Talk Nerdy to Me

I have to change my password at work a lot. Here’s the drill—every 6 weeks or so I get this annoying pop up message when I’m trying to log in telling me I have to change my password. Then, inevitably, next time I log in I’ll forget my new password...
When you’re teaching a bunch of hooligans and the technology fails it’s one more unpleasant thing to do. (p.s. I like the hooligans.)

Ok, so here’s the solution—the periodic table. Yes, you read that correctly. But how can the periodic table help with thinking of new, easy to remember, constantly changing passwords?? After three or four password changes I was racking my brain trying to quickly come up with something memorable when my eyes rested upon the periodic table hanging magnanimously on the wall. I pondered its beauty for a moment when it struck me. I typed in hydrogen as my new password. 6 weeks later: helium. Then, you guessed it, lithium. , etc.

And now after using a password for almost 2 months I can, with no trouble at all, spell vanadium, scandium, manganese not to be confused with magnesium, etc.

I could take anyone in a periodic table spelling bee. Bring it.

Feel free to use this solution if you are also plagued with a constantly changing password.

How many times have you sat through a boring Chemistry lecture (just kidding, they're never boring!) to find yourself trying to spell words with the periodic table?
Never??
Oh, ahem, me neither...

But if you're as distractable as I am---Oh look, something shiny!

You might love this website as much as me. Ok, maybe not that much, but you might enjoy it a little:

What's in a Name?

10 letters. That's it.
Ever since I started filling out forms and realized that there was a superfluous line intended to further identify me from all the other Karens in the universe, my middle name deficit has been a sore spot. But what could I do about it? Complaints filed to my parents fell on deaf ears and only produced blank stares.

What's the big deal, my mom didn't have a middle name either. Emily? Nope. Well...kinda nope. Let me explain. You might remember that Clifford the Big Red Dog has a devoted and loyal companion named Emily Elizabeth. My mom often said that if she had given Emily a middle name it would have been Elizabeth in honor of her mother. I even recall her calling Emily that when we were little. Then Em grew up and had babies, all of which have middles (way to go Em), and along come Anna Elizabeth, whom I have always suspected Emily named after herself.
But even though Emily, Mom and I were born binomials, I alone still pine for trinomial status. Marriage. Yep. That, my friends, is the way to get a middle name. Alas, the elusive hunt continues.

Imagine my shock to learn that some lucky girls get middle names before they are married! My other four sisters have beautiful middles: Jayne, Mariana, Rose and Irene. What is it about a middle name that makes me want to whisper it like a sacred wish...

You might believe you are the first person I have whined to about this sad, sad state of affairs. You are incorrect. Many dear and loving people have listened and consoled me through this trial. Some have even gone so far as to offer advice. Here is the most common: "Ummm...why don't you just give yourself a middle name?"

Ok. No.

It doesn't work. Because it's not permanent, it's not a part of who you are. No one ever yelled it at you when you were in trouble. And it's not like I haven't tried.

In 8th grade: Flower

In 10th grade: respelled first name Keiranne (more letters doesn't fill the void)

Alternate attempts: Bailey, Beatrice, Georgia, Sunshine (during my hippiest hippy stage), Danger, Egg, Hortense, Eunice...
Ok, maybe I'm just making those last few up. But I think I've illustrated my point. I stink at picking out names. If I had ever marched down to city hall (or where ever you go to change your name) and saddled one of these to myself for life, I'm sure I would have lived to regret it. Perhaps "Danger" would be the exception.

The thing about names is you can't really give them to yourself. Even nicknames can't really be self imposed. When my college roommates started calling me Ren, about all I could do is decide that it should be spelled with a "w" so as not to confuse it with Stimpy's sidekick. Or is Stimpy the sidekick?


So two questions:
1. What is your middle name and what's the story?
2. Since I can't dub myself, what middle name would you give me?

