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  •     The Daily News

    1  Worked minor lights for our music concert last night.

    2  The Venerable Professor Barnhill once again lit up the night sky with some of the best young musicians walking around.

    3  Long, brilliant performance. There's a reason our Wind Ensemble has been to Carnegie Hall twice.

    4  


    5   Music is Love.

    6   See you again. Concert went WAY late. LOVED it, LOVE me some music.

    7   Love music.

    8    For reals. Gotta keep it short today. Music. Think you, music. Love, love, love music.

    9    I smiled all last night, did some toe-tapping.

    10   Music.

    11    Gottago. Have a great weekend. Fill it with music.

    12    Peace.

    ~H~

    www.xanga.com/bharrington


  • The Daily News
    1   Whoops!

    2   I made the fatal mistake of being lured into a false sense of security yesterday.

    3   I somehow survived TWO meetings.

    4   Evidently, the last meetings during the Christmas season seem to be bereft of issues.

    5   Hmmmm.

    6   Both seemed to me to be relatively short and issueless.

    7    Evidently Seasons' Greetings can make their way into areas of life that are usually construed as essential. 

    8   Suddenly the people in charge of causing stress realize that THEY need a break.

    9   Well all fine and cool, I suppose.

    10  Two meetings, and I emerged relatively unscathed. 

    11   The trouble with dodging two bullets in the same day is that one gets lured into a false sense of security. 

    12  The world then stealthily moves in.

    13   Last night I had the audacity to relax and not think about things too deeply. The meetings were short and relatively unstressful. 

    14   I ate healthily and then went to bed quite early. 
    15   I put the entire world on hold. 

    16   <basketball buzzer>

    17    I enjoyed a marvelously serene sleep, and woke up to now.

    18   In my peace, the DN was already written. 

    19   In my reality, I am now awake and facing certain doom. 

    20   Yesterday was TOO good a day.

    21   We had a minimum day so as to make time for the critical meetings. 

    22   Here's a bit of advice: Never volunteer for anything. 

    23   Just kidding. 

    24    Sort of.

    25    Certain doom.

    26    Yesterday I worked a ten hour day, and that doesn't include the terror of traveling on the roads with all the idiots. 

    27   Today I will work a 14-hour day, because I am going to do a relatively simple light design for our winter concert, which I was told last night by our guitar teacher, will be lonnnnnnnng. 

    28   I don't really mind, because I have always loved school concerts.

    29   It's just the fourth in a continuum of long hours, long weeks, and extremely stressful weekends. 

    30   I simply don't have the hours.

    31   I'm writing this in haste because I had to throw up my arms last night and crash early. 

    32   But I'm awake now, for the count. 

    33   Yesterday I didn't stop. I lectured every single period, had around five seconds to ponder, and then had meetings until I went home, somehow assembled a brief shopping trip, somehow got some food down, and crashed. 

    34   I'm still standing. 

    35   I'm at the end of my rope, but dude. 

    36   I can't keep working sixty to seventy-hour weeks. 

    37   I'm staring down a Thursday filled with lectures and papers. 

    38   As we speak. 

    39   I love it. 

    40   I hate it. 

    41   That conversation took place between me and our yearbook advisor last night at yet another meeting. 

    42   We stood red-eyed and exhausted afterward, but we both insisted that we are in the greatest profession in the world. 

    43   In many ways, it is true. 

    44   It is also one of the most exhausting professions on the planet, and nobody on the planet, even other teachers, gets it. 

    45  I'm awake. 

    46  Like you, I have a thousand issues surrounding me. 

    47   I have little time to deal with them because I must commit myself to teaching.

    48   If you are a teacher, you get it. You have to engage students into learning every single day of the school year. 

    49   You can't call in sick for a hangnail. 

    50   You lose a day, you give yourself three days more of work. 

    51   You have always to be upbeat and on it. 

    52   I made the mistake yesterday of thinking I could actually relax. 

    53   I crashed early and am now facing chaos if I don't spend the early part of the day scrambling for a dynamic lesson plan. 

    54   I will succeed. 

    55   I always do. 

    56   I will survive. 

    57    But right now I am hustling. I am staring down the gun barrel of a fourteen-hour day. 

    58   I will love my life at around ten p.m. when I arrive home after the Winter Concert.

    59   That's what we do. 

    60   A cop is a cop. A lawyer is a lawyer. A gardener is a gardener. 

    61   You are you. Nobody on the planet gets what you go through each day. 

    62   And they never will. 

    63   I'm just bitching about my own world here. All apologies. 

    64   I appreciate that you give your all to your own job. 

    65   I am just exhausted. Jobs do that. All jobs do that. This includes motherhood, by the way. That just may be the toughest job on the planet. But I digress. 

    66  I have to stop now and get ready to go in. 

    67   I hope to have a great day despite all. 

    68   You have a great day too.

    69   Thank you for all you do, and I know you all do a lot. I'm just scramblin' today. Hope your day works out well. I gottago. 

    70   Peace. 

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington

  • The Daily News
    1  Since we put the tree in the living room, my office has been dispatched to our sun room, which looks out on our back yard. The wonderful part is that the windows in two rooms now reflect the lights when the sun goes down.  I feel like I'm somehow in downtown Manhattan during the holiday rush. 
     
