(Relating to the CCR5 gene which is involved with immunity to AIDS)
Question: How might knowledge of the inheritance of this particular gene help scientists and medical researchers in the battle against AIDS.
Student (recent immigrant from Philipenes, who loves America because of all of the freedoms yet still enjoys tasty frog and crocodile meat): Use condom to prevent spreading of AIDS.
Steve: Who says teaching kids about condoms doesn't stick?
V: Hello language gap, good bye AIDS!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
"What a week I'm having!"
A favorite movie as a little girl was Splash. The mermaid, the romance...all added up to a great movie by me at the tender age of 5. What I didn't realize, however until I was an adult was how vulgar it is! She shows her bum while naked at the Statue of Liberty, there's cursing, and John Candy talks about his article in a dirty magazine. Still a classic I suppose though...
Anyways, there is a line from the movie that sums up the last several days of my life...."What a week I'm having!!"
Yet again it was a rough week. (When isn't it a rough week?) Yet, we are persevering! With at least a fake smile on my face that Stephen always says will turn into a real one.
Here's the day-by-day rundown.
Monday: At least 4 fights at school. Most of which occur outside of my room. At one point, I could not exit Stephen's room so I had to use an alternate door - not before getting a glance of butt crack though from one of the girls fighting! The fighting was really bad - by the end of the day we had a Code Yellow (Red is the worst) and half a dozen police officers on campus. Sure beats the one security guard we had the rest of the day.
Tuesday: During lunch, the fire alarm goes off. At first we think it's just a drill, but then the fire trucks pull up and the rumor starts that a student set the auditorium on fire. Turns out it was just some dust in the heater, but it still cost me part of my planning period.
Wednesday: During my planning (why does my planning always get messed up?), we went to Code Red. Code Red basically means we could be facing the next Columbine. Not having any of my own students to worry about, my own safety became top priority. I quickly locked myself in a storage closet with only one high window. I brought my computer along to plan a lesson for the time being. This ended up not being the greatest idea. This storage closet has a healthy supply of random chemicals and an even healthier supply of rat poo! So, after breathing in these delightful fragrances I ended up with a nasty headache.
The Code Red was called off after about an hour. The cause was a suspicion that there was a gun on campus. To be honest, there probably was, but the gun made its way from person to person and was never found. The only weapon found was a knife in someone's wallet. Really boosts the morale of the school, eh?
Thursday: Perhaps there were some more fights, I didn't see any, but knowing our school, I wouldn't put it passed our kids! The only highlights of the school day were an extremely sore throat on my part, for yelling at my kids so profusely that my face went as red as the lockers and I ended up writing 4 students on referrals. It would be safe to say that I am not looking forward to seeing my A-day students on Monday.
The really exciting part of Thursday was a trip to the library to return some movies. While we were pulling up in the driveway, I realized a very sad truth: neither of us had a key to the house with us!!! And although it has been on our list of things to do for a very long time to give our neighbors an extra key, it has not been done, so we were officially locked out. We also turn out to be rather safe homeowners. All of our windows were locked, our back doors locked, and our lock is hard to pick!!
After conferencing in our dear friends house down the way, we decided to be cheap and not have a locksmith come to open the door for over 50 bucks. We stayed the night at Alison and JT's and planned on talking to the lady at the model home the next day. Our key is the same as the model home (yes, we need to get it re-keyed...also on the list of things to do), so we figured that we could eventually get in.
Friday: The district came to visit my classroom...stressful. I wore Alison's clothes to school (thanks!) and I anxiously waited to hear from the model house lady. She never picked up, so after 11 am, I called the other model townhomes in the neighboorhood built by the same people. Turns out the model house lady takes Friday's off. UGH! But! The other model home lady offered to come and open the door for me.
Success! I was able to get into the house during my lunch and get our key.
Kicked a student out of my class for being disrespectful...nuts.
Saturday: Grading - yuck. And only 12 of Stephen's 70 biology students scored at least a 70 on the last test. Depressing.
Stephen wants me to add that he is currently battling a virus on his computer.
