(no subject)

How strange. I just saw my favorite teacher from high school at the mall. By the time I realized it was indeed him, and not just a guy who looked like him, it was too late to catch up with him without trampling several other people in the restaurant.

He was my computer teacher in high school. This was the era of the Mac Classic. I took two classes from him in BASIC, the second of which was an independent study with me and a guy from my class and Mr. Fraley, all teaching each other stuff, and sometimes bringing down the whole network. But I also got to know him, because I took a lot of my classes via satellite and/or independent study my senior year, and the satellite classrooms were in the library/computer lab "complex," so a lot of time was spent hanging out with the librarian, other geeky satellite kids and Mr. F.

Last I heard, he'd left the high school a couple years after my sister graduated, and went on to work in county special ed administration. I wonder if he's moved up into state administration or something? That would explain his presence on a Wednesday in Columbus.

I really wish I would have gotten to say hi at least. He's pretty much responsible for me being in the job I am today. Without him, I would have never touched a computer before college, and would certainly not have had the confidence to mess around blindly figuring them out, which means I certainly wouldn't have taken the few computer science classes I did, which would have left me with basically no marketable skills. Plus, he was one of the few teachers in the school who did not regard me as a complete and utter freak due to my political views and actual interest into getting into a good college. Well, I mean he did call me a freak, but he did it to my face, and meant it nicely, unlike the others. :-)

My favorite memory of him is walking into class one day to him dancing around and singing, "Voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soi?" and having to say, "Mr. Fraley, do you know what that means?" and then watching his face go all sorts of red while he kept saying, "I'll be fired! I'll be fired!" after I told him. Classic.

(no subject)

I've been extra-conscious of trying not to sound snippy in emails I've sent today.

One to my mom because she wrote something that could be construed as such to me, even though I know that's not what she meant. (I have to call her though tonight and see what she did mean.)

One to the other "columbus" stitch n' bitch group inviting anyone who doesn't want to/can't drive clear out to Pickerington to join the group that actually meets in Columbus. (I think I did okay on that one.)

And one to the guy who just offered that I might find it helpful for him to serve as a "backup" in a situation that he has horned in on. I'd already told him we were having issues with having two people access this, so it's unclear to me how adding a third will help the situation. And it's really unclear to me why I need a backup when I *am* the freaking backup. Maybe he doesn't realize this, but why is he begging for more work? I used to do that job, and I had plenty to do, and with his reputation for overplanning everything, I can't imagine that he needs more to do. Let me have the few tasks I can still call mine!!!

Irony is...

having to listen to the neighbor who is constantly outside and loudly on his cordless phone, and I do mean constantly, say (loudly), "Oh my god, she just babbles."

ha!

I have often surmised that perhaps there isn't anyone on the other end of the phone at all, as he never stops talking while he's on it.

A rant I love...

...from Tomato Nation, as regards the low-carb/no carb craze:

Cake exists for a reason; don't treat it like a vestigial tail. A moderately-sized slice now and then isn't going to kill you. Chew it slowly. Sip coffee with it. Don't bolt it down all greedy-crammy Meredith Baxter-Birney in Kate's Secret like you're doing something wrong, because you aren't. You're enjoying a piece of cake. Nobody's looking at you and thinking, "No offense or anything, but the last thing that girl needs is Linzer torte." Nobody's doing that, and if anybody is doing that, that anybody is an ass, and stupid, because one of the first things everybody needs is Linzer torte, and you can stitch that on a pillow.

I so wish I was capable of working phrases like "vestigial tail" into rants about culture. :-)