Thoughts Without Words: CST's...it's over

Well that was pretty intense. Like I said the other day, I put alot of time and effort into my classes this year. Most of the students felt pretty confident about the test. I think my scores will be pretty good. I feel about the same way I did last year. I realized that I should have done more problems involving the quadratic formula...but what can you do right? I really focused in on Alg. 2 the last month or so, that could come back to get me. Hopefully they turn out ok.

The Four Horsemen VS. Mechanix

So Monday & Tuesday I am playing two songs from two different bands whicha re nearly identical minue the lyrics. It's a rare look at the beginning of two bands. You can read about it HERE, but in a nutshell. Metallica used to play a song in their set called the Mechanix, it was written by Dave Mustaine. When he was kicked out of Metallica they changed the title and lyrics to The Four Horsemen. When Mustaine recorded Megadeth's debut he recorded the Mechanix.

Now I heard the Four Horsemen 1st and to me it is a classic song. Great metal lyrics, killer guitar riffs, and an awesome solo. When I heard Mechanix for the first time I was blown away because of the speed of the song. Mustaine's version is sped up a quiet a bit.

So which is better? Mechanix is faster, but the lyrics are pretty weak (about a garage mechanic who fantasies about some lady). Four Horsemen has better lyrics, but the whole bridge solo is kinda weak and they never play it live. So I will go with the LIVE version of The Four Horsemen.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is one of the main reasons that Metallica and Megadeth will forever be associated with each other.

Thoughts Without Words: CST's test day tomorrow

So I have been busting my butt off to get my scores higher this year and it all comes down to tomorrow. I am pretty confident that they will do fine, but you never know. Here's a rundown of things I did this year to help;
- no calculator on daily quizzes (all year)
- no calculator on tests/chapter quizzes (second semester)
- daily quizzes based upon standards questions with review questions daily (in Alg B we have factored everyday since October)
- multiple choice tests
- did state released questions packet
- offered to raise grades based upon CST scores

Seriously, if those don't work...I have no clue.

Worst part is that I will have to wait until summer to see my scores.

What can brown do for you? On my way back

So it has been awhile since I posted, but let me share with you guys the beginning of my return to the sort aisle. I had been on load side for about 5 months and everything was running smooth. I had a great belt. We were going down on time most everyday and the found in loads (next day air loaded with regular packages) were pretty much non-existent. I had created a spread sheet to track pph, f.i.l.'s, hours for indivuals and a similar sheet for the enitre belt. Shon liked it so much he wanted every sup on load side to use it. So everything was great...then Shon told us that he was leaving the building. Now a full timer could make you have a great job (like Shon or Tom) or a crappy one (like Marie). Marie took over and she was just lost. Rumor had it that she hadn't even been with the company for more than a year. That's right I had more experience than her, and it showed.

I was getting really mad coming to work because, unlike Shon, Marie was a mirco-manager. She was always checking/double checking my work. I will never forget one day before Shon left (he was training Marie) she was asking why the bottom belt was off and he told her just watch, he will go down clean don't worry about the bulk or anything...and we did go down fine. But as soon as Shon left, Marie always wanted that damn belt running. I can't remember how many fights we got into over it. She was just bad...bad...bad. Seriously, the worst.

