New Page – Happy Links for Sad People

Posted on 31. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in cool websites

Are there any websites that always make you smile, laugh, or just put you in a good mood? If so, please send them my way by adding a comment.

I’ve created a new page on this blog called “Happy Links for Sad People.” I have one person in particular in mind, but I hope others will enjoy it too!

Happy Halloween

Posted on 31. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life

Halloween greetings from Hamenschneegan, the Dirty Rat, our newest family member.

Depression is less likely in children who are hip to what peers think of them — good or bad.

Posted on 30. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, parenting

When a kid tells another kid she’s being weird, is that good or bad? We tell kids to be nice to one another, and not say things like that. And yet, if the child who’s acting strange isn’t aware of it, she may never have an incentive to change, and may always wonder why the kids are nice to her at school yet never invite her to birthday parties.

Today’s LA Times article, Truth is, it’s best if they know, says that kids who don’t have a realistic view of what their peers think of them are more likely to become depressed.

She and fellow researchers found that the child who is not regarded well by peers — and knows it — is actually less likely to grow more depressed over time than the child who believes that classmates like him when, in fact, they don’t. The kid who can see that he is not so well-liked may be better able to change his behavior to make friends, Kistner says. The kid who’s clueless about her effect on classmates may grow frustrated and sad as she misses social cues and fumbles gestures of friendship.

“Realistic perceptions,” Kistner says, “are a hallmark of mental health.”

As I so often say, it’s important when expectation matches reality. So, it’s a fine line kids must tred when dealing with a kid who is annoying. They shouldn’t be mean, but it might help to somehow let the kid know the effect she has on others.

Customer service purgatory

Posted on 29. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life, shopping, things that bug me

I’m on hold, bouncing back and forth between Amazon.com, whom I purchased my color printer from in February, and Preferred Product Protection, the company that is supposed to honor the service plan I purchased at the same time. PPP says the service plan I bought was for a more expensive product, so they won’t honor it. (I purchased the plan on the same page as the product – there was no choice.) Amazon then said to call PPP back and demand to speak to a supervisor. The service plan company says there are no supervisors there (yeah, right) so I asked to have Amazon conferenced back in, just like they said I should. Maybe by the end of this blog entry I’ll have resolution.

This reminds me of the darkest days at eToys, Holiday Season 1999. eToys was royally messing up fulfilling orders, and asked corporate personnel to work in customer service. I’d only done CS duty for a few days when they told me I was promoted to supervisor for the season. It was horrific. People yelled at me at all hours of the night and there was usually nothing I could do – we didn’t have the toys to ship them. I tried to calm myself by reminding myself that no one was going to die if they didn’t get the green Power Ranger, but it was still incredibly stressful. After my last day before Christmas, I went out to my car and just cried tears of joy that it was over. I have so much sympathy for people who work in customer service, but I also know more than I used to about what can be done. I feel so fortunate to not be there anymore, and hope that other CS departments are better than what I experienced.

Turns out I have to call back tomorrow and have a conference call with the service plan people and a higher level of Amazon rep. Sigh.

Good girls & diaries

Posted on 29. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life, quotes

“Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don’t have time.”
- Tallulah Bankhead

So, does that mean I’m a good girl when I write in my blog? And a bad girl when I don’t?

Dog d’amour

Posted on 28. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life

Mlle. Genevieve has a secure spot in my heart, but Miss Kibbles has totally charmed me. Don’t you love her little bridal outfit? She LOVES to be held.

My next dog will be a Yorkie. Unless I fall for another mutt again.

But, this is probably a long way off. Genevieve likes being an only dog, and besides, we’d need to fix the gate so a tiny dog wouldn’t squeeze under and escape.

 

Convincing kids not to drink or do drugs

Posted on 27. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, health

There’s no better testimony for something good or bad than someone who’s experienced it themselves. That’s why I think that today’s Red Ribbon Week speaker was so effective. (For those who don’t know, Red Ribbon Week is a PTA program designed to educate kids about the dangers of substance abuse.)

The speaker, a former writer for a top comedy show, is a recovered alcoholic and drug addict. He spoke very frankly about how he got to a point so low that he lost his job, his friends, his girlfriend, and his own self-worth. Some of his descriptions were pretty graphic, but I bet they’ll stick in kids’ minds for a long time. My son said that the kids say it’s the best assembly they’ve ever seen, and they’ve see a lot of assemblies over the years.

