Sunday, February 22, 2009

Work 24/7 for $650 a month

These guys definitely win the "my job sucks more than yours" contest.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Perfect Fifths- Getting Closer

I discovered the Jessica Darling series about a month ago. I finished the series in a few days. Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie seem to have found the time for their love in Perfect Fifths, the final novel of the series.




The book doesn't go on sale until April 14th, but you can pre-order now.

Megan McCafferty also has a contest going to give away advanced reader copies of Perfect Fifths.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My Economic Stimulus Solution

Dear Barry,

It looks like this economic mess is making your term more difficult than you anticipated. There are a whole lot of people who are mad at your or really don't like you at all. There's more bickering going on than solutions in Washington, and it seems too much like that ole thing from elementary school "I don't like him because he doesn't like me and my friends."

I've got a solution to help you out. The way I figure it, there are 305,790,906 people in the United States right now. The stimulus bill your buddies in the Senate passed today costs $838 Billion bucks. Very few people are satisfied with the way you and your buddies want to spend those $838 billion buckaroos.

So, why don't you just split the $838 billion bucks between all of us 305,790,906 Americans? That's $2,740.43 per American. We're not really all that greedy. Let's round it to $2700 and you can keep $40.43. (You'd save $12,363,126,329.58 just by rounding down 40 bucks.)

Just give every American a check for $2,700 and tell them to spend it before you change your mind.

I've been thinking about what I would do with my check.

1. I would buy the Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) for $359. (I'll even buy your books for it!)

2. I also want a new laptop. The Sony Vaio costs $1529.99.

(I've still got $811.01)

3. I would also invest in the local economy at the Spa at Oak Haven. Their Signature Series Package looks heavenly, and it only costs $480.

4. I would buy up 5 bottles of RareMinerals Purely Nourishing Facial Moisturizer because that stuff is AMAZING! That's $160, but there's a store near me that gives locals a 10% discount. That means I'd have $16 for lunch and dessert.

(I've still got $171.01.)

5. I'd have to go out to eat. Olive Garden has a very nice Black Tie Mousse Cake. I'll take a hundred bucks and tip well.

6. I gotta be honest. I'd take my last $71 to a local gas station to buy tickets from the Tennessee lottery. There are two benefits here: 1. I am investing in an opportunity to get more money with which I could continue to stimulate the economy. 2. I'm giving money to education in the state of Tennessee.

So I'll be waiting for the check. If you want to save on postage, just shoot me an email from the BlackBerry and I'll give you my bank info. Or we could just use PayPal if that works for you.

Don't worry, I'll help my husband spend his too.

Thanks!
Kesi

Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Things We Teachers Carry

My thoughts on teachers and guns are in today's Knoxville News Sentinel.

Friday, February 6, 2009

They Caught Him

Julio Fernandez is spending some time as a guest of the city of Raleigh before he becomes a guest of Sevier County.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

My Current Addiction

Or How My Cell Phone Encourages My Writing

I love my MOTO Q. A few months ago I decided it was time to upgrade my cell phone. I'm not really a texter, but I kinda wanted to try a Smart Phone. I read up on it because I didn't want to pay a lot of money for something I wouldn't like. I leaned toward a BlackBerry at first, but then I noticed the Windows compatible phones. I really liked the fact that the Windows compatible phones have Word and OneNote. I went to the local U.S. Cellular store and fell in love with the lime MOTO Q. The sales lady told me to give it a week or so and then I'd like it. I was totally in love after a few hours.

I love this phone because I'm always in touch with the rest of the world and it eliminates boredom in many situations. I've had bronchitis the last couple of weeks, so I've spent several hours in doctors' offices. There have been a few days when I hardly felt like getting out of bed, and this phone let me email and work on a rough draft. I only had to move my thumbs.

That reminded me of my fiction writing in high school. To occupy myself (and my friends) in certain classes, I wrote short stories on my TI-something calculator. (That was in the late 90s before the days of cool cell phones and text messaging.) I would write and pass the calculator on to my friends to read.

In a sense I feel like my writing has come full circle. I've gone from writing on a calculator to a Smart Phone. But more people are reading the Smart Phone material. (I wrote my December column for the Knoxville News Sentinel on the MOTO Q.)

I think I'll go work on some writing projects that don't fit well on the MOTO Q.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Amnesty as Economic Stimulus

An amnesty would stimulate the economy? As pro-amnesty as I am, I just don't buy it.

What's your name? en espanol

My teaching schedule changed a few weeks ago. I'm currently teaching all Spanish I classes. I like Spanish I because it's a whole lot more fun than Spanish II. But the Spanish textbook writers get on my nerves. I question the amount of time they've spent in a classroom.
One of the first things new Spanish students need to know is how to ask someone's name and how to tell their own. All Spanish textbooks I've seen use the "como te llamas?" translation, which literally means "what do you call yourself?" But the books fail to give the literal translation, so students inevitably say "me llamo es" which makes any good Spanish teacher cringe. "Me llamo es" DOES NOT mean "my name is."
The correct way to talk about names:
Como te llamas? What do you call yourself?
Me llamo Kesi. I call myself Kesi.
Cual es tu nombre? What's your name?
Mi nombre es Kesi.
Quien eres? Who are you?
Yo soy Kesi. I am Kesi.
That's not so hard, is it?