Changes are Unsettling

It's not appropriate for me to air dirty laundry here, but looking at my monthly montage calendar picture reminds me just how much has changed over a year. In almost every photo people are featured who are no longer with us--thank goodness not "gone" as in dead, just out of our lives.

My best friend and his wife are subject to the whim of the military, and now he's headed to Afghanistan and she's moved back to California. My boys' playmates are the children of a guy who's no longer with our niece/cousin. Now they don't get together any more. Another niece/cousin is on the Dark Side of the family right now, and I don't know when we'll see them at family functions for a while. *sigh*

Too much change, too much drama--it's all unsettling to me.

Camping

We've been getting back to nature a bit lately at the Jarvis farm. So far, our camping has been in the back yard, but we're working up to a lake some day. The first night, we camped too close to the house and highway. The yard light and air conditioner were interfering with my vibe. The next two nights, we camped out by our fire pit, which was much better. We have a chance to camp further yet from civilization, still on our land, about 300 yards on away from house and highway, back in the bush. I'm told this weekend ahead is National Backyard Camp Out Night, or something like that. I am looking forward to it!

The boys love it. I am always impressed with how some simple things, like story telling and baths, can make these kids revel in glee. I do mean glee, too. They get giddy when we camp out.

I hope we can practice a good deal this summer and then perhaps head to the Rockies to visit my aunt before things get too intense in the fall. My perfect trip would be to Colorado Springs, camping up/back and staying w/her one night--all around Labor day, so we might see the hot air balloon festival again.

Now if I can just train them all to help with set up and tear down.

More on "Internet Porn"

While I'm on the subject, here's an engaging tune by Paul and Storm:


Internet Porn

Back in the not-too-distant past
When I would need a quick repast
Or a temporary break from my agenda
Off to the bedroom I would head
Pull out the Playboy from ’neath the bed
And sneak a peek at all the portraits of pudenda

My alternatives were slim
If I tried to find another source for sin
I’d have to hang out with the weirdos in the back room of my local video store
But last month I finally made the call
I got a brand new cable modem installed
And it opened up the floodgates on a whole new universe of Internet porn

(Internet porn) Roman orgy scenes
(Internet porn) dominatrix queens
(Internet porn) girl on girl on girl on girl on girl on guy on sheep
(Internet porn) gross anatomy
(Internet porn) Pam and Tommy Lee
(Internet porn) when you’re given so much to choose from, who has time to sleep?

After my girlfriend goes to sleep
Then I get out of bed and down the hall I creep
So I can hunker down and wallow in depravity until 3:00 or 4:00
You’ll always find me in that same tableau
Silhouetted by my monitor’s warm glow
And absorbing all the bounty from the cornucopia of Internet porn

(Internet porn) barely legal teens
(Internet porn) naughty figurines
(Internet porn) geriatric German grandmas spanking Spanish men
(Internet porn) erotic Asian art
(Internet porn) guys with extra parts
(Internet porn) I don’t think I’m ever going to see the sun again

(Internet porn) melon-love.com
(Internet porn) there’s my neighbor’s mom
(Internet porn) bikers wearing diapers chasing nurses dressed like Smurfs
(Internet porn) Maison l’Esclavage
(Internet porn) un, deux, trois menage
(Internet porn) every kind of smut from every corner of the Earth

(You really should listen to the audio version of this, but I couldn't link it from here w/o copyright issues).

Heads up: porn schoolin' might work...

Want people to pay attention? This would be MUCH more likely to hold one's attention than a traditional research paper:



Now, MY body, while ample enough to write an encyclopedia upon, would not be a good medium for information. Maybe KelleMarie (the model in the film) might volunteer her time to reveal content tidbits for class....or maybe someone from class could volunteer? Why not combine the nude modeling/human body drawing class and, say, my composition or literature course?

Gee, for some reason, campus administrators never like my big ideas.

dejavaboom's Fotobabble

WHEW!
First it was bigger seats on airplanes, now this?

I was just shopping for toilets when we snapped this pic a couple years ago...strange way to spend the day--toilet shopping. Not a good first date project, I would not think.

