Sold!

There was crow poop all over the car yesterday morning when we left for work. On winter evenings, large murders of crows gather at dusk in the trees above our parking lot before flying off en masse to roost. It's cool, but it can get messy. Yesterday's mess was a little grosser than usual with chunky splatters on the windshield and by the door handles, but like many things, I forget about it until it's right in front of me again. 

So this afternoon, when I went out to run a couple of errands, I made a stop at the carwash down the street first. The establishment had recently changed hands and had gone from a wait inside to a ride-through car wash. Even so, an employee greeted me at the pay gate. There he explained a grand-opening promotion they were running where I could get 2 months of unlimited daily car washes for 29.99. "That would only be 50 cents a day," he said. 

"I might need it!" I laughed, gesturing to the crow droppings. 

He nodded sympathetically. "If it doesn't come off today," he told me, "I'll let you go through again."

The Future is Now

I was digging around this morning in the cabinet where I keep the games in my classroom. Some of the kids were playing Spot-it, and I asked them if they had ever played Set. Several said they had, and I realized that although I owned a couple of decks, it had literally been years since I or anyone else had seen them. 

I was first introduced to the game over thirty years ago by my young cousin, Jennifer. She was 8 or 9 at the time and had played it in some gifted pull-out sessions at school. I was training to be a teacher and the two of us loved playing games, so Set was a good fit. Back then, Jennifer liked playing with me because I wouldn't let her win, so she knew if she beat me it was fair and square and a much sweeter victory.

I found the games in the back corner of the cupboard in a little crate with some other cards, among them something called Table Talk which was comprised of a deck of conversation starters. I have no idea when or where I acquired the game, but the first card I looked at happened to be the exact same question I posted for the warm-up on Monday. It occurred to me then that the game might be a helpful source of Chat questions, and so I set it aside when I pushed the crate back into the corner.

This afternoon I was sorting through the questions, and although many are good for sixth graders, a few like What does your dream kitchen look like? and What advice do you have for newlyweds? just aren't relevant. I did come across a question that hinted at the age of the game, though.

As Seen on TV

"What do you mean you're going to "see" Seinfeld?" a friend asked me at school the other day when we were talking about our weekend plans.

"Jerry Seinfeld is playing two shows at the Anthem on both Friday and Saturday," I explained, "and we have tickets."

Heidi has been having similar interactions with friends this week: they are surprised that Seinfeld is touring, and impressed that we are going.

"I hope you told them about Gordon Ramsay's Fish and Chips, too!" I laughed when she told me about her latest conversation. "Because that kind of rounds out the evening, right?"

The Stage is Set

The costumes are hung, the props unpacked, the equipment checked, and the blank storyboards prepared. After demonstrating their theoretical knowledge of persuasive techniques on a test, my students will start their commercials tomorrow. 

Bring it on-- I'm more than ready for a couple weeks of creative chaos!

Sad Necessity

News today that all district professional learning for our system-wide PD day tomorrow has been canceled. Instead staff will be required to take Narcan administration training, as well as participate in another session about how to recognize the signs of opioid abuse.

After one student overdose death in a local high school last week and many emergency calls across the county schools to treat other kids, I know this is important training and knowledge for all secondary school personnel in our area.

But what a world.

Can Do

When my school organized a mentor group for girls, I was on the fence about volunteering. Years ago, I was a mentor, and I stayed connected to the same student all through middle school and beyond. In fact, she's in her early thirties now, and I'm friends with her on social media, following along as she works on a career and has adopted a rescue dog and cat. 

But this time around, I'm a lot older and, I confess, a bit curmudgeonly. Even though I still have a good rapport with my students, and we have fun in class, I was concerned about spending unstructured time with a kid I don't even teach. What could we possibly have in common? I found out in early December when we met for lunch in my classroom. Well, it was supposed to be lunch, but she didn't bring anything with her, claiming to rarely eat in the middle of the day.

We did not have that in common, because I am always starved for lunch, but we were able to make small talk about the World Cup, her family, and school. "What's your favorite snack?" I asked her.

"I love fruit!" she said. "Especially watermelon. It's my favorite."

Fortunately the mentor program is much more formal than the one twenty years ago. There are monthly activities for the kids and the adults organized by the counseling staff and funded by the school. In January we did a spa afternoon with face masks and finger nail painting, and today we decorated Valentine's Day cookies. January wasn't really my scene, and my mentee wasn't there so I bagged a little early. Today I was equally convinced she would be a no-show because she hadn't replied to my reminder message, but I headed down anyway and was pleasantly surprised. The girls had fun with the cookies, and my mentee even won the door prize. At the end of the afternoon, we arranged to have lunch again on Friday. 

"I'll bring the watermelon!" I told  her.

We're Quits

When I was a kid, it was the Sears holiday wish book that was our go to catalog when it came to making our Christmas lists. And the Sears outlet store in the next town over was always my mom’s first stop for school shopping.

When I moved to Arlington as a young adult, Sears had a big presence here, not only as a mainstay mid-priced department store, but also in the many neighborhood examples of the mail order houses they sold through the Sears catalog from 1908-1942.

And down in Atlanta, right around the corner from my sister, on the BeltLine in the Old Fourth Ward, Ponce City Market, a mixed-use development with a food hall, restaurants, upscale shopping, apartments, office space and a mini-golf course on the roof is a cool example of a repurposed Sears distribution center. Visiting there, though, I’ve always been a little sad that the company’s loss has been our gain.

Yeah, I’ve been a loyal Sears supporter for nearly sixty years, all through the ups but mostly downs of the company. Then, after the whole refrigerator fiasco yesterday, today SEARS called to say that the refrigerator we ordered on November 27, which had been delayed three times, was now discontinued, and we would have to select a different model.

I think that might be the last straw Sears.