End of an era (MI-5 Spoiler alert)

I have devoted many years to Harry Pierce, Tom Quinn, Zoe, Danny, Zaf, Adam and the rest of the Spooks at MI-5.  I feel like I've been on The Grid with them for 10 seasons and now one of the best spy shows ever has gone dark.    The final episode shows that Harry's entire career was formed by a Russian master spy/double agent Chick!  Girl power.

It was a great ride with my dear friends but I'm glad we are finally done.  Well done having Tom Quinn finish off the guy in charge of the group that caused Ruth's death.  Too bad Harry and Ruth never got the timing right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooks

           

it hurts so good

I went to ZUMBA (Tuesday) and now it hurts.  Well, it did a few days ago.  My plan is to go again in the morning before I get going for the day.  I'll be heading down to Whiteholm to see the folks and pick up some packages then back here to take on some boring household chores and a healthy dose of Kindle reading.

I used to read a lot but now I don't seem to have time.  I had to force myself to stop reading pleasure books when I started grad school because I knew that I would never get anything done if I read novels instead of dull educational articles.  2 degrees later, I'm finally able to crack open a book with out guilt.  The kindle is great.  I just got a library card and I am learning the joys of free books.  It takes some planning because of the possible wait time but the price is right and I don't have to spend money on a book that is going to be read once.  I have 2 ebooks checked out now.  I'm almost finished with the first one and I have not the second.  It's like a book numbers game.  You have to estimate how long the wait will be based on the number of people in the queue and the number of total copies.  The good thing is that you can always add it again if you make a miscalculation.

SIDE NOTE:  This was written Friday night but finished Saturday morning.  I'm sad to say that I didn't motivate for a Zumba but I did workout at home with Comcast so all is not lost.

What's for lunch?

I've been trying to think of a blog topic for a few days now and I can't come up with anything interesting so, here is something mundane.  Lunch!


I love lunch but I hate thinking of what to make.  Packing a lunch takes planning and for the life of me I can't get it right.  I tend to pack a bunch of random stuff that I can eat on the fly.  I think I more well rounded/thought out lunch.  I'm off to a bad start since I have not packed anything for tomorrow.  I'm going to throw a bunch of yogurts into the bag and keep it moving.  I do better when I cook dinner because I always make a little extra for the next day.  When I don't cook dinner, lunch is always a reach.

I'm all about problem solving.  Here are some efficient lunch plans:

1. buy cold cuts weekly and assemble lunch at work
2. cook on Sunday night and eat leftovers for lunch the rest of the week
3. buy lunch every day
4. hire elves to magically pack lunch and poof it into school bag.
5. ? ????

Feel free to add in your lunch time success stories.  Happy Sunday!

 

knock 3 times and scratch once

Passwords are bane of my existence.  Ok, maybe that is a little dramatic but the sentiment is true.  Everything has a password and they are getting increasingly complex.  There have to be 8 characters with one number and a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.  Give me a break.  What happened to the days when your password could be your name?

You need a million passwords just to function these days.  I have a few at work and a ton at home.  One for the credit card, another for the bank, netflix, hotmail, gmail, facebook, and this blog.....I could go on and on.  I can't keep up so I break the number 1 rule of passwords: I write them down.  I know it's shameful but with 15 - 20 accounts I just can't keep up.  My Dad solves this problem by using some passwords safe program.  Great idea until your computer gets wiped out and all of your passwords go with it.  The other problem is that you might need to access your password protected account when you're away from your home computer.  Then you're SOL, sorry Daddy.

My new solution is to keep my list of passwords and account names on the Cloud where I can always have access.  It's still not the safest idea but it works for me.

How do you deal with those annoying passwords?

Don't over do

Testing has started and I'm already fed up.  The school year is 10 months and I will only teach for 7 if I'm lucky.  Why, you ask?  August and September are full of testing, paperwork and scheduling    February and March are chock a block with WIDA and MSA and the soon to be dropped TN2.  Add in Mock testing, assemblies and field trips and there you have it.    It's no wonder that the kids don't make a ton of progress.  More than half of the students in my school are English Language Learners.  The ESOL team is 8 people, most of them full time yet we're still the red headed step children of the school.

Wait, that's not entirely true.  There are some teachers that totally respect what we're trying to do.  I see my students 2 or 3 times per week for 30 minute sessions.  It's hard to fill in a life time of gaps in an hour.  Some days I wake up and wonder if it is all worth it.  Then there are days like today.  Early meeting and testing all day super yuck.  I walked in with another teacher so work's with my students.  She shared a conversation that she'd had with him.
Teacher: Do you like going to ESOL?
Student: Yes because she makes poetry easier to understand.

That's why I go to work every day.  A student once told me that "we always do the same thing in ESOL that we do in our class but we look smart because we already learned it with you."  My student's this year are da bomb diggity.  I'll be sad when they graduate.  As much as I complain about grading and planning, I really do like what I do.  The kids are great but I could leave some of the other BS behind.

90 minutes or less

Maryland is a beautiful state.  I spent a weekend learning about the history of my state and viewing the natural beauty that make this a great place to live.  All of that within 90 minutes of my house.  I wanted to stay in a B & B but the prices were too high.  The Holiday Inn Express Kent Island/Annapolis was a cheaper option.  I was not thrilled but I booked a water view and hoped for the best.

Look at that!  Not bad for the Holiday Inn.  They also had free breakfast.  Right over the Bay Bridge and centrally located between several picturesque historic towns.  Everyone thinks about visiting the Eastern Shore during the summer but I'm here to tell you that off season the the way to go.  Forget the crowds and hot weather.  You have to check the opening hours on some of the attractions but for the most part, things were open for business.

Kindle Love

If you read, you need one.  I know you like books but nothing beats the portability of the e-reader.  You can check out books for free from the library.  You can carry hundreds of books in your purse or backpack at one time.  Are you on vacation?  You can bring all of your travel guides and read up on your destination.  You can highlight, bookmark and search the book to find the best hotspots.

At home, I send myself links or documents so I don't have to carry the laptop to the kitchen to make a recipe that I found online.  Peanut butter Chocolate bars.....uh huh.

Try it and you'll love it.  Kindle

Did I mention that you can dress it up?  All my accessories in hot pink...GPS aka Hyacinth, phone, camera case and Kindle cover at the bottom of the stack.  How cute is that?

End of the weekend

Lots of things happening but not very much blogging.    First off, take a gander at this deliciousness.

Peanut butter Chocolate bars are so good and easy to make.  Mine actually looked like the pic on the blog.  I had 2 of my favorite people over on Saturday and I made these to celebrate a birthday.  I'll definitely be making these again.

I watched the movie The Guard.  not what I was expecting but still pretty good for $1.99.  I'm finishing up series 9 on MI-5 while everyone else is freaking out over the superbowl.  I could care less.  I've got a nice book to read on the Kindle.  I'm set for the night.