I love the end of May

I work at a school. I work 12 months of the year. But I still look forward to the end of school. Most of the students and teachers are gone all summer for a little over two months. There's just a few summer schoolers and custodians around. I get a lot done in the summer.

(Un)concerned citizen

Very nice. Some truck driver takes a corner too fast and comes within a few feet of rolling on your car (Range Rover?). After such a near miss with grim reaper, what do you do first? Check on the driver of the truck with a shattered windshield that's laying on its side? No! Of course you see if your bumper needs replacing!

No Title Necessary

Eduardo Saverin, Singaporian Extraordinaire

AP Photo of Senator Charles Schumer

Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, has renounce his U.S. citizenship and is now a citizen of Singapore. Singapore has no capital gains tax. This move will potentially save Saverin several million dollars. The real news here, though, is Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) reaction to the move:

"This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong."

"This tax avoidance scheme is outrageous."

Bwahahahaha!!!!! I guess Saverin should have decided to become a Senator to avoid paying his fair share of taxes. Then he could have retired fat and happy on the government teat like Schumer himself! I think Chuck is just mad that he can't be a citizen of another country. He has the burden of having to help write clustered laws that raise taxes on everyone except elected officials while he votes himself pay raises.

It's worth the wait

Trust me on this one. I started to chop it down by nearly a minute and eliminate the car stopped for so long at the light. I didn't. The anticipation is well worth it.

I'm a slow reader . . .

. . . tell me something I don't already know.

Here's the test if you want to try for yourself:

Source: Staples eReader Department

My problems are insignificant

The hemoncology floor of Seattle Children's Hospital

West Virginia is my second favorite state

West Virginia is not the only state that has a direction in its name. There are two North's and two South's. But it's the only state that starts with West, and it's east of the Mississippi River. What a cool state!

Keith Judd for President

But the reason WV is my new second favorite state is because they gave this guy 41% of the vote in the Democratic Presidential primary election. How bad of a President do you have to be to lose a state to this guy. Actually, you don't have to be that bad of a President. You just have to not care about one of the states in the Union. While the President is flushing billions down the solar energy toilet of bankruptcy and developing policies making it illegal to burn coal. WV is the second largest coal producing state.

You have to love a country where a man in prison for extortion can run for President. And you have to love a state that would actually elect him over four more years of hope and change.

Josh Hamilton doing what Josh Hamilton do

Ridiculosity

According to MSNBC, Americans are overweight because of our high fat, high sugar environment. Furthermore, what's needed to fix the problem is a tax on soft drinks and government-built sidewalks, along with offering more healthy choices at fast-food restaurants. I guess two out of three isn't bad. I have a fourth suggestion: quit giving away health care. Force people to be live healthier lives instead of offering up free health care on which they can rely to unclog their arteries and insert lap-bands because their doctor says that's the only way they can eat less.

People in this country don't want to do what it takes to be skinny. Skinny and fat should not even be used when talking about how healthy a person is. I know overweight people who are healthy, and skinny people who are not. I know it's a pretty good indicator, but it's like saying people in church on Sunday will go to heaven and people who are not in church on Sunday won't. You have to know what's going on inside a person too, not just the surface stuff.

I have four sons. When they all were still living at home, they all ate the same food, in about the same quantity. Two are overweight, two and just about right. The one now who eats the most is also the skinniest. There's more to a person's weight than just what they eat. I'm pretty sure that among the things contributing to a fatter society are the Internet, computers, automobiles, wealth, mass-produced fruits and vegetables, and a lack of home-grown gardens. Think about people's lives before and after each of these developments.

I agree with MSNBC, obesity is an environmental problem. But it's a problem of each individual's environment and does not require a governmental fix.

Birth week at the Uncommon house

It seems to be birth week in the Uncommon household this week. My #3 son turned 16 and has a party planned for our barn out back on Saturday night. He's the green one on the right. I'm pretty sure he thinks the morph suit is appealing to the chicks. His Pawpaw is buying him a pickup for his 16th birthday. He also bought one for sons #1 and #2 on their 16th. He's a nice guy like that.

