Jemo

At the elementary school I work in one of the things we try and impress upon the students is a sense of community, working together and helping the less fortunate; those in our neighborhood and the world. One of the projects that we've been working on the last three years is Building Futures in Kenya. A man named Jim Nowak, a local neighborhood resident visited our school three years ago to tell us about students in Kenya and his efforts. He helps to build schools in Kenya. He has since returned four times to give us updates. His friends in Kenya call him Jemo and we could call him that too.

Our friend Jemo

Jemo retired from a 30+ teaching career and began his organization Buliding Furtures with a friend. He spends 5 months per year in Kenya helping with construction and other details and the other 7 months here in Rochester spreading his message and fund raising for the Kenya school. He's been to Kenya 13 times. He tells us he doesn't do this alone. His organization has many people that help in many ways from construction to financials.





Jemo introduced us to his friends in Africa though a slide show and words. These students didn't have a school, when they were able to come to school it was held outside or in rundown shacks. He explained how getting an education is important and how our school can help their "school". Our school decided to help and we got into raising money for Kenya. Our biggest fund raiser is our Run for Kenya where students would collect pledges and then over a period of two weeks during PE class as well as before school students run laps in the gym. Our goal was to raise 5,000 dollars, the cost of a new classroom. Jemo would visit us and regale the students with stories of children in Africa. He taught them some words in Kiswahili and we exchanged letters with students in Kenya. It was a great learning experience. The first year we surpassed our goal, not only did we raise enough money for one classroom but for three!! We raised over 15,000! Of course we aren't the only school he visits and I have no idea what they raise but we did great. For two years we raised money for the buildings and had a building named after our school. We have pictures in our hallway of the school and children and they have pictures of us and our school. Eventually they had classrooms for 600 students as well as kitchens and bathrooms. Together all of his fund raising efforts raised enough to build the Mbaka Oromo Primary as well as a secondary school. Our third year fundraiser went towards something they don't have in their community, a medical clinic. Again the students put their hearts into it and raised a lot of money to help with this project. Fourteen months later the clinic was completed. We are gearing up for our fundraiser this year, another Run for Kenya. Our students look forward to it, its become a tradition.


We received some sad news at the end of the day today. The vibrant, generous, kind, selfless man, Jim Jemo Nowak was killed in a car accident this morning in Africa. He'd been in Kenya since October and was scheduled to return to the states in February and kick off our fundraiser.


It makes my heart ache to know that someone as giving and enthusiastic is gone from this Earth. Why? I know there's a reason for it and sometimes you never know what the reason is. I just can't believe this man is gone.

Horror

In this country, the good old U. S. of A many people were in an uproar about the new searches and scans done by the TSA in our nation's airports. As for me, I was not upset. I welcome any technology that will stop people from terrorizing travellers. Go ahead and scan me, maybe my image will end up on line somewhere but I don't care. I've got nothing that no other female has and what I do have, well, who wants to see it? Do I care if I get felt up during a search? I'm sure it won't be comfortable but I'll never see that person again and if it somehow prevents something then grope away. People will argue that the TSA has never thwarted a terrorist attack before, if someone wants to get something through they will. I don't buy that. Can they be 100% accurate? I don't think so but they do collect knives, box cutters and guns.

I write this today because for all that believe these regulations are bull shit I'm betting at the innocent people at the Domodedovea Airport in Moscow wish they were in place at their airport. A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 people inside the terminal. These are eye witness quotes from this article. The explosion had "coated the terminal in blood." The airport was, "engulfed by smoke and spattered with body parts." I'd say those are pretty graphic descriptions. Ones that I would never want to witness or be a part of.

I will never understand how some groups of people feel that they must terrorize others who don't agree with their beliefs. I don't know what group is responsible for this or the reason behind it. I hate that the world is becoming so violent and I worry for future generations.

Jim Alesi, Schmuck

This is my esteemed New York senator Jim Alesi who represents me in the 55th district of the United States Congress. Take it for what it's worth, he's a republican.


There is a very interesting story in the news about him right now. Click here or here to read about it. If you'd rather not I'll summarize it for you.