Our PTA’s aim was to make Red Ribbon Week more substantive this year than it has been in the past, and I think we succeeded. If this guy’s talk persuades even one kid not to go down a bad path, then it’s all worthwhile.

The idea is to die young as late as possible

Posted on 26. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in cool websites, my life

Looking for a macabre site for Dia de los Muertos? Then check out http://www.deathclock.com/.

I was pretty excited to see this for my expected death date

until I realized that if I hit the “Check Your Death Clock” button again it would give me a different date each time, ranging from 2055 – 2067. That only happened when I listed myself as an “Optimist.” When I said I was “Normal” (neither Optimist nor Pessimist”) the date was always the same: July 4, 2042. What a bummer of a 4th of July that would be for my relatives and friends! So, I’ll remain an Optimist and (hopefully) live longer.

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood.
I’d type a little faster.”
- Isaac Asimov

Where we live and who we are

Posted on 25. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in art, articles, cool websites

I love the way this week’s Time Magazine shows the distribution of the U.S. population. Click here to see the multimedia version of the map.

The Faces in the Crowd graphic is pretty cool too. It shows the ethnic breakdown in the U.S.

 

Dikika baby – 3 going on 3.3 million

Posted on 25. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in articles

The cover of the November National Geographic Magazine has an artist’s rendering of the Dikika baby, a 3-year-old girl whose 3.3 million year old bones were found in Ethiopia.

Scientists say that the shape of her shoulders was like that of a young gorilla, yet the angle of her femur from knee to hip was like that of a modern human, and that she probably walked on two legs. Her face and fingers were like a chimpanzee’s, but her brain was slightly larger than a chimp’s. She also had a hyoid bone, which would later prove to be crucial to human speech. Her smooth brow and short canine teeth were more human than chimp.

What do people who don’t believe in evolution possibly make of this discovery?

As a side note, when I saw this picture I shrieked “Oooh! How cute!” When my son saw it, he was disgusted. Maybe it’s a face only a mom could love.

Iraq war costs U.S. over $6,600 per U.S. citizen

Posted on 24. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in articles, international, politics, things that bug me

This would be a great math problem for kids: take the total cost of the war (now estimated to be $2 trillion, aka $2,000,000,000,000) and divide it by the U.S. population (300,000,000) and you get an apocalyptic $6,666.67 per person. Not per family – per person.

Nicholas Kristof’s editorial in today’s NY Times, Iraq and Your Wallet, points out that:

For every additional second we stay in Iraq, we taxpayers will end up paying an additional $6,300.

So aside from the rising body counts and all the other good reasons to adopt a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, here’s another: We are spending vast sums there that would be better spent rescuing the American health care system, developing alternative forms of energy and making a serious effort to reduce global poverty.

(I would also add education to the list.)

In the run-up to the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld estimated that the overall cost would be under $50 billion. Paul Wolfowitz argued that Iraq could use its oil to “finance its own reconstruction.”

But now several careful studies have attempted to tote up various costs, and they suggest that the tab will be more than $1 trillion — perhaps more than $2 trillion.

That’s 40 times more than the original estimate. Why isn’t there more outcry over this? If I was off by that much on anything in my life, I’d be in HUGE trouble!

The bottom line is that not only have we squandered 2,800 American lives and considerable American prestige in Iraq, but we’re also paying $18,000 per household to do so.

The median US household income was $46,326 in 2005. That means we’re paying about 39% of a year’s worth of household income to be at war in Iraq.

I love having the freedom as an American to complain about this and not get arrested, but I don’t think those freedoms are being preserved by this ridiculous war.

Tiny URL

Posted on 23. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in cool websites, technical

Cool website du jour: Tiny URL. You can type in a really long url, and it will return a much shorter, easier to remember one. This is particularly useful if you’re forwarding a link to a map or an article.

For example, see http://tinyurl.com/sqgk6. This url is 24 characters long, but represents a url that’s 69 characters long.

Thanks for showing me this, Rudy!

