Our Love/Hate Relationship with School and Portland

Finals. Done!
Swap teaching. Done!

All that stands between us and Arkansas are two and a half days, one veterinary appointment, and a lot of laundry.

I've Got Nothing

High school freshmen are great. At least the ones for which I am responsible. I really like teaching them about Diminishing Marginal Utility in terms of coffee shops and ice cream sundaes. I also like that they will spend ten minutes teaching me about Mormonism or Islam because it is how they were raised and they know better than me. Everyone is learning! The freshmen that I have no responsibility for but that I do observe are great for giggles.
Me: This is a picture of a rubber tree plant.
Them: Whoa, really? If you run into it will you bounce off?*
So, yeah, I'm loving high school.

Sergio took his first final of this semester today. He may or may not have done well. It is hard to tell because he has been playing online games since he got home and speaking in monosyllables. This is normal post-final behavior.


*Sergio asked if this student was joking. Nope.

Somewhere Out There a Sasquatch Weeps

http://www.co.clatsop.or.us/default.asp?deptid=10000&pageid=511

As many of you seem to have noticed, we recently had a storm that some have referred to as a Pacific Hurricane. I don't really know how accurate that is, but the coast towns suffered considerably. For us, it was no more than a rainstorm. Until this week Oregon was home to the largest Giant Sitka Spruce in the nation when it snapped in half during the high winds of the storm. It had been damaged in a storm last year, requiring the park service to eliminate tourist visits for fear that all or parts of it would fall. Sergio and I happened across this tree on one of our first trips to the coast. We just saw a sign and pulled off the road. The tree was a pleasant surprise. It would have been a wee sapling around the Crusades. This date is pretty impressive, but the thing that just baffles me is that this tree managed to live out it's entire life naturally. In a state where half the drive to the coast is clear-cut land, it seems amazing that someone at some time didn't cash in on the giant. It also says something for the park service for not cutting it down when it became dangerous, but instead letting it do it's own thing and just keeping the people away. It will be missed. If you want to know more about the tree you can follow the web address above.

Taking Years Off of Our Lives One Meal at a Time

They say you shouldn't blog about what you had for lunch. People don't care, they say. In fact, I am almost certain there is a blogging book titled something along those lines. But I think you'll care what we ate for ALL of our meals yesterday.

Breakfast: 1/4 of a pecan pie

Lunch: Homemade chili dogs with a side of Frito pie.

Dinner: Homemade Mac and Cheese filled with ham AND bacon.

In hindsight, the frito pie might have been overkill. The bacon was absolutely necessary, though.

Very Poor Post

Anybody out there? I would totally understand if you had given up on us ever posting again. It is a bad time for extracurricular writing in this household. Work Samples, Teaching Plans, Final Papers, and Finals abound. I am also working in a high school that is quite far away until Christmas break, and I have to work contract hours, so I keep falling asleep on the couch at 8:30. I wish I were joking. I haven't really taught yet, though I was in charge today. It was enough time to figure out that the dream teaching job definitely involves seniors. They are over the angst and they get jokes. It was fun going over the Pope Urban II speech with them today, and letting the conversation turn to the poor speaking skills of our current president. In reality, my time at the high school will be with freshmen, but now I know where I will be aiming eventually.
On to other news...we have tickets to come home for Christmas. So super excited. However, we paid to bring the dog on the plane as a carry-on. If the airline determines he is too big, we have no backup plan. We need all of your positive thoughts that Eliot will make it on the plane. Visualize, people! It also wouldn't hurt to visualize nice weather with no out of the ordinary ice anywhere. Thanks for your help.
We took Sergio parents to eat Pho over the holiday. They asked to go back two days later. Told you it was good.
Anyone else watching Campaign 2008 on CSPAN2? All the democrats are stating their cases with no interruptions. So much better than debates.

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya'll!

Our meal turned out really good this year, so here are our bragging pictures.

