Filling my brain with knowledge... or something like it

Hmm... This week is week 5 of the two classes I'm taking.

I haven't posted anything in nearly a month.

... Yeah, that pretty much lines up.

So, what have I been doing, you ask? Attending classes, doing homework, and working, mostly. The class with homework is a class on ArcGIS, which will hopefully allow me to progress further in the mapping field beyond CAD-lackey. The class itself has been... well... as a teacher, I feel I could probably give the guy a few pointers. The first couple of class sessions, he just quickly reviewed what we had done for homework, so we wound up getting out pretty early. The third class, however, he realized that he was well into a condensed class and should probably teach us something, so we wound up staying until 10 pm (not expecting to stay that late, I had to quickly walk over to the parking structure at the break and buy another couple hours of parking). Since then, the class has mostly been Death By PowerPoint, though he will occasionally break out the program and actually demonstrate what he is talking about.

The other class I've been taking is a childbirth class. We decided to try the Bradley method, as I had heard several recommendations and am far too self-aware to be able to do Lamaze without laughing. The reality is, for a class that is supposed to be about better childbirth through information, there is a surprisingly large amount of questionable "information" and unverified superstition. So far, it's been about half good information and half voodoo.

A number of things seem to be done right for the wrong reasons, or not explained at all. The Brewer Pregnancy Diet is advocated, though they don't really explain why other than the fact that you need more protein. However, given that protein deficiency is not an issue in the U.S. (far, far from it), I wanted to know why they were so obsessed with protein. As it turns out, it may help prevent preeclampsia, something that I'm definitely in favor of. The teacher also has this obsession with egg. Again, why? My research revealed that Dr. Brewer developed this diet to help poor women in the south, for whom eggs and dairy products were the only affordable protein.

Still, the class hasn't been all bad. We have gotten some useful information, particularly now that we've gotten down to the meat of issues. It has lead us to do a lot of research on our own. Still, from the way some of the people in the class (and the instructor) act, you'd think doctors were never trying to do the best thing for their patients.

Happy New Year!

For my grand return after my blog-cation, I'll be doing a meme. Very classy, I know. Blame Alyndabear for finding one that is well suited to year-end reflection.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I think getting married probably takes the cake on this one, but I also went to Disneyworld (which was my first time in the eastern half of the U.S.).

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I resolved to try a new recipe a week, eat a greater quantity and variety of vegetables, continue to post (on average) every other day, and eat fast food less often. I kept these resolutions for the first half of the year, but I really fell off the wagon towards the end. I don't think I'll be making any resolutions for this year. Would resolving to get pregnant count?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sister in-law gave birth to my second nephew on November 4th.

4. Did anyone close to you die? R's uncle recently passed away. Sadly, I never got to meet him.

5. What countries did you visit? None, though I did get to travel down to the nation's wang for the first time.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A baby.

What? That so counts.

Okay, I'd also like dog. And a bigger garden. More tomatoes. More time to read. And no major injuries.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 9th (got married), November 4th (new nephew)... I think that's it. The last day of teaching was also pretty memorable (such relief!), but I don't remember the exact date.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Master's degree.

9. What was your biggest failure? My inability to keep teaching. Sure, this was a voluntary failure, but it still makes me feel like a quitter.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Why yes, I certainly did. (The scar has flattened enough that I can shave over it, thank goodness.)

11. What was the best thing you bought? We bought a new power source for my computer shortly before my old one died. The timing was excellent, and my computer was only out of commission for a couple of hours.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My sister. She went back to school to finish her degree and, thanks to lots of hard work, got three As and one B this past semester. Good job, Wee-est One!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My mom, but we really don't need to get into it.

14. Where did most of your money go? The wedding. So expensive! I did also manage to pay back a good chunk of my student loans.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Disneyworld! We were looking forward to the trip all year.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Probably any song we played at the wedding.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
(a) Happier or Sadder? Happier. Less stressed, for sure.
(b) Thinner or Fatter? About the same.
(c) Richer or Poorer? A little richer, and with fewer crazy expenditures on the horizon.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Gardening. I know I did a lot, but I still wanted more veggies.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Freaking out about things outside my control.

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2008? Hanging out with my family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? I was already in love. :)

22. How many one-night stands? Nil.

23. What was your favorite TV program? The Venture Brothers.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I can't really think of anyone I actually hate.

25. What was the best book you read? Making Money (hilarious and strangely topical), Me & My Brothers (I'm a dork, but it's still funny).

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Taylor Swift's new album.