So one day they were short sups in the sort aisle. So who do they call? That's right me. Now Bill was in charge at the time and he was running the unload because of the shortage of sups. He told me that they were on the last trailer (in door 11) and they were going to double it out and it wasn't to get backed up. Now door 11 is horrible for a trailer because you can only flow it to 11 or 12. If it was any other door you could flow it down more. So Bill tells me over the radio, "if you are that good it won't get backed up". Now I was a little more cocky, because of my success on load side, so I yelled across and told him to bring it. I took two sorters and placed them at 11 and 12. This was an uncommon move, most of the time sups place both sorters at the drop point on 12 and let the work flow. I thought that didn't work because sorters talked, more jam points from door 11, and sorters got in the way. So when Bill saw the set up he told me don't let it get backed up. They started to unload and I had door 11 closed and all the work was coming down to 11. The sorter was putting it away, and packages started to fill his slide. Bill looked concerned, but before he could talk I opened it up to 12 and let it flow to the other sorter. So while 12 was putting it away 11 was cleaning up his slide. I continued to do this for the entire time. The sorters never got back up and we finished the trailer on time. Now of course I am screaming across to Bill ( the BUILIDNG MANAGER) all sorts of trash talk. You name it I probably said it. He just smiled and that was it...not even a good job.
I went back to load side and then proceeded to go down clean on my belt. It was a great day. A couple days later, right before Bill transferred out of the building, he made the decision to move me back to the sort aisle. Now whether it was Bill's call or Tom's who was probably watching I will never know. I would like to think it was because of that day in the aisle.
So I was told on a Friday to go to the sort aisle on Monday. I was pumped to return. So much that after we went down, I could care less about load side. I was checking out and Marie told me to make sure the air cans were moved. I told her someone comes by and takes them out. She said "no you go down and pull them out." I looked at her and said "you know I am going back to the sort aisle on Monday right?" She said yes, so I looked at her and said ok bye. I just walked out and that was my last encounter with Marie for awhile...classic.

Spotlight: Metallica Week 2

Another week of Metallica, this week we hit the classics; One, Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, and For Whom the Bell Toll. I have to admit hearing these songs reminds as to why this band is my favorite. The riffs, the drumming, the vocals, and the solos...all perfect. Yes I said perfect. I had a few students that were asking me for the titles of the songs so they could go download them, mainly for One, MoP, and FWTBT. I really could spend a whole year listening to Metallica and Megadeth, but I can't.

This week not only did we hit the classics, but we really covered just how diverse Metallica is. We go from Until it Sleeps, which is a hard rock/metal song to Ride the Lightning which showed the beginnings of what Metallica was to become. We hit the super popluar songs with Enter Sandman, which everyone always says they have heard before...nice to know I guess.

Metallica is by far my favorite band and I am looking forward to the new album. I am hoping for a return to old form. I am not looking for something like RtL2 or anything like that. But a nice mix of styles...almost like a Cryptic Writings type of album.


Playlist for the week:
Monday: Bleeding Me, Until it Sleeps from Load
Tuesday: Enter Sandman, Sad but True from Metallica (the Black Album)
Wednesday: One from And Justice for All
Thursday: Master of Puppets from Master of Puppets
Friday: Ride the Lightning, For Whom the Bell Toll from Ride the Lightning

Remembering my Grandpa...

It's been a few years since my grandpa passed away. We all knew he was dying and it wouldn't be long. I'll never forget seeing him and then less than two weeks later he was gone. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't cross my mind. I still truly miss him. Getting that call...I knew what it was about, but yet I couldn't believe it. The funeral, visiting his grave it seems all surreal. It's hard to except. I wanted my son to be born today so that April 23rd wouldn't be such a depressing day, but at the same time I am happy. So here is my post I made a few weeks after the funeral. I will try to re-post it every year as a tribute to him.




It's been one week since my Grandpa passed away, so I think I will share some of my memories about him. To me he was a great man. He dropped out of school early on in his life, before the 8th grade, joined the navy and ended up fighting in World War II. He met my Grandmother while she was studying to become a nurse, to which my grandpa responded, "why would you want to be a nurse because if you were my wife you wouldn't work." Classic grandpa.

My grandpa was a farmer . He ended up farming for years. In fact, he was still farming 60 acres of land up until he was in his late 70's. He would wake up in the middle of the night to change his water, to make sure he didn't over water his crops. He did most of the work, minus the actual picking of the crops.

He was the central figure in our family. At Christmas time it was grandpa who would hand out the presents to all of the kids and adults. When grandpa was happy we were all happy, when he was sad or upset we all shared in his pain.

