How About Some Scooby Snacks?

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Apparently there’s a new live-action Scooby Doo Where Are You movie set to be released. I had a picture of the cast here but I had to remove it since it seemed to keep disappearing off the server.

Fun After Work

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Earlier tonight, my coworkers took me out to a classy establishment for dinner. The particular restaurant was chosen by Kristen. I had been to one of these restaurants before, back in my “fraternity” days. Anyway, it was nice to spend time with everyone from work, outside of the office.

There was a guy sitting at the bar at the restaurant who was wearing a fox on his head for a hat. He got a lot of attention…

Maybe I Don’t Have Enough Body Mass

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At work I have one of those hydraulic Fabric Chairs from Staples. Throughout the day I, it seems as if my computer monitor is getting shorter and shorter. However, that is probably not the case. For some reason, my chair slowly raises itself throughout the day. By the mid afternoon, my knees are almost on top of my desk. My the time I leave, the top of my head is brushing against the ceiling. Something has got to be done about this chair, though it is rather comfortable…

When Will They Ever Learn?

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Two Killed, 13 Hurt in California School Shooting.

Police said the suspect — a high school freshman treated like a weakling by some of his classmates because of his small frame and scrawny looks — used a .22 caliber revolver, which he reloaded once after emptying its chambers to shoot people at random in a hallway and boys’ bathroom of Santana High School.

The shooter had apparently told several friends over the weekend of his plans but no one believed him or reported him to authorities, according to accounts from students.

Reynolds said the suspect was often the butt of jokes at school, but that he usually replied with a joke and smile. ”He’s a kid who gets picked on a lot because he does not stand up for himself. Most of the time he just takes it. He is joking around about it … I didn’t think he was serious.”

President George W. Bush decried the shooting as “a disgraceful act of cowardice.”

I have a couple of things to say about this. First of all, if this kid’s motivation was the fact he was being picked on, where was his family to teach him that other kids are cruel and it doesn’t matter what they say? My next point is that I hope you can understand why there is a teacher shortage in this country. When a person weighs the pros and cons of teaching — whether to put his or her life on the line because of the few students that are out of control, or to take that risk due to the love of having an influence on kids (maybe even being able to reach out in some small way to the ones that need the most help) — most are going to choose to value the safety of their own life.

Many kids are missing out on having great experiences with great teachers who no longer have any desire to set foot in a classroom. If parents are not able to teach children the difference between reality and television (or between reality and video games) at an earlier age, then the teacher’s job, like an object being sucked into a black hole, quickly approaches the singularity of impossibility.

Taking into account media sensionalization, I can realize that not every school has incidents like this, but it’s enough to keep myself out of the school buildings for now. I know I can be a great music teacher, and I know that I can, and that I have the desire to, touch the lives of young people in a way that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. But until parents start shaping up, getting involved in their kids’ lives, and caring about what their students are learning, my would-be students will just have to do without me.

Storm of the Century Part II

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As you probably know by now — especially if you live in my general area — there was not much of a storm, certainly not the foot of snow that some people were calling for. That didn’t stop the craziness. Just a few days ago Darren mentioned getting ripped off at a gas station. Well it almost happened to me tonight. On the way home from work, I stopped to fill up at the place I normally do. He put $12.00 worth of gas in my car and put in a quart of oil. Now I’ll stop here and say that if New Jersey allowed people to pump their own gas, like the rest of the civilized world, we wouldn’t run into these problems. Anyway, he comes back with the credit card receipt for me to sign and it’s $16.00. I looked it over — it doesn’t break down between fuel and other items, so I asked how much the oil cost. He said $3.00. First of all, that’s pretty expensive for a quart of oil. Second of all, unless I’m horribly confused by modern mathematics, 12 plus 3 does not equal 16. I pointed this out to him and he handed me a one dollar bill, as if I got a prize for being the smartest in the class.

Storm of the Century

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It’s been snowing off and on all day and there’s finally a light covering on the ground. The forecasts are still abiguous, calling for anywhere between three inches to a foot overnight. The snow will supposedly continue all through tomorrow and won’t cease until Tuesday morning. Some people are claiming it will be bigger than the “Storm of The Century,” also knows as the “Blizzard of ’96.” During that snow storm, I ended up stranded at a house of someone with whome I wasn’t really close friends. If I am stranded tomorrow, it will most likely be myself, stuck in my apartment.