Art for a Sunday afternoon

N & O music critic David Menconi's blog brought this site to my attention. It's a neat site to poke around. Here's my barcode, in case you're interested.

Excel-lent

I'm trying to make my life and my teachers' lives easier by using Excel for their lesson plans. They have to include the objective numbers that are being addressed, and I vaguely remembered an email discussion of using Excel to create a drop down menu to make this easier (aka less typing). Yay for the Yahoo mail search feature that found the info in about 10 seconds. Pretty good job for going through about 9,000 emails. I kid you not. I'm a little behind.
The email's sender had used a look up table instead of drop down menu, insisting that it was even more convenient. And she had attached an example file. Way to go! So I started plugging in my data. Creating the formula for the look up function is where I've hit the brick wall. But I've received some links to online resources, and this thing might just work after all.
Too bad you won't get to hear my Samuel L. Jackson impersonation: "Enough is ENOUGH! I've had it with these muthaf*ckin' cells on this muthaf*ckin' spreadsheet!"

Catching up

I've been working late nights (until 7, 8, and sometimes 9) the last couple of weeks in preparation for the lovelies and those who teach them to return to school. My blogging has been neglected. Alas.
At some point, I'll write about seeing Snakes on a Plane, complete with photos from the event. The downer to the evening (and my birthday) was the E. coli outbreak in Cary. We had an unplanned detour to Raleigh for supper, causing us to miss the first few minutes of SoaP. Dang.
I had heard about the restrictions earlier in the day, but for some reason they didn't register with me. Snakes on a brain, I suppose. The LMGC and I both brushed our teeth and drank the water before the big OOOPS popped into either of our brains. Thankfully, we didn't get sick.
More later when my head isn't pounding from stress and exhaustion....

Natural disasters

Dix: apparently there's been a wildfire near Reno
DivaGeek: eeek
Dix: we drove through that area on our way to Tahoe
DivaGeek: that's awful
Dix: i think Reading First is bad luck
Dix: Katrina hits after we were in NOLA, now a fire threatens homes in Reno after we were there
DivaGeek: where do you go next year? Tehran?

Breaking the law

This article on the No Child Left Behind legislation really didn't surprise me.
Disclaimer before you read further: My job is funded from a grant that is a result of the NCLB act. That being said...
NCLB is another in the growing line of half-assed schemes, initiatives, projects, etc. of the Bush White House. It sounded like a great idea, in the beginning. Qualified teachers for poor children! Hooray! Close the achievement gap! Go for it!
But it's not happening. I work in a small poor rural school district. Even with signing bonuses of $3000 and incentives of up to $8000 for teachers remaining at hard-to-staff schools for three years, it's incredibly difficult for us to keep teachers. Each year we receive a heavy influx of teachers from the northern states (predominantly), for whom jobs are scarce in their home areas. They may stay one year, sometimes two or three, but rarely beyond that. They move back home with teaching experience and we are left with vacancies. My county spends thousands of dollars on staff development each year, teaching the same courses over and over due to the high teacher attrition rate.
Although a little dated, this article goes into detail about the problems facing school systems in NC. (Another disclaimer - my county is mentioned in the article.)
NCLB just isn't working. Anyone who asks me about it gets this answer - even Jesus will leave some behind, and it's not for lack of trying for over 2000 years and he's had lots of help. George Bush thinks he's going to do any better?

Snakes on my wifi

I shouldn't have posted that wav file of Samuel L. Jackson. It cursed my trip to Raleigh. The free wireless internet at my hotel died after the first few hours, never to return.
In other news, I just read this article on "couple-surfing." My favorite quote (and CNN's as well): "For my birthday, he upgraded my RAM and I thought it was incredibly romantic."
Awwwwh.
Give your favorite "tender electrovert" a hug today.

Blame it on the DivaGeek

This site makes for a fun-filled afternoon. My uncontrollable laughter made the critters stare.

You want me to do what?

Angus votes to take the elevator.