vivalaultra

I teach 8th and 10th grade English in Texas and I agree with uh...I forget who that was that posted above me that advised against going into teaching if you don't really want to do it. It seems like there's a good portion of people that get Liberal Arts degrees and, after they graduate, if they don't have any other idea of what job they want to do, they figure they'll go into teaching. Teaching requires a whole Hell of a lot more work than most people realize or give credit for. I work at a charter school that, while state accredited, doesn't have a set curriculum. It's basically up to the teachers to select texts and topics to teach that will reflect the state standards. On top of the actual 40+ hours a week of actual teaching I do, there's assloads of lesson planning, grading, researching, etc. It's most likely different at normal schools that have set curriculum, but there's more to teaching that just reading answers out of a textbook. And on top of that, there's the whole aspect of dealing with all of the students-different personalities, backgrounds, learning styles, etc.-and the other faculty. If you absolutely can't imagine spending 90% of your time around typical teenagers, you might not enjoy teaching that much. Another thing that might come up-when I got my degree in English and decided to go into teaching, I figured it would be a great fit. I mean, I love reading and talking about literature and writing and all that, so I thought that there would be nothing better than spending all of my time discussing that with other people. However, there's certainly the problem that a large portion of the people that I discuss these things with have a lot less experience and enthusiasm than I do when it comes to books and writing, so sometimes it can be a downer when I go into class all pumped up to discuss Lord of the Flies or something about writing a thesis statement and the kids just couldn't care less about it. Personally, I love teaching and I couldn't picture doing anything else; I find that all the good outweighs the bad, but if you don't have an absolute passion for teaching, like enough passion to deal with all of the time it takes to make lesson plans and do grading and all of the little stuff and to deal with people who, by nature of their age, can be extremely hard to deal with, then you might not want to go that route. If anything, I'd recommend doing a little substitute teaching so you can see what you might be getting into before you make a decision. And if you seriously want to get into teaching, the best thing is to get your resume done quickly (be sure to highlight stuff that pertains to your mastery in content and your experience dealing with people) and get ready to just file it at every school in your area. The end of the year is coming up in a few months and schools are probably going to start negotiating with current teachers and seeing what their needs for next year are pretty soon.

News out of Astros' Spring Training camp: Hunter Pence is going to miss a week or so after jumping through a plate-glass window. Supposedly, he was sober when it happened, but it seems a little suspect. Still, at least missing a week due to jumping through a plate-glass window is better than missing a whole season after getting caught in a treadmill (see: Alou, Moises). The Astros are probably going to sign Shawn Chacon, who will probably suck, but might suck less than Woody Williams. Miguel Tejada showed up early to camp and foresees no legal problems. The Astros won both of their arbitration hearings (Valverde and Loretta), so they have an extra $3 million or so to give to Shawn Chacon. I'd rather they give it to me to pay off outstanding debts.

I'm getting $850ish back. Maybe more, depending on if my Dad lets me claim my Teaching Certification classes, which he paid for. He should. He makes too much money for it to make a difference if he claims it. My fiancee's getting back about $1100. Last year she got back $7500 because she claimed her two small brothers as dependents.

If you were disappointed at the lack of clean resolution to this movie, I can't wait to see how pissed off you get at the lack of resolution to the movie version of "Blood Meridian" (presuming it gets faithfully directed, which it might or might not considering the crew in charge of it). Much like NCFOM, "Blood Meridian" By the by, I think Tommy Lee Jones is a fabulous actor, especially in the last decade or so. One movie that I haven't seen mentioned in the thread that he was in is "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada", which he also directed. He was great in that wonderful, weird, slightly creepy movie.

Well, it's good to see that the Astros have at least ONE prospect in the Top 100 list. It pains me to see the sucktitude that is the Astros' farm system. They nevery had the best system in baseball, but even as recent as 5-7 years ago, they were in the upper third. After Hunsicker left, the farm's gotten progressivly worse with bad draft after bad draft, Purpura trading away upper-tier prospects for players like Aubrey Huff and Jason Jennings, and the Astros' Venezuelan Academy becoming irrelevant-which is sad, especially considering it was the Academy that signed and developed Johan Santana, Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and others. I hope that Bobby Heck can build the system back up. He did quite well in Milwaukee.