27. What did you want and get? I wanted a job, and I got one. Yay for income!

28. What did you want and not get? I really would have liked to get pregnant.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I think the only film we saw was The Dark Night. We're really looking forward to Watchmen.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 24, but I don't actually remember what we did. Something, but it was apparently overshadowed by the wedding.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Babies. I think I might be a bit redundant here.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Jeans & T-shirts, work clothing (for the first time in my life), not wearing hoodie sweatshirts as much.

33. What kept you sane? The knowledge that the school year would end.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Honestly, I can barely even name a public figure, much the less fancy one.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Prop. 8.

36. Who did you miss? I miss my intern teacher crew. We all used to sit around a few tables and prep. We had a lot of fun.

37. Who was the best new person you met? R's cousins were pretty nice, the people I work with are interesting, but I haven't really made any new friends this year. Luckily, the ones I have are pretty cool.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Planning makes life better. Also, no one notices the little things at weddings, so it is best not to freak out.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. “You think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked" Blame It On Me, by Barenaked Ladies. It probably isn't the best representation of the year, but it was the song lyric that R and I kept passing back and forth to each other.

40. What are your resolutions for 2009? Babies! Also, to find a nice new place to live. Keep exercising, cooking, and gardening. Finish the blasted thank you notes from the wedding.

Three pieces in the shape of a grapefruit

I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to finish my book, so Thursday before my computer class I was left sitting in the car with nothing to do. I wandered across the parking lot to the grocery store, where I saw the most perfect looking grapefruits. They were fat, blushed with pink, and a little soft. I bought two, sat in the car slowly eating one. Due to the statins, it had been about six years since I last ate a grapefruit, and this one was as delicious, juicy, and wonderful as I had been fantasizing it would be.


We decided to play Frisbee golf this morning. The kid in the group behind us was clearly playing his first game, and was very impressed by some of R's drives. He decided R was the Happy Gilmore of Frisbee golf, and started pestering him to make a Happy Gilmore parody movie involving Frisbee golf. Thankfully, he left about midway through the round.


R's mom recently came back from Ireland. As is the case when she visits her homeland, she brings back goodies that can't be easily found in the U.S., usually Tayto crisps and assorted Cadbury candies. During the course of the evening, crisp sandwiches came up as a topic of conversation. R and his family reminisced fondly, while I expressed my disbelief. I clearly am missing something.

Falling off the blog wagon

It is probably a good thing I already failed NaBloPoMo on my own, as otherwise the World of Warcraft expansion would have done it for me this past week. All my spare moments are spent running around a beautiful alpine environment.

The blogging also wasn't helped by the exhaustion I keep feeling in the evenings. Come 10 o'clock, I want to go to bed. Unfortunately, I've been going to an advanced AutoCAD class twice a week for the past three weeks and wind up getting home about 10 pm, which means that Monday and Wednesday are something of a wash. I've been learning all sorts of useful things, but it has been exhausting. It really gives me more respect for my parents, who both went back to school in the evenings to get they bachelor's degrees when my sister and I were little.

Recipe Review: Maya Gold Truffles

Back when I was little, prior to the familial rift, my family used to throw a joint birthday party for my grandfather (July 20), my mom (July 21), and me (July 26). We three chocoholics would have a chocolate birthday cake with our combined age on top. My mom would always maintain that I was turning 25, as she and my grandpa were never as old as the cake implied.

Though these communal birthdays are a thing of the past, something chocolaty seemed like the ideal gift to give my grandfather at tomorrow night's birthday/hooray-for-finishing-grad-school dinner.

Even though I was not very successful with the white chocolate saffron truffles, I decided Maya Gold truffles would be hard to mess up. Having learned my lesson from last time, I didn't boil the chocolate (only the cream), and the truffles firmed up quite nicely!

Unfortunately, my grocery store didn't have Maya Gold chocolate bars, so I had to make due with Spicy Maya. As these bars lack the hint of orange found in the original bars, I peeled a little bit of orange rind and let it infuse its flavor into the cream. Delicious! The only thing I would change would be the fact that I used unsweetened cocoa powder on the outside of the truffles and it is a little more bitter than I would like. Perhaps next time I'll mix in a little sugar. Still, I think my grandpa will love them.

Recipe Review: Thai Sticky Rice Mango

Back in June, while I was up in north county checking out of my school, I stopped by a Thai foods store in order to get a few specialty ingredients. I bought various curry pastes, a giant bottle of fish sauce, tom yum soup paste, and a bag of sweet rice to make this recipe.

Now, I'm a little slow getting around to things (so much other stuff to do) and this recipe requires an overnight soak for the rice, but I got my act together and made it today. The rice was so good that I wound up spoiling my appetite for dinner a spoonful at a time! So, I did what the recipesmith does and just had a delicious bowl of Thai sticky rice nectarine for dinner.

