Posts from ‘August, 2007’

One really unique thing about BJU is that we have students from every state and from dozens of foreign countries. As I reflected on the diverse backgrounds of my students, I thought of something in my files - a list a state mottos that were all rejected for one reason or another. As you look at the list, it will be obvious why these mottos were not adopted....

Rejected State Mottos

Alabama
Yes, We Have Electricity

Alaska
11,623 Eskimos Can't Be Wrong!

Arizona
But It's a Dry Heat!

Arkansas
Lituracy Ain't Everythang!

California
Se Hable Ingles

Colorado
If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother

Connecticut
Like Massachusetts, Only Smaller, But WAY Too Close to New York!

Delaware
We Really Do Like The Chemicals In Our Water

Florida
Ask Us About Our Grandkids
And Our Voting Skills

Georgia
Stop Here on Your Way to Florida

Hawaii
Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru
(Death To Mainland Scum, But Leave Your Money!)

Idaho
More Than Just Potatoes.... Well, Okay, We're Not, But The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good

Illinois
Please, Don't Pronounce the "S"

Indiana
Tidal Wave Free

Iowa
We Do Amazing Things With Corn

Kansas
First Of The Rectangle States

Kentucky
Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names

Louisiana
Ignrint - and Proud of It!

Maine
We're Really Cold, But We Have Cheap Lobster

Maryland
If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It

Massachusetts
Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's (For Most Tax Brackets)

Michigan
Where Cars Used to Come From

Minnesota
Land of 7,000 Lakes, 3,000 Man-made Ponds, and
10,000,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes

Mississippi
Why Would You Want to Come Here?- Elvis Was Born Here, and Even He Left!

Missouri
Gateway to Kansas

Montana
Land Of The Big Sky, The Unabomber, Extremist Wackos, and Honest Elections!

Nebraska
Ask About Our State Motto Contest

Nevada
Come Feel Better About Your Own State!

New Hampshire
Go Away And Leave Us Alone

New Jersey
The Garbage State - Waste Not ... Send It Here Instead!

New Mexico
Lizards Make Excellent Pets

New York
You Have The Right To Remain Silent,
You Have The Right To An Attorney..
And No Right To Self Defense!

North Carolina
Tobacco IS a Vegetable

North Dakota
We Really Are One Of The 50 States!

Ohio
Don't Judge Us by Cleveland

Oklahoma
Just Like The Musical, But No Singing

Oregon
Spotted Owl ... It's What's For Dinner

Pennsylvania
Cook With Coal

Rhode Island
We're Not REALLY an Island

South Carolina
Remember The War of Northern Aggression? Well, We Haven't Actually Surrendered Yet

South Dakota
Closer Than North Dakota

Tennessee
Home of the Al Gore Invention Museum

Texas
Don't Mess with Texas - We're Armed!

Utah
Which Wife?

Vermont
Too Liberal for Even the Kennedys

Virginia
Who Says Government Stiffs And Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?

Washington
If We'd Meant DC, We'd Have Said DC, You Imbecile!

Washington, D.C.
Seattle is NOT our capital, WE are the CAPITAL!
Wanna Be Mayor?

West Virginia
One Big Happy Family ... Really!

Wisconsin
Come Cut Cheese!

Wyoming
And You Thought Ohio Was Flat!

quotation...

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." - C.S. Lewis

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Rob

Could it be that so many deer get hit on the interstates because they're simply obeying the posted deer crossing signs?

This Wednesday here at BJU is the first day of university classes. For me this is my 52nd start of a school year, if I count all of them back to my first day of Kindergarten! It's my 35th year of teaching - YIKES!

All three of our kids chose to become teachers also. Here are some updates on them:

Megan was a little sad that after 7 years of beginning the school year as a first grade teacher, it's happening without her this year. But that sadness passed fairly quickly with the joy of her own little classroom at home with Drew. Here are a few of his latest pictures...

Bathtime is generally a happy time for Drew...

Drew loves the Bumbo. Even though he cannot sit up yet on his own, with the Bumbo, he can. (Some days I need one of those myself!) Becka was talking to Megan on the phone the first time Meg put Drew in his Bumbo and got to hear Drew laugh out loud!

Drew also loves this Johnny-Jump-Up. We got to watch him jump in it one evening recently via webcam over the Internet. Cool stuff! In the picture below, you can tell from his little smirk that he thinks it's all pretty great!

Nora teaches toddlers at a local pre-school and *loves* it! Below is a picture of Nora and some of her kids with the new classroom baby bunny, Dakota.

Mark is teaching fourth grade this year after several years of teaching fifth grade. He seems to have a lively, fun group this year. He hasn't supplied us with any pictures lately.

Well, that's the latest about this family of teachers.

A friend and I were talking recently about how sayings or proverbs are part of what makes up the general knowledge of one's own culture. There are some sayings that, after hearing the first few words, just about anyone familiar with them can easily finish.

A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs, gave each child in the class the first half of a proverb, and asked the children to come up with the rest. Here are some of the best of the wrong endings the children came up with for these common sayings:

Better safe than ... punch a 5th grader.

Strike while the ... bug is close.

It's always darkest just before ... daylight savings time.
It's always darkest just before ... I open my eyes.

Never underestimate the power of ... termites.

You can lead a horse to water but ... how?

The grass is always greener... when you remember to water it.

Don't bite the hand that ... looks dirty.

No news is ... impossible.

A bird in the hand is ... a real mess.

