from thisistrue mailing...

This is truly sad.... Zero tolerance is out of hand (not that it was ever in hand)

 

SHOOT THE MESSENGER: Students at Brick Township (N.J.) High School say that teacher Stuart Mantel often "went nuts" when they didn't properly respect the national anthem. One student brought in a video camera "to expose the teacher in case he did anything again." Apparently he did: the resulting video allegedly shows Mantel screaming at students who talked during the anthem, and yanking a chair from under one who did not stand. There is no law or school requirement for students to stand during the anthem. After the video was made public, school officials took strong, decisive action: the student who made the recording was suspended for 10 days, and the school moved to prohibit cameras in classrooms. The teacher was not disciplined. (Asbury Park Press) ...Respect is taught by example, not by force.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_030105_classroomoutburst.html

Wow, it's been over a week since my last post. We went to WV for the weekend for the annual cabin party.. We had a blast, this years theme was "sitcoms" - next year we are doing "Nursery rhymes".. Katya came out for the trip and stayed with her uncle Dave for the night of the party (No kids allowed). Not too much else has been going on lately, I am hoping to spend some time at home for a weekend or 2.. what a concept. I just ordered a front hitch for the Jeep - with any luck I will have it to install this weekend. Maybe we will go to the Franklin Institute with Katya this weekend as well, since we have a family membership. I figure if we go every month or 2 and let her have fun there (maybe bring a friend or 2 along) we'll get our money's worth. I was looking through the book and saw that there are museums in Baltimore and up in Maine near my sister that participate so we should be able to go to them for free also. I should be returning the car trailer this Friday if all works out and will be towing Dad's old truck down to Bob's to drop it off at the same time.

Well, right now we should be on our way to NJ....but since the Jeep blew the pinion seal on the front axle, we're not going anywhere. We're sitting here in Barnes & noble using the wireless internet while we wait for Fred to get here with the trailer to bring us home. It should be a long day but at least it won't cost an arm & a leg to get it towed home, or trying to find somewhere local to get it repaired. Once I get it home I can get the parts and fix it myself. Katya is majorly over tired as she has not gotten her nap yet. The wireless internet is a pretty cool idea.. $3.95 for 2 hours is not too bad. I guess we're going to try and find some lunch now.

The Credit Card Prank

This is real sad, but oh so true.... So you think that signature strip on the back of the credit card does any good? Think again....

http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/

What a year....

Wow.. Today marks one year to the day that we first saw Katya. I can't believe it has been a year already. One year ago we were sitting in Khabarovsk, Russia - probably sleeping since they are 15 hours ahead.

Wow... It's hard to believe that this time last year we were packing for our first trip to Russia. We left for Russia on Feb 29th last year (Leap day... funny). We were nervous about going to see the little girl that we wanted to adopt, and really nervous about travelling better than half way around the world. Neither of us had ever been out of the country (I had never flown further than Texas). Now that I look back on it, it all seems so long ago now. I would not be nervous about it now, I'm a seasoned world traveler. I've travelled 15 time zones and seen the sunrise over Europe. We have been to the Kremlin and within spitting distance of China. I've stared down the barrel of a Russian T1 tank (Museum piece) and walked the streets of Moscow as if I was in New York City. We got to see the world's largest bell and cannon. And best of all, we got our little girl. How many people can top that? Our daughter speaks English like an American, eats American food, and watches Americn TV. If we did not tell you she was adopted from Russia, you would never guess it from seeing her. She loves her Grandma and Grandpa, all 5 cats (she even yells at them when they are bad). I can't wait to take her to Pennsic with us this year so she can have the experience. I can't wait to see what the next year has to offer.

Well we had more snow today.... about 3" so far. Enough to make a mess, but not too bad. Katya loves to play in the snow. We went out and played for a while until it was time for dinner.

Things are calming down at work now that Dell replaced the server we should be much more stable.