Younger Son has been working his way through the Harry Potter books since 4th grade. It's taken him about two years, but he's managed to (as of Saturday), read all seven of the books. He was determined to finish DH before HP7.2 comes out in July. He's proud that, for the first time ever, he'll be able to watch one of the HP movies and know what they did wrong/left out without having to rely on his brother to tell him.
I had errands to run Saturday when he was almost finished and told him to give me a call as soon as he'd finished so he could tell me what he though. Not 30 minutes after leaving the house, my iPhone *love* rang. As soon as I picked up the phone, I asked him what was "wrong" with the first DH movie.
"Well," he said, "they didn't show the pouch that Hagrid gave Harry for his birthday. And they didn't show the Minister for Magic burning a hole in Harry's shirt after the reading of Dumbledore's will. And they didn't show Harry confront Remus at Grimmauld Place when Remus wanted to go with Harry, Ron and Hermoine. And Wormtail was supposed to DIE at Malfoy Manor. And Mom!! They screwed things up all the way back at the 5th movie when they didn't show Sirius giving Harry the mirror!! How can Harry be carrying around a piece of broken mirror in the 7th movie when Sirius never even gave it to him back in the 5th movie?? They really need to explain this, Mom. People are going to be confused."
And this is why I've tried and tried to convince the boys to see the movies and books as two separate stories. I'm sure I'll never convince them of this, yet I still try. *is stubbornly stubborn*
Younger Son's next reading goal is to read the Eragon series. Older Son is finally tackling Tolkien's work. It took some work on my part to convince him not to read them chronologically, starting with Silmarillion. Sometimes reading the backstory first is not the best way to go. Elf-obsessed that he is, I nevertheless convinced him to start with The Hobbit and go from there.
School is out now, and we're waiting for report cards to arrive in the mail. I'm sure Younger Son finished 6th grade with all A's. Older Son probably ended 10th grade with a C in Geometry and a mix of A's and B's in the rest. Pleasing, on the whole. Older Son has one more math (Algebra II) next year and unless requirements force him to take another math his senior year, I'm not forcing him into it. Math is just not his strong area and I see no need to cram something like Trigonometry down is throat if he's not planning to go into a career that's math-heavy. LOL Older Son is happy to hear it; he's thoroughly sick of math.
The excess kittens have all found homes. Momma!Shorty called for her missing babies for a day or so, then settled nicely. Son!Tortie was happy (most times) to soak up the extra attention.
Thanks many times over for the prayers and positive thoughts sent our way after the loss of my father-in-law. Younger Son took it pretty badly (as expected), Older Son was stoic (as expected), but they're both doing much better now.
It seems so many of my posts recently mention tornadoes. *sigh* I was hoping to be able to avoid that for this post, but it just wasn't meant to be. One of my classmates from high school lives in Joplin and lost his home in last night's tornado. He and his family are all well and safe, but the house is a total loss. Positive thoughts, please, for the people of Joplin, Missouri. It seems this season's tornadoes just keep getting more and more destructive. Mother Nature must be really pissed off this year. Here's hoping she calms down sometime soon.
Work is...well, it's work. Not really much to say about that. Lots of sick people means job security for me, but dealing with insurance companies is always a pain in the ass. 'Nuff said there, I'm sure.
So last Sunday night the phone conversation when somewhat like this:
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent)Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Bob. How may I help you today?
Bob? Are you kidding me? BOB?? Do you really think giving yourself some overly-common non-Indian name is going to trick me into believing the call center is not in India?? I think I need a new modem. I've been having connectivity problems for a couple of weeks now and it's just getting worse.
[Insert all sorts of silly "troubleshooting" experiments while "Bob" taps away at his keyboard and reads whatever stupidity pops up on his monitor and Yours Truly tries valiantly to understand just what the hell he's saying.]
Finally...
Bob: It sounds like you need to purchase a new LAN line.