    2   It's a wonderful view, and I see the sky, the trees, and the clouds each day when I'm on the computer.
     
    3   The challenge begins when I get into the 1 a.m. to write this.
     
    4   I like to snooze a few hours before embarking so that I am rested and don't wind up sounding like the village idiot.
     
    5   Our sun room morphs into a sort of fish tank in the middle of the night.
     
    6   It is scary, I'm not gonna lie.
     
    7   Sidebar: <that expression!> Doesn't that mean that while I usually lie, I'm not gonna lie this time?
     
    8  I loves me some goofing on Newspeak.
     
    9  That was a cheap allusion to...
     
    10  <JAY-zuss I'm getting old.> <thought pops into head, vanishes.>
     
    11   I'm on item eleven and the wheels have already come off.


     
    12   Sun room. Fish tank. Scary. Middle-of-the night. Scary. Creepy. Scary.
     
    13   I keep waiting to see the face in the window.
     
    14   I want to pull my metaphorical blanket over my head.
     
    15   I tell my students that pulling a blanket over your head keeps you safe from everything. Hiding under the metaphorical covers will protect you from anything. 
     
    16  Stoned guys usually lift their heads and utter, "For reals?"
     
    17   Yeah dude, for reals. So if there's an earthquake, a brick chimney won't hurt you.
     
    18   Have a Darwin Award.
     
    19   For reals.
     
    20   <peeking out from under the covers.> <anybody there?>
     
    21   All clear.
     
    22   No face.
     
    23   It's creepy that people can see me but that I can't see them.
     
    24    It's dark out there.
     
    25    I'm lit up like a Vegas casino. Manhattan to Vegas in a heartbeat. 
     
    26    Ah, whatevs. At least tonight it isn't freezing.
     
    27    <looking around.>
     
    28    I read somewhere that it is impossible for our minds ever to shut up.
     
    29    That means our mind is an irritating, incessant talker, and that we do lots of listening.
     
    30    I can think of when our minds possibly shut up.
     
    31    When that real brick chimney crashes through those metaphorical covers. For reals.

     
    32    Moving on, Part the First: Is anyone else tired of the Niners' quarterback controversy?
     
    33   Bleh.
     
    34   Good challenge to have.
     
    35    "But they might not win the Super Bowl with Colin Kaepernick!"
     
    36    Dude. Horrors.
     
    37    Ninety-nine percent of the teams that play professional football are not going to the win the Super Bowl.
     
    38   Did I do that right? Is that Chicago-Manually correct?
     
    39   Thirteen three-and-outs. That's the number one thing to me. Getting the ball down the field. Period.
     
    40   With all due respect to Smith fans, converting first downs is an important skill in the game of professional football. It is safe to say that thirteen misses doesn't bode well. 
     
    41   It's more important than not making mistakes, which IS important and which the Niners have done a lot of this year.
     
    42   So I am definitely a Kaepernick guy, despite Smith's winning record. When it came down to it, his inability to convert was a major challenge, and one that he was unable to overcome at critical times last year. Fortunately we had a kicker who got great because he had about a seven-thousand reps.
     
    43  End the conversations. Worry about something relevant, like safe driving, for instance.

    44   Moving On, Part the Second: I love the hypocrite in myself sometimes, because in many ways we are all hypocrites, and frequent hypocrites. For example, I just got done talking about how tired I am of listening to that stuff about Kaepernick and Smith, but whose fault is that? First, I can change the radio station. Second, I can turn off the teevee. Third, I could stop arguing at length about it on the DN.

    45   As for safe driving, I caught myself not signaling three times yesterday when I was in quieter neighborhoods. On the freeway I am vigilant about signaling, but for some reason, when I am merging to the right on Quimby Road, I am less vigilant.

    46   Don't get me wrong. I am careful. I do use mirrors. But I caught myself not signaling in a no-traffic situation, and then heard my babbling mind scream at me, "You hypocrite! You should signal every time you intend to move over!"

    47   I even heard some talk show guy talk the other day about how he got a ticket for not having his turn-signal on when he was in a turning lane. I think talk-show hosts don't know when to push their minds' mute buttons. Anway a cop pulled him over for not signaling while he was already in a turning lane. 

    48  In a way I'm glad that cops do that. It keeps us from being unsafe idiots. I just don't want them to give me one. So I'll be more careful. I'll keep my eye out for cops. 

    49   Moving on, Part the Thoid: Yesterday I was at Fed Ex running some materials for school today when this little white car, noisy beyond its stature, zoomed past the window at around 40 mph. It disappeared in an alley behind the store at an unbelievable speed. 

    50   I take that route whenever I go to Fed Ex because I avoid the business of the parking lot. I am overly cautious because there are blind curves and trucks that use that area for loading, but in general, I avoid the mish-mash of a busy parking lot, especially early evening.  


    51   The guy came speeding back out, twice as fast now, flew past me and into the parking lot. Pure lunacy. 

    52   He was gone before I could see him. I thought about running after him and thumping on his hood.

    53   Then my incessantly yammering head had THIS to say to me: "Ninety-nine percent of the people out there can beat you up. And yes, you did the Chicago Manually correct thing, since you write out the percentage if it is at the beginning of the sentence."