What? You were expecting some other fruit? Mango, perhaps? Well, that had been the plan, only the mango I had sitting above the fridge, though it smelled delicious, was brown and odd inside and clearly not fit for human consumption. I'm not very good at ripening mangoes at home. I always leave them for too long. Luckily the nectarines I picked from R's family's backyard on Sunday were also delicious with the sticky rice.

In other happy news, I had my last day of summer classes today and finished up the paper for my masters project. All I have left is to present it on Friday, and then I'm all done. I can't believe it!

Recipe Review: Peanut Sesame Noodles

Here I sit, alone, having spent the afternoon and evening working on the final paper for my masters program (and made decent progress, btw). R has been off on a day-long bachelor extravaganza for an acquaintance of ours who is getting married next weekend, leaving me a quiet house (so quiet) in which to work.

Also, much to my delight, I got to try out a recipe R would probably object to: peanut sesame noodles. Any sort of peanut-flavored dish just reminds him of peanut butter, though this one is so savory and delicious and filled with other flavors that the peanut flavor is not overwhelming. I've actually been tasting the leftover sauce all evening, it is so good. I can't wait to try it with soba noodles (I used somen, like in the picture, which was also delicious). Make this recipe!

Well, as long as you aren't allergic to peanuts.

And the final version

Digital story rough draft

I thought I'd share the rough draft of my digital story with you all. Please feel free to leave me suggestions or constructive criticism.

Gazing into my crystal ball

It's time to blog for school again. What fun!

Blog Response #3: What is your 2020 Education Vision?

Looking into the near future, I think the event that will have the most significant event on the whole compulsory education complex will be the retirement of the baby boomer teachers. Looking at the teachers I know from that generation, specifically my mom and step-mom, I can tell they are definitely excited at the prospect, no matter how much they love teaching.

After the baby boomers retire, schools find themselves missing a large chunk of their returning teachers. New teachers will come into the profession, much as they have, but continued high rates of attrition (made worse by the retirement of mentor teachers and school leaders) will lead to teacher shortages. I imagine that 2020 will probably be a turning point for education, though the field will go in one of two opposing directions.

The first direction, the ideal one, would be for schools to reduce teacher hours and institute formal mentoring programs. During an extra free period, novice teachers would meet with more experienced colleagues for advice, planning tips, and even (hopefully) to share materials. By giving teachers a little more time to plan, network, grade, and contact parents, attrition rates will decrease. School curricula will be refined, while at the same time becoming more inventive, thanks again to the increased planning time.

The second direction, the non-ideal but more probable one, is that the prerequisites for going into teaching will be lowered in an attempt to shovel more bodies into classrooms as fast as possible. The constant influx of new inexperienced teachers will hinder any attempt to institute school programs and policies, as participants will change from year to year. Staff development will also suffer, as many new teachers leave prior to or immediately after completing induction. In an attempt to counteract the inexperience of the majority of the teaching staff, more schools will adopt prescribed curricula, decreasing educational flexibility and experimentation.

Wow, that was depressing. Time for a gratuitous cat picture!


moar funny pictures

Digital story ideas

My next task for my technology class is to try out podcasting. In class we had the option of using iMovie for this activity, however some of us prefer to talk to ourselves in the privacy of our own homes. For those of you who, like myself, are not Mac people, Audacity also works pretty well for this purpose and is, conveniently, free.

Our assignment is to talk about our digital story ideas, the culmination of which will be appearing on TeacherTube later next month for your viewing pleasure. Here is what I have so far.

In a final aside, I never realized how much cool stuff is available for free on iTunes. The iTunes U section of the store is full of edifying podcasts and I have completely fallen in love with it. I spent my workout today listening to a lecture/interview about Islam and the West from Open University and have downloaded a whole series of podcasts to brush up on my Spanish.

Abusing my blog for fun and academic credit

Summer classes started today, and one part of the technology class I am taking is a requirement to blog. For those of us who already have blogs, we've been given the option of just using our pre-existing blogs. So, for your reading pleasure, here is my first course assignment.

EDS 204 Blog Response #1: Tell us about a classroom event this year that has an impact on your professional growth and/or vision.

Given that I knew since the beginning of the year that I didn't really want to teach as a career (and tend to dwell on the negative stories), I think I'm going to share a couple of positive stories.

The Tuesday of the last week of school, I decided to get a couple of last minute pictures to serve as "artifacts" to show that I was fulfilling the California Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs). For TPE 2, Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction, I decided to stage a photo of me talking to students. After snapping the photo, the student operating the camera exclaimed, "Damn, Miss A, you've got a big butt!" I gave her an odd look, at which point in time she started backtracking. "No, no. It's a good thing. I've got a big butt too!" As my class had been writing goodbye messages to me on the whiteboard, she followed up that comment by writing "I [heart] Miss A's big butt" on the blackboard.