How did he effect my life? Well let's see, he introduced me to golf. I would remember going to visit him in the summer to play golf at the same golf course he played at. It was amazing and an honor. Now I am not shallow enough to realize other things my grandpa taught me; how to tie vines, how to flood gophers out of their holes (that had to be one of the more enjoyable summers ever.) We could spend hours on end talking about football too. Whether it was the 49ers and how crappy they had become, or how the Sooners fell apart. He also taught me how to be a man, how to treat a woman. How to act in certain situations. Now he never came out and said "Kevin, this is what you do", but he always acted in a certain way that would always be the right way. Now there were times that he didn't act the right way, but he would always say later on, how he should have acted.

My grandpa was a huge part of my life. I spent every vacation hour (minus 3 summers because of football) at my grandparents home. Every vacation we had a different job. He would always tell us, that he has to do it because he didn't finish school and this was his life. I guess that hit all of us grandkids because 6 of the 7 graduated from college. That idea that unless you get an education, you would be doing manual labor stuck with us.

My grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. I guess we weren't surprised because he had been smoking since he was around 12 years old. He had surgery to remove the cancer from the lung. Doctors say that if you can go one year without the cancer coming back, then your odds are pretty good it will stay in remission. Well, with my grandpa it was around 10 or 11 months when the doctors told him the cancer was back. He had no choice but to try chemo-therapy. At his age it was risky, but he couldn't have another operation. He was able to go through all of the treatments, except the last one. Most of the cancer was gone or drastically reduced. I saw him in the middle of his treatments during Thanksgiving. He looked well, he was joking around and we made some bets on the Rose Bowl and Super Bowl, even though we didn't know the teams. We also gave my grandparents a Webtv. Now this might seem like nothing, but my grandparents never owned a VCR. He was excited and happy knowing he could write to any grandkid whenever or check the weather whenever he wanted to. I will never foget his face when he said "So you mean I'm online now?"

We didn't go up to see him at Christmas time because my wife was pregnant at the time and couldn't travel at all. At the time I didn't think it mattered because I figured I would see him next Christmas. During the spring time he battled some serious colds and that also took it's toll on his body. It was in early April during a phone conversation that he commented that his shoulder was hurting him. I told him to lift some weights because he needed to be strong enough to lift our little girl. He laughed and said that his is trying. During spring break my parents came down and said I needed to go see him because he was very ill. I thought it was just my mom being over reactive, but she wasn't. When I saw my grandpa he didn't recognize me because of the medication he was on and because cancer was spreading into his brain. That first day was very rough for me and my wife. After lunch my grandpa walked outside and my wife suggested I go on a walk with him. I was very hesitant to, but agreed to go. My grandpa and I walked about 30-50 yards and back. We talked about the weather (as all farmers do) and about the neighbor building a house. And then he went out and started talking about the war. As soon as he started it was over. I found out later that that was his last walk. The cancer spread to his spine and legs and he couldn't walk. That is something I hope to never forget. The next day he was better, alot better. He knew me and remembered things about conversations from earlier in the day and years ago. My wife and I always played Uno for him, he loved to see me lose. He was sitting in the chair, in pain, but smiling at us and said "I remember that game you guys play, Uni" We said good-bye that day, never in a million years did I think I wouldn't see him alive again. In less than a week, they stopped all treatment and the next Friday he was in hospice care... a total of 8 days. My heart ached for him, my grandma, and my family. We prayed for a quick death so he wouldn't suffer. He was able to leave the hospital and come home to his farm to die. His farm where he made his life and legacy. He died at 2:14 AM on April 23rd. I miss him so much. I am so sad when I think that he won't hold my daughter, hold me, or hold his wife again. I know he is in a better place without pain, but my heart misses him so much. I was honored to be a pallbearer at his funeral this past week. I cried and smiled thinking about the memories of him. My brothers and I shared stories of grandpa over his grave talking to him.

My grandpa saw alot in his life time and lived alot too. My grandpa was and will always be a hero to me. I love you Grandpa...you're online so you can read this now.

Keep it in the Family: no baby yet

So baby is due any day now. But nothing so far. We are both anxious and a little nervous. Two babies is scary, but it's just for a short time. I can't imagine my life with out my daughter, and I'm sure it will be the same for the new baby. Having children has changed my view on alot of things. I am constantly worried about their well being. I was hoping the 23rd, but it doesn't look like that will happen. One of my students said May 5th, Cinco de Mayo...real funny.