    54   Pedant. 

    55   So I decided not to go out and thump the guy's car. I wouldn't have had time anyway.

    56   A bit of it is similar to teaching: better I just take a huge broom to the beach and try to rid the shores of sand.

    57    At least I would avoid the metaphorical brick chimney going through the metaphorical covers and breaking my metaphorical head.

    58   Time to leave. This head of mind will never shut up.

    59   You have a GREAT day.

    60   See you again.

    61   Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington


  •  

    The Daily News
    1   Two students were hit by cars Friday in front of our school.

    2   Both are okay, but with broken bones and trauma to the head.

    3   One was a hit-and-run.

    4   We have over 2500 students who arrive between 7 and 8:15 in the morning every single day. 

    5   Faculty members immediately became active in thinking of ways to stop this, including getting crossing guards, PTSA volunteers, and other means of creating safety. 

    6   I'm proud that they became proactive immediately. 

    7   Cars are simply not looking for students to pop out in front of them. Each day I am a tad terrified if I'm a little late, because the students don't always use crosswalks, in general. The parents drop them off in areas with signs that clearly say no stopping. 

    8   I pray for those kids who got hit. One was the brother of one of my own students. That hurts. 

    9   Sometimes the job can give a tremendous pause. 

    10   I didn't see the emails about this until yesterday. 

    11   My prayers go out to those students and to their families. 

    12   Moving On, Part the First: Is it just me or has driving become terrifying in the past few years?

    13   I used to enjoy going for rides, but with all the texting and use of cell phones in the car, I'm finding myself really scared when I'm out on the roads. 

    14   I was particularly scared the other day when there were flood warnings. 

    15   The roads were pretty slick. I listened to KGO for traffic reports and it seemed that there was some sort of accident every five minutes. 

    16   Scary stuff. Big rigs going over. People spinning out. People changing lanes without signaling or looking. It's really frightening.

    17   Moving on, Part the Second: I don't know about any of you, but has this been an exhausting couple of months?

    18   It seemed that October took about twelve years off my life. 

    19   Long stretch. 

    20   November flew by in an instant. 

    21   How can  the same basic amount of days and hours seem so dramatically different?

     


    22


    23   It has a lot to do with the holidays too. I do like them so.

    24   Even yesterday felt like a holiday. 

    25   I got outta school and home within a half hour. I then threw a blanket over me and put on old movies. 

    26   I decided to take a break from all the stress of work and everything else. I caught up with all my grading, which is a minor miracle. I watched the original 1924 version of Captain January, with Baby Peggy as the Cap'n. Awesome silent.

    27   Keeping up on the grading won't last, but I did enjoy taking a little time for myself. 

    28   December is already flying by. 

    29   I don't mind one bit. 

    30   I keep putting Christmas stuff out there. It's fun. My daughter Nicoley bought some candy cane lights that are really fun. 

    31   I even took a day off decorating, but that has been nice therapy, the entire Christmas thing. 

    32   I even got politically incorrect and played some Christmas carols while my students did some desk work, which I will be grading tonight. 

    33  I know we're technically not supposed to do that, but it just felt nice. I realize that some people are not into Christmas at all, and I do respect different beliefs. 

    34   But come on. 

    35   Tell that to the stores. 

    36   It's been a rather difficult year for me. I have spent many weekends visiting people in hospitals, and doing lots of praying. 

    37   I used to be a Christmas scrooge. 

    38   I have turned that one around a bit and have seen that I have blessings everywhere around me. 

    39   I am also wise beyond my years. 

    40   Not bad for an Old Brown Shoe. 

    41   I worry. 

    42   I worry about everything these days. 

    43   I also appreciate everything much more than I used to. 

    44   And I am thankful that I have so many beautiful people in my life. 

    45   I take nothing for granted anymore. 

    46   And I enjoy aging. 

    47    Thank you all for being in my life. 

    48    I love you all, everything. 

    49    Okay, I'm getting too sentimental. And that's a bit too ridiculous for me.

    50    I think it's about time to say bye bye.

    51    I hope you all have a wonderful day, and that you stay safe. 

    52    See you again. 

    53    Peace. 

    ~H~



    www.xanga.com/bharrington



    Baby Peggy in the 1924 classic
     Captain January.


  • The Daily News
    1   Okay, so it's five a.m. and I've no coffee. 

    2   I awakened to realizing I had not written this.

    3   I must needs have some coffee.

    4   My entire weekend was taken from me.

    5   And now I must needs go into a classroom for six or seven or eight hours. 

    6   I must avoid what I delicately refer to as "scramblers."

    7   They are the ones who wish to steal one's time with things that are important to themselves.

    8   They are massive and many, and they take away your life.

    9   I already have enough of my own life taken away.

    10  Sound familiar?

    11  Yesterday morning awakened at five a.m. and finished grading all my papers and planning all my week's lessons. Yes, I was in the five a.m. so that I could have somewhat of a life.

    12  The second I finished, a news flash hit the teevee telling me that there was a definite threat of flooding about two scissors' steps from my living room. 

    13   I have been through a real evacuation just once in my life, but had to plead with family to leave.

    14   Of course I looked like an alarmist, but when I finally got everyone into the car and drove down the threatened highway, I got us all safely home. It was on a New Year's Day, and  it was ridiculous trying to convince people that when the teevee tells you to evacuate, that you should do so.

