I did I tell you they made me the Faculty Senate President. I actually get paid for the extra work but not until Fall Semester so I have all these meetings to go to from Now until August and I do not get paid for them!!!Isn't That special? I think they are stupid making me President because I really do not care that much about any job. I am always trying to get out of the office and to the house. I never go to work when the kids are off and I never do anything unless my family wants to do it. I am not exactly dive on the grenade material. I would and will not kill myself at the job. Well no one else wanted the job so I got it.
Sometimes my sense of morals and obligations get me in trouble. I used to yell at the kids. I am being better about it. I feel sometimes I am too annoying to the kids especially Andrew because he is older. I try to balance it all but feel I fault on the side of responsibility; often. I had a rough childhood with no real parent involvement. Not that it was possible; there were 6 kids, like me, in the family so only Super Man/ Woman could have handled it! I know it drove my mom crazy trying to do it all. I have no regrets about how my parents raised me because I know they gave all they could. And that is where I get all of this from. I know my parent would have done anything I asked them to do , with in reason. So I feel morally obliged to raise my children the same way. Also I figure Andrew and Ashley's children should have a nice balance between parents who are too strict (like me) and parents who are to lenient. I figure I do a good enough job. But yes it is my moral obligation to raise my children better than my parents did. Oddly I do not see that from all of my siblings. Not placing blame but I see some very different parenting styles in my family.
You can have a gift for something and still hate doing it. I have a gift at being a logical person in meetings. I have the gift of getting people to open their eyes and be balanced during these meetings. I also am funny about it so people have a good laugh at it as well. BUT I hate meetings. I can last about 45 minutes then I am literally squirming in my seat. I am dying to get out. I absolutely hate meetings. Most of them have little to no point and I try to make them fun and logical. But I see that meetings have no outcomes. So many times I go to ,meetings and wonderful (or useless) things are said but then nothing gets done. You see in a meeting no one feels obliged to take personal responsibility. It is a group not an individual so nothing ends but getting done. Sure things are said but nothing results. So we find out a year latter that no one followed through on the recommendations because no one thought it was THEIR job. So Meetings should be replaced with personal action plans. Sure we should have meetings then after the meeting we should have a workload budget. If you do not do your assigned task then people would know. But that would make people accountable and we do not want that.
Did I mention I have a meeting at 10 am?!?
I hate to say your workload is normal It takes a few years to figure out what you really want to do. Even after you have a clue it takes a few years of eating shit before you can do what you really want to do. Even after all that it usually involves a sacrifice to get the job you want . After I graduated from Columbia I had several shitty jobs doing things just to build up my resume. Even after I had moved to Detroit things sucked. I had to move to the Marshall Islands just to break into the field I want to be in and that took serious looking. It was a shitty job in that it did not pay but it got me to where I am now. So all I can say is expect to have a shitty time for a few more years. But if you are willing to relocate on a regular basis you can end up in a great time in a few years. If you do not relocate expect it to take 5 years to get the job you really want.
Ashley is fine and doing well. Andre is doing well but hew did kick a kid in school the other day! Tita we hope will pass the Praxis test (teacher test) with a score high enough to get her a job in the Mainland. Sad to say that many states have their own test they make you take even if you have the Praxis. I had to take 3 in New York and 2 in Michigan.
I got to go play my video game and then get ready for my meeting talk to you later.
Did I mention that the kittens are great!!!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Final research papers. YUCK!
05-08-06
Andrew is just like me that is why I want to prevent him from making the same mistakes I made. I see that he is doing better than me so I am not worrying as much. But I care deeply about him and do not want to see him get hurt from the stupid mistakes I made as a child. I KNOW I need to tell him as much.
