This Made Me Cry Tonight

Maybe it's just recovering from an 8 hour drive home towing about 13,000 lbs, but this made me cry when I read it tonight:

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.


Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

You can read the whole story here, and you can read more about how:

He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43.

"They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.

"They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back," Overby said.

This is so insane...and sad.

Sad

Weird to see one of my old classrooms looking like this:



I think I took at least 10 classes in this room.

For more info click here.

Recessive Gene Genie

With Christmas time rapidly approaching, the season of pictures of the blond haired, blue eyed baby Jesus are back, or as many refer to him, recessive gene Jesus.






Today Aspen and Sage were wearing their princess Jasmine outfits, and it reminded me of Ojai Local, Larry Hagman's show, I Dream of Jeannie. Which got me thinking...Why was Jeannie, the major's genie in a bottle, Caucasian? And was she in fact Caucasian, or like the "dear sweet baby Jesus," was she a Middle Easterner who just happened to not inherit any of her people's dominant traits?

Inspirational Posters

Do these things really work?

First Think
Second Believe
Third Dream
Finally Dare


The most important part of Attitude is U (Thanks Garfield)


We can only see with open eyes
We can only listen with open ears.
We can only think with open minds.
(Man silhouetted by a sunset)


You never know how much you CAN do until you TRY.


To be a winner, give all you've got. (Girl kicking a soccer ball)


Take your best shot. (Girl holding a basketball)


Learn from the mistakes of others.
You can't make them ALL yourself. (Oh, what a cute polar bear slipping on the ice...didn't he see the sign that said "Watch for ICE"?)


Be Yourself! (Giraffe among zebras)


Never let
yesterday's
disappointments
overshadow
tomorrow's
dreams. (Locker room with a Notre Dame Player, maybe it's Jimmie Clauson)


If you want to be happy for an hour
GO WATCH T.V.
If you want to be happy for a day,
GO TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime,
GO OUT AND HELP OTHERS.

The problem
when solved
will be simple.


Those were the signs hung in the classroom I subbed in today. And so far, I don't have much confidence in them. I saw kids with piss poor attitudes, I say lots of kids give up and quit trying on their test. Very few of them were trying to be unique, and I have a hard time believing that most of them were giving it all they had.

It's not just the over simplified inspirations either. The graphics themselves are so trite and cliched, that they mock themselves for lacking any creativity whatsoever.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they inspire left and right. Personally, I like these better:

November

So, November is a fantastic month:

Cooler weather
My sister's birthday
Presidential Election
Dumont Dunes for Thanksgiving
and
No Shave November



UPDATE: Yeah...well, I made it about 10 days. Then the comments about how I looked tired, and like I just got out of bed got to me. One person even said, "Look, you have bald patches like me."
I wasn't feeling it, so I shaved the parts that don't grow very well. We will see how long I can handle the mustache.

Worst Job in America?

I doubt many of the readers of my blog frequent "the Onion," so I thought that I should post this "story" for you:

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

November 5, 2008 | Issue 44•45

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

I WAS looking forward to going to the zoo.

First, my day with the girls riding little dirtbikes at Simon's gets rained out, and now it looks like some crazy guy might ruin our planned zoo day.

From Santa Barbara Independent:

A man in Army fatigues with a handgun has caused quite the commotion for morning commuters, as Santa Barbara police are attempting to coax him off the La Cumbre Street overpass Monday morning.

According to Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, just after 7 a.m. police received a call of a suspicious man in the area, and responded to find the suspect waving an American flag and armed with the handgun.

La Cumbre from Modoc through the other side of the freeway has been shut down, as has Highway 101 in both directions, causing quite the backup during rush hour traffic.

The CHP is reporting several vehicles trying to exit Highway via the onramp at Turnpike, while traffic going the opposite direction is reportedly backed up to Montecito. A S.W.A.T team has been brought in to negotiate.

UPDATE:

After dropping his weapon, Van Tassel asked for a Barack Obama campaign sign, which authorities delivered to him using a bomb squad robot, police said. The man attached the sign and the flag to the overpass and later walked backward to officers, who took him into custody.

AND YES, WE MADE IT TO THE ZOO.

Re: Naps

I'm a huge advocate of naps. While I realize that naps are a luxury, and that for many they are impossible, for those of us who do much of our work from 7-10pm, they aren't always optional.

Given my affinity for naps, it was nice to see a story on the front page of Digg today about the benefits of naps.

The study states:

For years naps have gotten a bad rap, derided as a sign of laziness, weakness, or senility... ...but lately napping has garnered new respect, thanks to solid scientific evidence that midday dozing benefits both mental acuity and overall health. A slew of new studies have shown that naps boost alertness, creativity, mood, and productivity in the later hours of the day.

Hooray for naps!

My daily reads

Just in case anyone feels that their "blog reader" isn't delivering, and wants something more to read, here are some of the blogs that I subscribe to:

Awakening: Pastor Mike Devries blog, it's occasionally about his kids' soccer games, but usually is very thoughtful. He often blogs on recent Christian research.

Tony Jones: Author and ex-president of Emergent Village.

ACRYLICK: Urban clothing company with a positive message.

Another Ragamuffin: Michaela's

Courageous COWARDism: a friend of Shane Claibourne, who wasn't permitted to return to Iraq after he told his superiors that he didn't want to carry a gun anymore.

D+K got married: Darren and Kate's

Don Miller: Author

Finding Rythm: Very interesting blog by the Chrsitian drummer of the secular band, "Jimmy Eat World" (he's a bit on the liberal side of politics).

Gray Aria: Infrequent blog of Hailey Kingsley

Hodge Lodge Blog: Christine's

Hypermiling, Fuel Economy: Exactly what it sounds like

Improv Everywhere: Performance Art from New York

Jesus Creed: Author Scott McKnight (at times he blogs up to 10 new posts a day)

Kahit Na Ano: My friend Angel's blog. He usually has fun self-assignments like, taking a picture everyday that represents a song.

Kingsley Clan: Matt Kingsley

Miss Cory Coffey: hmmm

My Nursery: Amber's

No Numbers & Co: another urban/lifestyle clothing company.

Once Upon a Time is Now: Gina's

PhotoshopDisasters: A blogsite that makes fun of botched photoshop jobs, (warning: sometimes racy).

So Today...: Alexa's

TallSkinnyKiwi: the UK's #1 Christian blogger

The Ranch House Report: Hume Lake's blog

Urban Prankster: Performance art from cities all over the world

WebUrbanist: Really cool stuff

Wooster Collective: Street Art

Wresting:with:truth: My friend from Hume, Drew's, blogsite

Wow! Are you kidding me?