Stuff We'll Never Ever Need

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here. 

This one was originally posted on July 2, 2007.  I think it's apropos as I'm about to make another batch of these cookies (in a day or two).    

I am planning on baking some chocolate chip cookies.  (You know which recipe.)  It was suggested to me that to streamline this time-consuming activity that I should do the pan cookie variation.  I thought that this was a good idea, so I looked into it.

The recipe calls for a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan.  First I had to figure out what a jelly roll pan was.  Once I realized that I had one I measured it.  It's 12 x 17 inches.  And this is where the math came in.

Okay, so first thing: I double the recipe.  That means that this will fill two 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pans.  So, the recipe fills an area of (10 x 15 = 150) 150 square inches.  Double that--300 square inches.  My pan has an area of (12 x 17 = 204) 204 square inches.  So, too big for a single batch, not quite big enough for a double batch.  What to do now?

I went searching for a smaller pan to make up the difference.  I had a small cake pan, but that would only give me 45 square inches more.  300 - 204 = 96.  That was not quite half.  And then I found the pie pans.  Oops.  Now I have to remember the area formula for circles (actually, not an issue--I just hate bringing pi into the equation).

Right, so the pie pans give me roughly 33 square inches (not an exact figure because of the previously mentioned pi).  I have several, so three should do the trick (or at least make it close enough).

Sigh.  Baking should not be this complicated.

I sub for math classes a lot.  And someone always complains: "We'll never need to use this stuff."  I have told them otherwise, but they don't believe me.  I've given up the argument.  But they are wrong.

Lining a Purse

It's a rather dreary Monday.  It's been raining for days.  Days, I tell you!  (This is So. Cal.  It's only supposed to rain for a couple hours at a time.)  The grayness is starting to get to me.

I have to go out later and buy bright orange fabric.

I've been working on a purse for a while now.  After I finished my Christmas knitting (which got done very early this year), I had time to work on something for me.  I had this pattern in a book I got for Christmas a couple years ago.  I'd been meaning to make it for a while, but until now I hadn't had the time.

I got through the knitting easily enough, finishing it in about a week.

But then how was I going to put it together?  I could either whip stitch it or crochet around the edges.  And it needed to be lined.  

I've been contemplating this for nearly a month.  I made a strap (because I hate I-cord, there was no way I was making the strap of the pattern).  Last week I cut lining fabric and sewed on pockets.  Yesterday I assembled the whole thing.  And I discovered that I hated what came out.  

I don't have a picture yet.  I'll photograph the thing when it's done the way I like it. 

The main problem is I hate the lining fabric.  It's a beautiful bright orange, but it's way too heavy for the purse.  It was what I had on hand from a previous project (a superhero cape that I made for my nephew).  I was trying to avoid a trip to the fabric store.  

Last night I went through my button collection to find a fastener for the flap.  I didn't find one that worked.  At least, I didn't find one that I liked.  So, I might as well go out.  

In the rain.  

Oh well.  I have to get groceries anyway.  (I'm out of eggs and milk.)  

There's no reason to make myself a purse that I hate.  If I hate it, I'll never use it.  What is the point of that?  

A Little Knowledge...

I put up the outside Christmas lights the first weekend of this month.  I tested them before putting them out.  They lit.  No problem.  I thought that was the end of it.

My Christmas lights are the white ones in that mesh-type thing that are designed to decorate a bush or some shrubbery.  I pull them across my balconies.  It's a quick and easy way to light the balcony without twisting a single strand of lights around the railing (which I did for a couple years, but I did not like).

The night after putting up the Christmas lights, a section of them went dark.

The next day I went through and made sure all the bulbs were in place.  After touching one, the lights all came back on.  I thought I had fixed it.  I had.  For about 20 minutes.

During daylight hours, I went back to the lights to find which bulb had come loose.  It turned out one of them had burned out.  It was easy to find as the bulb had turned black.  I replaced it, and again I thought I was done.

That night, that section stayed lit for about 20 minutes.

The next day, I went to replace the burned out bulb to find that it was the same one.  So, I watched it.  When the lights were on, I could easily tell which bulb burned out as it was the brightest one on the strand.  And, of course, it burned out again.

I realized that I was going to have to replace the whole thing, because that one spot was going to continue to burn through bulbs.  But I'm kinda lazy, especially about the Christmas lights.  Having to take the whole thing down and put a new thing up was not my idea of a good solution.

What I needed was a way to bypass that one spot on the strand.

That's when it occurred to me.  What I needed to do was to somehow connect a wire through that one spot so the rest of the strand would stay lit.

I found that I could pull the bulb out of the holder that put the bulb in the strand.  I needed a wire to go across that holder to keep the electricity flowing to the rest of the strand.  This wire would bypass where a bulb would have been.  It would have been silly to sacrifice a bulb every night for 20 minutes of a fully-lit strand.

I found some old twist ties, removed the paper, cut a wire to fit just over the holder, and glued it into place.  The next day (the glue needed 24 hours to dry), I put the holder into place.  It lit.  Hooray!

I did this on Wednesday.  So far, the lights have remained lit.