Sad But True: CST's & students

ok a new tag just unbelievable stories from news or school. This one comes from my school.

So we have started CST's this week. And we had a "test run" on Friday that took 10 minutes from 2 classes. The students went to their testing class and did whatever (I put the students in grade order). So today I had 5 students comes into my room instead of thier testing room...ok not too bad I guess. But I just had a kid show up 30 minutes late to my room and was like what's going on? Now there are no seniors here our parking lot is half empty. Shouldn't he know something was up?

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Battlestar Galatica

Third episode in and I gotta say it feelsl ike I am watching a movie 1 hour at a time. That can be a really good thing or a bad thing. Fortunately, the writes of BSG have made it a good thing. The show has a season 1 type feel to it right now because of all the different story lines going on at once. You have Starbuck finding Earth, the final four, President/Apollo, Baltar's cult, and the Cylon cival war. All of the story lines are progressed a bit each week giving you a small taste, but leaving you for more.

Questions after this week's episode:
- Tory becomes a "bad" cylon by killing Cally?
- How do they explain Tory having Cally's baby?
- Will Starbuck's crew go all mutiny on her?
- What's up with Apollo?
- Did all the 6's & 3's just get killed?

awesome stuff.

Spotlight: Metallica

So we have finally made it to my favorite band of all time...Metallica. I have already told you that I didn't get into Metallica first...it was actually Megadeth. But the first time I heard Metallica, they blew me away. My brother was into Metallica and he drove us to school, so guess what I listened to. Anyway, I really got into Metallica with TBA-era because of the tour with GnR, who I really loved. That album was very good. I don't listen to it that much, but it was the metal album of the time. And despite what people might say about it now, it was and is a metal album. The production was so much better than any metal album at the time that it seemed like a sell out type album...which is weird because this album was hyped so much. I remember watching MTV show different record stores where the album went on sale at midnight and it was chaos. Metal fans were eating it up, yet years later they turned on Metallica.

But that's getting ahead of myself. The album is metal, listen to the beginning riff of Of Wolf and Man, or the riffs on Sad But True...killer stuff. So the next album I heard was Load, which was a total departure from previous albums. Load and Re-Load are more hard rock/blues influenced metal. With that being said I really enjoyed Load and still do, as with Re-Load. Although, I always felt they sort of made Re-Load a bit heavier.

But the big thing going on for me was the singles they were releasing with the album. They would have classic songs being played live. Now let me say this right now, I absolutely love the live versions of their songs during this line-up. Hearing the Kill em All/Ride the Lightning Medley was awesome...10 minutes of pure thrash. It was because of these singles that I went back and got everything Metallica. By the time I was a senior in high school, Metallica was by far my favorite band.

So the Metallica catalog is so diverse and lengthy that this should take about 2 - 3 weeks to get through. I will be starting with their latest and going back to their debut (opposite from what I did with Megadeth).

Playlist for the week:
Monday: Frantic, Sweet Amber from St. Anger
Tuesday: Helpless (live 97), The Wait from Garage Inc.
Wednesday: Sabbra Cadabra, Whiskey in the Jar from garage Inc.
Thursday: I Disappear, No Leaf Clover from MI: 2 Soundtrack and S&M (Symphony & Metallica)
Friday: Bad Seed, Fixxxer from Re-Load


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Now playing: Trivium - Fugue (A Revelation)
via FoxyTunes

What can brown do for you? Sup School

Taking a small break in the time line to go back and talk about sup school. I met up with Trevor this past weekend and he reminded me of just how stupid exciting sup school was. We had to go meet at a hotel in Anaheim for 2 weeks. That's not too bad and it was for 5 hours a night (the length of our shift)...ok that makes sense. How about the 7 - midnight time?!?!?! HUH yeah it was the only time available for us, but it could be worse because Trevor went during the 3 - 8 AM time. So here I was going to my last semester of school which ended at 5, then hang out at school for awhile then drive down to the hotel. Oh one last thing, we had to be dressed as though we were going to work...even the shoes.