Metallica vs. Meek

Posted on 22. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in music, parenting, things that bug me

Check out my “Most Popular Artists on my iTunes” list to the right. With artists like that influencing him, how did my son wind up liking Metallica? He and his friends love the group, and all they want to do is play their music. I never expected him to like Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women or the French musician Meek, but I was at least hoping for the Beatles or the Doors. (I haven’t given up hope for the Doors yet…) Maybe my musical taste is too scattered for him. The other day I even downloaded two hip-hop/rap songs by Pigeon John.

So, is Metallica as drug-addled as I envision them to be? A little internet research shows that they formed via ads placed in The Recycler (I can respect that) and have won seven Grammys. However, they’ve produced songs about contemplating suicide and have had their songs described as , and at least one member’s been in rehab. I guess I’m just bugged by how darn loud the music is, and how tough it is to understand the lyrics. (though that might be a good thing!) Anyway, I don’t let him get the songs with the bad lyrics…maybe this is just a phase, hahaha.

In the meantime, he’s poring over his Metallica tablature book each day, picking away toward perfection.

Many children left behind

Posted on 21. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, things that bug me

“No Child Left Behind” has good intentions, but often bad consequences. (like the AMT tax, don’t get me going on that one!)

The recent NYTimes editorial, ON EDUCATION; Despite a Doctorate And Top Students, Unqualified to Teach, by Samuel Freedman, tells the story of an excellent public school Latin teacher in Santa Cruz who was forced to leave his school because he didn’t have enough formal education training, even though he had extensive education and experience:

As virtually everyone in the audience knew, Mr. Huyck would be leaving Pacific Collegiate, a charter school, after commencement. Despite his doctorate in classics from Harvard, despite his 22 years teaching in high school and college, despite the classroom successes he had so demonstrably achieved with his Latin students in Santa Cruz, he was not considered ”highly qualified” by California education officials under their interpretation of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Rather than submit to what he considered an expensive, time-consuming indignity, a teacher-certification program geared to beginners that would last two years and cost about $15,000, Mr. Huyck decided to resign and move across town to teach in a private school. And in his exasperation, he was not alone.

Two other teachers with doctorates left Pacific Collegiate this year at least in part because of the credentialing requirement, Mr. Goldenkranz said.

In case you’re not clear on what No Child Left Behind entails, here’s a summary from the June/July issue of the Stanford Magazine:

The law mandates that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Projections of failure range from 99 percent of all schools in California down to 85 percent in high-scoring Minnesota. Of what use is a program that fails everyone?

NCLB depends on punishment. It does not reward schools for doing well, but sanctions them for doing “poorly.” NCLB requires schools to make arbitrarily determined “Adequate Yearly Progress” and to report that progress by various subgroups (perhaps its only beneficial requirement). Most schools have 37 subgroups—ethnic groups, special education students, English Language Learners, etc. If any subgroup fails to make AYP for two consecutive years, all students in the school must be offered the opportunity to transfer to a “successful school.” The school might be doing well by 36 of its 37 subgroups, but in federal eyes it is uniformly failing. If fewer than 95 percent of students show up to take the test, the school fails.

NCLB depends entirely on standardized tests to measure student progress. Spending classroom time preparing for a standardized test is the opposite of asking questions or being innovative. Robert Sternberg, PhD ’75, dean of the school of arts and sciences at Tufts University, asserts that our “massive” use of standardized tests “is one of the most effective, if unintentional, vehicles this country has created for suppressing creativity.”

And I thought I was an optimist! 100% of students must be proficient? That’s a laudable goal, but it’s setting up most schools for failure. Even excellent school districts will have a tough time with that – some kids really struggle, even if they’re taught really well.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about the teacher requirements:

The No Child Left Behind act requires that by the end of the 2005-2006 school year all teachers will be “highly qualified” as defined in the law. A highly qualified teacher is one who has fulfilled the state’s certification and licensure requirements. New teachers must meet the following requirements:

• Possess at least a bachelor’s degree
• At the elementary level they must pass a state test demonstrating their subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading/language arts, writing, mathematics and other areas of basic elementary school curriculum.
• At the middle and high school levels they must pass a state test in each academic subject area they teach, plus have either an undergraduate major, a graduate degree, coursework equivalent to an undergraduate major or an advanced certification or credentialing.

Teachers not new to the profession must hold a bachelor’s degree and must pass a state test demonstrating the subject knowledge and teaching skills. These requirements have caused some controversy and difficulty in implementation especially for special education teachers and teachers in small rural schools who are often called upon to teach multiple grades and subjects.

