Off I went to my desktop pc and logged into my webhosting site where I contacted the live support person. They [...]]]>

Over the weekend I was informed by my sister-in-law that my blog had been hacked. Not the best gtalk message to receive as my pillow was getting fluffed just right on Saturday night.

Off I went to my desktop pc and logged into my webhosting site where I contacted the live support person. They immediately directed me to submit a help ticket request to the tech support center.

I submitted the help request, changed my password for the blog site and headed back to bed. Of course my brain was on overload at this point so I was rather wide awake. I went to check my blog from my phone (from whence I am composing this missive) only to find that it had been hijacked yet again. By now I was really pissed off.

Abe was awake and we were talking about what a hassle the whole thing was and how silly that I had gotten hacked. I started to think of all the websites out there on the interwebz my little blog got hacked. I mentioned how it was nearly worthy of a “REALLY?!?!?!?” segment a la Weekend Update. Abe laughed and told me I had my next blog post…so without further ado here it is.

The following text was basically what appeared on my blog. It was white text on a black background & there was a stylized skull and crossbones in the center of the page.

{#} Team [redacted Middle Eastern Country] hacker{#}
{#}The [redacted] hack{#}
This What We Do Hacking all The Time
Just open your eyes you fucked
Team [redacted Middle Eastern Country] hacker We Never Play
See ya

The Republicans don’t like anybody from the Democrats. The Democrats detest anyone who is conservative.  Then there is [...]]]>

Today is May 25, 2011… There are 531 days until the November election in 2012.  I’m already so sick of hearing about it that I’m tempted to delete anybody from my online life that talks about it.

The Republicans don’t like anybody from the Democrats. The Democrats detest anyone who is conservative.  Then there is the in party fighting…

The candidates barely announce their intention to run before they are cannabalized by their own so-called supporters.  Frankly it sickens me.  I understand the need to be critical of the next leader of our country; whether it be our current president gaining a second term or a new face.  We need the best person for the job.  I think everybody can agree that there’s a lot wrong in our country and our government as a whole bears the responsibility.

However, I really don’t think that it is productive to look at a potential candidate and poke fun at how “exciting” he may or may not be. (See Exciting Things About Tim Pawlenty ).

Now I’m not endorsing Mr. Pawlenty (or anybody else for that matter). Rather I want the focus to be on what can be done NOW for the many people who have suffered devastating losses due to natural disasters. We have seen cities flattened, counties flooded and people left with nothing. Meanwhile the main focus on the news seems to be the latest Presidential faux pas in Britain & the retirement of Oprah.

I feel frustrated at the disconnect I see between what happens in our everyday lives while our government is concerned with random shit. I don’t care if a candidate is exciting or comes from an exciting state…I care what practical ideas they have to fix what’s wrong: high unemployment, higher fuel prices, communities trying to rebuild…

So excuse me while I skip the crazed early days of 9,000 candidates. I’m looking for a little less excitement & a hell of a lot of substance.

Once upon a time there was a boy name Joshua.  Joshua was like most kids his age (8)…he liked video games & movies, running around outside & playing with his cousin JD.  Like all boys he could get into trouble in the most [...]]]> I’m going to begin this story the way all classic stories begin…

Once upon a time there was a boy name Joshua.  Joshua was like most kids his age (8)…he liked video games & movies, running around outside & playing with his cousin JD.  Like all boys he could get into trouble in the most entertaining ways.  He was  inquisitive & imaginative; never short on explanations for his escapades either.  Joshua was a sweet boy when he chose to be…willing to help his mom & generous with telling her she did a good job.

The biggest (well one of the biggest anyway) challenges with Joshua was getting him to sit still & listen in class.  In order to help him with that, he attended two years of kindergarten.  The extra year helped quite a bit though Joshua is still a little rambunctious at times.  Nothing that would require medication-more just growing up.  Now in first grade, Joshua is working on reading, math & all the good stuff that comes with that.  Before I continue with Joshua’s school adventures we should explore the school itself.