Now keep in mind, usually they had you wait about 2 - 4 weeks before they sent you so you had some experience going into the training. I was suping for about 2 or 3 weeks before I was sent. So I show up on the first night and when we sat down we were told these were our teams for the rest of the school. Our team was pretty cool. We were all about the same age, except one lady...and I say lady because she was in her mid 40's and she drove daily from San Diego to Anaheim for the class. Apparently, there weren't any sup schools going on down there, and she had another job that she couldn't miss...so drive everyday.

It was here at sup school that I really started to get into trouble. I don't know what triggered it, maybe it was the time or the fact I felt I already knew the operation. Anyway, I could talk about the constant bottle of coke and dr. pepper we would drink at night (we got up to about 30 bottles on our table), the getting in trouble for saying "ohhh team 4" every time they did something right, or me changing a screen saver to say "team 4 sucks". Apparently our instructor didn't believe in competition. The way he yelled at me you would have thought I wrote something about his mother.

But I will focus on our computer simulation game...think of it as a really cheap version of the Sims. You had 4 or 5 employees and you just saw their facial expressions. If they were happy they smiled, if they got upset or mad they began to frown...pretty funny actually. Well our group tried our best on day 1. We had to plan out a 5 hour day and what we would do with the employees, and then submit it and run the day. The program would then generate the highest PPH (pieces per hour) , the higher the better. So the next day we were given our results and Team 4 was in first and didn't lose any employees. Everyone else lost one person and we ended up in 4th place. Now this sim lasted for one week and our pph were so far behind I told the team let's just counsel everyone. Now counseling in the game was like disciplining your employee. The other guys were for it, but the lady wasn't too sure. In fact we let her do one hour while we did the rest. BTW, this is where the ohhh team 4 started...our instructor did the classic "maybe you guys could learn from team 4". I hate that crap!

So anyway over the next 4 days we counseled everyone in the game (eventually the lady let us take over completely), we had 3 employees quit. Everyone was frowning except for one guy...he was smiling all the time. We found out later that his character liked to be yelled at...it motivated him. Nice huh?

It was a fun game and I really wish that we could have gotten a copy of it. Oh well. Next time we will go back to my last days of Pen 9 and what helped lead me back to the sort aisle.

Thoughts Without Words: school accident

Well we get back from spring break and we are all greeted with an email from our principal informing us that there was a car accident on the previous Friday involving some of our current and former students...out of the 5 people in the car 4 were killed. Needless to say some of our students and staff are a bit saddened by this loss.

Well if you missed my previous posts on the CST's, we were supposed to start the test today. I was about to go off on how they expect students to be machines and just work without feelings, when our school administrators did a great thing and postponed the test for a week.

It takes an accident and the loss of lives to make some people see that these kids have so much going on in their lives. We knew about the accident, but what about the student that was berated by their family the night before? Or the one that just got dumped? We seem to forget about those.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Face it Tiger...

So I have already talked about how great the new Spider-man cartoon is, and it just got better. During this weeks episode, Peter tries to get Betty Brant to go to the fall formal, but Aunt May ends up kind of putting a stop to it...evil Aunt May :-). Anyway...she does it so that Peter would go with M.J. Now in the comics, her introduction is legendary...the classic "Face it tiger...you just hit the jackpot."
Classic. So fast forward to 2008 and we see Peter answer the door when she knocks. Now I am sure every Spidey fan was hoping for it and we got it.The classic hand on the hip pose, Peter's mouth wide open, and the line was delivered perfectly. I can't wait to see where this series goes. Plus the addition of Tombstone, who is NOT the Big Man, Green Goblin next episode and do the writers have the guts to kill off Gwen like in the comcis? I doubt it, but still looks like fun.

Spotlight: Megadeth ...getting better with age?

