Whenever a relationship begins, there are a few things that people are so worried about that they tend not to be themselves. Breath, physical appearance, kissing, and even income will cause terror in the hearts of newly formed couples. Most of these fears are usually on the surface but there is one in particular that rarely, if ever, sees the light of day in polite conversation. Knowing me as many of you should by now, you must know that any topic which is considered rude or offensive I MUST talk about.

I am sure that this is really old news to many of you. However, I just became aware of this website on Friday during a gathering of friends.

Well, the Texas Legislature has reconvened this week and I am shuddering to think just how much more they can screw with the educational field. I am sure they are, in their muddling way, come up with more asinine ways to ensure that not only our kids and teachers are left behind, but the bus they should be on is scrapped in order to fund somebody's pork barrel. I know that I should have a bit more faith in the political process, but when it comes to this state, I am not convinced that they get it yet. 

There are times that being an educator has its benefits. For an example, when you are in line at the grocery store and a former student of yours comes up and thanks you profusely for being an inspiration, it makes up for the long hours and lack of gratitude by the general public. When you see one of your kids on the news that is being recognized by his/her community, it will bring a smile to your face. When you see them become professionals and grow up to be the man/woman you knew they could be, somehow you know that in one way or another, you had a part in it all. 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

For those of us who also have interest in tracking changes of time, I present to you GAS BUDDY. I dig these kind of websites because they give me tons of educational opportunities and lesson ideas. 

For those of us who are entertained by charts and graphs, I present to you GOOGLE.

When people look back at their career, it is normal to look at the good things as well as the difficult decisions. I have made several changes in my career path and every time that I made these changes, I took stock at what I have accomplished and whether or not I have done what I felt I needed to do. True, I have not strayed too far from the realm of education, but each change was difficult to make for I was leaving something behind. 

One of my fondest childhood pastimes has to be the board game. Before I was introduced to polyhedral dice and the dynamics of plotting dungeons on graph paper; there was the simple art of rolling a six-sided die (d6 for us geeks) and following a simple path from either one end of a board to another or sometimes in a complete circle. The rules were often not that complicated and the strategy was not to come in second place. Sure, the names and feel of each board game were different from another, but they all had the same basic plot; move your piece of plastic to the end and win. My favorites ranged from the classics such as Monopoly, Mouse Trap, Life, and Clue to the sorta prelude to the video games like Dark Tower. Our family could be often seen in the evenings doing such mischief like rolling an Yahtzee to delightfully telling each other "Sooooooorrry, back to start."

One of the fondest memories of high school biology was when we actually did the mind-boggling task of dissecting an earthworm. You see, frogs and pigs are pretty simple things to cut open and identify the parts. On an earthworm, not so much. I was thinking of this and remembering my Biology teacher informing us that earthworms were unique due to the fact that they had "both sets of goods." Now, as you can imagine, this news to a 13 year old is like the thing of fantasies. Now, as a grown adult, I can with great confidence say that it is better to have sex with someone else than one's own self. Also as an adult, I now have several thoughts about earthworms that I would like to share with the now ducking public...

To all that come to this place I want to wish you a happy new year and may this one bring all of your greatest dreams.