    15   We did get home safely, and later that evening the news showed film of flooding in the very area in which we drove. It had film of cows standing atop barns, and areas that looked normal with rivers covering front doors.

    16   When the Emergency Broadcast System tells you to evacuate, it doesn't mean somebody else. 

    17   Yes, you might look stupid evacuating, but you also save your family and pets. 

    18   Yesterday was scary to me. 

    19   I'm sorry. 

    20   I'm still scared. 

    21   I packed all the stuff I would need to survive and wound up going to a church up in the hills. I couldn't care less about the Niners or their idiotic game against the Rams. 

    22   I realized how few things I really cared about. All I cared about was my family, my pets, and blankets and water. 

    23   And I thought enough to warn people on Facebook. 

    24   Fortunately, the rains lightened and all turned out okay.

    25   I sort of gave an "all clear" on Facebook, but was astounded at how many people remained in denial. 

    26   I wound up watching some extremely bad football and decorating for Christmas. It was swell, and my house looks lovely, and not at all flooded.

    27   I naturally went to sleep early, and subsequently found myself up early and writing this in the freezing cold of the morning. 

    28   The computer naturally decided it would screw around and change font sizes and other things. 

    29   Good old computers. 

    30   So my fingers are frozen, the room decidedly different for decorations, and I am up for the day. 

    31   I'm glad that I am frozen and in a decorated room, and not in slosh. 

    32   I could have spent the night in that church.

    33   Thank God for tomfoolery and inaccurate reporting. 

    34   Life is normal, and that is good. 

    35   I guess we sort of ducked the storm. 

    36   I'm safe.

    37   My family is safe.

    38   My pets are safe.

    39   My Facebook peeps are safe. 

    40   Dude.

    41   Next time listen.

    42   See you again.

    43   Stay safe, and stop living in a dream world.

    44  Peace.

    ~H~



    www.xanga.com/bharrington











  •  
    It's Raining. Stay Safe on the Roads.  There's Only One You.
    The Daily News

    1  How is it that October took five years and November is over?

    2  Every year.

    3  Today is payday, which is relatively meaningless to a teacher. 

    4  Welp, in 2012 I'm lucky to have a job. 

    5  But it is Friday, and payday. And it is raining hard. 

    6  I gotta start doing some Christmas shopping. 
    7   Not a bad thing, but always ten times more expensive than my budget.

    8   Ah, vell.

    9   Moving on, Part the First: Once again, no news.

    10  Oh, I'm sorry.

    11  There IS news.

    12  Lindsay Lohan got busted for about the six-thousandth time. 

    13  Any time that appears in the news, it isn't news. 

    14  Why pick on the kid?

    15  She obviously has issues, and obviously can't handle fame. 

    16  But she's not news. 

    17  George Herbert Walker Bush is in the hospital.

    18  I wonder if he will make any confessions about his behaviors over the years.

    19  Oops. 

    20  Sorry. 

    21   I have re-entered my JFK unit, and Bush seems to pop up an awful lot in the story. It's no coincidence. 

    22   I won't go there, but only because it is Friday.

    23   Four words: skull and bones. 

    24   You take it from there. I refuse to look like a madman. 

    25   Moving on, Part the Second: Think it'll rain?

    26   I have yet to open an umbrella. 

    27   I've carried one with me, but I don't generally need it unless there is a windless downpour. I'm guessing this will be a grand opening weekend.

    28   People in Cali kill me anyway. 

    29   If the sky is grey, they put on thick coats, bright scarves, and leather gloves, even if the temperature is  70 degrees.

    30  East coasters must laugh at us. 
    31  I have been wearing shorts every day I come home since last April. 

    32  It just doesn't get that cold. 

    33  I spend the majority of my time indoors, unless I'm raking leaves or walking the dog. 

    34  I'd like to get out more, but grading papers tends to be an indoor process, and that is how I spend the majority of my time.

    35  During the summer I'm an outdoors-sort-of guy.

    36  But when school is around, it is all about keeping up and current.

    37   I loved my two lessons this week. 

    38   One was delivering The Odyssey to my students while having very little book room support. 

    39   Which is to say none. It is possible to get books, but not when pressing deadlines loom everywhere. I decided on my own to bypass the book room this year and still teach the lit.

    40   I could easily have had them read it at home, but our book has only about six or seven books, or adventures. I have attempted and pretty much succeeded in bringing 24 books of the story to them. 

    41   Our book, and the film, go to Book 22. Yesterday my fifth period, a pretty hyper class, got WAY into the story. It was one of those awesome days when students and teacher had a grand old time watching this classic. It was evident that all of the preparation I had done worked magic in the classroom. 

    42   Meanwhile, my English 2A students watched JFK intensely. We have been reading excerpts from Jim Garrison's monumental book On the Trail of the Assassins, and they got hooked. 

