Tuesday, December 28, 2004

four calling birds

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend, short though it was. Best wishes to all who are still digging out from under the snow, and a shout out to Washington for finally having recounted the ballots often enough to have new governor.

On Christmas Eve, I read a long newpaper article about the "new old-fashioned" tradition among many Jewish families to go out to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas. This sounds like an excellent tradition; I'd choose hot & sour soup over turkey any day. Maybe if the turkey were stir-fried in a spicy garlic sauce, that does sound like a nice alternative...

I'm trying very hard to relax during my vacation. Several family members gave me movies (all of them English) or mysteries (all of them set near the Atlantic Ocean) for Christmas. I tried to watch a really interesting film yesterday afternoon, and instead ended up taking a four hour nap. I notice that while some families do exchange Scotch or nice wine for Christmas, no one ever gifts sleeping pills.

Words Written: zero
Lessons Graded: two

4 comments:

John Burzynski said...

I just had General Tso's chicken and fried rice for lunch...a couple of us at work make a tradition of going out to lunch every year for the two days we have to work after Christmas (we split our Christmas/New Year's week up every year between our crew, half get two days off, the other half the other two days off). Every year it is the same thing eaten for lunch each of those two days; yesterday was gyros, today is always Chinese food. Same thing every year...kind of comforting, but we have been in a rut for almost 8 years now. Other people have Christmas traditions like egg nog, caroling, etc., we have gyros and Chinese food...go figure.

I recommend 'Hoosiers' for a movie to watch. It is a sports movie (basketball), but it is much more than just a sports movie. If you have seen it before, watch it again. A lot of great lessons exist in that movie, along with great acting, great Indiana scenery, and an excellent, award winning musical score.

TeacherRefPoet said...

Please note that the statement that Washington has a new governor may well be premature. Dino Rossi, the Republican who lost the hand-recount by either 160-ish votes (with the suddenly discovered ballots that weren't counted the first time by machine) or 10 votes (if they're not counted), is looking into a lawsuit. He doesn't like the inconsistencies in the way ballots were counted in heavily-democratic (and very populous) King County in the hand recount. We may not have a governor by inauguration day (Jan 12). That would suck for the state, but it's a civics teacher's dream...Gary Locke having to stay on as governor beyond his term while we sort this crap out.

There's even talk of a revote, which I think is a breathtakingly unfair idea (I'd think that regardless of the winner).

If you're bored: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002132490_recount28m.html

Anonymous said...

I'm still enjoying the holiday weekend - which lasts from 22nd December to 3rd January. :)

I wouldn't want you to be jealous or anything...

Steven

Swankette said...

For what it's worth, had Florida had the same standard for recounts that Washington does, we might well have seen a different president in 2000.