For further information see the Teacher Quality Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.

Back to our Santa Cruz teacher:

Mr. Huyck had watched his wife, Sarah Whittier, also a faculty member at Pacific Collegiate, plod through a certification course. At the age of 53, after receiving a doctorate in English literature and winning a statewide award for excellence in teaching — both at the University of California, Santa Cruz — she was racing most afternoons straight from Pacific Collegiate to teacher-certification classes 90 minutes away in the Monterey area. There, seated among classmates in their early 20’s, some of them headed for positions in elementary school, she received lessons in such topics as writing a lesson plan and maintaining classroom order.

It’s a shame when schools and teachers are actually doing the right thing, but get penalized for it.

The University of Raising Big Money

Posted on 21. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, my life

Today’s NY Times reports in The University of Raising Big Money that:

Last week, Stanford University unveiled its new capital campaign, called the Stanford Challenge, which aims to raise $4.3 billion by 2011. That stunning amount is a record for a university fund-raising campaign, but not by much. It overtook Columbia, which just a few weeks earlier had announced a $4 billion campaign of its own.

Yikes! No wonder Stanford sent President Hennessy down here last week to talk to the alumni. I had to fulfull my chauffeurring duties that evening, so I couldn’t make it. Just as well – we need to raise money for our own kids’ college funds before we contribute much more to our alma mater.

“Learning about the world through photography.”

Posted on 20. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in art, cool websites

That’s the motto of a cool website I found today, TrekEarth. You can either search by keyword or browse by country, region and city, but either way you’re sure to find beautiful photos. Click here to see a larger picture of the boy and the dolphin at right. This picture was taken in Greece, in Korinthia.

Don’t miss its sister site, TrekLens. Its motto is “Learning about photography through our world.” There’s also TrekNature: “Learning about nature through photography.” It has some of the most amazing nature pictures I’ve ever seen.

Brace yourself

Posted on 20. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in health, my life, parenting

My son’s braces are going to cost around $6,000. His teeth aren’t even that messed up, so I can only imagine what they’d cost if he needed lots of work done.

Anyone reading this in a third-world country must think we’re nuts.

PS – That’s not my son to the right. It’s a random child who probably roots for UCLA.

Barack-orama

Posted on 20. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in politics

For a man who’s not running for president (yet?), Barack Obama sure is everywhere. Not only was he on Oprah last week, but he’s on the cover of Time this week. Yesterday’s NY Times’ editorial by David Brooks, Run, Barack, Run, summed it up nicely:

Barack Obama should run for president.

He should run first for the good of his party. It would demoralize the Democrats to go through a long primary season with the most exciting figure in the party looming off in the distance like some unapproachable dream. The next Democratic nominee should either be Barack Obama or should have the stature that would come from defeating Barack Obama.

The trigger for all of this publicity is that Obama’s new book, , just came out.

My kids have asked me if I’ll vote for Hillary Clinton. I tell them that it depends upon who she’s running against. But I can say that if Obama was running, I’d vote for him. I appreciate his candor and willingness to consider all sides of an issue, respect his intelligence, and trust his judgement. I may not always agree with every decision he makes, but when would I ever agree 100% with anyone? At least I think his decisions would be well-considered.

When should kindergarten begin?

Posted on 18. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, my life, parenting

Is it better to be 4.75 years old or 5.75 years old when you start kindergarten? Such is the question posed in today’s NYTimes article, Those Preschoolers Are Looking Older. Apparently the trend in NYC’s private schools is to hold kids back from starting school until they’re older.

Children who turn 5 even in June or earlier are sometimes considered not ready for kindergarten these days, as parents harbor an almost Darwinian desire to ensure that their own child is not the runt of the class. Although a spate of literature in the last few years about boys’ academic difficulties helped prompt some parents to hold their sons back a year, girls, too, are being held back. Yet research on whether the extra year helps is inconclusive.

Fueled by the increasingly rigorous nature of kindergarten and a generation of parents intent on giving their children every edge, the practice is flourishing in New York City private schools and suburban public schools. A crop of 5-year-olds in nursery school and kindergartners pushing 7 are among the most striking results.

Parents do this where we live also. The cutoff for public school here in California is to be 5 by Dec. 2nd, but many kids with fall birthdays are held back from starting until they’re already or nearly 6.