In January of the year 2008 Alesi wanted to check out a home that was under construction, went to the front door which he found locked. Looking for another entry point he went around the back where he found a door without a lock. Upon entering he noticed that there was no staircase to the upper level installed yet. In place of the future staircase was a ladder which he proceeded to climb and subsequently fall off of. Unfortunately for the trespassing United States Senator he broke his leg. This home was already sold to a couple and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office gave the homeowners the option to press charges against Alesi for this trespassing. They declined to do so stating they didn't want to make it worse for the Senator and add insult to injury. Senator Alesi never contacted the owners to apologize for trespassing or to thank them for not pressing charges.


The statute of limitations for either party to sue is three years. On January 18 2011, the last day of the statute, guess what happened? If you guessed that United States Senator Jim Alesi filed a lawsuit against the homeowner and builder Louis DiRisio you'd be right. By choosing this date it left no time for either party to counter sue. I find that so calculating and disgusting by this man.

In the lawsuit papers Sen. Alesi maintains that "the Trolley Brooks Estates was advertised as a new housing development open to the public. The homeowner and builder should have foreseen that prospective home buyers would enter open houses. The house should have been kept in a reasonably safe condition. It was the negligence of the defendants and not his fault."

According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper the builder has responded that "there was nothing indicating the house was a model available for viewing. That was private property that he entered into. A stairwell was still unfinished and the ladder was the contractor's access from a basement to the first floor. Why would anyone else other than the house's owner or builder think they had a right to scale a ladder within a structure? I guess anybody can sue anybody" said DiRisio. Louis DiRisio has also stated that he will not settle.


Some people may think he's brilliant for lawyering (not a word according to spell check but I like it) up and using the strategy to sue at the last minute. I find it reprehensible and frivolous. Now the homeowners who by the way happen to be some of his constituents and builder will have to pony up for lawyer fees to protect themselves from trespassing United States Senator Jim Alesi. I can see his foe's political commercials now when he's up for re-election. The title of this post says it all.

What's Your Sign?

Do you believe in astrology? I can't say that I believe in the whole horoscope thing. I very seldom read my daily or monthly horoscope because they're so broad in their predictions and open to interpretation.One day many, many years ago, I don't know what made me do it but I purposely looked it up in our daily newspaper. It said that "some very important papers would be signed today". Pretty specific eh? At the time I had been waiting months for my soon to be ex husband to sign divorce papers which he'd been dogging. My lawyer called the next day to tell me he'd signed them yesterday! I dug the paper out of the garbage, cut out the horoscope and still have it today. While I don't subscribe to the telling of the future by the stars I do believe in zodiac traits.

Last week when the Star Tribune in Minneapolis published a story regarding Parke Kunkle, a teacher at Minneapolis Community and Technical college who stated that the astrological signs are wrong and off by a month. I was horrified.

I am a Leo through and through and proud of it. The new star chart says I am a Cancer! I don't want to be that sign, the name alone, Cancer, is awful. The reason for this Kunkle says is due to a "wobble" in the Earth's axis that created a one month hic cup in the alignment of the stars. Well holy shit, I'm not changing my sign because of this.
*
Astronomers and Astrologers don't often agree with each other but on this point they do. While the ancient Babylonians established the zodiac periods, astronomers have known since 130BC when Hipparchus ascertained that this "wobble" would happen. He realized that over thousands of years the gravitational pull of the moon over the Earth would cause the Earth to tilt a little on its axis, changing the placement of the stars in the sky. The wobble also has a name, it's a process called precession. So it turns out this is old news. Both astronomers and astrologers have known the stars and signs have not matched up but it's no big deal. Susan Miller, a popular astrologist said this, "We've known about this for ages. The constellations don't suggest what's coming up , it's the planets! The constellations are a measuring device."
Phew, I feel so much better.

*

Now as I said I'm pretty much a Leo. I don't fit every trait but who does? I've had the Leo traits since birth in both the good way and bad. Leos have the following traits, if there's a Y= that's me, N=No, S=sometimes.

