Travels

Today I started my new job, and by new job, i mean 3rd job in the last month and a half. Lets just say commitment is apparently not my strong suit (some might say graduating from BYU unmarried would have proven that just fine). Anyways, I now work for a multi-level marketing company called Qivana, I'm just a receptionist/administrative assistant though so you are not in danger of me trying to sign you up and sell your soul, though if you are interested in pro-biotic supplements, let me know, i get some free... I just returned last weekend from a road trip to California where I went to Disneyland, the beach, toured the Oakley factory (the boy I stayed with is an accountant there), and the SDSU v BYU football game. All in all it was a wonderful trip which makes me wonder why I live somewhere where it is freezing as opposed to the beach. It turns out I am quite the proficient road-tripper/traveler and am looking for a sponser to financially back my adventures (changing jobs frequently tends to lead to diminished funds). If you know anyone interested in this, feel free to let me know. Bethany and I recently trekked to Denver for Malory's wedding shower. This trek included running to our terminal to catch our departing plane, meeting little Mackenzie Jo for the first time and playing with adorable Mason. Thats about all the news from Provo, can't wait to see everyone at the wedding!

Bungle in the Jungle

Hey Fam- we are returned alive from our grand jungle adventure! And it was awesome! and epic! and amazing! Enough with the exclamation points! And may i just say that "blogging" for a bunch of school teacher types is rather intimidating! But here is the scoop, lowdown, and skinny. We had a great time. We were met at the airport by Mc and a companion. It took a while for him to transition between portugese and english, but he ably translated for us throughout the journey. M could understand things some of the time, since spanish is rather similar. We spent a couple of days in Manaus, going to the zoo, a natural history museum, and meeting people that Mc had taught or had been his friends. It was wonderful. We went to their homes, ate their food (aligator), drank their soda (guarana), and even met Mc's namesake- a one month old baby called "Nixon". We took lots of photos, and i must say i enjoyed being a tall person, for a change! We also ate lots of delicious and exotic fruits. Then we headed into the jungle. Our journey was rather convoluted- van, boat, ferry, vw van, motorized canoe. after several hours we arrived at our jungle lodge, and were greeted by Conchita, the resident grey wooley monkey. This was a hight point for me, since i have dreamed of having a pet monkey ever since reading "Pippi Longstocking" and being jealous of Mr. Neilson, her monkey. Anyway... we had an amazing guide- Fabio. Sadly, he did not have bulging pecs or long flowing locks, but he was amazingingly well informed. He knew about all sorts of things, history, plants, animals, native customs, gastronomy, computers, ecology, you name it. So we learned alot from him. We went on excursion to catch caimen, see farms, birdwatch, etc. It was very adventursome and beautiful and HOT. They kept saying it was the coolest October they could recall. Boy oh boy, did we sweat. M and Mc had some fishing adventures- they can fill you in on those at the wedding, courtesy of our canoe driver- Nicodemos. We ate brazilian home cooking, with fish and more fish, and rice, spaghetti, mashed potatoe, and manioc at every meal. And cool fruits, including juice made of the cashew fruits that we picked in the jungle. It was just wonderful.
Then it was home to Manaus for a last day of shopping and then home. Unfortunately, Mc was ill on the way home, and is not quite recovered yet. We had him at the Dr yesterday, and he is taking a deworming regimen, which will hopefully fix him! It is great to have him home, it makes me realize how much we missed him! We had a great, once-in-a-lifetime adventure together. We will bring some photos to show y'all at the wedding. xoxolori

Year's Best Post-Exam E-Mail

Since my fellow teachers are sharing bits of sunshine, he is an excerpt from an email I received a few hours after a test: "I didn't realize you wanted us to answer all the questions, so I only answered the ones I knew."

This, apparently, meant 5 out of 15.

And three of them were wrong.

A hole lot of fun

a) I got a paper turned in where whole was spelled hole through out the hole paper. Also a student turned in a paper he copied off the internet, upon typing the first two lines into Google I pulled up the paper he plagiarized and gave him a zero. He actually tried to argue that it was original work.
b) Been reading lots and listening to some good new albums. My recommendations are: The Hour I First Believed, Fluke, and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (books). Matisyahu's new album and also A Fine Frenzy's new one.
c) School is going surprisingly well, despite working full time. I get to go on a field trip to San Diego next weekend...Zoo, aquarium, and tide pools. Pretty exciting!!!!
d) Speaking of trips this weekend I will be in Denver for Mal's bridal shower. Brooke and I are flying out together and I can't wait. I will be sure to blog about that...and of course include lots of pictures.

Anyway that is about it for now. I will leave you all with a picture of someone we all know and love.

Why does the dog stink?

If we are posting about mundane things, I want to know why the dog stinks. He can clear the whole main floor of the house in a matter of seconds. I don't understand it. He only gets dog food, the same brand he's been getting all his life, and the occasional apple he picks up from under the tree. He loves them, apples, and our trees are covered this year. One tree must have a couple hundred on the ground around it, and I don't know why that is the case either. Maybe there were too many for the branches to hold. These are the mysteries that I cannot solve.

In other matters, next week is parent teacher conferences, and I'm hoping to get through without anybody telling me I'm not pretty or that I'm old. That is my goal ever since I was told both of those things by the same mother a couple of years ago. I have pretty low expectations.

When I was grading earlier tonight I read what one of my students wrote on my class blog which was that the "movie [Hamlet] had alot of set backs such as they killed off every main character in the story in my opinion this seriously ruineed the plot of the story." Another argued endlessly that Much Ado About Nothing had the same theme as Hamlet. He wouldn't let it drop no matter how many times I told him that, in fact, they did not have the same theme. There are days when I wonder if I am doing any good in the world at all.

I think Lisa and Brooke might like chocolate.....

WHY ARE THEY SMILING?

They are in a chocolate making place.

MY FIRST AND POSSIBLY ONLY POSTING......

PEEPs

Well now it is Seriously September feeling in NYC , mostly because its October now.

I slept till noon today and just ate way too much Chipotle. See, who said blogging couldnt be more boring than FaceBook .

After seeing the wild response to Brookes Handerpants posting I figured we have to get this blog business underway once and for all, so come on people - share your latest Youtube obsession- post your students worst and most laughable work- break your kids arm and take adorable pictures- test run your wedding vows.

Me, I am going to remind you all to buy a webcam before this sunday so that we can videoconference- we call it videogeneralconference .

and share with you all this lovely pic of my sister and her daughter smiling because they are in a chocolatiers factory in brooklyn - thats my hood.