The New Krispy Kreme Sandwich

A special thanks to Wyn and Iliana for finding this new sandwich.
Apparently it is a chicken sandwich with a jelly donut. I was all for this sandwich until I realized it was a jelly donut. I like jelly donuts but not with chicken. Had this been a regular Krispy Kreme donut I’d probably salute it as one of the greatest food inventions ever.
Sorry Wyn, you’re on your own on this one!…and the grilled brownies.

This Day In History
1995-Singer Selena was shot and killed by the leader of her fan club. Perhaps you’ve never heard of her but she was a big deal when I was in high school and when she died.
1995-Baseball players end their strike. This is the strike that canceled the 1994 World Series. For the record, the Reds were in first place at that time and also finished in first place in 1995. They went on to beat the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs and then were swept by the Braves (who eventually won the World Series).
Birthdays today include Congressman Barney Frank, hockey legend Gordie Howe, Christopher Walken, Rhea Perlman from Cheers and former Vice President Al Gore.

Nothing can be more gloomy than 2 days of rain!
I hate running in the rain too. Why do people crunch up their neck while running in the rain? What will happen if they get that tiny space of skin wet?

I’m beginning my day with a trip to the dentist. I hate the dentist! I mean, I don’t personally hate the guy…I hate what he does. And it’s not even this dentist’s fault. He happens to be very good. But the last dentist I went to was absolutely terrible. Hopefully I’ll be able to get in there and out as quickly and painlessly as possible. However, I think the amount of starburst jellybeans I’ve been eating over the past month might make that a challenge.

This Day In History
1981-President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. Thankfully, Reagan was able to recover. This lead to an example of Presidential succession. Even though Reagan did not die, George HW (Daddy) Bush temporarily ran the country. I was just a little over 2 months old at the time.
1867-Seward’s Folly-Secretary of State William Seward reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia. Many people thought it was a mistake. However, it definitely benefitted the US with the oil that was housed in Alaska. By the way, Alaska is one of the places on my list of travel destinations in the United States. It always looks so beautiful. It just might be too far away to become a reality.
1964-The game show Jeopardy premiered on NBC. I now watch the show religiously. It has a permanent home on my DVR. My least favorite topics are anything having to do with Shakespeare (overrated in my book) and art.
Birthdays today include Eric Clapton, Warren Beatty, comedian Paul Reiser, and MC Hammer. Beatty, by the way, was in one of my favorite movies…Dick Tracy. I feel that had the movie been made 10-15 years after it was it would have made millions and millions of dollars. The movie also included Dustin Hoffman, Madonna and Al Pacino.
It also would have been the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh. If I’m not mistaken, he was the artist that cut off his ear. How did he wear glasses after that? Perhaps he is the reason monacles were invented.

Wrestlemania Sunday was enjoyable yesterday. First of all, I ate way too many snacks. Lots of leftovers which is always good in my book.
The show itself wasn’t as good as I would have hoped, especially since I paid over 50 dollars for it. However, for 4 hours of entertainment, you can’t go wrong. I watched Wrestlemania 25 before the show and that was far and away better than last night’s show. However, the final 2 matches, John Cena vs. Batista and Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker, were worth every penny. Even at their ages, Michaels and The Undertaker are at the top of their games.

I also purchased the MLB Extra Innings package last night. My cable bill is going to be HUGE next month!

This Date In History
1999-Wayne Gretzky scored his final NHL goal
Birthdays today include Eric Idle from Monty Python (not my cup of tea, but there are many, many fans), Knicks legend and current announcer Walt Frazier, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. White House Press Secretary is one job I would not want. You have to be super-prepared for just about any question and you have to face the fire of the media for things you didn’t say or do. Basically, Gibbs is the shield for Obama.
It also would have been the birthday of Cy Young, Former President John Tyler and Sam Walton, the guy who brought us all of those Walmart Stores.
John Tyler has an interesting story. Tyler is the only President to end up joining the Confederacy. In fact, he was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. He died before he was able to actually join the congress. However, he was the only former President to not be officially mourned in Washington. I guess we could also consider him the only President to die outside of the United States…after all, he was in the Confederate states when he died. What’s your opinion on this?
Not the greatest of picture quality or sound, but you have to hear Paris Hilton’s take on Walmart.

Today is the annual Earth Hour…when for one hour people shut off all electric appliances. It will take place from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
If that doesn’t work for you, I’m sure any hour during the day will work.

I kind of abandoned the Wrestlemania Moments portion of the blog. However, with one day to go I figured I’d add one of my favorite moments from Wrestlemania…the return of Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 21.
If you watch carefully, you’ll actually see Adam Sandler in the audience.

