Facie’s Ramblings

As the Christmas season is fully upon us (no denying it now that Turkey Day is out of the way), I am faced with dilemma of not only what to buy for others but also what to tell people to buy for me. A big part of me wishes we could completely take presents out of the equation and focus on what the season is really about (or what it should be, for us Christians). But that won't happen. And besides, I do obtain some joy in buying for others, though that good feeling mostly lies in my shopping for the giving tree at church, where I can feel reasonably secure that whoever is getting my gift wants and needs what I have bought. But most of the rest of us? Do we really need anything? I have lamented about my being under-employed for years and how we sometimes struggle. But I know that compared to so many others, my family and I have it good. We have a roof over our heads, cars that run, closets and drawers full of clothes, food in our kitchen, a new oven to cook that food in, an HD TV (...

I have not hidden the fact that I think a lot of technology is ruining us. People become so dependent on their smart phones, iPads, laptops, GPS devices, etc., that they forget about human connection and even doing things the "old-fashioned way" at times. And sometimes people who are always wired (well, wireless is more like it) don't realize that not all of us are. For example, if you send an email a couple of hours before a meeting/practice/event/test change, you cannot assume everyone will read said email in enough time. There are some of us who still have our stupid phones, so unless we are sitting in front of a computer 16 hours a day (and sometimes that is not even enough), we are bound to miss things like that. But, of course, technology can be wonderful. I am glad I have a cell phone, even if it is stupid. When my relatives, traveling from two counties away, arrived late to meet me at the Steelers game, I knew what was going on thanks to my phone. And texting al...

Earlier this week I had a 3.5-plus-hour interview. with six different people (separately), which far surpasses my previous interview record. Up until I met with person number 6, I was able to think on my feet and answer whatever question or scenario put before me with relative ease. I felt pretty confident during the interviews. And I felt comfortable enough that I even joked with one person that I was hoping she was not going to ask me what I would do with a brick, as I had read online about someone being asked that very thing. Based on what a few people said, it appeared that my confidence and outgoing personality were tipping the scales in my favor (since I was, quite frankly, lacking some of the qualifications). In fact, one person told me that the other interviewee he talked to, despite being more qualified, seemed timid; another person said I could be taught what was necessary, but personality, which he indicated was a good fit, could not be changed. As I was reflecting b...

I have been in a weird place lately. Over the past week or two, I have nearly "written" several posts in my head and pretty much finished one while at the park Thursday. The ramblings lent themselves to names such as the following: "If I actually publish this post, I am pretty sure some friends will be calling me with great concern" "Where is my happy place"  "I can't cry hard enough" "Missing person" "Paralyzed by fear"  As for the first title, well, it is probably obvious that when that post was swirling around my head, I was pretty down. Fortunately, that post never came to fruition. Later, things looked up and something got me smiling again. But, alas, something else had me singing the blues before too long. It could have been another struggle with Jordan (that happens a lot lately, and I am quite sure a post will eventually come of it). Perhaps Brian and I were arguing about Jordan (yeah, it's a problem) o...

It is pretty rare for me to write a post not even 24 hours after I posted my last one. But I read a supremely annoying article on Yahoo today (from the New York Times ), and I had to comment on it. Here is the link, if you want to read it for yourself. In the meantime, let me summarize: You can apparently do almost everything you would ever want to do (and things you probably did not even know were possible) with a smart phone. Therefore, you don't need a point-and-shoot digital camera, a camcorder, a GPS system, or a digital music player. And apparently the desktop computer and thumb drive have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Excuse me while I go throw out all of those things and go directly to nearest Apple store so I can buy a super-smart phone. I also need to burn my desktop computer, but how about if I finish this post first, okay? We have a quite-old desktop computer. This may be a bad example, because the computer is now at the point where it turns itself off several tim...

If you have ever read That's Church, you know that Ginny over there hates pigeons. Hate is not a strong enough word, actually. Me? I never had much of an opinion either way regarding those birds. Until today. According to several people, one of whom works for Duquesne Light, this morning a pigeon ran into an electrical wire in my neighborhood and caused a power surge (which also caused said pigeon's wings to go up in flames), our second in just over eight months. (By second, I am referring to second power surge, not second occurrence of burning pigeon wings.) According to a recording, Duquesne Light first said there was an equipment malfunction. Just before the power came back on about 2.5 hours later, the reason changed to an animal. Regardless, we lost a computer, two cable (FiOS) boxes, a TV, a radio/CD/cassette player (hey, I still play cassettes sometimes), and about eight light bulbs. I am hoping since our AC works, the furnace will too (that was our big l...

A few hours ago, my baby finished first grade.There she is, clearly happy to be walking into the parking lot for the final time as a first grader. As the saying goes, it seemed like just yesterday was the first day of school, Jordan's first in a new school. She started off so excited, as you can see above, but almost as soon as she arrived at school, she was pretty nervous. The picture I took of her just before I left her classroom says it all: Just over nine months later, she has come a long way. And so have I. Jordan learned a lot and had fun doing it, for the most part. She started out barely being able to read, which was a big concern of mine, and ended up reading books on a second and even third grade level at times. She seemed to embrace the structure. She liked her teacher. She had fun at lunch and recess. She made a few friends. Her computer class, something she dreaded the first month, became one of her favorite classes. She eventually worked up the courage to parti...

I admire people who know exactly what they want to do. Maybe it is a long-term plan, but they know that someday they will get there. Or perhaps they have known since they were kids that this is what they were going to do, and they ended up doing it (this pretty much describes my brothers). But me? I am still searching my soul, just as I have been doing, whether consciously or not, for years. The substitute teaching thing is going okay. Most days I think this is what I want to do. I still want to make a difference, leave someone's (several someones, really) life better than it was before I came along. But I have some moments when the kids are so incredibly disrespectful that I think there is no way I can do this full time. At the very least, I am glad that I don't get called more than three days a week, because sometimes even two days feels like five. Seriously. And on days like yesterday, when I have nary a lesson plan to follow and I am forced to make it up as I am going a...

Years ago, I gave up making new year's resolutions. I pretty much never keep them, at least not for more than a few months, so why set myself up for failure? This year, I decided to instead list resolutions I should make, but won't (except for number 3, which I clearly need to do). Here goes: Eat better Exercise more Find a job Spend less time on the computer Be a more consistent parent when it comes to discipline Read books Volunteer some place in addition to Jordan's school and my church I am sure there are others I can come up with if I spent more than a few minutes thinking about it. But since I don't plan to do any of them (again, except for number 3, which I would love not to do, but probably cannot avoid), why tax my brain coming up with them? Anyway, I wish all of you a great 2010 (I am pronouncing it twenty-ten, by the way. How about you?)! Oh, and wouldn't you just know it, I checked and at the end of 2008, I wrote a post entitled "Resolutions I shoul...

Yep, that is me. In addition to my bullying class, I am also taking a class on digital literacy. I figured if I want to return to the classroom (which I am still not 100 percent sure I want to do), I should be aware of the technology teachers and students are using. Fellow teachers are throwing around words like promethean boards and elmo projectors. Here I thought Elmo was just the furry red monster. Sigh. I used a Mac for 13 years at my last job. I do not like PCs, but, alas, this is what we have at home. When I put in a disk last week, it took me almost five minutes to figure out where it went. On a Mac, it would have shown up on my desktop. But on PC, I had to go somewhere else (where, I already forget). I cannot figure out how to close and not quit out of programs (I want command W!). My computer seems to freeze/lock up way more than the Mac ever did. And when it does, I get this irritating message that asks me if I want to "End Now." Except now is more like three or fou...