Requiem: Spatula

O! Dollar Store Spatula! How perfect you were! This was a replacement spatula for a similar one I picked up in college, lo those many years ago. That one met a similar fate, and I loudly mourned its passing. This one showed up in my Christmas stocking a few weeks later, my mother having heard a lot of the trials of spatula-less life. Which are many. Trying to flip fried eggs, spatula-less? Very difficult.

I was amazed that the new one was exactly like the one that came before it. “Where ever did you manage to find it?” I asked, temporarily forgetting the standardized modern manufacturing and distribution process.

“I got it at the dollar store.” my mother replied, shaking me back into the present. Of course there is more than one basic plastic spatula.

This one met its end when I was banging it against the sink trying to remove collard greens. It just split in two. Adieu, good friend and trusty helper.

Three sentence movie reviews–City of Angels


I only made it through about 1/3 of this movie so here is my truncated review:

While watching this incredibly slow movie from 1998 all I could think was, “Man, remember how big the obsession with angels was in the 1990s? What ever happened to that?”

Bechdel review: Two women. Nope.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1998/city_of_angels.html

Your Bank Americard welcome here.

This is an iconic store downtown, straight out of 1953. I’m sure every tourist and plenty of locals have a picture of it. This time when I was walking by, the BankAmericard sign caught my eye. I can see someone accidentally time traveling here from 1968 and feeling relieved to see the sign. “My BankAmerica card is welcome here? What a relief!” I’m not sure a card of the same vintage as the sign would be accepted, but, you never know. I mean, did they have the magnetic strip then? I think not. And would our time-traveler benefit from the purchase of Western Wear? I’ll leave it to you to decide.

Three sentence movie reviews–Revolutionary Road.

Sometimes, it makes all the difference who you watch the movie with. With me in the theater were two women who found a lot of this movie funny and laughed accordingly. I wouldn’t have noticed if I was watching it by myself, but the things they were laughing at were funny, even in this grim, depressing, well-acted movie.

Bechdel rating: Two women. Yep. Who talk to each other. Yep. About something besides a man. Not really.

A message from Future Patricia

Hello,

Future Patricia here. And let me tell you, April 26 looks a lot different than March 16. The weather is a bit warmer, for one. And the clover is over a foot tall, rather than just two or three inches. But enough about that. I’ve traveled here from the future, because I am dedicated to keeping my blog posts in order. And I realize I’m terribly behind. But that doesn’t mean there are not posts coming. They will be posted, eventually. In the meantime, I want to tell you about a discussion group I am starting that Current Patricia hadn’t thought up on March 16. It is a discussion group for the book Your Money or Your Life. And it is online, so you, Out & About fan, could join us, even if you don’t live anywhere near Portland. Are you interested? Read on. I’ll copy and paste the information that Future Patricia sent out to people.

In the meantime, keep in mind the weather is improving. And the blog posts will be posted, eventually.

Love,
Future Patricia

Hello blogging friends,

I’ve recently picked up the book Your Money or Your Life again. I read and followed its practices in the early part of this decade and lately, I’ve been feeling the pull to return to its lessons. I thought it would be fun (and more motivating) to invite others along so I’m starting a study group.

Apologies to those of you who previously received an email about this topic. Due to the pace of modern life/work schedules/pregnancy/”the economy” etc. it turns out that meeting in person for a discussion group doesn’t work very well. So I have re-jiggered the discussion group to be online. So perhaps you couldn’t participate before in person, but now you can virtually.

As a member of the study group you will read a chapter of the book per week, post to the newly created Y$YL blog (http://PDXYMYL.blogspot.com) and do your best to “do” one of the nine steps as best you can. Some of them are more involved than others.

You can see a discussion course outline by going to http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dj9fzf2_54fdr8zqvw

(That link is iffy, let me know if you need me to send the outline to you.) Our first discussion is May 15, so that gives you time to get the book and post an introduction.

More about the book:

Read the customer reviews of Your Money or Your Life at Amazon.com and the common theme you will hear is–“it changed my life!” Lots of authors aim to change people’s lives with their books. How many pull it off? Your Money or Your Life pulled it off because it revealed the connection between solving money problems and solving work problems. Looking back, one is tempted to say that the insight should long have been obvious to all. The reality is, it wasn’t. Your Money or Your Life has been a global bestseller for 13 years because it got to the root of the money management project and said something about it that had never been said before–the best reason to save is not to escape work but to free yourself to do a different kind of work.

(http://www.passionsaving.com/your–money–or–your–life.html)

If you are interested, or have questions, please email me to RSVP. stenaros [at] gmail.com

If you aren’t interested, but know someone who might be, feel free to forward this.

Patricia

UPDATE!

The math test went well. I was pleased with the amount of studying I did. I’m not sure how they will score the three constructed response questions that are worth 33%. I worry that I should have been more wordy in my answers. But I knew how do all of them, with the exception of one part of one question. This has not been the case in the practice sessions.

