Is there any more proof needed...

that religion turns people's brains to fucking diseased mush?

 

First: Sudanese Muslims call for teacher to be executed (aka the "teddy bear" incident)

 

Second: Jehovah's Witness 8 y.o. boy refuses blood transfusion (because it would make him "unclean") and therefore dies. Boy's aunt was his legal guardian - she's a wackjob JW, but the actual parents are not.

 

Oh, I also love the new religious banners made by students here that say "Thinking is not as important as love" according to St. Therese something-or-other. Yes, love is important, but THINKING IS IMPORTANT AS WELL!

Blokes

Is it just me, or is Damian Lewis just the hottest thing? Deee-amn. I love him in "Life". And holy shit, did not know he's British.....

Ow

Oh my god. I went to yoga yesterday morning. I've really missed it, but there is a price to be paid for not going for THREE MONTHS. Jesus. My arm and upper body strength is SHOT. It hurts to raise my arms now, too. Gawd.

 

I won't be neglecting yoga like that again!

Travel

I took a look at the Trek cycling tours website. Ooooh boy, that was a mistake. A bicycling tour in Provence? Divine!

 

If the lack of money isn't laughable enough, the fact that I would have to bike like a goddamn maniac from now until June when it goes would be. I am in NO shape for a biking tour of between 10-50 miles a day. Maybe my legs are, but I know my...delicates are not. Not after last summer's fiasco in Milwaukee. Of course, most of that pain was due to the fact I was stupidly on a mountain bike instead of a road bike...

Do this

I made Red Wine Poached Pears with Marscapone Filling for dinner yesterday and finally got around to eating one of them. SOFUCKINGGOOD.

 

Make them. I didn't even make them *correctly*. You're supposed to core them and stuff them with the marscapone filling, but I couldn't figure out how the hell to stuff them, so I just served the marscapone on the side.

 

6 firm Bartlett pears (DO NOT USE soft-ripe ones, they'll fall apart)

1 bottle red wine

1 vanilla bean, whole

2 cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

2 cups sugar

2 (8 oz) containers marscapone cheese, softened

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter

 

Peel pears, leave stem intact. In a large saucepan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine and water mixture. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cool pears in liquid to room temp. You can refrigerate them in the poaching liquid until ready to fill.

 

Remove stems from pears and set them aside. Core pears with an apple corer, leaving pear whole.

 

Whisk together marscapone cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon and powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag, or if you do not have one, use wax paper tightly wrapped into a cone with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored pears and finish by putting the stems gently into the marscapone filling on top of the pears.

 

Bring sauce up to a simmer and reduce by half. Add butter to reduced sauce and stir until combined. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving.

A Thanksgiving, of sorts

So, spent yesterday evening baking pies and prepping other things for today. Got up early today and kept on going. Turkey took FOREVER to finish. We finally ate about 6:30 or 7pm. No pie yet. We're over at my dad's.

 

My grandma is really, really bad. It would be a blessing for her to pass today, as the hospice thinks she will. She hasn't been able to eat or drink (if she tries, she throws it back up) for at least the past two days. Since yesterday, pretty much, she's just been on hourly doses of morphine to keep the pain managed and to keep her unconscious. It was pretty hard on Tuesday to be here and hear her say she was hungry, but being unable to feed her because we all (and she did, too) that it just wouldn't stay down.

 

She can't even swallow now. She's just making gurgling sounds.

 

This is a cruel way to go. Cancer really really sucks.

 

My dad is is none too good shape, either. I guess he started crying today when the hospice worker told him it would probably be today and to just keep her doped up. I'm telling you people, in my 30 years of living, I have only seen my dad cry ONCE. That's probably going to be the part that freaks me out the most.

 

And my brother is in the fucking room praying the goddamn rosary. Fuck me, that's freaking me out, too. When the fuck did HE go all holy-roller?

 

If you ask me, god pretty much sucks for allowing people to die in this much undignified pain.

Tired

So EXHAUSTED today.

 

My B class should be known as "B" for "Busted/Broken". What a useless class.

 

I can't wait for noon tomorrow when it is officially HOLIDAY time. I am getting a manicure/pedicure and then I am going to DRINK LIKE A FISH while I prep food.

Hello to the Netlands

First, why have I not been receiving some notices to approve comments? Yeeesh.

SECOND, my international minded peeps, check out: HUBWEAR . The "one way" questions kills me. I know I'd love mine to be one way! Guess which codes I used? Yeah, tough question, right?

HOLY JEEBUS

I have my oral exam tomorrow. I don't know if I'm nervous or not. I mean, part of me wants to freak out. The other part is going "FUCK IT". I am allowed to bring in five index cards with me regarding the questions (see below). I've slapped some shit down, but I think I'm going to mainly be relying on my ability to Blarney. Full half of these questions are stupid - I HANDED IN MY PORTFOLIO FOR YOU TO READ. What do you want me to tell you about five of them for AGAIN? I'm just going to tell you the same shit I wrote down!!

