Hallo everyone! I shall catch up in a moment, but I wanted to spread some joy and happiness, as I feel plenty to share, at the moment. I had turkey luncheon for work, got to go home early, instead went to see "pride and prejudice" (which was AWESOME), hung out at Barnes and Noble, ran into a friend on my way home, and made dinner from scratch! All kinds of yay, so I shall send contentment-vibes-ma all around.

And now to catch up and see who needs them.

I try not to have a chip on my shoulder about it, but if one more person says, "Oh, you're so smart! Why didn't you become a doctor?", I won't be held accountable for my actions.

Hee!!

I feel that way about "Why don't you teach college?"

"...Why didn't you become a doctor?"

The best response to that I ever heard was "Doctors treat diseases. Nurses treat people."

Hey, a teacher conversation.

I observed in a quite nice middle school today, very constructivist in a good way. Fun math classes. It's a weird artifact of the NYC system that the eighth graders sound like seniors, as they discuss their school visits, where they want to go next year, and so forth. They were making suggestions for schools I should teach at. It was kind of funny.

I don't know about parents, yet, but I'm quite sure my life will not be easy, as a teacher.

The nurses who helped me through labor with Sara earned my lifelong respect.

WROD! My L&D nurse was named Jen. I simply called her Goddess.

I feel that way about "Why don't you teach college?"

Yet another parallel between the two professions.

The best response to that I ever heard was "Doctors treat diseases. Nurses treat people."

Heh. Usually I say, "I don't care about research and publishing or diagnosing exotic diseases or performing delicate microsurgeries. I want to make people feel better when they feel crappy. That's what nurses do. "

AmyLiz, I'm so glad you had such a good experience with your L&D nurse. One of the reasons I want to be an L&D nurse is because of the connection I can make with my patients that way. Women remember their L&D nurses. It's a really humbling responsibility to be that person.

Hee. Maybe some day someone will call me goddess.

It explains KBug's fascination with Nawty Worm.

Ok Empress, I died laughing when I found this. K-Bug is indeed a PS kid.

She is also taking two AP classes and a few other advanced classes...her quarter GPA is 3.143.

Oh and she wanted me to remind you that YOUR daughter has both nawty worm and kinky banana.

Women remember their L&D nurses. It's a really humbling responsibility to be that person.

Three kids, and all three times, the nurses were what got me through. With Sara especially, because I arrived at the hospital in transition and it was too late for much by way of pain reduction. They rocked.

I think it must also be true that nurses don't get a lot of respect from patients -- every time I've been in the hospital and treated them with what I consider common courtesy, they've been so grateful and pleasant and willing to fetch me ice chips or whatever. Which makes me wonder how others are treating them. Being sick is horrible, but you don't bite the hand that cares for you, you know?

I always get frustrated when I hear the "my school sucked 20 or 30 years ago; therefore, public schools still suck" argument.

I never said that. I never implied it. What I was saying was that my school sucked 15 years ago, and I'm going to make damn sure that Annabel's education does not suck. Luckily in Seattle Schools we have school choice... provided there's room for the kid in the school in question.

Yes, in many states teachers are still overworked and underpaid and therefore may burn out or become negligent

Uh, hi. When I was in school, Oklahoma was 49th in per capita school funding, 49th in entry-level teacher's salary, 49th in average teacher salary. Things only changed at the tail end of my senior year in high school when Mississippi passed Oklahoma.

Vacations? Lots of take-home work or continuing education or professional development.

Or in the case of my friend the geography teacher, trips to Europe... wedged between multiple summer education workshops.

The morals police freakout over the waltz was a little less than 200 years ago, at least in England. I want to say it was introduced right around 1814 or 1815.

I'm amazed you didn't go after my use of "blunderbuss."

Or you guys find a perfect house just north of 145th, and wind up in Shoreline Schools.

We are just down the road from Broadview-Thompson, though.

Happy birthday, Jilli! So glad you're home and doing well!

Ahh...teaching. Having just gotten home from spending all day doing observations as a high school, teaching 10th grade American Lit, and then spending 3 hours at the library working on a unit plan and another hour looking for books to use in a lesson on Tuesday? It's a lot of hard work. And, I'm a part-time student, not yet a a teacher. AND, I used a vacation day from my full-time job to do it.