As far as work for Tita it is fine she likes her work and is meeting new people and doing well. I am so proud of her. she can be a total recluse if you let her. But she is getting out and making friends and
having a good time at work. I am happy for her. I am really excited about the opportunity for her. pluss the extra cash is VERY nice as well. it really makes a huge difference to us. We almost doubled our income when she started working! It really makes life a lot easier having money. We were doing fine on my salary but now we can plan a lot better for the future e.g. retirement and college education for the kids. It is a huge concern of mine as my dad paid for my BS I am morally obliged to do the same for my children (and they are too). I also know as a teacher I will never be rich but I hope to find a place with a good retirement program. Granted this place in theory has a great retirement program but you can never count on this place being financially stable.
So we are hoping for two things this summer. First we are hoping Tita passes the Praxis test (we find out in 3 weeks) and second we are hoping my summer classes go (we find out in 2 weeks on my classes). If my classes do not run it is no big deal. Sure i would like the extra money but who knows. If Tita does not pass the Praxis she will need to get some serious tutoring on the test (mostly the math section). If i do not have class this summer i plan to be a total bum until the everyone gets out of school.
I am almost done with school I have one more week. I do not have any classes I have to grade final papers. This is a huge undertaking because students will pass or fail my class based on their final research paper. I stress this from the beginning of the course but students put off this until the last minute. I know I did when I was in school but none of my instructors stressed it like I do. No Worries it is their choice.
My back is killing me which leads me to taking IB's (Advil etc) this then leads to GI bleeding. It does not hurt but I was concerned enough to go to the Dr. and ask for a prescription for stronger meds. Lucky
the Dr. I went to see (this time) was sympathetic; he has had back pains as well. So it was no big deal. I saw this really rude Dr. at the govt. hospital. He was really rude and did not care he even did not prescribe enough medicine to cure my infected ear. And he was Canadian I thought they were cooler than that, it totally surprised me.
Computerwise I have hit Nirvana! I had a Debian Linux system set up on my home network. it was able to get files and print through Tita's Window XP machine. Now i have decided to make it a Web and Mail server as well. I plan to spend the greater part of the next six weeks teaching my self how to set up the web and mail server functions. So expect news on the official www.rumptz.com site in the next few months.
We are going to the Philippines this summer and I plan to take as many computer classes as possible. Well I won't let it interfere with our travel plans but I do want to learn more on computer servers. I am hoping to take classes on Apache, PHP, Java and Mailserve. I hope. I plan to be learning this at home on my own as well before i go as I had said above. But taking classes I hope will broaden my knowledge.
Anyway the more I write this the less I work grading my final research papers. YUCK!
Andrew is just like me that is why I want to prevent him from making the same mistakes I made. I see that he is doing better than me so I am not worrying as much. But I care deeply about him and do not want to see him get hurt from the stupid mistakes I made as a child. I KNOW I need to tell him as much.
As far as work for Tita it is fine she likes her work and is meeting new people and doing well. I am so proud of her. she can be a total recluse if you let her. But she is getting out and making friends and
having a good time at work. I am happy for her. I am really excited about the opportunity for her. pluss the extra cash is VERY nice as well. it really makes a huge difference to us. We almost doubled our income when she started working! It really makes life a lot easier having money. We were doing fine on my salary but now we can plan a lot better for the future e.g. retirement and college education for the kids. It is a huge concern of mine as my dad paid for my BS I am morally obliged to do the same for my children (and they are too). I also know as a teacher I will never be rich but I hope to find a place with a good retirement program. Granted this place in theory has a great retirement program but you can never count on this place being financially stable.
So we are hoping for two things this summer. First we are hoping Tita passes the Praxis test (we find out in 3 weeks) and second we are hoping my summer classes go (we find out in 2 weeks on my classes). If my classes do not run it is no big deal. Sure i would like the extra money but who knows. If Tita does not pass the Praxis she will need to get some serious tutoring on the test (mostly the math section). If i do not have class this summer i plan to be a total bum until the everyone gets out of school.
I am almost done with school I have one more week. I do not have any classes I have to grade final papers. This is a huge undertaking because students will pass or fail my class based on their final research paper. I stress this from the beginning of the course but students put off this until the last minute. I know I did when I was in school but none of my instructors stressed it like I do. No Worries it is their choice.
