Weird moments from the weekend...

Strange: Running into the owner of our favorite neighborhood bar at a house party.

Stranger: Being invited to said party by two guys we met that used to live in the house in which we now live.

Strangest: Learning that the great-aunt of one of those guys died in the bedroom we now sleep in. (Quietly in her sleep we are told, not bludgeoned to death. Thank god.)

Weekend Roundup...

Well, I didn't get much accomplished this weekend, on account of Olympic Fever. There's only so many qualifiers / prelims / quarterfinals of any one Track event that I can watch before I'm sick of it, though. Why are they showing so much running anyway? Whatever happened to the Field? Let's see some of the interesting stuff already: Hammer Throw, Pole Vault, Discus, etc.

Also in Olympic News:
- Sacramone got robbed.
- If you are an older female olympian, and mother, this is your year!
- The super-hot Polish Women's Volleyball team's dreams were cut short by the super-beastly USA team.
- The official Chinese Olympic website is horrible... Less censoring, more troubleshooting please.
- Phelps is loaded! The $25,000 he gets for each medal must seem like chump change next to his endorsement paychecks.

In political news, McCain's threshold to define rich is 20 times higher than that of Obama. When asked this past week to define rich in terms of annual income, Obama's response was $250,000, while McCain's answer was $5,000,000. That's quite a difference! Don't worry Phelpsie, you're rich in either one's eyes!

Also, the NYT buried an article about McCain's "response" to 9/11. Apparently he flew off the handle, jumping on the "Invade Iraq" bandwagon before it even got out the garage. Quick to link Saddam Hussein to both Al Quaida and the anthrax "attacks", he sang praises for Rumsfeld & Co. Wrong on all counts, old man! Anyone who thinks McCain has got the chops for military "strateegery' or foreign policy needs to read this.

Of course, hidden behind all the Olympic and election hoopla is the highly provacative Russian invasion of Georgia. While the news seems to be that Georgia pushed for a fight despite NATO warnings to back off, the Russian response was mostly likely (and I hate to repeat a Bushism) "highly disproportionate". If this news doesn't concern you, know that quite a few Ukrainians think that they're next, and many Poles (my wife included) fear that Russian military commanders may make good on their belligerent promises.

I'll willing to guess there's still quite a few old assholes in Washington that welcome the idea of a return to the Cold War. Such wishful thinking will prove foolish when they realize that the US doesn't really look like the good guys to a lot of the world anymore.

I'll leave you with a gem of a quote from an article in the The Times Online:

"In the old days under Soviet rule we didn't believe a word of our own propaganda but we thought that information was free in the West and we longed for it," said Katya, a middle-aged Muscovite. "But we have learnt since that the West has its own propaganda and in some ways it is more powerful because people believe it."

Congratulations media and leadership of America! You have succeeded in fucking up anything good that the U.S. accomplished in the past 60 years. Hope you're rich because of it! And I mean like quadruple McCain rich!

Now you understand the genius of the terrorist fist-jab...

Cindy: sacrificing her health for the campaign. What a hero!

If you liked "Ong-Bak"

You should really go pick up "Born to Fight". Although Tony Jaa is not in this movie, it is directed/produced by the same team. It also features some of Thailand's greatest atheletes showing what their made of and doing their own stunts. There's even an "Asian champion of rugby"!

Don't take my word for it. Watch the preview:



Speaking of previews, go see "Dark Knight". Ike knows what I'm talking about.

For the curious...

In an effort to boost the content of my blog, I offer you my thoughts:

- I'm going to take a stab at this, and guess that this is not going to result in achieving real, useful fusion that will ensure the energy needs of the future. If anything it's safe to assume that anything that is possible in a Keeanu Reeves movie is IMPOSSIBLE in real life. The Matrix will never happen, time travel will never happen and I'm pretty sure a bus will never wheelie an overpass.

- "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." I just can't believe this is true. It's like Karl Rove dared him to say it, and he waited until the very last minute of the meeting, slipped it in and went home snickering... "C'mon man, I said it, you owe me 20 bucks!" Other highlights of King Bush's last trip to the G8 include: Greeting every world leader with "Yo!" and showing off his Italian language skills to president Silvio Berlusconi (Amigo! Amigo!).

- Speaking of our fearless leader... Remember the hullabaloo that was raised over Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran? Looks like the administration has decided to quit pouting like a 5-year old and step to the table for some talks. The preconditions look... weak. Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

- This week's Economist has an interesting look into the future of the Mediterranean economy, specifically how the European Union should take advantage of the growth happening there right now. That seems fine with me, but I think they should keep their hands off the Baltic region for the moment. I've got a trip planned there for next summer, and I don't want them to mess it up. EU membership already ruined Prague for me... 10 cent beers, my ass!

Crap!

I think my work just blocked gchat...

No Teacher Left Teaching...

I've been busy these last few weeks, not only at work, but personally as well. Last Monday was my wife's 25th birthday, and this past Monday was our 1st wedding anniversary. Everything went wonderfully on both occasions, and overall I'd have to say the state of the union is strong.

One thing, however, has tried to ruin our summer: A certain school district in Arizona where my wife is employed.

Due to some paper-shuffling bullshit, my wife was in danger of losing her job last week. As a matter of fact, they chose to inform her of this on her birthday. So, last week was a scramble to assemble papers, certifications and correspondance to send to the district, which turned out to be fruitless, as everyone was off for the ENTIRE WEEK before the 4th of July.

Finally, on Monday (our anniversary) when she got a hold of her "teacher development counselor" (fancy name for HR director), he was rude, terse and unempathetic. Naturally she was upset, and I was livid. Here's an excerpt from the e-mail I helped her write to the district, sent to said "counselor" and copied to her principle, vice principle and the district superintendant:

Dr. X,
I would like to take the chance, through e-mail, to explain to you my situation regarding my provisional certification to teach in Arizona. Allow me to start at the beginning:

I was hired, by you, at a job fair in Seattle, Washington in the summer of 2007. I spoke to a few districts located in the Phoenix-area at the time, but your attitude and your positive description of the X School District won me over. I was led to believe that X School District was an organized, motivated, caring institution that would help me begin my career in teaching.

[8 paragraphs of explanation and grievances]

I was excited about beginning my second year of teaching, and I was under the impression that X School District was very interested in keeping me around for years to come. Now, I am doubting XSDs commitment to their employees, and I also am doubting that the beauracratic and unappreciative culture of the entire education system is really for me. I moved out here to teach, and I feel like I have been cut down at the knees every step of the way. I did not spend 4 years and incur tens of thousands of dollars in student loans in college to be yanked around by a second-rate school district that is so rife with patronage, infighting and apathy that the state is forced to consider a full-on takeover.

I do not know whether at this point you are interested in helping me out or not. I would be happy to continue teaching next year, but if you do not thing X School District is fit for me, I will seek employment elsewhere in a field where employees are treated with trust, respect and appreciation.

Kind Regards,
Norf's Wife

Guess who got her job back ASAP?

Guess who's still going to several interviews for alternative employment in the meantime?

I mourn the downfall of the American educational system...