I think it depends upon the kid, the school, and the parents’ own experiences. I include the latter because that definitely influenced our decision to send our son to school when he was 4. His October birthday falls the day after my husband’s, and my husband also entered kindergarten when he was 4. Both have thrived being the youngest in the class.

Whatever you decide, you just have to go with it. There’s no turning back… 

Puppy Prozac

Posted on 18. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life

My son and I were extolling the virtues of our dog today, and we pointed out that she was so even-tempered now that she hasn’t needed her anti-anxiety medication in nearly a year. Yet, as I said it, I knew I was tempting fate…

Sure enough, it’s windy now for the first time this season. My dog is lying at my feet instead of on “her” chair, nervously panting and licking her lips.

Time to take her to her (big, comfy, indoor) cage, so she doesn’t make a mess on the carpet tonight like she often does when it’s rainy or windy. The wind sounds like a rumbling freight train right now, and the vent above the stove is flapping around. She was a stray when we got her nearly 10 years ago, in a period of great windstorms. In fact, the week before we got her, winds were clocked at 127 mph near our house. So, I don’t blame her at all. She’s a great dog who’s come a long way, so she’s entitled to a few neuroses.

ADDENDUM:
Now she’s tangled up in the computer cords below my desk, and snaps at me when I try to get her. She NEVER snaps at me…this is bad. I think I’ll let her be and hope I don’t need to get out the rug shampooer tomorrow…

Maybe she’s just angry that I blogged about her.  

ADDENDUM #2:
She followed me downstairs, but slinked away when I approached her. I finally coaxed her into the aforementioned chair, where I petted her trembling body for several minutes before I carried her to her cage and gave her a treat. Her heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

From a single sheet of paper

Posted on 17. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in art, cool websites

If you like these, you should visit Peter Callesen’s website.

Why aren’t we shocked by these costumes?

Posted on 16. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in feminism, things that bug me

Two NY Times editorials today point out that women and girls have a long way to go before they are respected as much as men.

Bob Herbert asks in “Why Aren’t We Shocked?” why it is that there wasn’t a great outcry that several of the recent school shootings specifically targeted girls. Imagine if it were Blacks, Whites or Jews that were targeted? It would be called a hate crime – which is what it is – and there would be a great outcry.

None of that occurred because these were just girls, and we have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that violence against females is more or less to be expected. Stories about the rape, murder and mutilation of women and girls are staples of the news, as familiar to us as weather forecasts. The startling aspect of the Pennsylvania attack was that this terrible thing happened at a school in Amish country, not that it happened to girls.

The disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous treatment of women is so pervasive and so mainstream that it has just about lost its ability to shock.

He’s right. We’re surrounded by misogynistic images, to such a point that we don’t even notice it much anymore.

Allison Glock noticed this when she went Halloween costume shopping for herself at her local Target. In “Halloween on Heels“, she tells about how hard it is to find a women’s costume that isn’t sexy:

I walked past the displays for the sexy devil and the sexy bunny and the sexy leopard which, confounding logic, was already sold out before happening upon the wall of full adult costumes. The first was Tavern Lady, an off-the-shoulder dress and faux-leather vest. It was followed by French Maid (ruffled mini-dress with matching headpiece), Cheerleader (pleated micro-mini and fitted vest) and Wonder Woman, which had not only a nearly invisible skirt but also red vinyl boot covers that reached to the thigh.

At $49.99, Wonder Woman was among the priciest costumes, along with the Geisha both $20 more than Stewardess, which consisted only of a polyester wrap dress with a plunging neckline.

A quick trip to Wal-Mart and Kmart revealed the same dubious selections. While the hemlines were slightly lower on the Kmart French Maid and Cheerleader, Wal-Mart hewed to form with a saucy Red Riding Hood and a naughty rag doll, advertising a sultry vinyl bodice and thigh highs … lollipop not included.

She’s absolutely right. At least she can still get children’s costumes for her young daughters. Good luck trying to find an appropriate outfit for a teenage girl!

Maybe I’ll have my daughter wear my big fuzzy Snoopy outfit this year. Just kidding. She has a Minnie Mouse outfit she can wear again.