 

One more damn hoop. I am so ready to be DONE. I have nothing planned for my morning classes tomorrow. Oops. Nothing really planned for this week. I know what I have to cover, but I have no activities planned. Again, oops. Ah well, it's a short "week" - Mon, Tues and noon dismissal (25 minute classes) on Wed. I can bullshit for that much, right. After the break is when I need to kick my ass into high gear though. That's my last major book - Fahrenheit 451. Oh dear. Just get me through these next three days...PLEASE.

 

I could have invited one of my other profs to the board for my oral. I was just thinking. The one I really would have invited would have been Jack Pinnix. Dude was awesome and the best teacher I could have had when I first started the program. I wish he hadn't killed himself. God damn. He was seriously the best, and I hope he realizes that now wherever he's at. He was never a faker, and had so much great insight. Peace out, Jack.

 

1. Describe how literacy/language arts education has changed over the last two decades with respect to theory and pedagogy.

 

2. Provide an overview of your cumulative portfolio. Select five of the College of Education's performance outcomes/goals and describe the ways in which you have achieved these outcomes. Include a reflection on the influence of specific program coursework in your achievement of the specific outcome.

 

3. Summarize the content of your major research paper. Indicate how this knowledge will impact your teaching.

 

4. Provide of an overview of a major curriculum unit you have prepared.

London

I shouldn't have checked.

 

There are $500ish tickets to London from Chicago. In February, but WHO CARES?

Iron Chef!

YAY! Symon won! I totally wanted the bad ass from Cleveland to win!

Ratatouille

Oh my god. The Ratatouille movie is KILLING me. I am feeling fuzzy thoughts for...RATS.

Damn anthropomorphizing.

If you want crap, but it from China!

Okay, seriously. Our government is, surprise-surprise, failing us yet again. WHY are we still doing business with China? They suck for any number of reasons, but all this toy bullshit is just beyond ridiculous.

 

Now they're recalling toys BECAUSE IF INGESTED, THEY GET METABOLISED AS GH-FUCKING-B?!

 

If I had a kid, you can be damn sure that I wouldn't be buying any "made in China" toys. Hell no. That kid would just have to make do without.

 

And then the added gall of a Chinese town or county thinking they will sue Mattel for "defamation"? (Did anyone else hear about this yesterday?) That town or whatever can go fuck itself.

 

DEAR CHINA,

 

THANKS FOR THE STIR-FRY, TEA AND CONFUCIUS, BUT YOUR MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS ARE POISONOUS SHIT. Ban me from ever visiting, I don't care. Don't wanna go there ever.

 

 

More Evangelicals Concluding God is Green (WTF?)

Anyone catch this headline on the online news vendors? Yeah, morons, welcome to the real world. You idiotic FREAKS.

HATE

I FUCKING HATE PEOPLE WHO WHISTLE IN THE DAMN TEACHER'S LOUNGE. YOU'RE NOT A BIRD! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WORK!

 

I HATE THE STUPID SCREECHING HENS IN HERE, TOO. SHUT UP! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WORK! OH MY GOD!

Calendar Time

Can you believe it's already November 5th? CRIMINY.

 

It also means it's calendar buyin' time. I love calendars. Especially ones of Britain and Ireland. Speaking of which: SHOP!

Did I mention...

I PASSED that god-awful social sciences: political science test from early October?

HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *draws breath*

OH my gawd. I can't believe I passed it, but I did. There were maybe five genuine poli sci questions on it, I swear. I got something like 30 more points than needed, which I think is pretty good.

I will be able to pull the trifecta people: English, history AND government. Right-wingers everywhere, lock up your kids! Because I's a gonna edumacate your chillen!

On a complete aside, the sheer number of parents who don't - you know - actually PARENT astounds me. Every week I hear of something stupid a parent does. The parent that claims education, values, whatever is important. Trust me, folks, your kids aren't going to know or appreciate the value of hard-work, dedication, integrity, accountability, etc., if all they have to look at is your pitiful example. I've got parents pulling kids out of classes for a week or more to go on some fancy pants cruise, vacation or attend a wedding. Better yet, a parent whose real concern in DEMANDING a make up exam well past the deadline is not because the are concerned about the child's education. No, no, no. It's because if little Joe or Mary doesn't get that good G.P.A., the car insurance (for the brand new car mummy and daddy bought their darling) will be higher.

YOU PEOPLE ARE PATHETIC.

Also: still hate sitting through 90 minute masses. Please send booze. I'm telling you, halfway through I wanted nachos, a beer and several chasers.

I did nothing today. That was bad. Because now I have waaay too much grading to get done tomorrow. Egads. I just needed a day OFF though.

Cojones!

http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=69606

Gotta love the cats

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1322921#