Just a Note...

I have had quite a week at work and it's still not over.

No week-end off for me as I will have to work both days.


I have noticed on my site stats that there has been an increasing number of college students looking for help with their commemorative speeches.

It's that time of year and the assignments will soon be due.

It's interesting to me to watch how the timing of class requirements correspond with all of the universities and colleges across the nation. Even in Hawaii!

I get quite an increase in visits to my commemorative speech assignment that I posted on my blog. It has already been two years since I attended that class.

It really doesn't seem that long ago to me.

I've used the internet a lot to help me along with my assignments. Last year I think a visiting student got in trouble because of my speech paper. It seems that my work has possibly been uploaded to turnitin, which is a plagiarism detection software that many universities use. The university I graduated from used it, and several of the professors let us "students" know how much they really liked the program.

**ahem**

Anyway...

This year a professor from the University of Iowa has linked to my speech via her online lecture notes. I don't know how long this link will be good. It's possible that she uses the same link for all of her classes and then updates it to change dates and pertinent information.

Regardless, I was flattered when I discovered that many of my Iowan student visitors were coming to my blog via the English professor's link.

I was then quite shocked when I read what she had written:

Want to see or listen to some other special occasion speeches?

Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy of Rosa Parks
George W. Bush's remarks at the Virginia Tech memorial
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
Here is nice student speech posted on a blog--it is from a longer assignment.

Thank you for the kind comments Professor. I really appreciate them!


(I wonder what kind of grade she would have given me?)


So...

I just thought that I would share this little tidbit of information with you guys and let you all know that finally I have been included with a group of individuals that might be able to meet my standards of achievement.

**cough**

That's it for my "short" little note for tonight.

Somehow, everything I write seems to always turn into a "longer assignment".

later...

A Short, Dramatic Story...

Daughter with Algebra homework:

Mom, I need help with my math.(imagine a female whining)

Me:

Okay. Bring it here.

Background: Mother graduated from high school in 1976.

(Mother looks at the problem, refreshes memory from ~several~ examples, tries a few and checks her work for accuracy (*cough*), and begins to explain how to solve it.)


Daughter:

Mom... What are you doing? That's not how Ms. ____ did it. I don't understand this. I can't do it. I guess I'll just get a zero (Add *pitiful* whine and tearing eyes.)

Me:

You can do it. You just have to take it step by step.

Mother starts back at the beginning and continues to explain the processes wondering how in the world these teachers explain something by using their "modern" shortcuts.

Daughter is now in full-blown "feeling sorry for herself" mode.

A reference is made by the daughter that the mother doesn't know what she is doing. Mother assures daughter that she does know what she is doing. *cough*


Daughter:

I can't do it. I don't know why I need to know this stuff anyway. I'll never use Algebra.

Me:

You need Algebra to get into college.

Daughter:

Then I guess I won't be going to college then.(add "teenage tone" here>

Me:

You'll be surprised at all the things you'll use from school when you get older.

Daughter:

Well I won't be using Algebra.

Me:

Yes you will.

Daughter:

No I won't, 'cause I'm not going to college.

Me:

You'll still need Algebra, because some day you'll be trying to help one of your kids with their math homework.

Daughter:

Then I'm not having any kids.

Me, pondering:

hmmm... algebra=birth control?, birth control=algebra?... Go figure.

End Note:

The daughter ended up understanding the algebraic equations. And yes, the little family duo was able to complete the homework assignment ~without tears~.

Gone Huntin'...

For the last two summers I have had the opportunity to see a passing hummingbird or two zoom through my yard.

I kept telling myself that I would get a feeder so that I could attract the little speedsters to my back yard.

Well, I finally broke down and picked up a hummingbird feeder at the Dollar General Store over the week-end. It was $2.50 and hopefully it will last the entire summer season.

It's been out now for almost a week. And I keep waiting and watching for a hummingbird.

But I haven't seen one yet.


It's getting a little frustrating.


Maybe I am expecting to have the following of hummers that my Mom has. She has so many hummingbirds in her yard that they consume almost 1/2 gallon of sugar water every two or three days.

Can you believe that?


Mom must have hundreds of hummingbirds come to her yard.


Or maybe I'm remembering the days when I was a kid and used to play in the water. I remember my clothes being wet and the colors turning real dark from the water. Hummingbirds would "buzz" me thinking that I was a flower or something. I remember one day when I was wearing red shorts. A hummingbird came up to me and I sat really still. He actually stuck his tongue on my water soaked shorts and then...

I "nabbed" him.

Yes. I have captured a hummingbird with my bare hands before.

The little birds are aggressive too and have turf wars over the feeders.

They fight and dive bomb each other all the time. Sometimes one of the birds will get knocked out of the air from the force of the attack. If a little hummingbird falls to the ground and lands in the grass they'll die. Because their legs are short and they can't get enough lift to take off from the ground.


I remember my grandmother, Mamma, having a hummingbird feeder on her front porch. It was great to be so close to the action.

One summer there was a hummingbird that was very aggressive. He would sit in the vine on the side of the porch and guard the feeder. He wouldn't let any other hummingbirds drink any of the sugar water.

I can't remember how long this went on for, but one day my grandfather, Pappa, had had enough of it. He had swung his hat at that bird, yelled at it, and who knows what else. But nothing he did had any effect on it. That bird was not giving up his territory. Pappa had labeled it "mean".

Then one day we heard this huge "BOOM". I thought...

"That sounds like a shotgun."


We all ran to the front porch and there was Pappa with the shotgun.

Lord, what dangerous creature had come so close to the house?


Not being able to immediately visualize a ~carcass~...

We asked Pappa what it was that he had shot. He said that he had shot "That Mean Hummingbird".


Us kids looked for the remains of the hummingbird, but there wasn't much left to be found.


We learned that day what was meant by the saying...

"Blown to Smithereens".


later...

What Happened to Google?

When I went to do some searching on the internet this afternoon, I found myself once again on a familiar page.



But today something caught my eye.

What is that? A strawberry dipped in chocolate you say?

No...

Not *that*.


Being the imaging expert that I am, *cough*, I found that something was missing.

One ~could~ call it a "physical abnormality".





The "L" is missing from Google.

Instead it says Googe.

How do you pronounce that?

"gooj" or "gouge"?


And just to prove that I didn't manipulate this image in any way, I present to you a page of search results complete with the mispelled "Google".




Yes...

I have developed a new hobby of sorts.

I am monitoring the search results on "Metropolitan Who's Who" and I am watching where this entry lands on the search returns:

BBB: Search Results(Metropolitan Who's Who ). 181 Freeman Ave Ste C, Islip, NY 11751 ... (Metropolitan Who's Who ). 76 W Main St Ste 1B, East Islip, NY 11730 ...
www.search.bbb.org/Results.aspx?n=Metropolitan+Who's+Who&add=&c=&st=&z= - 83k - Cached - Similar pages

Today the Better Business Bureau's reports are listed as the fifth entry on page three.

Of course, I am searching with the (") quotations around my terms.

later...


UPDATE

I wonder how long it is going to take them to fix this? It's been up there now for nearly an hour.

Surely, they're not "changing their name"?

hmmm...

UPDATE

What's the best way to cover up a mistake?

Pretend that you didn't make one.