Well, President Bush, let's see, 4,000 dead soldiers, a stock market on the verge of collapse, the nation in recession, gas prices approaching $4.00, just to name a few things. So, um, well, who gives a crap what you think!

Uh-Oh, NMSU Aggies Tourney Fallout

2008-03-17T17:33:00.002-06:00

I heard today that many NMSU Aggies basketball players were spotted at Grahams (a local bar/dance hangout place here in Las Cruces) after Friday night's WAC tournament semi-finals win over Nevada. Of course, we all know the end of the story. NMSU went out on Saturday night, less than 24 hours after their win over Nevada, and lost in triple overtime to Boise State, an inferior team who basically played the Aggies into the ground and walked out deservedly with the WAC title. First of all, take nothing away from Boise State, they played a great game and deserved to win it. Also, take nothing away from NMSU's guys, they're a bunch of kids who were psyched over a big win.

Who do we have to blame? Last year during the WAC tournament, Reggie Theus put them up in a hotel, gave them a curfew, and kept them disciplined, and they responded by winning the tournament. Yes, they came within one shot of winning it this time, but they didn't. They were so much better than Boise State, but failed to win, and I think the lack of discipline could possibly be one reason here. It's time to look critically at this season, and basically say that Marvin Menzies underachieved, had no control of this team, and needs to win the tournament next year in order to secure his job here.

Again, I don't want to take anything away from the Aggies team, they left everything on the floor, and it's a heartbreaking way to end a season and a career for the seniors, but if they had been on curfew, how much more would they have had to give? It's just something to think about.