Well, that was the most nail-biting ride I've made home in a while. One hour and 45 minutes: detour for flooded road, torrential downpour while heading straight into a storm that could produce tornadoes. Tornado warnings on the radio every 5 minutes. I got home and could hear all the sirens south of me going off. I need to get rid of this 65 mile commute, it's bad for my nerves.

Suzi, how does the "not to exceed" thing work?

They come out and inventory your good and give you a weight with a not to exceed price. When it comes to the actual move, you are charged for what your goods actually weigh, which could be less but won't be more (unless you add things to your inventory) than the NTE estimate. That is the basic theory at least.

Ah, crap, DJ. So sorry about your friend's news. All my punctuation are belong to the both of you. (And lovely tattoo design.)

...I seem to have missed vw's boy's nickname being created. What do the initials stand for?

Fay, crazyblinddate, the website they used to meet!

Sox, your suggestions for questions to ask are great, thanks.

Kristin - are you conferencing with them all? If so, have them introduce themselves and write down their names as pronounced

The class itself is online and handled through email and blogging. This is an introductory phone call, when I have to call each household and introduce myself and the course. The problem is that I will be calling them, so I have to ask for Mr./Mrs. [insert really difficult to pronounce last name] and then tell them I am going to be teaching [insert child's name]. I totally use the "introduce yourself" method in my normal classroom, but I don't think there's a way to do that in this situation. I will probably just do the best I can and then immediately say, "I'm so sorry if I mispronounced your name--could you tell me how to pronounce it correctly?"

This is just adding a new dimension to my irrational phone fear, is all.

Whoa Kristin, you are teaching an online class to kids in elementary school?! That's kinda blowing my mind. What software are you using for the class?

I have a friend who has done all kinds of research into how to help students access age-appropriate resources online (like at what ages can they start manipulating which search engines, at what age do they start learning how to use blogs, etc).

In meme news, I spent the afternoon at The Huntington Library and Gardens, one of my favorite places in the world. We've been members since last year, and I renewed the membership today. I feel so wonderfully rested and relaxed. The weather was absolutely perfect--about 80 in the sun, but with a nice light breeze that cooled the air. Sitting in the gardens, I finished reading the second of the three books I'll be teaching starting next week.

Oh, I love it there! Good luck with teaching the online class. I'm sure you'll do fine.

Whoa Kristin, you are teaching an online class to kids in elementary school?! That's kinda blowing my mind. What software are you using for the class?

Yep. I'm not sure about the software. It's through CTY online, though, here: [link]

This is the course I'm teaching: [link]

I have a friend who has done all kinds of research into how to help students access age-appropriate resources online (like at what ages can they start manipulating which search engines, at what age do they start learning how to use blogs, etc).

t perks up ears

Is any of this online? I'm working on putting together computer-usage lessons and haven't found much useful thus far.

I don't know, DebetEsse, but I could ask him. We were putting together a panel proposal recently and when he coughed up that info I thought to myself 1) I am totally outclassed here, and 2) I like having super smart friends.

Got pseudo stood up/(series of unfortunate events)-ed

Why won't my wine bottle open.