    43   I told them that while the story is pretty depressing, there are true patriots out there who have almost cracked the case several times. It is pretty difficult to fight people who can get a President, but we have certainly come close on a number of occasions. One President had to resign, it got so close,if you recall. He appointed a member of the Warren Commission to be his vice-president after his original choice was scandalized in some sort of dairy scheme. That new President, who shall remain nameless, along with the late (as of a month ago) Arlen Specter are the two Warren Commission fellows who came up with the Disneyesque single-bullet theory. Fairy Tale. Balderdash. Moronic. Insert your adjective. Lies.

    44  You trace it. I'm not going to say a word. 

    45  I've said plenty over the years, and I am proud that I did. 

    46  And how is it relevant to 2012?

    47  Uh...do a back check on the Bush dynasty. We recently had one in office. 

    48  Oh, you won't?  

    49   Well then. Stay ignorant. My students won't. 

    50   My students are on the trail, as are many others. 

    51   Meanwhile, say a prayer for George Herbert Walker Bush. 

    52   Poor fellow. Hope he is okay. 

    53   I really do.

    54   With that, I'll say have a jolly weekend.

    55   Peace, and I mean it. 

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington




  •   The Daily News
    1   If you are a poet, one of the most ignoble topics you could present would be that life is laundry.

    2   I once wrote a poem and thought it would be wise to include the verse, "that life is laundry I never knew."

    3   I thought it was such a wonderful concept because of its absolute truth, but I was at the time young and quite full of myself.
    4   At the time I was pretty up to my ears in underpants.

    5   I had just emerged from college and thought, "Well really! How much of our time do we spend in front of a washing machine?"

    6    As I aged, I just thought that the concept was way too banal and sophomoric for a poem. 
    7   Yesterday our meeting was, as expected, pretty short and sweet. Stay with me.

    8    I threw a diatribe about meetings out there yesterday, and it went exactly as I had expected. 

    9     No news.
    10   This gave me the time to come home and to grade papers and to get some work done. I was so excited.

    11   <breaks out the root beer and whistles>

    12   I got home, set everything up, and got into more comfortable clothes.

    13   I usually do laundry immediately upon getting home so that I keep up on that stuff, so I took off my bewilderingly glorious teacher clothes, which consist of a pair of jeans and any shirt and tie, put on a pair of shorts, and carried said clothing to the washing machine in the garage. 

    14   Full. 

    15   I opened the dryer.

    16   Full. 

    17   I stood there with my clothes in my arms, holding them as though they were a sacred shroud.

    18   Life sometimes screeches to a complete halt because of laundry.

    19   "That life is laundry I never knew." <insert bird music.>

    20    Some day I'm going to retrieve that poem, and I will become a wandering hero.

    21   But right now I'm waiting for my pants to dry. 

    22   Moving On, Part the First:  I am feeling like it would be a good idea to erase my head this morning.

    23   Don't get me wrong. 

    24   I love Thursdays.

    25   But teaching is such a 24/7 job when it is on that I can't get my head going unless I use a corkscrew.

    26   I have a bewildering amount of nonsense and astonishment causing pauses and skepticism here in the 5:35 a.m.'s.

    27   I'm staring at my computer screen thinking about laundry and leaves. 

    28   No rhyme nor reason. 

    29   At some point I have to get up and get groomed soes that I can look pretty. 

    30   Monumental task. 

    31   I also have to keep thinking of what to write soes that I can entertain, and cause hot oatmeal to plow through nostrils. 

    32   My bare feet are doing some odd tap dance while I think.

    33   <tappity tappity tap tap tap>

    34   It's a writer's thing. 

    35   If you write, you get this. 

    36    Laundry.

    37    Right now I'm thinking, "Thank God for laundry."

    38    I think my dog just farted. 

    39   Goin' south, but honestly!

    40   It's like this invisible brown hue.

    41   Moving On, Part the Second:  No news man. We should all thank the lawd, the Creator of the Universe, Joe-the-Bear, or whatever other entity we relish for no news.

    42   Dog farts and laundry.

    43   Slow news day. 

    44   I loves me some Thursdays.

    45   Autumn Thursdays. 

    46   I think I missed an eclipse.

    47   There will be others. 

    48   Anyway, I think I gotta bail. 

    49   The dryer just buzzed. 

    50   Have a random day. 

    51   And thank someone for something.

    52   Or something. Do your clothes. 

    53   I'm out.
    54   Peace.



    ~H~

    www.xanga.com/bharrington











  • MEETINGS???
    ARGGGGH!!!
     

    The Daily News
    1   Is it just me or is the entire world getting younger?

    2   Rhetorical question. 

    3   Just thought I'd throw that out to everyone, because it seems to be happening to everyone.

    4   You blink and you're a hundred.

    5   You just have to look at it in terms of your age relative to the history of the universe, and your worries will end. 

    6   The nice thing about getting old is that you don't care about a lot of stuff anymore.

    7    For example, we have some sort of meeting every single Wednesday, because the meeting gods demand it. 

    8    Someone else demands it of the meeting gods. 

    9    Those demands are often originating from someone who THINKS they know more than the people in the trenches.

    10   The demands are often ridiculous and unrealistic.

    11   The meetings are often confusing and convoluted. 

    12   This is true of most corporations, companies, state services, etc. 

    13   So the beautiful thing about realizing that you are young in the universe despite your years is that you really don't take too much of that sort of thing seriously. 

