More Meebo

You may remember I tried using Meebo for instant messaging to/from me, but it was a bit of a bust since my flakey internet connection kept bumping me off. Well, I decided to play around with it some more and now I have set up a Meebo chat room. I have made it open to the public, that means any of you reading this. Others may wander in, who knows?  (I do have the capability of banning individuals if we get attacked by people who don’t like to play nice.) The web address is:

http://www.meebo.com/user/cweenmj/room/

And I’ll put a link to it over there on the left, too.   Right now it has a tiger icon, but I’ll change that in a day or two (I hope) to my lovely mj with a crown.

It should be available 24/7 for you. I don’t have to be online for you to talk on it. And you don’t have to have a Meebo account, but you can get one just by going to http://www.Meebo.com

Ok, kids. Play nice!!

Next Season on Survivor

I got this from Dottie. Not surprisingly, she’s a teacher. If you can read this, thank a teacher.

Thanks Dottie!!

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in a classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum, and a class of 28 - 32 students. Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 5 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and state frameworks . . . and then modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Blue] drills for shooting attacks each month.

They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curr iculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the Star, Inspect, Multiple Measures and Hexad tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their newsalary, they may not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.

The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job.

Sign of the Times

Hydraulics

The Winnebago has developed a hydraulic leak in the mechanism that controls the slide-outs and the leveling jacks.  We took it to a dealer in Bend today, a 40 mile trip each way.  They looked it over and decided exactly where the leak is and what part they need to get to fix it.  It’s the swivel connector on the hydraulic line to the right front jack that is leaking.  Now they have to get pre-approval from our extended warranty company and then get the part in and we can take the motor home in again and get it repaired.  They said it will take about 2 weeks to get the part in, and 7 hours to take the old one off and install the new one.

So the answer to the question “What’s it like to live in a motor home?” is: Its a lot like living any other home except when you have a maintenance issue, the repairman doesn’t come to you, you go to him.

Work

We’ve been here a whole 5 days and so far, so good.  Our bosses, Rick and Julie are sooo nice.

Our picnic table was looking a little ragged with faded stain and the wood was splintering.  I told Rick if he’d give us sandpaper and some paint, we’d spiff it up.  The next morning he showed up with a belt sander and a palm sander for us.  And this morning he dropped off a can of stain and a paintbrush!  So now it’s all pretty and splinter free.

We have actually checked in one family and have sold some firewood and ice!!   The campground has just opened for the season and is pretty empty. There are two motorhomes and the family of tenters.  In the evenings we hop on our little golf cart two or three times and make the rounds anyway.  Mostly just to get used to finding our way around in the dark.

So far the wildlife has us humans outnumbered.  There is a herd of a dozen deer that walk through every evening.  I have to bring my pansies in every night so the deer don’t eat them.  And there are a couple dozen canada geese, some loons and a few coots and mallards;  we’ve also seen bunnies and eagles (from a distance).

All for now, but there’s more fun to come, I’m sure.

mj