Life is good in so many ways! But certainly not perfect in all ways. As Sheri Dew says, "If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard"....right?
Here's praying next week goes a lot better...
Anyways, there is a line from the movie that sums up the last several days of my life...."What a week I'm having!!"
Yet again it was a rough week. (When isn't it a rough week?) Yet, we are persevering! With at least a fake smile on my face that Stephen always says will turn into a real one.
Here's the day-by-day rundown.
Monday: At least 4 fights at school. Most of which occur outside of my room. At one point, I could not exit Stephen's room so I had to use an alternate door - not before getting a glance of butt crack though from one of the girls fighting! The fighting was really bad - by the end of the day we had a Code Yellow (Red is the worst) and half a dozen police officers on campus. Sure beats the one security guard we had the rest of the day.
Tuesday: During lunch, the fire alarm goes off. At first we think it's just a drill, but then the fire trucks pull up and the rumor starts that a student set the auditorium on fire. Turns out it was just some dust in the heater, but it still cost me part of my planning period.
Wednesday: During my planning (why does my planning always get messed up?), we went to Code Red. Code Red basically means we could be facing the next Columbine. Not having any of my own students to worry about, my own safety became top priority. I quickly locked myself in a storage closet with only one high window. I brought my computer along to plan a lesson for the time being. This ended up not being the greatest idea. This storage closet has a healthy supply of random chemicals and an even healthier supply of rat poo! So, after breathing in these delightful fragrances I ended up with a nasty headache.
The Code Red was called off after about an hour. The cause was a suspicion that there was a gun on campus. To be honest, there probably was, but the gun made its way from person to person and was never found. The only weapon found was a knife in someone's wallet. Really boosts the morale of the school, eh?
Thursday: Perhaps there were some more fights, I didn't see any, but knowing our school, I wouldn't put it passed our kids! The only highlights of the school day were an extremely sore throat on my part, for yelling at my kids so profusely that my face went as red as the lockers and I ended up writing 4 students on referrals. It would be safe to say that I am not looking forward to seeing my A-day students on Monday.
The really exciting part of Thursday was a trip to the library to return some movies. While we were pulling up in the driveway, I realized a very sad truth: neither of us had a key to the house with us!!! And although it has been on our list of things to do for a very long time to give our neighbors an extra key, it has not been done, so we were officially locked out. We also turn out to be rather safe homeowners. All of our windows were locked, our back doors locked, and our lock is hard to pick!!
After conferencing in our dear friends house down the way, we decided to be cheap and not have a locksmith come to open the door for over 50 bucks. We stayed the night at Alison and JT's and planned on talking to the lady at the model home the next day. Our key is the same as the model home (yes, we need to get it re-keyed...also on the list of things to do), so we figured that we could eventually get in.
Friday: The district came to visit my classroom...stressful. I wore Alison's clothes to school (thanks!) and I anxiously waited to hear from the model house lady. She never picked up, so after 11 am, I called the other model townhomes in the neighboorhood built by the same people. Turns out the model house lady takes Friday's off. UGH! But! The other model home lady offered to come and open the door for me.
Success! I was able to get into the house during my lunch and get our key.
Kicked a student out of my class for being disrespectful...nuts.
Saturday: Grading - yuck. And only 12 of Stephen's 70 biology students scored at least a 70 on the last test. Depressing.
Stephen wants me to add that he is currently battling a virus on his computer.
Life is good in so many ways! But certainly not perfect in all ways. As Sheri Dew says, "If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard"....right?
Here's praying next week goes a lot better...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday Night
My equation for an awesome Friday night:
PJ's + Takeout + Blanket + Movie
Steve's equation for an awesome Friday night:
Playing laser tag with people I only quasi know.
Equals....
?????
There's a great talk by Elder Cook entitled something to the effect of "Just so you know, we had a hard time"...that basically sums up the week.
PJ's + Takeout + Blanket + Movie
Steve's equation for an awesome Friday night:
Playing laser tag with people I only quasi know.
Equals....
?????
There's a great talk by Elder Cook entitled something to the effect of "Just so you know, we had a hard time"...that basically sums up the week.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The diet.