Good traits:
Generous Y
Warm hearted Y
Creative Y
Enthusiastic S
Broad minded Y
Expansive N
Faithful Y
Loyal Y
Loving Y
Dominant Y
Extroverted N
Ambitious S
Courageous Y
Strong willed Y
Independent Y
Born leaders Y
Strongly idealistic S
Humane Y

Not so good traits:
Pompous N
Patronizing S
Bossy Y
Interfering S
Dogmatic N
Intolerant (of stupid people)
Dominant y

Strong Likes:
Speculative ventures N
Lavish living S
Pageantry and grandeur N
Children YY
Drama N

Dislikes:
Doing things safely N
Ordinary day to day living S
Small minded people Y
Penny pinching Y
Mean spiritedness Y

In the long run a person can justify any traits they want and these traits fit many zodiac signs but as for me; I am a LEO. There was a reason I was called Queenie when I was younger. I thought I should be Queen of the Jungle.

What's your sign?
Do you fit the profile?
Would you want to be a different one?

Here comes the...

SNOWDOG

Cody loves the snow and there was no shortage of it today.
We've gotten about a foot since yesterday. Luckily it's the light, fluffy kind.

He enjoys bounding through the deep stuff and sometimes sticks his entire head in it. The only problem is he comes in with tons of little snowballs stuck to him plus he'll limp later. I hope it keeps snowing, I want a snow day tomorrow. Must wear pajamas inside out tonight. For those of you who live in a snow free zone that's supposed to help the cause according to all school students from elementary through high school.

Stay tuned...

There's a First Time for Everything...

It was a cold and dreary day when I pulled in the driveway to find my youngest standing outside. Oh, he saw me coming down the road and wanted to give me a hug before he left to pick up two friends. Then I thought again; uh oh, he's locked out of the house. Turns out not only was he locked out the house but out of his running car also. He had started it up and got out to brush the snow off. When he closed the door the locks must have cycled. He called AAA about 20 minutes before I got home and he was cold. But his car was warm inside :-)

Pacing, where is AAA?

"I can't believe this happened."
Better in the driveway than in some dimly lit parking lot.

He's here! Get that door open!
Actually I think he got the window down because
he had a hard time with the lock.
Where's a criminal when you want one?

Success!
He does have a spare key for the car but it's at his apartment out by his school.
Don't forget your snow brush on the hood...

Snowed OUT of New York City

No flights available from Rochester, Buffalo or Syracuse into any NYC airport...
No Amtrak tickets available into Penn Station in NYC...
No bus tickets available into the Port Authority...
No rentals cars available to drive into NYC...
Parents driving you 5 hours east to Poughkeepsie so you can catch the Metro North train into Grand Central in NYC...
PRICELESS


We went on a road trip yesterday on a mission to get Kevin back to his apartment in NYC. He ended up missing a day of work but we got to have him an extra day. The earliest he could get out of Rochester if he was lucky was December 31 but he is scheduled to work that day.
He called to tell us not to believe the reports that all streets have been plowed at least once. Not true. What a mess.

Ho Ho Ho

How was your holiday everyone? Mine was great, spent with family and everyone got along.

On Christmas Eve we gathered at Hubby's brother and wife's house for the start of the celebrations. Santa arrived to the delight of my three grand nephews and niece. Even the big kids got something from the jolly fellow.

The three sister-in-laws.
We've never had a picture taken together in the 28 years we've all known each other.

Cam received these mustaches in his stocking. There's a story behind them. On Thanksgiving day he and his cousin got a hold of a Sharpie marker and proceeded to draw mustaches on the side of their fingers. My sister found these and we decided they were perfect for their stockings.

As you can see they were a big hit and they wore them for a while.

I thought Cam looked like Mario or is it Luigi who has the 'stache?

Kevin asked for a text book from Santa so he could study for his advanced cardiac nursing certificate. Good thing Santa only had to get the book. The test costs over $400. to take.

Poor Kevin, he's a Buffalo Bills fan and here he is in his regalia.

Cody even got a few gifts.

He's good at opening but could have used some opposable thumbs.

We really enjoyed having both of our boys home with us this Christmas season but now we can't get rid of one; not that I want to...


