October 4, 2007

Sorry about the break, but the week has been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and blog. Well, actually, with Erik Prince on Capitol Hill this week, I have been doing some more research on Blackwater USA and on his statements, so I have been keeping myself busy to get enough information to have an educated opinion. Last night we went to the Carolina Hurricanes v. Montreal Canadiens hockey game. Although the 'Canes seemed to play well, they still lost in overtime (after a cheap penalty put them on the 4-3 penalty kill). I have to say, they look better than last year, and you don't have to look to far to find out that the Hurricanes were only the third team in history to go from Stanley Cup to missing the playoff altogether. But I sure did get a TON of pictures that all came out pretty good despite sitting in the upper deck (306). We had a lot of fun at the game. It was Evan, Michelle, Mercer, and me. Yes, I brought my camera. It was the first time I had done so. I may have gone a littel overboard on the pictures, I took 111. But it was fun, nonetheless. I got some great shots here and there, and some not so good shots too. (Click on the pictures to see larger view).

It was opening night. Above the introduced this season's team.

Huet had to stretch to make this save. The puck is actually in his glove here!

The Ray Whitney (13) just misses a chance for the 'Canes!

Cam Ward has to make another save here (above).

Things happen so fast that even the players don't see the puck sometimes. In the above picture, the puck is at Cam Ward's (Goalie, #30) waist but the players are still looking at it's source. They haven't even had a chance to fully react yet!

Above is an animated .gif of Bret Hedican's goal to tie the game in the 3rd period (click on it to animate).

September 30, 2007

All I have to say is, Seven runs in the first inning? Do you really want to make the playofs? Apparently not, and the Mets got their wish. Despite owning the NL East for the entire season, they gave it away this week and now get to play golf before the real post season contenders. Thank goodness for golf. Again, I am glad I don't still live in New York otherwise I couldn't escape the sobs from Mets fans. But being from New York, I guess I will have to root for the Phillies, or the Rockies who are in a playoff game with the Padres tomorrow (what, did you think I was going to say the Yankees? It would be a cold day in... well, you know how it goes.) Oh well, at least hockey season has started this weekend. The 'Canes will do better this year than last.

Today was interesting. Evan had another birthday party, except it was the first one where I dropped him off and didn't stay. I felt confident that he would be alright. The party was for the daughter of the class mom and was at their house. I wasn't worried about him, but as I drove away I felt a little weird. I had never dropped him off at a friends house to play or for a party. It was like a next step for him growing up. Kinda pulls on the heartstrings. But it is OK, it was actually a bit refreshing to know that he is big enough to handle being at a friend's house without me.

Yesterday Evan had another soccer game. Under normal circumstances he would have done a lot more standing around, but since it was cool out and we didn't play until noon, he was charged up. I have to say, it was his best performance yet. I am so pleased. I did my best to capture him on video so here it is (he is number 3 on the white team - Chik-fil-a). He had an opportunity to score but missed the ball. (It was just off camera) He even dribbled the ball some, which was a first. Regardless, he is getting better all the time and I am so proud of him. (And don't mind my coaching from the sideline, sometimes it seems to help. The voice next to me is another parent, Sandy, who was one of Evan's coaches from last year)

Part 1	Part 2

September 29, 2007

"Collapse" is the name of a Jared Diamond book. It is subtitled, "How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." For those of in Mets nation it should be subtitled "How TEAMS Choose to Fail or Succeed." Last night, when I heard that it finally had happened, the Mets loss combined with the Phillies win puts the Mets 1 game back pf the Phils in the NL East, I thought I was going to be sick. I literally took two Tums and lied down hoping to fall asleep so the feeling would pass. I know it seemed possible since September was one of their worst months going 13-13 (so far) and losing the last 5 in a row. August didn't prove to be much better with a record of 15-13 making the Mets barely an average team for the last two months. What is worse, is the Yankees who most non-Yankee fans ruled out of any possible post season play early this season was in contention to win the AL East, but at least wrapped up the AL Wildcard earlier this week. It is a disaster for Mets fans. I am just glad I do not live in New York and have to hear it from Yankee fans non-stop. Let's take a look at this more closely.

1) The Mets' collapse is not as sudden as it seemed. They got out of the gate hot and have been mediocre ever since. 34-18 through the first two months and then only one month over .500 since, and that was only by 1 game. 53-55 over four months, hardly a surprise that they are fighting for their playoff life in this last weekend of the regular season. But, honestly, does a team that is below .500 for the last four months of the season really need to be going to the post-season? How exciting will that be to watch them get trounced in the first round?