Well after months of watching The Biggest Loser while eating chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, the cruel reality has set in. It's time to go on a diet. Below is a picture of how I'm feeling:
There are times in my life when I have been able to diet and it isn't a big deal - these times are typically when I haven't been very busy and have had low responsibility. Now is not one of those times, although perhaps those times have come and gone. Now I'm just depressed that I need to watch what I eat. Why do I have to like large portions of tasty food so much?
Steve was so mean today. (Just kidding of course) He was reminding me that being on a diet isn't supposed to taste good or be fun. He also reminded me of the often constant state of slight hunger you are in. To convince myself that dieting can be tasty and fulfilling, I went to the library today and got a stack of diet cookbooks. I have subsequently become more depressed and certain that if I were a celebrity like Nicole Ritchie, I could lose 50 pounds after having a baby too. They suggest eating five meals a day - five meals of time-intensive recipes. Who has time for that?! If someone would buy and cook my food for me maybe I can do it, but I'm proud of myself when we aren't eating fast food or Swedish Pancakes again.
I'm hopeful that as I continue to peruse through them I'll be able to find some tasty ideas. Thank goodness our good neighbor friend Alison has bought a gym membership and goes regularly. She serves as a great inspiration!! So does my awesome sister Anne Marie who lost 9 pounds in 9 weeks...woot woot girlfriend!!
On another positive note - no cavities!!! I thought a mysterious brown spot on my tooth was a cavity, but it turns out to be a developmental "hole"...a little sketchy I thought but he's the dentist.
So here we go, on a new-found diet journey. Hopefully the 60 calorie Jello Pudding Snacks will carry me along...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back for more...
Hello hello!
This weekend was great! Friday I had a meeting with Antoinette (my PD for Teach for America), where we caught up and talked about teaching a bit. We also went to Target and purchased some lamps for our often dark living room. (We have a ceiling light/fan but it mysteriously doesn't work consistently...)
Saturday, I got kicked in the butt at a kick-boxing class at the local YMCA. I had a doctor's appointment last week for a general checkup and my weight is...eh. I really want to try and get in shape by summer. We then hit the cleaning force to tackle our crazy house. Stephen was awesome! He mastered the kitchen and the bathrooms while I crawled out from our piles of laundry. At the end of the day, we were very pleased with our progress. Our house feels very livable again. Stephen spontaneously took me on a date to the movie Marley and Me (I loved it enough to see it again and he hadn't seen it yet.) and to dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was fantastic! Well, the screen actually was shaking the entire time during the movie, but it was slight enough that it didn't ruin the movie and we got 2 free "Raincheck" tickets for another movie sometime!
Sunday was a lovely day of rest. The talks at church were quite engaging - Brother Button from the stake gave a talk about being prepared. With the recent crash of the plane into the Hudson River, we need to be "prepared for impact." It got me thinking about my students and how we give our students all of this preparation for their exams that they know they will have to take but yet they shy away and fail their exams. Just like we are given so much guidance to help us grow and prepare for the celestial kingdom in this life yet how often I shy away from what I know I'm supposed to do. I fall into the same traps as my students - I want to watch TV, sleep, surf the internet, etc. There should be no excuses. I need to continually be preparing myself for the exam that will someday come my way.
Thanks to JT and Alison for an awesome dinner and super fun game night. Stephen and I continue to stink at Buzzword but Stephen's solo winning streak does not cease to end! But as he says "I win, I can't help it." Sheesh. Good job to my honey!
Today was a very lovely balanced day as well. We woke up earlier, worked on our lesson for tomorrow (together!! It's so much easier to work on a lesson together) and got ready for a day trip with JT, Alison, and Jakob. (Jakob is rediculously cute!!) We drove up to Amelia Island (and even took a ferry!) and ate lunch at a place called Beef 'O Brady's. The weather was awesome - 60's in January is fabulous. After a nice walk around in downtown Fernandina Beach, we headed back home for another butt-kicking workout at the YMCA.
Now we are about to start a new week...thankfully I feel rested and ready for a great week!
