Dear Continental, Delta, Southwest, American, and every other stupid commercial airline,

I am writing this letter to inform you that you suck.  Because you repeatedly jack up your prices around the holidays, you are making it impossible for me to see my family during my winter break.  While I'm no economic genius, I understand the basic concepts of capitalism and supply and demand.  I also understand that you take advantage of people like me, who can only take vacations during the holiday breaks, because that's when the schools are closed.  Flight prices magically go up between $100 and $300 from normally overpriced airfare if I want to fly during the only time when most children and teachers have time off.  I've been really excited about having some time off and seeing my family.  Thanks a bunch for ruining the only thing I was looking forward to during the break.  I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time sitting on the couch by myself while everyone else I know (including Lex) is still at work or is away visiting their families.  While we're at it, give a big high five to your friends the cruise lines, resort hotels, Disneys Land and World, and the rest of your evil little club.  In conclusion, you are a bunch of capitalistic jerks, so [insert your swear word of choice here] you.

Best wishes in this holiday season,

Lauren

Word of the Day:

frantic (adj) - very excited with worry or fear

And I have the web link to prove it:

 www.grab.com/awesome/Lauren
 

You can be awesome, too, and you can tell your friends how awesome they are!  Go for it.  Spread some of the awesomeness around!

Word of the Day:

destitute (adj) - without food, shelter, or money
 

Last week was Rosh HaShanah.  Tonight begins Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (or as the rabbi at the synagogue I attend likes to say, at-ONE-ment).  Not to be outdone by Rosh HaShanah, instead of alternating cycles of prayer and food, Yom Kippur is observed by prayer, skip the food, more prayer, skip the food again, and so on.  25+ hours are spent fasting (and abstaining from many other things), which is supposed to help me concentrate on nothing but atonement, without being distracted by the things around me.  Fasting in Judaism means that literally nothing passes between your lips, so no food, no beverages, no toothbrushing.  You're not even supposed to shower, lest some water accidently gets into your mouth.  Fasting is a good idea in theory, I suppose, but I often find that after skipping dinner, breakfast, and lunch, it's hard to think of anything besides being hungry and thirsty.  Fortunately, I'm pretty sure having a poor attention span is not one of the sins we confess to and ask absolution for during the service.

Another part of Yom Kippur is seeking forgiveness from other people, since according to the customs of Judaism, G-d can only forgive you for broken promises to or transgressions toward G-d, but not towards other people.  So, if there is anything I have done to offend or hurt anyone who reads this blog in the past, I am truly sorry and hope that you will forgive me.

Word of the Day:

gregarious (adj.) - happy to be with others

Turns out I'm actually not a hypochondriac!!!

After weeks of Lex's "gentle prodding" (read: "If you don't stop complaining and go to the doctor, I'm going to break both your legs.  Then you'll really have something to complain about!"), I finally went to an orthopaedist about my knee problems.  I was very impressed by this one-stop-shop clinic - they have every service you could possibly need to treat any orthopaedic problem, and they ran like a well-oiled machine.  I didn't have to wait very long to see the doctor, get the x-rays, and then see the doctor again.

As I had self-diagnosed, I have patellofemoral syndrome, also known as chondromalacia patella.  In my ample spare time, I need to go to physical therapy 3 times a week for the next month and then reevalute my treatment.  I also need to get orthotics for my shoes, because my feet apparently don't feel like being team players and their tendency to turn out is exacerbating the knee problem.

I'm whining about a lot of minor conveniences, but I suppose they're better than persistent knee pain.  At least I can say I was right

What a day! 

I started off kind of bummed over some personal stuff I won't get into here.  Went off to work, same old, same old.  Had a nice chat with my mom this morning - I love her so much! - so that kind of lifted me back up and made me happy.  The kids came to school, and we actually got to all parts of my lesson plan for Language Arts, so that made me happy, but then things were a bit difficult for my Reading group, so we ended a little behind.  That happens sometimes, so I wasn't too bummed.  I got my students ready to line up for lunch and then stepped into the hall to ask another teacher a question.  When I came back one of my students was throwing a tantrum that eventually involved him grabbing my arms in an attempt to drag me down the hall.  Kind of a bummer.  He's only 82 lbs., so not too much physical damage to me, but any aggressive incident means lots of cumbersome paperwork.  Lunch was great - one of the other teachers and I set up this great Social Studies project for our kids to work on later - so I was happy about that.  Social Skills and Math were without incident.  Science was kind of tough due to student behaviors - bummer -  at the beginning, but half of my group got pulled out for independent services, so I let the two I had left catch up on some assignments while I wrote the incident report from earlier - definitely happy to get that out of the way.  Social Studies came around, we got the project going and it was fairly successful, but then one of the students (thankfully not mine) got really frustrated and threw a calculator at me, hitting me in the stomach - big bummer, it HURT!  More paperwork, of course.  The kids went home soon, yadda yadda yadda, I eventually left work and drove through traffic to my evening masters program class (which is a constant bummer, but we won't get into that here) and then I found as I walked into the classroom that it was cancelled!  Though I was bummed that I had driven there in the first place, I was so happy that I didn't have to spend 3 hours listening to the idiocy that is a constant factor of my program.  Plus, now I get to spend the evening with Lex (if he'd ever get home from work) and Charlie!  Definitely happy.

