Cross Your Fingers!

Since I have not chosen this blog as a place to bore you with facts, I will not attempt to research the origin of the phrase 'cross your fingers', but I will tell you (strictly from my own, personal, everyday knowledge) that I would guess the phrase is related to a time when:

Back in the 16th century, supernatural creatures like witches and ghosts were generally accepted by many people to be real and sometimes the cause of bad luck or illnesses. Believing that the power of the cross would help protect them from evil, it was often used. The proper way of drawing a cross back then, and still used to this day, is to touch the forehead, heart, left shoulder, then right shoulder with you right hand.
There was not always time to do the proper drawing of it though. Say someone suddenly crossed paths with another who they thought were a witch, they would need protection immediately! So they used a shortcut: making a cross with both their index and second fingers. Doing this would protect them straight away from the evil that was before them, or so they thought.
Most of these beliefs have died out here in the modern day, but the gestures that were used continue on.

But you know, if I were to go to all that trouble then I would have to start a website designed to explain phrases.  And If I were to do that I would probably call it something like: http://www.knowyourphrase.com
 But seriously, I wouldn't want to go through all that trouble so I will have to sit back patiently and wait to see if anyone else gets the idea first.  I'm crossing my fingers.

Today I am not asking you to cross your fingers to ward off evil.  Far from it!  I have mentioned before the Blogs Of Note on blogger.com. I go to that section occasionally to see what others are doing and what attracts the most attention from the powers that select the 'winner' daily.  From what I can tell tons of pictures and using the 'F' word a lot is the key to success.  Well I firetrucking will not stoop that that flapjacking level! 


I have been on there a few times lately and I have noticed that the trend has been more toward the family friendly.  I have even seen one written by someone who was a Christian and wrote about their family.  (who almost never used the f word)  It has given me hope.  Maybe, perhaps, could be, that some day I will be chosen for the day and then I will become rich and famous and interviewed by the local television station...or maybe they will just spell my name wrong in the back section of the newspaper.  


Anyway, I have just tried to change something on the blog.  I have added a new section at the top left column.   Well, I have tried to add something to the top left column.  It should be something that links you to my Facebook page.  It might also be a map to the nearest frozen yogurt store.  I am thinking that it could propel me into the double digits of "likes" on ye goode ole Facebook.  Cross your fingers!

First Thing

I slept on my glasses again.  Yes, I know.  That is the sort of random statement that a teenager full of adolescent angst would say in a blog that is then followed by a bunch of "...and I like so-and-so and I think she looked at me in gym."  It may be because I haven't fallen asleep with my glasses on in nearly that long.  I'm not going to count all the times it happened when we were new parents because at that time I was thrilled that I made it to the bed before I fell down, passed out, and drooled on myself til morning.  (not necessarily in that order)

I would love to say that my statement about bespectacled bedtime was some sort of romantic notion I had about writing a blog solely based on the first thing that came to mind when I woke up.  No such luck.  My mind still has its share of random thoughts.  That might be a good idea to explore in the future when I have a little more time to write again.  As it is, I am racing the clock to see if I can squeeze some writing in before the alarm goes off and I am named chauffeur of the year for my daughter to go to choir class before real school starts.

A while back I went to a blog that had recently been named 'Blog of Note' and she was having a contest.  Being a sure-I'll-take-something-for-nothing kind of guy I entered the contest.  The author was giving away a book titled, "How to really make your blog great in a month."  That was not the title at all but I wouldn't know.  I didn't win.  As a friend of mine wrote in his Facebook page.  I opened a Dr Pepper and the cap said, "Sorry not a winner" I didn't even know I was playing and I am already losing."  I never win anything.  Of course I don't really need to have a 'beef up your blog in a month' kind of book, thank you very much.  I have a pretty good handle on this whole thing right now.  I'm pretty sure chapter one was all about go to your real job after summer vacation and ignore the blog for two weeks.  I'm also guessing that chapter two talks about coming back to your blog and writing about the first inane thing that pops into your head.  You'll just have to wait and see what I imagine the other twenty nine chapters are about.  If one of them is about having a contest to see who will win a doodle, I am already way ahead of the curve!  (I didn't win that one either...and it was my own contest...and it was rigged!!)  I really hope that one of the chapters was about stopping in the middle of what you were writing to go and check if anyone had commented on your Facebook status!  Done!


I should probably get the book just to see if there were any practical ideas about getting my kids to relinquish the computer so I could write.  That would be worth the money right there.  I think I have already explained that my laptop has decided that it has a five to ten minute window of working.  Hearing my plight, my dad brought over his old laptop so I could continue to write my book while traveling over the summer.  After a mere day in my charge it started displaying what PC technicians refer to as "the blue screen of death."  So now we have this one, desktop, steam powered, computer to share amongst the family.  And the kids need it for school.  Hey!  Maybe one of the chapters in the book is "Wait on your front porch until a random laptop delivery man gives you a new one for free!"  (I'm gonna guess chapter five)

OK, well I didn't make it to posting before school.  I have just now come back to it on the weekend after my alarm clock dog gratefully woke me up so he could spare our carpet and I could get to the computer while everyone else was sleeping.  (chapter eight..."Get an alarm clock dog")

OH well.  I have an idea for my other silly blog and I want to get to that before I feel the hot breath of computer envy on my neck.  If anyone is looking for me I'll be waiting on the front porch.

Happy New Year!!

In keeping with the 'has this Jeff Garrett guy lost his mind?' theme, I thought I would write about a happy new year, today, on Labor Day.  There are literally dozens of teachers going back to school tomorrow and to them I wanted to say...happy new year!  For the millions of us who work in districts who don't subscribe to the whole, "school starts right after Labor Day" notion, I say..."Yay!  We already got a day off!  After only a week of school."

I know it sounds funny to get a day off so quickly after summer break but I gotta tell you, some of us (perhaps people who teach one grade level higher than me...but I digress) already needed a break desperately.  Luckily, I do not count myself in that particular group this year.  I, for some blessed and unforeseen reason, have been given an experimental class this year.  I am teaching a group of nicely programmed little five year old robots who want nothing more than to wait and see what it is I want them to do next.  (That pounding sound you hear is me knocking on wood and hoping that the year continues as well as it has so far)  It's not to say that it has all been perfect.  I have already talked to a few parents, restated the rules numerous times, and given some time outs, but oh what a difference a year makes.

I know that some people think that summer break is a pretty cool gig and teachers should just get back to work already with no breaks.  To them I say that I could explain about all the times that I have already had to turn on the school alarm as I left because the custodians had already gone home.  I could explain that I have already taken boxes of work home with me because there just aren't enough hours in the day to get things done at school.  I could say that my children are researching child labor laws to see if I really can make them cut, and glue, and trace, and color, and fold, and tape, and staple, and...you get the idea.  (If I can't, don't let them know)  I could tell you that I go home exhausted from being "on" all day with an active bunch of four and five year olds.  I could tell you that I am paying out of my own pocket to get first day of school pictures for everyone, and that I had to make two trips since someone couldn't be there on the first day.  I could, but I won't.   You have heard it all before.  And if you haven't, then I should probably also tell you that you could switch your auto insurance in less than fifteen minutes with Geico.

I am looking forward to a great new year that doesn't have anything to do with a falling ball...unless you count the playground.  The kids are ready, the parents are ready, the staff is ready, and I have an extra day off so that I can paint, and do yard work, and move furniture, and clean, and organize, and you get the idea.  Who's the genius who decided to name it "Labor" Day?

Have a great year everyone!!