I've been referenced! Yeah, I've been meaning to provide interesting and hopelessly optimistic commentary on my beloved Astros' moves this offseason, but my teaching job has occupied a lot of time and TSM is blocked by my school's filter (under the category "Humor/Jokes", no less). I'll find time to do one of my 'long, homeric rants' later, but here's some random thoughts: -Presuming Tejada isn't deported or indicted, the middle of the order-Tejada, Berkman, Lee, Pence-should be very good. The rest of the lineup is definitely an improvement offensively. We even have a catcher that can hit now, so that's a plus. -The Matsui signing was horrible. Lance Berkman had a good line on one of the call-in sports shows after the 'Stros signed him. It was right after Berkman made comments in the paper about feeling like he had been traded to the Astros because of all the new guys on the team and he wasn't sure how they'd gel. Anyway, one of the hosts on the show was talking about the comments and said, "Hey, Lance, why don't you and Matsui go hang out sometime?" and Berkman said something to the effect of "Who? Me, him, and his interpreter?" I would've preferred leaving Burke at 2nd, but I guess Drayton wanted to tap into the large Asian population in Houston or something... -The pitching frightens me. The bullpen, I think, should be average to above average, but the starting pitching is going to be interesting to see. Oswalt's a bonafide ace (dropping K rate be damned), but if they're asking Brandon Backe to be the #2 starter, that's got me really worried. I think Wandy Rodriguez is going to have a breakout year in 2008. Mark it down. -Despite the questionability of some of the moves Ed Wade's made, I think he's done a lot to improve the team with what was available on the market. Trading Willy Taveras, Jason Hirsh, and Taylor Buchholz for Jason Jennings last year had serious negative reprecussions. -If Tejada ends up going to jail and he has to be replaced at SS by Geoff Blum for a long period of time, all of those fans that wanted to get rid of Adam Everett are going to be begging for him and his .230 average to come back. -As of right now, I think the Astros are the 3rd best team in the division on paper behind the Cubs and the Brewers. I think 2008's either going to be a pennant winning year or a year when they lose 100 games. This half-assed youth movement/trade the farm for 'superstars' combo has the potential to bomb big time. We shall see...

I'm just glad that he used the expression 'I don't give a rat's ass...'. I've always liked that expression and felt that it didn't get enough play, especially outside of the South.

Just to point/counterpoint with McNamee, here's an article from the Houston Chronicle that talks about the defamation lawsuit that Clemens filed yesterday against the trainer. This isn't the whole article, just the most interesting, juiciest part: So, basically Clemens is saying that McNamee was coerced into naming Clemens, whether what he said was true or not. I'm not sure if I believe that, but I'm not sure if I don't believe it. I'm really interested to see Clemens' Grand Jury testimony; I have it marked on my calender. I have to teach that day, but I've already scheduled for all my students to take a test that day so I can watch the hearing.

So, something dreadfully odd just happened. Dreadfully odd. Last month (around the 17th of Nov.-whichever day 'No Country for Old Men' opened), my then-girlfriend/now-fiancee's car got stolen in broad daylight from the parking lot of our apartment complex. We filed a report, heard that we'd probably never see it again, spent much time wondering where it was, how many pieces it was in, etc. Fast forward to tonight: We went over to her people's house for New Year's fajitas. I decide that we're gonna leave at about 10 so we can get home before the crazies get out and about. We get back to our apt. complex a little after 11. I can't find a spot to park on our side of the complex where I always park (it being New Year's and all), so we circle around to the other side where there are very few cars parked. As we're driving, I see a Nissan Sentra (same model as the stolen car) kinda jacknifed into a spot. I jokingly say to my sweetie, "Hey...there's your car." As we get closer to the car, I notice that it has no license plate. It also has three of four windows busted out and no rims. Also, it has all the same dents as her former car. Sure as shit, there's her car. Since we've never been the victims of autotheft and do not know the protocol, we call 911 and they send some dude over. We sit in my car next to her ex-car for about 30 minutes waiting, me hoping that the carjackers do not return to murder us and stuff. Anyway, cop gets there and I'm expecting him to go like all CSI and dust for prints and get DNA swabs and stuff, but he basically says there's nothing he can do, we all kinda chuckle and the oddness of the situation, he makes a recovery report and says that we could probably sell it for scrap. The car's totally stripped, too. Steering column ripped out with a t-shirt covering it up, glovebox ripped out, door panels, rims, stereo, gearshift, registration sticker, etc. So, we decide to have a closer look to see if any of her stuff is still in the car. She looks in the backseat and sees spilled laundry detergent and a pair of socks (possibly her socks). I say we should open the trunk, so we do. And we find (this is where it gets really, really weird)... We find thousands of pairs of diapers. Not regular diapers, mind you, but adult diapers. ADULT DIAPERS. Like...for old people that shit on themselves. It would've been odd enough just to see her car that was stolen a month or so ago show up back at the place from which it was stolen, but when we found it it was full of adult diapers. So, at least now we know a few things about who stole the car: Obviously, the theif was someone that lived in the same apt. complex as us. And obviously they had been driving it around, although this had to have been the first time they brought it back to the complex because I walk my dog daily on that side of the complex and I've never seen it; apparently the back driver's side tire had gone flat because they took the donut tire out of the trunk and put it on the car. And the thief is either an incontinent old man or is in cahoots with an incontinent old man, to which I attribute the adult diapers. I can't figure out which is more unsettling-that it's somebody that lives in the same complex as us (which means we can't put up flyers asking people to contact us if they have information about what happened) or the fact that the theif can't contain their bladder movements. Very odd way to start 2008. Very odd, indeed.

