What-What?! Week of February 1st

This week has been good, but busy; Peter worked a bunch of overtime, plus had to drive up to Seattle yesterday, so he's spent a good deal of time not home.  I was contacted by the local Girl Scouts coordinator, and now Saffron and I are RSVP'd for the first troop meeting later this month.  I'm excited to start getting Saffron involved in some real activities; I know that the time I spent in 4-H had a lot to do with my interests and competencies growing up.

News: How Regulation Leads To Low Literacy Among Teachers, Then Students via Forbes

I kind of hate citing Forbes, as I find that the articles tend to be written from a perspective that's a bit sideways of reality, but sometimes there are still good points.  This author is discussing the fact that teachers (K-12) who graduate from conventional education programs tend to score low on literacy and English tests.  I've taken some education classes, and to be honest, this surprises me little.  It has been my experience that education teachers tend to coddle students by giving them extended deadlines (even after they've been extended already!), subjective rather than objective projects, and very lenient grading.  My business school education was quite different. (Though not all education and business schools are the same).

Further, one of the issues I keep wondering about teaching and the teaching credential programs is whether it gives people too few options.  If teachers instead had a bachelor's degree in something else, then the option of leaving teaching if it doesn't suit them becomes much easier.  Granted, this country already has huge problems with teachers leaving the profession, but I think that making it more difficult to leave the profession is just poor policy.  While I don't object to teacher credentialing, I wonder if it's too strict in some ways; one thing that I like about California is that, in order to become a substitute teacher, you only need to pass a test, get fingerprinted, and background checked.  Washington state requires a full teaching degree and credential in order to substitute teach.  With all my experience in teaching in afterschool programs, I've been interested in teaching as a profession.  However, now that we're living in Washington, I have given up on it; the expense and time to get a full teaching credential is prohibitive to someone interested in testing the waters.    Why would I go to school for two years and spend all that money for a credential that is only good for doing one thing, especially one thing I'm not sold on, that also tends to be stressful and low paying?  How many other people, who may be good teachers, get shut out because of the credentialing process?

Shopping: Shoes of Prey

Shoes of Prey is a company that makes custom shoes.  Their online interface for designing shoes is really fun to play with, even if you don't actually go through with buying the shoes.  I ran into this company through work, and then spent a bunch of time designing shoes.  I haven't bought any, because they are expensive... but maybe someday.

What-What?! Week of November 17th

I am finally ahead of my behavioral economics class!  This is fantastic, because it means that I now have some time to work on the extra written assignments, and I can start planning my final project, which involves developing two nudges and accompanying experiments.  I forgot how intense six-week classes can be, especially when you spend two of those weeks with sick children.

Black Friday 2013

If I didn't live in a podunk little town, I wouldn't do any Black Friday (BF) shopping.  The crowds are scary, people get trampled, and a good deal just isn't worth that amount of aggravation.  But since I can fairly leisurely stroll in, get my things, and check out, I've started shopping on Black Friday.  With that in mind, I started looking for early releases of the BF ads, specifically Target and K-Mart, since those are my options.

If you plan on BF shopping, here are some suggestions to help you prepare:

Make a List
If you do nothing else before you go, make sure you have a list in hand.  Even a general one will help, though the more specific, the better.  Before I go, I make sure that I have a list and a budget.  I try to figure out exactly how much I'll spend, then add a buffer, so that way if there's something there we just have to have, it's already accounted for.

Is That Really the Best Deal?

With all the BF ads out so early, it's pretty easy to do comparison shopping in order to get the best deals.  With big ticket purchases, though, it is important to examine the deals closely; many times, better deals can be had at other times of the year (I got my an excellent deal on my current TV in March of last year), or even just waiting a bit closer to Christmas.  It's also important to look up reviews of the big ticket items as well; Target will put Westinghouse brand TV's on sale for great prices on BF, but the reviews on them are really mixed.

Be Choosey
When I'm making my list, I try to ask myself if I want to buy something because it's a good deal, or because it's a good deal for me.  No matter how cheap something is, if it goes unused, then it's a waste of money.  Stores always have good deals on toys, but then, how many toys do my kids really need?  With this in mind, the husband and I are probably going to buy a new printer, and little else.