I suppose this whole incident can simply be explained as a youthful attempt to extract one's foot from one's mouth, and in the process wedging it in deeper, but I've got an alternate (though unlikely) pet theory. My thought is perhaps the embrace of hip hop culture is actually doing some good in the body image circuit.



My other story is more of the heartwarming sort. One of my sixth grade advisory students received a number of awards at our end of the year ceremony. When we had adjourned out back to feast on watermelon, I went over to congratulate her. Our conversation went something like this:

Teacher A: Wow, that's quite a haul you've got there.

Student: Yeah.

Teacher A: How many did you get?

Student: I stopped counting after five, [leans closer] but I think I got eight.

Teacher A: Very nice.

Student: I guess hard work sure does pay off.

Teacher A: That it does.

Don't you just want to adopt her? She's awesome. All the teachers are betting she'll be valedictorian. I suppose there are a few good ones out there, after all.

Recipe Review: Applesauce

Alternately, this post could be titled "What I do with my evenings now that I don't have class."

Of course, this is just the first week without evening classes and also the last week of school, so I could just be feeling giddy. Anyway, I decided it was time to harvest some of the apples from my lovely apple tree and make applesauce. I love applesauce and I also hate to see things go to waste, even bird-pecked apples. Given that my garden appears to be feeding all of the local wildlife, it is really no surprise that the majority of the apples have a few divots taken out of them, if not large chunks.

The recipe I used was from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving I recently bought, along with some tools to keep me from dropping jars of jam into boiling water and scalding myself. I'll tell you now, the can lifter they have make canning much less frightening than it was when I was using my standard-issue tongs. I'm also glad the whole thing is no longer a two-man operation.

This is the first recipe I have tried out of this book, though I have bookmarked a few others. There are definitely some odd ones (the page opposite applesauce has a recipe for "strawberry smooch," whatever the hell that is), but it seems to have enough good recipes and tips to make it worth the money. Makes a darn tasty applesauce.

Applesauce
Adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about 4 quarts (I got 6, but I think I like a thinner applesauce)

• 12 lbs. apples, peeled (or not, if you're planning on using a food mill like I did), cored, quartered, treated to prevent browning, and drained
• water
• 3 c. granulated sugar (optional) (I wound up using 1 c. to take the edge off, as a few of the apples I picked were still a little green)
• 4 T lemon juice
• cinnamon (optional)

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.

2. In a large saucepan (more like a vat), combine apples with just enough water to keep them from sticking. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 5-20 minutes, until the apples are tender (time will depend on the variety of apple and their maturity). Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

3. Working in batches, transfer apples to a food mill or food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree until smooth. (After all the apples were out of the water, I reserved ~ 4 c. and poured the rest out.)

4. Return apple puree to saucepan. Add sugar, if using, and lemon juice; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking (you can also add some of the reserved apple-water to loosen things up). Maintain a gentle boil over low heat while filling jars.

5. Ladle hot applesauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot applesauce. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

A realization at Rubio's

My Tuesday night class, which focuses on inclusive educational practices and special education, has a student population composed of all the master's students in my program. This means that, possibly for the first time in the program, those of us getting our single-subject credential (and M.Ed.) are taking classes with those getting their multiple-subject credential (and M.Ed.) and the students getting their M.A. in ASL-English bilingual instruction (most of whom are deaf).

As I was waiting for my fish tacos to be made ($1 Tuesdays are the best), I noticed two of the deaf students signing to each other while standing in line. One got our her cell phone, one of those nice ones with the qwerty keyboards, and quickly typed up a message. Once they got to the cash register, she showed her phone to the cashier, who was able to take their order without a hassle.

I was really struck by the how much easier technology must make day to day interactions for those who sign. Perhaps more so than ever before, the world revolves around written conversation. People prefer to e-mail or text than to talk on the phone, so who cares if someone can't hear? (R and his family preferentially speak to each other over AIM, though lately Skype has been more popular in order to see the baby.) Obviously, I'm not speaking from experience here and in no way belittling deafness, but it does seem like things are getting better for those who are deaf. The world is online, and online is a world of text and images.

How to make a bottle biome

Aaaand we're back! PACT (due on the 14th) and wedding invitations (for some reason, I have to get them out this week, though I don't understand why I feel that way) conspired to wipe me off the face of the blogosphere, but now that they're basically out of the way I'm free to answer my fan mail.