It will be interesting to tune in tomorrow to the president's inauguration - let's cross our fingers for a good 4 years!
This weekend was great! Friday I had a meeting with Antoinette (my PD for Teach for America), where we caught up and talked about teaching a bit. We also went to Target and purchased some lamps for our often dark living room. (We have a ceiling light/fan but it mysteriously doesn't work consistently...)
Saturday, I got kicked in the butt at a kick-boxing class at the local YMCA. I had a doctor's appointment last week for a general checkup and my weight is...eh. I really want to try and get in shape by summer. We then hit the cleaning force to tackle our crazy house. Stephen was awesome! He mastered the kitchen and the bathrooms while I crawled out from our piles of laundry. At the end of the day, we were very pleased with our progress. Our house feels very livable again. Stephen spontaneously took me on a date to the movie Marley and Me (I loved it enough to see it again and he hadn't seen it yet.) and to dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was fantastic! Well, the screen actually was shaking the entire time during the movie, but it was slight enough that it didn't ruin the movie and we got 2 free "Raincheck" tickets for another movie sometime!
Sunday was a lovely day of rest. The talks at church were quite engaging - Brother Button from the stake gave a talk about being prepared. With the recent crash of the plane into the Hudson River, we need to be "prepared for impact." It got me thinking about my students and how we give our students all of this preparation for their exams that they know they will have to take but yet they shy away and fail their exams. Just like we are given so much guidance to help us grow and prepare for the celestial kingdom in this life yet how often I shy away from what I know I'm supposed to do. I fall into the same traps as my students - I want to watch TV, sleep, surf the internet, etc. There should be no excuses. I need to continually be preparing myself for the exam that will someday come my way.
Thanks to JT and Alison for an awesome dinner and super fun game night. Stephen and I continue to stink at Buzzword but Stephen's solo winning streak does not cease to end! But as he says "I win, I can't help it." Sheesh. Good job to my honey!
Today was a very lovely balanced day as well. We woke up earlier, worked on our lesson for tomorrow (together!! It's so much easier to work on a lesson together) and got ready for a day trip with JT, Alison, and Jakob. (Jakob is rediculously cute!!) We drove up to Amelia Island (and even took a ferry!) and ate lunch at a place called Beef 'O Brady's. The weather was awesome - 60's in January is fabulous. After a nice walk around in downtown Fernandina Beach, we headed back home for another butt-kicking workout at the YMCA.
Now we are about to start a new week...thankfully I feel rested and ready for a great week!
It will be interesting to tune in tomorrow to the president's inauguration - let's cross our fingers for a good 4 years!
Half way through the year!
Happy MLK day everyone! One definite perk of being a teacher is that we get so many government holidays off. I definitely did not have MLK day off last year at SMGF. The day off is much needed too - last week was CRAZY! It's amazing how students think that eventhough they didn't do anything during the quarter, they can somehow do extra credit to get a C. It amazes me!
We also met with our principal last week for our quarterly review. It went quite well; the only thing Steve and I need to work on is our differentiated instruction for black, low socioeconomic, ESOL, and ESE students. So basically I'm supposed to teach 4 different lessons during the same 80 minute block!
Steve's laughing at me because we're supposed to be working on our lesson for tomorrow...I've been busted...until a little later...
We also met with our principal last week for our quarterly review. It went quite well; the only thing Steve and I need to work on is our differentiated instruction for black, low socioeconomic, ESOL, and ESE students. So basically I'm supposed to teach 4 different lessons during the same 80 minute block!
Steve's laughing at me because we're supposed to be working on our lesson for tomorrow...I've been busted...until a little later...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Another weave bites the dust...
We survived another week! Only 19 more weeks until the end of the year. As of next week, we will be half done with the year. Wow.
Christmas break was utter sweetness. We spent the first week with my family in PA. We ate lots of great food, played games with family, and I got to see my best friend from high school. My niece Lydia is ridiculously adorable. She says "ok" to everything in the cutest voice. I wanted to take her home with me! She also loves to torture the family dog and calls out his name persistently: "Jacques...Jacques...JACQUES!!!" The dog persists to hide behind the dining room table. Somehow he doesn't want to be ridden like a horse...