Elastic Potential Energy

Fact: I really love summer vacation. I panic when I see leaves falling, my heart rate elevates exponentially while walking through stores with school supplies on sale and don't even talk to me about the sun setting earlier--I might cry a little. Did I mention that I love summer... Why I don't I marry it?, you ask. You better believe me, I would if I could. Absolutely.

Don't get me wrong, teaching's seriously the best gig and I'm looking forward to this year's encore performance. Much of this week has been devoted to pouring over my classroom textbooks, planning labs and aligning with state standards--so if you're one of my students' parents don't panic too much; I promise to show up on the first day. I promise to be professional and not take it out on the children that all my hopes and dreams of freedom have been crushed and dashed. There may be some teeth gnashing and tantrum throwing when my alarm goes off however.

Let's do some science. If I had to use scientific vocabulary to describe how I feel in August, I would select:

Potential Energy

PE refers, basically, to the ability to do work without actually doing work. A rock at the edge of a cliff above you isn't actually falling on your head, but you'd be kind of foolish to stand there because it has the potential to give you a very nasty headache. Get it?
Several varieties of potential energy exist to describe a myriad of situations.

potential kinetic energy

potential electric energy

gravitational potential energy

August, I think, is best described as elastic potential energy though. Let's refer to figure 1.1

Yes, I feel a little squished.

What's so great about summer you wonder? ARE YOU CRAZY!

A day in the life of a vacationing teacher:

6:00 ~ alarm goes off (just kidding, who needs an alarm?)
8:00 ~ wake up when I hear my roommate leaving for work (sucker)
9:00 ~ think about waking up, but remember that I stayed awake until 2 am reading, so sleep a little longer
10:15 ~ back is starting to ache from being in bed so long
10:20 ~ check facebook to see what happened to my peeps overnight
1:00 ~ eat
2:00 ~ whatever I want
3:00 ~ play tetris
4:00 ~ naptime
5:00 ~ roommate comes home, we talk [mostly about guys]
7:00 ~ adventures
11:00 ~ roommate calls it a night
12:00 ~ check facebook again

It's a pretty sweet schedule. But some days I actually leave the house. Refer to figures 1.2 - 1.9


fig. 1.2 Mt. St. Helens


fig. 1.3 Ape Caves


fig. 1.4 San Jauns Island ferry


fig 1.5 Oregon Coast


fig 1.6 Family reunion


fig 1.7 Camping


fig 1.8 Puget Sound sunset


fig 1.9 Kayaking


My 16 year-old nephew, who I texted yesterday with my reservations about the impending school year, replied affirmatively to my suggestion that panicking was the appropriate response. So if the teachers and the students don't want to go--why do we do it? Let's call the whole thing off, eh? (Except I'd like an arrangement where I still get paid.)

Lame List

What's weak this week:

Plastic covers on all the windows. Lame.

Cleaning 18 months of rubbish out of my dresser. Lame.

Unrequited love. Lame! Lame! Lame!

Geekery to the nth power

For Christmas my remarkable, beautiful, crafty sister Honor gave me an incredible quilt. I love it. And I love to snuggle under it with a book or my thoughts. This is strictly a one-person-at-a-time snuggle quilt though. For two reasons:
• reason #1 - I'm single. No one to snuggle with. *sigh*
• reason #2 - it’s a little quilt folks, I’m no teeny meeny.
• an unexpected 3rd reason (a fun surprise!) - I’m not so good at sharing. See reasono numero uno.

My cute sister, the quilter.

The cute quilt, with a side of cuteness.

So a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across this quilt. Oh my! I want it. How about it Honor?

Playing Hookey

Think back to when you were 15. You were a punk but don't feel bad, we all were. You wanted to skip school because it was boring you to death and your teachers were dumb. But you knew you would get in trouble and you'd heard of this thing called Saturday school where the kids had to have smoking breaks and you were mostly terrified of that. Maybe you were also a little curious, but you figured you could live your life without ever knowing for sure.