2) The Phillies have played very well since their "poor start." Poor start? They had a bad April, that's it. They keep getting hotter and if any team deserves to make the post-season it is the Phillies. They are an exciting team to watch and they are peaking. That makes for some exciting games. Their 77-58 record since April shows that they are a team to be reckoned with, while the Mets have been swept by the Phillies in the last SEVEN games they met.

3) The Milwaukee Brewers are already on the outside looking in. The Cubs have clinched the NL Central and the Brewers are don't even have a record to contend for the Wild Card. So their hot start was for naught. Again, just as the Mets, two good months are not good enough to cover for the four poor months. And what it was that Lou Pinella said to his team got them fired up enough to play to their potential and now they have a chance to break the curse.

4) Back in April, newspapers and critic everywhere were certain that Joe Torre would be done as the Yankees' manager at the end of this season (if not sooner) and now they are the Wildcard team for the AL, and until a few days ago, were contending for the top spot in the AL East. For the last four months, the Yankees have been playing fantastic baseball (although it actually makes me gag to admit it). Their bats have been on fire and their pitching has been good enough, most nights, to allow the Yankees' 10 run leads to hold. But it is really the Yankees who deserve the most credit for turning the ship around. The Red Sox record will prove this.

5) The Red Sox was another team that started off the season hot. But unlike the Mets, they didn't self destruct. They continued to post winning records month after month (except for June's 13-14 record). They were in it for the entire season despite the talking heads' discussion of their collapse. The Red Sox continued to win, though looking more human than early on, but it was the Yankees inspired play that put the Red Sox lead in jeopardy. As usual, having the Yankees and Red Sox in the post-season makes for an exciting series, assuming both teams can get through the first round.

As for me, I was delighted (of course) to see the Mets win and the Phillies lose today, putting them in a deadlock going into the last day of the season. Both teams will need the other to lose in order to avoid a head-to-head playoff game on Monday. Which could also occur if both teams lose. I am also watching with interest the Padres and the Brewers today hoping for a Padres loss. This is where it starts to get a little complicated. It is possible that all three teams (Mets, Phillies, and Padres) will end up with the same record making two play-off games necessary. The Mets and Phillies will have to play each other to see who wins the NL East, then the loser of that game will have to play the Padres to see who wins the Wildcard. That scenario would happen if both the Mets and Phillies win their games an the Padres lose theirs. But, if either the Mets or Phillies lose their game, the Padres clinch the Wildcard and the winner of Sunday's game, or if both lose, the winner of the play-off game between the Mets and Phillies wins the NL East. Ugh. That is the way it stands and at least I feel some hope for my Mets, unlike Friday night when all I felt was nauseous.

September 28, 2007

Interim report went out today. And, as promised, no lecture on how to improve grades. Overall, I was pleased with the results, although some students definitely have room for improvement. In Civics & Economics we began watching "The Ghosts of Mississippi." It is one of my favorite movies to show in the class because it demonstrates so many of the things the course is about. From civil liberties to the judicial process, as well how to be an active responsible citizen. It is jam packed with lessons for Civics. I highly recommend it to any teacher of Civics. I am planning on using it as a spring board for political involvement on the everyday, citizen level. And it will be the subject for the writing project they will begin next week. It is pretty exciting. I will also follow up later in the quarter with a webquest about the Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties. My goal is that the students will form their own opinion about these rights and be able to defend their position about them. It is an exciting topic for me, even if the students disagree with my opinion, which I do my best to with hold, but it is difficult to do even if I do not specifically say, "in my opinion...", because the students will be able to pick up on my tone or my language despite how objective I try to be. But, as long as they can form their own opinion and support it with historical facts, I will be thrilled!

Michelle left for Boston this afternoon. She is accompanying her dad to a wedding so that he doesn't have to go on his own. I miss her already, but she has to do what she has to do, her dad needs her, and I understand that. Evan and I have a relatively busy weekend anyway. Saturday Evan has a soccer game at noon, and Sunday he has a birthday party at 4pm. I am sure we will be able to fill the remainder of the time with fun things. I have also taken the day off Monday because Evan has begun track-out. So Michelle will be at work, and I will stay home with him. Maybe we will make plans with Katie and Chris both of whom are also tracked-out.