Kevin is snowed out of New York City. His original flight was for Tuesday Dec 28 at 6 AM but it was cancelled. Now he can't get one out of Rochester into any NYC airport until at least the 31st.
Amtrack is also booked. He is scheduled to work tomorrow but called to let them know he's stuck. They're having a problem with staffing as people are trying to get in but can't. I told him to give the airline a sob story about being a nurse and his hospital needs him which is entirely true but he's still here. He's not very happy about it but it could be worse, he could be sleeping in an airport or stuck on a subway train.

Is he or isn't he?

In my elementary school career I've spent five years working with fifth graders and have been asked many different questions. The hardest ones were questions about sex which now that I think about it they were actually easy to answer. I just told them to ask their parents when they got home. While we do cover that topic somewhat at the end of the year in the human growth and development unit, it's basically just about he changes the male and female bodies go through. If they want to know more, ask at home. One question I was never asked about was Santa.

After 11 years of working in my current job the question of Santa never came up until last year. I'm in my fourth year of kindergarten and the first two were smooth sailing when it comes to the jolly fellow. Last year came the first questions about him. A student proceeded to tell his table group that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. What made it interesting is that no one believed him. They asked him how did he know and he replied that his mother told him that. One student replied that his mother was stupid.

I called him over to my desk to talk with him and let him know that first, his mother was not stupid and second it's okay not to believe in Santa but most children do and that's okay too so please don't bring it up again. And he didn't.

This year another student (why is it always boys?) told his friends that there's no such thing as Santa, your parents give you gifts. They didn't believe him either. He comes from a family that is religious, so much so that they kept him home the day of our Halloween party. Strangely enough he believes in the tooth fairy. I called him over to my desk and gave him the same speech and asked him to not tell his fellow classmates that and to please not spoil it for them. I told the teacher I work with so she was in the loop. Five minutes later she heard him telling them the same thing. This time she took him out into the hall and was very stern. Not just for talking about Santa but also because he knew he was specifically told not to. In the long run a call was placed to his parents and they were mortified that he spilled the beans to the other children.

My thoughts are this; some parents believe the whole Santa thing is very commercial or that they're lying to their children because he's not "real". I've never known anyone who was psychologically damaged because they found out Santa wasn't real. I find that sad for the children. Christmas time is a very magical season. Childhood is so fleeting and they will never be this innocent again. You certainly can celebrate the birth of Christ and all that goes with that but what's wrong with celebrating with Santa too? You don't have to go overboard with it. After all it's not like he's evil. Santa has very good attributes; he's kind, loving, caring, joyful, generous, tolerant and unprejudiced. I like to think that everyone has a little bit of Santa in their heart.

1992
My boys with Santa on Christmas Eve

Snowmen

What have I been doing since I'm not doing much blogging? I've just finished all the Christmas shopping and have it wrapped and delivered to the Christmas morning house. Something I've also been doing is building snowmen. Above are all the parts to him.



I thought he looked a little boring so I glued a rhinestone on the end of his hat.
He was still missing something, every snowman has to have buttons so three more rhinestones glued on.
He's looking much sassier now with his face but I'm never happy with something until I've added my own flair to it and the hat and button bling just wasn't cutting it.
So I glued beads on his scarf. Doesn't he look so much better. Maybe the beaded scarf makes him look like a snow lady. Now multiply this one snow person by 70 and that's what I've been doing. Not to mention tying the little silver strings, writing the names of my students on the front and a little message on the back with my name. Hubby asks why do I do this to myself. I sometimes ask that same question. Then I think of all of my little kindergartners and know why. I hope they like them.

Let it Stop, Let it Stop, Let it Stop

Okay, I'm over it. It can stop snowing any time now. Unfortunately that's not going to happen thanks to lake effect snow off of Lake Ontario. By tomorrow morning we will have about two feet of the white stuff on the ground with more in the forecast for Wednesday. And it's not even winter yet! These pictures are from this morning before I went to school. Above is one of our hydrangeas.
My solar powered freaky teakies are wondering why they aren't where they belong; in Hawaii.

Our dogwood buds are waiting for spring under a blanket of cotton.

The bells are wearing hats.

Don't eat yellow snow!!