My back is killing me which leads me to taking IB's (Advil etc) this then leads to GI bleeding. It does not hurt but I was concerned enough to go to the Dr. and ask for a prescription for stronger meds. Lucky
the Dr. I went to see (this time) was sympathetic; he has had back pains as well. So it was no big deal. I saw this really rude Dr. at the govt. hospital. He was really rude and did not care he even did not prescribe enough medicine to cure my infected ear. And he was Canadian I thought they were cooler than that, it totally surprised me.
Computerwise I have hit Nirvana! I had a Debian Linux system set up on my home network. it was able to get files and print through Tita's Window XP machine. Now i have decided to make it a Web and Mail server as well. I plan to spend the greater part of the next six weeks teaching my self how to set up the web and mail server functions. So expect news on the official www.rumptz.com site in the next few months.
We are going to the Philippines this summer and I plan to take as many computer classes as possible. Well I won't let it interfere with our travel plans but I do want to learn more on computer servers. I am hoping to take classes on Apache, PHP, Java and Mailserve. I hope. I plan to be learning this at home on my own as well before i go as I had said above. But taking classes I hope will broaden my knowledge.
Anyway the more I write this the less I work grading my final research papers. YUCK!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Spring Break
For Spring break we are going to go to a couple of the local resorts instead of going off island for one week. First we are going to some place new the Nico Hotel (owned by Japan Airlines) for a few days. If we like it we might get the membership there. But it is very far from us so we might not. Then we are off to The Pacific Island Club (PIC). We had a membership at The Pacific Island Club (PIC) a year ago but did not renew it. So I want to see if we would want to get a membership again. We are going to spend 4 days there.
David, Tita, Andrew, Ashley, Mr. Tuffs, Mr. Paws and Maddie
David, Tita, Andrew, Ashley, Mr. Tuffs, Mr. Paws and Maddie
Kittens
We got two kittens the other day. They are cute. Brothers I hear. I do not know the difference between boy and girl kittens. I love watching them run around the house they are funny. But they only chance to do this when I am home before I get the kids. The second Ashley gets home until she goes to bed she has at least one cat in her hands. They are attacking each other as I write this.
I guess the dog (Maddie) is bummed cuz she got the boot. Well she is just staying outside while the kittens get settled. I really do not like having Maddie in the house. She has the mange. Not bad but she does. So when she comes into the house because she has ticks the size of peanuts. You see the mange makes her susceptible to attacks by other insects. So we find ticks in the house all the time. Some are small some are huge. I need to keep here out.
Andrew is doing well in school but pushing his luck sometimes when it comes to his choices. Ashley is doing well. We got her ears pierced a few weeks ago so she is becoming a little girl. She has taken to painting my toe nails. It is cute but I am worried the students do not get the joke. Tita is doing fine as well.
I guess the dog (Maddie) is bummed cuz she got the boot. Well she is just staying outside while the kittens get settled. I really do not like having Maddie in the house. She has the mange. Not bad but she does. So when she comes into the house because she has ticks the size of peanuts. You see the mange makes her susceptible to attacks by other insects. So we find ticks in the house all the time. Some are small some are huge. I need to keep here out.
Andrew is doing well in school but pushing his luck sometimes when it comes to his choices. Ashley is doing well. We got her ears pierced a few weeks ago so she is becoming a little girl. She has taken to painting my toe nails. It is cute but I am worried the students do not get the joke. Tita is doing fine as well.
Andrew
Andrew is a really cool kid! Really, I do love him to tears I just don't want to have him run down my path. I am really worried about him but at the same time I know he will do well. He is a smart kid. I had an epiphany with him during our heated discussion (not a fight) the other day; I just realized he was acting. He was just trying to do what he wants, trying to hang with his friends. I do not remember ever having homework per se when I was in school. I do not remember having to work very hard at it. I figure things are more challenging now. I know my parents were to busy with the six of us to help with homework. I also know for several of those years I was stoned out of my gourd but I got out. That is more of a testament to my tenacity than to my mental skills alone.