A better name for this weekend is actually the Weekend of Wrestlemania…It is yet another opportunity for me to relive my childhood. I don’t get to do that often except for baseball, teaching, playing with my nieces and nephews, playing with DJ…besides that I’m pretty mature.

There are actually some great matches on Sunday. I just hate the price tag (over 50 dollars) but it will be worth it for 4 hours of action. Plus, I’ve planned for enough snacks to last me the entire show! Unfortunately, Krispy Kreme hamburgers are not on the menu.

Bowling Scores for the Week: 176, 164, 156…I good bounce back week for me. My team was able to win 2 games for a total of 10 points. Unfortunately, we lost the second game by 5 pins. But I guess you can’t win them all.

DJ is doing well for those of you who asked. We actually just got done reading his first book together. For trivia purposes, the book was Cincinnati Reds 101.

Birthdays today include Mariah Carey (40 years old…perhaps she can begin to dress like she’s 40) and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas

Can you figure out this puzzle?:

give get
give get
give get
give get

We’ve been doing these types of brain teasers in Core Extension. In fact, when we return from the break, the students will be working on creating our own picture brain teasers in class. Eventually, we will put them on the board to challenge all of the students. If you are interested in a copy of the handout from Core Extension, I do have extra copies. They can be fun for after a test or during a study hall.

The Death of 24

It is a sad day…24 is coming to an end this year.  Amazingly, world terrorists, biological warfare, torture, etc could not kill 24 but a lack of creativity and fan following did.  If only the terrorists knew that Americans hate to be ignored!

The good news is that eventually there will be a 24 movie.

I did watch the Food Revolution show yesterday afternoon.  It was good, informative and entertaining.  More importantly, hopefully it will be eyeopening to some of the people watching it.

Did you hear about the new line of Elvis Presley-themed steakhouses?  They will be for people who love meat tender.

For many people, you’re either an Elvis fan or a Beatles fan.  I’d go with Elvis every day of the week.

Happy Vacation to everyone!

As much as I enjoy my job, I’m going to enjoy the 9 straight days off that I have with DJ and Mrs. Dowling.  Hopefully you will also enjoy your time off.

We’ll be here on the blog most of the week.  Be sure to stop by and say hi.

Good News: The teacher contract has been settled. This means that the teachers can go back to business as usual…which in the case of most of the teachers you know has never gone away. This time without a contract could have been a lot worse than it was. Thankfully no students were hurt during this contractual unrest.
Bad News: There are still going to be cuts made in the form of program cuts and teacher cuts. No one ever wins when this happens. The important thing to do is focus on getting the budget passed in 2 months. If the budget doesn’t pass, this turmoil will only grow and cuts will be devastating. If your parents don’t usually vote, encourage them to do so.

If we’ve learned anything from our government discussions it should be that elected representatives work for you and that includes board members. If you are unhappy with something that they are doing it is definitely within your right to speak at a board meeting. It may not get you anywhere but neither does doing nothing.

This Date In History
1634-Maryland is founded by Lord Baltimore
1807-Britain abolishes the slave trade…Unfortunately, slavery would still exist in the United States for a few more decades.
Birthdays today include Sarah Jessica Parker (she’s famous to me for being married to Ferris Bueller), Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 fame (great movie…if you haven’t seen it, check it out), Aretha Franklin, Elton John, and baseball player Tom Glavine. Glavine certainly isn’t the most popular former Met in town after his meltdown a few years ago in the Mets choke Part 1.

Hard to believe we only have 2 more days of school and then a vacation.

Apparently Taco Bell is selling a shrimp taco. I don’t eat Taco Bell anymore and I don’t eat shrimp but I had to bring this up. Who in their right mind would eat the shrimp at Taco Bell??? What kind of quality could there possibly be with a shrimp meal for $.89?

Just for the record, the Reds won the music poll from last week. Hopefully that is a sign of future victories this year. The MLB Network experts Barry Larkin and John Hart both picked the Reds to finish 2nd with a push for the playoffs this year. I always liked that Barry Larkin!

Tom Glavine was  one of the last pitchers in baseball to win 300 games.  Although he played most of his dominant years with the Braves, he ended up playing with the Mets for a few years (some decent, some average).  However, he will forever be known for his last outing in which he didn’t even make it out of the first inning (if I’m not mistaken).  It was the last game of the season.  If the Mets won they got to go to the playoffs…if they lost, they go home.  They lost, thanks in part to Glavine’s poor performance.

