Taking a business-related cell phone call ON THE TOILET. When the stall next to you is occupied.

Y/N?

And this, my friends, is why you should never talk on your phone in the bathroom. (Gross but hilarious)

Well, it's the thing I'm most upset by. 5,000 people would be like laying off all of JPL.

Yeah, I'm saying it's Actual Badness.

Was he supposed to be doing stuff throughout the year that contributes to it?

It is and he has been. He interviewed an expert on the history of the presidency and has been working on stuff. But he managed to fluff over the last checkpoint where the teacher makes sure he's on target and has somehow excused himself from finishing on time because of his mother's surgery.

It is a huge project, and the point of it (from my perspective) is to learn how to manage a big project, and stay on schedule. (Which, of course, he is not doing.)

Emmett's attitude about schoolwork is basically that it's a tithe he has to pay to do what he wants to do. He'll pay it - he does his homework without argument. But he doesn't give it his full attention, and he doesn't do it to learn. He's not invested in it.

To be honest, I'm sympathetic with that attitude. His workload at school is very heavy; as Gud notes the standards and expectations are much higher than they used to be. He already works harder than I did.

At the same time I want him to buy in to his own progress. It's a been a big discussion this year because he wasn't invited to be on the travel team in baseball - despite his talent and achievements - because of his attitude about practices. Not that he's a malcontent, or uncoachable or anything. But he doesn't use it as an opportunity to improve. He's not self motivated that way. It's what he has to do to play.

Anyway, iSearch has not been foremost on my mind because we've been juggling a bunch of crises and I blew the deadline.

I'm not even mad at him, really. I wouldn't have wanted to write a forty page paper when I was 13 either, and I certainly wouldn't have been capable without parental assistance.

But it's going to be a tough couple of days. Not just because of the work, but he's going to be emotional and upset and balking about it too.

But I hope I can put it in the proper context for him so that he sees that it's time to buckle down and grind through.

That is also a valuable lesson - how to dig out of a hole.

That is also a valuable lesson - how to dig out of a hole.

Hint: Running around in circles while panicking generally does not help.

That is also a valuable lesson - how to dig out of a hole.

Hells yeah. Would that I'd learned as much about how to avoid the hole in the first place, but that's a good second line of defense.

Yes- I am very good at digging out of holes!

Not so much (still) at avoiding them.

Hec, I hope you think I was saying that youshouldn't help-- I was just mostly surprised that they give homework which presupposes so much investment from the parents to do a good job.

I am also highly influenced by my mom, who basically felt that helping on a project was "cheating" and that all the other parents should stop. She also felt that way about talking to teachers on my behalf or ever getting a job because you knew someone. She is anti-networking-- I think she would call it cheating.

My current workplace pet peeve is extra grading on top of all the grading.

sigh.

Hey, Teppy! You remember that marked-up version of a speech that Obama was looking at? You can download a high-resolution copy of the photo here: [link]

Heh. You say that as if I didn't already download it.

And, uh, make it my desktop.

Hint: Running around in circles while panicking generally does not help.

Unless you flap your arms like a muppet.

I am also highly influenced by my mom, who basically felt that helping on a project was "cheating" and that all the other parents should stop.

Well, my help will mostly be (a) typing (everything has to be typed now and he doesn't know anything but two-finger poking); (b) keeping him on task; (c) helping him organize it. Plus some copyediting.

I'm not writing it or anything but he's never done anything like this before. Despite the in-class focus and project support from the teacher, he doesn't really know what it takes to do something like this.

I am also highly influenced by my mom, who basically felt that helping on a project was "cheating" and that all the other parents should

We have a similar attitude in our district. Less cheating and more like, "My kid has more education than I have" so I never have presupposes parental involvement.