Thursday, March 20, 2008
my school made the news!
check this out - the second half of this clip from fox news is about my school.
never mind that they got most of the information wrong - their source was a parent, and they didn’t bother to contact the school or the district. as far as the school and the police department are concerned, there has been no gang activity and the threats were instead of students who wanted to fight each other (they think it might be a race thing). the enhanced security -did- include a helicopter surveillance team watching the students leave campus on tuesday, which happened to be my first day back to work. so exciting, huh?!! we’ve had the PD on campus to ensure that nothing more happens, so actually, it’s all been rather calm here at school. but the way you hear fox news talk about it makes it sound all dramatic and dangerous!!!
ooooh!!! the dangers of public school!!! was this why i always attended a small private academy? hahahhahahah…
i guess that coming from such a sheltered background makes it feel that much more gangster being on the news =)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
going back to work
because of my recent bout of pleurisy and pneumonia, and the 3 rounds of antibiotics i had to take (plus the visit to urgent care when the pleurisy set in - who knew it’d hurt so bad?!?!), i haven’t been going to work. i’ve been on a regimen of antibiotics, a ton of water every day, and a LOT of rest. meaning mostly i lay in bed awake watching tv shows on my computer, dozing off multiple times throughout the day.
but that 3rd round of antibiotics finally did its job and as of thursday, i actually started feeling better. and friday was the first day that i noticed that my breathing was clear - both inhaling and exhaling. yes, i still cough, and it’s still productive. but i feel like my lungs have totally cleared up, and 3 days later at my doctor’s appointment on monday, my doc agreed with me and we decided i’m good to go back to work.
well… after being home for so long it’s really gonna be a challenge to get back and be in charge of my classroom, but i’m up, i’ve had breakfast, and about to finish my second cup of water. i’ll bring a slew of fruits with me and i’m gonna go tackle that classroom! i need to show ‘em who’s boss! (especially after finding out that 2 girls escaped through the window behind my desk during the class that had 2 teachers in it) yup… i need to go there and expect them to behave now that i’m back!
pray for me PLEASE!!!!!
Friday, March 14, 2008
hot'n spicy barbecue chips! mmmm.....
ok, so, if you’ve talked with me recently, you know i’ve been home for the last 3 weeks sick with pneumonia and pleurisy. i’ve been bored outta my mind, and i’ve spent a good amount of time on the internet. i’ve also cleaned out my entire room and closet and some other stuff around the house, but that’s besides the point.
basically, i’ve had A LOT of time on my hands. i’m finishing up my 3rd or 4th week of being home and i’m SOOO sick of it!
well… the following story made marlene and rita laugh -at- me, but i don’t care! i love chips! =)
anyways, there was this new flavor of chips i saw in stater bros in october - the flavor was hot & spicy barbecue! yum!
well, i was looking for it later and couldn’t find it, and after going to several stater bros. and several other stores i realized that no one was carrying them anymore. well, given the amount of time i had on my hands, i finally made it over to the lay’s website to see if they still created the chip, and they do! and according to their website, this chip had been sold in the past month in the stater bros. across the street from my house!
what?!??! how had i missed it? so i decided to let my fingers do the walking and i dialed the stater bros. “excuse me, do you know if you happen to have lay’s hot’n spicy barbecue chips for sale? the website says you have it but i just want to know if it’s on the shelf before i go there.” the lady informed me that they don’t have it on their shelves but i can call the district office to see if they plan on shipping in more of that flavor.
so i called the stater brothers warehouse - “excuse me, i was wondering if you plan on carrying lay’s hot’n spicy barbecue chips, and at which store can i buy them?” well, the guy in charge of the ordering the chips told me that as soon as they got some in stock, he’d send some over to the store near my house (apparently it’s store #55) and that he’d have the manager call me to let me know when they put it on the shelves. i laughed at myself thinking that they were gonna make a phone call to me to let me know when “my chips” had arrived, but still, it was a better option than me driving around to every store hoping to find them there.
well, it’s a good thing i didn’t waste any time driving around because i got a phone call from frito lay a few days later. apparently they don’t carry that flavor in our distribution warehouse (which covers all of southern california and a bit more). i guess it didn’t do so well in their test run so they’re keeping it in the other markets that enjoyed it. i was disappointed but realizing that the chip was still out there, even if it was far far away out there, and not in southern california, i asked him several more questions: “can i order it straight from another warehouse?” nope, they don’t ship, especially over the rockies, because the bags might pop. “which markets do sell this chip?” he didn’t know, he could only tell me which flavors his distribution center carries. there were several other questions but basically, no, these chips are no longer available to me. not in any way possible. darn it.