So I left off part one with Megadeth releasing TWNAH, which was a strong return to form. It has classic thrashers like Return to Hangar, Recipe for Hate...Warhorse, and Dread and the Fugitive Mind. It had more melodic songs like Disconnect and Motopycho. The guitar solos were great and for me it was their best album since Cryptic Writings...not saying much though since Risk was the only album in between, but I thought CW was better than Youth.

After the tour for TWNAH, Dave injured his arm in a freak injury and disbanded Megadeth. It was quiet for a couple of years and then rumors of Dave starting a solo career or reforming Megadeth started showing up. But Dave's long time bass player (only original member) was let go and a little war of words started up. In the meantime, Dave wrote some songs for his solo album, but released it as a Megadeth album (The System Has Failed) because of contract issues. TSHF took off where TWNAH was going. It was thrashier with the first 3 tracks setting the pace (Blackmail the Universe, Kick the Chair, Die Dead Enough). Die Dead Enough was the melodic rock/thrash song like Disconnect except a bit faster with a catchier chorus. Songs like Back in the Day and The Scorpion helped put this album up their for metal albums of the year. Fans were starting to come around to the fact that Megadeth was back. Plus the fact Vic was back on the cover in his class poses with the government...sort of like R.I.P.

During the recording of TSHF, Dave used session musicians and Chris Poland (from the 1st 2 Megadeth albums) to play on the album. So he went out and hired some regular members and hit the road again. After the tour he almost disbanded Megadeth a second time, but decided against it and recorded their latest United Abominations. A classic slam at political views namely the U.N. (obviously).
BTW, check out that cool cover...very reminiscent of Peace Sells. UA has the same kind of tracks like TWNAH and TSHF, thrash songs and some melodic songs. I have to say that the last 3 Megadeth albums are the best 3 in a row albums since SFSGSW, R.I.P., and CtE. Here is my ultimate playlist for the albums.

1. Disconnect (from The World Needs a Hero)
2. The World Needs a Hero (from The World Needs a Hero)
3. Motopycho (from The World Needs a Hero)
4. Recipe for Hate...Warhorse (from The World Needs a Hero)
5. Dread and the Fugitive Mind (from The World Needs a Hero)
6. Return to Hangar (from The World Needs a Hero)
7. When (from The World Needs a Hero)
8. Kill the King (from Capitol Punishment [1st greatest hits] recorded during TWNAH sessions)
9. Blackmail the Universe (from The System has Failed)
10. Die Dead Enough (from The System has Failed)
11. Kick the Chair (from The System has Failed)
12. The Scorpion (from The System has Failed)
13. Sleepwalker (from United Abominations)
14. Washington is Next! (from United Abominations)
15. United Abominations (from United Abominations)
16. You're Dead (from United Abominations)
17. Burnt Ice (from United Abominations)


A little heavy on the TWNAH era, but the guitar work is top notch on that album.

I will post the weekly playlist later.
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Now playing: Megadeth - Sleepwalker
via FoxyTunes

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: The Spectacular Spider-Man

ok so I really thought this was going to be a Venting the Anger post after I saw the artwork for new Spider-Man cartoon, but surprisingly it's not that bad. In fact, it could be the beginning of a classic comic/cartoon like the DC Animated Universe.
The artwork reminded me of some kind of Fisher Price Pre-school toy...especially when I saw the goatee thing of JJ's chin. But then I saw the next set.
Two things popped out at me 1) Gwen Stacy who was all but forgotten about on the previous Spider-Man cartoon and 2) webs under the arms on Spidey's suit. Those two things told me that we were looking at a show that knew what they were doing. The other plus is seeing a super skinny Spider-Man...it just works for me.

So I am watching the first episode which introduced the Vulture and it was pretty good. More classic comic elements were added...like The Enforcers and Betty Brant. See back in the day before M.J. was Peter's lady, he was looking at Gwen Stacy and Betty Brant. In fact he didn't want to meet M.J. because he thought she would be ugly and no fun...something that is carried into the cartoon.

