Every year, NORAD tracks Santa Claus on his annual round the world trip. My mom always gets a kick out of this. You can watch actual satellite images of Santa as he circles the Eiffel Tower or follows the Great Wall of China. They even have a hot line set up so you can call and talk to a NORAD person about tracking Santa as well.
Enjoy: NORAD Tracks Santa 2007
I have to believe that pig farmers do no have a sense of smell. Their job burns it out of them.
We went to a pig farm this morning. Some of the people my parents know own one. He said we could come at 5am, but that was much too early. So we went at 7:30 instead. We went to the pig house that has the 2.5 week old pigs in it. He said the smell in that house wasn’t nearly as bad as it is in the big pig houses. But my nose was still burning. We were there for an hour and have been gone for more than 30 minutes now, and we all still smell. We took off as much of our clothes as we could in company at the door and have it in a big pile. We’re taking turns trying to get through the shower as fast as we can so we can get the rest of our clothes off.
But it was real cool. I learned a lot about pig farming. They keep the pig houses at about 78 degrees, much much warmer than it was outside this morning. They also have heat mats they can lay on that are about 90 degrees. Those pigs stay very nice and warm during the winter. During the summer they have big fans and misters to help them stay cool. Their food has protein and grain and fat and after he tasted it he said there was some sugar in it too. They get fresh water. And as he was telling us about keeping them healthy, they get fewer shots than people do probably. Those pigs have a very good life, right up until the end anyway.
It was a fun field trip. I’ll put up some pictures on the main part of my site later.
My family is absolutely hilarious. It’s a lot of fun when we get together because we all say the most random things, and we all get each other’s sense of humor.
For example, how many other homes would have the following exchange:
brother up in the attic: (excited) I found a severed arm!
mother down in the house: There should be two of them.
brother up in the attic: (even more excited) There is!
I wish I could remember some of the other ones from today. It’s nice to be home where you know you are accepted and fit in and are understood.
This week was a bit of an eye opening experience for me. I have been at my current job since August of 2002 when I walked into it not really knowing what I was doing. Since then I have created quite the job, with all kinds of small things that I do almost automatically. But this last week I was having to explain my job to someone else, which meant explaining everything I do, all the little things that come automatically and without thought. It was a bit exhausting to have to stop and think through everything again. It made me realize that I’ve lost the metacognitive level for my job. It’s now at the level of putting socks on – I notice it, but I don’t think about it. Or maybe I’m just thinking about that now because I’ve written so many papers on metacognition in the last year or so.
For the last six years I have been teaching keyboarding to third graders. It takes more than half their year with me that year. Before they get to third grade we do a lot of fun games. After third grade we still do keyboarding, but we do a lot of fun games (all educational games of course). But third grade is just hard. And about February the kids really start to get tired of it. They do real well at it though and it seems like each year does better than the last. But if they think they are tired of it by February, they should try doing it every year, for six years, with four classes (this year five), each year. That is a LOT of keyboarding lessons, and I start getting sick of it by about mid-September now.
Today though, I taught my last keyboarding lesson. I was really surprised that while I was walking around the room, dictating the new keys and helping the kids get it right, I started to choke up about it, and had to choke it back. It’s really hard to dictate when you are choking up.
That was it. That was the end. I more than likely will never do that again.
I was silently amazed at myself while I was doing it as well. I do it without thought almost. I’ve done it so many times that it comes completely natural now. I remember when I started that job and went home exhausted every day because I felt like I was in the middle of a hurricane all day and everything was just swirling around me. And now I waltz in each day, do my thing, and then go home.
It has been a real good job for me. And there are many things that I will definitely miss about it. But I think that moment this morning will probably be the only time I will miss teaching keyboarding.
It seems like I’ve heard this one several times lately, and every time it makes me want to correct them. When giving advice on what to do and what to avoid to get a good night’s sleep, there are those who always say that exercise before bed is bad. One thing I read yesterday said 3-4 hours before going to sleep will interfere with your sleep. Another I heard the other day said 6-7 hours before sleep. In a country with such a staggering obesity rate, I really don’t think telling people not to exercise is a good idea, regardless of its effect on sleep.
Sure that might be true for some people, but I want to set the record straight and declare that such is not the case for me. In fact, I’m the exact opposite. If I go out running for 4-5 miles in the late evening, come home and shower and then go to bed, that’s the best sleep in the world. I’m more relaxed and loose when I wake up. I wake up more refreshed. I have absolutely no problem falling asleep. If anything I have a problem showering before I fall asleep because sleep seems like the perfect idea at that point.
I would also like to point out that the advice to get out of bed and go do something until you are tired if you can’t seem to fall asleep is very very bad advice for me. If I do that, I’ll probably end up staying up doing stuff all night and not get any sleep at all. But if I get in bed and keep my eyes closed long enough, before I know it I’ll have fallen asleep.
I’m sure there are those for whom the advice about exercise and getting out of bed are good ideas. But I wanted to make sure it is out there in the world that there are those for whom that advice is very bad.
Since I am moving next month, I’ve had to quit all my jobs. Today was my last day at Hancock Fabrics. Man I’m going to miss my discount there.
It’s been a good job. I’ve worked 2-3 Saturdays a month, making enough to buy all the fabric I want. For the most part the people I’ve worked with have been good people, if they are over the age of 20. The teenagers had a tendency to really drive me bonkers.
I already knew a lot about sewing and fabric before, but I learned a whole lot just by talking to people. And it was always real fun for me to help someone figure out a project they weren’t sure on, especially quilts. I didn’t make hardly any money working there, but you should see all the clothes, blankets, costumes, quilts, etc. that I’ve been able to make without spending money from my other job.
Packing up all the fabric I’ve bought working there the last 20 months, I’m going to have to label some of it as something other than fabric. Otherwise the people helping me load and unload the truck might look at me funny when they see box after box after box of fabric.
I should have enough fabric stocked up now though that I can make it a year or so sewing what I already have before I start to need more. Needing more and wanting more are two different things though.
It was kind of fun to pick out some last things to use my discount with though. We just got the cutest sea turtle fleece in, so some of that came home with me.
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
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