Okay, so fan mail might be too big of a word, but I did get a request for instructions on making a bottle biome. Hope I'm not too late to be of help!

Step 1: Find 3 clear 2 L soda bottles (the green ones work, too, but not quite) and remove their labels. Cut bottle #1 near the top, after the point where the sides start to curve inward. Cut bottle #2 near the bottom, before the point at which the plastic changes density and becomes really hard to cut. Cut bottle #3 near the top, before the point at which the sides start to curve inward. You'll probably want to start the cuts on all of these with a razor, then continue with scissors.

Step 2: Bottle #1 is going to be your aquatic section, so if you want to take any measurements or mess around with it later you should cut a hole in the side. The easiest way to do this is to stick a small piece of lumber into the bottle and cut out a square of plastic using the razor blade, cutting against the wood so that you don't cut your hand off. Keep the piece of plastic and tape it in place, so that the compartment can remain sealed while you're not taking measurements.

Step 3: Using a decently thick nail (not those tiny ones from Ikea), hammer a hole into the cap of bottle #2 (you should probably take the cap off for this and hammer the nail into that piece of wood you used in step 2). Thread a pre-soaked piece of cotton string through this hole. This will serve as a wick, carrying water from the aquatic chamber into the terrestrial chamber, so you need to have enough string to reach the water below and still make a decent loop above. Using a thumbtack, poke some holes in the part of bottle #2 near the cap, so that water will be able to drain out of the terrestrial section (but not so far up that they will be open to the outside world. Put all the pieces together, fill with some dirt, water the soil, and let it drain prior to putting the whole thing together (if you don't, your water will be really funky).

Step 4: Put all the pieces together. Fill bottle #1 with water (dechlorinate if needed), and then add aquatic plants and fish. Place bottle #2 on top and tape the two together. Plant terrestrial plants and add any bugs or tiny animals you might like. Finally, cap with bottle #3 and tape the whole thing shut, forming a nice tight seal (packing tape is good for this). Place in a sunny spot and enjoy!

Disclaimer: This project involves a razor blade and a hammer. I take no responsibility for your actions or safety. If you cut yourself or smash your wee little fingers, it's your own damn fault.

The Growing Challenge #8: Repotting

I started this post last week, but was incredibly unproductive until today. Blogging? Meh. Work on PACT? A squidge. Those wedding invitations I meant to have addressed? No way.

The one thing I did manage last week was repotting my seedlings. In the beginning of the week, I was filled with a sense of urgency. I needed to move those plants! The roots were growing into the egg carton I was using to hold cocoa-fiber pouches, so I filled the containers I had at hand with dirt and moved the plantlings.

Unfortunately, the containers were in no way deep enough and I was left with a lingering fear for the long-term survival of the plants. I wasn't quite sure what to do, until I saw the bathroom cups that one of the other Growing Challenge members was using to start their seedlings and inspiration struck. Aha! I may not have tiny bathroom cups, but, being a recent college graduate, I do still have a large stash or red plastic cups. You know, the ones that just scream, "I'm drinking some horrible punch made with Popov or Everclear and am probably not of age." As it turns out, the aforementioned red cups are the perfect size for growing plants. What joy.

[shudder]

As a homework assignment, I had to watch Super Size Me. Now, I'm not a person who eats at McDonald's, but that was still a pretty disturbing movie, perhaps even more so because I sat down to watch it with a pint of Ben and Jerry's.

Procrastnating

I should be planning for school and working on homework, so of course I spent all yesterday entering recipes into TasteBook. I'm really enthralled with the idea of having a professional looking cookbook instead of a binder full of scraps of paper. I'm not sure if I should be sad that, after all this time, I only have 30 recipes that I like enough to make again. I suppose that doesn't include the little things that I can throw together and are too simple (or impromptu) to require a recipe, so I should be so hard on myself.

I'm such a joiner

Thanks to Heavy Petal, I've decided to join The Growing Challenge. Here is the challenge:

1. Grow one additional type of fruit or vegetable than you did last year, and grow it from seed.

2. Post about gardening once a week.

Although I haven't really grown anything from seed before (with the exception of rice during an activity in a social studies class), I've spent a lifetime drooling over seed catalogs. High time I tried it out myself!

In order to not go insane, I think I need to install a drip system. Luckily, I have two weeks off for spring break, so even though I will be spending some of my vacation up North visiting family and trying on a wedding dress, I should still have plenty of time to pimp out my garden. I'm so excited!

Showing my true color

Blond, that is. All week, I had been wondering why I was able to keep up with the readings for my classes so easily. "Gee, I swear there must be more than this. I'm already a week ahead," I said, totally forgetting about my other classes.