Today's Headlines:

Democrats: Unprepared Blackwater Team Provoked Fallujah Bbattle (Newsobserver.com)
Blackwater Eyes Domestic Contracts in U.S. (NPR.org)
Blackwater makes my top headline again today. I have BIG problems with the idea of a private security company providing security in proclaimed domestic disaster areas. I have read a little too much Roman history to feel comfortable with mercenaries as providing peace. Especially when the company is run by an individual with very slanted, one-sided point of view (it would be hard to find anyone, really, who could be totally objective). Isn't it bad enough that they have created problems in Iraq that our military has had to clean up and our government has to take responsibility for? What would happen if this praetorian guard was given the authority to walk the streets in a domestic disaster area? The way I see it, is this is only one step away from becoming death squads or secret police that are accountable only to the chief executive and with little oversight since their actions would be clandestine. In other words, all that would be missing is some insignia, much like the SS in Nazi Germany, China's Red Guard, Stalin's NKVD (Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del), and so on. I do not like it one bit, nor do I like to potential for the Orwellian control they will try to have over citizens. I feel that this would be another step, combined with FRT (facial recognition technology), warrantless wiretapping, and "sneak and peek" searches of of computers with out a warrant, down a very slippery slope that would eventually lead to self-censorship in speech and press, as well as assembly, out of fear from what will become an American death squad. We, as citizens of the United States must be vigilant to protect our freedoms and rights. If we cannot then the terrorists have one a major victory over the United States, perhaps without ever attacking us again. And perhaps one day, speech, such as this blog today, will result in my disappearance and "re-education."

The Price of Freedom is eternal vigilance.

-MC

September 27, 2007

I don't like days like today. The pressure continues to mount as I struggle to keep up with the pace in World History. So today I ran through hundreds of years of history in Greece, from the Peloponnesian War, to Alexander the Great, and covering the many cultural achievements of the Greeks to human society. I spent most of the day lecturing on the subject just to get through it. At one point, I actually forgot that I was talking at students. I felt like I was just talking to an audience. It was not until a student raised her hand that I was brought back to reality. It is days like this that I know are too much for the students to absorb. As 9th graders they can easily be bored by such an intense period. Fortunately they are honors students so most are able to focus and stay awake, despite how long winded I get.

Tomorrow I am to distribute progress reports (or interim reports) to every student. I almost forgot about it. I planned on staying late at school today in order to make sure my lesson plans for Monday's substitute would be ready, in stead, I graded a few papers and entered the grades into the computer so I can print the progress reports first thing tomorrow morning (again, thank goodness for 1st period planning!). Most of the time I have a huge lecture prepared that is aimed at the students who are not doing well. An attempt to try and motivate the students. This time, there is no need. The classes are all doing well enough where I can fore go any such pep talk. I can't think of a time when I haven't had to do this, I guess there is a first time for everything.

Today's Headlines:

Nine Killed as Myanmar Cracks Down on Protests (Reuters.com)
What began as a protest over a government increase in the price of fuel has become an all out rebuff of the Myanmar government by pro-democracy supporters. Myanmar (the southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma whose name was changed by the military junta when they took over in 1989) is no stranger to pro-democratic protests. And what is going on presently is reminiscent of protests of years gone by. As is typical for the country, the military government confronts these protesters with violence, at times directing soldiers to fire into the crowds of peaceful demonstrators. Fear of this type of action by the government is what normally keeps the citizens in line. But now, supported by Buddhist monks, the protesters continue their struggle against the government.

ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is in the practice of staying out of the way of each other's internal struggles. And this is proving to be no different. Meanwhile, "President" Bush has called for all nations with influence in Myanmar to pressure the nation to cease violence against the peaceful protesters. At this time, the United Nations General Assembly does not see this event as a crisis and is not yet ready to interfere.



-MC

September 26, 2007

I am not getting enough sleep. I know it is my fault that I go to bed too late, but it doesn't change the fact that I am still not getting enough sleep. So tonight I plan on being in bed by 10pm instead of my customary 11:30 - 12:00. This morning I was dragging almost until my first class came in at around 9am (and I had been at work from 7:00 and had been up since 5:45). The good news is that I don't dread my classes because they are so cooperative. I also got some good news, Mr. James, my substitute teacher from Friday praised my plans to all the front office staff for being so well planned and organized. Having been a substitute teacher for two years before having a full time teaching job I know the value of detailed and organized plans. It is very stressful to just walk into a classroom as a sub. Some students think they are commanders of naval destroyers and automatically go into "sink the sub" mode, so I do my best to make sure that the plans I leave are not the source of any additional stress. I remind my students that a sub has these extra pressures and stress and the fact they are well behaved made his job even easier.

I am finding that I am slowing down. That is to say, my pace in the curriculum is slowing. No matter what I do, I cannot get out of Greece and Rome in anything less than two weeks. And according to the pacing guide I should be done with both in 6 days. There is just so much that I feel bad giving so little time as it is. Sure, I could get through it if I assign the students 3 sections from the textbook a night and give notes all period but the students would resent that and would either shut down and go to sleep or would rebel by not paying attention and becoming small distractions. My hands feel tied. I want to keep the students' interest by mixing it up with different activities and movie clips. The trade off is I do not get to complete the "history of the world" by not finishing the 20th century. Every semester I do my best to get farther in the curriculum, but that means cutting out more and more. I am not sure of the motivation behind giving only breadth and not depth in the material.