My bro-in-law David is the master word-man game player. He slaughtered us at UpWords and I've lost my winning streak at Acquire. Stephen and I also are terrible BuzzWord players. (All of these games are funtastic if you want to check them out.)
Utah was equally fantastic. More good food (my jeans don't fit very well now so I have 10 calorie Jello snacks in the fridge to assist in my avoiding junk) and great fun.
We ate at our favorite haunts, Stephen went skiing with his brothers, and the girls and I saw Marley and Me. Such a cute flick! I almost wanted a dog at the end of the movie but then I remembered I don't really like animals that move besides humans. (And I don't even like all of those...lol).
Steve's best friend Jeff also got married which was so beautiful! The sealing was perfect - so many great tidbits of advice were given for having a great marriage. Jeff and his bride looked so happy and in love...I love weddings! Steve helped decorate their car at the reception with Olive Loaf bologna and oreo cookies. Super sad note though - someone stole their basket with the cards and money! They don't know who took it - it was on a table at one moment and gone the next. What is the world (and Utah for that matter) coming to?!
We also saw this awesomely funny play called Cash on Delivery. If you ever get the opportunity to see it - go! I laughed so hard the entire time. Thanks to Mom and Dad Kasteler for funding such a great week!
Props to Lydia Douglas and Nathan for being so fun! Nathan gives Stephen a run for his money on his kisses and is so cute when he calls me "Doria"
One last joyful note - Steve's sister is now engaged to be married on August 11! Blake is a great guy and I think he will be a great addition to the Kasteler klan.
Back at School
Highlights of this week:
Another Weave Bites the Dust
During my planning period this week, the teacher who occupies my room at that time saw a fight forming outside and prompted me to push the security button. Meanwhile, a girl got ushered into my classroom and I had to take a double glance. Her shirt was ripped in half, exposing her black bra and stomach. Her weave was also about to fall out and she was holding it to her head. I asked her if she wanted tape to fix her shirt (ok, so masking tape is probably not the most fashionable statement in the world but neither is an exposed black bra) and she said she needed a jacket. I tried to keep her in the room as I gave her my jean jacket, waiting for security to come and get her. She decided that it was time to go abruptly, saying frantically "they gonna fight my sister" and although I tried to keep her in my grasp, her nicely lotioned arms allowed her to escape my grasp. She then ran straight for the other teacher at the door, and hit her in the chest so that she could get past. An police officer came and escorted her away. The rumor is that she's been kicked out out school.
Little Victories
Damian, who failed my class last quarter, got a 86 on his midterm!
Steve's student Dante got a 93 on his project!
Corean got a 99 on his project!
Dante got the high on the midterm for his class (ok, so maybe it was a 66, but still...)
Joe turned in a Zoology project and was distressed that he might leave Steve's class.
Aparently our principal would give up part of his manhood to make sure we stayed at TP next year. (What that means...I don't know or want to know)
*-We didn't get fired even though we woke up at 7:30 and I was 30 minutes late to my first class...whoops...-*
Big Frustrations
-Katiana denied plagarism despite me brining up the website which she copied from. She then also denied that she did not copy/share her project with a student in Steve's class. I was so frustrated with her.
-Richie still denies cheating on his quiz. He had the same answers as the person next to him who had a different test. He says they just happened to have the same answers he said.
DO I LOOK THAT DUMB PEOPLE?!?
-So many students didn't turn in ANYTHING for their project. Kids! Your grade went down at least 1 full letter grade! (An F is still an F though...lol)
-I gave my kids the exact midterm to study from. And then lots of them still failed it. Go figure.
-I have more F's this quarter than last quarter...nuts.
Well...it's the weekend! Yay! We've been grading most of the evening and I will continue to grade now, but at least I have somewhat chronicled my life. Yay for me.
Happy Friday!