So, I just finished wrapping all of my Christmas presents. This is the first year that I've been able to really spend a decent amount of money on anybody. Rough calculations come out to me spending a bit over a thousand bucks total. Here's a list of presents I'm giving: My Mom: a portable DVD player, the first season of 'Little People, Big World' (my mom like...loves this show), and 'La Bamba' on DVD (the best movie ever starring Lou Diamond Phillips) My Dad: one of those digital picture frames with a built-in weather station, the Simpsons Game for Nintendo DS My Sister: a necklace with the double-helix symbol from the show 'Heroes', a country CD by some guy whose name I forgot, and 'The Village Sessions EP' by John Mayer My Brother: A Fighter's heart by Sam Sheridan (book about MMA), an Ely snap-button Western shirt, '300' on DVD My infant nephew Andrew (brother's kid): A DVD boxed set called 'Sesame Street: Old School Vols. 1-2' which is the first few seasons of 'Sesame Street' from the 1970s, a couple baby shirts My significant other Elizabeth: I've been with her for over 7 years, so I asked her a couple months ago if she wanted an engagment ring for Christmas. She said that I didn't have to get her one because they're really expensive and instead I could just get her a Crock Pot. So, I got her a Crock Pot and I'm going to surprise her by getting her an engagement ring anyway and putting it in the Crock Pot. So, she'll open the Crock Pot and then I'll do the whole proposing thing and it'll be sweet and I'll get lotsa ass on Christmas. Either that, or she'll open the Crock Pot, think that all I got her was a Crock Pot and then she'll murder me, only to discover the ring after the life drains from my body and then feel guilty, throw her arms around my corpse, decide that life is no longer worth living and then commit suicide and then my family will come over and discover the grisly scene later that evening. Either way it'll be interesting how it all comes out. So, what's everybody else getting their families/friends for Christmas?

If only I would've known of the existence of that website, I, too would've gotten everyone I know a gigantic gummy bear. That's a lot of gummy for only $40, shipping included.

Hey! Fadi's is like...half a block away from the school where I teach at. Small world and everything. Since we have a high percentage of Turkish people in administration and teaching, we have staff meetings there sometimes. I saw flyers for the B-boy thing all over the place for about a week and I was slightly interested, but did not go.

1. Michael J. Fox 2. Gabriel Garcia Marquez 3. Farrah Fawcett (best bet) 4. Amy Winehouse 5. Lou Ferrigno 6. Muhammed Ali 7. Estelle Getty 8. Don Rickles 9. Adam 'Pacman' Jones 10. JD Salinger 11. Hugo Chavez 12. Ron Santo 13. Darryl Strawberry 14. Danny Bonnaduce 15. Roger Ebert 16. Pete Doherty 17. Dick Clark 18. Hillary Clinton 19. Fats Domino 20. Doyle Brunson

Why? There's no obvious front-runner and if he plays a full year, he's the top choice. Edit: Obviously I'm talking about Jeter...not Marlon Anderson (Is that Marlon Anderson?).

Adam Everett signed a 1-yr., $4.5 million deal with the Twins only 12-hours after being non-tendered by the 'Stros. Adam Everett is (was?) obviously the best defensive shortstop in baseball, but, if anything, going to the American League greatly decreases his chances at winning a Gold Glove.