Despite my complaining I do love this kind of snow. It's so quiet and peaceful and it's light and fluffy; coating everything with a layer of frosting. The only thing better would be some sunshine to make it sparkle.

Come and sit a spell.

I used this sled when I was a kid. Can you believe I had to rescue it from a garage sale my parents had several years ago.

I bought these mitts at Bed Bath & Beyond. They're made of micro fiber towel material that is super absorbent. If you have a dog you'll know what it's like when they come in from the snow. Cody loves to go out in it and comes in covered with snowflakes. I put these on to dry him off and he loves it. He also gets snow balls between his pads on his feet and on the feathers on his legs. I think he goes outside just so he can get rubbed down when he comes in.

He'll go over to them and wait for someone to dry him off. Now if I can only find a way to get the snowballs off. When they start to melt they fall off all over the place leaving wet spots. Then I step on them in my socks...

I hope where ever you are the weather is better. Commutes are awful but I'm very lucky. The school I work at is a 2 minute drive from my house. Four on a day like today. This afternoon it took me longer to brush off my car than to drive home.

Wear your pajamas inside out tonight; I want a snow day tomorrow.

I've been a bad blogger. Lots of stuff in my mind, no time to write about it. For now enjoy the little kitten picture. I'm not a lover of cats, I'm allergic to them but they seem to love me. Or maybe they know they make me sneeze and itch so they want to torment me. Anyway I thought these two were sweet.

Gross

I am just so, so, very, very grossed out. My beautiful dog Cody had a few "growths" on him. He's had some previously and we didn't know what they were. It starts out when we find a small little bump then over the next few days it grows to the size of a pea and looks like it's filled with blood. Next thing you know it's gone. The whole process takes 4-7 days. I've always wanted to take him to the vet to see what it was but Hubby says why bother, it falls off. I want to know what it is so it's an ongoing debate. With in the last two months he's had maybe 4 of these "things". Finally I put my foot down, they gross me out so we e-mailed our vet who happens to live down the street from us and is on maternity leave. She said it sounds like a tick.


A tick?! I told Hubby get him to the vet fast and get it removed. Dr. Hawkins said we could remove it ourselves but he didn't want to do that just in case it wasn't a tick and he's trying to pull it off. Well it was official, it was a tick, a deer tick to be exact. We live next door to the woods and he likes to go for walks over there, that's where he was getting them. The vet says that this is a pretty bad fall season this year, lots of them around. Luckily Cody has had just one at a time but they are so gross and now that I know what they are it's even worse. For some reason they really bother me. I can clean up dog poo, vomit (well Hubby usually does that), clean the sleepy dirt out of his eyes and I've even removed fleas from a previous dog and pinched them between my fingernails so I'm not very squeamish. But these things are hideous. I did some research on line about ticks and I'm not kidding when I say that I lost my appetite for a few days. Just thinking about them makes me feel nauseous.


Do you want to be grossed out too? I can't post the pictures, they're too disturbing to me so I'll give you the link, look at your own risk.

Here
Here
Here
Here Don't say I didn't warn you. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

It's That TIme Again...

...for the Christmas tree to arrive at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This year's tree comes from the yard of Peter Acton a NYC firefighter who was a first responder on Sept. 11, 2001. The Norway spruce is 74 feet tall and 75 years old. In some way it's sad that this tree lived so happily for all these years then it gets chopped down and put on view for 2 months. But if I was asked by Barbara Walters what kind of tree would I be I choose to be this tree. Why? Because this tree will make thousands upon thousands of people smile and forget their troubles for a few minutes.


I've been to NYC at Christmas time three times and every time there's something special about it. The city is dressed in its finest, the decorations are beautiful and Christmas spirit abounds. To see the massive tree lit up with five miles of lights is the icing on the cake. While I'd love to go this holiday season I was just there in October. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to talk Hubby into going again even if we stay with our son. I'll have to settle for the Christmas tree web cam.

Oh!

Oh Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark) what has happened to you?

I never missed an episode of Knot's Landing, a spin off of Dallas that ran from 1979 through 1993. I loved/hated Abby and Greg and thought Valene was the wimpiest, annoying little thing. Who doesn't look better 30 years younger but she is scary. This makes me feel old.

