I love IMDB. I love Broadband

We went to Sac International tonight to pick up my in-laws and my father-in-law remarked that he thought "that girl from that tv show Bones, the computer tech girl" was the same actress as "the girl in that third Blade movie.

Click. Click. Click.
No, the former is Michaela Conlin. The latter might be Jessica Biel, Parker Posey, or Tamara Taylor. Either way, they're not the same actress, and we have a quick, easy answer to what would have, even in fairly recent years, been a fairly obscure question that would likely have just gone unanswered.

Another addition to the reading list

One day, when I have time to read again, I'll pick up the novel Shel just finished, Holly Lisle's Talyn, another military/political swords and sorcery book, but first I want to finish Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel series, which I hope to start on as soon as I've finished reading Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. Mind you, this is just my junk reading for vapid entertainment, and doesn't include the really good stuff like the late Ladefoged's A Course in Phonetics or Wong's The First Days of School.

Ah, so many books, so little time. . .

Indiana Jones 4

Surely, Suzanne must already have blogged about this.

Web design

I suppose that at some point, I might catch up with all of the web design goals I have set for myself and just need to do maintenance, but until then, wow! It takes a lot of work to put together even a simple web presence. I hope somebody's getting some benefit out of the web page.
Oh well, at least this gives me a lot more appreciation for the well-designed, fully functional web pages I visit.

The holidays were great. Are they over, now?

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. . . and at least one big family dinner for each. I like my family, and we always have good food, but now I'm full - like long-term full. I got great gifts, including one very sweet gift from a student, but now I have more stuff than I have time to use or space to store. I bought some fun gifts for my family, but now I'm broke. I missed Yule. I missed Hmong new year (which I would really like to have celebrated), and I still am on holiday overload. Valentine's day is just six weeks away, my birthday just eight, and maybe then, I'll be able to rest again, at least until Summer.

Knife

I imagine most people don't stop to think about carrying a pocket knife. Some people carry a knife. Some people don't. I would be one of the former, but, obviously, I can't carry a knife at school, so I quickly get out of the habit. Then, on vacations, I put my knife in my pocket and forget that I have it. If you don't know you have it, it really doesn't do any good.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!
I'm not one for resolutions, but I do like to take natural opportunities for reflection. This has been a big year, with a lot of changes. Next year promises big things, too - more progress toward bigger and better goals. Returning to working with middle schoolers has been better than I expected but the challenges are different than I anticipated. I feel like I'm just getting the hang of relating to these kids again. I hope I'm getting the hang of it, anyway. I must admit that I miss my students. I won't wish away my time, especially not much-needed vacation time, but I'll be glad to see my kids again when vacation is done. Perhaps I won't rush off to find a high school job after all. I like this school, too. I count myself lucky to have found a community interested in working together to help students, and lucky to have found as many students with such big hearts.