Mental health day

Today I woke up and wanted to call in sick. Not because I don't like my job, not because I don't want to work, not because I am sick, and not because I'm lazy. Really because I want a mental health day. I think these need to be instituted. I did not coin the term, but heard it from a friend in high school who took them hereself from time to time. I believe that the american worker would be more productive if once per quarter they were allowed a "Mental Health Day." Similar to a sick day or a personal day, but without the guilt of taking it. (Maybe everyone doesn't feel that guilt, but I know my sister is with me on this one... if I'm able to get out of bed, I'm able to go to work and am not sick enough to take a sick day) I'm not sure how to petition for this type of thing, but maybe a letter to my congressman is the answer... I'm sure he's not too busy right now, most likely he's planning for his next recess starting this weekend.

While I work on that, here is my plea, petition yourself for the Menatal Health day as a benefit for workers. I'll suggest you would be allowed to take one every 3 months and if you don't use it you loose it. There need not be a reason to take it, just call in to your boss for a mental health day and that's it. No questions. However the next day, it is your responsibility to come in on time and be productive. Nothing like the day after vacation where you are trying to catch up on work and gossip at the same time. Full productivity. I think that's fair for a no questions asked day. You may say this is the same as a personal day/ vacation day. I say no.

From blogs to books

So I want to start this one by saying what a cool time we live in. I just finished reading a book which the name escapes me about a girl who decided to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year. Daunting task it was, she started a blog about it. The blog got popular, got publicity, and she ended up writing an entire book about the project. Her name was Julie something so she called it the Julie/ Julia Project. Maybe that's the name of the book.

What an amazing time that from doing whatever job and writing a simple blog on some specific topic, many people have become psudo authors and written book(s) about some specific topic near and dear to their heart. Whether it be french cooking or some girl's love life, or anonomous secrets that started as an art project... the internet and blogging has not only given us a bigger bathroom wall to scrawl our ramblings on, but has opened a new genre of literature and art.

Dungeons and

Movies? I know I am late if you have already seen this blog, but I was recently introduced to The Lord of the Rings as a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Now if you have never played D & D and think that it is a nerd only game where they all sit around with their pocket protectors and bags of dice... you may be right. But we used to play as a family and it was fun. (I may have just caused one or more people to judge me and or my family) So I sti and read 100 pages of this story. He follows closely to the plot allowing for the various misfortunes of allowing players to make decisions on their own.

This caused me to marvel at the wonders of the internet and what it has done for society. We can now share our funny doodles with the world, we can now share our views and opinions with the world, we can now share our deepest thoughts and secrets with the world and we can all share our random mumblings with the world. All thanks to the blogs and personal webpages.

And there I go back to the bathroom wall of society. 867-5309

It's a bug's life

Today I spent many minutes "google-ing" the insect known as a praying mantis. My husband has a kindergarten class that needed a science project. After the tadpoles were knocked off the table by a child, a new something was needed. A trip to the discovery store found a praying mantis habitat, including a mail in form to get your ootheca (that's the egg sack). Once you get the ootheca, put it in the habitat and wait 1 to 3 weeks for it to hatch.

Today was that right amount of 1-3 weeks for the manti to hatch in my husband's classroom. about 50 of them came out of the little sack. And now according to the internet and the book that came with the habitat, these little guys (about the size of an ant) need to eat or they will eat eachother.

Here comes the fun part... the book suggested trapping fruit flies by putting a half banana in a mason jar outside and when there are a good number of fruit flies on it, shut the jar. Seems simple, so we did this last week. Yesterday afternoon still no fruit flies. Seriously? If I leave a brown banana in my kitchen for a day there are fruit flies galore... but in my back yard nothing? Maybe it's the time of year... so we tried the other trick from the book to catch bugs. We dug a hole in the back yard garden, put a jar in the hole, filled in with dirt around the jar. walking bug falls in and can't get back out. Pull jar out of the hole, put lid on and mantis food. Last night we did this, this morning no bugs.