I hope tomorrow is a little more constant!  I don't particularly like rollercoasters, emotional or otherwise

(I realized the above is not quite true - I actually do enjoy many rollercoasters.  Ah, well.  I can't even spell Britney.  Clearly I make mistakes.)

Word of the Day:

Since I've read about so many other bloggers, I thought I'd add my own info to the fray. 

1. First name? Lauren.
2. Were you named after anyone? Yes, Lauren Bacall in English, my great-grandmother Ida in Hebrew.
3. Do you wish on stars? Not since I was 8.
4. When did you last cry? When I hit myself in the mouth with a yardstick.
5. Do you like your handwriting? Depends on how much time I have to write.  When I go slowly, it's cute.  When I'm in a rush, it's hard to distinguish from Farsi.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? It's a tie between salami and honey-roasted turkey.
7. What is your birth date? May 1.
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? Spice World by the Spice Girls, but in my defense I took it from my sister.
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? I don't know - I'm very stubborn.  How could I ever win with myself?
10. What is your middle name?  Since I got married and changed my name, it's technically Stephanie Krutzel.  Krutzel is my maiden name.
11. Do you prefer alone, small intimate groups, or parties? Small intimate groups.
12. Morning person or night owl? Definitely a night owl.  It's 11:38 am and I'm still not awake.
13. When do you refill your tank? I tell Lex it's when it hits a quarter-tank remaining.
14. Do you prefer coming up with questions or answers? What do you think?
15. Plain or toasted? I can go either way.
16. Baked or fried? My tummy likes baked.  My mouth like fried.
17. Do you sing louder in the car or shower? Car.  I have neighbors.
18. Do you have a journal?    Does this blog count?
19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Not as much as I used to - my students (kids with autism) don't really get sarcasm.
20. Do you regret your decision to fill in the missing questions? Haven't done that yet.
21. Do you plan to stop doing that now since it's taking forever? No, I think I'll get started from this point..
22. What are your nicknames? I grew up with Pretzel and Laurenzo Stevonovich.  Lex has added a few of his own schmoopy ones which I won't go into here.
23. Would you bungee jump? Not a chance.  I am quite happy with my feet on the ground.
24. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Rarely.
25. Do you think that you are strong? Physically, I'm an absolute weakling.  It's kind of pathetic. Mentally, I'm a tiger :o)
26. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Mint Chip from Baskin Robbins.
27. Any Pets? Charlie the maltese.
28. Shoe Size? 5 1/2 to 6, depending on the manufacturer.
29. Red or pink? Red, because Lex likes it better.  I don't actually care.
30. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My indecisiveness, or my stubborness.  I couldn't really decide, but I was determined to write something.
31. Breathe underwater like a fish or fly like a bird?  Fly like a bird.  Think of how much I'd save on airfare.
32. Last book you read? The Stand, by Stephen King.
33. Hamburgers or hot dogs?  Hot dogs.
34. What are you listening to right now? The scintillating dialogue of Threshold.
35. Last thing you ate? Raisinets at the movie theater.
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue.  I'd always choose blue.
37. What is the weather like right now? Cloudy but warm.
38.Last person you talked to on the phone? My friend Heather.
39. First thing you notice about the opposite sex? Height.
40. Regretting the choice to add questions NOW? Yes ma'am.  Someone else take it up next.
41.Favorite drink? Orange juice.
43. Favorite sport? Charles Wallace from A Wrinkle in Time (If you don't get it, read the book).
44. Hair color? Natural blonde.
45. Eye color? Hazel.
46. Do you wear contacts? I'd like too, but I suck at it.  When I asked my eye doctor about trying contacts, he told me he'd be happy to prescribe them, but he doubted I'd be successful.  He was right.
48. Favorite food? I like to eat, in general.  Candy is my preference.
49. Last movie you watched? Flightplan.
50. Favorite day of the year?  September 31.  A stupid answer for a stupid question.
51. Scary movies or happy endings? Scary movies with happy endings.
52. Summer or winter? Summer.
55. What is your favorite dessert? If it involves chocolate but not chocolate ice cream, I tend to like it.
60. What's on your Mouse Pad? I have a track pad.
62. What Did you watch last night on TV? TiVoed episodes of Invasion and Reunion.  Neither is that good.
65. Rolling Stones or Beatles? The Beatles.
67. Do you have a special talent? Does crocheting count?
68. What is your ringtone? I can't ever remember how it goes unless I hear it.  It's a fun "Rumba-ish" tune my phone calls Bell 1.