Again, I just do not want Andrew to have to go through the crap I had too. I hope he can see that. I know he is sure we love him and I know he is sure we are worried about him, so I figure he will not screw up too much.
Well we are off to the hotels in a few hours.
Again, I just do not want Andrew to have to go through the crap I had too. I hope he can see that. I know he is sure we love him and I know he is sure we are worried about him, so I figure he will not screw up too much.
Well we are off to the hotels in a few hours.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Saipan
I am going to try and stick it out in Saipan as long as we can. I figure that the govt. will not be too crazy. But they are talking about a 10% pay cut for everyone next year. I cannot think this will go through. But stranger things have happened. I again am just sticking it out so Tita can get her US Citizenship. That is why I am looking into places in the states.
If things do get much worse (e.g. 10% pay cut) we will start looking. BUT I do not want to move on Tita. She is establishing here career and I do not want to up and move on her. I know how hard it is to start teaching. I do not want to ask her to try to find a job in a new place. And then there are the state exams. Even though the Praxis test is recognized by many states many have their own test. So we will more than likely stay here for a while. Even if we get the 10% cut. It is a lot more complicated now. I have to think about Tita’s career and her comfort level with finding new employment. But I might be able to mitigate that by looking for jobs for both of us. Again 10% is not going to kill us but it will make me mad. And it makes we not want to stay on island.
It is funny how life goes. I have fallen in love with my life in Saipan but originally I had come to Saipan to get some more college level teaching experience. I had planed to stay for 4 to 8 years. I had planed to get Tita’s citizenship and be on my way. But then Tita got a job and I did fall in love with the place. But it is not about how I feel it is about how well we can provide for our family's future. I do not believe any place is that important. All places have something special about them heck I was even in love with the Marshall Islands.And I have accomplished most of my goals for my stay on Saipan. Heck I even got Tita out and working again. So Who knows we might be here for a long time.
But I am thinking that we will be out of here in a year or two.
If things do get much worse (e.g. 10% pay cut) we will start looking. BUT I do not want to move on Tita. She is establishing here career and I do not want to up and move on her. I know how hard it is to start teaching. I do not want to ask her to try to find a job in a new place. And then there are the state exams. Even though the Praxis test is recognized by many states many have their own test. So we will more than likely stay here for a while. Even if we get the 10% cut. It is a lot more complicated now. I have to think about Tita’s career and her comfort level with finding new employment. But I might be able to mitigate that by looking for jobs for both of us. Again 10% is not going to kill us but it will make me mad. And it makes we not want to stay on island.
It is funny how life goes. I have fallen in love with my life in Saipan but originally I had come to Saipan to get some more college level teaching experience. I had planed to stay for 4 to 8 years. I had planed to get Tita’s citizenship and be on my way. But then Tita got a job and I did fall in love with the place. But it is not about how I feel it is about how well we can provide for our family's future. I do not believe any place is that important. All places have something special about them heck I was even in love with the Marshall Islands.And I have accomplished most of my goals for my stay on Saipan. Heck I even got Tita out and working again. So Who knows we might be here for a long time.
But I am thinking that we will be out of here in a year or two.
Cruise
4-1-06 Dad's going on a Cruise
Well my efforts have paid off my parents have decided to go on a cruise. Well not that dad can decide much now a days. Mom decided to go on a cruise with her long time friends the Dunn's. I think that is best because mom will know someone else on the cruise and have more fun that way. The Dunns have said that they have been on a cruise (if not this exact cruise) before. The cruise that they (my parents and the Dunns) are going on is organized by the Dunns church. So it should be a good time you know those Catholics are all drunkards. I should know I am one (of both). I am pretty sure they are Catholic bnut I am not positive.