Joke:

A neutron goes into a bar and asks the bartender, “How much for a drink?”  The bartender replies, “For you, no charge.”

Hopefully you get it…if not, you will once Mr. Buchman teaches protons, neutrons, electrons.

Uhhh…It is March 23, the school year started 6 1/2 months ago and I’m officially out of things to talk about. Any ideas? There haven’t been enough “odd” news stories, I haven’t seen any bizarre foods, baseball season is still 2 weeks away, no bowling until Friday

Awkward Silence……..

Yep…

Anyone hear any good jokes lately?

This Day In History
1775-Patrick Henry delivers his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech. I read 3 Patrick Henry biographies in college for my US History course with Father Swain. He was a tough guy, very strict but a great teacher. Most people couldn’t stand to take him once. I ended up taking 3 of his classes and doing well in all 3. If you followed directions, did the reading and studied you did well.
Two events I remember from his class are the classic True/False test questions where you had to write 6 if the statement was True and 4 if the statement was false. If you wrote T and F or True and False you got zero credit. I guess it paid to follow directions.
The other story I remember from his class is when he took a point off of a test grade for me because my signature was illegible! It’s my signature!!! Needless to say, I made sure I signed my name much neater for all the other tests/assignments.
1994-Wayne Gretzky became the all time goals leader in the NHL. Any idea on who he passed to become the king of the NHL?
Celebrating a birthday today is Dallas Mavericks basketball player Jason Kidd. The Mavericks were (and still are to a smaller degree) my favorite basketball team. Hence the presence of Little Dirk on my desk.

Here’s one:  “Run like the wind.”  Has anyone ever seen wind run?  Is it fast?  Did it go to college on a track scholarship?  Seems like a rather odd expression.  Like “clean as a whistle”.  Whistles don’t seem clean with all the saliva and stuff!

Rachel mentioned the kindle.  I’m old fashioned I guess.  I prefer actual books.  Are the electronic books damaging to the eye?  Just curious.  Are books more expensive that way?  Less?  Give us some info.

Today we move on from our Government unit to Chapter 9. Chapter 9 is basically a look at the first few Presidents as the United States gets its feet wet with the new government.
We will be also begin our Chapter 9 Assignment. Many of our recent chapters involved me teaching all of the information. We are shifting this chapter to allow the focus to be on the students. You will have to be more actively involved in the learning process. Each class is scheduled to begin with a brief lesson on a Chapter 9 topic. Then you will work on the assignments given. All of the work for this week and a half will count towards a test grade.

It is hard to believe that this week is the final week before a vacation.

Government tests are graded and will be returned today. That means besides the Chapter 9 assignment, you will also have to get your test signed. Remember, this counts as a homework assignment.

This Day In History
1765-The British begin the Stamp Act
Today’s birthdays include Reese Witherspoon, William Shatner, Senator Orrin Hatch, author James Patterson (I’ve read several of his books), and sportscaster Bob Costas.

Enjoy the day…hopefully we won’t get too much rain.

Don’t forget the Extra Credit assignment (if you choose to do it)…The 5 extra points is nothing to sneeze at…well maybe in this case it is.
I thought today worked well. It is a nice blend of teacher-centered learning and student-centered learning.

Two of my favorite past times collide tonight as Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds great, hosts WWE RAW. I won’t be watching live, but will DVR the show. 9 pm is pretty much my bed time these days.

March Madness: I did a little bit better with my predictions last night. I was right 11 times out of 16. Unfortunately, with Georgetown already eliminated, I’m really going to fall apart in the later rounds. You never want your winning team to lose in the 1st round.

Yesterday in Core Extension we had a discussion on the college admissions process. Amazingly, it will be upon you before you know it. Hopefully you will remember some of the advice that I shared. Perhaps the most important thing is DON’T TRUST THE CREDIT CARD GUY!

Bowling Scores: 139, 169, 128…YIKES! I wonder what I can blame for my terrible performance this week.

The Reds are on TV today (MLB Network). Their game is on at 5. Hopefully I’ll be around to at least catch some of it.

This Day In History
1852-Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe was published. This book unveiled a lot of the horrors of slavery to the public. I started reading the book 5 or so years ago. It probably won’t finish reading it until 2052. It is long and I didn’t really like the book. If Mr. Joseph read’s To Be A Slave with his classes this year, I think you will enjoy it. It is a collection of slave narratives. They really paint a true image of slavery. There is MUCH more to it than what we are able to discuss in class due to time restrictions.
Celebrating a birthday today is Spike Lee.

Enjoy the wonderful weather.