Honestly, in this post, I'm just experimenting with a new link I was led to: fotobabble, which allows you to "journal" on your photos digitally. I don't know if these could be incorporated into an online scrapbook or not. Worth exploring, anyway.


dejavaboom's Fotobabble

For Sale

We're hosting a garage sale today/tomorrow. I often forget the feeling of letting go of little pieces of my life/past. I go to garage sales too often without regard for the feelings of those selling their things. I am just seeking a good deal.

Today, however, on the other side of the table, I'm blue. No good reason, god knows we have too terribly much stuff. We need a good purging. It's just that with every departing toy, book, knick knack...I feel a part of me goes with it. Maybe it's because of the way my brain is wired. It's like setting your laptop to minimum power usage settings. I tend not to remember much without a prompt, whether it's a picture, a journal entry, or some thing in hand. The rest of my brain is entertaining thousands of things, and the memories are all just on idle...but when I pick up the bull head salt shaker or the snoring goofy collectible, then lots of things come back to me.

I will try to be more respectful of others' goods when I frequent their sales next time. I will also remember how much stuff we have and resist all but the best of bargains.

Explore Calendars through the Ages

OMG, where has this tool been all my life. It's a free app. I can use for class content. It displays like I think, like my visual thesaurus!
Explore Calendars through the Ages

Tour del Soul

Wow, it's amazing how much one can pack into 24 hours if a little effort is made. We just returned from a whirlwind 24 hour family vacation. We visited with 'family' from our former work place and community, revisited the place we exchanged wedding vows, and toured 6 parks in that area for the kids. Listed like this it may not sound like much, but with 4 kids in tow, believe me, it was challenging (and expensive).

The tour was, however, priceless. We got to see people we've not touched base with in nearly 10 years. Sure, you can swap a clever witticism on Facebook now and then, but to break bread with friends, to introduce them to your family...well, it was a trip beyond words for my wife and I. Downright trippy!

I know it was good for the kids, too, for my eldest (7 years old) claimed it was the best day of his entire life.

Clickers

I want to make my ground classes more engaging and interactive. I hate lectures. I love games. My students have reported they enjoy our jeopardy games, so I think I'll continue that--but it's not enough (it's never enough with me).

Clickers are audience response tools. Watched America's Funniest Videos? The same tool used to vote on videos, or for that matter on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, are what I want. I tested some a decade ago and liked them then. You get real time feedback/engagement. Students are "quizzed" on screen, and their responses tabulated in real time. At that time, it was proprietary software and only did multiple choice questions. The modern versions look like keypads on cell phones (in fact they make some such software compatible with smart phones). It interacts w/most presentation software, etc.

Here's the link.

Oil slimes coast--I've had ENOUGH!

We used to work for Chevron/Texaco, Pennzoil, Merrit, Devon, and other oil companies. It felt like dirty work, not only because it was a middle-man job doing accounting (which I hate), but also because we were billing farmers outrageous sums of money for natural gas coming from their own land. Worst of all, I just felt all...oily...because I did not like working for those multi-billion dollar conglomerates.

I know, I know, before I get all high and mighty, I'd better reckon with the fact that petroleum is what makes the world go around, from my pickup to plastic, from my shoe soles to my lip balm.

That said, here's my bitch: The staggering wealth of the oil companies makes them get absolutely no sympathy from me. I would not give them a ten cent break on cleaning up this oil in the ocean. BP's quarterly earnings could likely more-than-cover the entire cost of the clean up:

"Integrated oil giant BP reported that it lost more than $3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from an $8 billion gain in the prior quarter and a $4.4 billion gain in the year-ago period. It was the company's first quarterly loss in more than seven years. For the year, BP's profit was $21.16 billion, up from $20.85 billion in 2007. " Source.

I would never give them a subsidy for anything, greedy bastards. Yet we do:

"Greenpeace believes Europeans spend about $10 billion or so (USD equivalent) annually to subsidize fossil fuels. By contrast, it thinks the American oil and gas industry might receive anywhere between $15 billion and $35 billion a year in subsidies from taxpayers." Source.

Yes, it makes me sick. It makes me angry. It also emphasizes how helpless I feel. I know there are mega-giant corporate powers profiteering from the war, from big oil, from our lifestyle decisions to drive so much solo and eat processed food stuffs so obsessively. Knowing has not made me feel any better about it.