So in between working and being at work, I searched and searched on line to find fruit flies and how you catch them, breed them, whatever. Also what do you do to feed a mantis. The best site I found was http://mantiskingdom.com/. DeShawn raises manti and has for the majority of his life. I figure he knows stuff. So I read. Turns out, these things will eat eachother and need to eat constantly, but will overeat and explode their tummies if you aren't careful. Then they can molt and mate and make new egg sack- ootheca and you start the process over again.

Just so you don't picture these little ant like guys eating eachother, we got them small crickets on the assurance of the petstore guy that they can eat these. My husband is excited. I never realized what a girly girl I am, I feel something crawling on me whenever I think of the mantis babies.

Season of Graduation

Graduations are always exciting. You move on from one step in your life to another. It's a foray into the unknown. Up until that point your life is structured for you in one way or another. You have a set schedule. You have set parameters you have to lie within. You have set locations you need to be and set times that you need to be there. Namely classes to sign up for, attend, and pass. No matter the graduation, be it Kindergarten, Middle School, High School, College, or Grad School. You can step across that stage and step into your future. As unsure as you may be regarding it, it is waiting for you there at the bottom of those steps along with your mother's outstreched arms.

When it was your kindergarten graduation your future included full days of school maybe a bus ride and cafeteria lunches.

The steps off the stage at your middle school graduation symbolized a step into adulthood, or at least seemed to at the time. They were steps into your last phase of youth, steps into your indepenence. It would be four short years before you realize how small these steps really were toward your future.

High school graduation was the biggest step for me, it symbolized moving on to adulthood. Being in charge of your own life. True independance. Real choices. A big world in front of you and sometimes it looked so large it was scary. Although you spend your last year of high school making the looming choices of what comes after graduation, you take those steps off the stage into an unknown where you will be the only one to make the choices that define your future. As you step down each step, the weight of your future rests on your shoulders and as you reach the bottom, so does the weight of your mother's arms.

For some that is the end of their formal graduations. From here on out, you graduate in different steps and all your friends and classmates scatter to the winds and you each make your future. You could move on to your college graduation, some to graduate school, others to marriage and children, others to career paths unknown.

Whatever your graduation this spring, congratulations!

Welcome to the internet... where Google is the Gospel?

It boasts: "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."

Every time you submit a google search, you will find a Wikipedia article on the subject. I'm sure students everywhere are using this online wealth of information to do their research projects, I'm just not convinced of it's truths. Let's start with defining encyclopedia. Growing up, I remember an encyclopedia being the 20-some books containing articles on everything. From lists of past presidents and historical events to explaining how volcanos work and how potatos are harvested. Every research paper started at the encyclopedia. The American Heritage Dictionary next to me defines an encyclopedia a a reference work containing articles on a wide range of subjects or on numerious aspects of a field, usually arranged alphabetically. I guess Wikipedia passes that test... it is a range of articles on various subjects. I just don't know how factual it is.

On their information page, they advise that "You do not need to fear accidentally damaging Wikipedia when you add or improve information, as other editors are always around to advise or correct obvious errors." They also state that "In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism." So they put the caveat right there. Don't always trust it. Then why do we?

We are a microwave society that is looking for the quick fix, the easy answer, and the google search to find facts. As many wonderful things as the internet has done for information flow around the world (or at least the developed countries... and those with the income to utilize it and the know how to find what they are looking for, but that's another post in and of itself), it has done the same for mis-information flow.

Shades of Green

As spring turns to summer I like to notice the trees and grass. They change from the limey lemony green of spring to the richer tones of summer. This year, however, I am busy thinking about spring versus summer versus fall tones as I consider colors for our new house. Would you rather live in one specific season of color tones? I usually equate pastel colors to the spring, however there are richer colors of spring as well. The bright green of the new leaves on the trees, the yellow of daffodils and the rich reds that the tulips bring. The only tree I can see from my office window that refuses to bend its colors with the seasons is the white pine. He stubbornly stays a bluish green from spring through winter and back again. He refuses to give up his needles and stands firm in his color as the rest of the trees go from white and pink flowers in the spring to the yellow green buds and leaves that promise the deep green of summer. From summer's green they give way to yellows and browns of fall and the barren branches of winter.

Also, when I searched shades of green I found this site that has nothing to do with trees!