field trip

Last week I went with a senior, Law and Justice class from East Side Community school here in Manhattan on a field trip. We went to see the opening of a double homicide case. The guy on trial was involved in a robbery/kidnapping. He got 60 bucks from the people he robbed (he does not deny that he robbed them). One of the other participants got a car out of the deal, but he later had to abandon it. Anyway, it was interesting to hear the opening arguments of the prosecution and the defense. We also go to hear the first witness. It was a member of the Crime Scene Unit (better known to those of us in the know as CSI-ha). I don't know why Lt. Dan (aka Gary Sinise) was not there, but considering this crime took place in 2001 he might not have been here then.

Yes, you heard me correctly 2001 (if I was to too put that in caps so that you could see it better it would be @))! ). We asked the DA that was with us about the promise of a speedy trial. He said that, that does not apply to murder cases, and if it did there are ways to get around that. Glad to know that they have to still "get around" parts of the Bill of Rights instead of taking away all my freedoms. Maybe if they take enough of them away they will have a "treasure chest of rights" (kinda like the treasure chest of merits we learned about in Mr. Wilkinson's church history class). If they do get enough of my rights to fill up the chest maybe they can give some of them to the guys held in Guantanamo, but I digress.

It was fun to watch the opening of a trial. Afterwards, we went down stairs watch the first stage of the trial process. I can't remember what it is called, but it is where they argue about bale. While we were there, we got to watch the judge yell at this 17 yr old guy. He had broke the "order of protection" to see his baby's mother, who is just recently 16, four times. She gave him bale, but it was 100,000 in cash, so he probably sat in jail for a few days. It was humorous to watch, but not fun to think about.

anyway that was our field trip

a quote

". . . the dead have more claims on you than what you might want to admit or even what you might know about and them claims can be very strong indeed. Very strong indeed. You get the feelin they just dont want to turn loose. So any thing helps, in that respect."

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

cornbread

cornbread cornbread greasy greasy we gonna bet yo team easy easy....

ha ha, so I did learn something about sports growing up...

last night we had a potluck at David's. I made cornbread. I really wanted to make black eyed peas too, but I refrained. The corn bread seemed to go over well; they ate it all. To be honest I really was not concerned with how much they liked it. I really wanted cornbread and was gonna fix it last night regardless of the potluck.

Martha Stewart

As I walked to work Tuesday morning I figured it was going to be a bad day. All morning long I kept dropping things and forgetting things and there was a great threat of rain. To top it all off I had no music to listen to on the way to work. When I got to work I was told to read "the rules." So I found "the rules" and realized that we were having a big event that day. "The rules" informed me of what Martha was and was not going to do and what the customers were expected to do. Martha Stewart was coming to sign her new book Martha's Rules. So we began to prepare, and I thought it somewhat funny that the maintance people were on ladders cleaning the columns. I guess management wanted the place to be spick and span for the home diva. So I spent all morning selling books to freaks. I mean these people were crazy. They LOVE Martha and they talk about her like she is their best friend. I think these people actually would have invited her over for dinner and expected her to be impressed with their cooking and decorating skills

I knew that I would not see Martha because they would whisk her up to the fourth floor, but I figured I would go up to see her during my break. So when I got off at 12:30 I walked out the back door only to be greeted by the eager paparazzi. I think they were greatly disappointed in me. Well, I wanted to tell them that I may not be able to cook dinner for 25 and never get a hair out of place, but if they followed me around and listened to my thoughts I would make a much better story than Martha. After I pushed through the cameras and lights I made my way to McDonald. I knew that I could not go see Martha on an empty stomach; I knew she would make me sick if I did. After eating my fare I made my way back to the store and up to the fourth floor to see this person. I could have gotten close because I am an employee, but I kept my distance. To be honest I was embarrassed to go see her. From my place though I could watch her sign the books for her dedicated fans. She had the absolute best posture of any person I have ever seen. It was amazing!

so that is my brush with fame this week...

haha

chillin

so yea, I am chillin in the library "working" on a paper for my one class this week. We don't have class today because we are celebrating the invasion of the "America" by the Spanish. Well at least that is how some people see it--I don't know how I feel about the story of Columbus. He was the topic of conversation I almost all of my classes for the first few weeks of school because were talking about teaching in a multicultural environment...Anyway I am bored and kinda upset....

you see I wanna get a new phone so I can have text put back onto my plan. However, in order for me to upgrade my phone I have to upgrade my plan because my plan is old. But I don't wanna upgrade my plan!

Anyway, this is the most useless blog I have ever posted....

Sebna

so yea, rumor has it that we have discovered a new planet.

That is crazy! I mean this is really crazy! Just imagine what this means for all the many school children who learned the planets. There are tons of different types of mnemonic devises. (I actually never used them, but Laura Love always used one to remember the planets. However, since I could not remember it I had to goggle it.) The one that came up when I googled was "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas." I mean now we have to come up with another word, and since the newest planets name is Sedna the word has to begin with "S." This could be kind of fun. Can you just imagine the astronomers sitting in a room making up new mnemonic devises. I will not even attempt this because I am not that smart.

a nice quote

“Toward you Krispy Kreme we swim as in the waters of the Ganges. Krispy Kreme, beacon for the forgot and disenfranchised, Krispy Kreme with your bounteous offering, who else loves so unconditionally and gives so unstintingly who else puts others first so graciously and humbly?”

From Rick Moody’s The Diviners (hear his interview on public radio http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4932144