This is a fix for this year only.  Next year, I'm going to have to replace that whole strand.  (Maybe next year I can find some colored lights that blink.)

Forensic Report

Today I covered a forensics class.  Juniors and seniors.  I have subbed for this teacher before, so I knew that his classes would be, um, relaxed, as he's a very easy-going guy.

They had a writing assignment.  They were to write a report from the perspective of a crime scene investigator processing a crime scene that they invented.  They were given possible items that they could find. They were to pick 10 and include them in the report.

I thought it was an interesting assignment.  They weren't pleased.  First period wanted to argue about the assignment with the teacher.  (I asked if the teacher would then relent, and they said probably not.)

One of the things they could find was blowflies.  After having several students ask what a blowfly was, I looked it up on the Internet.  I found this site, and once I explained, they all replied the same: "Oh, right.  We did study that."

Second period wanted to know if they could use people they knew as characters in their report.  The way they asked the question made me think that not pleasant things were awaiting their characters.  The worry was that their report could be seen as a threat against the real people.  Considering the class and the assignment, I said that they were probably okay, but to be careful.  (As I'm not the one grading these things, I have to be careful as to what I say is and is not permissible.)

Then a student in fourth period asked what a matchbook was.  Have matchbooks gone out of style?  Do they no longer exist?  It troubled me a little when I got the question the first time.  After the third time, I wondered when matchbooks had become obsolete, and why I missed this.

I'm not sure when, but it was later in the day when a student asked what an apple core was.

It's interesting to see where their knowledge gaps are.  I have no idea why they don't know some of these things.  I wonder about it sometimes.

Bad Note

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here. 

This one was originally posted on December 6, 2006.  

The class did not want me to leave a "bad" note.  Then one girl pipes up with this: "She does.  The last time she subbed I ended up having to write an essay."

And that just pissed me off...  

1. I do not write "bad" notes.  I report to the classroom teacher what each class did.  It is up to the teacher to determine value.
2. If the students were doing things they shouldn't have been, that is their fault, not mine.  Like a letter grade--they earn the note, I don't randomly "give" it.
3. The class should behave.  They shouldn't try to bribe me or guilt me into writing a "good" note that was not earned.  And...  
4. The girl who had to write an essay was TALKING during a TEST!  She got off easy.  

I shouldn't care.  I really shouldn't.  Kids are all about getting away with as much as they can.  But today my patience fell somewhere below my knees, and they just TICKED ME OFF!!!

Just Plain Mean

It's been a while since I was last in the opportunity class at the continuation high school.  There is a whole new group.  Only one student is left over from the last group.  So, they did not know me, and they did not realize that I do actually know the routine.  But, of course, this was not the issue of the day.

Ana was the issue of the day.

She started out the day as the best worker.  She finished her first assignment and asked for another.  This was a bit of a shock, as the others in class weren't working.  They were discussing their weekend and explaining to me that they could, in fact, use their cell phones in class (this I was not buying).

Then group two came in (there's one group that comes in first thing, then a second group that starts an hour later).  Oscar was in group two, and apparently he's a neighbor of Ana's.  They sat together and started discussing stuff.

I wasn't really listening, but Ana's vocabulary relies much too heavily on words best not used in school.  I told her to watch her language several times.  She'd look at me with a "what?" expression, as most of the time she didn't even realize that an F-bomb had passed her lips.

First, I told Ana to stop.  She informed me that I did not know her well enough to call her Ana.  She told me to call her Ms. Hernandez.  Then I didn't say Hernandez correctly.

She only got nastier after that.

She and Oscar were discussing something.  As is my habit, if I hear something that needs comment, I comment.  Ana informed me that I was not allowed to enter her conversation.  That was not my job.  Why she thought that she and Oscar were having some private conversation, I have no idea.

Then she objected to my watching her.

Later, I learned that she had only been in the class three days.  She had been placed in the class because she had hit someone in her other class, and they needed her out so that things could "calm down".  The office ladies are sure that she'll be kicked out of this class pretty soon.

The opportunity class is always such an adventure.

Time for the Christmas List

My favorite Christmas movie is on next week.

My favorite Christmas movie is a TV movie from 1997 called The Christmas List.  It's been on every year since, but it's been getting harder and harder to find.  I know why.  It's now 13 years old.

They come out with new Christmas movies every year.  I understand the desire to promote the new.  But they haven't come out with a movie that has surpassed it (in my opinion).

I'm not sure why it connected with me so.  Perhaps it was because that Christmas season I was still working in retail (although my retail reality was a far cry from the movie's).  Perhaps I like the idea of a wish list where all the wishes come true (albeit not in the way expected).  Or perhaps it's because it was a sweet movie in a time where I needed to see a little sweetness.

The movie played on a broadcast network initially (I forget which).  In the past few years, it made its way to ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas.  But they've been phasing it out.  It used to play a couple of times during the season.  This year, it's only on once--Wednesday, December 15th at 4 AM.  Yep, 4 AM (that's Pacific time, but still early at 7 AM on the east coast).

That's what the DVR is for, right?

I guess it's time to find it on DVD.  Is it even on DVD?