Bacon and Cabbage Salad

This recipe was inspired by an episode of Kitchen Nightmares (U.K.), where it was part of a meal.  It sounded so delicious that I just had to make it.  Since then, the husband has cooked it once, and I've cooked it once, and both times we enjoyed it greatly.  It has an almost sauerkraut-ish, all without actually being sauerkraut, which is brilliant for those who, like me, dislike the taste of sauerkraut.

When I last cooked this, I added another half-pound of sausage, as well as some farfalle noodles, and made a whole meal out of it.  The children don't dig this dish that much, probably because it has so many strong flavors.  That's okay, though, because there's more for me!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small Cabbage, chopped in thin slices
• 1/2 medium Onion, chopped in thin slices
• 8 ounces, Bacon (sausage would also be a good substitute)
• Pepper, to taste

Saute the bacon in a medium skillet (a saucepan would work, too); cook for 3-5 minutes, until the edges are browned.  Add the cabbage, onion, and pepper, then cook until the onions are translucent and the cabbage is soft.  Enjoy!

(img via nymag.com)

What-What?! Week of May 5th

I woke up yesterday morning and realized I hadn’t written a word for this post.  Normally I start about Thursday or so, writing about whatever I’ve already got.  This week, though I’ve had all my major papers due and that has made the week rather nutty.  I have feedback for two of my papers already, though, including my final capstone paper, which got a score of 97!  Whooo-yeah!  My teacher had to go through half the paper before he found a mistake. :D

Shopping: Merona Red Trench Coat

This week at Target, I went shopping for a new pair of slacks for my capstone presentation.  While I did buy a pair of slacks, the highlight of the trip was this beautiful red trench coat, on clearance for $18.  I put it on, and my husband made the comment that all I needed was a red hat – then I could be Carmen Sandiego!  So now Pete and I are planning on dressing up as Carmen Sandiego and one of her goons for this coming Halloween.  I’m voting Peter dresses as either Baron Wasteland or Baron Grinnit – an aristocrat with an eyepatch, or a fighter pilot.  Either way, I think it will be brilliant.

After picking up the coat, I went a-Googling for photos of goons.  I gotta say, you find the oddest things searching for Carmen Sandiego, like this review for a film titled The Limits of Control, directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, and John Hurt, among others.  Overall, it doesn’t sound like a film you’d watch on purpose, but the author of the review points out that the meaning of the film is open to interpretation – so he preferred to imagine it as a live-action Carmen Sandiego.  I suggest you follow the link to the review and read this section of it, because it is hilarious.

Girls Who Code via Take Part

I accidently came across this nonprofit, which is funded by large tech companies like Google, Twitter, and eBay.  The idea is to encourage young women to pursue education and jobs in the tech sector by teaching them programming, robotics, web design and so on.  I think this idea is a really great avenue for getting women to take that first step towards a tech career.  As a previous computer science major, and someone who still loves coding, I think programs like these are incredibly important.  This year, they are operating programs all over the U.S., including here in San Jose.  The organization’s website is a little obtuse, and I’m actually kind of annoyed that there isn’t a more direct way to get in contact with them to volunteer; they only seem to have options if you are currently working with an organization or company.  Maybe this next week I can work on finding contact information about this, because I would really love to volunteer.

TV:  Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares via Netflix

I started watching this show on Netflix on a whim.  I have to say as a warning, though, that if this show were bleeped out, there would be very little dialogue left.  However, I like that it looks at the restaurant as a business, not just looking at the quality of the food.  Gordon Ramsay goes to these failing businesses and looks at the management, the marketing, and the operations.  He looks at whether the restaurant is selling food that the local people want to buy, if they are overpriced, if they are using ingredients or wasting them, if they have local, inexpensive sources for food, if the staff is managed well, and so on.  It’s pretty interesting to watch from a business student perspective, and I think it’s entertaining as well.

That’s it for this week.  Tuesday my littlest will be turning one!  I don’t know that we’ll be doing anything formal for him until school gets out on the 16th, but I was planning on cooking him some oatmeal and banana cookies.