Christmas break was utter sweetness. We spent the first week with my family in PA. We ate lots of great food, played games with family, and I got to see my best friend from high school. My niece Lydia is ridiculously adorable. She says "ok" to everything in the cutest voice. I wanted to take her home with me! She also loves to torture the family dog and calls out his name persistently: "Jacques...Jacques...JACQUES!!!" The dog persists to hide behind the dining room table. Somehow he doesn't want to be ridden like a horse...
My bro-in-law David is the master word-man game player. He slaughtered us at UpWords and I've lost my winning streak at Acquire. Stephen and I also are terrible BuzzWord players. (All of these games are funtastic if you want to check them out.)
Utah was equally fantastic. More good food (my jeans don't fit very well now so I have 10 calorie Jello snacks in the fridge to assist in my avoiding junk) and great fun.
We ate at our favorite haunts, Stephen went skiing with his brothers, and the girls and I saw Marley and Me. Such a cute flick! I almost wanted a dog at the end of the movie but then I remembered I don't really like animals that move besides humans. (And I don't even like all of those...lol).
Steve's best friend Jeff also got married which was so beautiful! The sealing was perfect - so many great tidbits of advice were given for having a great marriage. Jeff and his bride looked so happy and in love...I love weddings! Steve helped decorate their car at the reception with Olive Loaf bologna and oreo cookies. Super sad note though - someone stole their basket with the cards and money! They don't know who took it - it was on a table at one moment and gone the next. What is the world (and Utah for that matter) coming to?!
We also saw this awesomely funny play called Cash on Delivery. If you ever get the opportunity to see it - go! I laughed so hard the entire time. Thanks to Mom and Dad Kasteler for funding such a great week!
Props to Lydia Douglas and Nathan for being so fun! Nathan gives Stephen a run for his money on his kisses and is so cute when he calls me "Doria"
One last joyful note - Steve's sister is now engaged to be married on August 11! Blake is a great guy and I think he will be a great addition to the Kasteler klan.
Back at School
Highlights of this week:
Another Weave Bites the Dust
During my planning period this week, the teacher who occupies my room at that time saw a fight forming outside and prompted me to push the security button. Meanwhile, a girl got ushered into my classroom and I had to take a double glance. Her shirt was ripped in half, exposing her black bra and stomach. Her weave was also about to fall out and she was holding it to her head. I asked her if she wanted tape to fix her shirt (ok, so masking tape is probably not the most fashionable statement in the world but neither is an exposed black bra) and she said she needed a jacket. I tried to keep her in the room as I gave her my jean jacket, waiting for security to come and get her. She decided that it was time to go abruptly, saying frantically "they gonna fight my sister" and although I tried to keep her in my grasp, her nicely lotioned arms allowed her to escape my grasp. She then ran straight for the other teacher at the door, and hit her in the chest so that she could get past. An police officer came and escorted her away. The rumor is that she's been kicked out out school.
Little Victories
Damian, who failed my class last quarter, got a 86 on his midterm!
Steve's student Dante got a 93 on his project!
Corean got a 99 on his project!
Dante got the high on the midterm for his class (ok, so maybe it was a 66, but still...)
Joe turned in a Zoology project and was distressed that he might leave Steve's class.
Aparently our principal would give up part of his manhood to make sure we stayed at TP next year. (What that means...I don't know or want to know)
*-We didn't get fired even though we woke up at 7:30 and I was 30 minutes late to my first class...whoops...-*
Big Frustrations
-Katiana denied plagarism despite me brining up the website which she copied from. She then also denied that she did not copy/share her project with a student in Steve's class. I was so frustrated with her.
-Richie still denies cheating on his quiz. He had the same answers as the person next to him who had a different test. He says they just happened to have the same answers he said.
DO I LOOK THAT DUMB PEOPLE?!?
-So many students didn't turn in ANYTHING for their project. Kids! Your grade went down at least 1 full letter grade! (An F is still an F though...lol)
-I gave my kids the exact midterm to study from. And then lots of them still failed it. Go figure.
-I have more F's this quarter than last quarter...nuts.
Well...it's the weekend! Yay! We've been grading most of the evening and I will continue to grade now, but at least I have somewhat chronicled my life. Yay for me.
Happy Friday!
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