Better to light one candle than ... to waste electricity.
Better to light one candle than ... to light an explosive.

You can't teach an old dog new ... math.

If you lie down with dogs, you ... will stink in the morning.

When in Rome, do... Roman numerals in math.
When in Rome, do... bulls run around town?

Too many cooks... so little meals.

A fool and his money are... my best friends.

Look before you... run into a pole.

The pen is mightier than the ... pigs.

An idle mind is ... the best way to relax.

Where there is smoke, there's ... pollution.

A penny saved is ... not much.
A penny saved is ... nothing in the real world.

Don't put off till tomorrow what...you put on to go to bed.

Two is company, three's ... The Musketeers.

None are so blind as ... Helen Keller.

Children should be seen and not ... spanked or grounded.

If at first you don't succeed ... get new batteries.

The squeaking wheel gets ... annoying.

We have nothing to fear but ... homework.
We have nothing to fear but ... our principal.

To err is human. To ... eat a muskrat is not.

I think, therefore ... I get a headache.

If you can't stand the heat ... get out of the oven.
If you can't stand the heat ... don't start the fireplace.
If you can't stand the heat ... go swimming.

Don't count your chickens ... it takes too long.
Don't count your chickens ... eat them.

You get out of something what you ... see pictured on the box.

When the blind lead the blind ... get out of the way.

Early to bed and early to rise ... is first in the bathroom.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with ... a blister.

A miss is as good as a ... Mr.

There is no fool like ... Aunt Edie.

Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and ... someone yells, "Shut up!"
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you; cry and ... you have to blow your nose.

quotation...

"What do you treasure? That's what you'll worry about." - Dr. Jim Deuink

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Rob

Good is often the enemy of the best.

I mentioned in my last blog post that I have chosen not to have ads on my website. More than several people have urged me to have ads to help cover the cost of having a website. I'd rather pay the price and be in control of what appears on my site. I am reluctant to give an advertiser the opportunity and access to put anything on my site that I wouldn't want to be there.

That said, today I'm chosing to put display some ads ... for your amusement. You'll understand as you work your way down the page.

Because of the ads, some shopping bags are almost too good to throw away....

Some ads are clever, partially because of their placement....

Sometimes even though an ad is well placed, people or things end up in a bad spot...

Sometimes several ads in close proximity send mixed messages...

And then some ads are just simply poorly placed. This is one of my fears with something like Google AdSense, where Google will pick up on a key word on the page and then place an ad that seems to go with what's on a website, when it actually doesn't....

quotation...

"Everyone suffers in life. Does your suffering have a purpose? Why suffer for something meaningless?" - Dr. Drew Conley

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Rob

One good thing about kids - they don't carry pictures of their grandparents!

A regular contributor to the Greenville Journal is a man named Barry Ray whose column "Barry's World" reminds us a lot of the style of Dave Barry. One of his recent columns about back-to-school trauma was hilarious. I searched high and low to find it online somewhere, but to no avail. I wanted to put a link on my blog to the column. Finally I decided to write to the e-mail address for Barry Ray to ask him if I could get a copy of his article somewhere so that I could put it on my blog. Within a couple of hours I got a nice reply that stated, "I am planning on putting some older columns online soon. Right now, the Journal likes being the only source and putting them online would hurt subscriptions, I suppose. I have attached a JPEG of the column for you to use on your blog. Keep reading and thanks!"

And so with Barry's permission I'm placing the picture he sent me below. What you see below is a picture of a printed page, and so the quality of the print is not the best, but it's definitely worth the extra effort to read this one!

A few weeks ago my wife Becka saw a restaurant review in the Greenville News that caught her attention. One of the reasons was that the reviewers all gave the restaurant high marks - a rarity indeed! So our little team who taught in Asia last year went there with our friend Ruth as a farewell before her return to Asia. We all enjoyed our meal very much, proclaiming we'd definitely be eating there again. The food was scrumptious, beautiful and plentiful, and the entrees ranged mainly from only $7 to $10.

Last evening Becka and I returned there for dinner and were dismayed that we were the only customers during our meal. We would hate to see this place close its doors! The restaurant is Vietnamese, and it is as authentic as you can get. It's a family-run restaurant, and everyone who works there is Vietnamese - unlike some of the local Chinese restaurants with Spanish speakers doing the cooking! With delicious food and a dining area that is clean and pleasant, there's no reason this place shouldn't be packing in the people! ...except that I don't think they have much of a notion at all about advertising. As a result, other than the review in the paper, they get customers only by word of mouth or from people happening by and wandering in.

updated 20 Oct. 2007: I've learned that the restaurant has closed its doors. Very sad.

Below is their business card. Too bad they didn't make it. Thanks to all of you locals who tried it out and attempted to give them more business.

quotation...

In reference to teachers ... "We are not just data merchants." - Dr. Dan Olinger

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Rob

If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?

The following comes from an email I received from one of the readers of my blog. I cannot vow to its authencity....

It's no news that Barry Bonds hit homerun No. 755 at San Diego to tie Hank Aaron's record and received a warm reception along with some boos. There are some who believe that Barry Bonds should be disqualified for using steroids. I do not really want to enter that debate.

Whether Barry took steroids at some point in his career, I don't know. I just want to capitalize on the current situation to sell a prized possession - I am selling one of my Barry Bonds baseball cards to the highest bidder. Below is the highly prized Rookie Card that I bought in 1986.

Let the bidding begin!

quotation...

"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature." - Dave Barry

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Rob

If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?