Today's Headlines:

Bill O'Reilly Says He's Being Smeared (Yahoo!News)
Bill "you ignorant slut." How foolish do you think we are? The king of smear is accusing others of smear. See, that's the problem, you don't know what "smear" is. Smear happens when you make a person look bad for something they did or say when they did not mean for it to come out poorly. Bill, do you actually expect the nation to believe that this one time you weren't trying to be bigoted? That this was one time when you weren't making a snide comment? Everyone knows your meaning, Bill. What is sad is that you think we are too ignorant to understand. But I guess that is the mentality of Fox "News" programs, they think the people are so unintelligent that they will not be able to think for themselves and will take for gospel anything that is said on the network. News flash Fox, "the O'Reilly Factor" is not news, it is entertainment, stop comparing it to news programs. And the "No Spin Zone" is so dizzying, I have to take a Dramamine when I just flip by O'Reilly. So please, Bill, stop pretending to be credible. The people who watch you are either 1) entertained by your show, or 2) have never had an original thought their entire life.

For those who would like a look at O'Reilly and Fox News network without the spin, read:
Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly and Fair and Balanced, My Ass! both by Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer. And don't forget Lies, and the Lying Liars who Tell Them by Al Franken.

'nuff said.

September 25, 2007

Monday was a teacher workday, in other words, a day to catch-up, plan, go to meetings without worrying about students. It can be a relaxing day or a stressful day, it all depends on how many meeting have been arranged for you and how much class work you have to catch up on. For me, it was a little stressful. I conducted a tutorial on the grade book program we use in the county and I had a meeting for Civics & Economics teachers. So in between, I had more work to do than time to do it. Oh well.

Today went well. It was a sort of "mix-it-up" day. From time to time a teacher has to break from the the routine the class is used to and do an activity that is a bit different. Maybe it involves moving around the room, group work, computer lab, library, anything, so long as it is not part of the normal routine. It is a way to get some students back that begin to get bored with the routine. Sometimes it is difficult for a teacher to break that comfortable routine, but in the long run it pays off. Besides, the day goes by more quickly. The students also respond well to sincerity. Being absent Friday I needed a substitute teacher to cover the classes. When a teacher returns from a day off, they never know what the report will be. I received no report. Which means that there was nothing to report, hence well behaved classes all day! I gave a heartfelt and sincere thanks to the classes for giving me the peace of mind to know that if I should have to be out again that I won't have to worry about them. It truly is a big relief.

Today's Headlines:

Deadline Passes, Union Strikes at GM Plants (USAToday)
I know that some people won't want to hear what I have to say about this but, I am going to say it anyway. So have a seat. Times in industry are difficult. For years now, every time there is mention of labor negotiations, or contract discussions for workers in industry (usually union workers) the end result is what will the workers have to give up in order to keep jobs and the company in business. What seems to be the problem is how expensive it is to pay American workers compared to workers overseas. On the table, as is always the case, are the benefits received by the workers. I am sure that a very expensive portion of these benefit payments involve health insurance. The solution - universal healthcare. Studies have concluded that people with health insurance are less likely to get sick or seriously ill because they can afford preventative visits to their healthcare provider. If that is the case, less money will likely be spent on healthcare if everyone had healthcare. In addition to improved health, companies would pay out less in benefits and would pay their workers more who would have to pay the higher taxes to cover the cost of nationwide healthcare. By my estimation, companies would end up saving money because the cumulative pay increases for the workers would be less than the savings due to no contributions to workers' health insurance. In the end, both sides will win. Sure, some people will be steadfast against such a socialist idea, but when it makes fiscal sense, does it really matter? And besides, what is wrong with a good idea just because it requires higher taxes? Again, the way I see it is each person would pay an increase in their taxes which will be less than the amount they already pay for their own health insurance. As a result, by saving the insurance payment and paying the higher tax, there should be a net gain for the individual. Is this such a radical idea?

By the way, this is a pretty funny estimation of the problem in the auto industry. It was posted on the USA Today website by user "jerryspencer" for the article UAW strike comes as a shock.

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company
(General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams
practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the
race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided
to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of
senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering,
while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management
hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat,
while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting
to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure
was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering
superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also
implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the
boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality
First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens and a certificate of
completion for the rower There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and
other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two
miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower
(a reduction in workforce) for poor performance, halted development of a new
canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.
The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executive s as bonuses and the
next year's racing team was "outsourced" to India ...

Sadly, the End.

However, sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to
think about:

Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its
factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.
Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside
the US

The last quarter's results:

Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9
billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!

GM's Statement
UAW Statement