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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Another contribution to the retirement plan

Just wanted to report: Last night our intrepid team of four stalwart trivia nerds (Hoop Dreams) narrowly captured the Wednesday night competition - beating out a perennial winner (who were playing under an assumed name - very sneaky!) by just ONE point. Won a $50 gift certificate to the place - so our next time should be just about free!


Couple of questions - how well would you do? I'll post the answers sometime over the weekend.

1. The advertising award the Clio is named after which Muse in Greek mythology?

2. What waterfall is on the Zambezi River?

3. In what year was Labor Day instituted? 1884, 1894, 1904, 1914

4. What is the only state in the Union that is growing in physical area?

5. What is the largest city (in terms of population) on the Mississippi River?

6. What are the two ingredients in a Rusty Nail cocktail?

7. Who wrote "The Leatherstocking Tales"?

8. What was Bermuda called before it was called Bermuda?

9. What baseball team was the first to put identifying numbers on the backs of their uniforms?

10. How many states joined the United States in the 20th century? Can you name them?

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Just so you know...

The last post was actually written on August 30. I had taken a draft I wrote ten days ago and erased it and replaced it with what I wrote on August 30, but the date remained the same. Didn't want you to think we start school THAT early!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

We're B-B-A-A-C-C-K-K!!!!!

Just when I was getting used to sleeping in, it's time to get up at 5:30 again.

School started this week. I have some really nice classes; we've been working on grammar and it seems like MOST students have the basics nailed. I'm giving a quiz tomorrow, so we'll see if they REALLY know it.

After the four-day weekend, we get into the real fun stuff. I handed out books on Monday, and I told the students to start reading on their own. I expect them to have read the whole book by a certain date; then we'll go back and do CLOSE reading for language and style. This is different for a lot of kids - but it's necessary to get ready for 12th grade and college.

Just re-read Elizabeth Bishop's eponymous poem "Sestina." What a fun form! It will be fun to get into more cool poetry and prose as we get acclimated to the AP format. Also, we'll start talking about a remarkable novel by Toni Morrison - Beloved. The students were to have read this over the summer and be prepared to write about it. My Multicultural Lit kids start with a couple of essays and short stories, then we get into Frederick Douglass's biography. And the Literature of Peace and Conflict class starts with some excerpts from The Iliad, the Bible, Shakespeare, the Song of Roland, and a few other classic treatments of war (when it was glorious). Then we jump into The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane's Civil War novel.

So, the party is started. Wish us well.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Just shut up, already!

I had to jinx it.

Utley lost his streak mere days after I waxed semi-poetic about it.

I still believe, though.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Back on the Bandwagon

Well, we had the fire sale (Bell, Abreu, Lidle, Fasano, Cormier) and the Phillies brass has run up the white flag. We're retooling for ... wait, wait ... 2008?

Nobody, apparently told some of the players. Cole Hamels has two 12 strikeout games out of his last three, Ryan Howard is still crushing the ball, Chris Coste is bucking for a remake of "The Rookie"... let me see, anything else?

Oh, right, the (shhhh!!!) hitting streak.

I just want to go on record as saying I loved Chase Utley BEFORE this started. And so what if he doesn't want to talk about it to the press? If the press doesn't understand why he is reluctant to talk about it, then they don't really get it, do they?

I can take pleasure in the successes of the young guys - the aforementioned Howard, Hamels, and Utley, and guys like Aaron Rowand, Shane Victorino, and David Delucci, as well as Coste, who are hungry for success. Jimmy Rollins is still a great shortstop and a good force in the club house. Brett Myers has been pitching well and let's just let him and his family deal with the other thing, shall we? Don't know about Abraham Nunez, but he's been doing okay at third. As for Pat Burrell - I'm not ready to write him off, as so many others are. When he's hot, he's on fire. If he could healthy and be a less slow (notice I didn't say FASTER) he could be a factor. I think Mike Lieberthal has had a nice run, but he's done, as is Jon Lieber. The bullpen has shown flashes of greatness but also some apocalyptic moments.

But now we are actually kind of still in the hunt for the wild card. Jeez, can I really do this again? Talk about a roller coaster.

I love baseball - watching it, talking about it, thinking about it. I don't understand people who find it boring.