Our Uncommon dog, Bella, also had pups this week. 8 Boxer pups, all fawn with a black mask. If you're in the market for one, post a comment. Today is take-the-new-pups-to-the-vet-day. That means I get to leave work early, like now. And Monday is a bad-weather day at school that we didn't use last Winter, so 3.5 day weekend for me! Woo hoo!

Whistle while you work

I think I posted this for the sweet mustache as much as the whistle coming from under it. The two background musicians are fun to watch too.

Larry Bird doing what Larry Bird do

I could watch this video all day (especially if I turn down the sound, although it is appropriate for the era.) I know Bird was a great all-around player, but you just don't see much passing like this in the NBA any more. Pro basketball is now pretty much one isolation play after another. High school players who want to go from good to greatness, watch and learn. When all eyes are on you, pass the ball to where no one is watching. If all eyes are looking for your pass, go score.

Those crazy Googlers

Google is in the news for having these cars that drive around taking pictures also downloading data that's being blasted out of houses and businesses.

There's no way Google is invading anyone's privacy by taking pictures from the streets. These cars can be spotted literally a mile away. That camera rig along with the Google signage on the side of the car make it obvious that they're taking pictures for the Internet. Go search Google's site fr images of "street view" and you'll see lots of people staging crazy scenes in goofy costumes when the cars drive by. I don't think anyone even argues this point any more.

As for the privacy issues about capturing WiFi data, this is really a non-issue also. If your television is set up next to a window and you leave the window open, I can sit on the street and enjoy whatever you're watching. If you're blasting music out of your bedroom window, I can sit on the street and record a song. If you have a WiFi router in your house, learn enough to put a password on it so people on the street or next door won't read your email or see where you're browsing on the Web. No need for a Congressional probe. No need for state attorneys general to waist money on investigating.

Standardized testing humor

I know several teachers who will not think the references to "Jeans Days" are funny. It will hit a little too close to home.

Edit: Well that's a bummer. I'm guessing someone got their little feelings hurt because it was a clip from a movie about Hitler.

Occupy something

It's May 1 and I've heard on television, radio, and Internet news sources that the Occupy people are trying to stage some sort of "99%" protests. Here's some quotes from the Wall Street Journal's web site:

European Pressphoto Agency

• "The organizers see Tuesday's events as the opening of a new era for the anti-corporate movement" {apparently we should all have government jobs and stop working for corporations, because they prefer to make money, not print it.}
• "But organizers on Friday acknowledged the morning rains as an early obstacle." {These people must really believe in their cause, unless it rains. No cause is worth getting wet}
• "'We announce when pickets are leaving, when they're successful, when we need more people,' Mr. Egberts said." {So... apparently the protesters have no real connection to whomever they are picketing. They just really enjoy a good picket line.}
• "The picket signs included slogans like 'Education is a right not a commodity' and 'Expand minds not NYU's campus.'" {Nobody appreciates something they get for free, let's keep education as something you have to earn, not a right. And while we're at it, let's give the protesters this second one. Quit expanding campuses so we can learn in groups of 100 or more. I hate small classes.}

Let's try to keep our upside-down flag-flying to a minimum here. The article I quoted mentions protesting banks, universities, and broadcast corporations. Apparently all of the "organizers" just feel the need to believe in some sort of cause, and don't really care what that cause is. Let me make a few suggestions.

Maybe that good feeling you get when you've kidded yourself into believing that you've accomplished something could be replaced by the good feeling you get for helping people who need your help. Stop picketing and go feed some homeless people. Since you are picketing instead of working, chance are you'll need the same kind treatment some day. Instead of protesting a bank for foreclosing on people who bought houses too big for their paychecks, loan them the money to pay off their house. You paid $700 to fly from Hawaii to New York to join the protest, that money could have helped keep someone in their house for another month.