Ok, so I need a weekend do-over. One of the munchkins coughed or sneezed on me last week, and did me in. Usually I manage to evade the germs, but this time I wasn't successful.

Friday I had the scratchy throat. Saturday I felt like I was drowning in a frigid pool of mud. Today I'm feeling a bit better, but have a pounding headache.

I'm not big on taking medicine, but Saturday night I couldn't stand not being able to breath, so I downed some Nyquil. Those of you who know me, understand I don't handle any type of drug or stimulate very well. We're talking caffeine, medicine, etc. Nyquil makes me feel like my skin is crawling. My typing skills have deteriorated and my response time is much slower than normal.

All I have to say is, drugs are bad.

I have managed to teach all but three of my children to recognize a list of famous African Americans by showing them a picture. And not only can they identify them by their picture, but they can tell me what each person does that makes them so important. I can call out the names, and have the children point to the correct picture. They also understand when I point to a picture and ask the question "Who is this?" I'm so proud of them. They are listening sometimes.

Today I asked the children, who is the President of the United States? and one little boy raised his hand and said "Colin Bush!" (He was referencing a picture of Colin Powell we were using for a different topic - see above) I smiled and said, very close! while trying not to show my amusement. He had it half right, after all. The second little girl yelled "George Washington!"... she has trouble with verbs.. is, was.. it's all the same to her. E for effort.

Kids. You've got to love them.

What better way to spend President's Day than by baking cookies, making chicken pot pie, watching movies, and playing video games. (That should read "It snowed last night and I'm not going out in that mess.")

I've been busily gathering bananas on the Donkey Kong game. There's a movie called Ong Bak that needs to a good viewing. Why can't it snow on a day when we HAVE work, so that it can get cancelled?

If you hadn't noticed I changed the color scheme on the site yesterday. The sunflower finally got on my nerves after however many months. I couldn't stand to look at the yellow and green any longer. Change is good.

More to come..

Here we go again. After watching the infomercial for these videos two nights ago, (yes, infomercial) and roping Zann into buying them along with me, I have decided to give Billy Blank's Boot Camp a shot.

I usually spend the warmer months (all three of them) running laps around Brooklyn, but when it's frigid outside the motivation to run goes into hibernation. Last year I bought a Lateral Thigh Trainer, which works well, but can be quite boring at times.

Now, these boot camp videos are boasting visual results after only seven days of training. I'm a little skeptical, but it sounds too good to pass up the opportunity. Winter pounds are difficult to shed. From what I've seen so far, the routines appear to be entertaining to say the least.

The set comes with four different DVD's, each ranging from 35 to 60 minutes in length. You also receive "Billy Bands" which take the place of free weights. And let's not forget the dog tags and energy pills (which I will not be ingesting.) All for $40. You can't beat that with a stick.

Of course, the windows and living room furniture might not survive after an hour of kicking and flailing about. I'm not the most graceful of creatures.

Kodo and Podo, a.k.a. Mr. and Mrs. Bad, a.k.a. Eris and Calisti. Old, old ferrets but cool nonetheless. They're especially great when they don't use the floor as their litter box.

Here's something I've been pondering today. I would guess an average of 95% of the human population puts on a seat belt when they get into their car, a friends car, etc. (As I said that's just a guess, it's probably lower than that.. but work with me here!)

Explain to me then, why it is that the seat belt rule goes out the window when those same people park themselves inside a taxi. I've been in plenty of NYC taxi's, and let me tell you, it's the ONE place I wouldn't be caught dead unharnessed. (Hell, I think it might be wise to force the commision to install those five-point contraptions Nascar uses.)

But no, I rarely see folks strapping in once they're in the cab. Maybe people think that a force field exists to protect them from the craziness that ensues when their lives are in the hands of a cab driver?

Well THERE ISN'T! So, explain the phenomenon to me, because I'd like to know.

I managed to make it to the sixth board on Ms. Pac-Man. Now there's a game. This may not sound like a very big accomplishment, but until last night I hadn't beaten the fourth board. Those ghosts are too fast for their own good. Winky, Sue, Blinkin, and Nod.

I've also been reading a book called "The Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. It is currently employed as my laundro-mat literature (IE. the book I take along to read so that I have something to do other than count the number of times the red sock goes 'round in the drier.) No complaints so far.

The book is standard fantasy, which means that it follows along the lines of Lord of the Rings. The plot is such: Bad guys dressed in black and five times the size of unsuspecting good guys on a quest that they don't understand, travel the lands chasing/fleeing from one another to find an expensive piece of treasure that could ruin/save the world.

In this book instead of ring wraiths, we have skull bearers; instead of a fellowship of nine adventurers, there are six; the treasure to be gained is a sword, instead of a ring. Very similar, the two. But one must remember that LOTR's is the greatest work ever written in this genre. One would do well to follow the rules set by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Finally, have any of you seen the Florida news lately? Lake Deputy Slain. Born and raised in Lake County, and having taken more than one trip through the Ocala National Forest, I understand why it took police eight hours to find this bastard. Quite frankly, I'm glad that he is now paralyzed from the firefight he had with the cops. I hope they shot him in the most uncomfortable of places.

Quite frankly I think the punishment fits the crime. Death was too good for this one. Now he can spend the rest of his life miserable, unable to move or escape or harm another person. God doesn't like ugly.

You know you're spread too thin at work when you manage to fall in a slush/snow filled pothole while picking up fish tank filters on your thirty minute lunch break in downtown Brooklyn mid-day traffic for a school full of classroom aquariums. Breath!

Let's just say the city shouldn't put plywood over potholes because the wood floats, and gives a very deceiving look of stability. When you step on it, however, you find it's much more like trying to stand on an iced-over surf board in the middle of a hurricane. I didn't fall down, but I did end up with two boots full of garbage slush water from the city street. My feet were dirty. Those of you who know me well understand how miserable I was the rest of the afternoon. But that was yesterday.

Today I was assigned the job of creating three different bulletin boards for Black History month. (That's February for those who weren't aware.) Now, these boards aren't in my classroom, because those I've already completed. These are boards that the director is in charge of maintaining. Unfortunately, he noticed that I am above average on the creative end of things, and requested I be put in charge of the task. Joy.

I don't mind putting them together, but my schedule doesn't really allow for time outside of the classroom. The trip to the pet store and extra time spent decorating the halls is beginning to rub me the wrong way. But that's ok Boss.. I'll decorate the bulletin board and the kids can, I don't know... entertain themselves. Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe they'll learn ABCs and 123s all by themselves while they're at it!

Now for something a bit more exciting. Zann's annual CD shipment arrived today. (Two weeks after she mailed them, thanks for nothing USPS.) I now have mixes for the years 1996-2004. The collection is up to date once more. Nothing beats a Zann mix.

Everyone should go check out Charlie's site. The man is hilarious. I was hooked from day one (thanks to his dog and her nose for, well, skunks.) Not to mention he has nice things to say about his readers. You can't beat that.