Mid-Week Miscellany: The Lady Gaga Edition

I have been a loyal, dedicated, and profitable customer of Amazon.com for years.  Today, however, they hurt me.  Hurt me and left me befuddled and dazed.  And a little angry.  Amazon has worked very hard at recommending items based upon my past browsing and buying habits.  The algorithms their 10,000 monkeys generated for my account have generally been very good at suggesting books, movies, and music for my buying pleasure.

When I opened up Amazon.com today to check the status of an order, I saw, listed under "Inspired by your shopping trends," the following items:
A Canon lens case (okay-good choice)
A flash card (yep-understand that one)
A "How to survive the end of the world" book (a little flummoxed by this one but I did buy "On the Beach," "The Day After," "The Hunt for Red October," "Wargames," "Red Dawn," "Failsafe," and "The Manchurian Candidate" all in one order this winter.  Okay, maybe I'm not so flummoxed by this one; it makes sense in retrospect)
A World War II computer game (hold on while I move this item to my cart)
A Lady Gaga album: Bad Romance: The Remixes (this is the one that angered and befuddled me; as if I would ever...Lady Gaga!)


Speaking of the end of the world, can you believe that a teacher I know and respect believes that the world may end in 2012 and teaches this to his students?  He has a survival bunker with a year's worth of water.  How that will help if the world ends, I don't profess to know.  Of course I know another teacher who taught French by showing French language movies that he had not previewed first.  It is never a good idea to show a movie you haven't carefully watched.  This is especially true of French language movies. 


I am taking sixty juniors to Six Flags next week for seven and a half hours.  I hate rides.  I hate Six Flags.  You can find me on the train or the Monster Mansion.  Pray for me.

Peace
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Donuts with Daddys Part III: I Love my Dad because he eats Corn!

It has been my pleasure to go to my childrens' Donuts with Daddies events whenever possible.  I told about two previous events with my eldest here and here.  With four children I have found it difficult to go to each one.  I missed the twins' event recently but I still got to keep a tie and a questionnaire of each of their impressions of me.   They are three and a half.

Matthew:
What is your Dad's name? Daddy
How old is your Dad? 3
What color are Dad's eyes?  Red (me: I must be really scary)
Hair? Orange
How tall is your Dad? This tall [raised his hand]
What is Dad's favorite food?  Chicken
What is your Dad's job? Teacher (me: good job)
Where is Dad's favorite place to go?  work (me: not so much)
What is Dad's favorite TV show?  football (me: he enjoyed watching football with me this fall)
What does Dad do around the house? play, eats (me: sad but accurate)
What is your favorite thing to do with your Dad? Watch a show
I love my Dad because I do!

William:
What is your Dad's name? Mark (me: what?)
How old is your Dad? 8 (me: closer than your brother's guess)
What color are Dad's eyes? Blue (me: well done)
Hair? Black
How tall is your Dad? Bigger
What is Dad's favorite food? apples (me: not so much)
What is your Dad's job? works on computers (me: teaching involves so much mouse work these days that I have to give him credit for this one)
Where is Dad's favorite place to go? stay home (me: I didn't know that he knew me this well)
What is Dad's favorite TV show? movies (me: well done)
What does Dad do around the house? plays with me; watches TV (me: true; I am glad they both said "play")
What is your favorite thing to do with your Dad? eat carrots with him; color (me: carrots?  Carrots!)
I love my Dad because he eats corn! (me: again with the food)

I love those two boys.  I am sorry I missed their day with me, but we are on a strict "don't take any days off because it is re-enrollment (and new contract) season."


I spent a day in the mountains recently.  Here's a photo for your enjoyment.  I may post about the adventure.  I may not.  Check out my photos at my Flickr for more of the same.

Peace
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