Boy, did I take a freaky little trip last night. No drugs involved.

Spencer brought home this book yesterday about the 1906 San Fran earthquake. We read a little before bed, but then I was fascinated enough to search Google for more information.

I found some pictures, some information...but then I stumbled upon a Wikipedia entry about the world's deadliest disasters. Now, that sounds interesting too, so off I go. I read about earthquakes and floods in China, volcanoes in Pompeii, etc. THEN, I find a link to Wars: Deadliest Death Toll. THAT sounds interesting, so I click. Eventually, I end up at Highest Death Toll by Murderers. Then I'm reading about some Bathory chick in Romania, the Green River Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Jr...etc, etc.

Pretty soon I am freaked out at what lurks in the heart of man, and there's no way I can go to bed. So I then head off to the Land of Frivolity...to Yahoo! to play around with my avatar. My biggest concern there is what outfit and background do I want my little girly-girl to have today???

*shudder*

OK, after the latest round of grading freshmen writing journals, here's the itch I need to scratch here at the Stream.

Eyes up here on me, please.

To: a preposition or adverb expressing limit in movement/time, motion, direction, purpose, destination, consequence, condition, addition, comparison, reaction, position, OR towards a person, place, thing, action, or position. It may also indicate the direct object. (Give the ball TO me.) It is also used to begin an infinitive. (I like TO swim.)

Two: the cardinal number after one, one more than one

Too: in addition to, more than should be, extremely

WRONG: You have gone TO far.

WRONG: It costs TO much.

WRONG: I'd like too buy TO fur coats.

RIGHT: You have gone TOO far.

RIGHT: It costs TOO much.

RIGHT: I'd like TO buy TOO fur coats.

I'm completely scrapping tomorrow's lesson in lieu of some emergency "too, to, two" work. While I'm on the rampage, keep this lesson in mind too, Streamers...the Grammar Lady is Watching.

I've been chewing on this one for a couple of days.

First of all, most of you know I advise the school's yearbook. We've just finished our advertisement campaign, where we go out and sell sponsorships to area businesses to support the production of our book.

We spent about a week preparing for this. It was "professionalism, professionalism, professionalism" on the kids all week long. How to dress, what to say, what not to do, etc. Quite involved on the etiquette.

Imagine their (and my) disenfranchisement when they start courtesy calling businesses last week before the visits and get responses like this:

"No. Our manager's not here. They don't work on Fridays. (Variation: They're in the office on and off.)"

"Well, feel free to stop by, even though our answer's probably going to be no."

"Ummm...we'll call you." (and never do, btw)

The list goes on and on. My students were a bit discouraged by the rudeness and unprofessionalism on the part of local businesses. The real people out in the business world! And this was just on the phone...this does not include the shenanigans that go on when my kids are actually out there, making visits.

What's up with that? Do business owners feel that because my students are just "kids," they don't warrant the same respect? Maybe it's a common response when you're a business hit up all the time for one school cause or another? I don't know. But I don't like it.

So, I have not written all week, because, frankly, there hasn't been much to say.

Simply put, I'm living the quintessential middle-class dream right now.

For example, I have cooked supper for my family every single night this week, complete with a side dish of vegetables. In addition, I have packed the same thing for my lunch every day this week: jello, pudding, yogurt, fruit, carrots. As a treat, let's not forget the one side trip to McDonald's this week for a kiddie cone (1 WW point). I have also made a one trip to the grocery store this week to purchase the following: ziploc sandwich bags, dishwasher detergent, and paper plates. I have taken my children to and from the following activities: football practice and gymnastics. I have gone to bed every night around 9:30 and gotten up around 6:00. Not to mention, I spent roughly one hour at my daughter's gymnastics practice gossiping about the latest hoopla at church.

This is all in addition to my career, in which I have walked somewhere in the vicinity of three miles, called two parents on the phone, emailed two parents, sent notes home to ten parents, graded about 90 reading journals, and touched an innumerable number of lives.

And now it is Friday. The culmination of the entire week, in which I will celebrate the coming weekend by taking my family to eat at Subway, getting Spencer and Brent's haircuts, and going to the first home high school football game of the year.

Three cheers for prosaicness!!!

So, I got an offer in the mail for a FREE TRIAL at Netflix. I thought, what the hell? I signed up for the next-to-cheapest plan available and queued away.

It's only $9 a month. Honestly, we'd spend nearly that much at Blockbuster picking up the latest new release. With winter coming around, we're inside more anyway, so movies are perfect.

I'll admit, though, I was a bit disappointed that I'm not able to order porn at Netflix, but then I saw stuff like "9 1/2 Weeks" and felt a bit better.

However, because this is a family-friendly blog, "Wild Hogs" was first in the queue, followed by "Teen Wolf" (which I have had a hankering to see for a long time), then a couple of animated kids' movies.

How boring. How middle-class America. How Dr. Spock. Ah well.