The right FIT

So there I was, a few weeks back, flipping through countless racks of dress shirts at Kohls. School was about to start and I wanted something new to wear (tax free + coupons = yeah baby). I started with the "display" shirts... they look good on the dummy but... I needed to keep looking around. I scouted the clearance racks.... miles and miles of them.
No, No, Nope, heck no, no no, maybe, no, mmmm no, maybe, AHA OK... found one. It was a "safe selection". Actually it was like pretty much everything else I own only newer. I placed it on the end of the rack and decided to keep looking.

I continued my shopping ritual: flipping through the racks until I found a gem in my size then placing it on the end of the rack for later evaluation. Pretty soon I had all of my favorite shirts displayed on the ends of every rack in the men's department (looked like my closet, only bigger). I was just about finished with a section when I spotted a shirt I liked, but couldn't find a "Large" size. Hmmm, I didn't really want an XL because they don't quite fit right in the shoulders, but I didn't want a medium cause that would look silly. Suddenly, I saw it. A size I'd never seen before..... "LT".

I'm not exactly sure what "LT" stands for but I'm guessing it's "Long & Tall". I was so excited to see this size that I went back to all of my other favorited racks and found LT sizes for them also.... switching all of my shirts to LT.

....which brings me to today. Today was the first time I've worn one of my LT shirts. At first, I felt a little weird. It actually went down below my butt, however when I looked in the mirror it seemed to sit on my shoulders nicely (not too big). I asked myself "is this how short people feel everyday"? Well whatever the answer I can report that I'm very pleased with my LT shirts and I can't wait to wear the next one. I finally found a shirt that fits well. If it had 2 pockets I'd nominate it for the SHIRT HALL OF FAME!!!

Library Procedures

I start library orientations next week to go over rules and procedures with every class. Over the years I've developed a pretty good powerpoint for the rules with embedded videos that model my procedures. This year, I decided to make videos with Clifford instead of students so that I could use this again next year without dating my material. Great idea, right? Well the first problem was Clifford's paws.... when I went to take a book off the shelf many of the books fell on the floor. For the second take I positioned the book "just so" on the shelf so that I could grab it..... I didn't think ahead about how I was going to open it.....etc.

YouTube Awards

Little did I know that the video I made of my parents buying an RV was going to be my most popular YouTube post......BY FAR! Days after posting the video, I was contacted by an RV social networking site that asked if they could use it as their "Video of the week". Sure, why not.... My parents will get a kick of out that, right? Quickly, my video set milestones on my YouTube page: First to 100 view, First to 2oo views, etc.

Yesterday, this video entered a new league.... Over amost 2,000 views in the last 24 hours. I don't know why. I don't know how. It's just weird how it has taken on a life of it's own. Meanwhile, my other videos struggle to break double digit viewer ship.

Back to School

I love being back at school! This year seems to be getting off on such a great start:
- New Carpet
- Major upgrades around campus
- Admin / Teachers seem to have their act together
- Big projects planned
- and FLEXIBILITY to do what needs to be done


On the other hand.... At my house, my air conditioner is driving me crazy. I likes to make gargling noise from the drain pipe every once in awhile with no rhyme or reason. I've tried everything I can think of from pouring hot water/bleach down the pipe, to putting a tube in it and blowing. I even hooked my bed pump to the tub to see if it could blow it clear.... Last evening, it gargled for hours before finally shutting up around 10pm. I may be calling the A/C repair guys soon to fix it once and for all.

He's at it again.....

William Gray puts out a "hurricane prediction" forecast every year.... and every year he's DEAD WRONG! That's not the problem though. Everyone has a prediction, right? Yeah, well the problem is that the media jump all over this guys predictions like it's coming from God himself.

Last year, Mr. Gray predicted a super duper season. As the season starts Mr. Gray starts to "revise" his predictions. No hurricanes this month?... well, I'll just revise my predictions down a bit.

With this years season well under way and nothing to show for it, Mr. Gray announced today that he's going to knock 2 hurricanes off his prediction. Thanks....ANYBODY can predict the weather after the fact.

Why do we listen to these guys anyway? If there's a system brewing, we take action..... If it's quiet, we watch for the next one. Who cares what the "PREDICTION" is? It's about as reliable as the groundhog.

Life goes on....

I've read reports of a big feud going on between the Sept 11 families and NYC officials over the ground zero property. Each year, the victims' families converge on the site of the 9/11 tragedy to mourn the lose of their loved ones. City officials, however, have said that with ongoing construction projects under way the site is no longer safe for the annual memorial..... instead suggesting a nearby park. The family groups are furious and are threatening to sue the city over the matter.

"Ground Zero is the graveyard for many of the people who died, so it is the obvious place to mourn them," said Jim McCaffrey, a firefighter who lost his brother-in-law, Orio Palmer, in the hijacked plane attacks on September 11, 2001."

My 2 Cents:
Ground zero is NOT a "graveyard" for anybody. It is the site of a terrible attack. People die everyday and we can't put up memorials or make shrines in every public place were tragedy has occurred. Cemeteries are set up for this purpose. They are set up for people to mourn the dead....even in cases were bodies can't be recovered. I'm all for making a nice little 9/11 garden or memorial somewhere that these people can go to since it was such a big part of our nation's history, but for them to claim that they have rites to that property is just silly.

On a similar note, I get tired of seeing shrines to deceased drivers scattered across the roadways. Yes, people die everyday on the streets.... that doesn't mean that we need wreaths, crosses, flowers, etc.... set up for years at each intersection to remember them. These are public places and life goes on.