    14   I have been to enough meetings to look up and say that I don't think there has been one meeting that has changed me in any way except to make me hustle around and do more things I have no time to do. 

    15   A roll of the eyes. 

    16   They should have a world ban on meetings. They should be restricted to maybe two per year. 

    17   It would help every corporation, company, state service, et al save billions of dollars in wasted monies, because they have to still PAY people to attend those meetings and workshops. They have to PAY people not to work for a couple of hours. 

    18   They have to PAY people to goof off on their cell phones and talk with their friends about how stupid many of the requests are, and how much wasted time the employees are going to have to spend just to prove that the workers who do the actual work are doing the actual work. 

    19   As I youthen, I smile at all of it. 

    20   I have watched it for too long, and it no longer bothers me. 

    21   I bottom-line exactly what sort of boushit they want, and give back stuff on paper. 

    22   They LOVE people who give back stuff on paper. 

    23   I just try to decipher what all sixteen-thousand educational experts want us to produce, and put it into normal language. 

    24   If you want to make a hit at a meeting, the first thing you need to do is to understand the reality of what this new expert has to say, and what it is they want as a result of the meeting. 

    25  You then write something that is really logical and understandable, that you know from experience will probably work, and throw it out there. 

    26   You submit something logical on paper. 

    27   And then the meeting will go away until the next meeting, when the big guns are going to come in and start declaring doom and gloom unless you do whatever miracle it is they want from you.

    28   And the circle, it goes round and round. 

    29   Pound for pound. 

    30   Moving on, Part the First: Yesterday they canceled the meeting originally scheduled for today and threw an insta-meeting into the laps of our department chairs. 

    31   What this does is it puts pressure on the department chairs to come up with something instantly. They have to put all of their grading aside, and lesson planning aside, and come up with something that will result in something coming out on paper. 

    32   In the past, I have headed off this sort of thing by reading ahead of time what the "theme" of the meeting will be. I will often bring something logical to the meeting just in case they need something. 

    33   It usually meets the outline of the meeting and is on paper. I often make twenty copies of it just in case the wheels start coming off. I then lie in the weeds and say very little. No point prolonging the meeting. 

    34   I also often don't reveal it if the meeting is taken up with other stuff. I have a sort of rainy day file that can shortcut stuff and get paper into the hands of the accountability people when they need it.

    35   You produce anything on paper and you come out looking like a genius. 

    36   That's the wonderful thing about being young in the universe.

    37   You know how stuff works. 

    38    I STILL abhor meetings. 

    39   Worst part of any job, with the exception of that one person who irks you.

    40   I don't have any of those right now. 

    41   If one person irks me now, I just ignore them. This will irk them even more, but I have too much to do than to waste time petting the dog who has issues. 

    42   Does all this sound familiar?

    43   Because this stuff isn't designed simply for education.

    44   It pretty much sums up all sorts of jobs, or any other sort of organizational structure that thinks it runs best on meetings. 

    45    People just want to do their jobs and not be bothered. 

    46    Honestly.

    47    I'm a heretic, as you can plainly see. 

    48    A heathen of the worst sort. 

    49    Sue me. 

    50    I just always think back to Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. There is a scene where Brooks is heading a meeting. He is wearing a suit with the word GOV on his back. His first words: "Gentlemen, we have to protect our phony baloney jobs!" 

    51    Hilarious. Here's another movie reference to how I feel each time I leave a meeting:

    52    Each time I leave a meeting I feel like King Kong, trying to save Fay Wray while being attacked by airplanes and holding on to the tip of the Empire State Building. 

    53   It's getting into the 3:30 a.m. and I'm talking about King Kong and Fay Wray.

    54   Add to cart. 

    55    I gotta bounce.

    56    Have a great day.

    57    Peace.

    ~H~



    www.xanga.com/bharrington


  •  

        

    The Daily News

    1   Okay.

    2   They're on to me.

    3   My students.

    4   <Looking over shoulder>

    5   They're lurking in the bushes.

    6   They have ten-dollar binocs from Wal-Mart.

    7    My students. 

    8    Yesterday I walked into my classroom. 

    9    I knew immediately that I was in an old movie. 

    10   I even wore my 40's wiseguy hat so that it would augment all the mugs in JFK. 

    11   I really didn't need to augment the JFK lesson until my second class, so I decided to make a really smooth move and frisbee it so that it would land on top of the overhead in the corner of my desk area. I wanted it to land at the tip-top, so that it would look like the projector was wearing a hat.

    12   I've done it hundreds of times, but yesterday it flew just over the top and instantly shot to the back of my file cabinet. 

    13   I stood there KNOWING someone saw that, and that it must have been hilarious, like a guy with a top hat walking toward an open manhole, stepping on thin air, shooting down, and his hat following in perfect stride. Silent movie. Chaplin stuff. Silents. 

    14  Fortunately my students were too busy sharing Thanksgiving stories, so my slice of humble pie went unnoticed.

    15   But they're on to me. 

    16   After that, one of my more brilliant students who sits about five feet from my desk quoted a piece of my Daily News, a story in which he starred. Something I wrote last week, but time doesn't permit me to remember exactly what it was. 