Me: A LAN line? You're not going to send me another modem?
Bob: We need to try a new LAN line first. I'm going to give you a case number and if the LAN line doesn't work you can call back and we'll go from there. OK?
Me: All right. Thank you. [writes down case number]
Monday I bought a new LAN line.
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent): Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Steve. How may I help you today?
*head/desk* I have a case number. [gives said number]
Steve: Did the new LAN line work?
Me: Why the hell would I be calling you if the damn thing worked?? No. There's no change. I'm still unable to connect.
Steve: [pecking away at keyboard] Let me put you on hold for one moment while I transfer you to Advanced Support.
Me: [cheering because Advanced Support is in the US] Ok. No problem. [waits]
Man (In a perfectly generic Midwest American accent)Are you there, Ms. H?
Me: Yes.
Man: This is Brian with HughesNet Advanced Support. It looks like you need a new modem.
Me: [feeling stuck in the land of overly-common names] *laughing* I think that's what I told Bob last night.
[verifies shipping address]
Brian: Your new modem should arrive by FedEx in a couple of days. [gives additional instructions]
A couple of days later...
Modem? Nope.
A couple more days later...
Modem? Nope.
Finally, nearly a friggin WEEK later, I have a new modem. I'm zooming around the Webs once again. I can actually read my Friends page. I can open my email. Pages don't time out. Everything works! And the best part of all? I didn't have to call technical support for any assistance like Brian threatened I might have to!!
*sigh* I admit it. Nothing brings out the Ugly American in me more quickly than being routed to an overseas call center. It's a failing in me, I know. I just can't seem to help it. When I'm having a problem, I want to speak to someone who speaks English as a FIRST language - someone who doesn't have an accent so thick I can barely understand what the hell they're saying. The whole reason my modem problem got so bad before I called tech support is because I didn't want to deal with the language barrier. Procrastination much?
Anyway. I'm up and running again and loving the new modem. It's made of much loveliness.
In local news...
Work continues to be a lot of work. At least a third of the patients continue to be idiots. Another third seem to want to live their lives in a medicated fog. The other third are too healthy for their own damn good and we don't see them nearly enough to make up for the other two-thirds. Despite all of this, I'm still loving my job because it keeps me busy all day.
In even more local news...
The boys went back to school today. Older Son is now a sophomore. Yikes! After one minor adjustment made to his schedule last week, I'm pleased with all of his classes. Younger Son is in sixth grade. When I told him today that after he finishes this year he'll be half-way finished with school (not counting college), he didn't quite know how to react. LOL He didn't know if he wanted to be a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person about this bit of information. The day went well aside from Younger Son having homework on the first day. He seems to think this is some sort of omen.
Pete continues to be a source of drama and entertainment around the house. He's growing by leaps and bounds. I had to intervene yesterday when he climbed as high as he could in preparation of taking a flying leap at a moth that was flitting around in front of the curtains in the living room. I could just see massive rips in the curtains resulting when the proposed flying leap resulted in nothing but cloth and claws.
In extended family news...
My step-brother was cutting down a tree last week and the friggin' thing fell on him. I'm not quite sure how it happened. The short version is that a rather large-ish tree fell across both of his knees and he was pinned underneath for about an hour. Friends were finally able to move the tree and step-brother was taken to the hospital. The good news is that he can still walk - a miracle all its own. The bad news (delivered today) is that the cartilage in both knees has been completely destroyed and he's going to need total replacement of both knees. He came to see me at work today after he was given the news. *eye roll* He hadn't even told his wife yet. she's a bitch He says he's not going to tell the parents yet because they'd just worry and he wants to work a little longer and try to pay off a few more debts before he faces possible permanent disability.
I tried to talk him into letting the parents know. I would want to know if one of my sons was facing something like this. It's not my place to tell it, though, so I'll just keep my mouth shut for now and hope he tells them soon. *sigh* I really hate to keep this secret. Mom and Step-dad deserve to know.