he then thanked me for being a loyal customer and offered to send me some chips as a thank you from frito-lay. i ended up ordering ruffles kc masterpiece barbecue because those ones always cost twice the price as the lays barbecue. after giving him my address, he told me he’d send a whole box over!
whoa!!! whole box of chips for me!! and free!! well… at the price of my dignity, because i’d participated in this mad goose chase all over a flavor of chips. apparently i’m the only person i know who would do something as absurd as that =) but like i said, i have a lot of time on my hands. and it was better than driving to every single store in the area to see if they had the chip. and i got a whole box -free-!
oh, who am i trying to convince. it doesn’t matter cuz i LOVE free things and i LOVE chips, so i’m happy happy =)
coolio, right?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
how to be rich
i’ve been reading many personal finance blogs recently and i’ve come narrow down what they say into two basic tenets:
1. keep your expenses to a minimum and be happy with what you have
2. re-invest your expendable income so that it grows into more money
reading these blogs has taken a lot of time recently because they not only provide many detailed tips and information on investing and how to be more frugal with my money, but most of their daily posts provide links to other related blog posts that i find fascinating as well. most of the time the posts i like the most are how to make a cost-effective, simple, and healthy meal. however, i’ve noticed that even though i haven’t started any formal adoption of their techniques, i am definitely making smarter decisions about what i buy - and i can pretty much avoid most impulse purchases because i get the daily reminder that each dollar i save now can be so much more after invested.
i also like how they provide tips on saving money on the necessities and to be happy with what you have. i’ve never been one to buy the latest and greatest but it’s always nice to hear tips that can help me save even more money. even if you aren’t investing every saved penny, it’s still a good idea. the less you spend on daily living expenses, the more you have to spend on yourself now (or later when you retire). i have more money for my hobbies because i’m spending less on my daily living. it’s a great incentive to not make that impulse splurge when shopping - i just tell myself i have to put it on my wants list and come back later for it, or else i won’t be able to buy that new snowboard =D
one of my favorite blogs is “get rich slowly” (thanks jay for showing this one to me!). he also has a related blog called “get fit slowly”. it’s not a get-rich quick scheme, but rather a lifestyle that encourages healthy living/spending habits.
here are some of the related articles that i’ve found in the past few days that i thought other people might be interested in.
million dollar journey is the blog of a guy who did a guest post on get rich slowly about how he went from $40,000 of debt to having $285,000 in five years.
time banks is a good way to volunteer your time and earn “time hours” which you can redeem for goods/services you need without paying for them. in the article i read, the girl received 2 tickets to a $75 show which was 2 hours long, so it used 4 of her time bank hours to pay for it. there’s none near me in southern california, but there is one in nebraska! i thought laura and les might be interested because they do alot of community things out there.
urghh… there were a buncha other articles that i wanted to share but i already closed the tabs. oh well… i’m sure i’ll find more stuff later than can help us all save money =)
Monday, March 10, 2008
my power color is gold!
thanks to i don’t know for this link
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Your Power Color Is Gold |
 At Your Highest: You are engrossed in passions that mentally stimulate you.
At Your Lowest:
In Love:
How You’re Attractive:
Your Eternal Question:
|
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
my camote had kids
a little bit over a week ago my dad cut my camote plant and put the slips into water to grow some roots, and this is what it looked like then
today, since the roots were getting quite long, i decided to plant some of the cuttings into soil. jill got me some cups and i’m actually excited that they’re clear plastic because i’ll be able to watch the roots grow when they hit the edges of the cup!
this is what the leaves looked like before i started planted them. as you can see, my shovel is that plastic spoon =)
here’s another leaf that was growing a great set of roots
and here’s my 5 little daughter plants sitting in their cups
a little pic of them up close before i put them on the sill
and here’s the mother plant and her 5 li’l uns sitting on the sill. on the far right you can see another camote sitting in water growing roots. i’m waiting for some of the shoots to grow above the water before i actually plant this next one
hopefully they’ll start growing pretty soon… i’m not sure if what i did was right because a website says “The sweet potato plants (slips) are transplanted into the rows at a depth of 3 inches with no less than 2 plant nodes in the ground and leaving at least 2 leaves or more above the ground." i didn’t have room to leave 2 leaves above the ground because my dad cut all the nodes apart. and the leaves actually look a little bit wilted right now, ever since i’ve taken ‘em outta the water. but, hopefully it’ll soon be time to transplant them outside! then i can start eating camote =) oh yeah!