Speaking of brutal - this is kind of neat. They had a vertical race here this morning - 103 flights of stairs up to the observation level in the Sears Tower.

They still use chalk at the fictional university in the show. I presume they still do in a lot of older buildings.

They scrub off easier, and I highly appreciate the possibility to breath and write at the same time.

I know a lot of people who dislike the smell of white-board markers. Apart from disliking the feel of chalk dust on my hands, I liked using chalk to teach. I like the sound of chalk on the blackboard (when it's being held properly). Writing on overheads or a whiteboard is never quite as satisfying. Too quiet.

I know a lot of people who dislike the smell of white-board markers.

I know too many people that liked the smell a little too much.

They had a vertical race here this morning - 103 flights of stairs up to the observation level in the Sears Tower.

Running?? Up 103 flights? I want to barf just thinking about that.

Wow running up 103 flights! 103 steps would have me melting into a puddle.

All the chalkboards in our schools were replaced by whiteboards a while back. I have a green chalkboard at the house. It's kept over the Space Invaders machine to track the high scores.

Our kitchen has a chalkboard. When we first moved in, we used it to write our weekly dinner menu, but we've gotten lazy about it since.

Our kitchen has a chalkboard.

DH would LOVE that. He loves chalkboards in general. And math, too, for that matter.

It's from a Mad Max film--end of civilation, lots of man to man combat in a giant dome. It's brutal. Very much like math.

Thanks, Cashmere. It sounds even more like my high shcool math "17!"-"8!!!" scribbles now.

Apart from disliking the feel of chalk dust on my hands, I liked using chalk to teach. I like the sound of chalk on the blackboard (when it's being held properly).

Oh, yes, I know what you mean. And still, I prefer having none-sore hands over a good lesson. A selfish TA.

I know a lot of people who dislike the smell of white-board markers.

Once I entered the class, and the whiteboard was densely written, all through, with a non-erased marker. Luckily enough, it was the physics building, so I managed to find some alcoholic substance from one of the labs, and used it on tissue papers in order to erase the whiteboard. For the rest of that lesson, my head was a little too light from the remains of the smell. I still managed to teach it all the way through, but had a huge headache afterwards. Vanilla, no wonder it has my name nearly fully spelled in that word.

[Edit: 4*9=36]

In "Numbers" (I refuse to use the "3" for the "e"), they have chalk holders for the chalk. No muss, no fuss.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.

About two years ago, when my university was installing whiteboards, I liked them. No more chalk dust! Colors! Now, however, they've been used for years, and washed by the custodial staff with all kinds of stuff you're not supposed to use on whiteboards, and now almost none of them erase anymore. Whenever I'm teaching in one of those rooms, I've got to bring a stack of damp paper towels with me to erase with.

chalk holders for the chalk

One of my teachers in the 9th grade came back after spending a couple of years abroad, and she had one of those. It was the first time anybody in the school saw anything like it, and we were very impressed with the solution. I don't think I've ever seen them in Israel since.

Hil! Happy birthday, now to your face screen!