    17   He just mumbled it and looked at no one in particular. 

    18   I recognize my DN, write thousands of words a week, but it was obvious the delivery was for my ears only. 

    19   He looked up and I said in my best wiseguy voice, "So. You're on to me."

    20   The quiet implication is that the Daily News AND my alumni/colleagues' Facebook has been discovered by my students. 

    21   I figured it was inevitable. 

    22   What they don't know is that I don't really care. 

    23   Historically, the DN was designed for students. 

    24   It was a means of communicating years ago with the cast of Guys and Dolls. 

    25   We had a huge musical at Yerba Buena, and trying to communicate with cast, crew, band, etc. was a bit difficult, so I started posting this folderol on the wall of the Performing Arts' building. 

    26   I just numbered stuff, gave a notes as to who needed to be where at what time, and then pontificated on the state of the world, or on the state of sports, or on the Rolling Stones, or on the stupidity that often surfaces in education. 

    27   It eventually morphed into that.

    28   Now it is just morning foolishness, and moral decay, as anyone knows. 

    29   It is designed to make hot oatmeal shoot through the nose. 

    30   It is designed for morning coffee and hangovers. 

    31   By hangovers, I don't necessarily mean alcohol hangovers. 

    32   There are hangovers that occur from every day or night before the next day.

    33   They include mid-terms and all-nighters for college folk, tests upon tests for high school students, worrying about kids and dogs for the middle aged, and waiting for the next shoe to drop for all the old timuhs. 

    34   So join the club, kids. You're welcome to jump in and waste your time reading this crap. Just realize it is all a lark. 

    35   And you are a large part of the lark, so lap it up.

    36   Welcome to the wide, wonderfully idiotic world of the Daily News. 

    37   Moving on, Part the First: I'm on a fast sched today. I got home yesterday and Phoebe the Wonder Dog couldn't stand up. I "rushed" her to emergency in Campbell. It took about twelve years to get from the Berryessa area to Camden Avenue/Dell street. 

    38   I took 17 during commute, which is akin to attempted suicide. 

    39   I took Yahoo! maps' advice, which was poor. This was at around 5:30 in the afternoon on the Monday following Thanksgiving. 

    40   I got on without getting sideswiped by the ridiculous amount of morons who somehow manage to get drivers' licenses, and the was instantly told to stop by the CHP. 

    41   He waved his flashlight into the eyes of everyone advancing on him and yelled, "Stop!"

    42   A three-vehicle wreck that clearly began with someone being stupid had occurred maybe fifty seconds before I arrived on the scene. 

    43   The CHP dude was still throwing debris to the side of the road, and one guy in some beat-up old car moved across with his wobbly wheels and got to the side of the road. 

    44   It looked like everyone in the wreck was okay, but I had a dog that needed to get to emergency right in the Highway 17 cross-hairs of Campbell. 

    45  The entire thing was a six o' clock nightmare. Lights flashed into my eyes blinding me so I couldn't read signs that I had a millisecond to see, so the delay frustrated and agonized me. 

    46   Phoebe just chilled in the back seat. She's a great car dog.

    47   When we got there, she was able to walk pretty well. That's what she does. She seems sick, and when she gets to a vet, shows no symptoms. 

    48   There was only one other family there, whose old dog was having serious concerns. A teen-age girl was in absolute tears, and the mom and dad had red rings around their eyes. They had to bring the old guy in on a gurney. 

    49   I looked at Phoebes and she looked fine, just a little nervous, which she always is when she is at a vet. But her condition looked more and more like she had simply slept wrong. 

    50   After waiting for around 45 minutes, I heard some laughter from the other room. I think they might have taken care of that other dog. 

    51   Meanwhile, people arrived in droves. The room had around ten people in it when I again looked at Phoebe and decided it was better for those other people's dogs to get treated. If she was okay, at least 'til today, why take up the time of the people working there?

    52   So I finally explained that I was going to duck out and take care of her tomorrow, since it clearly wasn't the emergency I thought it was. 

    53   I went outside and ran into an ex-student from the drama days, Karena Ramirez. Doggy had been hit by a car, and they were worrying, but it looked okay. We caught up and had a great chat.

    54    To Karena and your family, if you're reading this, just know that we're all rooting for you and for your family. Prayers.

    55    Moving On, Part the Second: That's about all I could muster this morning. I slept through the night and wrote all of this early this morning. 

    56   So to my students: I'm glad you're on to me. 

    57   Welcome to the fold. 

    58   I gottago.

    59    You all have a sensational day.

    60   See you again.

    61   Peace.

    ~H~

    www.xanga.com/bharrington

  • DAT WHO!!!

    a a a Colin 1 Colin 2 Walker a a a cool guy 1Colin 3 Defense! 

    WHADDUPPPP???

    The Daily News

    1   Niners!

    2   Sorry I get so excited about this team. And I'm a little sorry about the in-yo-face headline, but I couldn't resist. The Merc News couldn't resist putting THIS headline on their front page: NINERS HAVE A NEW TOY. In Times New Roman. I have to guess Mark Purdy was the architect of that one. 

    3   We did a lot of suffering the past few years, and it is nice to see that the legacy of the Niners is back on top.

    4   All teams go through this.

    5   The refs in yesterday's game must have been leftovers from the rent-a-refs.

    6   One of those guys has to have had a bet on the spread.

    7   Ah, it's all good.

    8   I refrain from saying "It's too early to tell" regarding Colin Kaepernick. This guy is the real deal.

    9    I will be the first to say that they have clearly been grooming him for this moment. Anybody who thought Alex Smith was anything more than a transitional quarterback is on crack.

