Cool slideshow. I sent it to my son because he is doing a bridge thing for science fair.

Kristin totally deserves some mama pampering. Yay!

Kristin totally deserves some mama pampering. Yay!

I'll second that, too!

Can I just say that I detest the way my school is forcing the teachers to do lesson plans this year? What took me an hour or two to do on the weekend, now takes 3 or more hours and is less user friendly. Hrumph.

What took me an hour or two to do on the weekend, now takes 3 or more hours and is less user friendly

Holy crap, GG. What are they having you do? (I'm very lucky in that my principal doesn't look at lesson plans ever. I do them, but in a very shorthand way that only I understand. Takes me less than an hour to do them for 4 preps for a whole week.)

They have given us a choice between one of 3 "school approved formats". We must list, for each day: essential question(s), daily objective(s), activities, assignments, goals, Sunshine State Standards and something else I'm forgetting. At the end of the week we have to write a reflection for each class. All of this has to be typed, printed up and posted in our rooms and it is collected at the end of the school year. (I still end up doing a written set like I prefer to use.)

Multiply that by 7 preps in 4 blocks (English 3, Intro to Drama, Stage Craft 1, Stage Craft 2-3, Comprehensive Theatre 1, Comp Theatre 2-3 and Acting 1-2). Yeah, they royally screwed my schedule this year.

The English is something they are forcing me to do because, foolish me, I ended up double majoring in English and Theatre. They don't like to address my Masters in Theatre. I dropped the English certification 5 years ago because I don't need it to teach Drama.

Last year my county gave me an ultimatium: reactive the certification or you will be dropped down to part time. Hub and I couldn't do with the loss of income so here I am. (I think they will dissolve my department when the time comes that I leave and then give the teaching unit to the English department)

I've already gotten a "frown" from DD because I still use shorthand. I got the "what if you aren't here" lecture. I stopped him and replied, "if I'm not here, the sub should baby sit, make sure the kids behave and let the advanced kids do the work they have been trained to do. Under no circumstances should the sub try to direct!" He actually rolled his eyes at me!

I truly hate what my school has become. This is what they get for moving an elementary school principal to run a high school.

I have a finisher's medal. However, the word for Nation's logistical planning is clusterfuck. Would not recommend Nation's unless they seriously change some things. Particularly, ending the tri so far from transition, telling us there would be shuttles to transition and also back to the hotel with our bikes where we were recommended to park, having the shuttle drop us off about a mile from transition both before and after completing the tri (especially with a lot of people dropping like flies from heat exhaustion) and then expecting people to ride their bikes back to the hotel because the shuttle back was a myth. Also, the whole packet pickup was also disastrous. I thought I'd be able to handle the heat exhaustion but all the extra walking did me in; we had to have some very nice woman offer to bring us home (and the EMS lady made her promise she wouldn't let me drive). Whee.

Hope everyone else had decent days. How was your shower, sj?

d, you are amazing! And I'm glad you found a ride.

I got some grading and research done today. I think I may have figured out a way out of the problem I was having with my research before, but I'm not sure -- I'm going to talk to my adviser about it tomorrow.

My doctor switched around some of my meds this weekend, and it seems like it's taken away my appetite. (Known side effect.) I kind of don't want to complain, though, because I've been gaining weight lately.

We're finally home from the shower and have unpacked the car. OMG, so many gifts that need to find a home in our apartment! Sadly, no lingerie trashy or otherwise. The day was really wonderful, mostly due to vw and my friend K who stayed near me all day and kept me sane. The day absolutely flew by! Time to fall down now.

Sadly, no lingerie trashy or otherwise

Heh. After my Sister's shower my family was told explicitly "Do not give me sex clothes in public. Do not give me sex clothes at all. Should any other blood relative attempt to give me sex clothes in public misplace the box until after the party."

Glad the shower went well.

Heh, that's not the reaction I expected from SPP. Mom and I were talking about the gifts after and she said it was because people don't think I'm ''like that'' whatever that means.