This is a rural farming area in the Upper Midwest. Picture your stereotypical small town life—get rid of the hillbillies, hicks & rednecks—well not get rid of them; just don’t populate the entire area with them.  Since this area is comprised of many small farming communities the schools have combined districts in order to keep the schools open.  This means that 3-4 schools are combined & bus kids to various schools.  There are usually at least 2 sections to any given grade but never more than 4 sections.  In fact I think 4 might be really pushing it.  With the towns combining districts this means that the normal grade size is between 30-60.  We will work with 50 since that’s a nice round number.  Fifty kids to a grade would mean 25 kids to a classroom.  A decent size class though not totally unmanageable.  For the most part classes tend to be a tad smaller.

Back to Joshua—as a first grader he is learning the consequences of acting out more than in kindergarten.  When I say acting out I mean yelling out answers without raising his hand, jumping up to help with passing out papers without permission or being upset that he doesn’t have a job to do if the teacher passes it to another student.  He is working on it & getting MUCH better.  Joshua’s eagerness to participate sometimes overwhelms his “indoor” voice.  Another thing that Joshua doesn’t always judge well is when to be silly.  Let’s face it, the kid is only 8 and he has embraced childhood completely.  This is as it should be…life gets complicated quickly enough these days.

Joshua has a very quick & odd sense of humor.  This is in no way discouraged by any family  member & that includes aunts, uncles and grandparents.  Joshua’s grandpa, T loves to joke around, pull pranks & generally laugh.  Grandpa T is good at doing silly voices & had spent a weekend talking to Joshua in a duck voice.  Think Daffy Duck flustered & sputtering.  Joshua loved it & quickly picked up the knack for doing the duck voice himself.  Fastforward to the next week in school.  Mrs 1st Grade, his teacher, asks Joshua to do something in class.  Joshua isn’t feeling cooperative & says, “No”.  The teacher asks a second time & Joshua decides that in order to really make his point he will quack his answer.  Needless to say Joshua got off the bus with a note from the teacher.  After patiently (and with a great deal of exasperation) explaining that quacking was only allowed with Grandpa T, Joshua’s mom shared the story with the rest of the family.  I mean, while it wasn’t polite to quack at the teacher, it certainly is worth a hearty chuckle.

Recently though things have taken an odd turn with regard to Joshua’s actual education.  Being in first grade, Joshua is learning to read…or so his mom thought.  Lately though Joshua has been coming home with papers that have been graded & a note saying “This paper was read to Joshua during class”.  Another note said, “Due to Joshua’s slow reading this paper was read to him during class”.  Joshua’s mom is troubled by what this means.  After all, learning to read is a fundamental skill; if Joshua isn’t working on his reading IN school where should he be working on it?

Now I can hear all the people who are going to clamor that the parent(s) need to be involved with Joshua’s education.  There’s no argument there & Joshua’s mom does work with him at home though not always as much as she would like.  Joshua’s father isn’t around so he is a non-issue.  The real deal here is that reading is something that MUST be taught in school.  Forget the politically correct stuff—the “How to be Green” and whatever else is taught these days.  First & foremost what needs to be taught are the fundamentals— reading, writing & arithmetic.

Granted there are 20 some students in the classroom so individual time with each student is harder to manage.  On the other hand there are 2 adults in the room.  The teacher & a certified teacher’s aide.  When I think back to my own days in elementary school we did a lot of practice on reading.  We even read out loud…including the slow readers.  I was a quick study with books so I remember wondering why we had to keep reading our primers.  I got sick of “Dick can run. See Dick run. Run Dick Run.”   “Jane sees Dick. Jane sees Dick run.”   However, we went the pace of the majority of the class.  It was too slow for a couple of us; it may have been too fast for a couple students as well but by the time we moved to second grade everybody had a decent handle on reading.

So what’s the deal here?  Is Joshua so slow that he needs extra help in school?? Why hasn’t the teacher discussed this with Joshua’s mom?  Is Joshua really that slow or is the teacher trying to hurry the students through their assignments & tests?  The big problem as Joshua’s mom sees it — she is sending her son to school to learn to read & rather than learning to read the teacher is doing it for Joshua.  No wonder we are doing so poorly on test scores, falling behind other countries in education & are graduating children who are almost completely illiterate.  If we don’t teach our children to read (and work hard with the ones who need it most) then we are setting them up for failure.  If this is happening in a class of 25 kids or less think what is happening in the giant city schools.  It is to weep.