Well my efforts have paid off my parents have decided to go on a cruise. Well not that dad can decide much now a days. Mom decided to go on a cruise with her long time friends the Dunn's. I think that is best because mom will know someone else on the cruise and have more fun that way. The Dunns have said that they have been on a cruise (if not this exact cruise) before. The cruise that they (my parents and the Dunns) are going on is organized by the Dunns church. So it should be a good time you know those Catholics are all drunkards. I should know I am one (of both). I am pretty sure they are Catholic bnut I am not positive.
The Debian Operating System
4-1-06
Well I finally gave up playing with the Knoppix version of Debian and put the native Debian on the system. It is amazing how much better it works. I know Knoppix is supposed to really supposed to be a Live CD and not per se an installed OS but it was my first entry into the land of Linux. Anyway Debian is great. I was playing with it last night and this morning adding programs with Apt-get - which is the easiest program in the world.
So I am bragging!!!
Debian is easy because it loads with KDE the same desktop that Knoppix uses. KDE pretty easy to use so I get my kids on it. I am worried the computer is going to become a game machine for the kids not a project computer for me.
But I want to try out other flavors of Linux and see which I like most. That if if the kids give me any time on the computer I just set up. They are loving the games. Sure they are mostly 2-d games with no real action but they love them. Although they have a free version of Civilization which I was playing last night not as good as the original but i am still addicted to it!
You have to realize I put this on Pent III at 500 Mhz with 128 MB or RAM . And it runs great! It make me wonder how it would run on a current computer? They even make a 64 bit compatible version. I do not know if the 64 bit runs in 32 or 64 though. I have heard it just runs at 32 but I am not positive.
I am being good now! I only destroy computers when I have free time. Not in the middle of the semester like before! Also I use my External 120 GB hard drive and back up frequently (well not as much as I should). I am going to try to do it every Saturday morning that way my data will be safe.
As far as Debian goes the easiest was to do install is to do a network/Internet install. You burn one 180 MB file and boot your computer from it. I am wondering now, you should be able to do it from a flash drive. I had seen the documentation for it on the Debian site but did not read it. Anyway you boot from the iso and it is easy after that. It auto detects everything. I think it is easier than setting up a Windows machine. There are some tricky questions on it if you want to tweak it but you can leave the the defaults in Debian knows how to set itself up. Then it all depends on your Internet connection. My home DSL is good so it took about 30 minutes to an hour. Again, You have to realize I put this on Pent III at 500 Mhz.
Well I finally gave up playing with the Knoppix version of Debian and put the native Debian on the system. It is amazing how much better it works. I know Knoppix is supposed to really supposed to be a Live CD and not per se an installed OS but it was my first entry into the land of Linux. Anyway Debian is great. I was playing with it last night and this morning adding programs with Apt-get - which is the easiest program in the world.
So I am bragging!!!
Debian is easy because it loads with KDE the same desktop that Knoppix uses. KDE pretty easy to use so I get my kids on it. I am worried the computer is going to become a game machine for the kids not a project computer for me.
But I want to try out other flavors of Linux and see which I like most. That if if the kids give me any time on the computer I just set up. They are loving the games. Sure they are mostly 2-d games with no real action but they love them. Although they have a free version of Civilization which I was playing last night not as good as the original but i am still addicted to it!
You have to realize I put this on Pent III at 500 Mhz with 128 MB or RAM . And it runs great! It make me wonder how it would run on a current computer? They even make a 64 bit compatible version. I do not know if the 64 bit runs in 32 or 64 though. I have heard it just runs at 32 but I am not positive.
I am being good now! I only destroy computers when I have free time. Not in the middle of the semester like before! Also I use my External 120 GB hard drive and back up frequently (well not as much as I should). I am going to try to do it every Saturday morning that way my data will be safe.