Ok. Enough rambling from me. I've got loads and loads of catching up to do. My inbox runneth over. Much to be read. Huggles to all because I've sooooo missed being here this past week!
A week after a diagnosis of bronchial pneumonia, I'm feeling much better. Who knew normal air had so much breathable oxygen in it? It's lovely.
Much has been happening around here, and I've only mentioned bits and pieces of some of it. Let's see what I can do to remedy this.
Report cards! With the holidays finally over, it's that time of year when students nationwide cringe and cower in fear of the dreaded Report Card. I'm proud (very proud) to report that Older Son has a 3.87 GPA after the first half of his freshman year. Only one B (and a B+ at that), in Algebra. Younger Son is right behind him with all A's except for two high B's. *nods* Very proud of my baby boys.
And speaking of school...*takes a deep breath just because I can once again* I've decided to go back to school this coming fall. I decided a few months ago but have just put off making the "announcement." I'll be majoring in either Math or Math Ed. Haven't really decided yet. If I decide to teach at the high school level, it'll have to be Math Ed. But I'd much prefer to teach at the college level, and the Ed courses aren't needed for that level. A Masters, however, would be necessary for teaching at that level and I'm just not certain at this point that I'm up to that. Hell, I'm not even sure if I want to teach at all. There are so many fields open to mathematicians that I wouldn't have to teach if I didn't want to. I found an interesting page at the college's website. It listed some interesting stats about Math/Math Ed majors. Only 29% of Math/Math Ed majors actually work in academia. Also, the largest employer of Math/Math Ed majors in the US is actually the NSA (National Security Agency), but Lord knows I don't want to work for them. paranoid bastards
Anyway. School. Fall 2010. Me. Math Nerd in Training. *nods* I'll be taking classes that'll probably twist my brain into all sorts of knots, but I'll probably love it anyway.
We finally got the wood-burning stove installed. There was one glitch (that you'll thank me for not explaining in detail), but we've managed to work around it. I'm currently in a snuggly warm house that is heated by FREE fuel. Free I tell you! It's lovely having relatives with lots of land. Land with lots of trees that need to be thinned out. Trees that've already been cut down and chopped up into the proper sizes to fit into my wood-burning stove. I've already been informed that when I need more wood, I just need to go to Mom's, borrow Stepdad's pickup, load up the fire wood myself, take it home, then bring back the pickup. All-in-all, I'm very happy with it.
A plumbing issue arose, unrelated to the water lines freezing up a while back. I'll spare the details. It's been resolved. Although Mom did call me today to inform me that she's officially too old to be crawling around under the house working on plumbing. Any further plumbing issues will have to be resolved by someone paid to do it. (And Lord knows I can't do it. Claustrophobia. It's a bitch.) She says she was up all night last night with a pain in her right shoulder blade that she says felt like she'd been stabbed in the back - literally. She's taking things easy on that shoulder for a few days - and drugged to the gills on muscle relaxers - so hopefully she'll feel better soon.
I. Am. Ready. For. Spring. I've had all sorts of garden plans going through my head ever since first frost. Now we're in that "dead of winter" phase and I'm just ready for it to be over so that I can get to work on those plans. I may have to take a fellow gardener's advice and go outside and smell the dirt. Apparently it's supposed to help. Somehow I think it'd just make things worse. I have Wednesday off work and plan to do something outside, weather permitting.
And, dammit, why is it that the lawn dies out in winter, but the weeds continue to grow in my garden?? So not fair. I hate pulling weeds, but if it'll give me something to do outside, I'll do it. *is desperate*
I'm beginning to feel like this guy. Not that I want to go somewhere else. I just need to Get Out Of This House!
Older Son's science teacher is trying to kill me. I'm sure of it. To "help" the class study their vocabulary for this chapter, he handed out a worksheet with 20 (!!!) cryptograms on it. Cryptograms!! Twenty of them!! I really, really dislike cryptograms.
