I have a day job. So every word of this is my opinion, not that of my employer. This offer IS void in Wisconsin. Except, of course, that some material in this column comes from incoming e-mail; such material is usually reproduced in the Sans Serif type font to distinguish it from the (somewhat) original material.

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Tales of Teaching 2004
Tales of Teaching 2005

September 15, 2003 Vol. 5, No. 38

General News

• One Tired Teacher
• An Old Marlow Story Or Two
• Hammock
• Smut Filter Redux
• Report from Taiwan
• Political Notes

Computer Industry News

• Craig Reynolds' Technobriefs

Humor

• The Top 16 Rejected McDonald's Slogans
• The Top 16 Surprises in the Arnold Oui Interview

Movies

• None

Letters

• Dalton and the Rich List, the Grobstein File

General News

One Tired Teacher

As a matter of fact, the 8th graders ARE running me ragged. Or, probably, to be more precise, I am running myself ragged. I have to learn to relax. I had back spasms today after school--for the first time since my second week of student teaching. This too will pass.

So here's the problem. I have a job in which the costs are obvious, physical and short-term--exhaustion, insomnia, anxiety. Meanwhile, the benefits are subtle, psychological and long-term--doing some good in the world, helping young people learn, introducing them to history. How does one balance this? How do you push through the short-term so you can enjoy the long-term? After a few conversations with my mother, I am fairly certain these never balance. The dailyness of the job always outweighs the benefits. You just do what you have to.

One recurring thought I've had this week; I have to have some sort of job. The odds of my getting a work-at-home, set-my-own-hours journalism job again are zero. Less than zero. So, realistically, would I feel better and derive more satisfaction if I was selling stocks or real estate, or working on the copy desk of the local daily? I know for sure that in any of those jobs, I'd be doing less good for the world. I want to do good. Sometimes, doing good involves personal pain and sacrifice.

And yet, and yet... Vicki asked me earlier this week to tone down the griping. I was apparently coming home every day talking about my aches and pains and fears. I stopped talking about them--and some of them stopped. Boy howdy, isn't life a lot about your attitude? Everyone has commented on how much more positive I seem. It's really like the old Wizard of Id cartoon, "How are things?" "Can't complain." "So, things are good?" "No. It's illegal to complain."

A quick, final, anonymous note: both of my master teachers have stayed in touch and provided excellent advice on coping, as well as copious advice (and lesson plans) for teaching.

An Old Marlow Story Or Two

Robert Malchman wrote

I had a very similar incident a few years earlier with Charlie Lecht, computer industry pioneer and author of Waves of Change, a very important book about the future of computing he wrote during the 1970s. I was interviewing him from my home office for Information Systems News, when my infant daughter Marlow started crying. I apologized for this, which I felt was unprofessional. His response was that the only unprofessional thing going on was me ignoring my daughter. I could talk to him anytime; I needed to go see what Marlow wanted.

Two decades later, Charlie is dead (much too young, I might add), and I still don't know what Marlow wants.

Hammock

I enjoy laying in the hammock in our backyard (no trees; it is on a hammock stand) and reading for a half-hour or so at dusk on summer afternoons. It is so comfortable, I thought I'd spend a night out there. I'd done it before, but was driven inside by the cold. This time, I laid blankets above and below and though the chill night would be just fine. I also had eyeshades, so dawn wouldn't necessarily awaken me.

Well. First of all, the crickets keep it up until well past midnight. Secondly, it was so cold that keeping my hands warm kept me awake (which is funny, because when I was at MIT I slept in a dorm with the window open in the winter--and let me tell you brother that's cold). And finally, I was sleepy all day, plus my back hurt, which means I didn't sleep very well and wasn't getting enough support.

Bottom line: hammocks, like most things in life, are best enjoyed in moderation. Still, if I ever had a choice during a campout, I'd prefer a hammock to a sleeping bag. Any day.

