You ARRRR Invited, Matey!

Monkey-Girl's birthday is today. It's a milestone. (I will not get more specific than that.) It's also the last one she'll have before she's a mother. I decided to make it a big deal.

Hence, the pirate party. We had foam swords, pirate ring toss, eye patches, plastic coins, a pirate ship shaped cake, and more. The weather was great, the company was better. I only wish I took more pictures. Most importantly, Monkey-Girl had a wonderful time.

Monkey-Girl recieves a monkey from Gordon.

Pirate ship ring toss, anyone?

Gordon and Hannah duel for the crowd's pleasure.

A chainmaille clad Victor looms large.

The birthday girl checks out her cake.

And so can you.

The aftermath.

May the Fourth Be With You

It's been ridiculously long since I've posted. Sorry for that.

If you say this post's title out loud you'll get why this date is the unofficial Star Wars Day. This year I'm celebrating by letting you know how to be an even bigger Star Wars nerd.

Above is an example of ASCII art. The image is composed entirely of keystrokes. Well a crazy dutchman, has gone and made well over 10,000 images, strung them together, and made them available for your viewing pleasure. It's Star Wars animated!

1. In your start menu select run.


2. When prompted to run; type, "cmd". This opens a command window.


3. Now type, "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl"


4. Enjoy!

The dutchman hasn't finished the whole thing, but there's quite a bit there.

Marvel at his dedication! It certainly dwarfs mine.

An Offer I Can't Refuse

For the next year (2008-2009) my school needs a lot more Algebra 1 teachers. There so desperate that they've offered to pay the current teachers a bonus to take on an additional class. That would mean teaching four classes instead of three and not having a scheduled professional period for planning and grading.

On the one hand, I have a baby coming this summer and would love to be able to help out and play with him or her as much as possible. On the other hand, I have a baby coming this summer and would love to be able to clothe and shelter him or her.

Add in that Monkey-Girl will be in her senior year and she and I will both be traveling to interview for new jobs. Now factor in the added costs of childcare.

We've got some thinking and praying to do. (Help!)

All Clear

That's what the friendly river guide is telling us.

I'm writing this now as not to worry anyone. The student body and extended community were fairly wound up this week as a rumor was circulating that there would be lethal violence at my school on Friday. For the record: NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.

A text message rapidly made the rounds stating something suspiciously vague about a shooting scheduled for the lunch room. "No one knows who and no one knows what (sic.) lunch." The conclusion of the message urged people to forward it to, "everyone you care about."

An investigation was launched. A cause was found. Findings were disclosed. Precautions were taken. Safety was ensured. Rumors escalated. The process repeated. Half (no exaggeration) of the students were no-shows.

I believe there were several causes of this. Spring time is when teenagers go a little more insane than normal. What better way to feel important than to be a part of something involving life and death? People in general LOVE rumors. If it's about a faceless institution, it's that much better. Teenagers also love getting off of school.

I mentioned precautions. Doors were kept closed and locked during class time. An adult was stationed at every hallway intersection throughout the day. 15 armed police officers were in the cafeteria during all lunch periods and were fairly conspicuous the rest of the day. The principal encouraged worried parents to pick students up and take them out to lunch.

Monkey-Girl, who made a rare off-mountain appearance, heard many escalations of the rumors from community people. We agree that this sort of thing makes people feel important in a very sick way. We've all been guilty of it. I'm not going to point fingers.

With most of my class absent, I had my students doing make-up work all day. I got a lot of paper work done. It rained all day.

All in all, Friday was terribly long and boring.

Total Geeks

I know it's been over two weeks since I updated the blog. Monkey-Girl got back from Wisconsin just fine. We got through Holy Week too. (That's more of an accomplishment for her than me.) We've finally had a normal week together. Whatever that is.

Today's picture showcases Mercutio and I hanging out. He's not usually this lovey with me. He's a momma's boy at heart. When he deigns to grace me with his affection it's typically in a moment when I'm fairly content being left alone. Such is this case here. (My pictorial debut in my own blog!)

I'm reviewing the rules to Illuminati!, a fun and funny card game. Now, I'm geeky enough to think of this as pleasurable reading. Mercutio decided to lay on my side just as I was wanting to get up, of course. I'm just silly enough to think that if I consent to being inconvenienced occasionally that I'll be repaid someday when I need a little kitty affection. (I'll let you know if that works out.)

Of course, Mercutio could just be looking for some strategies for the next time we play.