Pronouns Are Hard to Misspell

One of my student's Facebook update from earlier today:

danq we lost da 1st tew qames den 1ne da last tew qames......man i waz killn dat ball wit ma ncredible qoaly n sweepr skillz....bt i pulld a muscel nda bak ov ma knee n knw itz swollen n i can barely bend it out bt we playd awsum lik we were qreat !!!!!

Don't worry. I don't think she's really hurt.

Thought of the Week

"Once you decide you have nothing else to learn, you have nothing else to teach."
--Terry Olson

Pic of the Week: School Bus

Ever wonder what happens to old yellow school buses?



They go to Honduras, and are used for public transportation.

Driving in Honduras

The first person we saw was a completely naked man walking on the side of the freeway. From the looks of it he spent a lot of time in the sun, all of him. Gio asked our taxi driver, “Es normal?” Ismael answered, “No, el es loco.”

Bienvenidos a Honduras.

It seems in Honduras there aren’t really driving laws, just guidelines or driving suggestions. I think I like this system better. Stay alert, use your head, make decisions that aren’t going to kill people, and drive without worrying about getting a ticket. I saw some things that just don’t happen in The States.

While driving across Honduras Ismael gave us a little tour of the country as we developed our initial impressions. He taught that the Hondureños love their car horns. They don’t use the horn to express anger and disapproval, but rather as a way to say, “I’m right here.” He used his horn more in the first 20 minutes of our drive than I will in my entire life.

He honked the horn every time we passed another car, if anyone was walking the side of the road and they were anywhere near our lane, and also if we saw any cute young chicas walking along the highway. It was a two-lane highway so you passed cars whenever there was enough room to do it safely. Just the amount of space needed to be “safe” was debatable. Cars headed the other way would be passing, thus headed directly at us in our lane and less than 100 feet away and Ismael didn’t slow our car at all. It was clear that they had plenty of room to get out of our way before reaction was necessary.

Once we were behind a couple cars going below our desired speed. Just as we went to pass them both the car in front of us was also making a pass. So we just went even wider. Soon we had three adjacent cars headed the same direction. It got sorted out with us in front and both cars ahead of the slow previously leader. Our driver smirked and said to us a phrase that roughly translates to, “I bet you don’t see that much in the States.”

Later in the week a taxi driver picked us up with his four-year-old daughter in the front seat. His young daughter sat in the front with no car seat and no seat belt. But don’t worry this was not a father that didn’t take precautions. Before we started driving he asked her to sit back in the seat.

I didn’t even discuss the public transit with no official stops, the passenger vans that were never too full for a paying customer, and pick-up trucks transporting the whole family.

We didn’t see any more naked people.

Thought of the Week

I've studied human psychology for 9 years, but I still can't explain why the person who broke into my car took the owner's manual but not the cash and change.
--Louise Cosand

Pic of the Week

Sausalito, CA

New Feature

Quite some time ago Sean complained about me consistently posting the fail blog photos. Michelle added that I was over-posting them. I did a survey and everyone said to continue sharing them in some capacity. However, the other day my thinking was beginning to agree with Sean, and I told Michelle I planning to just cancel fail blog all together. Being a good editor she immediately asked, "What are you going to do to replace it?" I hadn't thought of that. So I kept fail of the week for a little while longer. Now I have the answer to her question.

Tomorrow I will be beginning my new feature: Pic of the Week. This will be a better fit for the blog. I am going to share pictures that I have taken myself of things I have seen and personally captured with a camera. This will still allow for some humor, and still provide a quick pic for those that don't want to read my column. It will be more original and share insight on things I am doing with my life.

Next week I plan to get a new cell phone that more closely resembles the technological advances of our times. This will will allow me to take a picture with it and put it on the computer (my phone doesn't really have the feature now).

Enjoy Pic of the Week.

Fail Blog PG-13

Once again we take this opportunity to laugh at the inappropriate. Only look below if you can handle it.