LOL It wouldn't be so bad if they all had the same code, but noooooo, they've all got to be different. LOL And, no, they can't use their book.
It wouldn't be so bad if the letters were actually big enough that I could read them. Instead, Older Son has to read it off to me while I type it into Excel where we fill in the letters we know, solve it together, then he transfers it to the worksheet. Am very tempted to just let him use the damn book and get it over with.
My oldest starts high school this Wednesday. I'm handling it pretty well while still insisting I am NOT old enough to have a child entering high school.
Friday we went to the high school to get his electives lined out. He claimed he could pick them himself, but I really didn't trust him to avoid something completely stooopid. His mandatory classes this year are English I, Algebra I, Physical Science, and US History/Government. His electives are Current Events, Computer Tech, and Creative Writing.
I'm happy with all of his electives this year. The Current Events class will be really good for him. He spends so much time with his nose either in a book or glued to the Nintendo DS that he has very little idea what's happening in the world. LOL That should all change this year. The Computer Tech class will cover Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the like - always good to know. He's most looking forward to the Creative Writing class. At this point in time, he says he wants to be a writer "when he grows up", so this will be a good intro course for him to take.
Personally, I'm glad the school is now letting freshmen take Algebra I. When I went to the same high school, Algebra I wasn't offered until sophomore year. Being a math nerd, I'm happy to see the school has progressed at least that much. *sigh* Saddly, Older Son is looking forward to his class least of all. He's got a math phobia and I can already see many hours spent helping him with his homework. I'm suddenly very glad of the hours and hours I've spent over the years tutoring the subject. Should prove interesting.
Younger Son starts fifth grade this year. He's looking forward to being in middle school and not being considered one of the "little kids" anymore. The first quarter of the year may be somewhat rough. His teacher will be out during this time as she has breast cancer and will be undergoing a double mastectomy very soon. She should be returning around midway through the semester, though, if all goes well.
Picked up some of their school supplies Friday. Got Older Son a combination lock for his locker. LOL He can't seem to work the damn thing. I've told him there's no way he's taking the thing to school unless he can prove that he can work it. He's determined to figure it out and promises to work on it every day until he does. It's like he's trying to figure out the secret of the universe or something.
The remainder of the school supplies will be bought tomorrow after I get off work. Mom's going with us. *groan* Shopping with Mom *and* the boys is always an exhausting experience.
We had to take Boots back to his previous owner. He was miserably unhappy being fenced in. He'd stand at the fence looking in the direction of his old home. He didn't want to play. He was just pitiful. Younger Son and I took him back yesterday afternoon. As soon as we let him out of the car, he was off to the pastures hunting rabbits again. YS is sad that it didn't work out, but I've reminded him that the cocker spaniel will be joining us very soon. Hopefully that one will work out.
Older Son is doing well. He's still stressing sometimes about the fact that he only remembers the beginning and ending of Monday. I've tried to tell him that there's nothing worth remembering. I *wish* I could forget it.
I can understand that it's probably not pleasant to have lost so many hours and not have been drunk at the time. No one should have big blanks in their memory. Those are the breaks where this is concerned, though. Luckily, he's coming around to my belief that Monday is OVER for all of us. None of the rest of us get a do-over, so neither does he. We're moving forward.
Today is the boys' last day of school; half day actually since they get out at 12:30. They tried to get me to let them stay home today since nothing was going to happen anyway. No dice. I sent them to school anyway. They won't see some of their friends again until August when school starts again, so I figure another half day with those friends won't hurt anything.
Monday Older Son will go to the grandparents for a week. Wednesday Younger Son will go to church camp for four days. I'm looking forward to a few days of quiet. Still trying to decide what I'll do with my solitude. Maybe go see Star Trek. Most certainly get some yard work done. Slim possibility of a visitor - maybe. We'll see.
content
bouncy
bitchy
nostalgic
contemplative