in Just-spring

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Today is the official first day of spring. Spring is my favorite season. It contains several of my favorite events:

  • My birthday
  • Mother’s Day
  • Easter
  • The end of the school year (most years)

I also love the change in weather.

  1. I get all jazzed up and happy.
  2. Everything seems better.
  3. The days are getting longer and brighter.
  4. School is winding up.
  5. Things smell better.
  6. Flowers are blooming.
  7. It is warmer.
  8. I can stop wearing socks.
  9. I can wear short sleeves with no sweater or jacket.
  10. New things come alive.

in Just-
spring       when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far       and       wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
    the

            goat-footed

balloonMan       whistles
far
and
wee

	-- e. e. cummings

Common date of the Equinox. In astrology, March 21 the day of the Equinox is the first full day of the sign of Aries. It is also the traditional first day of the astrological year; and International Astrology Day.

March Movie Madness 2008 Round 1

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m3-comedies.jpgThe first round has been decided. We did not do as well as I hoped. Sadly, it is because some of the movies I wanted won, but we went with the Lord’s pick.

We got 21 out of 32, I think. We also have a potential loss of at least 5 picks in the next round.

Best Lady found a big screw up!  I have Wanda vs Ferris with Young Frankenstein winning.  Duh.  I emailed Jeff and I hope he will let me change it.  If so, I will post a new version of the brackets.

Baby names

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We are watching last Thursday’s LOST.  It was a Sun and Jin episode.  There was a sweet little scene with them on the beach talking about getting ready for the baby.   Jin suggests they talk baby names, but Sun says it is bad luck.  I don’t know that it could be bad luck if you aren’t pregnant.

Names I like for our yet-to-be-conceived baby.   I am not going to tell you which one we have actually chosen for our first born.

Girls names are too easy.  I just keep thinking of them.  There are many ladies in our family that we would like to honor.

  • Abigail
  • Amelia
  • Bonnie
  • Betsy
  • Caroline
  • Caitlin
  • Ellen
  • Hazel
  • Ingrid
  • Isabella
  • Joy
  • Marion
  • Ruth
  • Sarah
  • Sylvia

Boys names have not been as easy.  There are lots of names that I like, but they either don’t go well with our last name or I have had a student with that name that was a problem.

  • Benjamin
  • Edward
  • Elliot
  • Eric
  • Ethan

1990 – In largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts

17 things that are Green

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  1. Grass
  2. Clovers
  3. My lunch bag
  4. Limes
  5. Mountain Dew
  6. Leaves
  7. The list next to my classroom phone
  8. My towels
  9. The “stone” in my class ring
  10. The walls at the Dummerston Grange AND the Putney Community Center
  11. My favorite color
  12. Spinach
  13. Emeralds
  14. Pickles
  15. Kakapos
  16. The Statue of Liberty
  17. Christmas Trees

1756 – St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).

Never could tell a joke

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A 22-year-old kid is sent to a maximum security prison for larceny. Benefiting from a cliché often found in prison stories, he ends up with an older, veteran cellmate who takes a liking to him and helps him get acclimated to prison life.The first night in the cell block, the kid hears something strange. Other prisoners are calling out numbers in the darkness.”Sixteen!”All the prisoners laugh, except for the new kid.

“Twenty-five!”

More laughter.

And so on. The kid asks his cellmate to explain what everyone’s laughing at.

“Well, at night, we’ve got nothing better to do than to tell jokes.”

“But they’re not jokes. They’re just numbers.”

“That’s all you know. Thing is, we’ve all been here so long that we’ve heard all each other’s jokes so often that we’ve memorized them. So rather than tell the whole joke again, we’ve numbered ’em all. Now we just remind each other of the joke by calling out the number.”

So the kid calls out, “Eleven!”

The entire cell block erupts in almost hysterical laughter.

Then the guy in the next cell calls out, “Fifteen!” Crickets.

The kid asks, “What happened?”

His cellmate answers, “That guy never could tell a joke.”

That is one of my all time favorite jokes. Just the line “That guy never could tell a joke.” can crack me up. And…sadly, it is reminiscent of me, I never remember the whole joke (unless it is short), but punchlines…I can do punchlines.

  1. “I pissed in its ear.”
  2. “It is dark in here.”
  3. “Wrecked’im hell, it killed ‘im.”
  4. Jesus Johnson
  5. “Anyone can roast beef.”
  6. “Sand”

1906 – Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
1926 – Jerry Lewis, American comedian

Things I am really glad someone invented

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There are some things we all take for granted, but someone had to invent them.

I am really glad for:

  1. Air conditioning I may live in a mostly cool climate, but it can get hot here. It gets especially hot in my computer lab. It took 7 years for me to convince someone that I needed a/c in there and it has made all the difference. I am actually in a better mood during the heat waves.
  2. Reach dental floss holders I hate flossing my teeth. It is not a lot of fun for me to stick my fingers in my mouth. I floss every day now. My flosser is pink and his is blue. We also have a purple one that neither of us has used.
  3. Indoor plumbing When it isn’t so hot that you need a/c, it is so cold that you need a down parka. I am thankful every day that I don’t have to go outside to p.
  4. DVR For someone who does a lot of plays, it is great to be able to record “appointment TV” like LOST and Grey’s and watch it later. I hated messing around with tapes and the DVR is awesome.
  5. iPods Our local radio station got bought last year and when they changed over the owners got rid of the 2 great DJs that had been there over 20 years. I hate the new morning guy, so I really only listen for the local news. The rest of the time I listen to NPR on my iPod in the car.

1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.

Simply not true

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Things that people believe(d), but just aren’t true:

  • The Earth is flat.
  • Walt Disney is in cryonic storage.
  • Federal law allows Texas to fly the state flag above the US flag.
  • Iraq has WMD
  • German would have become the official language of the USA, but for one vote.
  • The sun revolves around the Earth.
  • Britney Spears is talented.
  • Stars can be seen during the day from the bottom of the well.
  • Paris Hilton is hot.
  • We only use 10% of our brains.
  • The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object can be seen from the moon.
  • Chewing gum takes 7 years to pass through your system.
  • If you blog it…they will read.

1925 – Scopes Trial: A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution.
1975 – Courtney C. and Joy D. born
1976 – Lisa H. born