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got a text tonight from b during an earthquake, he is fine and was home for the shaking. apparently a 7.2 quake hit about 120 miles southeast of san diego and was felt all the way to LA and beyond. i wondered about earthquakes for the first time in a long time on this trip, i usually just ignore their potential when i visit california - doesn't everyone? but when we were on the 44th floor of a downtown hotel on thursday night, the thought of the recent quake near LA crossed my mind. since there is nothing you can do to predict or prevent them, you just have to live and love now. passing thoughts of "which is better, being on the top floor of this building or being in the elevator" fortunately remained passing thoughts thanks to overpriced drinks.

a very interesting moment on this trip happened on a day we went shopping in la jolla, a fancy foo-foo area (also has the beach where the seals have taken over). anyway, we went into a local bookstore and i saw the "meet the author" wall plastered with karl rove's fat face. he was appearing there for a book signing later that day. if there is anyone more evil than dick cheney, it's rove. stunned and giddy, i overheard pussyfaced white women buying the book and asking if he was going to read, "no, he'll just be signing books" was always met with "what a shame." i had heard about a woman who tried to perform a citizen's arrest on him for war crimes the day before in LA. i had trouble figuring out how i could get out of jail in time for my flight friday morning, so decided not to risk it. i was bound to teabag him if i stayed. plus he wasn't going to be there for another 2.5 hours after we arrived, and we were d-o-n-e shopping, all pissy and tired. i wanted to leave a steaming turd in every copy of his book on their shelves, but the best i could do were some skid marks n sprinkles.

my spring break was terrific. but it unraveled no epiphany about what to do about work next year. back to school tomorrow, ugh...

only 68 days until school is out. perhaps for good.

big gay shocker

I would be remiss if i forgot to mention the breathtaking news that entertainment "journalists" unveiled today -- wait for it -- Ricky Martin is... a queen. I know, I had to hear it twice before I could believe it, too. Never thought HE could be on the team. La Vida cocksucker es delicioso, no?

I don't patronize bunny rabbits

San Diego spring break 2010! A lazy smooth few days ahead. After a
delicious brunch, we hit the dog beach Monday. Later we met up with
b's cohorts for happy hour at Burbon Street. We wrapped up the good
times with scrumptious Mexican take out and watched "whip it" a
fabulous movie about roller derby.

Murphy's law brings better weather to MN than here for the next couple days, yet shitty San Diego weather is still pretty damn good. Oh, and on the flight out here, I watched Heathers -- been way too long since I saw that gem. Veronica, why are you pulling my dick?

teach the controversy

ugh. saturday with way too much to do. grading school work sucks, and so i distract myself with this amazing intraweb... spring break can not come soon enough. this girl's gonna go wild. or just spend a week doing as close to nothing as possible. i'm betting on the latter. i have yet to shake this ever-firmer mindset that this is my last year of teaching. i need to leave the classroom, the mounds of useless paperwork, incompetent overbearing yet uninvolved parents, and begin a job that actually stops when you're off the clock. this is a terrifying excitement.

one of the countless ways that education in the US is set up to fail is the process by which history is created in our textbooks. a small board of idiots in texas gets to decide what is american history. it always works out well...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Don't Mess With Textbooks
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

more fun for others avoiding their to-do lists; here is an infuriating entertaining video that demonstrates the incoherent stupidity of creationists.

please S the F up

got this forwarded email today. seems clever and benign to the palin teabaggers who are sharing it, but what it is really saying is the same tired bullshit argument -- teachers are worthless and our schools are failing, and our poor children will never realize the dream whitney houston had for them. after dealing with parents who exceed stupidity limits for 10 years, i can tell you, it's not the teachers. it's the unprepared, unskilled parents who are fucked, and who are destroying our future.

it seems like good old-fashioned "i made kids suck on a toilet brush" wisdom, but the punch line pokes the screwdriver in my ribs. janitors are the real saviors of our precious children; the rest are called teachers...

Subject: Teachers vs Educators
>
> **
> According to a news report, a certain private school in Brisbane was
> recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls

were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.

That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press

their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.
>
> Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next

day the girls would put them back.
>
> Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She

called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the

maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were

causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the

mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little

princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the

mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how

much effort was required.
>
> He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and
> cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
>
> There are teachers.... and then there are educators**

i do love a plate with lips

the past few weeks of stress at work dealing with especially insane and stupid parents make me wonder how much longer i can do this... but that thought is always followed by the realization that i have no idea what i would do next for work. walking away from good health care coverage and entering an unstable employment pool do not evoke excitement about this possibly new adventure. guess i need to start taking applications for a sugar daddy. if only my sugar wasn't a broke-ass grad student.

while traveling home for xmas, a stop in a gas station bathroom brought this amazing sight. remember when we proud americans hated france because they weren't behind our awesome idea to invade iraq? and the whole fuss about changing french fries to freedom fries in cafeterias? well, you can rest assured that our proud vending machine sex novelties remain true patriots (as if you ever doubted). made in china, the freedom tickler is sure to please those red-white-and-blue hoo-hoos. but as usual, hypocrisy lies behind the tickle, even the freedom is french...

unbelievably creamy jesus

can we please have a recession on stupid? you need to see this recent clip from the colbert report video.