Smut Filter Redux

Apropos of my comment last week about the smut filter you must use as an 8th grade teacher, a friend wrote:

Thank you for the tip. That must have been either before or after my time, or else I missed it because I was so naive. In 8th grade, I made a paper mache football player and, at the suggestion of a "friend" gave him jersey number 69. The art teacher was angry, until he realized I really didn't know why it was a bad idea. He sent me home to ask my parents. It was not one of my father's finest moments, but he explained it to me. I'll stop abbreviating at B4 The Bell.

Report from Taiwan

Political Notes

Given George Bush's woeful ignorance of how to preserve and protect the national security of the United States or even how to keep an unclassified document secure (let alone one which is actually classified), PSACOT's editorial staff thought it would be possible to obtain a copy of one of the almost final drafts of Bush's speech on Sunday night, September 7, 2003. So we asked our bureau chief in the capital of the world's oldest democracy to see if a copy could be obtained. Sure enough, after receiving our request, the PSACOT Moscow bureau chief located and sent the available portions of the next to last draft of the speech (for the reader's convenience, the text as delivered is in normal type and the deleted portions are in BOLD TYPE).

--------start speech-------

Good evening. Since I have been on vacation for the last month while many brave American soldiers unnecessarily gave their lives in Iraq due to my stupidity and the need to get some money to Dick Cheney's pals at Halliburton and some oil for Condoleeza Rice's friends at Chevron who named one of their tankers for her, I asked for this time to give you the idea I was going to keep you informed of America's actions in what Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld and I refer to (when we're not laughing our heads off at the gullibility of the American people) as the war on terror. To be honest, there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the events of 9/11/01 but every time I make one of these thinly veiled references I convince a few more Americans (on top of the 70% who have already been fooled) that there was a connection.

---------cut here--------

This is a brutal but honest correction of the record. Read the rest of it at Bush Speech Semi-Final Draft.

-------

On September 11, 2002, Mike Allen, White House Correspondent for The Washington Post, wrote an interesting article ("Bush Cites 9/11 On All Manner Of Questions; References Could Backfire") which appeared on page A12 of The Washington Post. Of note: "In the past six weeks Bush has cited "9/11" or Sept. 11, 2001, in arguing for his energy policy and in response to questions about campaign fundraising, tax cuts, unemployment, the deficit, airport security, Afghanistan and the length, cost and death toll of the Iraq occupation."

On September 12, 2003, Paul Krugman made an interesting observation in his column ("Exploiting The Atrocity") on page A27 of The New York Times: "Furthermore, everything suggests that there are major scandals - involving energy policy, environmental policy, Iraq contracts and cooked intelligence - that would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power. So these people must win, at any cost."

Computer Industry News

Craig Reynolds' Technobriefs

Humor

The Top 16 Rejected McDonald's Slogans

I'm back--at No. 2!

The Top 16 Surprises in the Arnold Oui Interview

Twice in one week--I'm back in the saddle again!

Movies

Headline

You want the facts? Go to the Internet Movie Database

Letters

Dalton and the Rich List, the Grobstein File

Richard Dalton found the Global Rich List. See where you stand!

Dan Grobstein File:

• Is it OK to eat food that's been on the floor for five seconds or less?

• MSNBC says: By the time you're finished adjusting for reality, the projected budget deficit is about $7.4 trillion, not the advertised $1.4 trillion

• Doesn't it seem like Bush mentions 9/11 a lot?

• Putting $87 billion in perspective. (Washington Post)

• Rumsfield all but says if we don't re-elect Dubya, the terrorists have won. Sit down and shut up!

• Editorial: It is useful at times like this to look back on the road that brought a president into trouble and try to divide bad luck from bad guesses, and both from the wrong turns that stem from the innate nature of the presidency itself.

• A Popular Idea: Give Oil Money to the People Rather Than the Despots

• Cheap irony abounds in the Middle East, as the Palestinians kill an Israeli doctor who responded to terror attacks.
• Paul Krugman attacks the Tax Cut Con. Go get 'em, Paul.
• Speaking of Wesley Clark, Dan says:

Dave Methvin's PC Pitstop