Yeah, all the actors were just about perfect in their roles. I also liked how faithful the dialogue was to McCarthy's prose. Even when they deviated from the actual words in the book, it sounded like something from the book. One thing I do wonder about the book/movie, which I might have missed:

Ah, Hell. Apparently my hometown 'Stros got duped by one Kazuo Matsui. They're reportedly 'on the verge' of signing him. That's just terrible. Take away Matsui's numbers at Coors last year, and he was basically the same player as Chris Burke in a few more ABs. I fail to see how this an upgrade, and I don't think there's such a large Japanese community in Houston that that's a market that really needs to be opened. Matsui might be fast, but if he's only getting on base at a .325 career clip, what's the point?

Fourthed! Best movie of like...forever. My girlfriend and I went to go see it on Friday; as we were walking out to the car to go to the theatre, we found that her car had been stolen. We called the police, put in a report, got in my car and caught the 8:15 show. Not even auto theft could put a damper on the awesomeness of the movie.

The Houston Astros have traded CF prospect Josh Anderson to the Hotlanta Braves for Oscar Villareal. With the addition of Michael Bourn, Anderson was expendable, despite his terrific Sept. The Astros also signed Minor League free agent Yordany Ramirez to a Minor League deal and put him on the 40-man roster. I'm not orgasmic over the trade, but it's not terrible or anything.

I echo those sentiments. When reading No Country for Old Men, I figured that a movie version would come along eventually and that it would probably be very good, dependent on who was involved. The persons involved in the movie (and the trailer/clips that I've seen) have me looking very much forward to seeing it. However, when reading Blood Meridian, I figured it would probably be made into a movie eventually and the movie would suck; there's just too much going on in the book and too much historical depth to translate it faithfully, and, if it could be done, I don't think Ridley Scott's the guy to do it. Oh well, now that McCarthy's won the Pulitzer, I imagine that his catalog will be mined fully by Hollywood. Anyway, here's the Roger Ebert review of NCFOM. Although Ebert's gotten liberal in the last few years throwing out the stars, this review has me excited for the movie, and I never knew he was such a big McCarthy fan.

One of my students rushed up to me all excited because, according to him, the front of the Houston Chronicle's Sports section said that the Houston Astros 'acquired' Dontrelle Willis. However, upon further inspection, it seems my student mistook the word 'acquired' for 'inquired'. Supposedly, the 'Stros asked about Dontrelle Willis and the response began with JR Towles, Troy Patton, and centerfield prospect Josh Flores. That seems much too steep for Dontrelle, especially coming off of one bad year and a mediocre year before that.

So, my girlfriend won tickets on the radio the other day to go see The Polyphonic Spree at the Verizon Wireless Center last nite. However, the show was cancelled due to low ticket sales. The radio station offered her tickets, instead, to see Zappa Plays Zappa on Monday nite. Obviously, we accepted. Has anybody seen the show? I'm quite excited, even as just a casual Zappa fan.

Umm, WHAT?! Yeah, that came out wrong. I meant that for what Michael Bourn is costing and his youth, his value will be worth as much as Rowand or Hunter respective of what they will cost and where they're at in their careers. Not saying that Bourn has the fire and the passion like Rowand or anything. Rowand's pretty much got the market cornered on fire and passion. Re: Kaz Matsui 2007 Home/Road splits Home: .330/.381/.482 4 HR Road: .249/.304/.333 0 HR Basically, Kaz Matsui hit like Biggio circa 99 at Coors and like Biggio circa 2007 on the road. Chris Burke's been jerked around way too much for a 1st round draft pick that everyone in the FO seems to be so high on. Give him the job at 2nd or trade him along with Luke Scott for a SP. I think he'd be fine at 2nd.

Yeah, methinks the homerun ball might be a problem for Lidge. His decline over the last couple of seasons has been an increased walk rate (66 BB in 142 innings) and a very high homerun rate (19 HR in 142 innings) over the past two years. And I really like Michael Bourn. I gotta like a fellow UH Cougar. And he projects as every bit as valuable as Aaron Rowand and almost as valuable as Torii Hunter next year and on the cheap. For 2nd base, I'd say either try to get Castillo and failing that, give it to Burke. Kaz Matsui just wouldn't cut it for me. What I really like about this trade, outside of some of the players involved, is that it really took balls. I mean, trading Brad Lidge a couple weeks into the offseason? That's completely out of the box thinking. The way that Ed Wade has been so agressive and forthright so far this offseason...frankly, it kind of arouses me...in a baseball sense.