How can we stop this trend? Maybe if people would stop buying these things, the companies would stop selling them or using misogynistic images to market them. We can each do our part. One prime place to avoid, of course, is Abercrombie & Fitch. Bob Herbert points out that one of their girls’ t-shirts says, Who needs a brain when you have these? Yuk.

Floating through life…

Posted on 16. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, life lessons

I had a very entertaining afternoon yesterday watching 9th graders build their class homecoming float. The theme of the dance is “Atlantis,” so they were thrilled when they found the sheer blue/green tulle and vines at Joanne’s.

I think it looks terrific! Now to get it onto the back of the advisor’s pickup truck…

Fame is fleeting

Posted on 16. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in life lessons

I know this is sappy, but I liked it.

Try this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners .

Here’s another quiz:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care .

Mom tastes Korean food for first time

Posted on 15. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in food, my life

I took my mom and the kids to Ka-San Korean Barbeque restaurant in La Crescenta last night in honor of her birthday. (My husband’s up at his law school reunion this weekend.) I was so proud of her – even though she’d never had Korean food before, she tried everything at least once, and enjoyed most of it, even the kimchee. We had bulgogi, shrimp tempura (my daughter insisted on that – the outside tasted like a yummy beignet) and haemon paejool (sp?), a pancake made of of eggs, green onions, and other wonderful ingredients.

The waitress was very friendly. When we asked why she said “ha sae yo” to people both coming and going, she explained that the beginning of the phrase varied. I think it’s something like “ahn young ha sae yo” for hello, but I didn’t catch goodbye. (help is appreciated here, readers!)

“Take time out to read the blogs”

Posted on 15. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in cool websites

Don’t just take time out to smell the roses. But, roses are fine too.

You can see some excellent blogs on my blogroll, to the right. Today I added Low End Theory’s LA Restaurants.

Comedy Sportz

Posted on 14. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in education, my life

What do you get when you cross humor, improvisation, drama, competition and high school kids? Comedy Sportz! I finally attended my first Comedy Sportz competition at LCHS last night, and it was great! The two teams, La Canada and La Crescenta, each fielded four players at a time in such competitions as “Animal-People”, where they had to act out an improv skit with the personas of animals shouted out by the audience, or “Forward-Reverse”, where they had to perform a routine in forward or reverse, as shouted out by the referee.

It lasted about two hours, and at $5 was the greatest entertainment deal in town. These kids were not only funny and confident, but they had to be very sharp to think of their lines so quickly.

Wii’re hunting Nintendo

Posted on 14. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life, parenting, shopping

I’m sure the other moms (there were no dads) at yesterday’s 9-12 PTA meeting figured I stepped out of the meeting at 10 am to make an important call to a doctor, relative, etc. If only they knew: I was trying to call GameStop to reserve a Nintendo Wii for my son.

Silly me. I had no idea people camped out in front of the store to get on the list. Ah well. Hopefully I’ll be sitting at my computer when Amazon or BestBuy emails me to tell me they’re taking pre-orders. Thankfully, my son passed me on his way to class, so I think I got a few extra credit mom points, not that it matters.

If I’d been a cosmetologist…

Posted on 13. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in cool websites, my life

…some people might not be surprised. According to BabyNameAddicts.com, when people think of a “Kathy” they envision a cosmetologist or teacher with blonde hair, blue eyes and average height. On the other hand, those who know me know that cosmetologist is one of the LAST occupations I’d ever be – I’ve only used makeup twice in my life! “Kathryn” has far different results – people expect that name to be associated with an actress.

Too bad “web designer” wasn’t a choice!

 

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

Posted on 12. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in politics

That’s essentially what President Bush is saying to the rest of the world. Don’t abuse prisoners, don’t develop nuclear weapons, don’t torture…but it’s ok if we do all those things.

Any parent knows that won’t work. And now he’s taken us down from the high moral ground we used to enjoy, so other nations will be free to act with impunity. There’s a great editorial in today’s NY Times that discusses this:

In his news conference yesterday, Mr. Bush said that the abuses at Abu Ghraib “hurt us internationally. It kind of eased us off the moral high ground.” He quickly added that the world had seen the perpetrators held to account.

We fear it will take a lot more than the trials of a few low-level prison guards to repair the damage, whether from Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, the secret prisons or the whole mismanaged Iraq war. There can be no impunity at home either.

I can’t wait for the next election…