Fast forward a few years... Imagine waking up to a sunny morning, still tired and knowing you had to be at school in a coupe of hours on a beautiful warm spring day. Ugh. And hang out with a room full of punks that you wish would all skip school that day. But then you realized that if you call it in, RIGHT THEN, you could get a substitute to take care of the punks and you could skip school. (*Hint* This is not a hard decision.)

Please enjoy the photographic evidence of a truant teacher.



I started my adventurous day at safeway buying a pink lady apple and sunglasses. Any day that starts like this is a day I want to live over and over again. The pictures above (notice the new sun glasses, which will probably be lost soon) are of me and Whitney at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Later we took her dogs to Kayak Point and ran around on the beach.

But today is cloudy and chilly so I'm glad I had a day of freedom.

**Note to Parents** Be advised, the following paragraph may not be appropriate for children under the age of 18.

If I had know at 15 what I know at 32 I would have skipped school ALL THE TIME. Saturday school would not have deterred me.

Happy Easter

A beautiful Easter message from Elder Jeffery R. Holland.

(Don't forget to turn off my music!)

Emily!

Em, Here is a special scrabble message for you.

piyydtharphab!

I love you!!

Mom!

Happy Birthday.

Waxing Poetic About Spring Break

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
1. Going to the ocean with friends.
2. Taking my nieces to Point Defiance to collect specimens to beef up their rock collections.
3. Sleeping in...
4. Marching around Greenlake with my best buddies Whitney, Bella and Maggie.
5. Making cookies everyday (ok twice, but eating them every day)
6. Wondering if I can make it 9 more weeks until summer vacation?

Conservation vs. Convenience

I have a friend who has a dryer IN her bathroom. Can you imagine the possibilities? Warm towels after every shower. Warm, piping hot towels are my dream. I have to say though, that crunchy sun-dried towels are also delightful if they are dried in the sunshine and are still a little warm. Cook Island sun dried towels are the last word in wonderful.

Washington on the other hand isn't usually hot...or dry. So towels exposed to the elements tend to get soggier than when you put them out on the line.

Here's a trick for when you are running late and have no clean, wrinkle free clothes to wear to work. Take your just used, slightly damp towel and throw it in the dryer with your wrinkled clothes, eat breakfast, return to the dryer and voila! Instant ironing.

Following this standard procedure the other day though got me thinking. Is ironing better for the environment? Which appliance actually uses more watts of power? Do I even want to know? Do you know?

Low Calorie Friday Treat

My friend Aims sent me this video ages ago, I showed it to my scholars yesterday. They loved it. I predict that you will too. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you!

Resolutions

A couple of years ago, a few months before summer vacation, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand the thought of grading another paper, writing another test, calling another parent, yada yada yada. So the best idea I ever had was born. My summer calendar. I printed a small pocket calendar for June, July and August. I tucked it into my coat pocket and carried it everywhere. I would pull it out at random times during the day, during staff meetings, in between classes, waiting for my broccoli to cook in the microwave. And I would add appointments to my calendar of things I was going to do when I was free. FREE!! Adventurous appointments.

Like go to Mt. St. Helens, Hurricane Ridge, The Gorge, San Antonio or Space Camp.

Now folks, don't worry. I'm not already loosing heart so far from the end of the school year. I feel like I'm just getting started and I'm even looking forward to getting back to work on Monday. But I look forward to my summer calendar so much (I usually print it in April) that I thought I would metamorphose my summer calendar idea into my new years resolution. So here it is:

Instead of waiting until Summer Vacation, I resolve to go on at least one adventure per month.

Januray--river rafting through the skagit to see nesting eagles.

February--?

March--umm...

April through December--have yet to be determined. But you can help me keep my resolution by helping me come up with ideas.

I'll be sure to post pictures and label them with funny antedotes. Let me know if you want to come on an adventure with me.