Our Day in Court

Yesterday I was a witness in a court case. Then later I was a juror in a different one. It was a long day. Confused? Ok, so they were mock trials for one of Sergio's classes. There were actually three altogether, one on Friday night and two on Saturday. I was tired, but Sergio was really exhausted, having done all three and switching between plaintiff and defense each time. And I have to say, the defense had an almost impossible case. Not only that, but after each "trial" two to three judges (real local judges and lawyers) would tell each team of lawyers exactly what they did wrong, and then allow the jury (a bunch of people who knew next to nothing about the law) to do the same. Brutal.

I was the witness the defense was trying to pin the crime on, rather than their client. I was the person to actually run over and kill the 12 year old child. Cheerful, huh? It turns out I was also a convicted felon and had two DUI's. I was given a deposition and no other information. This means that when I took the stand I didn't even know what kind of car I had been driving. If the deposition didn't say it, then I didn't know. We were also told that we could make small things up to fill in gaps, but we couldn't just pull stuff out of our butts, as it were, if it could affect the case. I did really well, I think, right up until the defense lawyers got...creative. Here is an actual exchange that took place.
Lawyer: "Ms. Dalton, your cell phone bill proves you were on your cell phone at the time of the accident. Is that right?"
Me: "It would appear so."
Lawyer: Ms. Dalton, do you have a hands-free phone set?
Prosecutors furiously nodding heads in the background, defense team shaking heads ominously.
Me: "Um...well...I don't really know about that."
Laywer: "Is that a yes Ms. Dalton."
Me: "No"
Lawyer: "Ms. Dalton, were you driving a manual or an automatic the day of the accident?"
Me: "Um, I really don't know that."
Lawyer, leaning in and whispering: "Just make something up."
Entire courtroom bursts into laughter.
Prosecutor: "Objecti..."
Judge: "Sustained!"

It was kind of fun to really see the process, and play around in the city courthouse. I think Sergio is really happy that it is all over. Not just the trials, but that whole class and his B paper, which is required for graduation. Beteen this and the FST's at the police department, law school has been a learning experience for us both on so many levels.

By the way, this is our 200th post.

Perseverance = Pointy Hat

I have been pretending to knit for about three years now. Until today I had made about seven mediocre scarves and three failed hats. The first one I decreased wrong, the second inverted on my round needles, and the third I gave up on thinking I had done something wrong. I hadn't. Anyway, I finally powered through and came up with the hat you see below. I call it Sergio's Big Bird Hat. It is pointy, sloppy, too small AND too big, and will probably fall apart in just a few days. But, darn it, it's a hat and you can't take that away from me.

Non Sequitur

What I wrote today in class instead of an answer to the teacher's question: I really like this pen. books books books. Dawn Nichole Dawn Nichole. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

We might be going to a Very Stinky Cheese Party on Saturday. It is what it sounds like.

Sergio would like SOMEONE to make him tea.

Widdershins means counterclockwise.

Sergio thinks bacon wrapped pork chops cooked in bacon fat sounds good. This is not kosher.

Most of my 7th grade boys can and will sing every word to a Hannah Montana song.

People arrested for DUI's always say they only had two drinks.

When we feed Eliot jalapenos he sounds like he has asthma.

The tv show Pushing Daisies makes me happy.

It costs $1.25 to wash clothes and $1.00 to dry them, totally screwing up a $10 roll of quarters.

Sergio just licked me in the face and now we have to divorce.

I'm Like an Onion, Donkey, I Have Layers

The ads are gone for now. We have to completely figure out that feature before we put it up here. We'll let you know if we ever get it going correctly.

In the meantime...here are a few pictures of the beginning of a great (and cheap) meal.







Yes, that is a stick of melted butter. All really great things begin that way.


















If you want to make this, then follow this link (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36151,00.html) and make this recipe. Except omit the wine and replace it with a Guinness. We also let it cook for hours, and use white cheddar for the cheese. Good stuff.