I finished all of the 40 multiple choice questions. If a question was confusing to me, I skipped it to go back later and do it. I was not sure I would finish every question and I wanted to do the easier ones I had more chances of getting right first. When I got to the end, there were only eight that I didn’t do the first time around. Of those eight, seven I fiddled with and came up with an answer that seemed like a good guess. The remaining one, I had no idea and I went with “C”.

I thought I developed a particularly good time management strategy. I spent 5 minutes reading over the test at the beginning. That calmed my fears a lot as everything looked familiar. Then I spent 10 minutes on the first constructed response and 15 minutes on multiple choice. I alternated those until I had finished the constructed response. When there were 30 minutes remaining, I took a look at where I was and strategized. I think this back and forth effort helped me not only finish everything, but also not worry that I was going to run out of time before I had even attempted large sections of the test.

The other thing that was nice was that almost every time when I came up with an answer it was one of the choices on the multiple choice. When I was studying I would often puzzle my way through a problem only to find that my answer wasn’t there. It was a bit defeating. This time, even if I figured wrong, I was at least validated by the answer being present.

So overall, I think I did well. I’m not sure it is enough to pass, but even if it isn’t I have now taken the test and know what to expect if I take it again next time.

I came home, and alternately napped and read Dennis Lehane’s new book which is very, very good.

I am caught up!

One plus of being extra busy with normal life is that it is so routine that there is not much to blog about. That, plus the fact I’ve been avoiding studying for the test in the mornings, means that I am caught up on this blog for the first time since June 2008! That’s right. If you are reading this on Friday, March 13, that would be the same day in which I typed this! So exciting.

I’m aware that this blog is in its “In & Inactive” state again. That is partially because I forgot to bring my camera when I went to Sunriver last weekend with the staff of my school. There would have been pictures from that, but alas. Hopefully with the coming of spring (and spring break!) there will be more pictures.

So I take the big Praxis test tomorrow. 10:45. Wish me luck. I’m hoping to not have to take it again.

Math teacher report 3/13

I’m warning you right now, this will be a “didn’t really do it” sort of post. I’m really tired and my mental energy is going toward the test on Saturday and my final project for my class. Both of those are things that are essential for me becoming a math teacher, so it isn’t like I’m not doing anything.

Finish that message thing
Not done yet. I think I need to find three or so teachers to give me advice and then send them some version to see what they like best.

Look at three potential volunteer tutor jobs
I didn’t even remember that I made this goal.

Contact five people about informational interviewing
Hah!

Write two blog posts.
I wrote one. I have another one burbling in my brain. I have some ideas for a series.

I’ll revisit the math teacher goals during/after spring break. The start of the quarter is a good time for me to integrate new things in my life.

Weekly report: becoming a math teacher

Here is my 2/26/09 weekly report of how I’m doing with my job search.

message crafted?
I made some notes about what I wanted in my message. They are the following.

  • teach math/explore math/learn math. This is for what I want to teach. “Teach math” is the most succinct, but I’m wondering if it would be better to say something like “I want to help students learn/understand math…” Explore? Maybe not. It might be a little too touchy-feely.
  • struggling mathematicians. This is what I was/am and who I want specifically to work with students who have trouble making math connections. I believe that my past history with math will help me find more ways to help students understand concepts.
  • organization/goal setting. Something I rock at is organization, anyone who has worked with me will tell you that. I believe that being organized isn’t something you are born with, but something you learn. All my students will master steps to become organized learners. I would like to incorporate goal setting into my curriculum. By setting and monitoring weekly and monthly goals, students will not only have a greater understanding of what reasonable goals are and the steps to meet them, they will also use their goals to master math concepts.
  • different ways to solve problems
  • cross curriculum
  • students will learn: math, organization, goal setting.

…Picking up on 3/7. And I ran out of time and had to go to work. So I didn’t set goals for this last week. It was a busy week and not a lot happened in the realm of future math teacher Patricia. So I will finish reporting what happened and then make new goals.

student teaching started?
This was much easier than I thought. I asked my boss if she would mind if I observed math class, and taught a unit or two. She thought that was a fine idea. Then I just had to ask the 4/5 teachers. I caught both of them in the kitchen on a short break. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: “For my math thing, I don’t technically have to student teach…”
Julie: “Yes”
Jo: “I get her.”
(They argue)
Me: “I haven’t even finished what I was going to say!”
So I am currently observing Julie’s Math class two days per week and will teach a unit sometime in the near future. So far I’ve observed I need to work on my mental math skills.

informational interviews begun?
Um, yeah, contacting 10 people was a bit much, especially given how much I don’t like to do informational interviews. I contacted no people and stewed about the issue and finally decided to order What Color is Your Parachute from the library. I did that and read the chapter on informational interviewing and now that I have done that, I guess I have to move in that direction. Sigh.

blog posts kicked up?
I did three blog posts that first week and have done none since.

Goals for 3/12:

  • finish that message thing
  • look at three potential volunteer tutor jobs
  • contact five people about informational interviewing
  • write two blog posts.