Happy Halloween

I'm not a lover of Halloween although I do enjoy spooky movies, pumpkins and candy. I saw this mooning scarecrow the other day and thought oh someone is very clever. Maybe I'll try it next year.



More about cemeteries. Earlier this week Hubby and I went on a torch light walking tour through one of the oldest cemeteries in our city, Mt. Hope Cemetery. It was very cool, we learned some history about it but alas our tour guide told us no ghost stories about it and I'm sure there are some. The 54 acres of land for Mt Hope Cemetery was purchased in 1836 and was considered rural since it was 1.5 miles from downtown Rochester. It was thickly wooded with inaccessible hills and valleys. These hills and valley are what makes it uncommon among cemeteries. Most are flat or have slight hills. Mt Hope is very hilly and a nice place to hike. It has trees that are 200 plus years old and veterans buried there from all wars starting with the Civil War. Two years later it was read for dedication on October 3, 1838. Over the years it has grown and currently is 196 acres. A few people buried there: Susan B. Anthony, a women's rights activist, Frederick Douglas, crusader against slavery, Hiram Sibley, founder of Western Union, William Warfied, world famous baritone and Frank E. Gannett, famous newspaper publisher.I took the above picture not knowing I'd see the smoke from a torch when I downloaded it. It looks somewhat creepy to me since I think I see a face in the second smoke blob to the right of the monument. But if you want to see something really creepy...
I do not like bugs. Yes, I know we need insects to survive in this world and they have a purpose. I once read a novel entitled Dust and while it was fiction the consequences of having no insects in the world were true. It's a good read. Anyway over the summer we were up at Keewaydin NY State Park in the 1000 Islands and came across this thing on this tree. What the heck was it? Let's take a closer look.

Ewwww, some sort of insect emerging.

After it climbed out it turned itself over and hung on to the shell for a bit.

Eventually when it was done molting with the wings fully expanded and hardened it flew away. This took place in a time span of about an hour. We were fishing right by this tree so I kept my eye on it. I wanted to know where it was at all times because I didn't want it crawling on me.

After I got home I did some research and turns out this is a Tibicen cicada that goes by the alias of dog day cicada. It gets that moniker because it emerges from the exoskeleton in July and August, the hottest months of the year. The male cicada is the one that does the singing often being most vocal on hot and steamy days. I do enjoy their song, for some reason it reminds me of my childhood. They can be very noisy in large groups but a lone cicada has a beautiful song.

Oxford University

Oxford University is located in Oxford, England and is the oldest English speaking university in the world. While there is no clear foundation date classes were held here as early as 1096.

It is one of the few universities in the world that use the tutorial system to educate their students. This means you have a one on one tutor for each class you take. You meet them once or twice a week to go over assignments and learn then you do the classwork throughout the week on your own. It's one of the best schools in the world and they only take the best of the best.

Bridge of Sighs at Oxford

To be an Oxford Scholar is to be in the company of world famous leaders, authors, scientists, etc.
Here are a few 20th century Oxford Scholars:
Benazir Bhutto
Tony Blair
Justice Stephen Breyer
Bill Clinton
T.S. Eliot
Indira Gandhi
Stephen Hawking
Edwin Hubble
Margaret Thatcher
J R R Tolkien

So why am I writing about Oxford University? My youngest son Cameron has been invited to attend Oxford next year through a program with the university and his college. When I asked at the parent meeting how do we know he can get in? I was told you aren't invited if you won't get in. What an opportunity for him. He's the perfect kind of student for this experience; smart, motivated, a self directed learner. Plus on his transcript and resume it will say he is a Brockport/Oxford Scholar. I'd guess that would give him an advantage that others within his profession won't have. Here's the catch, it ain't cheap, waaaay over our budget. We could take out a home equity loan but I don't think that will happen. I just hate how things in life come down to money. We don't have a second home or "toys" or spend frivolously. I'm disappointed but not as much as he will be when we tell him he can't do it. It makes me think about all those actors who don't win the Oscar, "It was an honor just to be nominated".