Canadian geese

You know what’s weird about being in Illinois, aside from all the green? The amount of gentle things out in nature. I live across the street from a 59-acre forest, and it’s so weird to jog past all the Canadian geese, who continually honk at you and fly in V’s, or pass by white-tailed deer. And it’s shady, and pretty…but it’s all so gentle right now. There is no edge, like with Arizona — no lizards, snakes, or spiders. There are, however, mosquitoes, and that’s about as rough as it gets.

I could get used to it.

Are we failing our geniuses? - TIME

Earlier this year, Patrick Gonzales of the U.S. Department of Education presented a paper showing that the highest-achieving students in six other countries, including Japan, Hungary and Singapore, scored significantly higher in math than their bright U.S. counterparts, who scored about the same as the Estonians. Which all suggests we may be squandering a national resource: our best young minds.

I think this article is bang-on here. It seems as though in our battle to focus on stragglers, we tend to abandon those at top. In doing so, we just may be loosing our future Einsteins and pioneers of tomorrow.

full article

dang, it feels good to be a simster

So, after playing ungodly hours of The Sims 2 and restructuring my own life simultaneously, I realized that being a Sim is not such a bad deal. Here are 20 reasons why being a Sim beats the real world:

• You can always sell your used items immediately and at a fair price.
• When you’re a toddler, there’s nothing Smart Milk can’t solve.
• You do not have to wait 8 months to grow out your hair.
• It only takes a few hours of practice to competently play “Flight of the Bumblebee” on a piano.
• When you get married, you can invite up to 6 wedding guests, and no one will feel sad if you don’t invite a family member.
• There are always exactly the right ingredients in your fridge if you want to cook a meal.
• You know exactly what you need to do — from the number of friends to the amount of skill points — in order to be promoted at your job.
• Damond engagement rings, wedding ceremonies, and honeymoons are all free!
• When you move out of your house, you automatically get $20,000.
• Woohooing yields 100% effective birth control.
• When you buy a bookshelf, it comes packed full of books with everything you need to know about cleaning, mechanical, and cooking. All of this knowledge, along with your diary, exists in one green-and-yellow book.
• Repainting your walls is as hassle-free as holding down the “shift” key and clicking.
• You know from Teenage years on what you want to do with your life.
• When you’re a teacher, you get to come home at 3pm.
• There’s no need to go to the hospital when you go into labor.
• All you have to do is grow up in a reasonably good mood and you are ensured a long, happy life.
• Taxis are free!
• To change an outfit, all you have to do is twirl around once and swiftly.
• Money grows on trees.
• Robots can, will, and do ultimately solve everything!!

black and white desert

Chris [showing us some of his road trip pictures]: So, in these next few photos I was experimenting with the panorama stitching feature on my camera. But what I didn’t know about this feature is, my camera does panoramas in black and white. And it’s really sad, too, because this panorama happens to be of the Painted Desert and would be really beautiful in color.

new illinois license

I got my Illinois driver’s license! At the DMV today, they made me take the written test. From the three answers I got wrong, I learned that in Illinois it’s legal to drive with a child under 8 in any seat in the car (including the front seat! Not so out in California!), you must start signaling a turn signal at least 50 feet from the intersection (but not during the last 100 feet, which is what I said), and apparently No Passing Zone shapes are elongated to fit computer screens these days.

I guess it’s the little things about the Midwest that makes it seem foreign. My new driver’s license expires in 2011. My old one expired in 2048. And the DMV officers were making a big deal out of it; as though they’ve never heard of such things. But I still think it’s weirder to have to signal 50 feet from the intersection.

Abstinence Billboard birth control

Talya: Kevin and I moved in our new apartment, and this area is incredibly Christian…so, there are lots of abstinence billboards around and stuff. I guess we didn’t notice that when we were scoping out the area.
Lynn: Haha that’s hilarious. I wonder if anyone is like, well I was gonna have sex, but then I saw the billboard, and changed my mind!

planning

This weekend it all begins: Kevin and I are moving down to Champaign and into our 2-bedroom apartment. Apparently it’s on the third floor of the building, but I don’t mind climbing three flights of stairs every time I want to go anywhere. Exercise is good for us! I am excited because we’re getting a parquet floor, which is better for allergies and just looks better than carpet, in my opinion.

Also, I took a job teaching middle school math at Countryside School. I think it will be a lot of fun; lots of opportunities for personal growth and all that good stuff. I can’t help but wonder what kinds of things my students will be contributing to THE BOOK!

I end my post with a random image:

PS — how about that Harry Potter book? I know I can’t post spoilers on my blog, but will say that I loooved it and would love to analyze with anyone who read it.