    10  This has always been Harbaugh's plan. He is that sinister.

    11   It seems unbelievable to everybody, but when the dust settles, we will see a quarterback who was carefully chosen for his basic skills, and then carefully groomed to handle the NFL.

    12   How this comes as a surprise to people is a mystery to me. Nobody blinked when the Giants brought in Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, et al.

    13   When the Niners went up the ladder and got the guy, I immediately looked at film on You Tube. I told everyone I could talk to that we drafted a potential superstar. His statistics were off the charts. He ran like a gazelle. He threw on the run. He could throw deep. And now I see that he can think fast, and that he can locate receivers.

    14  And he can throw the ball where they have room to run.

    15  It's almost scary.

    16  Let me repeat this.There is no controversy. Alex Smith did some great things, no doubt. But his third-and-outs leave me with little sympathy. Kaepernick is the guy. He'll make mistakes. He may even make a huge mistake in a big game.

    17  But he is definitely the guy.

    18  Will I be eating my words?

    19  I don't think so.

    20  Congrats to the Niners and to their devoted fans.

    21   We have suffered enough.

    22   Colin Kaepernick, you are our quarterback. Period. No controversy. Just logic. And not to be ignored, the defense needs to take a bow for the two pick sixes. Their play in the second half wore the Saints down. And they did this on what looked to me like a few namby-pamby calls by the refs. 

    23   Moving On, Part the First: I don't know about anyone else, but this was one of the best Thanksgivings EVER.

    24   I haven't had a moment's rest in six months, and then some.

    25   Tuesday afternoon the world stopped. I had five days to get six billion things done, and GOT six billion things done, AND some much-needed rest.

    26   I had time to rake leaves, clean gutters, do a Christmas light design, be with my family, laugh, eat, drink, and yes, be merry! We had about forty dogs running through the house as entertainment.

    27   Well, not forty, but at least four. That was hyperbole, which for those of you dense as the morning fog, is not a football playoff game. 

    28   My daughters made a magnificent Thanksgiving dinner. It was their first encounter with a turkey, and they did a splendid job. Lots of stress, but lots of laughter.

    29   I'll keep it short, but everyone was out doing different things. Raking leaves at my place is like trying to rake leaves in Central Park. They're beautiful, but many.

    30   Cleaning gutters is an annual chore that I actually love, because it means a lighting design for Christmas. The entire ordeal took the entire day. It was just about dark when I clicked the lights on.

    31   The entire neighborhood lit up. Little kids stood in awe. Even the dog across the street came over and was tongue-tied. We have a dark street, for the record. No lights out there, so this was fun. Cheery smiles everywhere. One click, and that all happened. 

    32  At that exact moment, my daughters came outside. Within seconds, everyone else arrived. It was an insta-party! Pure magic!

    33  It was one of those life moments when everyone's struggles and troubles were forced out, sort of like a cartoonish de-Grinching.

    34   We have all been through massive traumas this year, and yet we stood in the front yard laughing and enjoying the miracle lights.

    35  When we all walked in, a huge smell of oven turkey flew threw our entire beings, and this magnificent spread adorned our new kitchen.

    36   Laughter ensued, and instead of talking, we hollered the entire night.

    37    Perfect. 

    38   I refused to do anything remotely associated with school for two straight days, my record for the past six school years.

    39   There was just happiness and hope in times when it just hasn't been that way. Too many real life issues. But this past weekend blew them all to smithereens.

    40   We still have a frightening rollercoaster of worries, but for right now, I think it is safe to say it was an epic Thanksgiving. I even got to spend the weekend with my Dad watching John Wayne movies and some amazing football.

    41   AND I managed to get caught up with all my classes. It's easy to grade papers, talk, and watch football simultaneously.

    42   Speaking of which,the Raiders REALLY disappointed. My thoughts go out to Raider fans AND Saints' fans. Your teams are better than they think. It's all about confidence and good coaching. Saints' fans, especially my good fellow Rich Colbert, I didn't mean to come out swinging like that. I have always loved the Saints, except for last year. Niner fans tend to like the Saints because they tend to like New Orleans. 

    43   So I'm not going to be in-your-face to any other teams nor their fans right now. It's just November, and what an epic November it has been!

    44  I hope you have all gotten some rest and relaxation. Nothing nicer.

    45  I don't know. Maybe it was just happening to everybody. I came off these past five days as feeling that something made it happen for a whole bunch of other people too. I felt a tremendous sense of joy and release. Maybe the universe decided to throw some positive particles to all of us. 

    46   I hope that was the case for you.

    47   I'll leave it at that, but I'll also leave it with this: It truly is the season of counting blessings. It has nothing to do with pilgrims. It has changed focus. I like the change.

    48   Enjoy it with everything you can.

    49   Eat, drink, laugh, and be merry.

    50   It's the only way to fight back the scramblers.

    51   Have a GREAT Monday.

    52   See you again.

    53   Peace.

    ~H~

    a a a cool guy 1 

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