As far as Debian goes the easiest was to do install is to do a network/Internet install. You burn one 180 MB file and boot your computer from it. I am wondering now, you should be able to do it from a flash drive. I had seen the documentation for it on the Debian site but did not read it. Anyway you boot from the iso and it is easy after that. It auto detects everything. I think it is easier than setting up a Windows machine. There are some tricky questions on it if you want to tweak it but you can leave the the defaults in Debian knows how to set itself up. Then it all depends on your Internet connection. My home DSL is good so it took about 30 minutes to an hour. Again, You have to realize I put this on Pent III at 500 Mhz.
3-20-06
Well dad is going off the deep end. That is a not so nice way to say that my dad is suffering form the vagaries of cancer (that happens to be in his brain but it is not brain cancer per se) and radiation treatment. I feel bad for the man but at the same time I think the Dr. is being crazy. He is suggesting we continue chemo. What is he trying to prove? It will not make my dad better in his mental functioning and cost time and money. My parents have to drive an hour to the hospital, wait for treatment, wait to go home then drive an hour home. Mom says she does not mind but it seems ridiculous. Then you get the cost because after treatment they do a MRI at about $5,000. It just seems a waste I mean it was fin to be as aggressive as possible when he first got the disease but now that he has lost his marbles why prolong the pain. I talked to most of my siblings and they back me up on this. In the end it is my mother choice. I trust her would put my own life in her hands. If I were in the same spot I would want to be put down. I mean it. I want this to be a public record I can deal with out a lot of things but my mind is key. If I lose my marbles please put me to sleep like the dog I am.
David
Well dad is going off the deep end. That is a not so nice way to say that my dad is suffering form the vagaries of cancer (that happens to be in his brain but it is not brain cancer per se) and radiation treatment. I feel bad for the man but at the same time I think the Dr. is being crazy. He is suggesting we continue chemo. What is he trying to prove? It will not make my dad better in his mental functioning and cost time and money. My parents have to drive an hour to the hospital, wait for treatment, wait to go home then drive an hour home. Mom says she does not mind but it seems ridiculous. Then you get the cost because after treatment they do a MRI at about $5,000. It just seems a waste I mean it was fin to be as aggressive as possible when he first got the disease but now that he has lost his marbles why prolong the pain. I talked to most of my siblings and they back me up on this. In the end it is my mother choice. I trust her would put my own life in her hands. If I were in the same spot I would want to be put down. I mean it. I want this to be a public record I can deal with out a lot of things but my mind is key. If I lose my marbles please put me to sleep like the dog I am.
David
Monday, March 20, 2006
Cruise / Nursing home
You know that e-mail you have seen about spending your last days on a cruise ship instead of a nursing home, well it can truly be done and I think this is what mom and dad should do.
You should do the cruise earlier rather than latter. I just got off the phone with Carnival and they have no problems with any of it. I have talked to Carnival and the guy I talked to is taking his terminally ill grandmother on a cruise! So, they can deal with anything Dad dishes out granted they do not need to stop the boat to get him chemo. But they did say they have hospitals in every port that do dialysis and MRI's if need be!
You should do the cruise earlier rather than latter. I just got off the phone with Carnival and they have no problems with any of it. I have talked to Carnival and the guy I talked to is taking his terminally ill grandmother on a cruise! So, they can deal with anything Dad dishes out granted they do not need to stop the boat to get him chemo. But they did say they have hospitals in every port that do dialysis and MRI's if need be!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
In Response to previous Blog
3-14-06 Blog:
OK my mom was mad at me for my last blog entry. I want to say that Andrew and Ashley are wonderful children and I am very proud of both of them. I am story if I sounded like I was a total demon but it was a tip of the iceberg thing so it is not fair to make the judgment.
You see this is a typical pattern for Andrew. He is always disagreeing with me about everything. He disagrees with me no matter the point or issue. I wanted to point out to Andrew that is was not OK for him to disagree with me for no apparent reason. It is fine if he disagrees with me for a reason. If he explains why he is disagreeing is great. But is not OK for him to just be a contrariness. It is not polite and to tell you the truth I doubt he knows he is doing ti. I ask him if he does this with his friends and he says NO.
