This might be the funniest thing I've heard in a while...

In a conversation with my sister, who's in Argentina at the moment, this came up:

then, i knew i had no other option so i went into my host parents bedroom and told them in spanish that my poop was stuck in the toilet

i said 'caca' and everything

they started rolling laughing

i told them i was going to go to my room and die

then i heard my host dad go into the bathroom and fill a bucket of water and poor it down the toilet

then he yells in broken english "goodbye! it's swimming!"

Fantastic.

The post about another future post...

For a long time I thought a lot of things about the way Church happens.

Then things changed. I'll get into that another day.

For a lot of reasons, I've kept quiet about many of the things I think about for a couple of years now (save for a couple of occasions in which the conversation was initiated by others around me), but I feel like I'm ready to talk about these things again.

There's a big part of me that doesn't know where to start with this and, in many ways, doesn't know where exactly it's going to end. In fact, that's one of the few things that I'm certain of with this whole deal: I've got no idea where this is going. I can see some of where we are, and I'm great at complaining about how where we've been has screwed up where things are now (I know what a charming quality, right?), but as for where things are headed, I'm not sure. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in these questions. I feel like this is going somewhere significant, but I'm not sure where yet.

In the midst of all those qualifiers, what I do know is that it's time for me to start talking about this again.

Wherever you find yourself, I'm interested in what you've got to say about these things.

If I haven't completely scared you off at this point and you're interested in a little more reading, check out this article by a guy named Michael Spencer. I don't agree with everything said in that article by any means, but I do like the questions he is raising for the Church. And just so you know, the ideas Spencer is discussing do represent many of the more radical viewpoints present in the discussion in which I've found myself.

I'll stop for now. I'll post thoughts about and reactions to the article sometime soon(ish).

Fantasy Football: Free League

Across the country, it's that happy time again. For me, it's the first time it's been that happy time. Today, I completed my very first fantasy football draft. 16 rounds. 2 hour and 20 minutes. Several pizzas and plenty of wings. You get the idea.

Here's the team I've drafted. I've got no clue how good they will be, or even if I have a decent team going. The cheat sheet I grabbed from ESPN seems to say that I'll be alright. I've included position, round drafted and team as well...

Here we go:

Round 1 - Matt Forte (RB - CHI)

Round 2 - Larry Fitzgerald (WR - ARI)

Round 3 - Calvin Johnson (WR - DET)

Round 4 - Matt Ryan (QB - ATL)

Round 5 - Thomas Jones (RB - NYJ)

Round 6 - Derrick Ward (RB - TB)

Round 7 - Jonathan Stewart (RB - CAR)

Round 8 - John Carlson (TE - SEA)

Round 9 - Kevin Walter (WR - HOU)

Round 10 - Matt Cassel (QB - KC)

Round 11 - Chicago Bears Team Defense/Special Teams

Round 12 - Domenik Hixon - (WR - NYG)

Round 13 - Ernest Graham (RB - TB)

Round 14 - Tony Scheffler (TE - DEN)

Round 15 - Lawrence Tynes (K - NYG)

Round 16 - San Diego Chargers Team Defense/Special Teams

That's how things shook out. Hopefully it'll work out well for me in the end. Wish me luck!

Music music

Thanks to BigRedPoet, the last stop is now equipped with pleasing tunes to accompany your reading experience. You have to click it to get it going over there, but hopefully it's worth the minimal effort.

Enjoy the new tunes!

Should Taco Bell be called Taco Bell if they've got no tacos?

Attention Taco Bells around the world: if you intend to market 4th meal as a viable option, have a healthy supply of taco meat on hand at any and all times. Apparently, one Taco Bell in town needs this message. After asking for two tacos tonight, I was informed that "we don't have no more taco meat," and I would need to select something off the menu that didn't require this essential ingredient.

If you run out of the central ingredient for nearly your entire menu, someone didn't order something or forgot to start "cooking" it up or whatever. Fix it.

how going to the dentist got worse...

Ok, it's no stretch to say that most people don't especially enjoy going to the dentist. It's not much better if you often find yourself as the lucky recipient of a return trip to fill cavities as I frequently am.

Today, though, there were no cavities. Great, right? No return trip, no paying more money for expensive, painful, time consuming procedures. All is well. Until they decided I needed a "fluoride varnish" applied to my teeth. This is where things go down hill. (And keep in mind, I had three cavities on my last trip to the dentist and fully expected to match that this go around... And also, I own a toothbrush and am well aware of how to use it. Genetics doesn't work in my favor here...)

So, back to the fluoride varnish. When the hygienist and the dentist started throwing around terms like varnish that I only associate with staining wood and the accompanying horrendous odors, I should have prepared myself for the worst. Instead, I laid there waiting to get this last little formality out of the way so I could move on with my cavity free day.

Then, it began.

There were new tools involved (never a good situation at the dentist... I want to recognize what's there on the table for the hygienist to clean my gums... I mean teeth with... new is not good). With the new tools, she begins to paint (as best I can describe it) this terrible gunk onto my teeth. It feels somewhat similar to when you put a piece of gum between your teeth and your upper lip. The only difference is that this kind of has the texture of a melted gummy worm with dirt mixed in. Not cool.

About the time she finishes up, she starts in with the rules. No eating/drinking for an hour (fine, whatever...), and no brushing until late tonight (Are you kidding? You tell me this after you slopped glue all over my mouth???). I've never wanted to brush my teeth more in my life. If you asked me whether I'd rather participate in fluoride varnishing again or eat a dirt sandwich, there's really a 50/50 shot that I'd take either option.

6 hours to go...

Valuable thoughts on tracking in public school classrooms (or, evidently the verbal section of the GRE doesn't deter enough people from grad school..)

For those of you in the education world who haven't been sleeping through all of your staff development, you've heard all sorts or arguments about tracking. For tracking. Against tracking. Track and field. Tracking for these kids but not those kids. All sorts of arguments I mean discussions.

I'm not here to talk about tracking, but I thought you might like to see what some of my esteemed classmates in the pursuit of higher learning about learning are saying about the issue:

about this issue, at the end is depending what point of view do we see, negative or positive and how to minimize negative aspects

The wonderful thing about having AP credit is that a lot of colleges and universities will take these credits and apply them to a bachelor's degree. So, when they leave high school with several college hours, they are more likely to say, "hey, I have a head start, why not finish a degree??"

Adults change their minds so why wouldn't students change their minds as well?

Notice the insightful revelations, sound logic, and superb control of the English language employed to express these deep thoughts during a recent discussion. It really is remarkable. And to think, such advanced statements are being supplied by the students in graduate level studies! Imagine what those PhD candidates are capable of creating! It boggles the mind!

Don't think for a second that these jewels are one of a kind (or three of a kind or whatever smart remark you may have just thought). There's plenty more where they came from. In fact, there are more than 120 posts in each of my discussion threads filled with substantive posts (words of the prof) like these that provide a lively and productive discussion for all parties involved.

If one of my classmates shares another epiphany or two, I may post those as well. I've got to give myself some reason to read all those posts...