have that short term thing on my resume.

It may be a short enough time that you can skip it on your resume, meara. Dropping the date and just using the year is your friend.

I don't know that just asking, "Did some guy knock on your door in the middle of the night?" is being accusatory.

Today is also the 13th anniversary of the Columbine tragedy.

Iron infusion went well. I never even got put in an exam room, just straight into the infusion clinic. My last infusion was last April. I really like my Hemo doc.

Catching up in Natter, read every post but didn't meara.

I've gone from living in an area that is 91% white, to 88% white, to 71% white, to 54% white, to 33% white (although I suspect that last is outdated and there are more whites in my hood now). Kind of funny to see it in black and white (and colored dots) like that.

meara, I say take the new job if it looks like a better fit. I haven't heard you say anything positive about your current job yet, that I can recall.

Connie, where are you from in Greene County? I have a bunch of ancestors from there; John Minor, "The Father of Greene County," was my Hawkins ancestor's stepfather.

Yeah, you can totally see gentrification vs. the old boundary lines ("don't cross 16th street!") in my old neighborhood--the Census tracts I was in was 18% white and 50% Hispanic, but the ones around were up to 30% white...and I KNOW that's way higher these days.

My parents' neighborhood has changed some since I lived there, too--currently 50% white, 25% black, and 25% Hispanic--there didn't used to be hardly any Hispanic people around. Oddly, a block north and the census district changes and it goes to 50% white and 50% black. No idea why none of the Hispanics are living in that particular section, it's not any different than the nearby area.

My current tract is 64% white, which I'm a bit startled by--I know there's more non-white people in this neighborhood than in many in Seattle, but I thought it was even higher than that. Just south of me is 41% but just north is 85%. Oh, the difference a few blocks makes.

Connie, where are you from in Greene County?

I'm from near the village of Spraggs in Wayne Township, south of Waynesburg. My people have been there since essentially settlement. Family names of Rush, Nichols, Brock, Headlee, Spragg, Fordyce, White, among others.

edit: Oh, and my mother-in-law's last name was Hawkins, and she's from West Virginia about 10 miles from where I grew up.

Talking pineapple question on state exam stumps ... everyone!

Students across the state are still scratching their heads over an absurd state test question about a talking pineapple.

The puzzler on the eighth-grade reading exam stumped even educators and has critics saying the tests, which are becoming more high stakes, are flawed.

It really must be read to be believed. The story is crap, and the questions make no sense, and I don't understand how this is a test.

One of the questions even stumped 74 time Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, who said of he "who is wisest" question, "Honestly, I'm still not particularly sure what the intended answer is."

I love Daniel Pinkwater and that is one awesome talking pineapple story, but that thing was seriously never meant for multiple-choice testing. I so deeply hope Pinkwater himself weighs in on the controversy.

eta: Oh, just bless his big old heart to bits.

I kind of love that hilarious story. And now I hope Scott Simon and Pinkwater discuss it on Weekend Edition on NPR very soon.

Connie, my Hawkins ancestor married an Elizabeth Hill as his first wife, and she died at 21 and is buried in "a lonely grave" at the intersection of the Oak Forest and Rogersville Road on the way to Waynesburg, PA. Hawkins was the state senator for the county from 1826-1832, and lived in Waynesburg, but when he retired he moved to Allegheny County. I can't find out a damn thing about his father, unfortunately.

Oh my, bless him, indeed.

I don’t know how the test publishing company changed the story. I gather they decided to call the rabbit a hare, and made the eggplant into a pineapple. Also there appears to be something about sleeves. And they made up questions for the students to answer. I would not have done any of these things. But it has nothing to do with me. I cashed the check they sent me after about 8 months, and took my wife out to lunch at a cheap restaurant. I believe, she ordered eggplant.