This is a big issue because I see him doing it with his sister all the time. I see him complain constantly about her behavior. It is not that she is annoying or anything like that he is just disagreeing to disagree. I have even seen him scream at her. So it is a big issue for me. I want him to behave nicely.
I also wanted him to be aware that it was not alright to degrade me to his friends (well at least in while I am there). You see after I told him not to do it he complained to his friend about the issue. It is not OK for him to degrade and complain when I am there. It shows a lack of respect to me. I am fine if he wants to complain to me about the way I am treating him. If he talks to me then we can have a discussion and resolve the issue. But if he complains to someone else he is just being spiteful, and nothing can be accomplished by this. Also it is mean. It is just complaining for the sake of complaining and not resolving the issue.
OK my mom was mad at me for my last blog entry. I want to say that Andrew and Ashley are wonderful children and I am very proud of both of them. I am story if I sounded like I was a total demon but it was a tip of the iceberg thing so it is not fair to make the judgment.
You see this is a typical pattern for Andrew. He is always disagreeing with me about everything. He disagrees with me no matter the point or issue. I wanted to point out to Andrew that is was not OK for him to disagree with me for no apparent reason. It is fine if he disagrees with me for a reason. If he explains why he is disagreeing is great. But is not OK for him to just be a contrariness. It is not polite and to tell you the truth I doubt he knows he is doing ti. I ask him if he does this with his friends and he says NO.
This is a big issue because I see him doing it with his sister all the time. I see him complain constantly about her behavior. It is not that she is annoying or anything like that he is just disagreeing to disagree. I have even seen him scream at her. So it is a big issue for me. I want him to behave nicely.
I also wanted him to be aware that it was not alright to degrade me to his friends (well at least in while I am there). You see after I told him not to do it he complained to his friend about the issue. It is not OK for him to degrade and complain when I am there. It shows a lack of respect to me. I am fine if he wants to complain to me about the way I am treating him. If he talks to me then we can have a discussion and resolve the issue. But if he complains to someone else he is just being spiteful, and nothing can be accomplished by this. Also it is mean. It is just complaining for the sake of complaining and not resolving the issue.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Some older stuff
I am starting this Blog by posting things I had saved and meant to publish for the past year or so. I am finally getting around to it.
3-2-06
Things are good for me. Granted I just had a knock down drag out fight with my son on the way home from school. Worst thing was we were walking with his friend. Well I have no shame and will bitch you out in front of the Pope. It goes back to the arguing with me for no reason. And bitching about it too boot. It is just he likes to disagree with me for no reason except to disagree. So I let him try his luck at what he said and he could not, as I had told him. It is just so mean of him to act that way towards me. I scream and yell then calm down and then clam him down then we walk home. 10 minutes after we are home his friend Frankie is over and they are playing a wrestling game on the Game Cube. I guess "All's well that ends well!" And I do not care who is watching because I will still be his father.
Again the point is that he needs to think why he is disagreeing with me. If it is for a reason then fine but if it is just to score points then it is annoying. It gets to me after a week of work and twitchy computers, I do not need twitchy children. Granted when my students at the college act up I start to call then Andrew. I slow down and explain everything nice and slow. They get the point usually. But some are still thick.
OK this one is great I had a student pull a Dumb and Dumber. So the first time she wrote her essay it was riddled with contractions. Now, I tell them time and again that contraction are not permitted in academic writing. It is just not acceptable. Well the student is writing a revision of their essay during class and I point and say"Contractions are not acceptable in academic writing" She says "But you said contractions were what a woman does when she gives birth"
Now this student did not know the word but I also send a list of common complaints when I send back their home work (I am not sure that you know I do all of my writing classes on the computer (I could teach then completely online if the college let me) and students submit work by e-mail - I do have a few that still hand me paper but I discourage that. Well one of the things I send in the list is...
"Contractions are not acceptable in academic witting. Have you seen any in the reading you have been doing? No!