The writing is pretty solid. The smart-ass, wise cracking Spidey is present in this show and the delivery works better than the last Spider-Man cartoon again. I also like the inclusion of Flash Thompson as a bully at school. Oh yeah they made Peter Parker a junior in high school...which is about right. Old comic fans should love this show The Enforcers, Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Rhino, and the Lizard are the villains which are shown in the first few episodes. Nice to see a show build a little instead of jumping into Venom and Carnage right away.

I know that Venom will be introduce because Eddie Brock is a re-occuring character (different from the comic) and they show Spidey in the black suit in the opening credits.

Let's wrap it up:
Pros: good writing, starting from the beginning without losing important characters (I'm looking at you Gwen Stacy & Betty Brant), smart ass Spidey, webbed arms, classic villains.

Cons: JJ has a goatee thing, Eddie Brock is a nice guy and Peter's friend totally different from the comics, and it looks like the Black Suit isn't going to be the classic suit, but more in line with the movie version.
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Now playing: Megadeth - Hangar 18
via FoxyTunes

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Battlestar Galactica Season Premiere

Just finished watching the season premiere of the final season of BSG and it was worth the year plus wait. The only downside is that I have to wait another week to see how it goes.

Memorable moments and questions:
- Apollo turning down Adama's offer to return to the fleet.
- Starbuck returning
- Good Six telling the President the final 5 are close
- Tigh and the other's fighting of their new found cylon identities
- The Raider scanning Sam's eyes and realizing he's a cylon...classic

All in all pretty solid. I can't complain because it has been over a year since I saw a new episode. Should be a good season...more later.

Thoughts Without Words: baby #2 almost here

So as you know my wife is pregnant with our second child and she is getting closer to the due date. I am getting a little nervous, but at the same time excited. I know that our house is going to be turned upside down again when the little guy shows up. My classes are guessing on the due dates which is kind of fun for them. Keep my wife and our family in your thoughts and prayers if you wouldn't mind. Thanks

Venting the Anger: Guitar Hero

Now this kind of goes along with Megadeth this week. Because you see the students come in and hear Megadeth and the first thing they say is play Hangar 18... which is on GH. Now I personally am glad to see them want to hear a great song like that, but that's all they want. I tried Rust in Peace...nope, Tornado of Souls...nope,She-Wolf...nope, Return to Hanger...nope, Recipe for Hate...nope, Kick the Chair...nope, Burnt Ice...nope. It didn't matter what solo or song I played they wanted Hangar 18.

I guess what upsets me is that they hear that song everytime they play the game...why not try something else?

What can brown do for you? April Fool's Edition

Now I am going to go a little out of order for this story. Actually, I could probably up an entire page talking about all the jokes that we pulled on each other throughout my 5 years there. Whether it be the silly string in the sort aisle, taking a picture of someone's rear end and putting in our full timer's briefcase, hiding from our full timer in the building, or pretending to be someone else over the radio. It didn't need to be April Fool's Day to joke around.

Today I will focus on a great practical joke though. Trevor and I were logging out in the office ( the full timers office) one day when he told me about this function on Windows called "filter keys". He told me when you turn it on the person typiing has to hold down a letter for about 3-4 seconds before something shows up on the screen. Now all of our full timers would come in from the day and work on their reports and emails...so typing fast was a necessity. I laughed and thought this was a great idea.

So we turned on the filter key function on every computer there. About 2 minutes after we finished Tom came in and started typing. Now full timers are notorious for not looking at the screen while they type. So Tom is typing away for about 30-45 seconds when he looks up and doesn't see one letter on the screen. Trevor and I wwere trying so hard not to laugh at him. So we did small tlak. Tom looked at us and asked what was wrong with the computer. We played dumb. He checked all the cables and made sure it was the right keyboard. About that time Trevor and I were just about to burst with laughter so we got up and left.

So the next day we told Tom it was us and he got pissed. Telling us in classic Tom fashion that it was sabotage and we should be fired. We laughed it off and he eventually told us how everyone was freaked and they called tech support and they thought the entire office had a virus. After work when we were logging out we did it again, but this time on to Marie's computer.

That's what I miss about UPS, the joking around part. Sure the work had it's difficult and challenging moments, but for me it was about enjoying your job and having fun.