You say "I haven't heard dis before"
You write "I have not heard of this before"
So the student had to ignore the notice and then when she saw the (contractions not permitted in academic writing) she did not look up at the top of the page to see the example. She must have though I was really talking about a woman's contractions during birth! How is that possible? I explained polite that I was joking to the student and walked out of the computer lab to laugh my ass off and tell a few other instructors. It was one of those classic moments.
3-2-06
Things are good for me. Granted I just had a knock down drag out fight with my son on the way home from school. Worst thing was we were walking with his friend. Well I have no shame and will bitch you out in front of the Pope. It goes back to the arguing with me for no reason. And bitching about it too boot. It is just he likes to disagree with me for no reason except to disagree. So I let him try his luck at what he said and he could not, as I had told him. It is just so mean of him to act that way towards me. I scream and yell then calm down and then clam him down then we walk home. 10 minutes after we are home his friend Frankie is over and they are playing a wrestling game on the Game Cube. I guess "All's well that ends well!" And I do not care who is watching because I will still be his father.
Again the point is that he needs to think why he is disagreeing with me. If it is for a reason then fine but if it is just to score points then it is annoying. It gets to me after a week of work and twitchy computers, I do not need twitchy children. Granted when my students at the college act up I start to call then Andrew. I slow down and explain everything nice and slow. They get the point usually. But some are still thick.
OK this one is great I had a student pull a Dumb and Dumber. So the first time she wrote her essay it was riddled with contractions. Now, I tell them time and again that contraction are not permitted in academic writing. It is just not acceptable. Well the student is writing a revision of their essay during class and I point and say"Contractions are not acceptable in academic writing" She says "But you said contractions were what a woman does when she gives birth"
Now this student did not know the word but I also send a list of common complaints when I send back their home work (I am not sure that you know I do all of my writing classes on the computer (I could teach then completely online if the college let me) and students submit work by e-mail - I do have a few that still hand me paper but I discourage that. Well one of the things I send in the list is...
"Contractions are not acceptable in academic witting. Have you seen any in the reading you have been doing? No!
You say "I haven't heard dis before"
You write "I have not heard of this before"
So the student had to ignore the notice and then when she saw the (contractions not permitted in academic writing) she did not look up at the top of the page to see the example. She must have though I was really talking about a woman's contractions during birth! How is that possible? I explained polite that I was joking to the student and walked out of the computer lab to laugh my ass off and tell a few other instructors. It was one of those classic moments.
Friday, March 10, 2006
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I cannot get my 9 1/2 year old son to stay in his own bedroom so I have no clue about what you mean. It is the opposite some days I get all creep-ed out that he is in the bedroom with me. Granted these are usually times I am trying to have quality time with the wife so it is understandable. Most times I think it is OK. It is just one of those Filipino habits we got into, like eating rice with everything (weird but true rice goes great with hotdogs) and eating with your hands. Eating with your hands is a bad habit to get into because the boy (Andrew) acts like he does not know how to use a fork. I am worried he eats like a Cro-Mag. at school showing off my fine parenting skills.
I think the best way for me to deal with the class is to swear and cuss and make them pay attention or not show up to class. Well that is what I am doing right now. Well I am making them analyze their stories as well so that they do not just list with no comment. I had shown them a piece of writing from House on Mango Street that is a good example. Granted it is not your standard 5-paragraph essay with a Thesis Statement and Topic Sentences for the body paragraphs but it focusing on the comment not the story. I am sick and tired of students who are so shallow that they do not even know why they tell a story. So I have spent the majority of this week making them tell me WHY they are going to tell their story but not letting them actually tell the story.
Well I am at work now and I have an hour or so to get ready for my classes. I am trying something new this semester. I am going to bring in literature and sue it as the basis of analytical writing. Well I hope it works. I guess the students could not write any worse.
It is my steadfast hope that they will try to something cool with their writing like the literature I am bringing into class. I used to do this all the time in New York but had gotten out of the habit. We shall see. I will let you know ho wit goes.
Rumptz
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